Rogue Prince

by Cameron Drake

  “What if someone turns him, Kah? What if they do it to hurt me? Or even to curry favor if we win?”

  “You mean…”

  “Provide me with a hunky high school boyfriend for all eternity? Yeah. That’s exactly the sort of thing one of these older Vampires might do. They don’t think like us. Human life has no value to them.”

  “I never thought of that.” She looked pale.

  “This could go sideways in so many different ways. I spend most nights imagining worst-case scenarios and trying to plan potential ways out of them.”

  “You must be a wreck.”

  “I am, Karen. I really am.”

  “No wonder you don’t want to date.”

  “I kind of do want to date, or at least have fun. If only they didn’t have front-row seats to my every thought.”

  “We can work on that. Do you care if they dated? Other people, I mean?”

  “No. I mean, I wouldn’t like it, but that’s not really fair, is it? I haven’t done more than kiss either one of them anyway. There is no agreement between any of us. Technically, they are 100% free to do what they want, though neither one of them seems to want to.”

  She leaned forward eagerly.

  “Oh, do tell. About the kisses, I mean.”

  I sighed and leaned back, pushing the swing with the tip of my big toe.

  “Well, they keep kissing me! I feel a bit trampy, to tell the truth.”

  Apparently, that was the funniest thing Karen had ever heard. I even started giggling a little bit. I wondered if we were running out of oxygen.

  “It is getting kind of stale in here. We’ll talk later.”

  “Okay. Thanks, Karen.”

  Karen snapped her fingers and the bubble burst.

  “Come on, let’s set up the first couple of spells I prepared.”

  “Oh, my God, Soph. You have to wear this to prom!”

  We were in the spare bedroom, where Bernard had set up wardrobe racks to hold all of my ‘princess’ clothes. I wondered if I would need more for Europe, the next leg of our ‘Homecoming Tour’, as I’d been calling it. Mostly just to annoy Caleb.

  London, Paris, and finally, Rome, were to be our last three stops before setting up camp and attacking the New Leaders from a secure location nearby. Once we were across the Atlantic, there was no backing out. No second-guessing. We were in for a penny, in for a pound, as Bernard liked to say.

  It was an odd expression, since he wasn’t raised in England. I’d have to ask him if he’d lived there. He probably had. Old enough Vampires could have ended up living everywhere, although they appeared to be creatures of habit, from what I could tell.

  “You don’t think it’s a bit much?”

  “No! I think it’s perfect!”

  I sighed and pushed another gown back into the wardrobe bag. We were goofing off, having show and tell with my new clothes. It was nice. It felt so normal.

  “Maybe. I’m leaving the day after, you know.”

  She stepped away from the pink tulle confection.

  “I didn’t know. Will that be… it?”

  I nodded.

  “If we are successful—if I win—I won’t be returning here for a very, very long time.” I looked away. “If ever.”

  “And if not?”

  “I’ll be dead. Or slowly starving to death in a dungeon. I’ve heard they like to do that to Vamps. Makes them go mad.” I tilted my head to the side. “I’m not sure how it would work on a hybrid like me.”

  “How can you talk like that about this? You could die! Or worse!”

  Karen’s eyes were full of tears. I took her hand and sat on one of the two upholstered wingbacks in the room.

  “I don’t have a choice, Kah. I have to face the likelihood that we won’t be on the winning side. Face it but not focus on it, or I will lose my confidence. And I am going to need a lot of confidence to pull this off. It’s called whistling past the graveyard.”

  “Right. I’m sorry. I know you are right.” She pulled me in for an impulsive hug. “I just don’t want that to happen to you.”

  “I don’t either, but I can’t ignore the strong possibility that anyone who stands with me will pay the ultimate price. That includes Dylan.” I took a deep breath and pulled back. “Especially Dylan.”

  “I know.”

  We stared at each other for a moment before the room flooded with bright light. I stared in horror at our clasped hands. I was wearing my gloves, but my skin must have touched hers at the wrist. Karen’s eyes were glowing and her hair was getting lighter. I backed away, my hand clasped over my mouth.

  Nightfall, no! Please, no!

  “Um… Sophie? What is happening to me?”

  Karen held her hands in front of her. I stared in fascinated horror as beams of light erupted from her fingertips.

  “Kah! I’m so sorry!”

  “What is happening?” she asked again, sounding oddly calm. Her brown eyes were shining gold and her hair was the palest blonde. I shook my head hopelessly, hoping that this was all that happened to her.

  “I… I should have warned you. Sometimes if I touch something, it changes.”

  “Changes?”

  “It becomes… more.”

  “More what?”

  “Angelic, we think. I usually create light powers.” I swallowed. “Or sometimes, with a Vamp, they become darker.”

  She flexed her hand, staring at it. The beams of light blinked on and off.

  “I wonder if I can control it.”

  Wordlessly, I handed her a pair of my gloves.

  “I hope so. Nightfall, I’m so sorry, Karen.” I choked back a sob. I knew she would never forgive me for this. Neither would Dylan. I knew something else.

  Soon, I would have to leave.

  I couldn’t continue hurting the ones I loved.

  Karen stood and walked toward the mirror, staring at herself.

  “Wow. I look…”

  “You look beautiful, as always,” I said with my eyes full of tears. “But it’s going to be hard to explain.”

  She turned to me with a soft smile.

  “Color contacts and highlights?”

  “I shouldn’t have kept this from you. It’s just… since my powers started to grow, I can’t always control them. I’m a monster.”

  She took my hands and I flinched.

  “You are not a monster. I think… I think you did something good to me.”

  “I did?”

  “I think you made me more Fae. I can feel it. The limits of my magical abilities… well, they’ve moved.”

  I nodded. That made sense.

  “Maybe, but why didn’t I do that to Dylan? When he… kissed me?”

  “Because he’s already like you. A little bit, anyway?”

  “Oh. Maybe.”

  I felt miserable. Karen was not angry with me though. Not yet.

  She knelt, stroking the large cat who had wandered into the room. Chilies purred wildly. I watched as sparks flew where Karen’s hand met his glowing fur.

  “I guess I should be relieved that I’m not glowing head to toe.”

  “Maybe it’s just the hair.”

  She winked at me.

  “It’s like I just stepped out of a salon.”

  I choked back a surprised laugh. I exhaled. I was glad she was happy. But it didn’t change how dangerous I was. I couldn’t touch anyone, probably for the rest of my time on earth, no matter how long that was.

  No matter what she said, I was a monster and I knew it.

  “You’d better go. You need to tell your great-aunt. And Dyl.”

  Though we both knew he already knew. I was too busy freaking out to hide my thoughts from anyone for the past ten minutes. Or my disgust with myself.

  She nodded and gave me a spontaneous hug.

  “Thank you. I’ll be back soon with more protection spells.” She wiggled her fingers before slipping into the gloves. “Supercharged ones, probably.”

  I walked her out and
sat on the porch swing for a long while, knowing what I had to do. And dreading it.

  Chapter 25

  Some things must be faced alone.

  “I won’t allow it!” Maxim hissed at me as he paced back and forth. Caleb and Bernard were out. I was still on lockdown. We still needed to find Janelle, but I had to deal with this first.

  I cocked an eyebrow, crossing my arms.

  “Won’t allow it? Seriously?”

  “It’s far too dangerous. And insane!”

  “Is this the patriarchy speaking or is it because you are so much older than me?”

  “You know what I mean, Sasha. You cannot do this. You are throwing everything away.”

  I pushed off from where I was leaning against the wall.

  “It’s up to me what I do. I don’t want anyone to know the possible strategies I am considering.”

  “Strategies?”

  “Yes. I haven’t decided yet.”

  He grabbed my arm as I passed him and swung me around to face him.

  “Liar.”

  We stared into each other’s eyes, both of us angry. The anger quickly shifted into something else. We were getting really good at verbally and mentally sparring these days. And since he had heard at least part of my thoughts about going off on my own yesterday, I had to do some fancy footwork to keep him from sounding the alarm.

  I knew that deep down, Maxim didn’t want to believe I was going to take off, which I could use to my advantage. I also knew that he wanted to kiss me. His eyes shifted to my lips just as I heard the familiar sound of Dylan’s car turn off the main road onto our driveway. Maxim’s eyes never left mine as his lips twisted into a bitter smile.

  “He has perfect timing, as usual.”

  I rolled my eyes and went out to the front to meet Karen and Dylan as they drove up.

  “This conversation isn’t done, Sasha,” he muttered as he came to stand beside me.

  “Oh, I know.”

  They parked and got out of the car while two cranky Vampires stood on the porch, throwing off sparks. Well, one half-Vamp. I wondered how absurd we must look. They never had Vampires who argued this much on Buffy. But on The Vampire Diaries… yes, they did.

  “What exactly happened to her?”

  “I happened,” I said, watching Karen walk toward us with her pale hair floating all around her. She definitely seemed more confident since the change. I hadn’t meant to, but I’d sort of given her a supernatural makeover. Not that she wasn’t lovely before. Just now, she was somehow more. “She’s gorgeous, isn’t she?”

  He shrugged dismissively.

  “Fae are tasty. I don’t really have any other interest in them.”

  “You’ve never had Fae blood!”

  He cocked an eye at me.

  “Whatever you say, Princess. It’s not as rare as you think. It’s only rare to find a Fae family with such a high percentage. I’m sure they are delicious.”

  I made a rude sound and went to kiss Karen’s cheek. She was glowing, though not literally glowing, thank Nightfall.

  “We’re here to bust you out.”

  “I’m really not supposed to leave.”

  “Ugh, school sucks without you! Anyway, I brought spells.”

  She held up a shopping bag full of magical equipment. I could smell sage and beeswax, among other things.

  “You two, stay here,” she instructed the boys, who were studiously not looking at each other. I could feel how irritated they both were, but I didn’t much care. She grinned and dragged me deeper into the woods. I watched in silence as she knelt before a tree, lit candles, recited words in a language I did not recognize, and stood. It sounded almost like Latin, but more lilting, like Latin spoken with a thick Irish accent. Then she lifted the burning sage and walked in a circle around the house. I stared in awe as a trail of glowing light followed her.

  “Nightfall, Karen, you are getting good at this stuff.”

  “I know. Let’s do another one farther out.” She looked at me. “Can Vamps fly?”

  “Not that I know of, but I can levitate and sort of… float around.”

  “By controlling the air?”

  I nodded. “I really want to fly. Caleb said the jury is still out on whether I will be able to.”

  “Does he have to glower at everyone like that?”

  She jerked her head toward the house as she finished up the second spell a little while later. She was kneeling at her makeshift altar, silently blowing out the candles one by one.

  “He’s cranky.”

  “Cranky?” She snapped her elegant fingers and the last candle went out.

  “Showoff.” I sighed. “He’s mad at me.”

  “Boys can be such babies.”

  I laughed. “He’s not really a boy. Or even a man.”

  “Right. Four-hundred-year-old Vampires who look like supermodels can be such babies.”

  I laughed. I couldn’t help it. I made sure my shields were down for the whole exchange too.

  Serves you right for being so bossy, Maxim.

  “So.” She brushed her hands off. “Now that that’s done, let’s go deal with Janelle.”

  “You know where she is?” I asked in relief. It had been weighing on me. I didn’t want to ditch town and leave the girl a basket case.

  Karen nodded, her eyes literally twinkling.

  “Oh, I’ve been busy. You definitely supercharged me.”

  “So, you really aren’t mad?”

  “Are you kidding? It was so frustrating only having a little bit of magic on tap. Now I’m full-on Glinda.”

  I looked at her outfit of jeans and a button-down with high-tops.

  “You are missing your poufy pink dress and wand.”

  She poked my chest.

  “That’s because you are the one who needs to wear that dress.” She hooked her arm in mine, walking back toward the boys. “Prom. I see it in my crystal ball.”

  “Uh, okay. Did I mention that prom is on my eighteenth birthday and I might literally start shooting power beams out of my butt?”

  “Like this?”

  She wiggled her fingers at me, and I nodded. The light went out well before she pulled her gloves back on.

  “How did you—”

  “I’ll teach you. It’s like turning off a switch and pulling it inward. Let’s make those boys wait a bit longer, shall we?”

  I closed my eyes, imagining my hands cooling down, covered in ice.

  “Wow.”

  I looked down to see my hands sparkling with tiny shards of ice.

  “What about darkness instead of light?”

  I shook my head.

  “I can do both. I just can’t… I don’t know what it is. I can’t not transform. My power just sort of leaks out.”

  She chewed her lip, thinking. I watched as she idly waved her hand over a scraggly little plant and it blossomed, growing flowers and tiny fruit that was way, way out of season.

  “That is so cool.”

  “Hmm?” She blushed. “Oh, sorry. It’s impossible to resist communicating with them now.”

  “I know. The trees call out to me.”

  “You can hear them?” Karen looked astounded.

  “They sing. But it’s also sort of a… pull. Like magnets.”

  “I think that’s more like what I feel.” She tilted her head to the side. “So you really are half-Angel, huh?”

  “I think more like a quarter. Vamps and Angels can’t mate. I doubt there have been any who tried. My father thought my mother was human. I don’t think he knew she was… extra.”

  I exhaled, feeling sadness wash over me.

  “I’m not sure why she wanted to be with a Vampire, however.”

  “Maybe you were her plan all along,” Karen said softly. I looked up. I hadn’t thought of that.

  “My father loved her desperately. I’d hate to think that she used him for some sort of genetic purposes.”

  Karen wrinkled her nose. “Well, when you put it like
that.”

  “We’d better get going. Caleb and Bernard will be back soon.” I sighed and stood, offering her my hand. “Besides, I think Dylan and Maxim have been glaring at each other this whole time.”

  “That’s got to be exhausting for them,” she joked.

  But when we walked back to the house, they weren’t glaring at each other. They were talking in hushed tones. I couldn’t even hear it with my Vamp ears.

  “What the . . . ?”

  They looked up guiltily. Well, Dylan looked guilty and upset. Maxim gave me a challenging look.

  You’d better not be telling tales, Maxim.

  Now you have two sets of eyes on you. You aren’t going anywhere.

  I tried to act nonchalant about this, but it was hard.

  I never said I was definitely going. Just that I had to consider the option. To protect—

  “That’s not your job,” Maxim growled aloud. Karen looked back and forth between us. Dylan just looked miserable. I closed my eyes and begged Nightfall for mercy.

  “Oh, you guys are using your internal intercom system.”

  I stared at her and then burst out laughing.

  “Sorry, Kah. Force of habit.”

  But she didn’t seem to care. “So, are we doing this or what?”

  “Werewolf intervention time? Yeah.” I nodded. “Let’s go.”

  We took Dylan’s car with Maxim following on his bike. I knew it was instinctual to have his own exit plan. I was always ready to run. But I had a feeling it also had to do with not wanting to let Dylan be in charge, even for a split-second.

  I had a good feeling that Maxim really, really didn’t like that.

  Stupid Alpha bullshit.

  You wouldn’t understand.

  Yeah, yeah, I thought, feeling tired. Not physically tired. I was just emotionally drained.

  “Try humming. With your finger power. Or the steel box,” Karen offered out of the blue. I turned in the passenger seat to look at her.

  “Hum. I think the vibrations might increase your focus. I caught myself doing it several times last night.”

  “Last night?”

  “I tried every spell I could get my hands on.” She grinned.

  “Did you sleep at all?”

  “Nope. I don’t seem to need it.”