I lifted the edge of my glove to glance at the skin on my wrist—it was tight and red.
“I need more time to heal,” I told him. “I can only sneak out of the palace during the daylight hours, but the other vampires will be able to tell that I’ve been out in the sun if I don’t fully recover in between visits.”
“Two days, then,” he decided. “Will that be enough for you?”
“Yes,” I told him. “That will do.”
“Very well,” he said, his smoldering gaze not leaving mine. “It was nice to meet you, Princess Karina. I look forward to seeing you again.”
I just nodded and turned around, running back to the palace before I had a chance to say something I might regret.
Camelia
Laila’s tale of the fae haunted my mind, making it impossible to sleep. I hated the thought of seeking out creatures that would ask for such a huge sacrifice for the knowledge they shared.
The person Laila had been had practically died the moment she’d agreed to give all of her memories to the fae.
Could I do the same, if it came to it?
I wasn’t sure. Luckily, there was still time before the full moon, which was when I needed to make the decision. In the meantime, I teleported myself to the entrance of the Crystal Cavern—to the same place I’d stood where I’d sent those two humans to their deaths.
I breathed out in disappointment when I saw that it was still caved in. I didn’t know what I’d expected. I supposed I’d hoped that by some magical miracle, the entrance had opened back up. But no.
I don’t know what that girl had done when she was inside the cave, but whatever it was must have sealed the entrance.
Which meant that Geneva’s sapphire ring was sealed inside, too.
Laila had been clear that Geneva was the only witch in the world she would accept to take my place as the holder of the boundary of the Vale. If I didn’t get Geneva’s ring and give it to Laila, Laila would never turn me into a vampire. I would be forced to maintain the boundary of the Vale until the day I died. My eventual children would be forced to do the same.
The children that Laila will have forced me to have after having me breed with the most powerful male witch she could find.
Breed. As if I were something she owned. Which, I supposed, I was. I was a product of that same sort of breeding. I had no choice in helping the Vale—the same as my mother before me. She’d died an early death from the magical energy she’d had to expend day in and day out to keep the boundary strong.
It was the same fate that eventually awaited me. And escape certainly wasn’t an option. Leaving the Vale—and thus leaving it unprotected—would be treason. If I ran away, vampires would hunt me for the rest of my life.
I doubted it would be a long life.
There weren’t enough witches left after the Great War to keep me safe. And no other original vampire would dare turn me. Doing so would mean waging war against the Vale.
I kicked a nearby rock, frustration building in my veins. I was a prisoner here. Yes, I was given power and all the luxuries I could possibly want, but that was only because I played nice with Queen Laila. I’d even tried to seduce Jacen in the hope that he would fall for me and then want to speak on my behalf, but that had been a disastrous failure. The prince had made his disinterest in me abundantly clear.
The only way I could be free was if Laila willingly turned me into a vampire.
To get her to do that, I needed to give her Geneva’s sapphire ring.
And to get the ring, I needed to summon the fae.
Annika
“It’s you I want,” Jacen said as we danced, loudly enough for everyone looking upon us in the ballroom to hear. “It’s always been you, Annika.”
Then his lips were on mine, and I kissed him back, not caring that so many people were watching. We’d stopped dancing, and I was melting in his embrace as his lips fell into rhythm with mine. It was just like it had been back in the alley—the first time he’d kissed me.
Except that had been in hiding.
This time, everyone knew.
Eventually the kiss ended, and we broke apart from each other. Somehow, while we’d been kissing, everyone around us had disappeared. Now it was just the two of us, alone in the ballroom.
“You know who I am?” I asked, a lump forming in my throat at the realization that he’d been able to see through my disguise.
“Yes.” He smiled and caressed my cheek. “I’ve always known.”
Then his fangs slid out of his gums, and before I knew what was happening, they were puncturing my neck.
I screamed and screamed, begging him to stop, but he kept going. My insides felt like they were being ripped apart. I could feel the life force being sucked out of my body.
He wasn’t going to stop.
I was going to die.
I woke up panting. Sweat coated my body, and my covers were twisted around me.
It had been a dream. Just a dream.
Then how come I still felt like absolute crap?
My hair was sticking to my body, and I pulled it off, seeing the brown strands in my hand.
Brown.
Not red.
The transformation potion had worn off.
I needed to get out of bed, go to the lady’s maid room where Geneva was sleeping, and ask her for another vial of blood. But my entire body ached, and just moving slightly resulted in my groaning and pulling my legs up to my stomach in an attempt to feel better.
I felt like I’d been hit by a truck. The world looked blurry and dull. Everything sounded muted, as if I were underwater. The only thing that wasn’t dull was the incessant throbbing in my head. My stomach lurched again, and I swallowed down the urge to throw up, trying to breathe steady to control the pain.
Then someone knocked on the door.
Panic rushed through my veins. With the disguise worn off, if whoever it was came in, my cover would be blown.
“Don’t come in!” I yelled, forcing myself to speak through the pain. “I’m not decent!”
It was the best excuse I could come up with.
But it wasn’t going to hold them off forever. And so, I forced myself out of bed and trudged into the room connected to mine.
Geneva had also transformed overnight. Instead of appearing like a homely older lady, she was young again, with her short dark hair and bangs that made her look like a flapper girl from the twenties.
Which made sense, since she kind of did come straight from the twenties.
“Geneva,” I croaked her name, waking her up.
She stretched without opening her eyes, purring as if she were vacationing at a luxury spa instead of going undercover in the palace of the enemy. Finally she looked at me, and my appearance must have been jolting, because she sat straight up in bed at the sight.
“I need the vampire princess blood and transformation potion,” I said, since that was how this worked—she was only bound to do what I said if I commanded it. “Now.”
She vanished after I spoke the words, appearing seconds later with a vial of refrigerated blood in her hand.
I took it from her and downed it, as if it were a lifeline. It tasted slightly bitter—not sweet like when I’d drank from Jacen’s vein—but all that mattered was that it would do the job.
I finished it down to the very last drop.
Immediately, the sick feeling vanished from my body, and I felt strong and rejuvenated. My vision sharpened, and my hearing become clearer. It was like being a human was living in a world of black and white, and the vampire blood propelled me into a world of technicolor. I felt strong and aware.
It was yet another reminder of why I wanted to be a vampire and not a human.
I would be reminded of this every morning until I could get a vampire to turn me. Somehow, I would get one to turn me. I couldn’t live out the rest of my life as a weak human. What kind of life would that be, to always be hunted and helpless?
“Thanks.” I handed the
empty vial to Geneva, noticing that she’d also returned to her disguised form. “That was quick.”
“Blood can be stored in a refrigerator for over a month,” she told me. “I took care to mix up enough vials so you wouldn’t need to wait each morning.”
“Where are you keeping the blood?” I asked her, realizing for the first time how mysterious she was being about this process. “Who are you getting it from?”
“I’m keeping it in a safe place.” She tucked the empty vial into one of her pockets. “It’s a location that hasn’t been visited by anyone in decades. No one knows it exists anymore.”
The knock on the door sounded again, preventing me from questioning her further.
I glanced in the mirror—as expected, I’d returned to looking like the redhead—and ran to the door. Once there, I straightened and took a deep breath, taking care not to look frazzled despite the fact that I was still in my pajamas.
Princesses weren’t supposed to ever look frazzled… right?
Just before opening the door, I noticed something on the ground—a piece of paper. It was folded closed, but it looked like there was something red inside.
I opened it, sucking in a sharp breath at what I saw.
Inside were the words GO HOME in all capitals… written in what appeared to be blood.
Who’d sent this? I brought it to my nose and sniffed. The blood smelled sweet and fresh—it was from a human, not a vampire. Vampire blood smelled dull and plain compared to human blood. Since I was only disguised as a vampire, I didn’t crave human blood like a true vampire, but I could still distinguish the scent.
But the only humans in the palace were in the dungeons. They certainly had no means to get this note to me.
Which meant that a vampire in the palace had gone out of their way to get human blood to use for this note. And I had no idea if it had been there when I’d woken up or if it had been shoved through while I was in the room with Geneva.
The knock sounded again. “Princess Ana?” a voice called from the other side—Tess. “Is everything okay in there?”
“Fine.” I folded the note, stashed it inside a nearby drawer, and opened the door. “Sorry about that,” I said, smiling as I looked at Tess. She was, of course, wearing her all black vampire guard uniform.
“I thought you were getting dressed.” She looked disapprovingly at my wrinkled, sweaty pajamas. “The prince expects everyone at breakfast in fifteen minutes.”
My heart leaped at the mention of Prince Jacen, my mind instantly going back to the dream I’d had last night—to the part when he’d kissed me. Kissing him had felt so right.
But then he’d bitten me.
Even my unconscious mind knew he was dangerous. He might act kind to me and all the other princesses, but that’s all it was. An act.
He would have killed me if he’d had the chance.
Just like he’d killed me in my dream. Just like he’d killed all of those humans in the village after he’d been turned.
I couldn't let myself forget that he was a monster.
“Are you all right?” Tess looked at me in concern.
“Fine.” I forced a smile. “Just had a rough night sleep last night, that’s all.”
“Are your quarters uncomfortable?” She peered inside my room, focusing on the massive king sized canopy bed with a puzzled look on her face.
I understood her confusion—the bed was absolute heaven.
“Not at all!” I told her. “They’re fantastic. I’m sure it was just that I was adjusting to sleeping in a new room. Everything was wonderful.”
“Glad to hear it,” she said. “Now, hurry up and change. I heard a rumor that the prince eliminated one of the princesses last night…”
“Do you know who?” Possibilities swirled in my mind—maybe Tari or Darra? Jacen had looked rather repulsed when they’d requested to drink children’s blood at the ball. Or maybe it was Karina? Had his date with her gone that poorly?
“I don’t,” she told me. “I was simply relieved when I heard you in here, since it confirmed that it wasn’t you. Now… hurry up and get ready. Let’s get to breakfast so we can see which princess was eliminated.”
Stephenie
Darkness. Hunger. Despair.
That had been my life for the past… how long had it been? It felt like an eternity. But it couldn’t be that long. Days, maybe. A week?
I didn’t think it had been a month.
Then again, it was impossible to tell.
I cursed the moment my captor had injected me with wormwood and transported me to this wretched place. I’d been partying at the Tower, and had been drunk on tequila when it had happened, so how she’d managed to get so close to me was unclear. But she’d teleported me here, so I knew she had to be a witch.
What witch would do such a thing? All the witches with such strong power worked for vampire kingdoms. The few witches left in the wild—the ones who lived in the human world—didn’t have the type of power to pull off such a move.
The woman wore a cloak each time she visited the prison, but from what I’ve seen of her—her pale skin and short dark hair—she didn’t look like any witch I’d seen before.
I’d given up on trying to use what was left of my strength to fight my way out of this place. These cells were strong… almost like they’d been built to contain supernaturals. As for screaming for help, that didn’t work either.
When the irritating humans had been placed in the cells across from mine—the pretty redhead and the ugly older lady—they’d tried to scream for help, too.
I’d told them it wouldn’t work.
But it wasn’t their screaming that bothered me the most. It was the scent of their blood. Their deliciously sweet human blood that I could smell with every breath they took and every pump of their heart.
My body ached for their blood. I was usually excellent at controlling myself around humans… but not when I was starving. My veins were dry and dehydrated, and I felt so weak that I could barely move.
Now I just lay in my cell, staring hopelessly out at the humans that tortured me with their mere existence.
I would have thought I was going to die here… except that the witch wanted me for my blood. The humans had told me that she’d taken it from me each time she’d knocked me unconscious—which explained why I always felt like I’d been drained when I woke up. As for the reason why she wanted my blood, I had no idea.
I’d asked, of course.
She hadn’t told me.
I could only assume it was for a human. But most humans didn’t know that vampires existed. The ones who did were blood slaves, and we took care to keep the effects of our blood a secret from them. The ones who discovered the secret were simply compelled to forget.
Suddenly, she appeared out of nowhere—the witch. As always, she was dressed in a cloak, the hood pulled up over her head. She had a backpack slung over her shoulder, and I didn’t need to smell it to know what was inside. She brought the same thing daily.
She unzipped the pack and tossed a fresh squirrel corpse through the bars of my cell.
I dashed for the dead animal, consumed with hunger as I ripped into its flesh and sucked the rancid blood from its limp body. Once drained, I snapped its bones open, slurping up the marrow inside.
I only stopped when there was no trace of blood left.
“My family’s going to find me.” I sneered at the witch and dropped the dried, broken corpse on the ground, not bothering to wipe the excess blood from my face. “And once they do, they’re going to kill you.”
“They’re never going to find you,” she said in that strange accent of hers, as if she thought she was a Hollywood starlet from the twenties. “They have no idea you’ve been taken. They’re not even looking for you.”
Then she pulled out a tranquilizer gun, shot me with a dart of wormwood, and everything went dark.
I hope you enjoyed The Vampire Prince! The next book in the series will be releasing in fall 201
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Nicole Cassidy is a witch descended from the Greek gods... but she doesn't know it until she moves to a new town and discovers a dangerous world of magic and monsters that she never knew existed.
When the Olympian Comet shoots through the sky for the first time in three thousand years, Nicole and four others -- including mysterious bad-boy Blake -- are gifted with elemental powers. But the comet has another effect -- it opens the portal to another dimension that has imprisoned the Titans for centuries. After an ancient monster escapes, it's up to Nicole and the others to follow a cryptic prophecy in time to save the town... and possibly the world.
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Elementals: Chapter 1
The secretary fumbled through the stacks of papers on her desk, searching for my schedule. “Here it is.” She pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to me. “I’m Mrs. Dopkin. Feel free to come to me if you have any questions.”
“Thanks.” I looked at the schedule, which had my name on the top, and listed my classes and their locations. “This can’t be right.” I held it closer, as if that would make it change. “It has me in all honors classes.”
She frowned and clicked around her computer. “Your schedule is correct,” she said. “Your homeroom teacher specifically requested that you be in the honors courses.”
The Vampire Prince (The Vampire Wish Book 2) Page 15
