The Vampire Trick (Dark World: The Vampire Wish Book 3)

by Michelle Madow

  “Then Geneva dies too,” Camelia finished. “Of course.”

  “So let’s have a little fun while we wait for the ring to be found.” Laila stood up and removed a stake from where it had been strapped to her thigh under her skirt, zeroing back in on me. “You said you came here to kill me.” She slinked toward me, stopping when she was only an arm’s length away, and held the stake out toward me. “It would be a shame if you didn’t get a chance to try. So here’s your weapon. Let’s see what you can do.”

  She couldn’t be serious.

  But the intense way she was watching me made me feel like she was.

  “That’s a bit difficult, seeing as my hands are cuffed behind my back,” I said, holding my head high. I wasn’t stupid enough to think I could kill the vampire queen in this circumstance. So if this was how I was going to die—with Laila ramming a stake into my heart—then I at least wanted to take it with dignity.

  “I suppose that would be difficult—especially for a human.” Her eyes gleamed as she twirled the stake around in her hands, like it was a toy and not a weapon.

  “You’ve made your point,” Jacen said, his fists clenched atop the armrests. “We’re wasting our time here—time that could best be used for other things, like announcing my engagement to Princess Karina.” He took a moment to glare at Laila. “Why not keep the girl in the dungeons until you find the ring?”

  The girl. His words broke my heart. The way he referred to me was so vague, as if I meant nothing to him.

  Which I supposed made sense, given how much I’d lied to him. He had every reason to hate me.

  “I’ll be the one to decide when my point has been made.” Laila’s voice was tense, and she didn’t look at Jacen as she spoke. “Guards,” she said, and they snapped to attention. “Uncuff the human’s hands.”

  They did as she commanded.

  My first instinct was to reach for Geneva’s ring, but I stopped myself. Because that was probably what Laila expected me to do. If the ring was on me—which it was—she could count on me reaching for it. Then she would swoop in and take it from me before I had a chance to stop her.

  Once she had the ring, that stake would be in my heart before I could blink.

  I needed to hold her off. The longer I stalled, the more chances I would have to reach for the ring—without a vampire breathing down my throat ready to snatch it from me—and command Geneva to teleport me out of here.

  Laila waited for a few seconds, sizing me up before speaking again. “Take the stake,” she repeated, holding it out so it was right in front of my chest. “Do your best to kill me. Given that you’re at a disadvantage—being human and all—I’ll even do you a favor and stand still. I’ll be a sitting duck. It can’t get much easier than that, can it?”

  “You’re tricking me,” I said, since there was no way she would actually do that.

  “Am I?” She raised an eyebrow. “Why not take the stake and find out for yourself?”

  She had a point. This had to be a trick, but what else did I have to lose? This was why I’d come here—to kill Laila. I wasn’t going to get another chance.

  I might as well take the one in front of me.

  I took the stake from Laila and held it in my hand. It was heavier than I’d expected—or maybe I just wasn’t used to the weakness that came with being back in my human form.

  Then, not wanting to allow myself to overthink this for a second longer, I raised the stake and plunged it straight into Laila’s heart.

  Annika

  The vampire queen’s eyes went wide, and she disintegrated into a pile of ashes.

  Warmth rushed through me—starting from my hand holding the stake, and traveling through my entire body. I felt alight with it—alight with power. The warmth wasn’t just something I felt outside, either. My skin glowed with it, casting its light on everything around me before finally dying down. Then my vision sharpened, easily matching the heightened vision I’d had after drinking vampire blood, and my hearing amplified. Everything was crisper and more intense.

  My veins buzzed with a need I’d never felt before. A need to fight. Along with a confidence that I had the power to win.

  “Nephilim,” Camelia whispered, backing away from me in shock.

  The vampire guard closest to me moved to me, ready to grab the stake, but I thrust it into his heart at the same time as I kicked the guard behind me in a place I knew it would hurt. The third guard lunged for me, but I jammed the stake in his chest before he had a chance to touch me. Then I turned to the final guard—the one who was still hunched over from my kicking him in the balls—and drove the stake through his back, straight into his heart.

  The guards were all dead. But their bodies were still in tact, scattered in a circle around me. The only one who had turned to ash was Laila. I half expected her to rise from the ashes—like a phoenix—but nothing happened.

  Her remains were still.

  In the time I’d been fighting, Camelia had run up to the thrones where Jacen and Karina were standing. They all stared at me in shock, and Camelia had a phone to her ear. I could just make out the end of the conversation, where she repeated the word “Nephilim” and ordered guards to come to the throne room—now.

  I met Jacen’s eyes—there was so much I wanted to say to him. I wanted to explain everything from my perspective so he could understand everything I’d done.

  But if I stayed, I was putting my life at risk. I didn’t know how I’d taken down those three guards, but surely Camelia had sent for many more than that.

  Whatever had happened to me when I’d staked Laila had somehow made me strong enough to fight vampires, but despite this newfound strength, I doubted I could take down an army of guards. I needed to be smart. I needed to stay alive.

  Regret filled my chest as I reached into my hidden pocket and pulled out the sapphire ring, still holding the stake with my other hand. This weapon had saved my life. I had no intention of ever letting it go.

  I rubbed the sapphire and out came Geneva.

  Her eyes widened at the scene surrounding us, horror filling them when she saw the pile of ashes on the floor.

  “Take me to the Haven,” I commanded her. “Now.”

  She blinked and we were gone.

  Karina

  Laila was dead.

  The human girl—no, the Nephilim—had killed her.

  King Nicolae was never going to forgive me.

  The king was in love with Laila. No—he was obsessed with Laila. He’d sent me here to assist the wolves in bringing down the Vale so that once Laila was weakened, he could swoop in and bring her with him to the Carpathian Kingdom.

  Laila’s dying throughout all of this hadn’t been something we’d thought possible. Because the Nephilim were dead. They’d been slaughtered—every last one of them—in the Great War.

  The blood oath I’d made with Nicolae said that once the Vale was destroyed and Laila was in the Carpathian Kingdom, Nicolae would allow me a wish on Geneva’s sapphire ring. He’d been so confident that Laila had the ring.

  Not only had he been wrong, but because I was no longer able to complete my part of the promise, the blood oath we’d made was null and void.

  If I returned to the Carpathian Kingdom and told Nicolae what had just happened, he would lose his mind. He couldn’t think straight when it came to Laila. He might even blame me for her death.

  With a sinking feeling, I realized I could never go back to my home. Once Nicolae learned that Laila had died under my watch, I would never be welcomed there again.

  When the girl removed the ring and rubbed it, I ran for her. But I wasn’t fast enough.

  She—and Geneva—blinked out of the room before I could reach them.

  The guards burst through the doors seconds later.

  “Where is she?” their leader asked, scanning the area. “Where’s the Nephilim?”

  “She’s gone,” I said, and then I bolted out of the throne room, not looking back.

  K
arina

  There was so much commotion in the palace that it was easy for me to leave. And for those who gave me a hard time—well, that was where compulsion came in handy.

  Once out of the palace, I ran through the woods, past the boundary, and straight to the wolves’ camp.

  A wolf guard stopped me at the perimeter, sniffed me, and then shifted into human form. “Daria,” he said the false name I’d given the last time I’d been here. “The vampire who’s helping our Savior rise. What do you need?”

  “I need to speak with Noah,” I said calmly. “The First Prophet.”

  I didn’t think there were any other Noah’s in the pack, but one never knew.

  The guard led me through camp, where the wolves were cleaning up from dinner, forging weapons, and practicing fighting. Campfires lit up the night. There were more wolves around than there had been last time—their numbers were growing. A few of them glared at me and growled, but they were quickly hushed by wolves who explained to them who I was.

  Noah was sitting on top of a picnic table, surrounded by children who appeared enraptured by whatever he was saying.

  He stopped mid-sentence when he saw me.

  “What happened?” he asked, his eyes full of concern.

  I looked down at my dress, understanding his worry. I was wearing my nicest morning dress, and the hem was dirty and torn from my run through the woods. I’d always changed into appropriate clothing whenever I’d met him at the boundary—the fact that I hadn’t changed this time must have made it apparent that I was running from something.

  “I need to speak with you.” I raised my chin and kept my voice calm, trying to remain as dignified as possible. The last thing I wanted was to bring any more attention to myself than I already had. “Alone.”

  He led me to a tent near the end of camp and let me in, following and zipping up the flap behind us. The inside of the tent was sparse, with a cloth folding chair, a sleeping bag, and an extra set of clothes.

  I shuddered at the realization that this was his home.

  “Please, sit,” he said, motioning to the chair. “And make sure to keep your voice down. Wolves have better hearing than vampires.”

  I situated myself in the chair, doing my best to make myself comfortable. He sat cross-legged on top of the sleeping bag.

  “Laila’s dead,” I whispered, unable to keep it in any longer.

  “What?” His eyes widened. “That’s impossible. She’s an original vampire. She can’t be killed.”

  “She can be killed,” I told him. “By the Nephilim.”

  From there, I told him everything that had happened in the throne room earlier. He took it in stride, letting me talk without interrupting.

  “You forgot to explain one thing,” he said once I was done.

  “What?” I asked.

  “That ring on your finger.”

  I glanced down at my hand, my eyes locking on the gigantic diamond I’d been wearing all morning.

  “It’s nothing.” I ripped the ring from my finger and threw it onto the ground. “With Princess Ana exposed, Laila came to my room at sunset and told me that I was the only princess left in the running. She gave me the ring and instructed me to wear it to the throne room so Jacen knew that he was to marry me.”

  “The prince never proposed?” Noah asked.

  “No,” I said. “Although he’d been told of Princess Ana’s betrayal hours earlier, so he wasn’t too surprised to find me wearing the ring. The biggest surprise he had was when Camelia revealed Ana’s true form. He’d been told that Ana was an impostor using a transformation potion—and vampire blood—to pretend to be someone she wasn’t, but he didn’t know her real identity until Camelia injected her with the counter-potion. Apparently she was someone he knew.”

  “So you’re not going to marry him?” Noah glanced at the discarded ring once more.

  “Of course not,” I said. “I can’t return to the Vale. Once King Nicolae hears of Laila’s demise, he’ll blame me and come for me. The Vale will be one of the first places he’ll look.”

  “I’ll protect you.” Noah’s eyes flashed with a fierceness stronger than I’d ever seen in him. “I know we just met, and I know that our kind have hated each other for centuries, but I won’t let anything happen to you, Karina. You have my word as the First Prophet of the wolves.”

  “Thank you.” Warmth filled my chest at how much I knew he meant it. “But I need more than protection. I need your help.”

  “You need only to ask.” He moved closer to me, resting his hand on top of mine. “I’ll do everything in my power to help you. Just let me know what you need.”

  “I need to track down the Nephilim girl,” I told him, determination racing through me as my eyes met with his. “So I can steal Geneva’s sapphire ring.”

  Marigold

  I stood on top of the table, surrounded by children gazing up at me adoringly.

  “Our Savior sees us, He’s watching out for us, and He’s ready to rise!” I said, looking at each of them as I spoke. They sat attentively, leaning forward as they clung to my every word. “He’s ready to bring peace to the wolves. After centuries of fighting, our time has finally come. With our Savior leading us, we’ll find happiness and prosperity. But what needs to happen in order for Him to help us?”

  A young girl raised her hand, and I pointed at her to speak.

  “The vampires of the Vale need to leave,” she said with a smile.

  “More than leave,” the boy next to her said, his eyes narrowed and angry. “They need to die.”

  “Yes.” I smiled at the boy. “They must die. All of them must die. We must spill their blood over the land they stole from your ancestors centuries ago. This will show our Savior that we’re not just ready for Him—but that we’ll fight for Him! Once we prove our loyalty, He’ll rise and bring us enlightenment that no supernatural race has ever seen before.”

  My voice spoke the words, but inside I was screaming. I was trapped—an observer inside the shell of my possessed body.

  I’d tried to break free. I’d cursed at the demon that possessed me. I’d willed my boyfriend—Cody—to look into my eyes and see that this wasn’t really me.

  It was hopeless. The demon had access to my body and my mind. He knew so much about me that he’d been able to pretend to be me. I hadn’t known the wolves for long enough—not even Cody—for any of them to notice how I’d changed.

  When Princess Karina had come to the boundary to see Noah, and the demon had spoken to her through my lips, I’d thought she might question how much I’d changed. This person—this fanatic—that the demon was making me out to be was nothing like my true self.

  All the time that I’d lived at the Carpathian Kingdom, I’d been quiet and even-tempered. I wasn’t someone who would call for the extermination of an entire kingdom.

  Yet, they’d all fallen for the words of the demon. They’d fallen so easily. They were so desperate to believe that a Savior existed who would bring them everything they wanted that they’d clung onto the possibility, not daring to question it.

  I continued to speak to the children, brainwashing them. The entire time, I screamed and screamed inside my body. I clawed at my skin from the inside. But of course, it was no use.

  I was trapped, unable to reveal the truth.

  Because what was coming wasn’t their Savior.

  What was coming would kill them all.

  I hope you enjoyed The Vampire Trick! I’m working on the next book in the series, The Vampire Fate, and will get it out to you as soon as possible – I’m aiming for October/November 2017.

  Pre-order The Vampire Fate now to get it automatically delivered to your Kindle on release day! To pre-order, CLICK HERE.

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  While you wait for The Vampire Fate, I thought you might want to check out the box set of my completed Elementals series. Check out
the cover, description, and sneak peak (you might need to turn the page to see the cover.)

  USA TODAY called Elementals a "must read!"

  This box set includes all five books in the USA Today recommended Elementals series and is over 1,400 pages of magic, adventure, mythology, and romance.

  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.

  "Harry Potter meets Percy Jackson with an added twist of teenage angst, hormones, and uncertainty... I am officially HOOKED!" -Kim T., Goodreads Reviewer

  CLICK HERE to grab it now!

  You can also turn the page to get a sneak peak of Elementals :)

  Elementals: Chapter One

  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.”