Then there was a movement from inside.
Daisy—the young vampire who had cleaned my quarters when I’d stayed at the Vale—crawled out from under the bed. Her eyes widened when she saw me, and she hurried to the window to unlock it.
“Princess Karina!” She smiled, opening the window to let me inside. “I thought it sounded like you. I didn’t want to come out when I heard the banging, but then I heard your voice. I’ve been so worried ever since hearing that you disappeared from the palace! Where have you been this entire time?”
I scooted inside, my heart dropping as she spoke.
The poor girl didn’t realize that we weren’t on the same side.
“Where are Prince Scott and Princess Stephenie?” I asked, since I was unable to answer any of her questions—at least without my answers being lies.
“They’re in the throne room,” she said. “It’s the safest room in the palace. You should go there, too.”
“Why aren’t you there?” I asked.
“No staff allowed.” She shrugged. “Only royal vampires and their guards.”
She went to re-lock the window, but I reached for her, stopping her.
“What?” she asked. “We can’t leave any of the windows unlocked. Not when the wolves are so close.”
“I’ve brought others with me.”
Daisy’s smile brightened. “Has the Carpathian Kingdom come to fight for the Vale?” she asked. “Have you come to save us?”
As I led her away from the open window, guilt wracked my chest at how much she trusted me. I hated turning on my own species. Especially when so many of them were innocents like Daisy.
But Daisy had let me in—maybe the wolves wouldn’t kill her. Perhaps I could convince them to let her go. She’d need to leave the Vale—no more vampires could remain on this land for the Savior to rise—but maybe she could still join Prince Alexander.
How could she possibly get to him? What used to be the vampire boundary was surrounded by wolves. If she ran, she’d be killed.
There had to be something I could do…
“They’re waiting for my signal,” I told her. “But I don’t want them to see you. Can you hide under the bed again?”
“Why can’t they see me?” she asked.
“They might want you to help fight,” I said the first lie that popped into my mind. “And you don’t know how to fight, do you?”
“No.” She hung her head, looking ashamed. “I don’t.”
“That’s what I thought.” I motioned to under the bed. “Go. Quickly.”
She didn’t look convinced, but she still lowered herself to the floor, scooting back underneath the bed.
I fixed up the bed skirt, flattening it so no one would be able to tell that it had just been messed with. Once satisfied, I placed my backpack down and unzipped it, pulling out a long rope.
Wolves couldn’t jump as high as vampires, which was why the back of the palace had been unguarded. Naturally, Scott had placed all of the guards at the location the wolves could get in from—the main entrance. Why waste the limited guards they had on the back when it was impossible for the wolves to not only jump so high, but also impossible for supernaturals to break the glass?
I looked down at the rope in my hands and took a deep breath. After all my decades of living, I never imagined I would have ended up here.
But one glance back down at the wolves—at Noah—reminded me what I was fighting for. This wasn’t just a pack—it was my pack.
Plus, if I didn’t help them now, I would surely die.
I headed to the window and tossed the rope down, holding the end to keep it supported.
Noah was the first to shift into his human form and climb up. Once inside, he looked around, his eyes bulging as he took in the extravagance of the room. I couldn’t blame him—the canopied bed, carved wooden furniture, Turkish rug, and crystal chandelier were a different world from his rugged tent at camp.
“This is where you lived?” he asked, his mouth dropping open in shock.
“This was where I stayed as a visiting princess to the Vale.” I lifted my chin, purposefully trying to sound as snobbish as possible in an attempt to make a joke of it. “You should have seen my quarters in the Carpathian Kingdom. Or maybe not—King Nicolae wouldn’t be too happy to have a wolf drooling on his floor.”
Noah closed his mouth, returning once more to the fierce fighter I knew. “The Savior better bring all the prosperity He promised, because we have a lot to live up to,” he said.
“I’m sure he will,” I said, mainly because I hoped he would.
It was hard enough to imagine living with a pack of wolves, let alone living in a camp. I had to consciously keep myself from shuddering at the thought.
“Where’d the vampire go?” he asked. “The one who let you in?”
“I compelled her to return to her room and forget she saw me.” The guilt in my chest grew as I lied to Noah.
“Why didn’t you take care of her yourself?”
“I couldn’t.” I lowered my eyes, glad that at least I didn’t have to lie this time. “I knew her when I was staying at the Vale—she’s innocent and kind. I was hoping that maybe, if there’s a way we could figure out to get her to Prince Alexander, she could be spared. After all, she helped me by opening the window, and she told me where Prince Scott and Princess Stephenie are.”
“She helped you because she thought you were on her side.” He placed a finger under my chin and lifted my eyes back up to meet his. “Do you think she would have helped if she knew where your allegiances truly lie?”
“No.” It took all of my self-control to resist glancing at the bed to make sure she wasn’t going to give away her location. Instead, I focused on Noah’s eyes—his deep, trusting eyes.
I wished I could believe as strongly as he did that the vampires of the Vale needed to die. But I didn’t.
And it was too late to turn back now.
“The others are waiting.” Noah pulled away from me and faced the window. “Where are the prince and princess?”
“In the throne room,” I answered. “I can lead us there.”
He gave the others a thumbs up and held the rope steady.
One by one, the wolves climbed through the window to join us. Soon, they were all up—each one of them was as amazed with the luxurious quarters as Noah had been. They still hadn’t shifted back to wolf form, and many of them were wandering around, touching and examining everything they could.
“Prince Scott and Princess Stephenie are in the throne room,” Noah said, making eye contact with as many wolves as he could. “We need to go there at once. Princess Karina will lead us. Kill all the vampires who get in our way.”
“Wait.” A wolf examining the carved canopy bed paused and gave a long, deep sniff. “I smell vampire.”
Karina
My breath caught at the realization that he’d smelled Daisy. The wolves’ sense of smell wasn’t as heightened in human form—I’d been hoping they wouldn’t be able to tell her scent from mine.
“You smell me.” I rolled my eyes, as if he were being ridiculous. “Or am I already so accepted into the pack that you’ve forgotten I’m a vampire?”
He eyed up the bed and kneeled down, sniffing near the bottom of it. “It’s not you I smell,” he said, and then he reached for the bed skirt, pulling it up. “It’s her.”
He and the wolf next to him reached under the bed and dragged out Daisy, each of them holding onto one of her arms. She was kicking and screaming, and she looked at me with wild, terrified eyes. She didn’t have to speak for me to know what she was thinking.
How could you have betrayed your own kind?
One of the other wolves broke the rod holding up the canopied bed and shoved the makeshift stake through Daisy’s heart.
She dropped to the floor, dead.
“You knew she was there.” The wolf that had killed Daisy glared at me while pointing at her corpse. “You betrayed us.”
I opened my mout
h to speak, but no words came.
“Karina didn’t betray us.” Noah stepped in front of me and held his arms out, protecting me. “She let me know the girl was hiding there before you all came up. That girl was the informant who’d told us the whereabouts of Prince Scott and Princess Stephenie. She’d been compelled to stay there and say nothing until we returned to take care of her.” He glanced at Daisy’s corpse in irritation. “Which would have been much quieter than the ruckus you caused just now. Were you trying to let every vampire in the palace know we’re here?”
I stepped up to Noah’s side and gave him a single nod, hoping he could see the gratefulness in my eyes. Then I turned to the men. “As it is now, we have no time to waste,” I said, quickly jumping back into the role of leader of the pack. “Once we reach the throne room, wait for my command to kill the prince and princess. As royal vampires, they deserve to know what they’re dying for.”
A few of the wolves mumbled words that I didn’t quite pick up.
“Did you all hear the princess?” Noah asked, glaring at them.
“Yes.” They stood at attention when their First Prophet spoke.
“Will you do as she requests?”
“Yes,” they said, although many didn’t look happy to say it.
“Good.” I tried to ignore the sinking feeling in my gut that after this war was over, I might never be able to live with myself. “Shift—now. I’ll lead you to the throne room.”
The wolves did as I commanded, and I took one last regretful look at Daisy’s still body before flinging open the doors and sprinting down the hall.
Karina
The wolves tore through any vampires who got in our way. Like expected, there weren’t many vampire guards stationed inside the palace. They were mostly outside, guarding the entrance.
Despite having my sword at my side, I had yet to use it to fight. The wolves were able to attack the vampires quickly enough that I didn’t need to.
I had yet to kill any vampires during this war.
At least the wolves were strong enough fighters to do the dirty work for me. And luckily, most of the vampire nobles and staff had the common sense to stay inside their rooms. But hiding wouldn’t buy them much time. Because after taking care of the royals, the wolves were coming for every last vampire in the palace.
This was only the beginning of the bloodshed to come.
Finally, after leaving corpses of vampire guards in our wake, we approached the double-door entrance to the throne room. The room was located deep inside the palace—if I hadn’t sneaked the wolves inside through the back, it would have been much harder to reach.
I pushed open the door, finding Scott and Stephenie sitting on the two thrones. They wore their crowns on their heads and were dressed like they were ready for a fancy ball—Scott in a tuxedo and Stephenie in a radiant red gown.
They weren’t waiting to fight.
They were waiting to die.
Shock registered on their faces when they saw me. I must have looked quite the sight as I entered with a pack of wolves on my heels.
I held my hands down, and as requested, the wolves refrained from attacking. But I could hear their snarls behind me—they were ready to kill.
“Princess Karina,” Scott said in disdain. “When you ran off after Queen Laila’s death, we assumed you’d returned to the Carpathian Kingdom. But if you’d returned, you would have told King Nicolae of the queen’s death, and he would have been enraged. When we didn’t hear from him, we asked around and learned you’d been spotted at the Haven. It seemed unlikely that you’d chosen to live such a modest life there, but I could accept it as true. However, I must admit that this—you working with these animals—is quite the shock.”
“Especially since you hate the wolves,” Stephenie spat. “The shifters killed the love of your life. Now you’re working with them. You’re even more disgusting than they are.”
I flinched at the mention of the love of my life—she must be referring to the “Peter” that Noah had told me about.
But I couldn’t let myself think about the man I didn’t remember. Right now, I could only think about the facts of why I was here.
“Prince Alexander told both of you about the wolves’ visions of their Savior—he told all the citizens of the Vale,” I said. “He told you that if you didn’t leave, you would die. Yet, you remain here. Why?”
Scott turned his nose up at me. “I can’t explain loyalty to someone who has none,” he said, his eyes empty and cold. “Right, sister?”
Stephenie frowned, refusing to look at her brother. “No.” She sounded small and meek, despite her fancy gown and jewels. “Princess Karina may not be right in turning on her own kind, but you weren’t right in staying here, either. We should have gone with our brother. I didn’t go with him because I was afraid. But Alexander was right—it’s better to fear an uncertain future than to have no future at all.”
I took a sharp breath inward, not having expected her to say that.
Scott stood from his throne to tower in front of Stephenie. “What was that?” he seethed, his hand wrapped around the hilt of his sword.
“We should have gone with Alexander.” She stared up at him defiantly. “More than that, we should have made Alexander the acting king—not you. Maybe if he’d been king, we wouldn’t be about to be ripped apart by wild animals.”
“Oh, don’t worry, sister,” he said. “I have no intention of letting you be ripped apart by animals.”
He raised his sword and ran it through her heart, pinning her to the back of her throne.
The princess’s eyes glazed over, but she remained upright, her tiara still balanced perfectly on her head.
Even in death, Stephenie was beautiful.
Scott stepped away, although he left his sword where it was, sliced straight through his sister’s chest. “Well?” He turned to face me, raising an eyebrow. “Are you just going to stand there, or are you going to tell your dogs to rip my head off?”
I didn’t bother giving the wolves the signal.
Instead, I rushed for Scott and raised my sword, getting a clean strike through his neck.
His head rolled to the ground, his body crumpling to the floor.
I don’t know how long I stood there staring at him before someone took my hand in his. Noah.
“You’re shaking,” he said, pulling me toward him.
“You need to shift back to your wolf form,” I said, still staring at Scott’s remains. “You can defend yourself best in your wolf form.”
“We’ve taken down all the guards in the palace.” He raised his hand to my face and forced me to look at him, his eyes deep and caring as he gazed into mine. “The vampires that remain are all cowering in their rooms, so there’s no more immediate threat. Right now, you need me—in my human form.”
His lowered his lips to mine, and I melted into his kiss, squeezing my eyes shut and pulling him closer. I didn’t care that the other wolves were watching. I just kissed Noah like his touch could erase the horrors I’d helped create.
It didn’t help. I wanted it to, but I felt nothing.
I felt empty.
What had I done?
Annika
“To get to the mountain, we’ll have to go through all the fighting in town,” Jacen said. “It would be much faster if you could teleport us there.”
“I can try,” I said, although after my failed attempt to bring us to the palace, I wasn’t sure.
“A wise man once said—do or do not, there is no try.”
“Did you just quote Star Wars?” I chuckled, although my heart panged at the memory of my brother. Grant used to quote that exact same line.
“You bet I did.” He stepped closer and took my hands in his. “Now, are you ready to do this?”
“I am,” I said. “But there’s no place to hide at the top of the mountain. The moment we get there, we need to be ready to fight. Any delay could cost us our lives.”
“Got it.” Jacen wa
tched me intently, waiting for me to bring us there.
I took a deep breath, not feeling ready in the slightest. Everything since the moment I’d killed Laila had happened so quickly that I’d barely had time to process what I was about to do. I was about to kill a demon.
How could someone ever feel ready for that?
Then I remembered what Rosella and Emmanuel had told me—this was my destiny. If a psychic vampire and an angel believed in me, then I must be able to do this. Plus, if I didn’t do this, the whole world would be at the mercy of the demons.
I refused to let that happen.
I pictured the top of the mountain—I’d only been there once, when Camelia had taken me to retrieve Geneva’s sapphire ring. The peak was above the tree line, so it was just a gaping cave amongst an endless amount of snow. I thought about how I wanted to transport us straight there, and how I couldn’t mess up—getting us there could mean the end of this war.
My stomach dropped—I didn’t think I’d ever be able to get used to the sensation of teleporting—and the air around me became colder, the ground softer. Snow.
I opened my eyes and saw two wolves running toward us. But we readied our weapons, and in seconds, the wolves were dead at our feet, the snow turning red from their blood.
Slow clapping echoed from nearby.
I spun around and saw a pale, frail girl with delicate features and long brown hair. She looked like a young teen. She wore the same animal pelt clothing as the wolves, and had a sword and dagger strapped to her sides.
But she didn’t move to attack. She just tilted her head and gave us a close-lipped smile.
“Samael,” I said, since I was truly speaking to the demon possessing her—not to the girl she truly was.
“What?” Confusion passed over her features—if I didn’t know better, I would have believed that she didn’t know what I was talking about. “My name is Marigold.”
“That might be Marigold’s body, but you’re Samael,” I said. “Emmanuel told me all about you before sending me here to end you. The game is up. It’s time for you to raise your sword and fight.”
The Vampire Wish: The Complete Series (Dark World) Page 67
