I smiled and raised my glass in response as he raised his as well. Once we had sipped from our goblets, my uncle took his seat once more, and the chatter slowly resumed.
“So, what have you learned so far, Niece?” my uncle asked, as he removed his mask so he could eat.
“While we were getting ready, Kyra was showing me phone cells and how to view images,” I replied, trying to be as polite as possible until I found people I could trust at court.
“Good, you’ll need to master more than just a cell phone if you want to survive in today’s world. Our world has changed much. Now people are able to record us, and some even seek us out.” He shoved a bite of steak into his mouth. Of course I’d call the damn thing by a slightly incorrect name, and he hadn’t hesitated to point it out.
“Seek us out?” I asked in surprise, unable to stop my mouth before my curiosity spilled out.
The smirk that crossed his face was enough to tell me that he’d received the reaction he’d been hoping for from me. I wasn’t sure why he wanted me off balance, but I didn’t like it.
In most uncouth behavior, he began to talk with his mouth full, letting me see the half-chewed steak sitting there while he said, “Vampires have become a bit of a hot topic these days. The lower class has even gone so far as to create themed areas that serve as clubs where humans go to dance and drink. They are places where our lower-class citizens can feed on willing donors. It’s made everything much more civil in a way.” He added the last part in a wistful tone.
“How interesting,” I said, being the very essence of a polite princess.
The two of us ate in silence for the rest of the meal. I was thankful there was no one to my right, so I didn’t have to make any other awkward conversation. As the meal came to a close, I could feel my true hunger coming back. Waking up from the black sleep often took weeks to recover from in terms of hunger. I happened to think it was why my family had always made the other noble families reaffirm their loyalty.
When my uncle had finished his dessert, he called to the kitchen staff to start clearing away plates. It didn’t matter that other people were still eating. The staff hurriedly obeyed his command and left without a word as soon as everything was done.
My uncle stood and turned to me. I rose uncertainly next to him as he extended his hand while staff hurried forward to move the grand chairs we had been sitting on to the front of the table. Having no other choice, I took it. His skin was cold and clammy under my own, and it made me curious as to why he was denying himself the food his body so obviously needed. Before I could remark on it, he said, “Leave it,” as he nodded to the mask in my hand. He walked us around to the chairs so we could face the rest of the room, making sure he stood in front of the one that resembled a throne.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please send the chosen representatives from your house up to pledge your renewed loyalty to my family.”
Murmurs shifted through the crowd, and slowly, chairs were pushed back. Two people stood from each table. All of them made their way to the front of the room to form a line in front of us. Thankfully they had all removed their masks, just like my uncle and myself, which was a relief since I didn’t want to feed from someone I couldn’t really see. My stomach growled at the buffet my uncle had just placed in front of me, but in this moment, maintaining control was more important than ever before. I had to show that I not only could control my impulses but that I had restraint and appreciation for those about to feed me.
“Thank you for offering yourselves to the princess. I’m sure she is grateful for the sustenance you will provide her with as you pledge yourself to her. Aren’t you, my dear?” my uncle asked as he turned to me.
I wanted to slap the smug smile off his face. He was taking my words, taking the situation out of my control and twisting it to suit his own purpose, which clearly was to keep power. I could tell, even after such a short time, that he would never willingly give me the throne. He had betrayed my parents and our family. My mother would curse him if she were still alive, and my father would slaughter him where he sat if he were awake. My mother was dead and my father slept, though, unable to be woken, and while the two of them would have had the will of the people behind them, I was a new queen and needed to earn their trust before I could take what was rightfully mine from my uncle. The only hope I had for what was about to transpire was that one of the representatives might be a passable consort, at least taste wise, so I wouldn’t have to deal with searching for someone to feed from on top of everything else.
“Would the representatives from the Grosvenor family come forward?”
I had to school my face as two sniveling teen boys came forward, leering at me as though I were a piece of meat.
“Blair, may I introduce you to Claude and Jerome?”
“Pleasure,” I said with a smile that I knew didn’t reach my eyes.
As was customary, the boys knelt in front of me with their right hands outstretched. I gently pulled on Jerome’s hand and exposed his wrist, watching Claude’s hand drop in my peripheral vision. A nervous thrill went through me that made my fangs ache with need for a brief moment. Neither of these young men were what I needed, but custom dictated that I feed from them.
I pulled the shirt sleeve away from Jerome’s wrist and bit into his flesh, his blood pouring into my mouth as I quickly gulped it down and withdrew. I licked the wound, and the marks my fangs had made had closed before I had even released him. Claude extended his hand, and I repeated the gesture, taking a quick sip and releasing as soon as possible.
“Would the Cadogen family representatives step forward?” my uncle called.
A young man and a woman stepped forward, and my uncle introduced them as Lloyd and Grace. Both of them looked terrified, which reminded me how much I hated this custom sometimes. They knelt before me, and I repeated the same gesture with them as I had with Claude and Jerome.
“Weston family representatives, you’re up,” my uncle said, already seeming to be tired of this activity, which was supposed to honor not only me but the families’ representatives as well.
Again, a woman and a man stepped forward. They were both younger, but not so young that I felt strange taking blood from them. My uncle hurriedly introduced them as Ernest and Elizabeth. With two quick bites, they were sampled and sent on their way.
“The Reuben family?”
Harry and Ella were at least my age, and I was happy to see them once more. Again, a quick bite on each of their wrists and I was done. The amount that my stomach could hold was becoming rather obvious as I began to feel like a water balloon.
“Ashley?” my uncle called out, not even bothering to form a complete sentence.
As soon as the two men stepped forward, I felt their eyes on me—well, one set, at least. The other didn’t have the courage to look up from the floor and blindly followed behind his brother.
“Blair, you remember Colt and Edward, don’t you? It’s good to see you again, boys,” my uncle said, smiling and gesturing to each man in turn before he slapped Edward, who looked like he was twelve, on the shoulder hard enough that he almost fell over.
“Vaguely,” I responded, trying not to offend the men standing in front of me with the fact that I had no clue who they were.
“I suppose they weren’t in the same social circles you were back then, being new money and all,” my uncle said, digging at what was obviously a point of contention between the Ashley family and my uncle; at least, if Colt’s reaction was anything to go by.
The big man tensed as he stared daggers at my uncle. When his eyes turned to me, they were full of the same hatred, if a little less. As the brothers knelt in front of me, Colt’s eyes only drifted to the floor for a second before he was watching me again. His gaze was more than intense—it was heated, or at least, it was making me flush. When I was awake last, men didn’t look at women like that, and my body didn’t react the way it was in that moment.
Chapter Three
Blair
Colt’s hands were extended toward me, so I took them. His skin was warm and dry, telling me he was well fed. I slid my fingers along his wrist, pulling the material of his shirt sleeve back far enough to leave room for my mouth. My fangs ached like I was newly turned. Hunger burned within me even though for the last couple hours or so, I’d been doing nothing but eating.
As I lowered my head to his wrist, I was conscious of his eyes on me the whole time. The quiet noise he made when I sank my fangs into his skin was enough to make me want to find out more about him and why he responded that way to my bite.
His blood coursed into my mouth and was sweeter than chocolate. My whole body roared to life with hunger, and I drank more and more of him until I felt a hand on my shoulder. I had closed my eyes at some point, and when I opened them, I found Colt watching me, looking paler than he should.
“Sorry,” I said as I pulled away. I felt warm and fuzzy inside, something I hadn’t felt since I was human. I had even concluded that it was something vampires just couldn’t feel. Apparently, I was wrong.
“No apologies necessary, Your Highness,” he said as I licked the wound and watched it close.
I turned to his brother, who looked terrified of me and kept glancing at his brother. As I pulled his wrist to my mouth, I braced for the sweetness of his blood to hit my tongue. Instead, what I tasted was sour, metallic, everything that blood shouldn’t be to a vampire. I started coughing as soon as I swallowed, and licked the wound closed while I tried to get control of myself.
“Are you okay, Princess?” Colt asked.
I nodded and tried to suppress my cough.
The Ashley brothers walked away, and my uncle just stared at me as though I’d grown a second head. A split second later, he snapped himself out of it and called out, “Hopefully the Bransen family representatives haven’t lost their nerve after that little display.”
Two brothers again stepped toward me. “Princess,” the first man said as he bowed deeply, cutting off my uncle’s introduction. “I’m Gage, and this is James.” He gestured to himself and then to his brother next to him.
Gage’s inky hair and dark eyes were only highlighted by the dark stubble that covered his upper lip and chin. The close-cut black suit he was wearing was enough to hint at the muscular frame that lay underneath, which made all kinds of inappropriate images race through my mind.
As though he could read my thoughts, the man’s dusky pink lips quirked up into a smile that made me want to devour him in more ways than one. All the lustful thoughts I was having were unusual and I had to assume were part of the reawakening process. I just had to be patient, and they would stop. I hoped. Otherwise, I might do something scandalous. I hoped Kyra would have advice on this since she had seen multiple vampires come out of the black sleep.
Gage and James were kneeling in front of me, and it was only when my uncle cleared his throat that I remembered what I was supposed to be doing. I smiled sheepishly at Gage and James, the latter of which seemed completely uninterested in whatever was going on.
I took the older brother’s outstretched hand and moved my fingers over his olive skin as I peeled back the cuff of the shirt. I glanced up at him for a moment before I sank my fangs into his wrist. His blood was sharp and tangy as it rushed into my mouth, much more so than anyone else I had tasted so far that evening. It was like drinking a cocktail after only ever drinking wine.
As I drank, I knew I needed to stop myself before I got carried away again, so I pulled away and licked his wounds closed before turning to his brother. James held out his wrist, and I bit down after moving his clothing out of the way. His blood was as bland as it came. I only managed to swallow a mouthful of it before I pulled away and sealed the wound.
I looked back at Gage and saw something in his eyes as I let go of his brother’s hand. Jealousy? Surely he couldn’t be jealous of the meager contact I had given his brother when we had barely exchanged pleasantries. Before I could overanalyze any further, they were both moving away from me and back into their places in the lineup.
“The Rausing family?” my uncle asked.
A brother and sister came forward. Neither of them spoke nor bowed. The girl was shaking like a leaf as though she expected me to pounce on her and drain her dry in the blink of an eye.
“Hugh, Florence, lovely to see you both,” my uncle said.
When they knelt in front of me, I made quick work of biting them both so they could scuttle away back to their mother like the scared little sheep they were.
“Grayken?”
Another brother and sister came forward, but they could not have been more different from the last pair.
“This is Drake and his sister, Aubrey,” my uncle said as he inspected his nails.
A cocky smile spread over Drake’s face, and I couldn’t help but smile back. “It’s a pleasure, Princess,” he said, dipping his head low as he bowed to me.
“Nice to meet you,” his sister said as she bowed at the waist as well.
Drake was older than a lot of the men and boys whose families had sent representatives, but he looked completely at ease with himself, and that smile was more than a little dangerous.
As they knelt before me, I reached for his sister’s wrist first, deciding that I wanted to save him for last, although I was sure there were more families after these two. The event seemed never-ending, but sitting here with Aubrey and Drake was at least pleasurable. I barely even bit down and her blood was flowing like a river. I quickly pulled away and licked the wound.
Drake’s wrist was already out, and the shirt sleeve was pulled back. I grinned at the gesture; he was the only one who had made this easy for me. I leaned down, and the smell of his blood under his skin was enough to make my stomach growl. When I bit down, I almost groaned as the sweet and spicy taste of his blood coated my tongue. He was just as delicious as Colt and Gage, but in a different way.
I tried to stop after what felt like a reasonable amount of time, even though I knew I could have kept drinking for much longer and still not have been satisfied. I licked the wound and took my time pulling his shirt sleeve down and putting everything in place. When I looked up at him through my lashes, I could see the heat in his eyes. There were a few of these men who had potential to be my consort, but I needed to get to know them better before I started thinking anything like that.
“The Bertonello family?” my uncle called out.
Just as yet another brother and sister duo were moving forward, a great bang sounded, and the doors to the room flew open. I wiped the blood from my mouth with the wet cloth that had been sitting in a bowl next to the chair since I started feeding. The last thing I wanted was to offend someone with the blood that surely covered my face after feeding off so many.
Once I was sure my face was clean and dry, I looked up. In the center of the doorway stood what could only be a mage. No one else would dress like that, not even when I was last awake. Long black robes accented with purple fabric and green embroidery hung from the skinny man’s shoulders. The robe’s sleeves were so long that they almost touched the ground themselves. The sash that secured the robes around his waist was thick, decorated with more intricate embroidery, and had some kind of animal skin under it.
His skin had a pale, almost greenish cast to it, which was rare even for a mage. The long staff he held told me that he was powerful, but that also meant that he shouldn’t be present. Most mages avoided us unless they needed something, and for the reawakening ceremony, it was always younger ones who were forced to attend.
“What do you want, Khidell? There was a reason you weren’t invited,” my uncle snarled as he shot up from his chair.
“I assumed it was a mistake,” the mage said in a smooth voice, as he seemed to flow into the room.
As he approached us, I kept expecting my uncle to call the guards and have them remove him, but he stayed silent.
“This must be the long-awaited princess.” Khidell looked me up and down, and I stood, not
liking being looked down on.
“I am the princess, and you’re Khidell?” I asked, hoping that my voice didn’t betray me too much. Something about this mage made me nervous.
“That’s right, little one. I take it from your boldness that Theodore here hasn’t told you anything about me.” The crowd gasped at the lack of title when he mentioned my uncle, but I paid it no mind. The man was looking for a reaction.
“You’ll have to forgive me. I only just reawakened and am still getting caught up on court life.”
“This has nothing to do with your precious court life, child.”
My hackles rose as he talked to me like I was an idiot. “And what can we help you with?” I asked, biting back the insult I wished to throw at him.
“Why, I came to give you one of the mage’s boons, of course,” he said before he cackled like an old woman.
Vampires and blood mages were close—some might even say that we were too close considering we were technically two different species. Over the years, it had become tradition for at least two mages to give whoever had just reawakened a boon, a gift of some kind to help them adjust to the new world. It was the kind of thing that went a long way to keep the peace between our peoples.
I had never had any issue with the mages. My whole life growing up as a human, I had been educated by the mages and had mage playmates. My parents had thought them the best companions for me since they weren’t a threat to my future throne. There was something about this mage, though, something that spoke of hatred and long-seated anger.
“Princess, you will be blessed with all the beauty and immortality that a vampire is due, but you will never be able to feed again. Hunger will haunt you, driving you to madness and destroying the legacy your family has tried so hard to leave behind,” he said while he waved his hand over the top of his staff, causing the orb that was held there to glow an eerie green.
As soon as he had uttered the proclamation, I felt the prick of hunger in my belly. He spun and disappeared in a cloud of equally green smoke. The color looking striking against the purple of the walls. I turned to my uncle, about to demand answers, when three other mages approached from the edge of the room. Before I could stop myself, my fangs fully distended and my hands curled into claws as my natural defenses kicked in.
A Cursed All Hallows' Eve Page 7