by K. A. Tucker
No, of course not. They’ve been stuffed into bags by now. I shuddered.
“You probably need some time to yourself,” Sofie suggested.
I was glad for the dismissal, wanting to get as far away from her as possible—as far as my prison bars would allow. I left the library without glancing in her direction, picking up speed until I was sprinting to my room.
Throwing open my bedroom door, I yelped in surprise. Sofie stood in front of the fireplace, her back to me, studying her painting.
“How did you—” I didn’t bother finishing. Just further proof that she isn’t human.
Max nudged me into the room as he barged through the door behind me. Once in, he sauntered over to my bedside and sat down, no longer the frothing, protective guard dog. I guess he didn’t see Sofie as a threat to me. So much for canine intuition.
“We understand this is a lot to absorb,” she said, turning to walk toward me, her face an emblem of sadness. For a second a pang of sorrow pulled at my heart. But then I remembered what she had done to me and that grief dissolved. It was all a masquerade. None of it was genuine.
She reached up to place a hand on my shoulder. I recoiled. Slowly dropping her arm, she sighed, her expression going blank. “It’s best to keep some things to yourself for now, until you know them more. Don’t tell them why you’re there or anything about the necklace. And keep out of trouble. You could easily have died last night, if that vampire hadn’t controlled himself.”
“He said my blood didn’t taste right … or human … something like that,” I mumbled, remembering the attacker’s words, suddenly finding them offensive. There was nothing wrong with my blood. But something else dawned on me. “Wait. What if he hadn’t? What if the vampire hadn’t tried to convert me and kept draining me of all my blood? I’d be dead—weren’t you worried that would happen?”
Sofie pursed her lips. “It didn’t happen so there’s no use worrying about it. And anyway, the spell is irreversible.”
“Right.” I moved away until my back hit the wall, trying to distance myself from her—the evil vampire sorceress.
“Well, alright then. Be safe tonight.” She moved as if to head out the door. But in the next instant she was beside me, gripping my arm tightly. “Don’t trust any of our kind, including Viggo,” she whispered, the words coming in a rush, “and don’t do what the pendant tells you to, yet.”
And then she vanished, leaving me thinking I may have imagined her words.
Was she trying to pit me against Viggo and Mortimer now, too? Why? She was the one who had tricked me—cursed me. I obviously knew not to trust her. But Viggo—who was as blameless in all of this as I was—was asking for my help.
Is this even happening? I wondered as I walked toward my bed. Maybe this was the dream that I’d wake up from soon. I pinched my arm but only winced at the pain. This is real. Vampires exist. Witches exist. Viggo and Mortimer are vampires. Sofie is a vampire sorceress. The giant dog lying down on the other side of the room is … I don’t know what he is.
The three of them, fawning over me, a socially awkward stranger with no friends, giving me gifts and kindness … I should have known something was not right. I sighed. I wasn’t Nancy Drew—not unless Nancy Drew was blind and deaf.
An awful numbness was taking over. I’m sure anger was there, buried deep under a blanket of shock and confusion, but it was all rolled up and somehow encapsulated within the numbness. I never understood why anyone described it as a lack of feeling when, to me, there was definitely a sensation with being “numb”; not one I could describe, except to say it felt wrong.
A glance out the window showed night looming. If I could force myself to stay awake for the night, maybe Sofie’s curse wouldn’t work. But if not, if I did get pulled into this dream world that I now knew wasn’t a dream world, I had to prepare myself. They were vampires. They might bite me and drain me of my blood. Except that they hadn’t done anything like that yet. They had protected me. When I was lying in Caden’s arms, bleeding profusely, he could easily have finished me off, but he didn’t. None of them had. The more I tried, the harder it was to picture Amelie, with her bouncy curls and childlike smile, being murderous. Or Caden … perfect Caden. They couldn’t be bad. They had to be like Viggo and Mortimer—good vampires.
It was pitch black this time. I couldn’t see any shadows, any outlines, anything at all. I sucked in a deep breath, trying to calm myself.
“Hold on,” a male voice called out. A light appeared to my left. I turned to see Caden anchoring a burning torch into a wall bracket. Even with my spirit drained from the day’s revelations, my heart still skipped a beat at the sight of him, and I knew it wasn’t out of fear. The possibility that he was a vampire was trivial. That he was no longer a figment of my imagination, that I was standing in front of him … that made me jittery.
Oh my God. I had all but professed my undying love to him the last time I was here, when I thought it was a dream. Right before I insulted his taste in women.
Blood rushed to my head along with my mortification. The room began to spin. I reached out, searching for a support, and my hand grazed something cool and smooth and hard. I turned to see the statue. The conduit.
“Is that—” I began, but my voice ended in a croak when Caden appeared in front of me, gingerly reaching for my bandaged hand.
“What happened?” His face twisted with worry.
“Oh, nothing. It’s okay,” I stammered, melting with the feel of my hand cradled in his. His vampire hand. Without thinking, I yanked my hand away.
When I hazarded a look up, I found his jade green eyes watching me. He nodded slightly, a strange expression on his face, as if acknowledging something. He knows … he knows that I know.
We stared at each other for a long, silent moment. Then he thrust a set of clothes into my uninjured hand. “You should put these on, in case we have more visitors,” he said quietly.
I glanced down to see the same type of nondescript sweats I’d put on the other night. Heat crawled up my neck as I recalled the last time Caden had handed me clothes. It was right before he kissed me. I had made out with a vampire. And enjoyed it, immensely.
“Is this the same statue as in the woods?” I asked hoarsely, turning to point at the statue, desperate to change the topic. I looked back to find myself talking to an empty cave.
I fumbled slowly with the clothes, my injured hand awkward. I hadn’t bothered undressing earlier that evening, opting to cuddle with Max until the blaze of the pendant and the fatigue set in, the warning sign that Sofie’s curse was about to take me. I had held onto Max tightly, begging him to come with me, to protect me.
But it hadn’t worked and here I stood, alone. Alone in a cave full of bloodthirsty vampires. Were they really bloodthirsty, though?
Now wearing my disguise, I retrieved the torch and followed the sound of distant voices. I found the group circling a fire in the same giant cave as the previous night. Four faces turned to smile at me. Four beautiful faces. I looked around; Rachel was nowhere to be seen. Relief washed over me.
Okay, try to act normal. Small talk. “Is that my statue back there?”
Amelie nodded. “It was Caden’s idea to bring it here so we wouldn’t have to sit down in the valley, waiting for you. It worked! Clever.” Amelie’s springy curls bobbed as she turned her head to smile proudly at her brother. “We replaced your statue in the woods with an imitation that Fiona created, in case someone wanders out there.”
“It looks more like a fat, drunk ogre, but it should work—from a distance,” Fiona said with a nervous giggle.
Amelie walked over, reaching out to take my hand, her brow furrowed in concern as Caden’s had been. “What happened?”
“Minor mishap,” I said, consciously not pulling away this time.
“So … do you still think you’re dreaming?” Fiona asked.
By her tone, I could tell she knew the answer. Caden had told them. There was no point lying. I gave the
m a small smile and shook my head.
“Come, sit,” Amelie said, taking my other hand and pulling me to a bench.
I sat down, ever aware of Caden’s attentive eyes studying me from across the fire. “Where’s Rachel?” I asked.
“Not here, thank God,” I heard Amelie murmur under her breath, followed by, “She’s watching over the fake statue. We all took shifts down there in case the switch didn’t work and you showed up down there. She’ll be back soon.” There was no mistaking the contempt in her voice.
I glanced at Caden to check the effect of his sister’s tone but his face showed no emotion, his eyes still intently focused on me. Probably wondering what my blood tastes like.
“What happened, exactly, to make you believe us?” Fiona asked.
“You mean, besides these?” I reached up and lightly touched the bite marks on my neck.
They all cringed. “Still hurt?” Bishop asked, unusually serious.
I shook my head. “It would seem that I’m surrounded by vampires, giant unkillable dogs, and a vampire–witch who put a curse on me.” I suddenly began laughing, finding my predicament comical now that I had said it out loud for the first time.
“Why?” Caden asked, his eyes widening.
“I don’t know. Apparently Sofie was messing around with magic and fried their venom. Now they can’t ‘breed.’” I shuddered. “I’m supposed to come here and find a way to fix it.”
Silence filled the cave.
“You’re handling this well,” Fiona said softly.
“I’m glad it looks that way,” I answered, staring down at the fire.
“Are you afraid?” Caden asked quietly.
“Yes, terrified,” I answered truthfully, looking up into those beautiful, vibrant green eyes. Good vampire. Definitely has to be a good vampire.
“And you understand what we are?” he asked, his jaw taut. He hadn’t enjoyed asking that question.
“You’re … like Viggo and Mortimer and Sofie?”
He nodded once. “Viggo and Mortimer … yes.”
I swallowed the giant lump blocking my throat. Well, there’s no denying it now.
“But Sofie … not quite. You said she was also a sorceress?”
I nodded.
“Interesting.” Caden’s eyes flickered to his sister’s but their expressions were unreadable.
“Why?”
“Because sorceresses can’t become vampires. It’s impossible. The venom kills them.”
So Sofie was still lying to me. I should have known.
“In my experience, humans tend to freak out and run the other way, crossing themselves in prayer repeatedly when they find themselves in the company of a vampire. They don’t willingly share a campfire with four of them.” Amelie’s tone was light, but her eyes were earnest, as if she expected me to turn and run at any second.
“I still might, but right now it’s too cold,” I said, a small smile on my lips.
Laughter filled the cave.
“We won’t hurt you,” Amelie said softly.
Could I believe her? Looking at that angelic face and kind smile, there wasn’t a part of me that felt I was in peril. Then again, I had felt safe with Sofie. My sense of self–preservation wasn’t exactly top–quality. “Well, I figured you guys were the good kind.”
“What?” Caden’s voice rose, his face screwing up.
“Viggo told me most of the stuff about you guys is myth.”
“And you believed him?” I didn’t miss the scorn in his tone.
“Caden,” Amelie warned.
“You’re so sure we won’t attack you?” Caden continued, on his feet and pacing now.
“Caden,” Amelie said through clenched teeth.
I glanced warily at her. “Well, you didn’t attack me yesterday and you can’t get much closer than that, so …”
Caden’s eyes widened in surprise.
“After I was bitten, I mean. With all the blood!” I stammered, realizing that it sounded like I was referring to everything leading up to it.
Bishop barked out laughter. “We don’t have time for that right now. You can test it out again later,” he said, followed by, “and I don’t mean after you were bitten.”
I felt my face blaze, likely a hideous shade of beet red. Why would Caden tell him? Or maybe Bishop was reading my mind. Maybe that wasn’t a myth. Oh God, I hope Caden can’t read my mind.
Caden gave Bishop a shove in response, sending him flying into the cave wall. Chunks of rock crumbled to the ground as Bishop’s back made impact but the blonde vampire simply stood up and brushed himself off, smiling broadly, proud of the ribbing. It was such a pleasant smile that I cringed when it disappeared, his face twisting up in disgust.
I found out why when an unwelcomed voice sang out at the cave entrance, “What’s got you so upset, my love?”
“Oh good, you’re back,” Amelie answered dryly.
Rachel glowered at her. “You’re lucky Caden feels an odd sense of obligation to you, otherwise I’d—”
“Look who’s back!” Caden said, pointing in my direction.
Rachel turned to glance at me, her smile falling short of genuine, before turning to bestow a loving gaze on Caden. “It seems your scheme with the statue switch worked,” she purred, forcing him onto the bench and climbing onto his lap. She planted an inappropriately long kiss on his lips.
I averted my gaze, not because of the uncomfortable public show of affection but because the twinge of jealousy pained me a thousand times more than my injured hand or even the bite from the night before.
It went on, even as Bishop cleared his throat loudly and Amelie let out an exasperated sigh. I had to find some way to peel Rachel off Caden. “Sofie said the pendant is magical,” I blurted, ignoring Sofie’s warnings. “It gets me here and it protects my human traits, like the scent of my blood and my heartbeat. It takes time to adjust sometimes, though.”
It worked. Rachel stopped mauling Caden. “Like when you get all flustered and red near my Caden?” she asked sweetly. My face felt like it had burst into flames as a renewed surge of humiliation struck. “Seems it hasn’t adjusted yet.” She giggled viciously.
“How does it work?” Amelie quickly asked.
“Um … I don’t know. Every night my necklace begins to burn and I fall asleep. Then I wake up the next morning back in my bed.”
“The time in between your visits is weeks here,” Fiona commented, frowning.
“And if one of us were to put that necklace on, I wonder what would happen,” Rachel murmured, eyeing my pendant keenly.
Memories of excruciating pain had me shaking my head with panic. “No, I’m sorry. It can’t come off, not even for a second, or I’ll die.”
“Only the quickest of seconds …” Rachel said, off Caden’s lap and standing over me in an instant, a hand clamped over the chain.
“Leave it alone,” Caden said, appearing beside her. His hand closed over hers, stopping her from yanking the chain off and killing me.
Her left eyebrow arched severely. He replied with a hard stare of his own.
I turned to look at Amelie. Her eyes were locked on the two of them; she looked ready to spring.
After a few tense seconds, Caden’s shoulders visibly relaxed. He wrapped his free arm affectionately around Rachel. “If she dies, we’ll have to wait for this sorceress to send another one.”
I flinched. I was replaceable, like a goldfish.
But his callous words worked. Rachel’s icy glare melted into adoring eyes and a childlike giggle. Then those snake eyes turned to me. “So you can bring us back with you?”
I opened my mouth to answer, but Sofie’s warning rang loudly in my mind: Don’t trust our kind. My instincts told me to heed the warning and, though those instincts had proven to be equivalent to those of a lobotomy patient, I decided to listen. I looked straight into those yellow eyes and I shook my head. It was easy to lie to her. Enjoyable, actually.
My lie prompted crestfal
len expressions, which didn’t make sense. I looked around at their faces. “Why would you want to come back with me?”
Something unspoken passed between them, conveyed only with a look.
“Because you’re the only one left,” Fiona answered quietly.
I frowned. “Only what left?”
“Human.”
My jaw dropped.
Amelie sighed heavily. “Where do we begin? In our world—Ratheus—humans are extinct. You have been for seven hundred years.”
I swallowed hard, unable to blink. “Why? … How?”
“We caused it,” Caden answered coldly, having moved away from me to stand on the other side of the fire. “We killed them, every last one.”
12. Extinction
A shiver ran down my spine. That’s why Jethro reacted the way he did when he saw me. Now it made sense.
“Not us, specifically. Our species—vampires,” Bishop clarified, the last word coming softly.
“We did our share, though,” Caden said, turning to pace, head lowered.
“Why?” I heard myself croak.
“Vampires were no more than a myth for thousands of years, characters in horror movies. But then drained bodies with bite marks started showing up, left out for display. There was a new generation of our kind—one that didn’t care, that wanted people to be afraid. The humans fought back in the only way they knew how: war. One that escalated so quickly, it was too late to reverse the effects, by the time we found out. Vampires converted humans by the hundreds to build their army. Humans killed any vampire they could catch. They even killed other humans, if there was any doubt as to what they were.”
“So your kind can be killed?” I asked, my folklore facts not yet up to speed.
“It’s hard, but yes. With nuclear warfare, everything within the blast radius will die, including vampires. The radiation did nothing to us, but it was deadly to the humans. Between the blasts and the radiation, few humans survived; most of the world was destroyed within a few months.”
I asked into the silence, “How did you get away?”
“There was this large island in the middle of the ocean, thousands of miles from anything else. It was inhabited by people, but not overly developed—a Third World country; under the radar, so to speak. Many of us fled here, betting that it would survive. We were right. We brought humans with us, to breed. But humans take too long to reproduce and their blood is too tempting. They didn’t last long.”