I looked around the small cell. It was dank and dingy, without even a place to sit. The only item inside of it was a small pot—likely the equivalent of a toilet. But the strangest thing about the dungeon was how quiet it was.
“Are there any others here?” I asked. “Or am I the only one?”
“There are others,” Camelia answered. “But I’ve cast a sound barrier around us to keep our conversation private. After all, I have an important proposition for you, and I don’t want anyone listening in.”
“The same proposition that killed Mike?” I glared at her. She opened her mouth to speak, but I continued before she could. “Don’t tell me he’s alive. The vampire guards already told me otherwise.”
She sat back, apparently taken by surprise that I knew about Mike’s fate. But the shock disappeared from her face a second later, her expression returning to its mask of calm.
“I never wanted Mike to die.” She looked down as she spoke—almost as if she were grieving—and then refocused on me. “Only a human can accomplish the task I need done, and he was so strong—with the way he defeated that wolf—that I felt sure he could succeed. But his death wasn’t in vain.”
“No?” I raised an eyebrow, raking my nails through the dirt floor to keep from breaking at the reminder that I would never see my friend again.
“I sent him to obtain an extremely valuable object,” she said. “He didn’t succeed, but he got something nearly as important—a rare seeing crystal that told me exactly who could obtain the object in question. Only a powerful witch can use the crystal—it took even myself a few weeks to master—but you can only imagine my surprise when the crystal showed me an image of you.”
“Me?” I asked in disbelief. “Why would it show me?”
“Trust me, I have as little of an idea as you,” she said. “I see nothing special about you—a dirty human blood slave. But alas, it did show you. And the crystal doesn’t lie. You are the human destined to retrieve the sapphire ring that contains the powerful witch Geneva.”
And from there, she told me exactly what she wanted me to do.
Annika
“So,” Camelia said once she’d finished explaining the task. “What do you say?”
I thought about her offer, balancing my options. Apparently, I was the only human in the entire world who could enter this Crystal Cavern and retrieve the sapphire ring that imprisoned the most powerful witch in the world, Geneva.
But why me?
It made no sense.
On the other hand, refusal would mean rotting away in this prison until the day I died. And Camelia needed me. Which meant I had the upper hand. And while I hated her for what she let happen to Mike, I knew that Mike wouldn’t want me to let this opportunity go to waste. He would want me to use it to free myself—to escape the Vale once and for all, and to never be at the mercy of the vampires again.
“I’ll do as you ask,” I finally said. “But only for a cost.”
“Your reward is that you won’t be locked in this prison.” She balked. “What more could you possibly want?”
“I want to be turned into a vampire.”
Her eyes flashed with surprise, and she set her nearly finished margarita down in the cup holder. “Why on Earth would you want that?” she asked. “I thought the humans here hated the vampires.”
“I don’t hate them nearly as much as I hate being at their mercy,” I told her.
“A blood slave has never been turned in the history of the Vale,” she said. “You’re unfit for the transformation.”
“Do you mean that I wouldn’t survive the transformation because I’ve given blood to the vampires?” I asked. “Because if what you say is true and a blood slave has never been turned into a vampire, I don’t see how you could possibly know if that’s a fact or not.”
“You’re unfit because you’re tainted,” she said simply. “You’re not worthy.”
“So it’s merely a prejudice,” I concluded. “And apparently according to this seeing crystal, I’m worthy enough to fetch this sapphire ring—worthier than any other human in the world. So if you need me as much as you claim, you’ll grant my request.”
She eyed me up for a few seconds, thinking. “Fine,” she eventually said. “If you succeed in bringing me Geneva’s sapphire ring, I’ll speak to Queen Laila on your behalf and recommend that you become a vampire.” She stood up and brushed herself off, as if she considered the conversation done.
“Wait,” I called out, and she turned around, glaring at me once more. “While I appreciate your promise, your word is not enough,” I said, enjoying how her expression hardened at my words. “I want us to make a blood oath.”
“Why am I not surprised,” Camelia said bitterly. “It took a blood oath to convince Mike, too.”
“Because Mike was smart.” My heart panged at the memory of my friend—at the reminder that I would never see him again. “He took me under his wing after I was brought here. And one thing he drilled into my mind was this—never trust the word of a supernatural, unless they’ve made a blood oath.”
“Very well.” Camelia sighed, pulled a knife out of her boot, and slit her palm. “Now, give me your hand.”
“Give me your knife,” I demanded instead.
She raised an eyebrow. “I’m not giving you the knife,” she said. “Give me your hand. Unless you don’t wish to continue?”
“Fine.” I sighed and held my hand out, since after all, I was merely testing her. I wasn’t naive enough to think the knife would help me escape my current situation.
She made a similar incision on my palm, and I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from grunting from the pain. Once done, she wiped the knife clean, shoved it back inside her boot, and clasped her hand with mine.
“I promise that if you give me Geneva’s sapphire ring, I’ll tell Queen Laila of your feat and will do everything in my power to convince her to turn you into a vampire,” she said. “Do you swear to agree to this blood oath?”
“That’s not enough,” I told her. “I want you to promise that you will have me turned into a vampire.”
“As I am not a vampire myself, it’s not in my power to make such a promise,” she said. “But I have sworn my best effort to speak on your behalf, and as Queen Laila respects my opinions, she will likely listen.” She leaned closer, her eyes narrowing. “This is the best promise you can possibly hope for, girl. You’re closer to the chance of becoming a vampire than any blood slave in history. So do you accept, or not?”
“I accept,” I said, and the moment I spoke the words, warm energy rushed through my body, starting at the place where my hand met Camelia’s. A golden aura glowed around both of our hands, growing hotter and hotter, as if burning the oath into our souls.
The glow eventually died down, and Camelia pulled her hand out of mine.
I examined my palm—the cut was gone.
“It is done,” Camelia confirmed. “We’ll leave for the mountain at dawn. In the meantime, I’ll brew the herbal remedy and will bring it down for you when it’s ready. You’ll need your energy for what’s to come.
The chair and margarita glass vanished with a snap of her fingers, and then she turned around, leaving me alone in the dungeon.
Jacen
I awoke in my bed to find Laila and multiple guards looking down on me, surrounding me.
“Where is she?” I shot up, grabbed Laila by the neck, and pinned her to the wall. “Where’s Annika?”
The guards pulled me off of her, and she waved them away, as if their help wasn’t necessary.
“I do not know where the girl is,” Laila said calmly. “Camelia was the one who wanted her—not I.”
“Don’t act like you have no idea why,” I told her. “Camelia answers to you. If Camelia wanted Annika, you know the reason.”
“I think it’s best you speak to Camelia about that.” Laila smiled. “How are you feeling, by the way? The guards had to inject you with a double dose of wormwood to kno
ck you out. Quite impressive, if you ask me—a testament to your strength.”
I rubbed the back of my arm—the spot they’d jabbed me with the needle. It had happened soon after they’d knocked out Annika. I’d been fighting the guards, and then I’d seen one of them jab a needle in her neck. It had only taken that one moment—that short distraction—for one of the guards to catch me unaware.
“I’m going to find Camelia,” I declared, standing up and heading for the door. Once I found Camelia, I would find Annika. And once I found Annika…
Well, I wasn’t sure what I would do once I found her. For now, I just needed to know she was alive.
“Wait.” Laila held out a hand, and the guards rushed to the doors, blocking my path. “After your first shot of wormwood, you were awake but in a state of delirium. The guards reported you said something curious…”
“And what was that?” I asked, because the faster I gave into her little mind games, the faster I would be free to find Annika.
“You said that Annika would be safe because she was wearing wormwood.”
“No I didn’t,” I said instantly, hating my half unconscious self for revealing such a thing. I didn’t even remember it—the wormwood they’d injected me with must have made me truly delirious.
“You did,” she continued. “So we checked the girl for any trace of wormwood. We found none.”
I stared at her, shocked. How could that be? Annika couldn’t be compelled—she had to have been wearing wormwood. There was no other explanation for her resistance to my magic.
But I stood straighter, composing myself. I wasn’t sure how it was possible for a human to be immune to compulsion, but if it were, bringing it to light would put Annika under more scrutiny than before. They might even kill her.
If the vampires hated one thing above anything else, it was a threat to their power.
“I have no idea why I would have said that,” I said instead, trying to act nonchalant. “Clearly I was delirious.”
“Clearly,” Laila agreed, although she didn’t look convinced. “Why is this human so important to you, anyway?” she asked. “Who is she to you?”
“She’s no one,” I said, since that should have been the truth. All she’d been at first was a pretty girl I’d noticed at the village festival. But somehow, with everything that had happened between us in such a short amount of time, she’d become more than that. I’d come to care about her.
More than that—I had a responsibility to her. Because if I hadn’t noticed her that night, I had a feeling that none of this would have happened.
She was in danger from the vampires because of me. I’d created this mess. Therefore, I had to be the one to make sure she was safe.
“Good,” Camelia said, throwing open my doors and bursting into the room. “If she’s no one to you, then you won’t care that she’s dead.”
Camelia
I knew Jacen was lying the moment he said he didn’t care about the human girl, but the way his face dropped when I announced her death only further affirmed it.
He cared about her.
Which was exactly why I had to make sure he thought he had no chance of ever seeing her again.
“The girl was a thief.” I made my way to the center of the room, taking notice of the way all eyes were on me. “Why do you think the guards were sent to bring her to the dungeons in the first place?”
“She wasn’t a thief,” he said. “You don’t even know her.”
“And you do?” I raised an eyebrow. “She stole from the vampires. She stole food that wasn’t permitted for humans—candies, cheese, meats—and gave them to her co-workers at the Tavern.”
“A human stole from the vampires?” Jacen balked. “Impossible.”
“If you don’t believe me, you can ask the workers at the Tavern yourself,” I continued. “It didn’t take long for us to get them to turn her in. The blood slaves have no loyalty—the sooner you learn that, the better. They would do anything to save themselves and their families, even if it means turning in a friend. She’s dead,” I repeated, wanting to rub it in further. “And now she’ll never be able to steal from the vampires again.”
“I don’t believe you.” He narrowed his eyes and rushed at me, but the guards stopped him before he could get close. He fought their hold, but even a vampire prince wasn’t strong enough to free himself from five guards—especially when his emotions were getting the best of him. “Show her to me.”
I smiled, because of course I’d already planned for this.
“Bring the body here,” I told Daniel. “It’s in cell thirty-one.”
Daniel whizzed out of the room, and Jacen stared at me, his eyes dark.
“If you killed her…” he started, clenching his fists to his sides.
“Then what?” I asked. “I did nothing out of line. The girl stole from vampires and has been punished for her crimes. She’ll be an example to the blood slaves about what happens when our rules are broken. They need a good example every now and then to make sure they remember their place.”
No one spoke as we waited for Daniel to return. And with his vampire speed, it didn’t take long for him to come back, hauling Annika’s body behind him and dropping it on the ground.
Her skin was paler than ever, her blood drained dry. Not a drop of it had been left behind.
I crossed my arms and stared at my work, proud of myself for flawlessly putting this into play. Because after hearing of Annika and Jacen’s escape from the guards, I’d gone to the Tavern myself to investigate. There, I’d met a girl who claimed to be one of Annika’s closest friends—Tanya, I believe was her name—and had her brought to the dungeons for questioning. She had no memories of Jacen—she’d either never met him or he’d compelled her to forget him—but she did confess about Annika’s stealing vampire food and sharing it with the humans who worked at that dingy human bar.
I’d originally intended to release her back into the village to show her some gratitude for coming clean about her friend. But then I’d seen the way Jacen and Annika had looked at each other in the mountains. He cared about the mousey human blood slave. I didn’t understand why, but he wasn’t going to stop fighting for her no matter what.
Unless he thought she was dead.
So, while Annika had been passed out in her cell, I’d taken a strand of her hair. Transformation potions were my specialty, so it hadn’t taken long to brew. And of course, getting Tanya to drink it had been easy. The girl had barely been given any food or drink since arriving in the dungeons, and she’d downed the first thing placed in front of her—the potion.
Her body had transformed into Annika’s in minutes.
All I’d needed to do from there was call a vampire guard into the cell and instruct him to drain her dry. The guards were rarely given blood straight from the vein—that was a luxury typically reserved for the royals and nobles—so he’d been more than happy to oblige.
All of this had been done before Annika had awoken from her sedative.
I’d cast a spell around her cell to make it appear empty, and to block all sound coming in and out of it. No one knew she was there. No one except me, of course. And she wouldn’t be there for long, since we were leaving for the Crystal Cavern at dawn.
As for that pesky blood oath she’d insisted upon making… she wouldn’t be in my hair for much longer if she ended up dead. Which was exactly what I planned on having happen—after she brought me Geneva’s sapphire ring and was turned into a vampire.
Nothing in our oath prevented me from killing her after she was turned.
Jacen stared at the body, saying nothing.
I watched him curiously. I thought he’d cared about the girl, but he was betraying no emotion. As if she meant nothing to him.
“Well?” I crossed my arms, focused only on him. “Do you believe me now?”
His eyes flicked up to meet mine, and they were so empty that I nearly took a step back. For the first time since he’d turned, I saw in hi
m the true makings of a vampire prince.
The vampire prince who would someday be mine.
“Take her away,” he said, his voice hard and strong.
No one moved a muscle. The guards glanced around, appearing as taken aback by his reaction as I felt.
“Did you not hear me?” He eyes darkened, and he glared at the guards. “I am your prince—you answer to me. And I am commanding you to take her away!”
The body was out of the room in seconds.
“Have her strung up in the village square for the next twelve hours,” I told the guards who remained. “As an example to everyone there about what happens to those who break our rules. Once the twelve hours are up, feed her to the wolves.”
I couldn’t help smiling at how perfectly this had panned out. The transformation spell would only last for three days—then the corpse would revert back to its true appearance—but the wolves would ensure that nothing remained.
No one would ever know the truth.
“This amuses you,” Jacen observed, his gaze still locked on mine.
“And it seems to not affect you,” I countered.
“Like you said, the girl was only a blood slave.” His voice was so cold that it brought goosebumps to my arms. “She was pretty, but my attraction to her was only physical. After getting bored with her—which I’m sure wouldn’t have taken long—I likely would have drained her dry myself.”
I raised an eyebrow. “So why go to the trouble to help her escape?” I asked.
“It seemed like an amusing challenge.” He shrugged. “An adventure. Can you blame me, after being confined in this palace for nearly a year? I needed a little fun.”
“I suppose not,” I said, matching his indifference. I wasn’t sure if I believed him or not, but I would play this game with him—for now. “So, let’s all be glad that justice has been served. We cannot have rebels in our midst. I helped you, Jacen. Not just you, but all the vampires in the kingdom. I hope you don’t forget it when it’s time for you to choose a bride.”
The Vampire Wish: The Complete Series (Dark World) Page 13