The narrow spiral staircase was a remnant of the original castle. It was so old that Annie could feel the grooves beneath her feet, caused by hundreds of years of royal staff climbing the back staircase to reach the rest of the castle.
The stairs wound to the left, then took a quick right, a claustrophobic jumble of treads and risers leading them upwards to the top floor where the queen’s apartments stretched out in all their glamour.
A landing appeared out of nowhere, letting in the light from the brightly lit clearing. It was so bright it looked like high noon. Annie stopped and watched the formations around the castle. She ducked quickly when an officer glanced in her direction.
“We’re almost there. Is everyone okay?” Phillipe asked.
“Yeah. We’re good,” Annie said as she skirted from the window.
Another change in the staircase direction led them just a few feet upwards.
They stopped again at a stone wall.
Phillipe began pressing against the wall in a sequence Annie watched intensely.
“It should be here,” he said. His hands fumbled against the brick as he pushed against the wall and ran his hands up and down.
“Ah, here it is.” He found the latch and pushed. The door slid inside a hidden channel in the thick wall; the opening led to a hidden tunnel.
“Welcome to the hidden corridors of Maxillian castle,” Marcus said as they stumbled through the dark and empty corridors. He turned on his flashlight when the door slid shut.
Annie’s heart sped. She carefully observed Phillipe’s technique as he touched each stone as if counting them. He stopped at fourteen.
“I didn’t notice if your floor plan included the secret passages. But this is how we are able to come and go when our presence is requested. All up here.” Phillipe pointed to his head. “Still, I would very much like a floor plan like that,” he added as he pushed against the wall and grunted.
“When this is over, you’re more than welcome to it.”
“That is most kind. We often have protected the royal family from the magical threat.” The wall cracked. “There it is.”
The panel slid open leaving just enough for him to glance down the hallway toward the queen’s apartment. “Someone’s down. Let’s go!”
They flew from the secret passage, plush carpeting silencing their heavy footsteps as they ran to the body splayed on the floor.
Marcus knelt, turned the man’s head, and immediately saw the vampire tracks on his neck. “Go get the queen!”
Annie and Spencer ran into the apartment.
We’re too late!
Amelie stood above Queen Catriona, a satisfied sneer across her lips. She played with the perfectly round puncture wounds on the queen’s neck, the sure sign of vampire attack. But Amelie hadn’t drained her mother completely. The queen’s blood pumped slowly and rolled down her neck, leaving a wide blood stain on the French silk sofa. Amelie wiped a drop of blood from her mother’s neck, sniffed the irony, warm liquid, and licked her finger before glancing up at Annie and Spencer.
Annie summoned her stake and flipped it, but the vampire no longer jumped at the sound of the stake smacking against the palm. Instead, Amelie bared her blood-coated teeth and smiled wildly
“You’re too late,” the princess sneered and glanced one more time at her mother. “See you in hell, Mama.”
Annie lunged for the vampire, leaving Spencer to care for the queen. She watched in horror as Amelie touched a red button that lay beside the lamp on the antique table and backed away into a darkened corner of the room.
“Shit, she sent an alarm!” Annie yelled. The light on the table blinked rapidly.
“Go!” Spencer shouted.
Annie chased Amelie down a darkened hallway. The princess’s boots clicked against the stone floors. As Annie summoned her flashlight, the vampire lifted a tapestry from the wall and slipped inside.
Annie ran after her. Behind her, footsteps followed in pursuit. She concentrated on the princess and the tapestry and reached it, pulling it away from the wall.
A cold, dead body fell from the cramped space, clad in the uniform of the royal guard. Annie was so surprised, she slipped and fell to the ground.
“Where the hell did she go?” Phillipe screamed.
“Through there,” Annie said as Marcus pulled the dead man from her.
“This is a royal guard. He must have helped her in,” Marcus commented. He turned the man’s face and saw the vampire track marks on the side of his head.
Frantic voices came from the hallway outside the queen’s suites as guards approached.
“I know this man,” Marcus said suddenly. “He’s Laurence. He was part of the security team protecting Amelie the night she died.” He picked the man up.
“That’s all fine and good, but Annie and Spencer need to get out of here. The royal guard is nearly here,” Phillipe said.
“Where’s Spen—” Annie began, but her partner appeared before she could finish, running from the chaos on its way.
“Out through the bedroom. Open a window and go!” Phillipe urged.
A stampede of footsteps entered the queen’s apartment.
Annie and Spencer ran to the nearest window and whipped it open, just enough for them to teleport through the opening. Spencer grabbed Annie’s wrist and shimmered away.
Chapter 15
Annie stared at her phone, which shook in her hand as she dialed. She dreaded the conversation she was about to have.
“Hey, on your way home?” Cham sounded cheerful. He must have slept well last night.
“Amelie killed her mother,” Annie said in a whisper. Beside her, Spencer feverishly attempted to reach the Amborix wizard guards; neither had answered his calls.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure!” she shouted. She crossed the floor of the shack in three large steps and turned.
“I’m sorry. I just… Annie, I’m sorry,” he said softly.
“It’s a mess. We got in and got to the queen’s apartment. Amelie was standing over the body. The queen, she was alive at first, but… it was too late. She was bleeding from her neck, and Amelie… Amelie was dripping with blood. Cham.” Annie swallowed the lump in her throat.
“You got away before the security found you. What do you need us to do?”
“I’m not sure. Amelie pushed the button to call the security team and escaped in a secret tunnel. We had no choice but to leave.” Annie sat on the cot. It squeaked under her petite frame. She sighed deeply, falling back against the thin wooden wall.
Cham pulled the phone from his face and spoke to someone else—she assumed it was Milo—explaining the newest development.
Spencer tapped against his screen, dialing the same two numbers, only to receive the beeping and buzzing of an unanswered phone.
Annie glanced out the small, dirt-covered window. It was hard to miss the additional military teams that entered the forest, marching in rhythm with the new sirens that wailed in the darkness.
Milo’s voice became clearer. They were now on speaker.
“And the Amborix wizard guards? Were they with you?” Milo asked, rather calmly considering the situation. Annie glanced at Spencer. He sighed in frustration, walked to the window, and watched the unfolding scene outside the shack.
“They remained behind to find Amelie. Spencer’s been trying to reach them since we escaped.” Annie’s voice quivered, but she held back the tears.
“Cham will advise Ryan. He’ll deal with the Amborix Wizard Council, and I’ll call the Amborix Wizard Guard and see if Phillipe and Marcus made it out okay.” His voice crackled across the phone. “Annie, this was supposed to be a quick kill. What the hell happened?”
What the hell happened? They had come across Amelie on several occasions, and yet she had escaped them each time.
“I underestimated her wiliness, her smarts.”
“We need to send you backup,” Milo said.
“Not yet. Not yet. We’ll
get her,” Annie pleaded. She wanted time to rectify this problem, though a nagging thought in the back of her head told her she should take him up on the offer even at the expense of dealing with the Amborix and French wizard guards.
“Before she kills anyone else,” Milo ordered.
“If we bring in more wizard guards, you know we have to get permission for a full scale operation. The Amborix Wizard Guard won’t agree to that,” Annie reminded him.
He knows. He just doesn’t care.
“Annie, this is dangerous. Do you realize how close we are to exposure?” His voice lowered. “If we just forget the others, we could have this finished. You can’t let her be seen. Don’t tell them, but I’ll send a small team to assist.” He sighed. The weight of the case seemed to be wearing on him; his voice no longer boomed as it usually did.
“Milo. We’ll get her. I promise,” Annie said.
“Annie, we have the team on standby. You find her, and we’ll be there when you say,” Cham said.
She weighed her options. If she did that, could they find and kill the vampire without any of the other Wizard Guard units knowing they pulled off a full scale operation?
What if we do and they find out?
“Not yet,” she said aloud. “We’re blamed already. I don’t want to risk what little respect we may still have.”
“We’re here and waiting. This is top priority,” Cham reminded her.
“Use Sturtagaard,” Milo advised.
“I need to go. Call if you hear something.” She sighed and said goodbye, unable to let Cham know what she really wanted him to know.
“Anything on the wizard guards?” Annie asked Spencer.
“They’re not answering. We need to leave,” he said.
Glancing once out the window and deciding they were clear, Spencer held Annie around the waist and teleported back to France.
*
“We should have teleported to the room,” Annie groused.
“It’s time for a reappearance,” Spencer said.
They had left by the front door when they traveled to Amborix, so they needed to be seen upon their return. They brought with them the cold wind, waking the night clerk from his mundane bookkeeping. He glanced at them and offered a short nod before returning to his paperwork. It was three o’clock in the morning.
Annie’s body screamed for sleep; each step up the narrow wooden staircase to their room made her wince. But sleep would have to wait. Sturtagaard stood at the window, leering into the empty parking lot across the street.
“He was in here,” Sturtagaard told them.
“Who?” Annie climbed onto the bed, adjusted the pillows behind her, and glared at the vampire, surprised he hadn’t left.
What does he really want?
Sturtagaard, still with his back toward her said, “The day manager.” His fangs extended.
“What did he want?” Annie yawned and pulled the blanket up over herself, removing the damp chill that seeped through her. Her body ached from shivering, from worry and anxiety.
It’s gonna be a long night.
“With that damn bag on my head, I couldn’t tell much.” Sturtagaard sat on the chair and tilted it back, his legs resting on bed beside Annie. She grimaced.
“Your vampire hearing not working, asshole?” Spencer summoned a stake, but Sturtagaard jeered as if it meant nothing.
“Fine. He looked in the dressers and under the bed. He nearly opened the closet before he was called away.”
“Why are you still here then?” Spencer asked. He unrolled his sleeping bag across the floor.
“I can’t go back without helping. That was the deal,” Sturtagaard reminded them. He stretched his arms above his head and rested them at his neck. “And since you’re back here, I’m thinking you still didn’t get the princess.” He offered a large smile, complete with fangs. “You still need me.”
“That might be true. Maybe it’s not.” Annie shifted position to yet another location on the bed that offered little comfort to her weary body. Turning toward the window, she stared through the thin window lining into the eerie darkness beyond the curtains.
“Your bindings weren’t tight enough,” the vampire said.
“It wasn’t a mistake,” Spencer said. He strolled across the small room, summoned a thick rope. “We expected you to leave. Actually, I would have preferred it.” He pulled the rope across Sturtagaard’s chest, then around his arms to hold them tightly to the chair.
“This is a little overkill; don’t you think?” Sturtagaard asked.
Spencer tied the rope ends together, securing them with a magical sticking spell. When the vampire was tightly secure, he worked on the vampire’s legs, attaching thick iron shackles around his ankles, attached together by a thick iron chain.
“So why are you really here?” Annie asked.
“Have you ever wondered why the Wizard Council has outlawed my staking?” Sturtagaard asked thoughtfully.
All employees at Wizard Hall understood there was an agreement between the vampire and the Wizard Council, but Annie didn’t know the specifics.
Why had I never thought to ask?
“Yes. We wonder all the time. So why do they keep you alive? Your ‘helpfulness’ isn’t always helpful,” she quipped.
“I suggest you ask that question and seek out the answer. That will tell you why I’m still here.”
Annie rolled her eyes and readjusted herself on the bed. For the first time since her concussion was healed, she had the opportunity to notice her arm. The shoulder that had been dislocated was again throbbing with all the action of the last few days. She lay a pillow under it to steady it and closed her eyes. A very large headache pounded against her temple. She was keenly aware that they needed to keep moving in order to find Amelie and stake her. Being here in this room, sleeping, would only kill time they didn’t have.
Rather than sleeping, she turned to Sturtagaard and asked, “What did you do after your revenge kill?”
Sturtagaard thought before answering. His smile made Annie think that remembering his first kills, his revenge murders, were pleasant memories for him.
“It’s exhausting to exact revenge… I hid in the hills. In a cave away from people. It’s a high to kill those who did you wrong. And after the high, you crash. You just crash to the lowest low,” he said thoughtfully, almost lovingly. “I expect the princess will go somewhere to hide, to recoup, to regain her strength.”
“You’re not lying to placate us, are you?” Annie was too tired to trade jibes. She stared him down.
“I have nothing to gain by lying. I want back in the States. If I’m being untruthful, you might be able to stake me after all.”
Annie closed her eyes. Sleep was so close, and yet she was overtaken by thoughts of the queen lying on the sofa as her final breath was taken. She shuddered as Spencer’s phone buzzed.
“Anything important?” Annie asked, her eyes still closed.
“Good news for Phillipe and Marcus. They managed to escape from the queen’s apartment. They’re safe.”
He typed a return message and read it aloud. Back in France to regroup. We think Amelie is hiding for the night and will head out in the morning.
The response came soon: Call when you’re ready, and we’ll help.
“Everything okay?” Annie asked. Spencer placed the muffle bag over Sturtagaard’s head. The vampire tugged at his constraints, just enough that the chair scraped against the wood floor and his shackles jingled. Spencer threw a small jinx, silencing the vampire.
“Yeah. All good. Get some sleep. We raid Louis’s mansion in three hours.” Spencer curled inside his sleeping bag.
Under the muffle bag, Sturtagaard complained. After one more low energy jinx aimed at his arm, he quieted and slumped forward in the chair.
Annie chuckled, closed her eyes, and felt the world spin away.
Chapter 16
Glancing down to the street below, Annie saw a delivery truck backing into a narrow
street. Across from the hotel, a small market had sprung up. Several booths sold bread and cheeses, flowers, and fruit and vegetables. The cheese shop beside the hotel had opened; the owner was sweeping the sidewalk outside the front door.
Picture perfect, Annie thought. She opened the window and let the morning chill kiss her cheeks. The yeasty scent of warm bread and sweets wafted up to her. Her mouth watered. She stretched her arm and noted that it no longer ached.
“Want breakfast?” she asked a still-sleeping Spencer. He grunted lightly and rolled over.
The muffle bag vibrated slightly as the angry vampire said something.
“You’ll get yours soon,” she said.
After finally getting some sleep, Annie had a bounce in her step. She waved to the day manager, who was just starting his early shift, and skipped outside the door.
A faint scent of smoke still lingered, but mostly she was accosted by the smells of market—the breads, the flowers, the fruits—wafting toward her. She strolled slowly, trailing her fingers across several swatches of colorful fabrics. She bent over the flowers and sniffed the lavender and a bunch of roses.
Another booth sold handmade paintings, small and colorful. Annie spent several moments peering at a picture of a girl dancing in the arms of a man. For just a quick minute, she looked up and saw her partially open window. Her eyes looked downward to their teleportation spot in the narrow alley.
After paying for bread, apples, and several cheeses, Annie snuck inside the alley. Taking one last look down the street, she teleported through the window.
“Some breakfast,” Annie said as she placed the food on the bed.
“Anyone see you leave?” Spencer asked as he pulled off a piece of cheese and some bread. While he partook in his portion Annie played with hers and glanced out the window, not looking at anything in particular.
“Albert,” she murmured. Her mind raced to their next location, to the next step in catching Princess Amelie.
I don’t want to meet the French wizard guards.
Annie had taken so much grief from the Amborix Wizard Guard over Amelie returning as a vampire, she didn’t relish spending time with another unit.
Wizard War Page 15