Cruel Stakes: Vampires & Vices No. 2, page 15
“There you are,” Adrian calls to me as he strides down the hall. “You’re not supposed to be in this wing of the palace. This is Brisa’s wing.”
I nod. “Yeah, I just found that out.”
He frowns and stops when he notices the dead bird. He doesn’t say anything, and neither do I. He takes my hand and leads me away.
“Sorry, I got lost after the party,” I whisper. “Do you know Sebastian’s here? He thinks I killed his brother.”
Adrian gives me a look that says, “Well, you did kill his brother,” so I return with one that says, “Yeah, but only because you forced me into the situation.” He rolls his eyes as if to say, “My, you’re so ungrateful.”
Or something like that.
It’s not as if I can read his mind with only a look.
“Come on,” he says suddenly, “we need to move.” He picks me up, dress and all, and we’re flying through the halls. It’s only when I catch a glimpse of the sunrise outside a window that I realize why. He doesn’t want to get stuck anywhere else in this building for the day. He wants to be stuck with me.
When we make it back to the room, he sets me down simply as if the levitating trick is a normal occurrence for him. I’m still a little stunned but I’m also really tired. I strip out of my dress, not even caring that Adrian has a full view of my undergarments. My mind is thick with oncoming sleep. Between the flight and the time change and staying up all night to party with scary vampires, I’m done. I keep my slip on because it’s easier than finding pajamas, and crawl into the blankets, pulling pins from my hair and tossing them to the floor. I burrow down into the fluffy pillow and close my eyes. Adrian lays down beside me. I don’t know what I was expecting him to do, but it wasn’t that. Before I can read anything into it, sleep takes me away.
I dream of birds.
Beautiful little green and blue birds. They descend on me like a cloud of locusts, clawing at my face, drawing blood. Wings flutter all around me, a tornado of feathers and claws and beaks. I scream and swat them away, but they keep coming. More and more. I fall to my knees, and they start to peck––little knives stabbing me. Over and over. I continue to scream and fight, but it’s no use. There are too many of them. Beautiful little monsters.
Something cold shakes me. “Angel,” a voice says. “Wake up.”
My eyes pop open, and I bolt upright. I’m covered in sweat, and my heart pounds. My eyes try to adjust in the darkness, searching for the birds.
“You’re okay. It was a nightmare.” Adrian’s voice reaches through the panic like water to a flame. He pulls me into his lap and rubs my back, shushing me. As sleep lifts, I find myself leaning into him.
This is not good.
This is so good. This is––
I scurry away and jump off the bed. “I’m okay now. Sorry.” I run my hands through my hair. They’re still shaking.
“You don’t have to apologize to me.” His voice drifts through the darkness. I can barely etch out his figure, but he’s still sitting on the bed. “I used to have nightmares, too. There’s no shame in it.”
“What did you do to make them go away?”
“I became the nightmare.”
Chapter 24
Sometime later I fall back asleep, and then the day repeats itself. And it happens again, and again, and again. I spend daylight hours sleeping off the nightly parties that Brisa requires us all to attend. Each seems to grow more wild than the next. We dress in the attire of courtesans to dance and mingle. It’s mostly vampires, but there are a few humans as well. There’s always food and drinks for us and endless blood for them. They mix it with all types of alcohol, creating their own versions of champagne and wine and more options than I can count. The vampires don’t seem to be affected by the alcohol all that much, but it creates different tastes and ways for them to enjoy the blood.
And still, I can’t help but notice the way they look at me and the other humans. No amount of blood bags will compare to drinking straight from our veins. They want us. We’re the temptation they’re not allowed to have. Not only are they forbidden from feeding on humans, but the bloodline from Brisa makes it harder for them to break her commands. However, I know from experience that there are ways around it. Vampires can drink when they intend to turn us, they can drink if they’re instructed to kill us, and they can push past Brisa’s commands when they’re so young that the bloodlust takes over.
I don’t let myself forget that, given the chance, every last one of them would eat me alive. Adrian doesn’t either. He stays close to my side at all times unless Brisa orders him away. When she does, I force myself not to think of what they might be doing. I don’t walk back to my room alone again and Adrian never gives me a key. Night after night I wait for him to come for me and he always turns up right before dawn. Even though I hate it, I learned the first time that it’s better to stay where the crowds are, especially since Sebastian always seems to be around. He doesn’t talk to me anymore, but he watches, and he listens. He’s building his case against me, I’m sure of it. He wants me to pay for Hugo’s death with my life.
Adrian and I are still staying in the same room, but he doesn’t show affection for me in private like he does for the court. I prefer it that way. When I sleep, he usually works from a laptop. After a week here he convinced Brisa to allow him a computer with internet connection so that he can continue to do business with his coven back home, but he keeps the laptop locked up in a safe whenever he’s not using it. She’s expressly forbidden me from touching it, but I still keep waiting for the opportunity to get my hands on it, hoping I can get a message to my friends and family back home. It never happens. And so the cycle continues––parties and sleep.
“What are you always writing in there?” Adrian asks me one evening. I’m sitting on the bed with a tray of fruit for breakfast at my side and the notebook Remi gave me open in my lap.
“Not always writing,” I say, “mostly I’m doodling. And I’m surprised you haven’t spied on it.”
“I have no interest in invading your privacy.”
I snort. “Sure, keep telling yourself that.”
I’ve been writing out some of my feelings but I’d never show anyone those. I’m mostly drawing pictures from home, which aren’t quite as embarrassing. They’re the things I want to commit to memory in case I never see them again. I tried to sketch Felix and Ayla and my mom, but they all turned out terrible. Eventually, I’ll get my hands on some electronics and can cyber stalk their lives from afar.
I moved on to objects, and lately I’ve been trying to get the feather talisman right. I know it’s only a symbol of feathers crossing with the little hook on the bottom of one, but I can’t seem to get it exactly right. I like what that woman said it represents: protection. I could use some of that right about now.
I decide to go out on a limb and flip the notebook around so Adrian can get a look at it. He’s sitting on the loveseat with his laptop in his lap, typing away. Apparently he already forgot that he cared about what I was doing with this notebook because he doesn’t even look up.
“Whatever,” I say, and flip it back around.
“You should be careful who sees that,” he speaks up. So he did see it.
“Why?”
He lifts a shoulder. “Because it’s not what you think it is.”
“So what is it?”
“You ask too many questions.”
“You started it.”
He closes his laptop and sighs. “It’s to do with those energy demons as you like to call them. That’s all I can say but it should be enough.”
As I suspected.
I close the book and take it with me to get ready that night. Remi is my only friend here and I don’t get a lot of time with her. I want to ask her about the symbol, see if she knows anything more about it. When it’s time to go to the dressing room, I do just that.
“I see you brought your notebook.” She beams. “I’m so happy you’re using it.”
“Every day. This is saving my sanity. I can’t thank you enough for giving it to me.”
“It’s my pleasure.”
I hand it over to her. Despite it containing my deepest thoughts and loads of bad sketches, I hope this step will help me in some small way. “Take a look.”
She’s been busy pinning my hair up, but she stops to take it. Half my hair hangs around my face and the other half is artfully swirled on top of my head.
She flips through it, stopping at a few of the journal entries, eyes roaming the words.
“They’re really bad. So are the drawings,” I interject. “But that’s okay, I like it anyway. Keeps my mind busy and helps me process everything I’m going through.”
She makes it to the pages I’ve been waiting for––the talisman images––and immediately hands the sketchbook back to me. “Turn to the right for me, please.”
“Wait.” I flash the pages at her. “Do you know anything about this symbol? Have you seen it before?”
Her face is impossibly blank as she studies it for a minute. “I don’t. Sorry, Eva.”
There’s something different about her tone, something fearful, and I know she’s lying. I want to question her more, but she insists she doesn’t have any answers for me, so I eventually put the notebook away. When it’s time to move onto my makeup and wardrobe, she says she has a headache and leaves me with the other servants. What is Remi hiding?
She doesn’t show up to dress me the next night.
It’s almost a month into my stay here that I wake up in the middle of the day, sitting upright with all sleepiness gone. My internal time clock has completely flipped from day to night. Since Brisa keeps me busy with her parties, I always end up sleeping the day away.
Not this time.
I blink the haze away and look for Adrian. He’s not here. I’ve been waiting for this to happen. The idea came to me after that night I accidentally stumbled into Brisa’s wing of the palace and Adrian swooped me up and flew us back to our room before I could blink twice. Fact is, this palace isn’t completely ready for vamps, and that means there are places I can go to during the day that they cannot.
Still in my pajamas, I go to the door and peer out into the hallway. It’s empty. This part of the palace is safe for vampires and I know they get up to stuff during the daylight hours, but I stay far away from whatever it is they’re doing. I’m almost afraid to find out.
But someone is responsible for the deaths of all those princes. My first thought is Tate, but now that I’ve met Brisa, I can understand why she’d have many more enemies and some in her own court. I don’t know what I’m looking for exactly, but I brave the hallway and hurry in the direction I committed to memory. I hope Brisa hasn’t outfitted her entire wing with UV resistant windows yet, or I’m screwed.
“Fiona, are you hungry, my love? What are you doing awake?” I jump into an alcove when I hear Sebestian’s voice up ahead.
“Bad dream. I wanted to find you.” Her voice is sultry and welcoming, but he doesn’t take the bait.
“You know the rules. Go back to the room. You can’t be out during daylight hours.”
So it’s not just me. Maybe all the humans are relegated to our rooms during the day. There was a night during one of the parties that I tried to “wander” off and guards stopped me from getting very far. They seemed pretty angry with me then. I don’t think I could get away with it twice.
I hold my breath when Sebestian and Fiona walk past. He’s got his hand wrapped tight around her wrist and whispers harshly in her ear. I don’t know what he’s saying, but she’s in trouble.
Maybe she’s like me. Maybe she’s here because she has to be, not because she wants to be. I never thought about that, I always assumed the other humans were traitors to their own kind. Could it be possible that I’m not the only one here pretending?
When they’re gone, I’m faced with two choices. Keep exploring and risk discovery, or go back to safety. Me being me, I keep going.
A couple minutes later and I’m in Brisa’s wing. It’s quiet and sunlight streams through the windows, golden light that brings tears to my eyes. I didn’t realize how much I missed it. I want to go to it, to soak in it and close my eyes, but I know I can’t.
What am I even looking for? I don’t know. Something. There’s got to be something, some kind of clue. That’s when I see two human maidservants walking by. If anyone knows about the secrets of this place, it would be them, right?
“Excuse me?” I wave them down. “I’m wondering if you could help me with something?”
They look at me like deers in headlights. One points and starts yelling, “Guards!”
I guess that’s my cue to leave.
Vampire guards aren’t like regular guards. They’re so much faster. A human wouldn’t have a chance against them, so it’s a dang good thing I’m not like other humans around here. I channel the venom and take off at incredible speed, rounding the hallway corners and diving back into the room before they can catch me.
I’m gasping for breath when I look up to see Adrian. He stands towering above me, his hands in fists at his sides.
“I know,” I gasp out. “You don’t have to lecture me.”
“If you break Brisa’s rules and they find you out there, they will kill you.”
“How unfair is it that I’m here of all places and I can’t even explore?”
“Is that what you were doing? Don’t lie to me.”
I shrug. “I was hoping to figure out whoever’s been killing the princes. In case you forgot, that includes you.” I point. “Someone wants you dead.”
“A lot of people want me dead,” he replies. “I’m used to it. Now get back to bed.”
I roll my eyes but do as he says, adrenaline making it impossible to fall asleep. I wish I did, because it’s that very night, at one of Brisa’s monotonous parties, that everything changes.
The French people don’t typically celebrate Halloween, but Brisa announces that we’re going to anyway––with a masked ball. I can’t believe it’s still October and that we’re not well into November by now. Time has started to draw in on itself and I don’t like that––I feel disoriented and want to demand to look at a calendar. But I don’t demand anything. I can’t. Not here.
True to Brisa’s tastes, we’re required to wear historical outfits. I don’t get to choose what I wear. Ever. The servants always take care of that, and I never complain to them since none of this is their fault. I’m assuming Brisa is choosing my outfits, like a little girl playing with her dollies. Of course, I’m not the only doll, I’m one of at least a hundred. And all of us have painted smiles on our faces because we know the alternative could mean death.
Tonight, they dress me in a bright white gown. It’s looser than the others and doesn’t require a corset underneath––finally! I smile as the fabric sparkles under the candlelight.
“Wow,” I whisper, appraising myself in the mirror. “This is my favorite one yet.”
“Just wait,” Remi says conspiratorially. “We’re not done.”
I hate that she’s the only human servant here who I suspect isn’t under a compulsion. The woman simply has too much fiery life left inside her. I hope she leaves this place one day and never returns. I can see her hatred of Brisa in her hazel eyes and hear it in her careful voice when we talk about the queen, even if she does her best to keep it hidden. She produces a set of sheer angelic wings and fastens them to the back of the gown. Then she paints gold shimmery dust all over my neck and on the bridges of my cheekbones. My hair is braided intricately down my back with little gold gems twisted throughout. Lastly, she ties a gold Venetian mask over my smoky eyes. I stare at myself in the mirror because I don’t think I’ve ever looked more beautiful.
“Good luck tonight.” She hugs me, whispering in my ear. “Keep your eyes open.”
She leaves me in the dressing room before I can question her, the others scurrying after her. I watch closely as they go, looking for the auras as I often do. They’re dim, but they’re always there when I make an effort to see them. I hope that means one day they can be saved from the compulsions. I squint to get a better look. Does Remi have one? For a moment, I think maybe she doesn’t. She turns back and winks at me, and then closes the door.
I gape after her, wide awake despite my lack of sleep. Is Remi one of the energy demons? But she’s so kind, so helpful. How did she get in here? Is she planning to help me? Hurt me?
I start toward the door to follow after her, but it opens into me, nearly knocking me over. I stumble back and then Adrian is there, catching me. He steadies my body, and I gaze up at him, momentarily mesmerized. He’s dressed completely in black, from the doublet vest and fine tunic, down to the breeches, tights, and boots. He’s grumbled over the clothing here enough times that I know he hates everything about them, but I’ve grown to like him this way––my dark prince. His mask matches mine, elegant shape, but is matte black. And at the top of his head, resting in his curls, are two crimson horns.
“So, your true self is revealed,” I tease.
He smirks and sets me upright. My body burns in each place he touches.
“I thought it would only be fitting if we went as a matching set.”
So he picked this dress for me. My cheeks warm at the realization. “The devil and an angel?” I raise an eyebrow. “Aren’t they supposed to be enemies?”
“That’s what makes it interesting.” He takes my hand and leads me to the ballroom as he’s done so many times before. But there’s something about tonight that feels different. I’m unsettled, trying to figure it out. Is this the night the vampires turn me? Is it when hunters come to save me? Or are the demon-things here on some sort of mission?
I can’t figure it out, but I’m certain there’s something going on. Like a change in the weather, it can be subtle at first and then one day a new season blankets the world. It’s happening.
