Vampire Girl (23 page)

I feel lightheaded, and the woman looks paler than she had, but I'm no longer bleeding. There's not even a scar. "How did you do that?" Though I know the answer. I saw Kayla do nearly the same thing with Daison.

My heart drops at the thought of the sweet boy.

The woman smiles and slips the green stone back into a small leather pouch. "The magic is in our blood. In your blood. You will learn all of this and more."

While the idea of learning magic appeals to me, nothing they say can be trusted. I've seen how they attack the people I care for. How they burned an entire city, a city that included their own kind, just to lure me and Fen out. They are not my kin, and I will not be seduced by their empty promises.

The elevator finally stops, and the stone door opens, revealing a long tunnel lit with lanterns.

The glowing light above our heads disappears, and I follow the three of them through the tunnels.

The tall man has my sword strapped to his back, and I imagine taking it and fighting them all, but I'm still too weak. I have no idea where I am and how to get back to Fen. So I let them lead me until I can think of a better plan that might work. Maybe I can still draw the mark? I rub the ring Fen gave me as a talisman to give me luck and strength. I'm going to need both before this is over.

We walk through winding underground paths, then up stairs until we reach a giant cavern. Blue stalagmites hang from the ceiling, lighting the area. And before me stands a castle. More majestic than anything I've ever seen. It is made of crystal and marble with the most graceful and elegant design throughout. Tall spires rise high above, blending with the cavern's walls. The large gate is decorated with two white stags. It opens on its own.

I'm led inside, to a large hall with a wooden table in the center. It is covered with food and drink and at the head a man sits eating a piece of meat. He looks up and smiles when he sees me, then stands, arms out. "Princess Arianna, here at last. It is such a pleasure to finally meet you."

I know his face, but it's impossible. He can't be who I think he is.

"I know, it is quite a shock. I should be dead after all, but alas, as you can see, I'm very much alive."

"King Lucian? But, how?"

"I'm afraid that bit of trickery was necessary in order to find you and bring you here, in order to change things on our world for the better. My sons didn't understand when I tried to explain."

"I don't believe you. This is madness." I tremble. Confused. None of this makes sense.

"I can understand why you might not trust me just yet. But perhaps there is another whose word you might trust more?"

A man walks out from the shadows. A man I have come to know over the last few weeks. A man I thought I could trust.

"Hello, Arianna."

"Hello... Asher."

Fenris Vane

––––––––

"They have unleashed the Prince of War."

—Arianna Spero

I
wake with
a start, my heart hammering in my chest. "Arianna!" I scream her name into the dark cave. It is cold, too cold for a human. The fire has been dead for hours, and though I can still smell Ari's scent lingering in the air, she is gone.

And she is in trouble.

Her blood pumps through me. It healed me faster than anything should have. And now, I understand why my father chose her above all others.

I need to see Asher. His answers to my questions will determine whether he keeps his head or not.

Baron whines at the entrance, and we both tear through the snow and run as fast as our legs will carry us. Her scent fades now that we are in the open. New snowfall has covered her tracks, and it doesn't take us long to lose any hope of finding her. I scream into the woods, and Baron matches my grief with his own howl.

We run back to the castle. This time I don't slow for Baron. I use all my demon strength, pushing through the pain still in me.

Once there, I immediately send scouts to search the woods, and another to bring Asher to me posthaste.

Everyone avoids me as I tear through the castle looking for any clue as to what happened to Arianna, though in my heart, I know. And it means war. More than war. It means annihilation.

When Asher arrives, he smiles at first, ready with a cocky quip. I erase that smile with my fist.

He rubs his jaw, looking confused. "That's an odd sort of greeting for your favorite brother. What troubles you, Fen?"

I step up close to him. "Tell me you didn't know."

"Didn't know what, brother?"

"That Arianna is of royal Fae blood. That you planned to marry the true heir off to one of us, thus securing our reign forever."

His eyes widen, and I know in that instant the truth. I punch him again, this time sending him flying back.

His normally jovial face turns hard. "I'll give you those, but no more, Fen. How did you find out?"

"Her blood," I say.

"You broke the oath?"

I shake my head. "Not consciously. I was poisoned by raider's blood. They mixed it with something. I nearly died. She made me feed off her while I was unconscious."

Asher frowns. "How did her blood not make you worse?"

I shrug. "I do not know. I thought you might. Perhaps it is the mix of human and Fae. Maybe it negated the poison."

"What about the other effects?" he asks.

"Those were not negated. It is still a drug. An elixir. I healed far too fast. I feel too strong."

Asher rubs his chin again. "You certainly do at that."

"Why did you not tell me who I was guarding?"

"Father said, for this to work, it had to remain secret. He said he only told me, and that I was to tell no one."

I squeeze a fist. Even in death, my father favors my brother.

Asher looks around.  "Where is the princess now?"

"She's gone," I growl. "They took her while I was unconscious. I felt it. It's what woke me from the stupor."

"She is the key to everything," he says. "We must find her. Now, before we lose her forever."

My eyes fall to the ground. "Don't you see? We have already lost her. They will tell her the truth of who she is, and she will think we betrayed her. That
I
betrayed her. And we will be at war. With her as their leader."

Asher lays a hand on my arm. "You love her."

It's not a question, so I don't bother answering.

"Brother, this cannot be. You were chosen by the High Council to guard her and protect her because you refused to be king."

I look up, fury raging in me. "This isn't about being king. This is about Arianna and her life."

"She will not walk away so easily from us, brother. We still have her mother's soul. She will come back, and she will choose a prince. Or her contract will be broken and her mother's soul will spend eternity in hell."

My fist acts of its own volition, landing on Asher's jaw and knocking him out this time. I leave his body on the floor and walk away.

***

F
ive weeks ago, I stood in front of my father, the king, holding both our goblets of wine in my hand. Indecision plagued me.

One goblet contained poisoned wine. And how my father answered my questions would determine which goblet he received.

"You have never had a head for the long game," he said to me, in that patronizing way he always had. "You just want to stab your sword at a problem, but some things require more delicacy. More manipulation."

"You're talking about destroying your own people," I said, still holding the goblets.

My father paced the sitting room and continued to deliver his lecture about the greater good and the fate of this world and how we will never break the curse that plagues us if we don't sacrifice a few of our own.

When he asked for the wine, I gave him the goblet in my right hand.

I gave him the poison.

He drained it, and I waited for him to fall to the ground.

I expected the wrenching.

I expected the foaming at the mouth.

But I didn't expect his heart to stop.

The poison wasn't meant to kill him. It was meant to render him unconscious so he could be imprisoned and questioned further.

I acted quickly, setting the room to look as if he'd been alone, and leaving, allowing someone else to find his body.

He was declared dead.

He was interred in the mausoleum.

And I took over the hunt for his killer.

It was me the whole time.

But I didn't destroy his body. And I never understood how he died. Zeb's report told me one thing. My poison didn't kill him.

So what did?

Or who?

My wrist burns, pulling me out of memory and into the present. I look down at my wrist. My demon mark glows a bright red.

Arianna is summoning me. Calling me.

And I will find her.

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Vampire Girl
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arpov Kinrade is the pen name for the husband and wife writing duo of USA TODAY bestselling, award-winning authors Lux Kinrade and Dmytry Karpov.

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Look for more from Karpov Kinrade in
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They live with three little girls who think they’re ninja princesses with super powers and who are also showing a propensity for telling tall tales and using the written word to weave stories of wonder and magic.

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