Royally Cursed, page 4
part #2 of Vampire Princess Series
And I hadn’t even so much as seen a human who wasn’t in a car during our trip, let alone smelled them.
I was too afraid the thirst would take over and I would tear someone’s head off.
It could be anyone. It didn’t make a difference when my fangs came out. I had no idea what I was capable of, but I had a terrible feeling that it was a lot.
It went against everything I believed in to kill the innocent.
But I was especially afraid of hurting the two people I cared about most. The human people, anyway.
Well, humanish.
I had been determined to finish high school and complete my senior year without killing anyone. I’d lost that hope in the past few weeks. Things were getting worse, and it was happening fast. I sighed, not willing to give up yet.
At least I had the summer to train and try and get my thirst under control.
You know, as long as war didn’t break out first.
I gripped the door handle and turned my face away. I heard the metal creak as I squeezed it, giving me away. But I should have known Bernard would not be fooled.
“Highness?”
I moaned as the thirst inside me grew. It had never been this bad. Just like that, my control slipped, I wanted to tear the car apart. I wanted to eat everything in sight.
Even Bernard.
“How bad is it?”
I hissed through the pain. The hunger was like a knife inside me, cutting me up. Insisting that I have blood.
And lots of it.
“Really bad?”
I forced myself to nod and Bernard cursed. The wheels made a shrill sound as he drove faster, putting the pedal to the metal. He must have broken fifty laws to get us home that fast.
It wasn’t fast enough.
I was shaking by the time we got home. The car spun out as he hit the brakes, bringing us to an abrupt halt. He pulled me from the car, cradling me in his arms like a baby.
“Caleb! Bring the blood!”
But there were two figures on the porch when I looked up. Two figures rushing towards me. I felt him before I saw his face. If I hadn’t been so hungry I would have known. I could feel him now, all the time. His emotions. His pain at being sent away.
Maxim was here.
He lifted me from Bernard’s arms and pressed my lips to his throat.
Chapter 7
“Princess! That’s enough!”
“It’s alright. I fed well today. A bus full of schoolchildren.”
I felt the deep rumble of a laugh in the broad chest I was pressed against. I would have laughed myself but I was lost in the blood. Lost in the feeling of the handsome Vampire holding me so tenderly.
Saving me.
“Not funny, Maxim.” I could almost hear Caleb cluck his tongue. “Don’t allow her to hurt you.”
“I would forgive her.”
“She would not forgive herself.”
Things started to come into focus one at a time. The cold, but somehow living, blood in my mouth. The strong arms wrapped around me. The scent of him. The feeling of oneness while I drank.
The gravel underneath us.
The trees. The sky. The stars. The Earth’s steady rotation, suddenly perceptible beneath me.
Maxim was kneeling on the ground of the driveway, holding me in his arms as I fed on him. I could feel the slight tremble in his arms as he started to weaken.
I had taken too much.
And I wanted more.
I forced myself to pull back, resisting the urge to lick the last droplets of blood from his neck. The flesh closed quickly. His skin was once again flawless, pale olive like a taupe marble but strong and beautiful.
I blinked, staring into his eyes. He gave me the barest hint of a smile. A secret smile, something that only existed between us.
“Maxim…”
“Shhh, it’s alright.”
“It’s not. I would have drained you.”
He shook his head.
“No.”
That was all he said. I felt Bernard lifting me. I shook him off. I didn’t need help now. I was stronger than ever. I clenched my fist, staring at it.
I could feel the power running through me, making me invincible.
I’d realized after drinking from him the first time that something was different. Maxim’s blood gave my body a strength I would never have believed possible. I could smash boulders with my pinkie if I wanted to.
Thankfully, I wasn’t the destructive type. Not deliberately anyway.
I watched as Caleb helped Maxim to his feet.
“You should feed. Come, I will take you. Bernard, put her to bed.”
But Bernard was not listening.
“Why is he here?”
I watched the argument happen through a haze of fulfillment. I felt good. Almost too good, like an addict who had finally gotten a fix.
Maxim gave me a lazy smile as we stared at each other, ignoring my guardians altogether. He knew what I was feeling, just as I knew what he was feeling. We were bound.
I was finally starting to understand what that meant.
“I invited him. He has news. And Sasha needs him.”
“She didn’t need him before he tricked us all!”
“Calm yourself, Bernard. It’s been a week and we are all calm now. What’s done is done.”
“What is his news then?”
“Not now, Bernard. Put her to bed.”
Bernard took my arm. I refused to move at first, too lost in the depths of Maxim’s dark eyes. He gave me a slow nod and I blinked, coming out of my trance.
“Goodnight, Highness.”
Caleb’s eyes caught everything, dancing back and forth between us.
“Goodnight, Maxim. Goodnight, Caleb.”
Bernard followed me inside the house. It was not until the door closed behind us that Maxim and Caleb moved. Not one inch. They had been watching me, one filled with longing, and the other with concern.
For once I didn’t flinch from knowing another’s emotion. I basked in the heat of Maxim’s feelings for me, like a cat soaking up the sun.
Bernard gave me time to change before knocking softly on the door. I was already in bed, moving slowly, almost by rote. I knew Bernard was upset, just as I had been. Drinking Maxim’s blood again had changed that.
I felt like I was under his spell but I also trusted him not to abuse the power he held over me. His blood had told me things. Ancient, dark things. That he more than liked me.
“Why don’t you like him?”
“I don’t dislike him. I don’t like that he has a hold over you. And I’m not sure of his motives.”
“He cares for me.”
Bernard sat on the edge of the bed, giving me an odd look.
“Of course he does. You are remarkable. And very beautiful.”
I made a face. I knew I had decent looks, but I hated when people told me that. It seemed so superficial to care, when our world was hanging by a thread.
“If I drink from another, would that happen again? The… bond?”
Bernard shook his head slowly.
“That bond only happens once, as far as I know. But perhaps you are different.”
I closed my eyes, still feeling full and satiated.
“It would be better if it could only happen once.”
I felt him raising the blankets, tucking me in like a little girl.
“Why’s that, Princess?”
“Because it could be used against me.”
I felt Bernard pause. His breath stopped. And his movements. It was a moment later when I heard his soft answer, right before he closed the door behind him.
“I know.”
Chapter 8
I was there again. The throne room. But it wasn’t now. Somehow, I could feel when it was, even while I realized I was dreaming.
It was the past.
My father was not in a cage, slowly going mad. He was not on his throne either, but standing at one of the massive fireplaces on either side of the chamber. He leaned against the heavy marble mantel, deep in thought.
He did this when he was troubled. Or when he had a big decision to make. I smiled fondly to myself, staring at his broad back.
My father was not a pacer. He was a leaner.
I, on the other hand, was more likely to run.
I knew I was asleep. Lucid dreaming most likely. But I was afraid that it was more than that.
Another message. Another threat. Another vision.
If there was a way that the New Leaders could contact me… If they were sending me dreams to frighten or influence me, then this was not going to go well.
But I was not actually there this time, from what I could tell. I realized it as my father turned to stare past me, his eyes flickering over me as if I was invisible.
Or small.
I finally noticed how low to the ground I was. I was there, but I was merely a child. And I was playing the spy. There was a large tapestry by the door I often hid myself behind. I suspected my father often knew when I was hiding there.
Perhaps he had wanted me to learn without being observed. Either way, I had witnessed many things that no child should have. Complex things that hadn’t made sense until much, much later.
This was a memory then. Interesting.
“Come in.”
Crisp footsteps rang out as the stranger crossed the room. I watched him, knowing he was someone important from his posture and bearing. His bootheels hit the floor with precise regularity. That was not surprising.
Old European Vampires were extremely formal, almost laughably so. I was still trying to cure Caleb of what I liked to call ‘the epic stick up his butt.’
To which he always replied, ‘at least it is not a stake.’
I smirked in the dream. Huh. Now I was in a dream, inside a memory, and having other memories.
This was weird, even for me.
And then things got massively, insanely weirder.
“Your Highness.”
The man knelt, his head lowered. My father waved his hand magnanimously and then said something that blew my freaking mind.
“Rise… Your Highness.”
There were other royals? What did that mean? Who was it?
I raced forward, trying to get a look at the man’s face. There was something familiar about him. But just as I got close enough I felt myself getting pulled back, thrust into my body with tremendous force.
I sat up in bed, my hands clawing at my throat.
The hunger was back.
Chapter 9
I was up and running for the fridge before I even took a breath. The thirst was that strong. Stronger than it had ever been before.
Basically, my insides felt like they wanted to be… outside.
I flung open the door to the ancient refrigerator and practically dove into it, chugging the first bag of blood I could get my hands on.
And then another.
And then another.
I sat back, realizing it wasn’t working after the third bag. The hunger was still there. I held my hand up, and stared.
I was changing. The color of my skin shifting to transluscent. I could see my veins throbbing beneath the surface. Begging for more.
Begging for blood.
They turned black inside me, withering without the blood they craved. It felt like I was drying up from the inside out. I was sure this was what happened to Vampires who didn’t drink for a hundred years.
And it was happening to me in a matter of minutes.
I leaned my head against the cabinets and tried not to scream.
I sensed him before he appeared.
A shadow appeared above me. Then the blood was in my mouth. His blood.
Maxim was holding my head so that my lips pressed against his wrist. The flesh there was hard and smooth but somehow yielding. I wrapped my fingers around his arm, holding him in place.
His blood was so delicious. Dark and rich and somehow… him. Unlike human blood, it actually satiated me.
But for how long?
I gripped his hand and he grunted as I pulled him towards me. He braced himself against the kitchen counter, trying to resist me.
He couldn’t.
I felt him crumble along with the counter. A chunk of the ancient linoleum let go with a crack and a fine dust filled the air. But Maxim did not say a word. He barely made a sound, other than a release of air as his knees hit the tiles that covered the kitchen floor.
Sasha.
I didn’t hear it. I felt it.
Sasha.
My name, whispered again and again. Not even whispered. It was thought. A hushed, wisp of a thought but it was there, tickling at the edges of my consciousness.
Sasha. You must stop.
I lifted my head, my eyes closed and my mouth full of blood.
There was something sacred about his blood. It was the blood of my people. It was forbidden to drink from another Vampire, though I didn’t know why.
Maxim was staring at me, his eyes shining with approval.
“You did well. You stopped.”
“Did I… hurt you?”
“No. You did not.’
I exhaled, not sure if he was lying. But I was still relieved. If he could answer me at all, then he was alive. Because I could have easily drank much, much more.
And I was not the monster I feared myself to be.
I closed my eyes and let him pull me into his arms. We sat on the kitchen floor together, his arms draped around me, holding me tight. I felt oddly safe there, even though I was mad at him.
I knew that either Caleb or Bernard was awake. They never slept at the same time.
It was hard to wake a Vampire. Not to mention dangerous. Plus, they liked to sleep while the sun was out, and since I was half human, I kinda needed to do stuff during the day.
They would never leave me unprotected.
So, they had to take turns.
But at least one of them would have heard the ruckus. And yet, they were leaving us alone. Normally at least one of them would have been by my side.
It took me a moment before I figured out why. And I knew who was out of sight, listening and waiting. It was Caleb. It had to be.
Caleb was hoping something like this would happen. Not the biting, but the closeness I felt for Maxim. Ugh. I hated feeling like I was being set up.
And that was exactly what was happening.
I knew it meant that Caleb thought highly of Maxim. That he wanted me to have backup and support. He wanted me to have love, if that was even possible with everything else that was going on.
Yeah, Caleb was pretty much a thousand-year-old Vampire matchmaker. Like that woman on TV. But with less bangs.
I knew this was a set up. And I knew Maxim was on board. Since I drank from him, I knew how deeply his feelings went. It wasn’t just a flirtation for him.
I was still taken by surprise when Maxim’s lips pressed into mine. They were not warm, like Dylan’s, but they weren’t exactly cold either. And they were much softer than I would have imagined.
I gasped as he tilted his head, deepening the kiss. I felt his tongue inside my mouth and froze, unsure if I should kiss him back.
I wanted to, sure. But should I?
It was dangerous to give into this attraction, even for a moment. There was so much at stake. I was already reliant on his blood. And we needed him for his connections and intel on the New Leaders. We needed to work together to save his mother and my father, the King.
I couldn’t risk complicating that.
I pushed gently on his chest and he lifted his head, staring down at me. His eyes were intense with dark swirling depths. The sun began to shine through the kitchen window and I could see smoke rising from his shoulder.
“Maxim! You’re burning! Doesn’t that hurt?”
He smiled at me, slowly shifting out of the patch of sun.
“It was worth it.”
He rubbed his thumb across his lips.
“You were worth it.”
My mouth opened and closed, not unlike a guppy’s. Yes, it was very attractive. I definitely looked like a fish.
But man, Maxim did have a way with words.
“That cannot happen, Maxim. Please don’t kiss me again.”
His eyes narrowed. He didn’t want to hear that, I knew. He didn’t argue with me though. He climbed to his feet and bowed.
“I would do anything for you, Princess.”
He grinned at me suddenly, looking rakish and dashing.
“Except promise you that.”
And then he winked.
It should have been silly, and it was. But his gaze was filled with warm promise. Even when he tried to be corny, Maxim was elegant, smooth and on point.
I exhaled, rolling my eyes at his cocky smile. I threw a dishrag at him. He just bowed again and disappeared into the basement to rest.
So other than Caleb, who was skulking around the house somewhere like the Millionaire Matchmaker, I was on my own.
The hunger was gone.
I was free.
But for how long?
Chapter 10
“There you are.”
I folded my arms over my chest, standing in the doorway to Caleb’s study. It was dark in here, even safe enough for him to sleep, with the windows tightly covered with black fabric.
But he wasn’t sleeping. He wasn’t eavesdropping either. He was doing something much more concerning.
Caleb was reading.
My eldest guardian didn’t read like normal humans, or even normal Vampires. He read like a super hero. On steroids.
The pages moved swiftly, almost invisible to the naked eye. That’s how quickly he devoured the words inside. That was on a bad day. But he was going even faster than usual.
I stared, catching his emotions like a human caught cold.
His fear was palpable.
Caleb was freaking out.
And it was contagious.
“What are you doing?”
“Reading.”
“That’s not reading.”
