Royally Cursed, page 9
part #2 of Vampire Princess Series
If only I couldn’t freaking hear them!
Yeah, that souped-up vamp hearing was even worse now. I sighed, wishing I could go somewhere else and just enjoy this blissful feeling for a few minutes without all the drama.
Bernard was worried about repercussions. Maxim was pissed. Caleb was trying to control them all with no success and Dylan was provoking everyone, especially Max.
I cringed as I dried off, patting my hair with a towel. I poured scented oil into my hands and ran it over my skin, inhaling the clean and slightly soapy scent.
I was not going to race down there without girling myself up a little. I had been in the damn dungeon. I deserved it.
All the same, I dressed quickly, throwing on a clean bra and panties (heaven), a pair of jeans that may or may not be clean (almost heaven), and a t-shirt in soft emerald green (heaven).
Not that I believed in actual heaven. If it existed, it was definitely off-limits to the undead anyway. But I liked the idea of it for some reason.
At least as a counterpoint to complaining.
I tossed on some sneakers and walked down the stairs at a leisurely pace.
Dylan and Max were still at it. I arched my brow as Dylan smiled and took another jab at Maxim, who was practically vibrating with rage.
Oof.
I could feel all their emotions. Every single complicated, messy one. I rubbed my temples, wondering if I could get a headache. Because this was enough to give me one, supernatural or not.
Fantastic.
Dylan turned to see me and jerked his thumb at Max.
“Who is this guy, anyway?”
“I’ve been loyal to Sophie’s family for centuries. Who are you?”
“Dylan is my friend. Dylan, Maxim is my friend. Enough.”
They all turned to stare at me as I placidly walked into the living room.
“Friend? Aren’t you guys an item?”
Dylan’s whole body was tense, waiting for my answer.
“Nobody in this room is an item. Trust me.”
I saw the tension leave his body. I saw Maxim react in the exact opposite way. He pulled into himself, obviously not liking my answer.
Yeah, I was definitely still hurting the people I cared about. No matter what I did. I sighed and plopped down on the couch, putting my feet up on the coffee table.
“I’m starving.”
Well, that was one way to stop the fighting. They all looked horrified. At least they all shut up.
“For food. Nightfall, you guys like to worry.”
The mood changed, just like that.
“So you’re… good?”
I smiled at Dylan.
“Yes. You fixed me. I can’t thank you enough by the way.”
I closed my eyes for a moment, enjoying the silence. I felt so good, it was like I was sitting on air.
An air couch.
“Uh… Soph?”
“What is it?”
“You are kind of… floating?”
“What?”
My eyes snapped open and I stared around me. I’d crawled the walls before. This was… different.
I was two feet above the couch.
And rising.
“Um.”
Dylan stared at me, clearly fascinated. Not freaked. Man, he was taking this all like a champ.
“Is this normal?”
Caleb exhaled sharply.
“Nothing about Sophie is normal. I trust we can count on your discretion, young man?”
Dylan gave a firm nod.
“You can.”
“Good. And if we need another donation?”
“Whatever she needs. Just… just don’t shut me out again.”
“That’s lovely guys. So nice to hear you all speaking civilly. But I’m still rising.”
Bernard reached out and grabbed my leg, holding me like a balloon. Caleb stepped up beside him.
“Focus, Sophie.”
“Focus on what?”
Great, something else to worry about. I still felt so good, but it was disconcerting to be levitating like this. I didn’t seem to have any control over it.
It was a damn good thing I wasn’t outside.
“So his blood satiates her, but it had some… side effects.”
My head hit the ceiling and I rolled so my back was flat against it. I pushed my hair out of my face with annoyance.
“That’s putting it mildly.”
Maxim stepped forward, staring at me like I was a curious creature. I suppose I was. I could feel him so strongly, even more than the others. He was worried about me. But it was more than that.
He was worried about the future of our kind.
And he really, really wanted to punch Dylan.
Almost as much as he wanted to pull me down from the ceiling and kiss me.
Nightfall.
Yeah, I got all that without him saying a word.
My bond to Maxim was stronger than ever. I could feel other people, but I could read him. That was what happened when I drank from another magical creature.
At this point, no one was more connected than the two of us.
Well, except Dylan.
Because now, I was realizing something new. I could feel him too. And he was feeling pretty smug for a Fae in a room full of Vampires.
Oh, and he wanted to kiss me too.
Apparently, floating on the ceiling was a good look for me. And I was now bonded to two people instead of just one.
Fannnntastic.
“How long will it last? Before the hunger returns?”
Caleb shook his head, staring at me while Bernard held my foot and stared at him.
“We don’t know. It might be gone for good. Or she might need to feed occasionally. Or perhaps a small amount every day.”
I cleared my voice, tired of being talked to like I wasn’t there.
“What about the floating thing?”
He gave me a shrewd look.
“I don’t know. It is concerning. But if you could learn to control it, it might not be a bad thing.”
I crossed my arms and gave him a look, still flat against the ceiling.
“Yeah, that’s not going so well.”
Bernard released my foot and stepped back. Just like that, I was flat against the ceiling. And I could feel the pressure inside me, wanting to rise.
“Caleb… if she was outside. This could have been catastrophic.”
I’d been thinking the same thing but was afraid to voice it. I kept my tone light as I cleared my throat and asked what we were all thinking.
“What do you mean? You think I would have just… kept rising?”
Caleb nodded and I felt my stomach drop. That was scary. I didn’t want to end up in outer space. Not that it would kill me.
It would just be… lonely.
“So, what do we do now?”
“I have an idea.” Caleb turned to Maxim. “One drop. One drop of your blood.”
Maxim exhaled and nodded. I could feel his relief. Relief that he was still needed. Still wanted here.
I could have told him that. Way beyond the blood, he had changed our group. He was one of us now.
He was my friend.
I watched as Bernard brought a needle and a chair for him to stand on. He climbed on and looked at me, a few feet away from where I was lodged against the ceiling.
I could feel some of unnamed force pushing me into the plaster relentlessly.
His face was dark and hurt, full of secrets. But he couldn’t keep secrets from me anymore. Not about the way he felt.
“Maxim…”
He gave me a cool look, holding the needle above his finger.
“Yes, Princess?”
He was all business, not giving an outward hint of the pain he was feeling.
“You are… needed. I need you here.”
He closed his dark eyes and bowed his head slightly. Then he pricked his finger and a small bead of blood appeared. He offered it to me, our eyes connecting again.
I let him press it to my lips. And as he did I whispered.
“It has nothing to do with your blood.”
He stared at me. His expression open. Broken somehow. He was not hiding anything from me. His feelings were so raw.
It broke my heart a little.
And then he smirked, staring at my mouth while I sucked the blood from his fingertip.
Ugh, there it was. That man thing he did when he had a naughty thought. The sensitive Maxim was gone. Pig Maxim was in full effect.
But something else was happening at the same time. My glorious high was starting to fade. The feeling of floating was lifting. And I started to feel like myself again. Imperfect, half human me.
Or at least, quarter human.
I released his finger and began to sink.
Chapter 19
“I know it’s a lot to take in.”
I was sitting with Dylan in my bedroom. Maxim had torn off on his motorcycle without saying a word the moment the sun went down. I knew he was upset. But I had bigger problems right now.
Dylan had actually laughed out loud when he heard the bike peel off. He was still in a good mood. Still taking this in stride.
One side of his lips raised in a wry smile.
“I don’t know. I feel like… I knew. On some level, I knew.”
“You did? I mean, I don’t even know what is going on with me.”
“Yeah. I mean, not the specifics. But I knew you were special. When they told me… I wasn’t surprised.”
I nodded, knowing what he meant. I’d known on some level about Dylan being different as well. Just how I’d known about my father’s madness. And somehow, I could still feel my mother, even though we’d never met.
Her strangeness. Her specialness. Her… um, Angelness?
Whatever. I knew what he meant.
Then again, I seemed to be some sort of an empath. Not a psychic. Not something actually useful. But I could feel every damn emotion the people around me were feeling.
And apparently, we were a very emotional bunch.
I blushed a bit as Dylan’s hand brushed my own. Speaking of emotions, his were pulsing with warmth. I felt close to him too. The bond must be getting stronger.
“Thank you.” He opened his mouth to speak but I cut him off. “I mean it. No one else could do what you did for me. And I doubt that many would.”
“Soph— I will do anything for you. Just don’t shut me out again.”
I exhaled.
“Some of this… would be safer for you if you did not know. You would be better off running away from me and never looking back.”
He squeezed my hand.
“Not gonna happen.”
“Even if… we were not together anymore? Because I don’t know if I can afford any distractions right now. And it’s more complicated than that.”
“Because of him.”
Dylan’s voice was flat. It felt like a knife twisting inside me when I nodded.
“Yes, and no. We were never together. But I care about him. A lot.”
“He’s in love with you.”
I shrugged. I knew Dyl was right. Maxim was in love with me. And I was pretty sure I would have returned that feeling one hundred percent if Dylan didn’t already have a huge piece of my heart.
As it was, I was halfway in love with both of them.
“Like I said, it’s complicated.”
He exhaled and ran his left hand through his hair, not letting go of my hand with the right one.
“Yeah. I mean, it sucks but okay. I’m not going anywhere. If you were with him… I might not be able to handle being too close to it. But I could still come if you needed me. Forever, Soph.”
I teared up. Ugh, freaking emotions. Teenage hormones probably weren’t helping either. Dylan was breaking my heart a little.
I made a decision then and there.
I turned to face Dyl on the window seat, taking his other hand. I felt a little zap as our arms formed a closed circle. The connection was zinging with power.
Whoa.
“You did more than save me. You may have saved my Kingdom. My kind. And probably a big chunk of humankind.”
“Your… what?”
“I’m… kind of a Princess?”
His mouth opened a bit. Finally, I’d actually shocked him.
“That’s why they do what you say, huh?”
“Yeah, I mean not many seventeen-year olds have thousand year old Vampires obeying their commands.” I gave Dyl a sardonic smile. “Not that they actually obey all of them.”
He was staring at me in wonder, not in terror.
“Wow, Soph.”
“That’s not my real name either.”
“What is it?”
I smiled and squeezed his hands, letting go.
“I’ll tell you later. For now, let’s get out of here.”
“You want to go out?”
“I’ve been trapped in this house for almost a month. And I wasn’t exactly getting out much before that. Not since school. My people… we’re at war, Dyl. That’s why we have to be so secretive.”
“At war? Does that mean someone wants to hurt you?”
I nodded.
“Not just hurt me, Dyl. They want to eat me.”
“Eat you?”
“Well, drink me anyway. Apparently, my blood has powers.” I smiled at Dyl. “Kind of like yours does.”
Dylan mulled that over for a minute. Then he shook his head like a dog trying to shake off water.
“Yeah, I think you are right. Let’s not talk about this anymore. Not tonight anyway. Where do you want to go?”
I smiled.
“Anywhere. But we should bring some blood, just in case. Maybe even the chains.”
“No chains. I can’t handle seeing you like that again. But here.”
He offered me his wrist and I laughed. The thirst was still gone. Not just waiting below the surface.
It was really just… gone.
I grabbed a jacket and shoved a lip gloss in my small fringed leather purse while Dylan waited. I glanced in the mirror and smiled, seeing him standing beside me. We looked like normal teenagers.
And like normal teenagers on a hot summer night, we were going out.
Caleb, on the other hand, did not think it was a great idea.
Bernard handed me a large travel mug.
“A drop of each kind in sparkling water.”
I took it, wondering at his creativity.
“Not enough to be detected if someone else got a whiff of it.”
“It’s human, vamp and Fae?”
He nodded and I gave him a hug.
“Thanks Bernard. You’re a genius.”
Caleb stood by the door, glowering at us.
“Sophie! We must continue your training. We’ve lost too much time as it is!”
“I know. And we will.”
I smiled at Caleb as I snagged the car keys from the table in the entryway.
“Later.”
Chapter 20
“Well, you are a pretty good driver.”
“This is a sweet ride. Remind me to thank your uncle for the loaner.”
Dylan smiled at me, immediately returning his eyes to the road.
“You sound jealous.”
“I’m an excellent driver, but I’m not allowed to drive.”
“What, you didn’t pass the test yet? I find that hard to believe Miss Super-Fast Reflexes.”
I shrugged.
“I’ve been preoccupied. You know, with a supernatural war brewing and wanting to kill everyone in sight.”
“You’re not a killer, Sophie.”
“No. I’m not. And I’d like to keep it that way.”
I sighed, leaning my head against the padded headrest.
“And thanks to this, hopefully I won’t ever have to harm a human being.”
“Human beings, huh? Aren’t you at least part human?”
“I am.”
“But you might kill other kinds of… people?”
“Well, vamps. They have my dad.”
“Soph, I’m going to need the cliff notes here.”
“There was a big coup when I was a little girl. These Vampires killed everyone in the palace and captured my father. They tried to kill me.”
“Oh my God.”
“Yeah. It was bad. Caleb and Bernard got me out.”
I stared out the window.
“You shouldn’t be too hard on Maxim. He only wants to help. They have his family too.”
“Maybe he does want to help.” Dylan arched a brow at me. “But he also wants my girl.”
“I’m not your girl.”
He flashed me a heated look.
“Not yet.”
“You are incorrigible.” I looked around, realizing we were heading farther from town. “Where are you taking me anyway?”
“There’s a party at the lake.”
“You got the lifeguard job you wanted?”
I knew he had, but it seemed polite to ask. He nodded, with a small smile.
“Yeah, it’s cool.”
“Do you know where you’re going to school next year?”
He bit his lip, then shook his head.
“I applied a few places. But I didn’t say yes to any of them.”
I sat up, staring at him suspiciously.
“What? Why would you do that?”
He didn’t speak for a moment. I felt my insides start to churn as a wave of embarrassment swept over me. Not my embarrassment. His.
“I couldn’t leave, Soph. Not when there was a chance.”
“Dylan, seriously. You were going to stay in this town to keep an eye on your ex-girlfriend?”
“You didn’t mean it when you broke up with me.”
“No, I did mean it. I didn’t want to mean it. But I did.”
He shrugged sheepishly and smiled.
“Well, I’m not giving up anyway. But we don’t have to talk about it right now.”
“Please.”
“So, let’s just have fun.”
I moaned, closing my eyes.
“Okay, fun for tonight but I can’t talk about this any time soon.”
“Fine. No talking. For now.”
I gave him a look. He was up to something.
“Fine.”
He started grinning.
I sighed and stared out the window. It was so dark out here. So peaceful. And it was getting cooler as we climbed the hills. It almost felt like fall. Or like the coast. I’d been particularly fond of evenings in Nantucket.
