Princess Fallen, page 11
part #1 of Vampire Princess Diaries One Series
“Whatever, princess. It doesn’t really matter now. Just say what you were going to say.” Rogan pants as we keep up the speed.
“Fine. I’m not sure we ever left this place.”
“You’re talking nonsense.”
“No, I’m not. Somehow we got onto a different plane.”
“Right.” Rogan lets out a laugh in the middle of his rapid breathing. “And somehow we made it into a parallel universe. In fact, maybe that wasn’t us. It was probably our evil twins or something.”
“Damn it, Rogan.” I stop running, breathe in and out, trying to catch my breath. “You’re the one who mentioned the ether.”
Rogan runs about ten feet ahead, stops, and turns around. “What the fuck?”
“Listen to me. The arrows have stopped. I don’t know why. They may start again at any minute, but listen to what I’m saying to you, Rogan. In your need to protect me, you escaped this plane. Our world. Or rather the demon king’s lair, or whatever.”
“And in your need to figure out what’s going on, you’ve gone absolutely bonkers.”
My hands curl into fists. I really hate being taken lightly like this, especially by a patronizing wolf. “I’m not making it up.”
A lightning bolt illuminates Rogan’s handsome face. His hair is stringy with sweat, and he’s paler than usual. The wound on his neck where I fed still oozes a bit.
Damn. I did take too much.
“I’m sorry,” I say.
“You should be. Making up shit like that.”
“No. I’m sorry I took too much blood, Victor. It won’t happen again.”
“Damn right it won’t.”
“But hear me out. Something happened to me when I fed from you. I shifted.”
He rakes his gaze over my body. “You look the same to me.” Then he licks his lips.
His gaze lights me on fire, especially between my legs. But we can’t get bogged down in that again. Not when the flaming arrows could start at any moment.
“I swear to God, something happened. Something shifted within me, and I think maybe it’s because we shifted. The two of us. To another plane of existence. Maybe the ether.”
He laughs then. Laughs like a madman.
Yeah, my hands are still in fists. Damn, he knows how to piss me off. “What the fuck is so funny, Rogan?”
“I guess I can laugh or I can cry. I’m not a crier, princess. I’m laughing because…I’m thinking about Sherlock Holmes.”
I drop my jaw. Is he kidding me? We’re running from rogue demons, we’re naked, we don’t have a clue where we are, and he’s thinking about Sherlock Holmes?
“You never read him?” he says.
“Do I look like I ever read him?”
“You probably just read contemporary fiction. I can’t see you reading the classics.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Rogan. I love Jane Austen, both Emily and Charlotte Brontë. I’ve even read Moby Dick.”
“For real? I couldn’t get through that brick of a book.”
“Are we really going to stand here and discuss classic literature?”
“Princess, we are. Because this is why I was thinking about Sherlock Holmes. He used to say when you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, is the answer.”
I can’t help a big grin. “So you believe me then. Somehow we ended up on another plane. The ether is real.”
“Maybe we did, princess. The question is, what the fuck do we do now?”
I open my mouth to respond, but a flaming arrow hits me right between my breasts.
“Victor!” I shriek, and then I crumple to the ground.
26
Scorching. Hot and scorching. My skin melts as the arrow burns through me.
My eyelids flutter shut.
This is the end. Already I know this. My fucking stepfather got his way. It’s the end of me, at the hand of his minions.
Only darkness exists for me now. Darkness… Darkness and the growl that makes the earth beneath me vibrate.
In my mind’s eye I see the end. The beginning and the end. I see my childhood—the good parts of my childhood.
My father—before I knew who he really was—taking me to the movies when Larissa was just a baby. Taking me to the old-fashioned drugstore counter for a root beer float.
The bad parts? They’re not gone. I remember them. I remember his emotional abuse, his nasty comments, his torment. But none of that matters anymore. Only the good things…
The good things… The good things flow through my mind, capture me, take me away, making the bad things meaningless.
I’m drifting now. Still the ground rumbles beneath me, and in some other lifetime, I hear the sounds of battle.
When I open my eyes, I’m above it all. Demons, red eyed and ferocious, battling my wolf.
I want to reach out.
But my body lies limp, the arrow still burning through me.
Until—
I plummet back into my body and suck in a breath. Pain lances through me.
Rogan, his eyes still feral, has yanked the arrow from my breast.
Have the demons gone? I want to ask, but I can’t seem to get my vocal cords and my mouth to work in synchrony.
“Princess.” Rogan’s voice. His not quite human voice. “Stay still. I’m going to stop the bleeding.”
I try to will my lips to move, but still they don’t.
Pressure on my chest. It’s Rogan. Using what’s left of my tattered clothes to try to stop the bleeding.
“Damn it, princess,” he growls. “You will not die on me.”
Can’t die. Don’t want to leave Rogan.
Don’t want to leave…
When I lose consciousness, I welcome the respite.
Princess… Princess…
Rogan’s kisses. Harsh against my body. Harsh and sizzling and powerful. Yes… More… Can’t get enough…
My eyes pop open. No one’s kissing me.
No one is even… Where am I?
I try to sit up—
“Ouch!”
That was a mistake.
“Easy, princess.”
Rogan. Rogan is here.
“Where am I?” To my surprise, the words actually make it out of my mouth.
“No one will find us here,” he says.
“But…where are we?”
I’m in a bed. A pretty comfortable bed. But we’re not back at the casino. This isn’t my suite and it isn’t Rogan’s penthouse.
“I’ve had a security breach,” he says. “We can’t go back to the London.”
I nod. At least I think I do. I’m not quite sure I have full control over my body yet.
“What happened to me?”
“Don’t you remember? You got shot by an arrow while we were fighting the demons.”
Yes. The pain. The burning and scorching sensations. And then… Seeing myself. Seeing Rogan as a wolf, fighting off how many demons?
“How?” I ask.
“I’m not sure myself, princess. It seems when I’m with you, I have abilities I never knew I had.”
“What do you mean?”
“I seem to be able to protect you. I’m one man. One wolf. I shouldn’t have been able to fend off all those demons. But after you got shot…”
“What?”
“Something changed. Again. Like when we were escaping your stepfather the first time. I just knew. I knew you had to be protected at all costs.”
“Because I’m your mate?”
He rubs at his sweaty forehead, his hair sticking to his face. “That’s part of it. That’s the part I understand. But I’m not the first wolf to have a fated mate. I’ve never heard of another being able to do what I’ve done.”
Right. Moving through planes, if that’s indeed what happened.
“How did we get here?”
“I wish I could tell you. I stopped the bleeding and then I brought you back here.”
“You mean you don’t remember?”
“Oh, I remember every second of it. But if I had to do it again? I’m not sure I could.”
Too much. It’s all too much to think about. My eyes flutter closed again.
“That’s it, princess. Rest. You need your strength for what lies ahead.”
27
I’m running…
Not running away from something but running toward something. A voice. A plea. Obstacles seem to pop up in front of me at every step. First a tree and then a small cabin. Another tree.
Still I run.
Hannah!
My sister’s voice. Larissa.
“I’m coming, Larissa! I’m coming!”
Fear pricks up my spine, as if the pine needles I’m jumping over are attacking me, trying to slow me down. I nearly trip over a giant root in my path, but I catch myself and land on my left foot and continue to run, my breath catching.
Larissa.
Richard said he would harm Larissa.
No! No, no, no!
I shudder.
Princess.
Then my eyes shoot open.
Rogan sits next to me, his hand on my shoulder. His touch soothes me. Still, my heart pounds like a bass drum.
“Rogan,” I say. “Richard, my stepfather. The demon king. He’s going to try to harm my sister.”
“He would do that? Do that to your mother?”
“He won’t kill her. He won’t kill me either. But he’s going to do something to her. Perhaps not hurt her physically, but he’s going to—”
Rogan places two fingers over my lips. “You’re getting yourself worked up over nothing. It was a nightmare, princess. Just a nightmare.”
His words make sense. And if I weren’t who I am, and Richard weren’t who he is, I might believe him. But I’ve known since the beginning that my stepfather is evil. The fact that he’s the demon king only clinches it.
Yes. Rest. I’m getting too worked up. Except…
My body shoots up into a sitting position.
“Princess, lie down.”
“Shit,” I say.
“Lie down,” Rogan says again.
But I stand. As much as I want to obey Rogan and lie down, I can’t.
“I need a phone,” I say.
“I have no idea what happened to your purse and your phone.”
“I need a fucking phone, Rogan.”
“Would you just lie down?”
Rogan doesn’t understand. My father’s trying to get in touch with me. His blood is calling to my blood, even though my heart is still pounding from the nightmare and my body is weak from the flaming arrow.
The fucking vampire king waits for no one.
“Rogan. A phone.”
“For God’s sake, princess. Lay your ass down.”
“Don’t you understand? I have to contact my father. I don’t have a freaking choice.”
Victor finally nods and brings me a cell phone. “It’s a burner.”
“Good enough.” I punch in my father’s number.
“Hannah?”
“Yes, it’s me.”
“I’ve been trying to reach you.”
“I’ve been a little busy, Dad. Why didn’t you tell me my stepfather is the damned demon king?”
“That’s why I’m calling. I hear you had a run-in.”
“You didn’t think that little piece of information was relevant?”
“Richard and I made a deal,” my father says. “When he married your mother, he and I promised to stay out of each other’s way, as long as we both met certain conditions.”
“Great. That’s just great.”
“Yeah, but he reneged on that deal.”
“He did? How so?”
“My condition to him was that you, your sister, and your mother would never be harmed. He broke that promise.”
“He broke that promise a long time ago, Dad.”
“I’m talking about physical harm, Hannah.”
“Right. Because emotional and mental harm is no big deal.” I scoff.
My father doesn’t say anything. Until—
“I’ve made some mistakes.”
“You think?”
“Perhaps I shouldn’t have married your mother, but if I hadn’t, you and your sister wouldn’t exist.”
He’s got me there. I may bitch about my life sometimes, but I’m damned glad I have it.
“Your stepfather, on the other hand,” Dad continues, “procreated only with his first wife.”
“How does this even happen, Dad? I don’t get it. The vampire king? And the demon king? Did I win some kind of contest in hell? I get the king of hell himself as a stepfather?”
“The demon king isn’t the king of hell, Hannah.”
“What the fuck is he then?”
“He’s the demon king. Demons are simply another supernatural species. They don’t live in hell. They live on earth.”
“Is there even a hell?” I ask.
“I’ll have to let you know.”
Mic. Drop.
“Heaven and hell, Dad. Tell me the truth.”
“I don’t know the truth, Hannah. No one alive does.”
This is not news to me. Still, I’ve always associated demons with hell. No one knows the truth about the afterlife, if there even is one. But why am I waxing philosophical when I’ve just been attacked by a demon? I guess an out-of-body experience will do that to a person.
“How did they get you, Hannah?” Dad asks.
“Believe it or not, they found me in Rogan’s walk-in closet.”
“What the hell kind of security does he have?”
“I think a lot of his security force is made up of demons, which may be the problem.”
Rogan shoots me a fuck you look from across the room.
Dad clears his throat. “Demons often work security. Maybe a few of his went rogue.”
“Or maybe my stepfather is an asshole. Did you consider that?”
“Of course he’s an asshole, Hannah. I’ve always known that.”
“And you let him marry my mother?”
“I didn’t have any say in it. She divorced me. Not the other way around.”
“Oh, well pardon her for not wanting to play second fiddle to your hot stud lovers.”
“Look. If I had it my way we’d still be—”
“No, you wouldn’t. Don’t lie to me.”
I expect him to argue the point, but he doesn’t. Instead—
“Find the information about Rogan,” he says. “We’re running out of time.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that Richard is up to something. I’m concerned. For your mother’s safety. For Larissa’s. And for yours.”
“Can’t you do anything? At least make sure that Mom and Larissa are safe?”
“I’m working on it. He won’t harm your mother. I’m fairly sure of that.”
“Fairly doesn’t cut it. You need to be completely sure. Which one of you has more power?”
He doesn’t respond for a moment. Then, “It’s not a question of power, Hannah.”
“What is it then?”
28
I wait. I wait not so patiently for the answer to my question.
Finally—
“No being is inherently more powerful than any other, Hannah,” my father says.
“That’s crap. Vampires have mind control.”
“We do, but we also have blood lust. We can’t exist without blood once we hit a certain age. For every strength, there is a weakness.”
I hate to admit it, but my father’s words make sense.
“And wolves…” I begin.
“Have the power to shift, and then they have the power of the animal. The strong teeth, the feral nature.”
“What’s their weakness, then?”
“The same thing. Their animal natures. Their minds may stay—or at least remain close to—human, but their physical needs will win. A strength can also be a weakness.”
He’s not wrong.
“What is a demon’s weakness?” I ask. “How can I protect Larissa and Mom?”
“As I said, Richard broke his vow to me when he kidnapped you and then had you shot with one of his flaming arrows. Are you all right?”
Am I? I look down. Rogan has dressed my wound, and the pain… The pain is now minimal. How long has it been?
“I guess I’ll live,” I tell him. “But I swear, when that thing hit me, I thought my life was over.”
“Your life is far from over, Hannah. Richard will pay for this.”
“How?”
“I’m working on that.”
“You didn’t answer my question,” I say. “What is a demon’s weakness?”
“Evil, Hannah. Evil is a demon’s greatest weakness.”
“But they have incredible internal strength. They can suppress the evil.”
“True, and that is their strength. But Hannah, evil is evil. It will always win when a demon is cornered.”
“So what I witnessed…”
“You witnessed your stepfather’s evil. He’s the king, and he’s nearing seven centuries in age—”
“Are you kidding me? Seven centuries? I knew he was older than Mom, but my God.”
“Yes, he’s almost seven hundred years old, and he’s faced with what could become a mutiny.”
“They’re trying to dethrone him?”
“Think of it this way,” Dad says. “He needs to show his strength, and the best way to do that is to turn on his wife and stepdaughters. Especially his wife, whom he professes to love. If he shows that evil, he’ll be perceived as strong, and his subjects will continue to fear him.”
“He swore to me he wouldn’t hurt my mother.”
“That’s another thing about demons, Hannah. They lie.”
“So you don’t believe he loves her?”
“To the contrary. I do. But I don’t believe he loves you or Larissa.”
“There’s a shocker. I’ve known that since the beginning. He was horrible to us.”
“I know, and I’m sorry.”
I open my mouth and then close it. Is it really the time to mention that my father wasn’t much nicer to us?
Right now I need his help.
“Find out about Rogan, Hannah,” he continues. “I have a duty to our people. If Rogan is behind those murders—”
