7. Vesper
Irolled my shoulders, the pain from sleeping on the hard Castle-family-provided mattress still embedded deep within my muscles.
Not only was I tossing and turning because of the bed, but Cedar turned out to be a snorer. You would think that, as a witch, she would have found a cure long ago instead of having everyone around her suffer from the earth-shattering throat noises she made.
The only good thing about the day was that it was my first official day assigned to the princess.
But what I had thought would be a day by her side, getting to know all her habits and possibly some dirty secrets, turned out to be a lesson in patience.
Patience was never my strong suit.
My family was known for their efficiency when it came to all contracts. Because happy clients meant more money, and the quicker we finished jobs, the more we could take.
But something like this couldn’t be rushed.
Still, I never expected it would take this long.
It had been hours since I had gotten the news hand-delivered to my room that I would be starting with the princess. A part of me had been shocked that it had truly worked, but my suspicions over the entire situation were much stronger.
My job that first day was simple. One of the many at her side. Yet she had picked me to be the closest to her, standing right behind her, listening as she and some other royal chatted for hours.
The other small vampire girl had shimmering blonde hair braided around the top of her head before it cascaded down her back and shoulders. She was about half the size of the princess, with an even smaller personality.
The powdery pink dress she wore gave her an air of innocence that was only shattered whenever she brought a glass of bright red blood to her lips.
This obviously wasn’t a normal appointment. They were close. Spent hours chatting about nothing and somehow everything. They even had the royal seamstress come and fit them for gowns for their next ball.
It went on. And on. And on. And with it, whatever ego trip I was on after she picked me so suddenly disappeared into thin air.
But the more she talked, the more I couldn’t help but listen.
Is the royal life just gossiping, talking about shopping, and drinking blood?
“He’ll be upset when he realizes how long I was gone again,” the princess’s friend said as she attempted to stand.
Finally.
The three other guards at my side seemed to relax at the notice that the vampire girl was finally leaving. The two at the door had an obvious look of relief on their faces. I can’t blame them. This was a special kind of torture. Even if the princess’s voice was nice to listen to.
The princess was by her side in seconds, helping her up. She was gentle with her, gentler than I’d ever seen a vampire be with someone, and I was definitely not expecting it from her.
The rumors of the beheaded man at the engagement offerings had spread far and wide, reaching my door before the news of my post did.
I couldn’t help but compare the gentleness of her actions, the carefulness of her smile, to what she had done yesterday.
She didn’t even blink.
Even got annoyed at her father for causing blood to be spilled so close to her!
I heard she even laughed at the man.
The guards had no problem gossiping in the hallways as I passed, causing our quarters to feel more like a university dorm than a highly coveted position in a ruthless vampire family.
“With the goodies I’ll send you home with, he will be in a good mood for weeks,” she said as she motioned for one of us to take her spot holding the small vampire.
Of course I was the first to reach them.
“Allow me,” I offered, and gently held onto the lady’s arm. It was frail. No doubt that if she were on the other end of the contract, she would be much easier to get rid of than the crueler royal by my side. Princess Aurelia’s gaze on me was heavy, but when I met her reddened gaze, I couldn’t make out what emotions lay beneath.
Was this not what she wanted?
“Let me know when you get home, Elora,” she said, her gaze still holding mine. A sultry smirk pulled at her lips.
Elora. That was it. I turned to the smaller girl and gave her a smile.
“Shall we?” I asked. She gave me a polite nod and smiled back.
I motioned for her to follow me out of the room. She waved goodbye one last time before doing so, and I looked back one last time at the princess.
She was watching us leave.
She wants something. I made a note to try and get her alone after I dropped off her friend.
Elora was silent all the way down the hall and grand spiraling staircase. The palace was buzzing with life. Maids, guards, and vampires were all walking the halls, looking carefree. Except for one teenage human staff member, who was shakily holding a tray with crystal glasses of blood. He was so preoccupied, he all but bumped into us.
I quickly maneuvered the royal vampire away from him, taking her in my arms and pulling her close. A move that caused her to let out a hiss.
I sent a glare at the boy before turning my attention to the vampire.
“I apologize,” I said quickly and gently removed my hands from her. “I didn’t mean to use so much force.”
The issue wasn’t that I used more force than I would for a human—it was that she was a vampire and still hurt by my movement. Their bodies were supposed to be superior to humans, yet such a little move hurt her?
She shook her head, but didn’t meet my eyes. “Forget it, please.”
I swallowed all the words on my tongue and, without another word, saw her to the front of the palace, where her car was already being piled high with trunks and trunks of what sounded like jewels and even coins.
Coins in this day and age?
The staff still had quite a few to load, so instead of turning straight back and returning to the princess, I lingered.
Maybe it was her frailness. Maybe it was the way she hid from my eyes. Maybe it was the way she let out a pained hiss at even the slightest touch. But there was something bothering me about the vampire at my side.
“That’s a big gift,” I commented, looking down at her. “Is Princess Aurelia always so generous?”
For the first time that day, Elora looked at me unflinching.
“I’ve been where you are,” she said, her eyes traveling back to the car. “It’s a disgusting amount of wealth to be flaunted, isn’t it?”
Shock burst through my system. Yes it is, I wanted to say, but instead I gritted my teeth. Something that was so alien to me was so normalized within the walls of the palace. Didn’t they have better things to do with their immortality?
“I used to think she was doing it on purpose,” she continued, a bitterness in her tone. Whatever she was showing me in those moments alone was nothing like the person that had been in that room. “I came from a poor family, married off to the highest bidder. I took her actions as a way to remind me how much more she had than I. But soon after, I learned what she was doing for me, and I couldn’t help but feel like an ungrateful bitch.”
There was a pause, long enough for me to take a good look at her. To realize just how weak she was. How pale her skin was. And just how many bruises were peeking out of the sleeves of her dress as she crossed her arms in front of her chest.
What was the ice queen doing for you?
I had been too busy being annoyed with my situation to even notice the girl’s arms.
“Vampires are supposed to heal themselves,” I said, unable to keep the words inside.
Her eyes darted down to her arms before covering them up with a bitter sigh.
“Healthy vampires,” she said with a bit of venom in her tone. “Vampires who have enough blood to support the creation of their venom. Just like humans, our bodies can weaken. And when it does for long periods of time, it has to make some tough decisions on how to keep me alive. But even this is better than the craze.”
The craze. I had heard of it but only saw it once when I was called to clean up a scene local law enforcement couldn’t handle.
The vampires weren’t themselves. Due to lack of blood, they turned into the monsters the myths made them out to be.
She paused before flipping her arm out to show me the slowly healing bruises on the underside of her forearm. What normally took a vampire seconds was taking her minutes. Starting from the outside of the bruise, the blackened skin was turning yellow before disappearing.
“Visiting Aurelia is the break I need to help me,” she sighed, a sort of crazed look spreading across her face. She was a vampire who had been pushed to her limits.
Dangerous.
“You shouldn’t be telling me this,” I said quickly, fixing my eyes on the staff loading the final trunk. I don’t need to get involved in this.
“No,” she whispered. “But everyone knows. You’ll understand soon. When you have more experience with the family. Things like this are usually the worst-kept secrets around.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but the staff called for her. I bowed my head to her as she left, and she spared me not one single glance.
She dropped all that on me and didn’t even blink.
Vampires are more fucked up than I thought.
“Princess!”
Chaos.
That’s the only thing that could describe the small room I had left not ten minutes before.
No one had come running, but every single guard in there was hunched over the princess. All of them yelling, but none of them truly helping.
I pushed through the door, my heart pounding in my chest.
How the fuck did this happen while I was gone?
The Castle family home was supposed to be one of the hardest to break into, and yet on my first full day at the palace, the princess was already hunched over on the floor, dry-heaving, and looking like she was about to lose her fight to keep on living.
It wasn’t hard to push the panicking guards away—they were too frightened. Not surprising since none of them had the actual experience to think on their feet.
Just like the princess, they had been sheltered, spoiled by the easy life they had in the palace.
It only made me angrier.
“Get the head guard!” I growled at one of them. “Another one of you useless idiots inform the king.”
Two guards left, leaving me with the remaining three idiots. All of them were staring at us, unmoving.
I gripped the princess’s clammy face, forcing her eyes to meet mine. They were bright red and filled with bloody tears that stained the skin of her cheeks.
Black vine-like veins throbbed across her temples, and her skin had paled significantly. She was dying.
This wasn’t just any attack. It was magic. That was the only thing that could do this.
But the witch—Cedar—was assigned to the perimeter and far away from the princess. It couldn’t have been her, could it?
The princess’s gasps were painful. As hard as she tried, there was no getting anything into her lungs.
Vampires are supposed to heal themselves.
Healthy vampires. Vampires that have enough blood to support the creation of venom.
The venom could help fight the magic, right? Assuming it wasn’t too potent?
I looked at her face, her neck, any visible skin I could. The amount couldn’t have been enough to kill her instantly. Probably half the dose of what was needed to truly bring her down.
We are dealing with an amateur.
“When was the last time she drank blood?” I asked. No one had an answer. She hadn’t been drinking much, if at all, the entire time her friend was here. She had been too focused on healing the girl.
“She just got some delivered,” a guard behind her said after a moment. “Then she started—this.”
Too long. This is taking too long. If I don’t get her blood, then I may really lose my chance.
It shouldn’t have made me panic like it did, but when her hands gripped my shirt and her mouth flopped open as she gasped for air…Something else overcame me.
“Drink,” I commanded and pushed up my sleeve for her to drink. I pushed it toward her mouth, but all she did was stare at me. Those bright red eyes held some type of message in them. She was telling me to do something. To do what?
I cursed under my breath before looking around the room. I didn’t want to use the sword strapped to my back for this. It wasn’t meant to pierce my skin…it was for hers.
Next to us were crystal glasses, once filled with blood, now shattered, allowing blood to seep into the floor.
I grabbed one of the cleaner shards and brought it down on my wrist, deep enough to draw blood for her. I barely registered the pain, too concerned that I might truly lose my chance to fulfill the prophecy.
Turning back to the princess, I tilted her head up and forced my bleeding wrist to her mouth.
“Drink, princess,” I whispered to her.
She didn’t listen at first. The blood filled her mouth to the point that it was spilling over at the corners, but then, as I brushed my fingers down the column of her throat, she took her first gulp.
Then she changed. Her hands were no longer gripping my uniform but my wrist, forcing it closer. Her gulps were getting quicker. So quick, the blood flow wasn’t enough.
I hadn’t expected her fangs to pierce my skin. The groan that forced itself past my lips was evidence of that. And it was the clarity I needed.
I should have let her die.
But I couldn’t because then it wouldn’t be me who killed her, right? Then what would have been the point of it all?
It didn’t explain why I continued to rub small, comforting patterns on her throat. Or why I held her gaze even as the warm vampire venom worked through my veins.
I had heard of the effects, but nothing prepared me for the way it caused my belly to clench. For the need it started in me.
“Keep going,” I whispered as the veins started to disappear. Her eyebrows pushed together, the red in her eyes flickering to show the blue hidden behind all the bloodlust.
She tried to pull back, but my grip on her throat was tight. For good measure, I tangled my hand in her hair, forcing her against my wrist.
“You were poisoned, princess,” I said in a low warning tone. The heat was becoming too much. It traveled through my body, down to my core. “You will drink until your body has enough to heal.”
A low growl sounded from her throat.
I couldn’t help it. For the second time that day, I learned that my mouth was much harder to control than I anticipated. I leaned forward, my lips brushing against her ear.
“You may be able to push your daddy around with that attitude,” I whispered. “But it won’t work on me. Drink the fucking blood and stop whining about someone saving your life.”
In response, she bit down even harder on my wrist, pulling a shaky moan from me. The pain mixed with the venom was too much. I craved more of it. Craved more of her. My body was getting embarrassingly reactive, even when my mind tried to remind me where we were and what my purpose was.
Stay centered. Breathe. Breathe. Hold it in. Breathe.
I heard the sound of the head guard rushing into the room behind me and yelling orders. One of them was to stay where I was. Fuck.
I needed to get away from her. Get her teeth out of me.
He leaned down beside me, getting a look at the princess.
“She’s almost done,” I reported, trying to keep my voice neutral. “Black veins, unable to breathe. Weak and clammy. I had to puncture a wound and stimulate her throat to make her drink.”
“Magical in origin, it would seem,” he commented. “You’ll need some blood replenishers after this?—”
“I’ll be fine,” I said quickly. I did not want any palace magician near my body. “The magic didn’t seem potent enough to take her out right away. Or maybe it was diluted.”
Just as he was about to fight me on my refusal of help, the princess pulled her fangs from my wrist and gave me a glare.
Seriously? She is pissed I saved her?
Arousal shifted into a different heat. Anger. It coursed through my veins and reminded me that the vampire in front of me didn’t deserve my help.
“If I didn’t want to drink?—”
“You would have di?—”
“And you had no right to interfere,” she said and pushed herself to her feet, shoving me in the process.
The princess folded her arms across her chest and sent a scathing look at the guards, who were still frozen at her feet.
“Well?” she asked. “Don’t you have anything better to fucking do?”
I shared a look with the head guard.
“I know who did it,” I said after a moment of silence. He gave me a stiff nod.
“Get yourself cleaned up,” he ordered. “The king will need to hear this.”
You had no right to interfere.
The words rang loud and clear in my head as the princess glared at me. Her father was sitting on his throne again, his lips set in a strong frown. His daughter was a spitting image of him, the only difference was the roundness of her features and her lithe frame. Even without seeing her mother, I could imagine what she looked like.
What would she think if she knew you wanted this to happen?
The man I passed while taking Elora to her car lay at my feet, his hands bound. His sobs filled the silent throne room.
Why me?
I had one job here and one job only, and I fucked it up on my first day.
Kill the princess.
I had her right in my fucking hands, and I saved her life. Why? Just so I could be the one to do it?
How was I even going to move with all this attention on me now?
I grabbed the man’s hair and forced him to face the king. Hate boiled underneath my skin.
I shouldn’t be killing humans for these monsters.
My gaze met the princess’s. This is your fault, I wanted to say. You’re the reason he’s going to die, and for what?
“Do it,” the king ordered. “I’m tired of this.”
I reached for the short sword attached to my back, the one I was reserving for her. Now it was going to be stained with human blood.
This wasn’t the first time I killed a human. Just because my family specialized in vampires didn’t mean we weren’t contracted for other beings. But there was something so bitter about this. About having to take his life while the vampires stared down at me with their red, shimmering eyes. Their bellies were full of blood, their slow-beating hearts speeding up as much as they could because of the excitement of the bloodbath that was about to take place.
But there was one thing I knew to be true.
I might have fucked up. Might have lengthened my stay. Might have garnered unwanted attention on me…
But I earned their trust.
I placed the blade at his neck and, with one motion, sliced it open. I held his head up so they could watch as he bled out. His gasps turned to gurgles as he drowned in his own blood.
It took a few minutes for him to die, but when he did, I let his body fall to the floor and bowed to the king.
“Get this cleaned up,” the king ordered and stood. He looked over at the corpse with disgust.
We were dismissed with a wave, but I didn’t move, the princess still resting her eyes on me. Then she gave me a sinister smile before tilting her head in her own informal bow.