Chapter Three
Iknew the answer before it came out of her mouth.
I knew it the first time I looked in the mirror when I woke up. Hell, I knew it when I saw Tommy lift his head from Gracie’s neck.
I have been turned into a vampire.
There are tales of old about vampires I was told when I was younger. I never actually believed any of it.
People with stories about how they came across one by accident and survived. Or stories of people who even willingly give their blood as some kind of donation. I have heard it all and never batted an eye. Seeing is believing, I guess.
Now I am one.
I shift uncomfortably in the bathtub as the water starts to go cold.
“I am ready to get out now.”
“Yes, my lady, I have a dress laid out for your dinner tonight.”
“What dinner?” I ask.
“King Vesper has heard word of your successful turning and has requested your presence for dinner.”
“Well, you can tell King Vesper that I do not care about his requests. I will not be joining anyone for dinner because I do not know what is happening. I also refuse to drink any more blood. I would rather starve.”
Ivorie looks at me like I just slapped her across the face. I turn around and walk into the bedroom to get right back into bed again.
She quickly follows behind me. “My lady, you must drink, or else you will quite literally wither away, mind and body. If your goal is to die you will not, you would just turn rather weak, and pale.”
“In case you have not noticed, I am already pale,” I say.
“Well, paler than you already are.”
I hold my arm up, looking at the change of my skin color. My once golden skin is now stripped of its warmth. I frown at it.
She continues, “It turns you crazy and you do not want that. You have been in your chamber for weeks not getting proper nourishment. You stopped drinking days ago.”
“Weeks?” I ask, my voice thick as the words struggle to come out.
I already feel like I am withering away.
“Also, you must attend this dinner, there were no exceptions to the message. He will not be happy with you, or me.”
Her eyes trail away to the floor, saying everything she will not. I would not be the only one punished for not attending the dinner. Maybe this will be my chance at some answers.
I release a heavy breath. “Okay, don’t stress out. I will go.”
She lifts her hand to cover a smile that is starting.
“What are you smiling at?” I say sharply.
“I apologize, but I like the way that you speak, my lady.”
“Please just call me Solene.”
She nods. “Very well then Solene, let’s get you dressed.”
Ivorie makes quick work of brushing and styling my hair. She has me standing on a platform in front of a floor-length mirror, so I have no choice but to look at myself. I guess the old wives’ tale that vampires cannot see into mirrors is wrong, because I can see clearly into this one.
I look up and take in my appearance as I stand in nothing but a thin slip that stops mid-thigh.
I am unrecognizable.
The weight I have lost does not suit me.
My arms and legs look longer and leaner.
My skin color now a smooth alabaster, making my face have an ethereal glow to it.
There is not a single piece of hair on my body other than my eyebrows and the hair on my head, which now nearly touches my waist and has greatly thickened.
It has a shine to it that looks unreal. My lips are fuller. My features are sharper.
I gather the courage to glance at my eyes. Dark circles line the underneath of them as pink rims the outer edges of my eyelids. My once brown eyes are now a shade of red, making them hard to look at. I had my mother’s eyes. Eyes that I used to call boring and plain.
I know if I open my mouth, there will be a set of very pointed canines, similar to what I saw in Tommy’s mouth. But I have had enough exploration for today.
I glance to the right and catch Ivorie watching me in the mirror, her gaze breaking me from my stare.
“You make for a very beautiful vampire, truly,” she says.
I scoff at her attempted compliment. Vampire and beautiful should not be in the same sentence. Every familiar part of me has been stripped away and turned into someone I do not recognize.
This body is not my home anymore.
If I had tears left to cry, they would fall. I turn my head from the mirror and step away from it.
“Monsters cannot be beautiful,” I say, my voice devoid of any emotion.
After that, she stays silent.
When she is done getting me ready, she helps me step into my dress for dinner. It is a simple long-sleeve black velvet dress with an open back. The material is comfortable and clings to my body. A train trails behind me as I walk out of the bedroom.
Ivorie leads the way as we walk down the hall. I take in my surroundings as we move, my eyes tracing each wall we pass.
I am not in a house at all. I am in a castle.
The walls and floors are mismatched stones put together like a mosaic.
Red velvet carpets line the middle of the floors like a walkway.
The walls are filled with candlelit sconces and large portraits and paintings that fit between wooden doors with unknown locations behind each one.
There are massive arch windows everywhere, freely open to the air with curtains that hang down in front of them and sway with the breeze. Jasmine fills my lungs as I breathe.
I look out the windows and notice that it is still dark outside. “Is it ever going to be daytime? I feel like I am only ever up at night,” I say lightly, but there is an edge to my voice.
“No. It is always night here,” Ivorie replies.
I glance over at her. “You are joking?”
“No, vampires cannot go out in the daytime, so it is always dark here.”
I shake my head. “That is not possible. How can you even control that?”
“Magic,” she replies.
I tilt my head at her as we come to a stop outside of wooden double doors.
“This is where I must leave you. I will be here to get you when you have finished dinner. Good luck.”
I stare at Ivorie as she opens the door. Seconds pass and I do not move.
She clears her throat and I reluctantly move forward through the doorway.
The dining hall is a grand room with high ceilings painted charcoal. Each wall is traced with wooden accents and filled with candlelit sconces. The floor is a polished, deep mahogany. A large crimson rug lays underneath the dining room table that sits in the middle of the room.
It must be a common theme for everything to be red around here.
It would be an empty room if it weren’t for the one man sitting at the head of the table. The table is set for many, but it seems there is only the two of us eating tonight.
One look at this king’s crownless head and it’s understood that he is a man that does not need a crown for people to know who he is. He radiates pure power and arrogance.
He has hair so blonde that it is white, almost reaching his shoulders. His skin is almost as light as his hair, and his piercing blue eyes are so striking, that I have to revert my own eyes to keep from looking into them for too long.
He looks ancient, yet young. You could not tell his age unless you looked closely at the lines on his face that show proof of the years that have passed.
He would be a handsome man if he did not look so cruel.
“I am pleased to hear that you lived through your turning. Congratulations.”
His words pull me from my thoughts and I look back up at him. My feet plant underneath of me, unmoving.
“Please come take a seat, we have much to discuss,” he says, motioning me forward.
I do not move forward, my feet as well as my mouth still unable to move. His voice is so familiar.
“Surely you can speak, correct?” he says.
With great effort, I push down the thoughts that threaten to take over and walk toward him. I take the seat nearest him as I turn to face him fully.
“You were there that night. I recognize your voice.”
Not a question, but a statement because I already know the answer. I glance around the room, paranoid that the two men are going to walk in any second now.
He smirks, but it is anything but kind. “Yes, I was there the night of your turning. I was in the Humanrealm for a business ordeal when my waste of space guards made quite the mess for me to clean up.”
I pause at his words and look at him, mortified. “Quite the mess for you?”
He nods as he lazily picks up his glass, taking a sip.
I shake my head in disbelief. “They killed my best friend. Like it was nothing to them. Like she was nothing.” Anger fuels my words as devastation settles in my gut.
The king only looks back at me with amusement.
I look down and fold my hands into my lap. I do not think the admission of Gracie’s death will ever be easy, but I can surely make life a hell of a lot harder for those who are responsible for it.
“Yes, well better her than you I suppose,” he says lazily. “I gave you the ultimate gift of immortality and now I will receive the debt you owe me in return as your thanks.”
I jerk my head up quickly. “Your gift to me? As if being a monster is a gift.”
Menace drips from each word as my lip curls.
“I wanted to die and you should have let me. So believe me, this is no gift.”
The king looks at me and smirks cruelly before he takes another sip from his glass. Blood stains his lips as he pulls it away.
There is a long pause of silence. Meanwhile servers step into the room, bringing out what appears to be extremely rare meat, oozing with blood. Meat that I am hoping is actually just steak. When they place it on the table in front of me, the smell hits me, amplifying my hunger.
The king looks up at me. “Stop talking. Eat and drink now.”
An unnatural sensation floods my body, making my mind disconnect from it. My hand picks up the fork to cut, and my mouth chews the piece I put in it, but I have no control over my movements.
The first piece of meat hits my tongue and releases a flavor so wonderful, I almost groan.
“Now that I have your full attention. I saved your life and no matter what you view it as, I do not give out free favors. My son will be home by the next moon cycle. You will meet him, you will marry him, and you will create an heir for this throne. There are no exceptions and I am certainly not asking you.”
I swallow roughly, the food working past the lump in my throat as it goes down.
He looks at me with his piercing eyes, and I watch as his irises slowly turn blood red. “You dare come into my palace and disrespect me. You will do as I say or I will make you. It is your choice in the end.”
I jolt forward and continue to eat until my plate is clean and my glass is drained. My hands drop into my lap and my head draws downward in submission.
“You are excused.”
He clears his throat.
“Please do remember, you have no power over the person who created you,” he says.
Still having no control over my movements, my body jumps up from the seat and begins to walk toward the door with haste. Ivorie meets me at the door when I open it. She gives me a knowing look and places her hand on my back to guide me forward.
I do not look back at the king as I leave. I would be just fine if I never saw him again, but I know that is not the case. This is not something I am able run from.
I am trapped here.
I am also in an arranged marriage with a vampire prince.
We walk in silence back to my room as I sink deeply into my own thoughts and feelings. The effects of whatever the king did to me, slowly starts to dissipate.
The king is a powerful and cruel man.
Cruel men tend to create even crueler sons.