KITTY
“Good. Now pull back slowly on the stick,” Bo’s voice was low in her ear. “Gently, gently…”
Her hands clenched the smooth wood of the lever that rose up from the floor between her legs. He placed his large hands over hers and guided them, pulling the controls back toward her belly.
“How are we compared to that tree line?” he asked.
“Where’s Charlie?” he asked.
“Uh… he’s above us and sort of pulling away.”
“Alright. Let’s pull back on the stick a little more, then give her some more gas. Once he levels off and we reach the same altitude as him, we’ll level off, too. Then, just keep him directly in front of us.”
Kitty did as Bo instructed, climbing, then leveling off, and keeping Charlie’s red plane dead ahead.
“What are these pedals?” Kitty asked.
“Those are the flaps,” Bo said. “They’ll make us tilt. Don’t touch those—not right now, anyway… Good. Just hold the stick steady...”
“I’m doing it!” Kitty exclaimed.
“You sure are? You’re a regular ace,” Bo said. She could hear the smile in his voice.
“If there was a gun on this thing, I could shoot Charlie down right now. Pew, pew, pew,” she said.
Bo laughed. Kitty did too, but after a few moments, her smile faded as she thought of what lay ahead in Maethalia…
She’d been telling the truth to Charlie—most of the truth, anyway. She had saved his life. She had spirited him away to hide out at Auggie’s place. She had hoped that, together, they’d be able to defeat Langford and his vampyre family and gain her freedom.
What she hadn’t told him was that one day during Charlie’s recovery, Langford had found her when she was out buying cigarettes. He’d guessed what she’d done with Charlie. And that he’d given her instructions about what to do with him when he awakened.
When his change is finished, get him back to Maethalia. Get him to Charcain. Kortoi will take care of the rest...
What that meant, Kitty wasn’t sure. She guessed Kortoi would probably use Charlie as leverage against the princess, somehow.
Regardless, she’d agreed to Langford’s orders.
That was one of the worst things about being a vampyre.
The elder who made you exerted a strange sort of control over you.
When they willed you to do something, it was like having your arm twisted.
The more you resisted, the more it hurt, until you gave in.
Anyway, there was nothing nefarious about what she was doing, she told herself.
Charlie was dying to get back to his precious princess anyway.
It was basically the first thing he’d tried to do when he woke up.
And of course, her telling him not to go only made him want to go more.
He was such a predictable, oppositional boy.
He wanted to go back to his princess. Well, fine. He could go back to her—even if the reception might not be exactly what he expected.
And for Kitty’s part, going with Charlie was the perfect excuse to get away from Langford and his goons, to get outside his control—hopefully forever.
Because the part about the book and the Oracle—that was true. Once in Maethalia, she would go to Umsir, talk to the Oracle, and find a way to end their vampyrism and the blood hunger that came with it. And then she would finally, finally be free.
But for now, the blood hunger was here, beating like a drumbeat in her veins, stirring a rumble in her belly and a wetness between her legs.
And mmmm, did Charlie’s cousin Bo ever smell sweet…