CHAPTER ONE #2
I forced my grimace into a smile. She was young at nineteen, eager to start courting.
I was considered old at twenty-six, and I didn’t think I could hold my weak attempts at courting any longer.
Suspicion had long past arisen. People were talking, and the last thing my parents wanted was for the people of Kilthorne to finally deem me defective.
As much as spending the rest of my life alone with my books seemed enticing, I was beginning to fear it could be as awful as everyone said it was.
“I already promised Thomas a dance.” I didn’t intend for my tone to sound so disappointed.
She stopped abruptly, grabbing both of my arms. I was surprised at her strength. “Why haven’t you told me?” Her smile couldn’t have gotten any bigger.
“I’m telling you now.”
“Well,” she said as we continued on. “He is quite handsome, and I heard that ...”
I lost her voice upon the subtle breeze that shifted my hair from my shoulder, exposing my nape to the chill. The back of my neck pricked. That familiar stone settled down within my core. I glanced over my shoulder and met nothing.
“Charlotte!” Pari’s voice broke me from my stupor.
She bounded towards me, her vibrant purple gown wafting behind her.
The color complimented her bronzed skin and her thick, black hair that hung straight down to her hips.
With the daggers in her hands, she looked like a warrior goddess.
“What took you so long? I had to throw my dagger at something after spending even just ten minutes with those Elwood women.” She nodded towards the table.
“Olivia here is the only one with any substance, though they never let her talk.” She nudged a grinning Olivia with her shoulder.
I didn’t even get to answer her question, thankfully, before she already shifted her attention. “Have you practiced what I taught you?” She handed a dagger to Olivia, who plucked it up daintily.
“Olivia.” Mother’s voice cut through the air.
Olivia’s shoulders fell as she returned the dagger and reluctantly trotted back.
“Well.” Pari turned back to me. “Let’s see how you’ve progressed.”
* * *
Pari’s once hopeful exterior promptly deflated as we observed the results of my dreadful execution. One dagger sat just at the edge of the target, another was buried within the soil just before the target, and the last held firm in a tree just past the target.
“Hmm.” Pari’s hands were at her hips. She twisted her lips to the side, thoroughly inspecting the scene. “This is truly awful. I’ve never seen such poor aim.”
I tried to be offended, but the evidence was before me. “You know it’s not my thing,” I muttered.
Her earthen eyes narrowed slightly as they slid over to me. A subtle glare. “It’s going to have to be,” she said bluntly.
I sighed. Anytime I gave true thought to using a dagger, my limbs seized.
Even though the one on the receiving end would want to devour me, I still couldn’t bear the thought.
I despised the violence, which was even more reason to settle into what was expected of me, to marry someone who could protect me, so I didn’t have to.
“You seem off today.” She inspected me. “Well, more off than usual.” She was used to my distant states. She knew of the hauntings, like everyone else, though she did not know that they had never stopped. No one did, except for Elsie.
“I stayed up too late last night.”
“Reading?” She smirked.
I pressed my lips together.
“You know, instead of reading about romance, you could have one of your own. Did I hear you are to dance with Thomas tonight?” She grinned.
“Yes. I’m afraid the time has finally come. I must just pick one already.”
Her face fell. “That doesn’t seem very romantic.”
“It’s not that, it’s just ...” Every suitor had wanted to prove themself not to me but to my father: the founder and leader of the Kilthorne Vampire Hunting Society.
They fought for my affections to get to him so that they could join the Society and lavish in the great honor.
I had to sit through their dedications to the cause while knowing I was never truly wanted.
They didn’t want me. They didn’t love me.
I was just a bridge to pass. “Thomas is the only man I’ve met as of yet who is not at all interested in becoming a member. He may be my only option.”
She forced a sympathetic smile. “Love has still yet to bloom.”
I forced my own smile.
She walked over to the target, retrieving my sorry attempts.
“I’m excited to see the new initiations,” she mused. “How many are there?”
“Three.” A fact I should not have known, but I eavesdropped often.
Father never told us anything of the Society.
Women were kept in the dark due to our delicate constitutions, as he so often said, much to Pari’s dismay.
She dreamed of being the first woman initiated.
As the hauntings worsened, I took to sleuthing through his office and hiding in dark corners close to their meetings.
I had to know what was happening to me, what was happening out there, what was to come of me.
“One of them is to be his new secondhand.”
“An initiation?” Her brow furrowed.
“He must have proved himself well.” I shrugged.
“It should be quite the night then.” She winked. “Let’s work on your aim because this just won’t do. Truly, Charlotte, I worry for you.”
I did too.