Filed to story: The Vampire Prince’s Bride
“I think it’s best you speak to Camelia about that.” Laila smiled. “How are you feeling, by the way? The guards had to inject you with a double dose of wormwood to knock you out. Quite impressive, if you ask me-a testament to your strength.”
I rubbed the back of my arm-the spot they’d jabbed me with the needle. It had happened soon after they’d knocked out Scarlett. I’d been fighting the guards, and then I’d seen one of them jab a needle in her neck. It had only taken that one moment-that short distraction-for one of the guards to catch me unaware.
“I’m going to find Camelia,” I declared, standing up and heading for the door. Once I found Camelia, I would find Scarlett. And once I found Scarlett…
Well, I wasn’t sure whatI would do once I found her. For now, I just needed to know she was alive.
“Wait.” Laila held out a hand, and the guards rushed to the doors, blocking my path. “After your first shot of wormwood, you were awake but in a state of delirium. The guards reported you said something curious…”
“And what was that?” I asked, because the faster I gave into her little mind games, the faster I would be free to find Scarlett.
“You said that Scarlett would be safe because she was wearing wormwood.”
“No I didn’t,” I said instantly, hating my half unconscious self for revealing such a thing. I didn’t even remember it-the wormwood they’d injected me with must have made me truly delirious.
“You did,” she continued. “So we checked the girl for any trace of wormwood. We found none.”
I stared at her, shocked. How could that be? Scarlett couldn’t be compelled-she had to have been wearing wormwood. There was no other explanation for her resistance to my magic.
But I stood straighter, composing myself. I wasn’t sure how it was possible for a human to be immune to compulsion, but if it were, bringing it to light would put Scarlett under more scrutiny than before. They might even kill her.
If the vampires hated one thing above anything else, it was a threat to their power.
“I have no idea why I would have said that,” I said instead, trying to act nonchalant. “Clearly I was delirious.”
“Clearly,” Laila agreed, although she didn’t look convinced. “Why is this human so important to you, anyway?” she asked. “Who is she to you?”
“She’s no one,” I said, since that should have been the truth. All she’d been at first was a pretty girl I’d noticed at the village festival. But somehow, with everything that had happened between us in such a short amount of time, she’d become more than that. I’d come to care about her.
More than that-I had a responsibility to her. Because if I hadn’t noticed her that night, I had a feeling that none of this would have happened.
She was in danger from the vampires because of me. I’d created this mess. Therefore, I had to be the one to make sure she was safe.
“Good,” Camelia said, throwing open my doors and bursting into the room. “If she’s no one to you, then you won’t care that she’s dead.”
Camelia
Camelia
I knew Sean was lying the moment he said he didn’t care about the human girl, but the way his face dropped when I announced her death only further affirmed it.
He cared about her.
Which was exactly why I had to make sure he thought he had no chance of ever seeing her again.
“The girl was a thief.” I made my way to the center of the room, taking notice of the way all eyes were on me. “Why do you think the guards were sent to bring her to the dungeons in the first place?”
“She wasn’t a thief,” he said. “You don’t even know her.”
“And you do?” I raised an eyebrow. “She stole from the vampires. She stole food that wasn’t permitted for humans-candies, cheese, meats-and gave them to her co-workers at the Tavern.”
“A human stole from the vampires?” Sean balked. “Impossible.”
“If you don’t believe me, you can ask the workers at the Tavern yourself,” I continued. “It didn’t take long for us to get them to turn her in. The blood slaves have no loyalty-the sooner you learn that, the better. They would do anything to save themselves and their families, even if it means turning in a friend. She’s dead,” I repeated, wanting to rub it in further. “And now she’ll never be able to steal from the vampires again.”
“I don’t believe you.” He narrowed his eyes and rushed at me, but the guards stopped him before he could get close. He fought their hold, but even a vampire prince wasn’t strong enough to free himself from five guards-especially when his emotions were getting the best of him. “Show her to me.”
I smiled, because of course I’d already planned for this.
“Bring the body here,” I told Daniel. “It’s in cell thirty-one.”
Daniel whizzed out of the room, and Sean stared at me, his eyes dark.
“If you killed her…” he started, clenching his fists to his sides.
“Then what?” I asked. “I did nothing out of line. The girl stole from vampires and has been punished for her crimes. She’ll be an example to the blood slaves about what happens when our rules are broken. They need a good example every now and then to make sure they remember their place.”
No one spoke as we waited for Daniel to return. And with his vampire speed, it didn’t take long for him to come back, hauling Scarlett’s body behind him and dropping it on the ground.
Her skin was paler than ever, her blood drained dry. Not a drop of it had been left behind.
I crossed my arms and stared at my work, proud of myself for flawlessly putting this into play. Because after hearing of Scarlett and Sean’s escape from the guards, I’d gone to the Tavern myself to investigate. There, I’d met a girl who claimed to be one of Scarlett’s closest friends-Tanya, I believe was her name-and had her brought to the dungeons for questioning. She had no memories of Sean-she’d either never met him or he’d compelled her to forget him-but she did confess about Scarlett’s stealing vampire food and sharing it with the humans who worked at that dingy human bar.
I’d originally intended to release her back into the village to show her some gratitude for coming clean about her friend. But then I’d seen the way Sean and Scarlett had looked at each other in the mountains. He cared about the mousey human blood slave. I didn’t understand why, but he wasn’t going to stop fighting for her no matter what.
Unless he thought she was dead.
So, while Scarlett had been passed out in her cell, I’d taken a strand of her hair. Transformation potions were my specialty, so it hadn’t taken long to brew. And of course, getting Tanya to drink it had been easy. The girl had barely been given any food or drink since arriving in the dungeons, and she’d downed the first thing placed in front of her-the potion.
Her body had transformed into Scarlett’s in minutes.
All I’d needed to do from there was call a vampire guard into the cell and instruct him to drain her dry. The guards were rarely given blood straight from the vein-that was a luxury typically reserved for the royals and nobles-so he’d been more than happy to oblige.
All of this had been done before Scarlett had awoken from her sedative.