Filed to story: The Vampire Prince’s Bride
“You’re silent, but I see you have many questions.” Laila’s gaze didn’t leave my own. “After what I’ve put you through, you certainly deserve answers. So I’ll give them to you… as long as you promise not to attack me again.” She smiled sweetly, as if she was trying to flirt her way into getting me to agree.
We’d passed the stage where that would work a long time ago.
She might be beautiful, but when I looked at her now, all I saw was a monster. Especially when she pressed her thumb lightly enough on the syringe of the needle that a droplet of the torturous liquid-the wormwood-collected in a droplet on the tip. The poison was odorless, but the needle was still more than halfway full, which got the message across loud and clear.
Give her any more trouble, and I’d get a lot more than the dose she’d already shocked me with.
“Fine,” I said, since despite my rage at her, I believed her when she said she was going to give me answers. I’d rather get them the easy way than the hard way. “I’ll play nice-for now.”
“Lovely.” She capped the needle and secured it in her pocket. “My reflexes are faster than yours, so don’t test me.” She glanced over at the guards, who were watching her expectantly. “Leave,” she commanded them. “And remove the trash on your way out.”
She motioned toward the pile of corpses in front of the doors, making it clear what she’d meant by “the trash.”
The guards did as she said, lifting the bodies with ease and taking them out of the room.
I couldn’t believe that I’d killed all those people. Yet, the moment Laila had slit the first man’s throat, the urge to drink his blood had been primal-so strong I couldn’t resist it.
The worst part was that I’d liked it.
“So, where were we?” Laila asked with a smile.
“The part where you were telling me that you turned me into a monster.” I held my gaze with her, my eyes cold.
“That’s what you think I did?” she asked.
“I just killed five people in cold blood.” I motioned to where their bodies had been on the floor. “So yes-that’s what I know you did.”
“About that,” she said, clearing her throat. “You needed to drink from the vein to complete your transition. But until you learn to control your bloodlust, that feast was a one-time deal. So you’ll be drinking bottled blood, like most of the vampires in the kingdom. Only once you gain control will you be granted the royal privilege to drink from the veins of the prisoners whenever you’d like.”
“That won’t be happening.” I curled my hands into fists. “Because whatever you did to me, you’re going to reverse it.”
“That’s impossible,” she said. “The gift I’ve given you cannot be reversed.”
“Gift?” I lifted a small vase from an end table and threw it across the room. It whizzed by Laila’s head, missing her and shattering against the wall. “You turned me into a monster!”
She zipped toward me and jammed the needle into my arm.
Shattering pain wracked through my body. I yelled out in pain, crumpling to the floor. Darkness threatened my vision, but I blinked and took deep breaths, determined not to pass out.
Who knew what Laila would do to me if I did?
I eventually got ahold of myself enough to pull myself up onto the nearest sofa. It hurt too much to stand, but there was no way I was going to stay on the floor.
“Impressive.” Laila raised an eyebrow and sat down on the sofa across from me. “That amount of wormwood would have knocked out most vampires. But you’re strong. Just like I intended.”
“That’s the second time you’ve said that,” I said. “You didn’t turn me randomly, did you?”
“Of course not.” She smiled. “I’d selected you long before stepping into the hotel bar where we met.”
“Why?” Pain echoed in my voice, and I rested my elbows on top of my legs, feeling hopeless. “What did I do to deserve this?”
“You’re strong,” she said. “Disciplined. Motivated. Ambitious. By all reports, you were predicted to be the hero of the next Olympics. All of those traits-the traits of an Olympian athlete at the top of his or her game-they’re the traits I was searching for. You see, the transition to become a vampire prince or princess is even much more challenging than the transition to become a regular vampire. Most don’t survive it. So I searched and found you-the most talked about athlete for the next Olympic games. You survived the change, like I thought you would. And after what I’ve seen of you so far-the way you threw off those guards, your ability to withstand high doses of wormwood, and the exorbitant amount of blood you consumed for your first meal-choosing you was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.”
“But I don’t want to be a monster,” I said. “I’ll kill myself before I lose control again and kill more people.”
“No, you won’t.” She sounded so sure of herself-like she knew me better than I knew myself. “I’ve turned many vampires who ended up doing such a thing, and they all handled their first kill with far less dignity than you managed today. You were born to be a vampire, Sean. The sooner you accept it, the sooner you can enjoy the wealth, power, and most importantly-the immortality-that I gave you when I made you a prince of theVale.”I stared her down, unwilling to accept it.
“People will know I’m missing,” I said. “Like you said, I’m high profile. There are people searching for me right now, and they’re going to find me. Just you wait.”
“No one’s coming for you,” she said simply.
“What makes you so sure about that?” I asked.
“Because everyone thinks you’re dead.”
“What?” I narrowed my eyes at her, not willing to believe it. “Why would they think that?”
She reached for something-a remote control-and pressed a button to lower a gigantic flat screen television from the ceiling. “I recorded this just for you while you were going through the change,” she said, turning the television on and clicking to a recorded news report on the DVR. “I thought you’d want to see it once you woke up.”
The news report was already cued up-all Laila had to do was press play.
On the screen was the hotel I’d been staying at during the swim meet-with flames and smoke coming out of the top windows. The caption below the photo read, “Hotel bombing.”
“We’re here half past midnight reporting live at the Eastin Hotel in Toronto, where a terrorist has set off a bomb in one of the upper floors,” a pretty newscaster said into a microphone. “It appears to have been a direct attack on the USA male swim team visiting the city for the Global Aquatics Championship, as the floor they were staying on was the one targeted. None of them have been located yet, and the rescuers on the scene say it doesn’t look good. More coming on the hour.”
Laila was emotionless as she fast-forwarded to the next update, where the newscaster announced that my teammates and I-along with many others staying at the hotel-were confirmed dead.
“Where are they?” I turned to Laila, fury in my eyes.
“Where are who?” she asked calmly.
“My teammates!” I said. “Are they in this place, too? Are you hedging your bets? Turning all of us into vampires and seeing who survives?”
“No,” she said. “I already told you-I chose you specifically.”