I shielded the human girl with my body and moved us both to the side, but we didn’t have much room to move in the tree. Pain shot through my body as the branch entered my back near my right shoulder. I sucked in a deep breath, stopping myself from crying out.
Vampires might be able to heal, but every injury hurt us just as much as it would a human. More so, because our senses were heightened.
Annika held onto both of my arms, steadying me to stop me from falling. “You risked your life to save me,” she realized, staring up at me in wonder. “If you hadn’t done that…”
“The branch would have gone straight through your heart.” I reached behind myself and yanked out the branch, breathing steadily as I felt the skin knit together. The injury—and the energy it took to heal it—would cost me. I would have to feed sooner than intended.
But I couldn’t worry about that now. Right now, my only worry was defeating the wolves.
I turned around as another branch soared toward us, but I threw my arm out, catching it mid-air. I shot it back down toward Valerie at the same time as she threw another branch up at us.
I reached for Annika’s hand, trying to anticipate the path of the branch so we could both avoid it.
But both branches came to a sudden stop mid-air. They floated there, as if someone had pressed pause, and I held my breath as I stared at them.
I only knew of one creature capable of performing such a feat.
A witch.
Camelia had found us.
Annika
The floating branches flew up, over the treetops, and out into the depths of the forest.
Suddenly the tree tilted, and I gripped Jacen’s hand as the tree tipped slowly to the side until we couldn’t hold our balance any more. We both rolled out of the branches, the snow cushioning our fall.
The wolves turned away from the Vale and ran.
Once we stopped rolling, I saw a cluster of boots in front of us.
“Well, well, well,” a familiar voice said from above. “If it isn’t the blood slave I was looking for.”
I stood up, brushing the snow off myself and glaring at her. She was backed by what looked to be twenty vampire guards. In seconds, they formed a circle around us.
“Camelia,” I said her name steadily, holding my gaze with hers. With Jacen’s blood in my system, I felt stronger than ever. Yes, vampire guards surrounded us, and yes, our odds were now worse than they’d been when we were only against the wolves, but at least I was more powerful than I would have been as a human.
Jacen reached for my hand again and held it tightly, as if trying to tell me not to say anything more.
Camelia looked down at our clasped hands and raised an eyebrow. “Daniel informed me about the… state he and his men discovered the two of you in when they went to find the girl at the Tavern,” she said, her voice so eerily calm that it raised the hairs on my arms. “And I see you’ve given her a taste of your blood. You do know the long term effects of that, do you not?”
Jacen just stared at her, his gaze so dark and hollow that I wondered if he was planning on demolishing her and the guards in a single swoop.
“What’s so special about this blood slave?” Camelia continued, smiling as if his murderous expression didn’t bother her in the slightest. “Why has a vampire prince gone so out of his way to attempt to free her from the Vale?”
“Why did you send the guards to take her?” Jacen tightened his grip around my hand, his voice cold. “With explicit instructions not to harm her?”
“You’re always looking for trouble, aren’t you?” Camelia laughed, the sound high and melodic, like bells. “I shouldn’t have expected anything less. First that murder spree you went on in the village last year, and now this.”
I gasped, pulling my hand out of his. “Murder spree?” I repeated, but as his face fell, it all made sense. All of the information I’d known, but hadn’t put together until now.
Jacen had been turned into a vampire soon before I’d been brought to the Vale. I, and many others who’d been kidnapped around that time, had been needed because a freshly turned vampire had lost control of his bloodlust and rampaged the village. It had been a bloodbath. Mike’s parents had both been killed. Nearly everyone who lived in the Vale knew someone who’d been killed.
If those murders had never happened, the vampires wouldn’t have needed to recruit so many humans last year. They wouldn’t have kidnapped me. They wouldn’t have murdered my family.
The vampire who had lost control was responsible for so many lives lost.
But that vampire had been caught and executed.
At least, that was what I’d been told.
“He never told you?” Camelia smirked, speaking to me since the first time she found us. “And here I thought the two of you were close.”
“It was you.” I looked to Jacen, wanting to hear it from him—not from her. “You killed all those people in the village last year.”
“I warned you I was dangerous,” he said darkly. “I’ve built up my strength so I can now control the bloodlust, but when I first turned… it consumed me. That night, I didn’t even know what I’d done until afterward.”
I backed away, unable to look at him. Because yes, I knew vampires struggled with bloodlust. I knew they’d all killed.
But most of them didn’t go on mass murder sprees through an entire village.
The worst part was that I’d trusted him. I was going to let him help me escape.
Was he even trying to help me at all? Or was this some elaborate plan concocted from the first night he’d met me? He never did explain why he’d asked me to dance that night instead of any of the other humans in the town square. And for unknown reasons, Camelia clearly wanted me in the palace.
I’d been a pawn this entire time.
As a human, I would always be a pawn in the supernaturals’ game.
“The two of you were working together this whole time, weren’t you?” I voiced my hypothesis out loud.
“No.” Jacen reached for my hand, but with his blood in my system I was just as fast as he was, and I pulled away.
“This is getting better by the second.” Camelia looked back and forth between the two of us, that smug smile still on her face. “You didn’t actually think a vampire prince would care about a human blood slave—at least as anything more than a play toy. Or did you?”
I wanted to say that yes, Jacen cared about helping me escape. But did he? After all, he hated that he’d been turned into a vampire against his will—he’d told me that much, and I believed him. He also knew that Camelia wanted me, for reasons unknown to both of us.
What better way to anger the leaders of the Vale than to steal away something they wanted?
“Don’t listen to her,” Jacen said. “She’s lying.”
“As if you’re any better?” I snapped. “You lied to me from the moment you met me. You made me believe you were human.”
His eyes flashed with hurt, and for a moment I felt guilty. But only for a moment. Because I owed none of them anything. As long as I was human, I was worse than trash to all of the supernaturals in and around the Vale. None of them could be trusted.
“As much as I’m enjoying watching your pathetic drama, this game has gone far enough,” Camelia interrupted. “Annika needs to come with me to the palace. Now.”
I looked around, but the vampire guards surrounded us. Escape was impossible. Still, I had to try. After all, I’d always been quick. Nimble. With my temporary vampire strength, perhaps I stood a chance.
These woods were huge. All I needed was to get far enough away that they would lose my trail.
It was risky. But better to take the risk than be brought back to the palace for unknown reasons that would likely result in my death.
So I leaped into the air, aiming for the branch of the nearest tree. But right before reaching the tree, I smacked into an invisible wall and crashed back onto the snow.