Sleeping Beauty (18 page)

She shook her head, lowering her chin a little to look up with pouty eyes, but kept her gaze trained on him, snapping her head around as he moved. Maintaining a look of terror was not difficult.

“Don't worry, darling,” he said.“The first bite never kills. Sometimes two can, if enough venom is transferred.” He reached out one of his long fingers and trailed it along the side of her neck.

Lucette had had enough.

She leaped up and landed a kick squarely in the center of his chest. Her dress tore and the fabric streamed around her as she spun to plant another kick to his head before he recovered.

In a blink, he landed on the other side of her, and caught the fabric of her dress, pulling her close.

“My goodness,” he said. “You
are
a surprise. I imagine your blood will be even tastier than I expected. Sweet, yes, but it seems you might be a little spicy, too.” His breath heated her neck as he held her stake arm tightly behind her back. However, the vampire left Lucette's other arm free, so she transferred the stake to that hand.

“Oh, please, no!” She tried to sound even more scared than she was as she raised her stake and slammed it into him from behind, careful to pull it back out.

The vampire staggered back. Lucette hadn't had enough leverage to plunge the stake deep enough to kill. It would take a second strike.

His expression darkened. “Now, that wasn't very nice.” He reached around to try to cover the wound in his back.

Even injured, the vampire was bigger and stronger and faster than she, and Lucette wasn't confident she could take him down. Her only advantage was that he didn't seem to be a trained fighter.

“Why are you here?” she asked, backing away and glancing over her shoulder to see if there was a sleeping slayer nearby who might have anything she could use as a weapon.

“Thirsty,” he said, tracing his tongue over his fangs.

“I thought vampires didn't drink human blood.”

He shrugged. “I have a vice. Sue me.” He was keeping his distance, as if unsure of his odds against her. He narrowed his eyes and the yellow flecks flared. “Plus, I'm getting paid.”

“Leave and I won't kill you,” she said.

“Try, and I'll rip your throat out.”

Enough of this. She'd wasted too much time and energy on this vampire. Others might be attacking people all over the kingdom. It was time to take him down, but after her first experience killing a vampire, she wasn't sure she could kill again. Not unless her life, or that of someone she loved, was directly in danger. She leaped and planted the stake in his shoulder.

He dove for her neck, flaring his fangs, but she dodged to the side and he struck his head on the wall beside her. He slumped down, rubbing his head and bleeding onto the floor from that wound and the two she'd inflicted. Vampires could heal quickly, but it would certainly take him hours to fully recover.

While he was down, she tore strips off her ripped dress and used the fabric to tightly bind his arms behind his back, then his legs.

“Hey, what are you doing?” he slurred.

“What does it look like?” she answered. “Consider yourself under arrest for trespassing.”

He moaned as she tipped him onto his front and tore another strip of fabric to join his bound arms and legs together. Notwithstanding his vampire strength, his confinement—combined with his wounds—would keep him from inflicting any further damage for a while.

She wasn't sure what she'd do with him when he broke his bonds, and she secretly hoped he'd find a way to escape. If he were found in the morning, he'd be staked by a slayer, if sunlight from one of the windows didn't get to him first.

Satisfied that he was secure, she changed into her slayer uniform, hidden in a secret compartment in her wardrobe, and raced back to
her father's office. The palace seemed vampire-free, except for her bound catch slumped over in the hall, so she approached her father and placed a kiss on his forehead. Taking his pad of paper and a quill pen, she wrote him a quick note.

 

 

 

 

 

 

She felt torn about that last request, but if the vampires were targeting her family, it wouldn't be long before they found the queen at the estate in the country.

Lucette reread her note, sealed it, and then, after locking her father's door, she left to make sure the corridors were empty.

Hours later, Lucette had patrolled the palace and found most doors blocked by furniture and most windows covered by boards. But more than one of the barricades appeared breached. So much for hoping the rest of the night would stay quiet. Apparently her bound friend
upstairs wouldn't be the only vampire she'd encounter on her first full night alone.

A window smashed upstairs.

Lucette's heart raced. If she couldn't bring herself to kill one vampire, what was she going to do surrounded by many? From the sounds of it, she'd find out the answer to that question very soon.

Hiding felt cowardly, and she felt bad for the guards and slayers in the halls—she hadn't been able to drag them all into hiding spots before this ruckus started—but now she needed to save herself.

Should she head up or down? Hearing another crash upstairs, she chose down and raced to the stairs at the back of the palace, which led to the maze of corridors and storage rooms in the cellar. Because of her sheltered upbringing, she'd rarely been down there.

She heard the thump of footsteps upstairs. More vampires had broken in, and she had at least four hours before sunrise.

In the first room, she found bins of potatoes, carrots, turnips, and other root vegetables, but nowhere to hide. No place where she felt confident she couldn't be found.

Voices shouted upstairs, and it sounded like chaos up there. How many of the exposed palace staff were being bitten right now? She shivered.

She checked the next room. It was incredibly dark and she blinked her eyes to see. In the far corner was a steel box, the size of a storage space. She lifted its hinged lid and her hopes lifted, too.

Coal.

She could dig herself down into the coal and, as a bonus, it might mask her scent. The voices and footsteps drew nearer. At least one vampire had decided to check the basement.

She climbed into the coal bin, carefully shut the lid, and buried herself as deep as she could. Dust clogged her lungs and stung her eyes, but she choked back the urge to cough or sneeze. She didn't move. It might take three vampire bites to die, but she didn't want to risk even one. And it sounded like there were many more than three bloodsucking monsters in the palace.

As much as she hoped the vampires wouldn't find her, she really hoped someone else would in the morning. The thought of waking in here tomorrow night, after sleeping in coal for a whole day, was too horrible to imagine.

The next night, Lucette's eyes snapped open. She wasn't in the coal bin, but the air around her felt tight and stale. Wherever she was, it was dark. She tried to sit, but her head struck something hard before she was fully upright. She explored with her hands and, as her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she started to make out shapes through the hard, cold surface enclosing her. Whatever surrounded her was transparent. Realization struck her—she was in a glass box.

Exploring its surface, she found a few small holes, then ran her hands down her body and discovered she was dressed in another frilly gown. Her hair was loose. She touched her lips; they were sticky. Lipstick.

She realized that not only was she now trapped in a glass box, she might have been lying there all day, too. A horrible thought flashed through her mind: if she'd been lying there all day, dressed up, had anyone been watching her sleep? It almost felt as if she'd been on display. She shuddered.

Lucette kept feeling around her until her left hand struck what felt like a button. She pressed it and gas lights sparked to life. When she saw where she was, her breaths became shallow as if huge weights were crushing down on her. She was back up in the tower.

Past her feet, she could see the cell where her father had trapped her on her birthday. The glass box she lay in was outside the glass cell and directly against it perpendicularly. And this near-coffin was most likely made of enchanted, unbreakable fairy glass.

So, this was the plan her father had mentioned in his note last night. She was trapped in a coffin of unbreakable glass, barely able to move. Even for her father, this was over the top. Lucette fought to control her panic, as the air suddenly felt even thicker and heavier than it had in the coal bin.

This was crazy. Even if the enchanted glass kept her safe from vampires, was she expected to go through her nights without moving? Without walking around? Without even sitting up? And how would she protect everyone else?

She pounded on the inside of the glass, her heart racing. Then she heard a sound behind her and instantly regretted making so much noise. Craning her neck, she saw light reflecting off the stone wall at the top of the staircase. Someone was coming.

Will Lucette survive the night?

To find out, turn to section 6: In the Dark (page 183).