Sleeping Beauty (27 page)

She lowered her arm. He unzipped the hood and pulled it off.

Lucette froze, unsure of what to say. She was not even sure her tongue would work. Seeing his handsome face, his beautiful blond hair, his lush lips, his strong neck, brought back a flood of memories. At first good ones, sending shivers of attraction racing through her, and then bad ones, piercing her pride and stabbing her chest with the pain and humiliation of his rejection.

“Princess,” he bowed, “my name is Tristan of Judra, and I've come to rescue you.”

“Is this your idea of a joke?” He was acting as if he didn't know her, had never met her. Given his cruel rejection, he must be setting her up for some kind of humiliation.

“Joke?” He stepped forward.“Princess, I assure you, my intentions in coming here are entirely noble. I heard you were beautiful—which you are. I heard you were alone—which you are. I heard you needed help—
which seems true. And I heard you wanted roses—which I brought.”

She gasped. Tristan had answered her father's call for help.

Of course he had. He'd come to rescue her. And he brought roses. Yes, they were intended as defensive weapons, not declarations of love, but still... She tried to think straight through the happy thoughts dancing in her mind. Maybe he'd always loved her. Maybe he'd just been waiting for her to be older. Maybe he hadn't meant what he'd told her nearly two years ago.

“You brought roses?” Her voice sounded breathy.

“Yes.” He gestured over to the corner where a vase stood, full of red roses on long stems.

She'd only seen drawings of roses, and they were more beautiful than she could have imagined. Their scent was so sweet, too, and she couldn't believe she hadn't noticed the vase the moment she woke.

“I brought these,” he said, “and as many bushes as I could carry, too, although I'm not sure I understand the desperate need for flowers. Even a rose would pale against your beauty.” He bowed.

She wondered for a moment if he was mocking her, but the gesture seemed real. Suddenly, the truth hit, and she flinched like she'd actually been struck. Tristan didn't recognize her. Not one bit. He had forgotten her that easily.

But perhaps not.
He
looked the same—except his hair was longer and his face had hardened—but
she'd
grown up. She was no longer that little kid he'd so easily dismissed. She wondered how to tell him, but decided not to. Not yet. First, she had to get to the bottom of how and why he was here—and awake. Had Tristan converted to vampirism? She studied his mouth for evidence of fangs, his blue eyes for yellow flecks.

“How are you awake?” she asked, embarrassed that her voice came out so weakly, without the confident tone of a slayer.

He ran a hand over his golden hair that reflected the gaslights. “The curse was on the citizens of Xandra. It appears I'm not affected, since I'm not Xandran.”

She nodded. That was possible. “Then why has no one else come to help me? Why only you?”

He looked down for a moment before answering. “Everyone's afraid of getting involved. They think that if they do, vampires will attack their citizens, too.”

“So you're
not
a vampire?”

He laughed.“No. Princess, I'm here to defend you from vampires—to slay them. When I heard of your predicament, I came running. I couldn't imagine leaving an innocent young lady here on her own with no way to defend herself.”

Lucette narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. “I can defend myself just fine, thank you.” She dropped her arms to her sides; it was crazy to be so defensive. She might be more capable than he assumed, but that was no excuse to be rude. Help was exactly what she needed, and to chase it away now that it had arrived—especially in the form of Tristan—would be foolish. “Okay then,” she said. “Gather your weapons. After I get changed, you can join me on my patrol.”

Lucette draped the long, frilly white-and-pink gown she'd been sleeping in over the back of the chair behind the screen in the library, where she hid her slayer uniform each morning before dawn. Her insides
were all too aware that Tristan was on the other side of that screen.

She felt insulted that he didn't remember her and that he assumed he could swoop in here and save her. She grabbed the clothes she hid behind a huge atlas, and after she dressed, she pulled on her heavy boots—all the better to kick with.

Suddenly, she heard a loud smash on the other side of the screen.

Tristan had been attacked! Her heart jumped, but she knew not to do anything rash, and she quickly and quietly clasped her belt and grabbed her weapons. The element of surprise would help when she joined in the battle.

“Stay back, Princess!” Tristan called out. “I'll protect you!”

So much for the surprise factor. She grabbed a stake in one hand and a long shaft that doubled as a fighting stick in the other, then slid out from behind the screen, keeping to the shadows. Not that the shadows were much help—vampires could see quite well in the dark.

Only one intruder had come into the library. What a relief. Tristan leaped up and delivered a kick to the vampire's chest, then the vampire staggered and roared as he sprang back toward Tristan.

Tristan ducked to the side and the vampire fell forward, but recovered quickly and turned around with a horrible, bloodthirsty look on his face. Lucette had never seen a vampire so ugly or crazed. His hair was dirty and matted in patches, and his face was twisted into a horrible grimace.

He lunged for Tristan again, and she made her move. In three long, leaping strides, she stepped onto the back of a chair, then dove toward the vampire, planting her stake in the side of his body. It wasn't a death strike, but it would slow him down and, with any luck, scare him off. He spun toward her, roaring in anger and pain.

He lunged at her with his fangs bared, but she rolled to the side. Tristan leaped up and planted a killing blow in the vampire's back, straight through his heart.

The vampire slumped to the ground, and Tristan ran to her side, his bloody stake still in his hand. “Princess, are you hurt?”

She backed away, her heart hammering in her chest. The vampire was dead. He hadn't had a fair chance to run after a warning.

The door opened and Alex strode in. He froze when he saw the dead body on the floor and the blood dripping from Tristan's stake—not to mention Tristan.

Alex spun toward Lucette. “What's going on here?”

In an instant, Tristan pulled his crossbow off his back and loaded an arrow.

Lucette lunged for Tristan's arm and pushed it aside just as he fired. Alex ducked to the side, and the arrow narrowly missed him, digging into the spine of a book. Tristan grabbed another arrow.

“He's a friend!” She kicked the crossbow from Tristan's hands.

Alex stormed forward, anger hardening his handsome face.“ What's your problem? I didn't come near you!”

Tristan ignored Lucette and reached for a stake. She put herself between the two boys. “Stop it!”

Tristan and Alex stepped around her and lunged for each other, but Lucette jumped, twisting in the air and spreading her legs into a side-split jump that struck each of them in the chest with one foot.

She landed between them as they stumbled back.

“That was impressive,” Alex said, rubbing his chest. “I've never seen you do that before.”

“Lucy?” Tristan said. He stood in shock. “Lucy? You're Princess
Lucette?” He shook his head, as if trying to erase what he'd just realized. “I've never seen anyone else who could do that.”

She shrugged. “About time you noticed.”

Alex pulled her around by the shoulder. “You know this human? And how is he awake?”

Tristan pulled her back around. “You know this vampire?”

Lucette alternated her gaze between the young men—one human, one vampire—trying to figure out how to respond.

“Of course she knows me.” Alex stepped forward and put his arm around her shoulders. “In fact, we're falling in love. And as soon as we prove it, the curse will lift.”

“What?” Tristan said, his shock and revulsion intensifying.

Lucette slipped from Alex's grip. He was making it sound as if they were already in love—the last thing she wanted Tristan to hear. “The curse lifts when I prove I've found true love,” she told Tristan.

Tristan's nose wrinkled and his nostrils flared with contempt. “And you've chosen ... you're falling in love with ... with
that
?”

Alex put his arm around her again and gripped tightly.

“Vampires aren't
things
,” Lucette said. “You should say
him
, not
that
.” She looked up to Alex, but he kept his gaze forward, so she turned back to Tristan.“We're not in love.” She tried to shrug Alex's arm off her shoulders, but he held on to her tightly and she didn't want to struggle, because she knew it would cause even more tension.

Tristan glared at Alex with hate in his eyes. “Let her go. Now.”

Alex refused.

So much for preventing more tension. “It's okay,” she told Tristan. “Alex and I are friends.”

Tristan took step toward Alex and said, “Can't you see that you repulse her? She's trying to get away from you. If you're her friend as you claim, unhand her now.”

“Just stop!” Lucette raised her hands. “There's no need to get nasty. If we're going to be spending time together, it'll be a lot more pleasant, not to mention safer, if we can all get along.”

Alex stepped back, pulling her with him. “I'm not planning on spending any time with
him
.” He narrowed his eyes. “Let him get sucked dry if he won't go back where he came from. I can keep you safer if he stays away.”

Lucette looked at Tristan. His arms were tense, as if he were ready to grab a weapon. She couldn't let that happen.

“Listen,” she told Tristan, “Alex and I have spent the past twenty-eight nights together, trying to minimize the bites for everyone in and around the palace. I trust him and ask that you trust him, too.”

A loud bang sounded from somewhere in the palace, and then another.

Alex released her, and she sprang forward, drawing one of her stakes. “Get the roses!” she shouted.

Tristan grabbed the bouquet of roses, and they ran into the corridor, Lucette's heart thumping hard and fast. The sounds came from her mother's wing, and as they rounded the final corner, she gasped. A group of five vampires, more than she'd seen together at one time, was hacking at her mother's door with an axe.

They'd already made it through the first slab and were moving on to the next. How many doors protected her mother's room now? Everyone who'd stayed in Xandra had made it more difficult for the vampires to break into their houses. All over the kingdom, windows
were boarded over and huge pieces of furniture were pushed up against doors each night. But Lucette knew that eventually the vampires would break through.

Tristan dropped the roses, loaded his crossbow, and launched an arrow into the midsection of one of the vampires, just missing his heart. The wounded vampire turned, growled, and charged at Tristan.

Taking a leap of faith, Lucette picked up a rose and ran forward, leaping over Tristan, who was busy reloading his crossbow, and forced the flower into the vampire's face.

“Lucy!” Tristan shouted.

The vampire reacted almost immediately. He clutched at his long pale throat and coughed. Soon he fell to the ground. Lucette stood over him with a stake, her heart racing, hoping she wouldn't have to deliver the death blow. The vampire's convulsions slowed, and he lay there, unmoving.

She turned to Alex. “Did the rose kill him?”

Alex shrugged. “Maybe. I'm not sure. We should tie him up, but he's not your only problem.” Alex gestured toward the other vampires and tossed her more roses.

She turned to see Tristan in hand-to-hand combat with a huge vampire. The vampire's fangs were dangerously close to Tristan's neck. Why had she made him take off his hood with its neck protector? Better question, why hadn't he put it back on? And why wasn't
she
wearing one? All their slayer training had gone out the window.

She jumped on the vampire's back and forced one of the roses into his face. He released Tristan, who took advantage of the opportunity and drove a stake into the vampire's chest. He collapsed, twitching in pain, and soon stopped breathing.

“You didn't have to kill him!” Alex yelled at Tristan.“Lucette, the door!”

She looked up just in time to see the feet of the skinniest vampire disappear through a hole that had been hacked into her mother's bedroom door.