Sleeping Beauty (4 page)

“I just do.” He shot her a reassuring smile.

The fact that this boy was winning the argument filled her with frustration. “Yeah, well, you don't know everything.” Her mother had told her the truth about vampires, and once she got older and gained some freedom, she planned to be a slayer. “Vampires do lots of evil things. They can read minds and influence you and make you do things against your will.”

“You believe that?” He looked at her with disdain. “Old wives' tales. Besides, a pretty girl can make me do things against my will. Does that make her evil?”

She dropped her arms from across her chest. This boy seemed nice enough, but didn't understand anything. “Yes, well, vampires are evil, hideous creatures, with no redeeming qualities. It's impossible for
them to be good. It goes against their nature.”

“Tell me,” he said, and leaned forward until she could see the slight yellow glint in his green eyes. “Do I seem evil to you?”

He smiled and she saw his pointed teeth.

He had fangs!

Trembling, she backed into a tree. This tall, red-haired boy wasn't a boy at all. He was a vampire.

“Lucette,” he said, “if I'm so evil, why haven't I attacked you yet?”

As his question came out, she found her courage and lunged, stake in hand. He brushed her twig aside and grabbed her arm.

She drew in a sharp breath and scolded herself for disobeying her parents and wandering into the woods. She'd left them arguing, without even trying to mediate, and now she'd die and they'd fight over that, too.

She could not let that happen. She screamed and stomped on his foot.

“Ouch!” He pushed her away. “Why did you do that?”

She fell back, but moving quickly, he caught her before she hit the ground. He moved so quickly, and demonstrated such strength.

“Don't worry,” he said. “Like I said, I don't drink human blood. And even if I were starving, I wouldn't drink yours. I have no idea what you've been eating.” He grinned, but she didn't find it much of a joke, and backed away.

“Lucette, believe me—most vampires believe it's just plain wrong to drink blood straight from the vein of any animal. It's immoral, not to mention wasteful, to risk killing a source of food. Sanguinian vampires only drink blood from certified ranches, where the animals have been properly fed, compassionately treated, and hygienically bled.”

“I don't believe you!” She wrenched her arm back. “You're just trying to control my mind.”

“I can't control your mind. Only our queen, the holder of the Stone of Supremacy, holds any magical powers, and even she can't control people's minds—much to her chagrin.” He chuckled.

“Liar! I just saw your powers. You're so strong and fast.”

“Of course. I live off of a very pure diet. I can't believe the garbage you humans put in your bodies. No wonder you're so weak.”

The music stopped and Lucette turned to the clearing to see if anyone had discovered her absence. When she turned back, Alex had vanished.

Before she could even start back, her father came crashing through the forest. She dropped the twig to the ground and double-checked her gloves. Boy, was she in trouble. At least this time she'd be in trouble with
both
of her parents. Maybe punishing her would bring them closer together.

When they got home, Lucette slunk into her room and collapsed onto her bed. She heard the door shut as her mother entered behind her. Never had she seen her father so angry or her mother so shaken. And if that weren't bad enough, she was confused about everything. Not that she believed everything the vampire boy had said, but it was hard to discount him completely. He'd been so sincere, and kind of nice, even while she kept arguing with him. In fact, before she knew what he was, she'd been starting to like him a little bit. He
was
the first boy she'd ever talked to. If he had been a boy, that is.

“How are you feeling, Lucette?” Her mother sat down on the bed, leaned over her, and placed her hand on her forehead—cool and soft and soothing.

“I'm so sorry, Mom. It's just that I've never been in the forest before and the music was so boring and I'd never seen fireflies, and . . .” If she said she'd also seen a vampire, her mother would become as overprotective as her father. That information had to stay secret.

“We've kept you too sheltered,” her mother said. “I keep telling your father—”

Lucette sat up and interrupted her mother with an embrace, longing for the days when she could curl up in her lap. She'd been taller than her mother since age ten, and her mother could probably curl up in
her
lap now. Worse, her mother yet again confirmed what Lucette had known since she could remember. Her parents' fights were always about her.

It would be better to change the subject to one her mother never tired of. “Are all vampires evil, Mom?”

Her mother stroked her hair. “Where did that come from?”

“I'm just wondering. I mean, Dad always says that they aren't all bad, but I know you don't agree, and every time I bring it up, Dad gets mad and I don't want . . .” She let her voice trail off instead of adding “to cause another fight.”

Her mother cupped her cheek. “Since marrying your father, I've learned to tolerate most nonhuman creatures, but vampires are vile, evil monsters, and their queen is the worst of all.” She dropped her hand and her expression hardened.“The only good vampire is a dead vampire.”

Goose bumps rose on Lucette's arms and neck. Even though her mother had said those words before, she'd never seen such hatred in
her mother's eyes and her insistence that all vampires deserved to die seemed extreme—especially after meeting Alex. But if her mother were right, it was chilling to think how close she'd been to a vampire tonight, how close she'd come to death.

She felt foolish for running off into the woods. Some days it felt as though she couldn't take one right step. She sighed and hugged her mother. “Some days I feel like I'm cursed.”

Her mother stiffened and pushed her back to arm's length. “Who told you about the curse?”

Lucette sucked in a ragged breath. “What?” She scrambled off the bed. “Do you mean I really
am
cursed?” She'd only said it so her mother could say “Don't be silly, Lucette. Of course you're not cursed.” Instead, it felt as if the world had tilted on its side, as if the room were closing in around her, as if the air were suddenly too thick to breathe.

“What do you mean?” She looked at her mother, hoping for answers.

Her mother slid off the bed, stepped up to Lucette, and hugged her tightly. “My darling daughter, it's time you knew the truth.” She pulled back, but gripped Lucette's upper arms tightly. “And it's time you learned how to defend yourself, how to fight.”

“Like a vampire slayer?” Her mother had to be kidding. Her parents were so overprotective it was crazy, and the idea that they'd let her learn to be a slayer—it was too much to hope for.

But her mother's expression remained serious. “Your father thinks he can protect you. He thinks it's his job to keep his wife and daughter safe, but I think it's important we also learn to protect ourselves.”

“I'd give anything to be a vampire slayer.” Lucette felt excitement bubble up inside her. Had her mother been watching the other night
when she'd been practicing her slayer moves? Reading her mind? She looked into her mother's eyes for clues.

“Lucette,” her mother said evenly and calmly. “It is crucial that you train as a vampire slayer.”

Crucial? Confusion set in. This afternoon she would have jumped for joy at the opportunity. Now she wasn't so sure. But if training to be a slayer meant shedding the protective blanket her father had smothered her under, she was on board.

“Are you serious, Mom?” Lucette wasn't convinced she could actually kill a vampire, but the training sounded exciting, and she wasn't about to question her mother's motives and risk her changing her mind. This was sure to spark another parental fight, though. Torn between her dreams and keeping the peace, her stomach hurt.

Her mother let out a heavy sigh. “Lucette, your father doesn't want to scare you, but I think you're old enough to know what happened when you were a baby.”

Lucette opened her eyes wide.

“Sit down,” her mother said. “It's time you learned about your curse.”

The next morning, Lucette approached the room to which her parents had summoned her and kept her gaze focused on the marble floor with its alternating pattern of silver and blue tiles. She'd barely slept last night, and learning about the curse had left her feeling numb and in a state of disbelief. She couldn't imagine why a vampire queen, whom she'd never even met, would hate her enough to curse her.

A guard opened the door, and she bit down on her lip in irritation. She wasn't allowed to touch any doorknobs herself, even though all the doorknobs in the palace were perfectly smooth. It seemed unlikely that one would ever cut her—especially since she'd worn leather gloves every day for her entire life. But at least now she understood her father's obsession with finger safety—sort of.

According to her mother, her father thought she needed to develop good safety habits before turning sixteen—hence the gloves and his rules—whereas her mother thought she should have a chance to live a normal life until that fateful birthday. They also disagreed on the subject of her learning how to defend herself. Her father thought the idea of her training to slay was ridiculous and morbid, and his focus was completely on finger-prick prevention. Her mother, however, thought the curse was inevitable and that it was better to face it head-on. At least some of their fights made more sense now, even if it confirmed Lucette's fears that she'd caused them.

As she walked up to her parents, the air in the room seemed icy, and she imagined what it would look like if one of them reached out to take the other's hand. Better yet, what if both of them reached out at the same time, then turned to smile at each other as their hands joined? The image felt as real as a memory, yet Lucette knew she was projecting the actions of other couples she'd seen around the palace onto her parents. She'd never seen her parents hold hands. She herself had never held anyone's hand—without a glove.

Lucette stepped up to her parents and clasped their hands; at least now they were connected through her. She looked at each, timidly wondering what her punishment would be. “I'm so sorry about going into the woods. It was foolish and crazy, and I'll never do anything like
that again. I promise I can be more careful.”

“I hope you learned your lesson.” Her father's face was stern. “But we called you here to discuss something else.”

She felt the tension build in the room. “Is this about the curse?”

Her father spun toward her mother. “You
told
her?”

“It was time she knew.” Her mother shrugged. “She's not a little girl anymore.”

“How could you!” the king bellowed. “She's just a child! Look how you've scared her.”

Lucette scrambled to find some way to intervene. Her big mouth had done it again, and she'd made everything worse.

“We can't keep her sealed in a bubble, Stefan.” Her mother's cheeks flushed. “It's crazy. If you're doing all these things now, what do you plan for after she's turned sixteen?”

“So you want to just give up and let the curse fall?”

“Of course not! I simply believe she deserves to have a tiny bit of freedom—especially until she's sixteen. After that, she may end up isolated and alone in the night without having any skills or preparation.”