Paranormal Realities Box Set (33 page)

If I had thought the vampires at the ball
looked upon me as a meal, this horde gazed at me with ravenous hunger. Many
licked their lips. When one on my right gave a weak, snarling growl, the prince
fixed the offender with a glare. The vampire sank back, disappearing behind
others.

“You see? These poor wretches are nearing
starvation.” He surveyed the group. “Only my charity stands between them and
oblivion. If nothing changes, if I cannot open a new world to our exploration,
this will also be the fate of the royal court. This could ultimately be my
fate.”

His speech was very like the one I'd seen
in the television commercial with that has-been celebrity trying to interest
viewers in sponsoring a hungry child in a third world country.

The vampires we'd seen outside filed into
the church. Once more I had the impression of the mass of them closing in on
me. Prince Leopold must have sensed they were on the verge of attack also
because he turned to whisper to a ghoul I recognized as Lt. Colonel Bryan. The
officer bowed in response and barked out his own orders.

A group of ten uniformed ghoul soldiers
surrounded me. My not-so-human shields. I hoped they would be strong enough to
hold off the bastards if they decided to storm us.

After striding through the nave to the
altar, the prince wheeled about to address the group.

“My loyal subjects,” he intoned. “On this
anniversary of my ascension to the throne, I come here to tell you your monarch
sees your misery. What is more, I come to offer hope. In the coming days the
Empire will commence exploration of a new world with new opportunities for food
production. Thus, your days of hunger are coming to an end.”

His words were met with wild applause.
Once the clapping and hooting had faded, the prince continued. “Nevertheless, I
recognize that until the exploration I speak of can be fully realized, you are
in need.”

He waved a hand toward the guard at the entry.
The ghoul opened the door. A uniformed ogre entered leading six humans: four
men and two women. As they filed in, something struck me about their manner.
Each human walked as if in a trance, more zombies than living people.

An excited groaning commenced from the
starving vampires. The hissing and twitching I'd observed earlier with the
aristocrats came next.

“I offer you the best of our royal food
storehouses,” the prince proclaimed with a wide sweeping of his arms.

A sound rose up that was a cross between
cheering and slurping.

Lt. Colonel Bryan issued orders to the
vampires to form a line. The first vampire in line, the gaunt male I'd seen
earlier, was brought forward to a human woman. The vampire grasped her, bending
her so that her neck was exposed to him. He reared back and his fang incisors
visibly lengthened before he struck, biting at her neck. The woman gave no
reaction but instead stood placidly in his embrace with no change in her
expression.

One by one five more vampires were led to
their feast. Soon, a guard tapped the first vampire charity case. The vamp
released his victim with obvious reluctance and was replaced with the next in
line.

My eyes remained riveted as the human
soup kitchen continued. So intent was my concentration that I failed to notice
the Prince Leopold's approach.

Would these humans become vampires too?
Or ghouls?

I must have spoken aloud because the
prince answered my question. “The livestock transformed?” The prince's eyebrows
arched in surprise. “Of course not. A blood exchange from the parent is
required to create a new vampire.” He waved a hand dismissively. “And a ghoul
is created by an entirely different process.”

“Why don't the humans fight, protest,
react...something?”

“Because they feel nothing,” he informed
me. “They are in stasis. Gethin has devised the most humane food production and
distribution processes possible.”

“Humane?”

“Of course. Have I not said they feel
nothing? They know no fear, no pain.”

Now I knew how the cattle at the
slaughterhouse felt. Oh God get me out of here and I'll be a strict vegetarian
from now on, I promised silently.

“Where did they come from?”

“We've instituted a state-of-the-art
feedlot system,” the prince said, puffing out his chest with pride. “The only
downside is that due to the lack of supply, such a system makes the resulting
product very expensive.”

One-by-one the orphan vampires continued
to feed. The sounds of the sucking almost made me retch.

“Well, have you had time to decide whether
to accept my offer?” the prince asked after a few moments. “My offer regarding
your return home?”

I tried to produce a smile but it came
out as more of a grimace. “I would like to think over what you’ve said and talk
to Rom.”

“Consider further if you will.” The
prince's eyes blazed as he met mine “But do not take too long. Remember, if you
do not provide a solution to our hunger problems through the portal, you and
your friends can always join the food line.”

He waved a hand at the line of vampires each
waiting their turn at a human meal and I knew he meant we'd be the food.

* * * * *

I returned to my guestroom in the palace
to find Rom there pacing along with Billy. They’d both changed their clothes.

“I hope this is good, Taylor.” Billy gave
a nasty sneer.

Rom grabbed him by the throat. “I tire of
you,” he growled.

“Stop it, both of you,” I shouted,
retrieving my own clothes out of the wardrobe. “We don’t have time for this
macho bull.” Ducking behind the screen in the corner, I began to change. “Gethin,
the wizard, offered to help us escape.”

“What does he seek in return?” Rom asked.

“He wants a one-way ticket out of Dorcha
through our portal. What else?” After slipping on the jeans I tugged on the
t-shirt.

“Give it to him,” Billy said. “Anything to
get out of this nightmare.”

“I’ve already told him it’s a go.” I
pulled on my jacket and walked back into the room. “We meet him in the
stables.” I glanced at the watch. “In about ten minutes.”

And a good thing too. Only four hours,
forty-eight minutes, sixteen seconds until there wouldn’t be a one-way ticket
out of Dorcha for anyone.

Sitting on the bed, I pulled on my
sneakers and quickly tied them as Billy cracked the door open and peeked out.
He motioned to us to come. Rom and I followed him out. At the end of the hall
we made a turn toward a back staircase and came face-to-face with a uniformed
ghoul. The ghoul made no move to question us. After a moment of hesitation, we
continued down.

As we proceeded through halls and the
kitchen we passed numerous ghouls, orgres and sundry creatures I couldn’t
identify. None of them stopped or questioned us. While I felt grateful to be
unimpeded in getting to the stables, the ease of our movements also concerned
me. I hoped it meant the prince was so confident in his perimeter security he
didn’t care what we did in the palace.

The stables, called the royal mews,
consisted of an enormous structure with beautiful wood arches over the stalls
and at intervals down the center aisle. After entry, we passed two royal carriages
but no horses until we reached the fifth stall. There a chestnut peered back at
us with big brown eyes.

“Awww sweet.” Automatically, I reached
out a hand.

“Do not touch him,” Gethin ordered,
striding toward us from the end of the mews. “That horse bites. It’s vampiric.”

Snatching back my hand I moved quickly
away from the cute blood sucking horsey. I’d never look at my childhood Black
Beauty stuffed toy the same way ever again.

“They are all vampires.” Gethin made a
sweeping motion with his arm, indicating the other stalls and I noted that
about half of them enclosed horses.

“Where’s Juliette?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Billy added. “Where?”

“This way.” Gethin waved us back towards
the stall he’d just come from. Inside, was the cart with Juliette’s cube still
atop it.

“I thought you were going to break the
spell and get her out of there.”

“When we reach the portal,” Gethin
replied.

“Well, let’s go,” Billy said.

“What about my message?” I asked.

“Over here.” Gethin led me to a horse
water trough.

“That trough?”

“Of course. Look into it.” Gethin walked
away and left me with the trough.

I gazed down into the water and saw
nothing. It occurred to me that you could lead a Kizzy to water but could you
make her...

“Miss Taylor,” a voice spoke out of the
horse trough. I saw the image of Sergeant Amy appear in the water.

“Where is General Thatcher?” I asked. “I
wanted to speak to her.”

“Well,” Amy huffed. “You might understand
that I’m not particularly in favor of that.”

“So she doesn’t know about you selling us
to Prince Leopold.”

“What do you want?” Amy demanded.

“To give the Resistance some intel.” I
glanced over my shoulder. Gethin was still with Rom and the others around
Juliette’s cart. “We—”

“My, my. What have we here?” The prince’s
voice boomed from the entrance to the mews.

Sneaking out of the stall I inched toward
Rom.

Prince Leopold strolled towards us. “It
looks suspiciously like my previously loyal subject, Gethin, is committing
treason.”

“I hope I’m wrong,” the prince said.

Just behind him, the majordomo hovered,
writing furious notes as if keeping track of everything. More threatening were
the dozen or so armed ghoul guards at the prince’s back.

“No treason, Highness.” Gethin scurried
to his sovereign. “I caught your guests attempting to tamper with the
suspension chamber.”

“Do not dare lie to me,” the prince
roared and then fell silent for a few seconds as he visibly calmed himself.
“Deception will result in your immediate execution,” he continued in a more
subdued tone. “Even with an immortal such as you, there are ways of
extinguishing a life force.”

The wizard began to visibly tremble.

“Admit your crime, Gethin, and you may
still save yourself.”

The wizard seemed to consider this but
still did not speak.

“Gethin.” The prince crossed to him and
placed a hand on his shoulder. “Are you not my friend as well as my subject?”
The prince asked gently. “You know how I count upon your services. Merely admit
what you have done and all will be well.”

“I admit I was tempted, your Highness.” The
wizard’s head fell and when he spoke it was a mere whisper. “The glorious
opportunities in the new world were too much for me.” Gethin glared back at me.
“She tempted me with her promises and allurements.”

Me allurementing someone? Didn’t sound at
all like me.

“Good.” Prince Leopold slapped the wizard
on the shoulder. “I am pleased.” The prince turned to his guard. “Take him.”

“Highness,” Gethin screamed as two of the
ghouls seized him. “You said—”

“Oh, I promised all would be well and it
will be,” the prince replied. “You will not be executed. Have no fear of that.
My continued need of your services is too great at this time.”

The prince snapped his fingers and
pointed to the middle of the aisle. Two of the ghouls pulled the struggling
Gethin to the spot and laid him out.

“Besides,” the prince said. “I have a
more appropriate punishment in mind.”

Four more ghouls stepped forward and
roped Gethin’s arms and legs to each of four bottom stall rails so that he was
splayed out as he fought against the bindings.

Prince Leopold held out a hand and the
ghoul I recognized as Stephan handed him a sword.

Sidling closer to Rom, I put my hand into
his. After I squeezed he squeezed back. Hiding my face in Rom shoulder blocked
out the scene before me.

“Kizzy Taylor,” the prince bellowed. “I
order you to watch what you have caused.”

Not wanting to be next on the literal
chopping block, I turned my head and opened my eyes.

Prince Leopold raised the sword and
slowly approached Gethin. The eyes of the ghoul soldiers gleamed with
excitement as they looked on. Eugene continued to scribble at his notepad.

“Please, my prince,” Gethin screamed.
“Forgive me.”

“I will,” the prince said, continuing
towards him. “You will have my complete forgiveness after this.”

When the prince reached Gethin, he swung
the sword upward. He struck down with force on the left leg severing it in one
chop. The blade rose again and then fell in an arc. The swinging motion
repeated and then repeated again as Prince Leopold hacked mercilessly at the
wizard’s right leg until it finally came off.