Sleeping Beauty (25 page)

Lucette shuddered. She'd thought the stories she heard about humans converting to vampirism had been rumors. But even if she could be converted and live as a vampire, she wouldn't want to be bitten. Plus, she liked being human. Imagining drinking blood and living without sunlight—well, right now, she was living that last part.

She looked out the window again. It looked quiet for the moment, but there were guards all around just ready to be bitten. “I need to do something for those innocent people down there.”

“You can't take this all on yourself,” Alex said. “Those guards will be fine. Sure, they might not be thrilled when they wake up in the morning with a bite mark on their neck, but they'll live.”

Lucette ran a hand over her neck, chilled by the idea of even one bite. Maybe by tomorrow night, the guards would be smart enough to stay inside.

“You do have a point,” she told Alex. Running out into the night to single-handedly fight off every vampire she spotted was foolish. “Even with your help, the odds will be stacked against us.” And if she died before finding true love, the people of Xandra might be trapped by the curse forever. Who knew what might happen if she became a vampire? Xandrans referred to them as the undead.

“Lucette, I need to tell you something else.” Alex looked directly into her eyes. “I did come to help you, and I'll do my best to keep you away from danger—they're less likely to attack if I'm with you—but I won't fight other vampires. Not unless it's life or death.”

Lucette opened her mouth to protest, then stopped herself. If the situation were reversed, she might warn Alex if slayers were about to attack him, but she wouldn't fight slayers off to save him, either. His terms made sense. “So, what's your plan?” she asked.

He pulled up his hood and approached the window. “I'm not sure I have a plan.”

“Are you trying to disguise yourself ?” she asked.

“Believe me, one thing I know is that it wouldn't be good for either of us if I were recognized.”

“Friends of yours?” She nodded down to the courtyard.

He shook his head. “My face is well known in Sanguinia. I'm sure you understand what that's like, being a princess and all.”

“Oh, not that many people in Xandra recognize me. I grew up pretty sheltered.” She stopped short. “Why would other vampires recognize you so easily?”

He studied her face intently, and she could tell he was trying to decide whether or not to answer.“People recognize me for the same reason I thought they'd recognize you.” He looked down to his feet, then met her gaze.“I'm royalty, crown prince and heir to the throne of Sanguinia.”

Alex's revelation slammed into Lucette hard and strong and sucked the air out of her lungs. “You're the crown prince of Sanguinia?” The son of the evil queen who'd cursed her? She staggered back.

He bowed toward her. “At your service.”

“Your mother is queen of Sanguinia?” She knew she was repeating herself, but she didn't want to think about the implications. Her brain was having difficulty processing it all. In fact, she could barely breathe, barely form words or coherent thoughts.

“Afraid so,” he said. “But I didn't know about the curse—not until you told me. Honest.”

She barely knew Alex, yet this felt like a betrayal and like someone had struck her. She backed away, not even trying to hide her terror.

“Don't be scared,” Alex said, and raised his hands out toward her. “Just because she's my mother doesn't mean I approve of everything she does. Please believe me.”

“But she's—she's evil.”

“Your parents aren't exactly perfect.” He put his hands on his hips. “Didn't your father put you in that glass coffin?”

She would not be distracted. “Your mother
cursed
me.”

“That's nothing compared to what she did to me.” Alex approached her slowly and rested his hand gently on her arm.

She pulled back.“What did she do to you?” Warning bells rang in Lucette's mind, yet she really wanted to trust him. If she didn't have Alex, she'd have no help—and no one to talk to.

“I haven't been able to prove it,” Alex said as he ran a hand through his hair.“No one has, but ...” His eyebrows dropped, and yellow specks flashed in his eyes. “When I was just a baby, I think she murdered my father.”

By the tenth night, Lucette and Alex had settled into a routine. She'd get up and change into a slayer uniform hidden in the library, and when Alex arrived, they'd meet on the balcony above the main entry hall. The long corridor was the best place to stand guard, since her mother's bedchamber was off to the left and her father's to the right. Not that there weren't other routes that vampires could use to get to either wing, but at least from that spot, Lucette could divide her attention and listen for signs of trouble at either end. Plus, the huge windows in her father's office just behind the balcony looked down
over the inner courtyard, and from the balcony, she could see the main entry hall.

“Many Xandrans have already fled the kingdom,” Lucette told Alex, based on the information in her mother's last letter. “But how can we help keep the vampires from getting to the people who've stayed?” Her father never shared much information in his letters, but her mother often did. Besides the slayers and the most loyal of the palace staff, nearly half of the population of Xandra had left, especially those who had children. Who could blame them? “My mom says my dad is planning to set up shelters for the people who've stayed, but if everyone gathers in one place and the vampires get in, won't it be like a blood buffet?”

Alex laughed. “You're funny.”

She tried not to smile. “There's nothing funny about a gang of vampires sucking on the necks of defenseless people in their sleep.”

“I know an easy way to keep vampires away,” he said.

“Oh?” Based on her experiences, there weren't too many things that could deter vampires in spite of the old wives' tales.

Alex rubbed his chin with his fingers.“Vampires have a few secrets humans don't know.”

“What?” Lucette's hopes lifted.“Is the garlic thing true? Have we just been doing it wrong? Does the garlic have to be roasted, sautéed, finely chopped?”

“No.” Alex laughed.“Personally, I can't stand the smell of garlic, but it doesn't have any effect on vampires.”

“Then what?”

He leaned onto the railing beside her. “I do want to help you. I really do. But you have to understand that I'm sharing secrets my
people have guarded for thousands of years.”

She turned to him. “If you're sincere about wanting to maintain peace between our kingdoms, why keep secrets?”

“Don't humans have secrets from us?”

“Here's one. We don't like to have our blood sucked.”

“Ha!” He nudged her with his hip. “That's no secret.”

She waited patiently. She couldn't force Alex to tell her anything, and sensed that pushing too hard might make him clam up. He was the one who'd offered to help her, after all. And she needed help. In his letters, her father had told her he'd put out calls for assistance to the other kingdoms surrounding Xandra, but apparently there had been no volunteers. At this point, Lucette would even accept aid from the trolls.

“Roses.”

She spun toward Alex.“What?”

“That's the secret. Vampires can't be around roses, especially red ones. There's some chemical in the fragrance that sends the vast majority of our population into something like anaphylactic shock.”

“Anna-what?”

“A severe allergic reaction. Our throats close up and it's hard to breathe.”

“That must feel horrible.”

Alex shrugged. “I wouldn't know.”

“Is it fatal?” Roses had always been potentially deadly for her, too—the thorns, not the scent.

“Not always, but it really slows us down. Most vampires lose consciousness. Not breathing enough has that effect.”

Lucette buried her head in her hands, realizing she'd caused another big problem. “That's just great,” she said. “No one in Xandra has
any
roses.” She lifted her head and turned to Alex.“Vampires are feeding off defenseless people in their sleep, and it's my fault they don't have the one thing they need to protect themselves!”

“You've got a bit of a complex,” Alex said, stepping away from the railing. “Now you're taking responsibility for everyone's taste in gardening?”

She shot him a nasty look. “No one in Xandra is allowed to have roses. My father ordered every rosebush in the kingdom destroyed so I wouldn't prick my finger on a thorn.”

“Oh.” Alex made a face. “That sucks.”

She sighed. “I'll write notes to my parents. They'll send word to the surrounding kingdoms to let them know we need lots of red roses.” Not that any of her father's appeals for help had yielded anything, yet. According to her mother's notes, everyone was too afraid of retaliation from the vampire queen.

“I've never even seen a rose,” she said. “I suppose you haven't, either.”

“Oh, I've seen roses,” Alex said.

“But you said ...”

“I said ninety-nine percent of the population is allergic. I'm part of the one percent.” He shrugged.“Probably because my mother was born human.”

The vampire queen was born human? Lucette wondered what else she didn't know.

Natasha stepped out onto the balcony high above the gathered crowd as moonlight bathed her subjects. As their glowing white faces
gazed up at her, the thrill of her power and the adoration of the throng rushed through Natasha. She leaped onto the balcony's railing, and the noise from the crowd swelled.

Even though they were just a portion of her subjects, the worship emanating from the courtyard below was exhilarating. Soon she'd have all her subjects eating out of her hand. Soon they'd bow at her feet and do her every bidding. Under her rule, vampires would regain their rightful place at the top of the food chain and she, as their sovereign leader, would rule all the known kingdoms. The mere thought of domination over so many buzzed and tingled inside her. As soon as the ranks of her supporters grew, she'd command the Sanguinian armies to invade Xandra, and Stefan and his stupid little wife would pay.

She raised her arms and the crowd quieted. “People of Sanguinia, it is with a heavy heart I must report that our long-held peace with the kingdom of Xandra remains threatened.”

Murmurs swelled. With every dead vampire body found near the border at night, the lust for drinking human blood grew, along with support for her. The stupid humans meant the dead bodies as a warning, but the slayers were playing right into her hands. Soon, Natasha wouldn't even need bribes to encourage vampires to help her seek her revenge and claim the throne of Xandra, the throne that should have been hers in the first place. And she didn't plan to stop there. Once she had Xandra, she'd conquer the entire known world.

She placed a hand over her heart and addressed the crowd. “I have just learned of more vampire deaths at Xandran hands. Our citizens who innocently, accidentally, crossed the Xandran border at night have been brutally murdered by vicious killers the Xandrans call . . . vampire slayers.” She let the reaction drift through the crowd like a
building wave. “Yes, my good people. An army trained with the specific goal of murdering every last one of our race.”

Angry shouts rose from the crowd below.

“The evil King Stefan of Xandra is no longer our friend and ally.” She jumped down from the railing, turned, and beckoned her son, Prince Alexander, forward. He looked in the other direction. Natasha wondered if it were shyness, as he claimed, or if something else kept him from her side.