I showered, put on the nicer of the two pairs of jeans I owned, and allowed Tanya to style my hair. I’d never been a fan of my hair—it was brown, long, and thin. Boring. The only thing good about it was that it was easy to take care of.
Tanya did some fancy medieval braided hairstyle for me and brought me over to the mirror to see. Of course, I had no makeup on—humans in the Vale had no access to makeup—but with my hair all clean and done up, it was the prettiest I’d felt since I’d arrived.
It was the first time I felt like a human and not like a slave.
“Thank you.” I turned to Tanya, my eyes filling with tears, and gave her a hug. “Really.”
“Anytime.” She did a final adjustment to my hair, bringing the loose parts over my shoulders. “Now, are you ready to party or what?”
“I’m ready.” I smiled, surprised that it wasn’t a total lie, and followed her out the door.
I’d never seen the streets in the village so alive. People drank, chatted, and even danced in the main square. A tree had been placed in the center. People had wound what looked like rolled up bed sheets around it, and used common kitchen items as ornaments. Mainly forks, knives, and spoons, but there were a few decorated cups thrown into the mix as well.
It wasn’t much, but at least they’d worked with what we had to create some feeling of festivity.
Tanya and I found the rest of the group from the Tavern, and the moment they saw us, they pulled us into their circle and complimented me on my hair.
“It’s all Tanya’s doing,” I said with a shrug. “I just sat there and let her work her magic.”
“Well, it looks great,” one of the guys—Kyle—said, handing each of us a beer.
I refused and opted for a soda instead.
“By the way, we were just talking about Mike,” Kyle added after I’d taken my first sip.
“What about him?” I asked, instantly going on guard. Because while I didn’t want anyone to know, I was worried about Mike. Camelia had said the job he needed to do would only take a few days.
It had been over two weeks, and there was still no word from him.
She would have let me know if something had happened to him… right?
“Shouldn’t he be back by now?” Kyle asked.
“I don’t know,” I said, since Camelia had never told me the exact day he would be returned. “I guess his job in the palace is taking longer than they anticipated.”
“I wish I’d been chosen for a job in the palace,” Tanya said dreamily, gazing up at the majestic building on the mountain. “I wonder if he’ll be allowed to tell us what it’s like there?”
“Even if he isn’t, we need to force him to tell us,” one of the other girls—Valerie—chimed in.
I nodded in agreement, although I couldn’t push the worry away.
Hopefully Mike would be back soon.
“What do you all know about Camelia?” I asked, wanting to change the subject. “The witch who works for Queen Laila.”
“Nothing,” Kyle said. “Except that she upholds the boundary around the Vale.”
“And that she’s the reason why the temperatures here are bearable,” Valerie added. “We would probably all freeze to death if it wasn’t for her magic.”
“Anything else?” I asked. “Do you think she’s honest?”
As in—would she lie about what she truly needed Mike to do? Because what if she didn’t need him for a job in the palace at all? What if she took him for something else?
What if he was never coming back?
“I don’t know.” Kyle shrugged. “It’s not like she’s ever talked to any of us.”
“Yeah.” Valerie finished off her beer and started a new one. “Not even those of us who grew up here!”
I sighed and gazed up at the mountain. The palace was so close, yet so far away.
What were the vampires doing in there right now? I imagined their Christmas celebration was incredible and decadent.
“Don’t look so glum,” Tanya said to me. “I’m sure he’s fine.”
“Thanks.” I forced a smile, although I could tell she knew that it wasn’t real.
“I love this song!” She grabbed my hand, pulling me to the center of the square. “Come on—let’s dance!”
I allowed her to drag me away, because I didn’t feel like standing there and discussing Mike for any longer. The others followed, and soon enough we were all dancing in the square, singing along and cheering each other on. It reminded me of what my life had been like before.
And while I knew it wouldn’t last for long, I was determined to enjoy it.
Jacen
I stepped through the door in the palace walls, thinking about how easy it had been to compel the vampire guards to let me pass. All I’d had to do was look at them, command them to let me by, and that was it.
They’d moved to the side and allowed me to go on my way.
The palace was abuzz with preparations to celebrate Christmas Eve at midnight, so it was relatively empty outside. Using my vampire speed, I zipped down the mountain, feeling alive as the wind knocked off my hood and rushed through my hair. This wasn’t the first time I’d been outside the palace—I would never forget the first time and the massacre that had followed—but this was the first time when I wasn’t overcome by the haze of bloodlust.
Last time, the scent of blood coming from the humans in the village had consumed me.
Now, while I smelled their blood, and while I wanted it, I controlled it. And instead of only thinking about the blood, I thought about other things. Like how the mountains towered so high that this valley truly felt like a kingdom, and how the air was so crisp and clean that it took my breath away.
I took the back roads, not wanting to run into any vampires (even though I now fully trusted my ability to compel them), and finally arrived at the human village.
It was easy to tell where the vampire town ended and the human village began, and not just because the smell of their blood became infinitely stronger with each step I took. In the village, the houses were shabbier, the cobblestones on the streets were uneven and unturned, and everything in general was much more drab.
I pulled on my hood and stopped in the path, looking around. Why had I wanted to come here at all? Being here—seeing the way the human blood slaves lived—it was depressing.
But then a song started playing in the distance—a popular song I remembered from before being brought to the Vale. People hooted and hollered—it sounded like they were having fun.
I wanted to join them.
I wanted to stop being Prince Jacen, the newly turned vampire who couldn’t control his bloodlust, and become another face in the crowd.
And so, I hurried toward the music, making sure to keep a normal pace. After all, no one would believe I was a human if I burst in there running at the speed of a vampire.
As I got closer, the streets got busier. People were holding bottles of what looked like home brewed beer, and they were all headed in the same direction I was—toward the sound of music.
Then one of them bumped up against me, his neck tantalizingly close to my lips.
I imagined what it would be like to pull him into a dark corner, dig my fangs into his neck, and drink his blood dry. But he smelled like something else—alcohol—and that alone made it easier to stop my fangs from sliding out of my gums. Alcohol gave blood a bitter aftertaste—it was why when humans donated their blood once a month, they were required to refrain from drinking alcohol for twenty-four hours beforehand.
I’d once asked Laila why humans were allowed alcohol at all. Weren’t they considered slaves and forbidden from all luxuries?
She’d told me that when you ruled, it was important to not take everything away from your subjects. It was necessary to give them a bit of what they desired—alcohol, a few days off a year, books, etc. Those small allowances gave them hope.
Hope lowered the chance of rebellion.
But only a bit of it. Too much, and then there might be trouble.