*Ainslee*
I stir at the sound of a voice I feel I should recognize but can’t quite place. I blink a few times, confusion washing over me. If my eyes are open, why can’t I see?
It all comes back to me as John says my name again. “Ainslee?”
It’s not as much a whisper this time, and once again, the sound of his voice sounds familiar. It’s then I realize he’s not just right next to me anymore. At some point, I have shifted over into his area of the floor, and my head rests on his shoulder. It’s a bit harder than I would’ve expected, and I am embarrassed as I scoot away. “Sorry,” I mumble, hoping he doesn’t mind. But then reality comes back to me, and I realize I have more important things to worry about than whether or not I have offended the man stuck in the floor of a creepy, rundown temple with me. “Did they blow the all clear?” I don’t remember hearing the sound of the trumpets Kris had mentioned the night before, and I think I would’ve heard it even when I was asleep, but maybe not.
“No, but it’s morning.” It’s a half-whisper this time.
“How do you know?” I want to stretch but can’t. The space is too small. My back hurts.
If it’s morning, then we’re free. We won. We can go home. I can’t accept that could be the case.
“Ainslee, I just know.”
Recognition sets in. I do know his voice. Confused, I stare into the dark as he turns his head and looks at me. Blue eyes gleam in the darkness. “What the fu—”
Footsteps echo overhead, and before I can even finish the statement, the floorboard is removed. In fact, an entire section of flooring is ripped away, and I look up into Zeke’s face. He’s not smiling at me, though. He has a sympathetic frown on his face as he slowly shakes his head.
Beside me, Rafe, climbs out of the giant whole quickly, like he’s not even stiff from lying here for hours. I start to get out, too, but my muscles are tight, and I am filled with more emotions than I can easily label as I turn to look from the vampire prince to his lieutenant.
It’s Zeke who reaches down to help me, of course. He takes hold of me and sets me on my feet before releasing me and promptly walking away. I stare at Prince Rafe, not sure where to begin.
“Why didn’t you tell me, John?” I ask.
He clears his throat. “Technically, I told you you could call me John, not that that’s my name.”
I can only shake my head. “You made up some bullshit town? Clawriver?”
“Also real. Listen, Ainslee, I know you’re angry. I don’t blame you, but I did this—we did this—for your own good.”
“Save it!” I shout at him as a new realization sets in. Moments ago, when “John” told me it was morning, I’d dared to let the idea that I might be free soon fill the outskirts of my mind. But now I know better. I was captured by a vampire hours ago—I just had no idea I was lying in the dark with the deadliest predator of them all.
Holding his hand.
With my head on his shoulder, nonetheless.
“Ah, fuck me!” I exclaim, turning away from him. I walk around the hole, noting Kris did, indeed, destroy the altar the night before, and head for the door of the church where I’m sure my friends are all being rounded up and taken into custody. Because of me.
“Ainslee.” He sounds a bit angrier this time, or maybe irritated. Like maybe he shouldn’t have to answer to me, which I suppose he shouldn’t. “I did it for your own good.”
He says that again, and I round on him. “What the fuck ever. For my own good? I know the truth, asshole. You brought me here because I yelled at you in front of the bakery. This is all your elaborate way of getting back at me. Some sort of ridiculous game of cat and mouse. Well, congratulations--you win.” I stare at him, watching his forehead crease. I don’t even want to hear what he has to say. I’m outside now, looking for the guards who will take me away.
“Ainslee!” Nelson comes running toward me, looking like hell, but it’s nice to see him. Behind him, I see the others, including Travis and Lucia. He wraps his arms around me and pulls me to his chest. “We did it.”
Tears slip from my cheeks. “No, we didn’t,” I tell him. In the distance, a trumpet sounds, confusing me more. I don’t know how Nelson got out of the crypt, and I don’t know how he knew it was officially daylight and the game was over, but he is hugging me, and I dissolve into him. He’s going to be so disappointed when I tell him the truth. Rafe is going to take us all to the castle and hook us up to machines to drain our blood until we die.
“What are you talking about? It’s morning. We didn’t get captured. We win.” Nelson still sounds chipper. I am about to burst his bubble.
“Congratulations.” When I look up, Rafe is patting him on the back. “Well done, Nelson.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.” Nelson releases me to shake Rafe’s hand, and I realize he’s just noticed the prince standing there.
But once again, I am confused. It is a constant state for me. “Wait,” I say. “You’re letting him go home?”
“Yes, of course. I’m letting everyone who wasn’t captured during the night go home.”
Nelson runs a hand through his dark hair, and a leaf falls out. He doesn’t notice. He looks from Rafe to me and then back again. “Pardon me, sir, but… isn’t Ainslee going home, too?”
Rafe sucks in air he doesn’t really need in order to survive and blows it out slowly. “I’m afraid not.”
Nelson’s confusion is as thick as mine was a little while ago. “But she was in the chapel all night. We were talking to each other through the mind-link. Except the last couple of hours. Wait.” He turns to look at me.
I say nothing. Rafe can explain this. He’s the one who’s made this decision. A single tear threatens to fall down my cheek. I leave it be, and it slips down, likely making a trail through the dirt on my face. We are all dirty. Except for the prince. Somehow, he appears to be clean.
Bastard.
“It seems Ms. Bleiz was actually captured a few hours ago.”
Nelson’s face puckers. “Wh-what? No, that’s not… But how?” He’s trying really hard not to offend the prince, and I’m glad because at this point, I don’t give a shit what comes out of my mouth when it comes to His Royal Pain in the Ass. If Nelson wasn’t doing the talking, I’d probably end up dead right here in the forest.
From out of nowhere, Zeke is there again, pulling Nelson aside with an arm wrapped around my new friend’s shoulders. I don’t know what they’re talking about, but Kris is flying in from the other direction, angry as hellfire, and he’s headed right at us.
But it’s not me he directs his outburst toward. “Sir, may I speak to you for a moment.”
Rafe sighs again and then signals for a guard to come over as he steps aside with Kris. He probably doesn’t want me to run away. The guard doesn’t touch me, so I slowly take a few steps toward the others.
Travis shakes his head. “We thought… we were all good, Ainslee.”
“I know.” More tears spill down my check, and I launch myself at him. He pulls me in close, and the others wrap me up as well. “Take care. Please tell my mom I’m so sorry.”
“We’ll look after her for you,” one of the others says to me.
“Kevin got out, too,” Travis mentions. “Ran like a son of a bitch and cleared the trees.”
I laugh through my tears. “Good.”
“How?” It’s Lucia’s voice I hear now, and the others let go of me so I can turn to my new friend from Moonfalls. “How did they catch you?”
I open my mouth and try to form a sentence that is completely honest, but I can’t quite do it. I feel so incredibly stupid for spending hours in the church with the prince, holding his hand, my head on his shoulder. I didn’t even know.
I settle on, “The prince came into the church. He found me.”
“When? You didn’t say anything.” Travis is in disbelief.
“I know. I didn’t want him to know anyone else was around.” It’s all a lie, but they seem to accept it. Lucia pulls me back in for a hug, and then Nelson comes over, Zeke a few feet away, his hands on his hips as he stares at the ground.
“Ainslee, you are one of the bravest, strongest people I’ve ever met. Take care of yourself. We’ll see you really soon.” Nelson pulls me back against him, and I wrap my arms around him.
In my mind, I ask him, “What did Zeke tell you?”
“Change is coming, girl. That’s what he told me. Believe in it. Be it. Don’t forget who you are.” When he lets me go, I see that he’s about to cry, so I don’t ask him to explain more because Nelson is one tough dude, and he won’t like it if I make him cry in front of Travis and the others.
“You saved my life Ainslee Bleiz,” Lucia says.
“I didn’t—”
“You did.” She reaches for my hands, and I give them to her. “I will never forget what you did for me, and neither will my father or my pack.”
She’s used a word we don’t say any more, but no one corrects her. Pack. We used to be packs. This is my pack.
Zeke clears his throat behind me. “We should be headed to the castle, Miss Ainslee.”
“Right.” I’m probably holding up the transport vehicles. Other people are likely tired and just want to get on with it. “Take care.”
“You, too.” Nelson and the others wave goodbye, but then he does something I have never seen anyone do in real life. I’ve only ever read about it in old books. He raises his right hand and taps his left shoulder twice. The others follow form, even Lucia. The sign of respect.
“Okay. We need to go.” Zeke doesn’t like it, but he doesn’t say anything to them. He takes me by the hand and spins me around. I try to turn my head to see what they’re doing, but he’s walking so fast, it’s all a blur. “They’re fine. Those other guards will make sure they get home safely. All of them. You can be sure of that.”
I think back to the deception I’d fallen for the night before and realize I can’t be sure of anything. Hazarding another glance around, I try to find my captor, but I don’t see him anywhere.
That’s for the best. If I’m lucky, I’ll never see Prince Rafe Poe again.