My dad insisted I sleep some before I try anything foolish, like getting incinerated by the sun. We pulled the thick curtains shut, covering the dirty window panes, but the only place in the hotel room not at risk of feeling the sun’s rays was the bathroom. I shoved a towel under the door to block anything that might want to sneak into the small area, threw a blanket in the tub, and crawled in. It might not be the most comfortable bed in the place, but after seeing what was in the main room, I was willing to bet it was close.
Another wave of fatigue hit me, and it didn’t take me long to get pulled under into the darkness. As exhausted as I was, I expected to pass out, dead to the world. I was wrong. When the vision first came to me, I thought it was another dream like the others I’d been having lately. Excitement filled me as I waited for the boy with the thick dark hair and somber green eyes to appear. I wasn’t sure what I would say after the way I’d left so abruptly last time, but I wanted to see him again. To talk to him. Find out his name. Maybe, somehow, to try to explain myself.
I waited, but he never came. Instead, I found myself watching as a teenage girl made her way through a forest of trees, gripping a knife tightly in her right hand. Her left held a wooden stake. Long, dark hair fell over her shoulders. Brown eyes the color of chocolate wide in her pale face, and a spattering of light-colored freckles on her cheeks and nose. I could tell she was shaking in fear, but there was a grim look of determination on her face. The sun shone overhead, and I winced at its brightness. Everything seemed so vivid. So real.
As I watched, she followed a trail that led her further into the forest, her gaze skating around her constantly. She seemed to go a long way, before she came upon the small opening of a cave, barely visible with tall bushes covering the entrance. It felt as if I was in the middle of a horror movie as I imagined what was waiting for her if she made the choice to continue on the path she was walking.
The girl bit her lip, looked behind her, then ducked inside the cave. I tried to tell her to stop, to wait for help, somehow knowing what lay beyond in those cavern walls was not something she wanted to face alone, but she couldn’t hear me.
She had a wooden stake. She had to know vampires existed. Why else would she have it? I hesitated, looking around for answers, ones I knew I wasn’t going to find unless I slipped inside that cave behind her. But what could be so important that she was willing to risk her life against a vampire? Was she a huntress? A slayer? I wasn’t getting that vibe from her, but maybe I was wrong.
I followed her. I had to. I needed to know what was going on.
It was strange… as if I were floating inside the cave as we went deeper and deeper into it. I could feel the terror wafting off her now, but she just kept going.
I heard the small whimpers right before the large cage came into view. Two little boys sat huddled in the corner of it, holding onto each other tightly. The girl stopped, then rushed forward to push herself up against the wall of the cavern, trying to hide from what was inside the room with that cage. She couldn’t. There was no way to hide from a vampire when you were that close to one. They could sense you, smell you. He probably knew she was coming the minute she stepped into his domain.
I yelled for her to run, but it was too late. I saw her eyes widen in shock when the man appeared before her. She had probably mistakenly thought vampires couldn’t rise during the day, the way they were portrayed in some of the movies. The movies were wrong about so many things. I was a vampire, and I loved garlic. Wooden crosses didn’t bother me at all. We actually had one hanging in our living room. I believed in a higher power, had even read the Bible with my mother when I was younger. Some of the movies made it seem like vampires had to stay in their coffins during the day. That their bodies were leaden down and they couldn’t move. Not true. When I slept, it was in a bed, but I was awake during the day a lot, spending time with my family. I just had to stay in the house out of the sun.
When the vampire smiled widely, showing his fangs, the girl gritted her teeth and shoved the stake forward into his chest, missing his heart by several inches. He laughed, and then his eyes turned a dark red and he took a step toward her.
I woke up screaming, struggling against the hands that held me. I had to get to her, needed to help her. I couldn’t let the vampire put her in that cage. I couldn’t let him kill her.
“Bellame! Bellame, stop! It’s me!”
“Let me go! I have to help her! He’s going to kill her!”
“Bel, open your eyes. Look at me.”
The calm words got to me like nothing else could and I froze, breathing heavily. My lashes fluttered open, and suddenly I was staring into blue eyes slightly darker than their normal pale hue. “Trey?”
“I’m right here.”
“We have to save her, Trey. Please, we need to go now.”
“Save who?” he asked in confusion.
“I… I don’t know,” I admitted. “She was hunting a vampire.” Clutching his arm tightly, I whispered, “She found him.”
“It was just a dream, Bellame,” he assured me, placing his forehead against mine. “Deep breaths, cuz. It’s going to be okay.”
Squeezing my eyes shut, unable to block out the visions running through my head, I rasped, “That’s just it, Trey. I don’t think it was a dream. It felt real. Powerful. I think it’s really happening, right now, and I think she’s close.”
“You could be right.”
Inhaling deeply, trying to get a grip on the emotions that were thundering through me, I leaned back from Trey and looked over at my dad who now stood in the doorway wiping sleep from his eyes.
“What?”
“I didn’t say anything this morning, but I had a talk with the manager when we checked in. He said there have been a lot of mysterious things going on in town lately.” Crossing his arms over his chest, Dad leaned up against the doorjamb. “He suggested we leave before nightfall hits.”
“It’s got to be vamps.”
“I agree. He didn’t actually say that, but he may not fully know what they are dealing with here.”
“He knows,” I whispered, remembering the wooden stake in the girl’s trembling hand. “They all know. They have to. But I don’t understand. Why would he stay? Why would any of them stay?”
“I asked him the same question. He said this is his town. He grew up here, has lived here all his life, and he isn’t going anywhere. I would assume a lot of the people feel the same thing, while others have no way out. Nowhere to go.”
“Dad. You know we can’t just leave.”
Trey rose, holding out a hand to me to help me up. “She’s right.”
“I know,” Dad said quietly. “I have no intention of leaving. This is your birthright, Bellame, as Princess and as a hunter. As much as I hate it, I won’t take that from you.”
A selfish part of me wanted things to go back to the way they used to be, back to a time when I was just Bellame Rose and all I had to worry about was my schoolwork and what kind of mischief Trey and I could get into next, wished he would. That wasn’t going to happen. Too many people were depending on me now. They needed me, and I couldn’t turn my back on them.
Straightening my shoulders, I reached for my sword that was leaning up against the bathtub. Close, in case I needed it. Sliding it into the scabbard at my back, I double checked the daggers in my boots, the one strapped to my hip, and the ones on each thigh. I was as ready as I was going to be.
“Let’s go.”
“Bellame,” my dad paused, grimacing, “we can’t. You’ve only been sleeping for a couple of hours. The early morning sun is high in the sky.”
“I know,” I said softly, smiling as I held my arm up, showing him the small, muted spots of light running across it that had snuck in from behind him. They definitely weren’t coming from the dim overhead light.
“What?”
Slipping around him while he stared at me in shock, I walked over to the window and slowly slid back the curtains. The sun shone in the small room, lighting it up, chasing the dark shadows away.
“Bellame, no!”
I blinked, the brightness bothering my eyes at first, but then a smile formed as I reveled in the feel of the heat against my skin. “It doesn’t hurt,” I whispered, holding my arm out, watching the rays of sun dance across my skin. “It feels nice. Warm.”
“That is so freaking cool.”
I heard the awe in Trey’s voice, and glanced over at him, a small smile playing on my lips. “Yeah, it is.”
Shaking his head as if pulling himself from a trance, he walked over to the nightstand and picked up a large dagger, hooking it into a sheath attached to the belt at his waist. “Any idea how we find this girl?”
I froze, realizing I didn’t have a clue where the cave in the forest was. “No.” The word was torn from me, as I looked at them in horror. “What do we do now?”
“I have an idea as to who might know,” Dad said, crossing the room to retrieve his own weapons. His gaze came back to me, his eyes narrowing. “Are you sure you’re okay, Bellame? The sun isn’t hurting you?”
I turned back to the window, placing my hand on the clear glass. “No, it doesn’t hurt. It feels nice. Good, actually.” Glancing back at him, I asked, “How can that be? Just a few days ago, standing here like this would have killed me.”
“I’m not sure, but if I had to guess, I would say it has something to do with that mark on your arm.” My hand went to the tattoo as he continued, “I’m thinking you became a day walker when you were given the mark of a huntress. It’s a gift. A new ability. You might find out you have more.”
“A day walker. Like Trey suggested before.” I couldn’t believe it. I’d gone sixteen years without being able to walk out in the sun. Sixteen years of never feeling the heat of it warm my skin. And now, suddenly, I could.
“Yes.”
“Like this new dreaming thing,” I murmured, running my fingertips lightly over the dragon. I didn’t mention the boy I’d been somehow connecting with lately, but as I stood there, I began to wonder. Did this mean he could be out there somewhere? That they weren’t just dreams? My heart began to pound harder as I realized that if I found the girl, if she was a real person, then that meant he probably was too.
“Exactly.”
Shoving down my excitement at what all of this could mean for me, I yanked the curtains closed and went to the door. “You both ready?”
“Yes, but you aren’t.” When I stared at him in confusion, Dad held out my crown to me. “Bellame, you really need to get in the habit of wearing this. Those vampires need to know who they are dealing with the moment they see you. They need to understand that you are royalty, that you are in charge. The rumors will spread across the states.”
“Aldric will hear them. He’ll know we’re coming.”
“Exactly,” Dad growled, stalking over to the door. “It will upset him. Make him angry. Throw him off his game.”
“It will give him time to prepare. Wouldn’t it be smarter to sneak in? Take him by surprise?”
Dad laughed, grasping the doorknob. “You don’t know your uncle, Bellame. He is all ego, little brains. He will be livid and so focused on you and who you really are that he’ll mess up and let things go on his end. Not only that, but your people need to know that someone is out there fighting for them. It will give them hope.”
“All of my people,” I said, following him out the door. When he looked back at me raising his eyebrows in question, I told him, “I may be princess of the vampires, but like you pointed out earlier, I am also a huntress, Dad. I am here to protect not only the vampire race, but also the human race. And, right now, there is one human teenage girl who needs us, along with two little boys. We need to hurry.”
He gave a quick nod, a muscle ticking in his jaw as his eyes darkened in anger. “Agreed.”