Page 11 of The Prince's Curse

The other woman smiled faintly. “Do you need anything?”

“No, thanks,” she said, turning back to pull back Mina’s blankets. She fought to quell her anxiety as she tucked a light blanket up to her aunt’s waist.

“Dear, I’m fine,” her aunt said.

A distinct smell wafted into the room, and Scarlett instinctively whirled, placing herself between her frail aunt and the door. A dark-haired woman stood in the doorway, and Scarlett realized two things quickly.

She did not recognize this woman, and she was a vampire.

Had the witch sent her minion to finish the job? She didn’t hesitate, just went for the nightstand drawer and grabbed the sharp stake there before launching herself at the stranger.

The vampire snarled at her and dodged neatly, but Scarlett danced around her and slashed the stakes across her face. The woman hissed in pain, pressing her fingers to the deep cut.

“Erbarmen!” a woman’s voice rang out.

The vampire woman’s eyes went nearly black, and her limbs froze, as if she’d turned to a statue. Tumbling into her, Scarlett plunged the stake into her throat. The woman didn’t protest even as sharp-smelling blood gushed from the wound.

“Scarlett, get off her,” Lux snapped.

Heart pounding, Scarlett looked up to see the blonde witch holding up her hand. Threads of dark magic slithered around her fingers, reminding her of worms in decaying dirt. The smell of her magic was thick and unpleasant. “She was coming to hurt Armina,” Scarlett said, holding the stake firmly. With a little twist of her wrist, she felt it grinding against the wood floor.

“She was coming to patrol the halls under my command,” Lux replied. “Get off her.”

“It’s all right,” Mina’s dry, strained voice called. She looked up and saw her aunt nodding. “I appreciate your concern, my sweet girl. Your instincts are very good. But Lux has a tight hold on her.”

Scarlett eased off the vampire woman, who still lay flat on her back, making no move to pull out the stake. But her oil-black eyes followed Scarlett, then drifted up to Lux. The faintest strain pulled at her brows.

As she crouched there on the floor, she realized that the woman didn’t smell like just any vampire. She smelled like Carrigan Shea, as if his blood ran in her veins.Was she one of his followers?

“You can get up, Paige,” Lux said. “Finish patrolling the halls and meet Adrian outside to sweep the perimeter.”

The dark-haired woman rose, brushed her fingers over her torn throat, then bowed slightly before walking away. Lux stepped into Mina’s room and went to her side.

Like Kova, Lux had been around for as long as Scarlett could remember. Unlike Kova, she had never liked the blonde woman. Lux had a bright smile, but it was devoid of kindness or warmth. It was as if someone had painstakingly trained her on which muscles to move, how to tilt her head, but the effort was purely mechanical. For years, Lux had tried to get Scarlett to call her Auntie Lucy—her real name—until she went off to boarding school. Then she’d given up the attempt at familial affection, which was a relief.

Regardless of their shared loyalty to Tante Mina, she did not like watching Lux fuss over her aunt, not with the hands that pulled vampire puppet strings with such casual ease.They were supposed to be hunting vampires, not employing them. Perhaps the stress of dealing with the Auberon had Mina distracted, preventing her from putting Lux in her place and reminding her of their purpose.

“What happened?” Lux asked.

“I want to talk to Scarlett alone,” Mina said. “You go and tend to the perimeters. Make sure that nothing has been breached.”

“But I—” Lux protested.

“Was I unclear?” Mina’s voice rang sharply. “Go.”

The snappy response sent a nasty thread of satisfaction through Scarlett, though she maintained a neutral expression even as Lux threw her a nasty glare and slammed the door behind her. Scarlett turned to her aunt, who had eased up to rest in acushioned nest of pillows.

For the last few months, she had been growing more and more frail. When Scarlett dared to ask, she said that the Auberon vampires had a witch who was attacking the Shieldsmen and had realized that some of their power came from Mina. After the attack at Infinity, the vampire stronghold in Atlanta, the danger had grown far worse. We made it personal, and now she’s coming for me, Mina had said. The red marks on Mina’s skin were fading, but they left angry pink welts like jagged lightning.

“You’re a good girl, Scarlett,” she said softly, reaching out to squeeze Scarlett’s hand. “Thank you for protecting me.”

“Tante Mina, what’s going on? It was one thing to bring that man here, but now she has more vampires in the house? This is not safe. This is wrong,” she said before she could control her tongue.

“They were Shea’s people, and many of them were turned against their will. Like Kova, they want to be better.Lux is working on a way to undo their transformation, controlling them until then so they don’t hurt anyone,” Mina said.

Again with Lux’s little side projects.

“We kill vampires. Why not just get rid of them?” Scarlett asked.

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