Page 9 of A Sacrifice in the Smoke

“Sure,” I manage, knowing he can hear the thunder in my chest.

“Wonderful!” Henry rewards this with a dazzling smile. He reaches into his pocket and there’s a tinkling sound, like wine glasses touching. When his hand reemerges, there’s a vial in his palm. It’s much like the ones the Vampire King’s wives wear. This, too, holds blood, and it trembles within the glass as Henry shakes it in my face. “The experiment is this—what kind of an effect would vampire blood have on a Lavender? Perhaps your own vampiric blood will negate the results… or perhaps something interesting will happen. Let’s see, shall we?”

“Why do you have that?” I ask without thinking.

Henry acts as though I haven’t spoken, and he pops the lid off with the ball of his thumb. I stare at the vial, my thoughts racing toward a singular, inevitable conclusion. Henry would have no use for vampire venom, since only females wear the vials, and he can’t get high off it himself. And judging from the sounds in his pocket, he’s carrying more than one.

Stupidly, I hear myself whisper, “You’re the traitor. You’re the one putting vampire venom on the streets.”

I have Henry’s attention now. “Well, I’m not personally putting it on the streets—I have slaves for that. But now, I’m afraid, I truly do have to kill you.”

“Butwhy?” I whisper, fear making it harder to speak. “You don’t need the money.”

Henry sighs. “I’ll tell you for two reasons. One, because this party is a bore, and I have nothing else to do. Two, because youaremy sister, so I feel as though I owe you something before I end your life. My reason is simple, really—I want the throne. Now. I’m tired of our father’s rules and restraints. I loathe his vision of ‘utopia’. We are vampire, Charlotte. We may as well be gods. Which means I should be able to kill who I want, when I want, in whatever way I want.

“Reports had begun trickling in, months ago, about weepers killing our citizens. I knew it was only a matter of time before they got angry. And how better to stoke the flames? Add a little gasoline to the fire? Speed the process along?”

I swallow and whisper, “Venom.”

Less than a second after I speak, Henry’s hand moves faster than even I can track, and within the same breath, he jams one of his vials into my mouth. I feel the glass hit my teeth and feel an instant of jarring pain, then the blood is pouring down my throat. I smack the vial away, sending it clinking across the tiles, but it’s too late.

Henry watches expressionlessly as I wobble on my feet and try to run, except the world is changing and my legs stop working correctly. The edges and outlines around me—leaves, hedges, walls—are now blurs. The sky becomes the ground. I start to crawl, gasping, and I’m dimly aware of Henry’s voice floating past. Squinting, I turn around and find the blur that should be his face. As I go still, the words pouring from his mouth start to have meaning again. “Don’t die. I haven’t killed you yet!” he calls.

The stars are everywhere. Euphoria creeps through my mind like a slant of moonlight. I struggle against it, knowing there’s a reason to be afraid, to feel urgency.

I’m reminded of it a moment later, when Henry’s fingers tangle in my hair. I dig my heels into the ground, but I’m too weak to kick or scream. The euphoria is already gone, replaced by a blinding terror. He drags me even farther down the path, away from the mansion, out of everyone’s sight. Within seconds, hedges appear on either side. Panic grips my throat.Why can’t I speak? Why can’t I fight back?

Suddenly, the smell of chlorine assails my senses.The pool house. I hear water, then, a sound I normally find soothing. At the edge of the pool, Henry finally releases me. “What—” I start, but my tongue fumbles around the word.

With efficient movements, Henry finds the zipper at the back of my dress with his other hand and pulls it down. Baring skin, I realize faintly. Readying me for pain.But I’m your sister,I try to say, still trying to drag myself away. Nothing comes out. As the Crown Prince rests his knees on either side of me and works to tug the dress completely off, I pat the tiles, hoping to find something to use as a weapon. Henry grabs my arm and slams it down so hard that I cry out. Using my other arm, I bring my fist up and smash it against the side of Henry’s skull. With a guttural, enraged shout, he throws me against the brick wall.

A second after I hit the ground, and a kaleidoscope of pain goes swirling through me, a new voice speaks before Henry can. “Kindly take your hands off my slave, Your Highness.”

As one, Henry and I turn our heads. Noah stands in the doorway of the pool house. His mask is still firmly in place, but his mouth is uncovered, making it easy to see his needle-sharp fangs gleaming in the firelight. My relief is so overwhelming that I nearly sob.

When I look up at Henry, expecting him to move, I see a vein in his forehead throbbing. He’s a child who’s been interrupted during playtime. “Who are you?” the Crown Prince asks through his teeth, his own fangs bared. He doesn’t get off me.

Noah looks pointedly at Henry’s hands. “As I said, I am Charlotte’s owner. Which means you are damaging my property.”

Henry finally straightens. His suffocating weight disappears and air whooshes back to my lungs. Biting back another sob, I fix my dress and stand on shaky legs. The venom hasn’t finished its journey through my system yet, apparently.

“...happily reimburse you,” Henry is saying, tugging at his shirt cuffs. “How much would you like for her? You couldn’t have paid much.”

Noah chuckles darkly. “By the blood, if you’re the future of New Ve, we are absolutely screwed.”

Henry doesn’t have a chance to respond—there’s a short beat of silence, and then the bombs hit.

Chapter Three

Dust. That’s the detail standing out in my mind as I regain awareness. It floats in the air and settles all around where I’m laying. It coats my hands, my stomach, my legs. I don’t have enough strength to brush it off or wipe it away. I can’t do anything but cling to life and wait for the healing to start. There are sounds all around me, too. Moans. Sobbing. Footsteps.

As I lay there, staring up at the stars, I feel distant from reality. My mind wanders.What the hell happened? Why am I here?

Bits and pieces gradually float back, like feathers on the air. We were here for the masquerade, Noah and I, to find out who’s been dealing vampire venom. I’d stepped outside—no, Noah forced me out, I correct silently. Then… Henry.

By the blood, he tried to kill me when I found outhewas the traitor. The Crown Prince. The Vampire King’s own heir. If the public finds out, Alexander will be humiliated. Furious. Even more deadly. I need to tell him about Henrynow, not only to save my own life, but everyone else’s.

Slow down, Charlie. Keep going back. You still haven’t remembered the rest,a calm voice in my head instructs.

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