Page 8 of Maddie

“I’m still full from my earlier dessert.” The prince grinned, inching closer to her. “Perhaps when you come to the palace with your next hat, you can stop by my room before you leave.” Leaning forward, he whispered, “We can put some of that madness to good use.”

Maddie tried not to hurl up her earlier snack. “Tempting, but no.”

Chess only leaned in closer, his grin growing wider. “I’m going to find your White Queen soon. Perhaps I’ll have a different,bloodier,sort of fun with her.”

Maddie’s heart lodged in her throat, and she held back taking a deep swallow. “Why should I care what you do with her?”

“You may not.” He shrugged, then straightened as if he were becoming bored. “But I do know you care about your sister.”

“If you touch her—”

“Relax.” Chess chuckled. “She isn’t my type. She’s too quiet. Probably wouldn’t even squeak when I fucked an orgasm out of her.” He glanced between her and Noah. “Well, I’m afraid I have more important matters to see to…”

With that, he sauntered away. She clenched her teeth then, so hard she thought she felt one crack.

“I hate that fucking pretentious ass,” Ferris said under his breath. Maddie hadn’t heard him approach, hadn’t known how long she’d been standing there thinking about stabbing several hatpins straight through Chess’s villainous heart.

“I feel … I feel,” Alice murmured, collapsing onto Ferris. He scooped her up just as her body convulsed, her mouth foaming.

“We have to get her into hidingnow,” Maddie rushed out. “I don’t know if feeding will even help her. Something’s wrong.”

Ferris nodded and lowered Alice to the portal, hurrying them both through.

Maddie turned to Noah and grabbed his hand, tugging him toward the hole next. “Crawl through. Quickly.”

After his form slid past the bushes, Maddie pushed the branches back and went in behind him on all fours. A warming sensation tickled her skin as she slipped into the entrance to her home. Deep brown dirt surrounded her while she crawled forward, and a slew of bright scarlet beetles and black and blue caterpillars accompanied her.

Maddie finished venturing the short distance and brought herself to stand back in Wonderland, darkness sweeping around her.

Ferris held Alice, who was now unconscious in his arms, no longer convulsing. To his side, Noah patiently waited, eyes still glazed.

With a grin, Maddie grasped Noah’s face between her hands, tilting it down so their gazes met, and she released him from her influence.

He blinked, his breathing hitched, yet his eyes stayed trained on hers as she held him in place.

She parted her lips and her fangs lowered. “I’m giving you this one opportunity to help us with your sister. She’s no longer human. As you can see, I’m not either.”

Chapter Four

Noah

Not human.

Noah heard what the young woman—Maddie—had said. He saw her teeth.Fangs. But somehow, it wasn’t processing. There was no such thing as vampires. If it wasn’t for the fact that Maddie had somehow controlled his mind to get him to—where the bloody hell were they?—then he would’ve thought the fangs were prosthetic.

But the conversations he’d overheard, a man crawling out of theground, his sister seizing… It was all real, right? And then Maddie had crawled through the very sameholein the ground, pulling him along with her, and entered another place entirely.What in the ever-loving fuck?

“We have tomove,” Ferris whispered through gritted teeth.

Noah scanned the city behind Maddie. Buildings stood two and three stories high, made from glossy red and black stone and aged wood. Red lights hung in lanterns, casting the entire street in an ominous glow. He stopped breathing when his gaze landed on a man—vampire—through one of the open windows facing them. A vampire and a woman. Moving her hair aside, he struck hard and fast, biting her neck. And she arched into him as if sheenjoyedit. Noah backpedaled from Maddie and Ferris as he looked desperately for somewhere safe to get away from this crazy shit.

No.He couldn’t leave without Alice. But she was still in the arms of a damn monster. His gaze snapped to where Ferris held Alice, and his breath left him in a whoosh. The stranger scanned the area like a predator, shifting nervously as he waited for prey. She was one ofthemnow. A vampire.An actual vampire.Did that mean she was dead? Did she need blood to live? How would he keep her safe when they returned home? Why,precisely,couldn’t they return home? And how was he going to keep her … “condition” a secret from their parents? From the world?For fuck’s sake.

“I need answers to alotof questions before I agree to anything.” Noah crossed his arms and dug his heels into the ground. “I won’t go anywhere until I have them.”

A snarl sounded and Noah whipped his head to the side. Two males seemingly appeared out of nowhere—though likely from behind one of the nearby buildings—and rolled on the ground together a few meters away, their movements a blur. Paired with how dark it was, Noah had trouble making out what was happening. He could hear just fine though—every tear of fabric, each growl.What the…?He squinted at the fighting duo and a spray of blood sailed through the air.

“Ignore them,” Maddie said, grabbing Noah’s arm just as he was about to make a run for it. “We don’t have time for questions, but you may askone.”

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