“Yes, please!” I reply immediately, glad for an excuse to get some space.
We walk off the dance floor, up the steps to the main level, and settle onto one of the couches around the perimeter. A server brings us a tray of wine.
“Thank you,” I tell them gratefully. The drink helps to calm my nerves a little bit.
“So!” Chelsie turns to look at me. “Isn’t this place great? I can’t believe welivehere now.”
“It’s pretty amazing,” I reply, truthfully.
“Have you explored the mansion yet?” she asks, taking a sip of her wine.
“Not much,” I admit. It’s already enough just settling into a new room. The idea of venturing around the mansion makes me nervous. It’s weird to even hear Chelsie say that we live here now. I definitely don’t think of it that way. It’s more like…I’m at an adult summer camp that I didn’t sign up for.
“You should go check out the rose garden,” Chelsie advises. “It’s so beautiful! I saw some people reading there, I bet you’d like it.”
I have to give Chelsie more credit. She’s accurately guessed that I’m a total bookworm. “Thanks, I’ll go take a look. And…thanks for letting me hang out with you, and offering to help with my outfits. This is all a bit out of my comfort zone.”
Chelsie reaches over and squeezes my shoulder. “Anytime, hon!”
She gives me a genuine smile, one that I can’t help returning. It’s so nice, to feel like I have a friends here. That means a lot to me.
But then her gaze wanders just over my shoulder, and her eyes widen.
I whip around, and there’s a vampire standing there, watching us like a cat watching two mice.
“Hello again, pretty one,” Sabina purrs.
The breath catches in my throat.
Unblinkingly, the vampire addresses Chelsie. “Could you gives us a moment, please?”
“Sure thing,” Chelsie says brightly, taking her wine glass and rising from the couch. “Have fun, Paige!”
I try to tell her not to go, but my throat is suddenly very, very dry and tight. Chelsie disappears back onto the dance floor, and I’m alone with one of the vampires I betrayed.
She gives me a cold, penetrating stare. “Why don’t you come with me somewhere more…private,”she says. It’s a demand, not a request.
But there’s nowayI’m going anywhere alone with her. I might be new to this world, but I’m not ancomplete idiot.
“No, thank you,” I squeak, shrinking back into the plush, velvet couch. “I’m very comfortable here, actually.”
Her eyes narrow. In a superhumanly quick motion, she sits down beside me, her thigh flush against mine, pining me to the arm of the couch. I squirm against her cold skin, goosebumps rising on my arms and legs. My hands are suddenly shaking so badly, I have to put my glass of wine on the side table. I’m afraid I might drop it otherwise, and Ireallydon’t want to cut myself again.
“If you think you’re going to be able to escape me, you’re sorely mistaken,” she whispers, her lips so close that they almost tickle my ear. “Did you really think you’d be able to get away, after revealing our plot to Crimson?”
“Please,” I reply, swallowing thickly. I try to avoid her gaze, afraid that she’ll use her magic to lull me into some kind of trance. “I don’t want any part of this…”
“Oh, but you’realreadypart of this, aren’t you?” she hisses. “You were perfectly happy to accept our generous offer, weren’t you? Did Crimson increase it, is that why you told her of our scheme?”
“No,” I respond, shaking my head fiercely. “She didn’t offer me any money. I never wanted to be part of your plan. I just want to work here and earn my wage.”
“Well, be that as it may,” Sabina replies, tilting her head to one side. She brings her mouth close to my neck, inhaling my scent with a light moan. She takes a chilly, long-nailed finger and runs it up my bare arm. A shiver wracks though me, so powerful that I’m trembling all over.
There’s that strange ache in my stomach again…but this one is all tangled up in fear.
“I’ll give you an opportunity to earn your wage, pretty one. But I may just get…carried away…and drain you completely…”
I close my eyes tightly. If I die, will they tell my brother? Will they send him my body, to bury beside my mother? How will he afford his treatment if I’m gone?
