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“Of course,” Raúl says, his voice warm and reassuring. He sits down on the edge of the bed and takes my hand in his. “I will for as long as you need me to.”
We sit in silence for a few moments, and I feel the tension in my body start to ease. Raúl’s presence is comforting, and I am grateful for it. Finally, I speak up.
“Raúl, can I ask you something?”
“Anything.”
“Why did you choose to become a vampire?”
He looks at me for a long moment before answering. “It wasn’t exactly my choice.”
“It wasn’t?” I ask.
He rubs his thumb across my wrist, a faraway look in his eye. “No. After the queens died, it wasn’t just the human world thrown into chaos. Vampires, without a leader, are an unruly and violent lot. Before, we had precedence to turn a human into a vampire. A ritual, if you will. After? It was chaos. Vampires decided to turn anyone, anywhere, into a vampire.”
Raúl grimaces. “According to my mother, it was a dark time. No one knew who to trust. Hunters formed to find and kill our kind, and in response, we made more.”
“What about you?”
He swallows, gripping my hand. I sit up and wrap my arms around his shoulders until he can continue. “It was during this time Mother was bitten. One day, we were visiting her mother, my grandmother. She made us come over to help her, or she said she’d injure the nursemaid, the one who raised Mother. I was young, restless. I wanted to go to make Grandmother stop her antics. Unfortunately, she had other plans.”
He swallows again, and I tightened my grip. “She had invited a gentleman over, one who claimed to have a potion to make her young forever. She invited him in, and it was over from that second on. It was a bloodbath. We got the nursemaid out, but the rest of the household was slaughtered. Mother, Father, and I survived, changed forever. Unfortunately, so did Grandfather and Grandmother.”
“Is your grandma still around?”
He grins, shaking his head. “Thankfully, no. But Grandfather Julian is. He gathered vampires under him, either with bribery or threats, and formed a kingship.” Raúl grimaces. “He did not age well. He betrayed us twice, once to the rebels, once to the werewolves. To this day, no one knows why. He’s disappeared, too. Sometimes, I worry… “
With a shake of his head, he stops talking. He doesn’t continue his thought. Out loud, at least.
He is usually so carefree, and seeing how serious he is about his history touches my heart. I gently squeeze his hand. “Thank you for sharing. I believe the vampires are lucky to have you.”
He laughs heartily, his eyes crinkling at the sides. “Sometimes they believe it, too.” He leans forward and kisses me, slow and sweet. Delicious tingles run up my arm as he runs a hand down it. He blows out a breath and sits back. “Until tonight.”
Raúl tugs the curtains tight and leaves the room, giving me one last glance before shutting the door. I can’t help but smile, and it stays on my face as I fall asleep.
For the following week, I continue to stay at the vampire castle. Time slides together, and days disappear into night as I lose track of when I am. Raúl and I work nightly, until the moment arrives where I can step outside of the castle and walk all the way to the forest without anyone by my side. I spend a lot of time in the library, catching up on the news of the world and reading books Mother would never allow in the tower. It is very enlightening, to say the least.
After countless times trying the mirror with Raúl by my side, I give up and place it in a sealed box until we can put it back in my tower. I can glean no more information about that woman I saw or my past, and I grow more frustrated with the damn thing. It’s safer in the box where I can’t smash the glass again when it refuses to answer.
Raúl works hard to quell the vampire rebellion, with enemies trying to infiltrate the castle every day. I wish there is something I can do to help, but I don’t know the vampires well enough to tell who is enemy and who is friend.
One night, we are sitting quietly in the library. I am studying a reference book on magic while Raúl methodically works through reports and memos.
The doors crash open and Henry runs inside. “Sir, I have urgent news.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
I sit up immediately, the book dropping onto my lap in surprise.
“Yes?” says Raúl, his voice calm and collected. Far from what I expect.
“The scouts have spotted the witch. She is within two day’s journey.”
My heart drops into my stomach and I whip my head to stare at Raúl. “What does he mean?”
“Thank you, Henry. Please keep monitoring her.”
He leaves the room and I continue to stare at Raúl. “You’ve been watching her?”
