VIOLET DAWN

Chapter 9

"Violet, come quickly child."

Violet raised her head from her pillow. Everything was dark. It took her a few unsteady breaths to remember she couldn't see. The fear nearly choked her, then Cook's voice came to her again.

"Come on child, you need to get dressed. We have to get you out of here."

She heard someone yelling in the distance. It was her mother.

Fear was a living thing.

"Did I do something wrong?"

Cook was helping her dress, but said nothing.

"Is she coming for me?"

The woman didn't respond. Instead she finished buttoning Violet's coat.

Tears spilled down her cheeks. "Where are we going?"

"We are not going anywhere lassie. But you need to get away. Far far away."

Suddenly the walls of her room fell away and she was in the forest. Running. She was falling over tree roots, cutting herself on sharp branches and stones as she ran. Behind her, her mother's voice pierced the night air.

"Come back here you rat!"

"Wake up, Violet!"

Violet woke to Sarah's concerned voice. She felt groggy, "I fell asleep?"

"Yes," Sarah agreed. "You were having that dream again."

Shaking the sleep from her head, Violet stood from the seat she had dozed in. "What time is it? I need to get ready!"

"Yes, get ready quickly." Sarah poked about the small changing room and broached a new topic. "So, what is going on between you and that gorgeous man?"  

"Nothing." Violet pulled down the dress she had worn for her visit to the Kourakins and slipped on her gypsy skirt. 

"Oh come on! You never tell me anything!" Sarah moaned, reaching out to help tighten the laces on the back of Violet's corset. "Move your hair."

Doing as she was asked, Violet pulled her long hair forward and began to braid it, "There is nothing to tell, really."

"Right," Sarah muttered as she gave a final tug on the ribbons before tying them.

"He brought me back here as a favour to Princess Angelica, there really is nothing else to say!" Violet knew Sarah was hoping to hear about some romantic interlude or a juicy affair, but that was not going to happen. Especially now that Patrick knew she was blind.

Not that he had said anything belittling, Violet admitted to herself. In fact, he had said nothing at all. Not in Angelica's house where Mikhail had made a fool of himself trying to put her at ease, nor during the ride to the circus. No, Patrick had said nothing and the ride had been ridiculously uncomfortable.

Which really was for the best since it turned out that he was a blood drinker! Violet still was not sure how she had missed the scent of blood on him during their first encounter, but this morning it had been all too apparent. The Seer had taught her much about blood drinkers, so she did not fear them. Though she knew them to be stronger and faster than humans, she knew their laws forbid them from hurting her kind unless they were threatened. And since she knew how to tell if a blood drinker was reading her mind, she wasn't worried about being caught off guard. 

Patrick was a blood drinker.

That fact should have been enough to quell her attraction to the man, but it didn't. She was still madly attracted to him, which was quite confusing. After all, she had always felt an antipathy towards blood drinkers before, simply because they were of the same race as Ismail.