Fangs of a Butterfly

CHAPTER 21

It first began when I was ten or so, more than ten years ago. The Elders said they had exciting news and the four of us went to the parlor room.

It was dark, and there were two others there that time, so old they were hardly audible when they spoke, and the two other vampires still alive of the Fifth Generation were kept from the meeting.

"We need a new Queen Butterfly," the monotonous voice was saying, "after the disappearance of the last one, we haven't been getting enough visitors. There's burdensome men who come, but no place to put them. No one to lure them.

"And Margery, you've become so beautiful—your small face, clear skin, dark eyes and hair, and most of all, those red lips. Men have been asking for you, because you look out the windows sometimes. Wouldn't it be better if we kept you hidden, like a treasure they'd have to pay to see, pay with their lives..."

Primrose had thrown a fit, and Sabine cried, saying how much she'd miss me, and then Cecile was silent, despite losing what position should've been hers—she had always known I'd succeed.

So I tossed up my hair and told Agnes it was wonderful news. The girls, Adalyn and Bernedette (Lark was too young then) were assigned to take care of my every needs. Mornings I woke up they were there to accommodate for my every needs, food and dresses and whatever it was.

But when the men came, the human men, I finally learned what Queen Butterfly was.

Queen, they'd call it, not in honor of the position, but to mock it.

The Queen, they say, will always have their heads...

***

I woke up with a start, dizzy and unable to even focus. I had to fumble for the small vial of Sabine's blood I had hidden in the space between my bed and the wall. I drank it, and was instantly cured of what nightmarish memories that had revisited me.

My eyes traced over the place of death that had become my room. The stone walls, empty furniture decaying, the frames of butterflies, and that same window. I could see them, but they couldn't see me. It was a vast world out there, and I didn't know if Sabine will be there with me. All I knew was I will not stay here.

Uriel and Yves visited together because I missed breakfast, only I wasn't very interested in their talking, but I had to show respect Yves. Actually, Uriel, too, because of Yves.

"You look sick," Uriel was saying. "You're unusually pale and breathing strange."

"She's a vampire, Uriel," Yves replied.

"I'm fine." I staggered out of bed and then stood by the window. That window many of vampires looked out at before me. "There's news to report, however. They've decided to let Primrose take over the seducing and she might go for Marcel."

"Then we have to stop her from doing that, or we will have to leave before our plan happens," Uriel said hastily, but I held up a hand to stop him from speaking.

My head was still spinning, and his voice was loud. I knew he was passionate about killing Agnes—but I was the one doing it. I was the one going through the most, especially after being stripped of my identity as Queen Butterfly.

"She'll never succeed." I was confident. "Primrose is almost as naive as Cecile. She can't socialize without offending people, and if Marcel does fall for her, or even Karl, I'm sure they're masochists."

"But what if she forces them?"

"She won't go as far as rape, if that's what you're asking."

"And if she fails, would she get harmed?"