Darkly Devoted (Book 1, 2, 3)

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

VIVIENNE SAT on one of the purple violet cushions and tried not to think about how homesick she was. She finally produced a slip of paper from her backpack and a pen from her school pencil case. She tried to imagine a face in the twirls of smoke, but her resultant drawing only looked like a mess of scribbles. She finally gave up on the vision part and attempted to draw a face. The resultant image resembled more of a monkey than a man.

Vivienne crumpled up the portrait and shoved it back into her bag. She wondered how badly she would have to behave to be fired and sent home. Maybe she'll wear her underwear on her head and advise her Ansura to jump off a cliff. Vivienne smiled to herself at the thought.

She settled down on the mat and thought about Allison. Vivienne wondered what dark, murderous secrets were hidden under all the perfumed riches of Manna City. Although Vivienne didn't know much about the Manna City high-society papers, she did know the ten "Princes" were not really royalty. They were called that because the Princess — Lady Maglania lost her royal title ages ago, because she had an affair with a commoner. She was immensely popular with the Manna City citizens and out of respect for her — her ten loyal bodyguards were nicknamed Princes. It was still considered a great honor, the highest honor, in fact, to land one of them as an Ansura.

That was, even if the job wasn't long or secure. The Princes disappeared on a regular basis. No one knew why. Vivienne didn't know what had become of their Orlins, although it was well known that their family back home kept receiving money and impersonal messages from them. They were just gone, like Allison.

From their paparazzi pictures, the Princes all looked suspicious, especially the ugly ones. There was one with an especially big nose that Vivienne found detestable. Vivienne sleepily wondered if having prominent, ogrish features was a sign of a vampire. If anything, it was the last one, the one with the flaming red hair. That one had a piercing glare as though he could rip out a throat with his eyes alone.

The dream started in the attic of Thorne Manor. Vivienne found herself among the charred remains of porcelain dolls. These dolls, they were where she had met Blake for the first time when he had caught her playing with his ancestors' toys.

"Viv," a voice whispered from the darkness. She looked up and caught the sight of two burning eyes peering at her from the shadows. He stepped forward into the light. His blond hair was dusty, as though he had been sitting in the attic for ages along with the dolls. Blake stared down at the torso of a blackened porcelain ballerina. "They burned them, you know. The vampires."

Blake reached out with one hand. She took it in hers, but his skin felt ice-cold to her. He wasn't alive. She wrapped her hands around his and tried futilely to warm his slender fingers. He shook his head. It was no good.

"Did the vampires kill Allison?"

"You'll know soon enough, Vivienne. They're coming for you."

He tilted his head up, and she saw two large bloody incisor wounds in his pale neck.

Vivienne suddenly remembered that Blake had died. The memories came back to her in a terrifying flood. They told her the gardener had found him in the abandoned arena. The servants said the gardener carried Blake back to the Thorne Family manor, where Lady Odelia Thorne held him until he died. Odelia said that he stopped breathing before they were able to call for a doctor. Vivienne never even got a chance to see him one last time.

"Do you remember the last thing you said to me?" Blake's ghost asked.

"I said I would keep the locket for you until you came back," Vivienne said. "But I never saw you again. I wasn't even allowed at your funeral."