His smile slides away. We all stare at the screen. Horror blooms in my stomach, a cold and vicious flower.
The vampire newsreader is shadowed, illuminated only by faint silver light. There’s nothing unusual about this; vampires can only handle low-strength light, like that of the moon, or the electric candle-lamps that light my parents’ home. Darkness is their natural habitat. There’s enough light on-screen, however, to see the bodies bobbing, face down in dark waters. Then shadowy dark figures, like fleeing ghosts, a few seconds of grainy footage captured by one of the coastal guard towers. I clutch Michael’s arm. The newsreader’s voice, cool and seductive, fills the room.
‘The attack on Safe Zone Seven-Alpha is one of several recent atrocities on the South coast, all of which resulted in significant stock casualties, as well as the loss of five vampire guards. Seven-Alpha is, of course, close to the Southern edge of the Great Forest, home to lawless Reaper gangs.’ Thenewsreader pauses, their dropped fangs the only sign of their agitation. ‘The timing, for the House of Raven, is not ideal, with the recent rebellion and the coronation of the heir just months away. This newsreader would like to know when they’re going to step up and put an end to this Reaper scourge once and for all. Lives are being lost, their attacks becoming bolder, and?—’
Whatever else they’re going to say disappears in a click, as Michael turns off the television. Laurel puts down her mug. Her hands, pale against the dark crockery, are shaking.
‘I had … I think I had family there, once,’ she says. ‘Before.’
Before.Before the Red Rising, the great vampire conquest of the planet, a single night of carnage where every human country was subjugated beneath the might of the four families. Before vampires turned towns into farms, caging humans in one place, forced to donate blood every month for the rest of their lives in return for light and power and safety, for the chance to live as they once did. I know, now, that they do nothing of the sort. Seven-Alpha, I also know from my research into conditions at Safe Zones, was once a port where people could catch ferries to the Channel Islands and across to France, back when they were allowed to do so. The fact they no longer can is something I’m trying to change. Along with everything else.
‘It’s not Reapers.’ Michael frowns, his jaw tight.
‘Who the hell else is it, then?’ Reapers, vicious vampire gangs hunting the Great Forest and its environs, who hold fealty to no one, are rapidly becoming a problem. It’s something I’ve been following, as much as possible, along with all the other learning I’m trying to cram in before I take the crown.
There’s a sound like a sob, then Laurel’s footsteps padding down the hallway, followed by the click of her bedroom door. I stand, but Michael catches my hand.
‘Leave her, E,’ he says, his voice gentle. ‘Give her a moment.’
I’m only really starting to grasp the enormity of what vampires did to humans. The shattered lives, the trauma, the loss of almost everything they held dear. It’s a weight of guilt that almost drags me under, some days. It’s why I’ve vowed to dedicate my reign to undoing as much of the damage as I can.
‘Come here.’ Michael gets to his feet, pulling me into his arms. I try to relax but can’t get the image of those floating bodies out of my head.Stock casualties.They werepeople, like me and Laurel and Michael.
‘It’s not your fault,’ he murmurs, as though he can read my troubled thoughts.
‘I know,’ I mumble, even though I feel like it is. I love living here as Emily Reynolds, just another human. But this latest news is a reminder that I can’t do it for ever. I bury my face in his shoulder, feel the press of his lips on my hair.
‘You okay?’
‘I’m fine.’ I’m not fine.
‘Why are you so tense, then?’
Why do you think it wasn’t Reapers?I don’t say anything, though. Just hug him a little more tightly.
‘Is it because you’re going home later?’
I still don’t speak. He’s right. It’s not just Reapers playing on my mind. But I can’t tell him why this particular trip home is making me so nervous. Not yet. It’s also, if I’m honest with myself, why I haven’t told him about his father. It feels as though he’s slipping through my fingers. As though everything is. In a few months I’ll be eighteen, and crowned Raven. My life will change completely. And that’s why I can’t tell him all my secrets, not yet.
Because I don’t know if he can be part of who I’m going to be.
ChapterTwo
HOMEWARD BOUND
‘If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?’ Laurel bumps me with her shoulder. We’re heading for the shift bus, both of us wearing pale grey sweats, the Raven emblem embroidered in black on the front. The only difference is that she has a heavy down coat over hers, protection against the winter chill, while I have just my leather jacket. Another apparent advantage of my vampire blood: a resistance to colder temperatures.
Or maybe it’s because I grew up with vampires, and I’m used to it.
‘You know I’m still on Paris. You choose somewhere.’ We walk up the hill, our breath puffing like clouds in the cold afternoon air. It’s a game we often play, poring over atlases, watching old movies, then choosing a place to visit. Conveniently ignoring the fact that I can go pretty much anywhere I want, and Laurel can’t. When we first started living together it took a while before she could see me as anything other than Emelia Raven, daughter of her employers, heir to the throne. But now we have a real friendship, the first I’ve ever had with a human. It’s wonderful.
‘Uh, I think I’d like to go to Bali.’
‘Bali?’
‘It’s an island, on the other side of the world. Scorpion territory, now. But apparently it was once a popular place to visit, all golden beaches and blue sea.’
‘We have the beach here.’
