Page 2 of Sold to the Dark Vampire Prince

She could hear Evan’s voice in her head, asking how many times she would give away their last coin to a beggar in the streets in the hopes she might find Ava’s mother.

She was just starting to rise when the gnarled hand shot out to take her wrist. Startled, Dani tried to pull back, but the old woman held fast, leaning forward to study the lines of her hand.

“Your sister. She’s sick?”

Dani’s heart began to pound. She glanced around, but no one seemed to be paying them any mind. Still, if she were caught with an aberrant—

“Yes. She’s been sick for nearly four years. Time is running out and if we can’t get her the medicine she needs, I’m afraid she won’t survive the winter.”

The woman nodded, one ice cold finger tracing the palm of her wrist. Dani saw she had a long rose with intricate thorns tattooed on her arm. “Something you do could change her fate, could change all your fates.” When Dani nodded quickly, she held up a finger. “But everything comes at a cost. Only you can choose.”

She opened her mouth to ask more, to ask how she was supposed to save Ava, but the old woman dropped her hand.

Dani rose, feeling a strand of blonde hair slip loose from where she’d tucked it beneath her scarf. Unwinding it from her neck, she pressed it into the woman’s hands. “Stay warm. It’s going to be cold tonight.”

“And a full moon besides.” She glanced down the street. “Best get yourself home. The wolves will be out tonight. Lock your doors.”

A shiver skated up her spine as the bell began to toll in the distance. An hour until curfew.

“Thank you,” she started to say just as someone slammed into her from behind.

Dani staggered, barely managing to right herself on the icy sidewalk.

A girl shouldered past her. “Watch yourself.”

The girl was taller than her, though if she was older than her twenty years, it wasn’t by much. Strong and wiry, she wore the tattered clothes of a factory worker. Her dark hair was plaited in a long braid and although Dani couldn’t make out her features, above her mask, her cold blue eyes were full of venom. Exactly the sort of person she couldn’t afford to mess with.

The little boy and his mother emerged from the chocolatier’s shop, white paper bags and fragrant cups of cocoa in hand. At the sight of the standoff, the mother quickly pulled her son back into the safety of the shop.

“Sorry I was in your way.” Dani clutched her bag tighter. “I don’t want any trouble.”

Sneering, the girl shoved her again for good measure before disappearing like a wraith into the crowd. Dani blew out a breath, heart pounding. Around them, shoppers hurried past. No one stopped. No one attempted to intervene.

She scraped a hand through her hair, only then realizing her bag had slipped down her shoulder—

—and her coin purse was now gone.

“Thief!” she shouted, elbowing through the crowd. “Help me. She took my money!”

Thieves like the girl were a dime a dozen in the city center, preying on rich vampires with plenty of coins to their name. The sort of vampires who could afford to splurge on artisanal cheese and cashmere sweaters carried more on them in one night than she earned in three months at the factory where she worked.

If she didn’t get her coin purse back, they would be out on the streets.

Breath stabbing her chest in the cold, Dani ducked around corners, pushing past shoppers carrying brightly colored bags, and apologizing to a group of holiday carolers she sent scattering.

She was sure she caught a glimpse of the girl as she disappeared around the corner just past the bakery, but by then, the snow was starting to come down in fat clumps and swirls. Her foot skidded on a patch of ice. Had there not been a lamppost right there, she would have slammed into the unforgiving cobblestones.

Dani blinked back tears. Defeated, she stared up at the endless black sky as snow swirled down. She’d lost all their money. What were they supposed to do now?

“Are you all right?” Two vampires, both young and male, hurried over from the bakery.

“Oh, yes.” Dani swiped a hand beneath her eyes. “It’s just, I was robbed.”

“We saw her run past from over in the window,” the first vampire said. “Did you get a description?”

“She was wearing a mask,” Dani said helplessly, accepting the paper napkin he offered to blot her face. “I’m not sure I saw much other than that she had dark hair.”

“Those animals.” The second one tried to be less obvious about it, but there was no missing the way he leaned in, subtly scenting her blood. They were standing too close now, and she hadn’t missed how dark this part of the alley was, even with the light from the streetlamps. Dani swayed slightly, and the first vampire took her arm as if he meant to steady her. The silver gleam in his eyes betrayed the gesture as something else entirely. “They’re putting up cameras now in this sector to try to catch the worst of the street thieves.”