Page 4 of Sold to the Dark Vampire Prince

“They underestimate me. I keep my eyes down and they think I’m harmless until it’s too late. I’ve always been able to get through the checkpoints before.”

“You almost didn’t tonight,” Evan pointed out, glancing over to make sure Ava was still asleep. She’d splashed water on her face and tied her hair in a haphazard knot on top of her head. The dusting of freckles across her pale cheeks made her look younger, like the girl who should have still been studying in school, not out stealing in the streets, the two of them constantly fighting to keep Ava alive. She turned Dani’s face to study her bruised cheek. “You should put some snow on that.”

“In a minute.” Hanging her wet coat on the peg by the door, she handed over Ava’s medicine. “How is she?”

“The same.”

While Evan tore open the box of test strips, Dani wet a cloth and laid it on Ava’s forehead. Her skin was dry and flushed, her breathing shallow. She’d been ten when Ava was born, a laughing, red-faced baby with blonde wispy hair who clung to her thumb and smiled at the silly songs she made up to sing her to sleep. Dani felt her breathing constrict. What if this time, they were too late?

At her feet, Cinder, their scrawny cat, mewed and wound herself between her legs. She hopped up onto the bed and settled herself beside Ava.

“I guess you noticed the cameras in time?”

“Spotted them on my way past the gates.” Evan finished cleaning Ava’s finger with an alcohol swab. Suddenly lightheaded, Dani went over to the window where she wouldn’t have to watch. “Something is going on. They were forcing everyone to remove masks at checkpoints. I had to take the long way home.”

“You think it’s that bad?”

The light from the pale-yellow candle set out on the kitchen table flickered against walls stained by years of water damage as they silently counted down the minute it would take for Ava’s blood test to register. Sliding the blackout curtains an inch to the side, Dani stared out into the darkened streets of the city. Their apartment was located in the meatpacking district, one of the areas in the sector where no one particularly wanted to live, and where they could scrape up enough for rent each month. Beyond the walls, fires burned in the distance, barely visible through the swirling snow. Her stomach churned. She wanted desperately to open a window, but didn’t dare in this cold.

Evan hesitated before answering. “The two vampires you lured in mostly kept the cameras from getting a clear shot of your face.”

“At least something went our way tonight.”

A whistle sounded from somewhere down in the street. Dani quickly closed the curtain. At this hour, having the windows open was forbidden. They were past curfew, for one. Too close to the border with the pack lands, for another, though the latter had always felt more like a measure of compliance and control to her than anything else. She’d heard whispers that the wolves could see and smell well enough in the dark to track a single human blindfolded through the vast forests that formed the zone of neutrality between shifter land and the vampire-controlled cities, so what did curtains even matter?

“They’re denouncing this attack by aberrant bloods in the streets as justification for accelerating the surveillance programs.” Evan paused. “And your picture is all over the media feeds.”

Dani was about to respond when a quiet knock sounded at the door, a pattern of quick and slow raps.

“That’s Sera.” Evan’s face flooded with relief. “She’ll know what to do.”

Dani stepped between her and the door, holding up a hand. “You know how I feel about bringing vampires here. Ava is sick. And their prey drive is primed to feed off the weak.”

“I trust Sera. And at the moment, we don’t have a lot of options.”

Dani scraped a hand through her hair. That was the problem, of course. They had healers in the human community, doctors, nurses and midwives who worked tirelessly to help the survivors that remained. But in the decades since the world had changed, they’d been forced to pass their knowledge down mostly through informal apprenticeships. Few in their generation were able to remain in school past the compulsory years. And anyone could see Ava was getting worse by the day.

“Thank you so much for coming,” Evan said as she stood aside to allow a young female vampire to enter the room.

Dani tried not to stare as Sera hurried across the room and began taking Ava’s vitals. She suspected the vampire physician had come straight from another house call. She had on a gray hooded thermal and fitted fleece lined black pants that looked casual, but that Dani knew from the brand didn’t come cheap. Her long auburn hair was pulled into a high ponytail. She took in the dark circles under her eyes, and the snow melting on her boots as she gently took Ava’s pulse, and decided perhaps she’d judged the healer too harshly.

“Can I get you some tea?”

“Thank you, but I’m fine.” Sera tucked a strand of hair behind the ear loop of her mask. “I have another patient I need to see to after this, so I can’t stay long.”

Dani nodded, wondering if she really did have another house call to make, or if it was because she didn’t want to remove her mask. Almost three decades had passed since the first pandemic that had triggered the mutations, and although most of the vampires had emerged stronger and all but immune to sickness, some suffered unexplained chronic blood conditions.

She’d never seen this particular healer without a mask and two layers of gloves. Evan had confided once that Sera had picked up some rare vampire contagion in medical school, something so terrible it had nearly killed her. Even after she recovered, the experience had frightened her so much, she’d become something of a germaphobe and had dropped out before she could finish her final internship. Now she was stuck making house calls during a snowstorm in one of the most decrepit human districts in the sector, rather than working in one of the more prestigious hospitals.

“You said you found insulin?” Sera asked.

“This is all I could get.” Dani handed over the precious vial.

Carefully, she measured out a dose, and injected it into Ava’s arm. “Hopefully she’ll wake up soon.” She nodded for them to follow her over to the fireplace.

“How bad is it?” Dani glanced nervously over at Ava. “She ran out of insulin almost a week ago. It took us until tonight to come up with the money.”

Evan was biting her nails again. Even before they’d run out entirely, they’d been rationing Ava’s doses, trying make the last of the insulin stretch a little longer. She hated the medication shortages, which were always worse in the winter.