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“I guess so,” I replied.
“Very good,” said the lord. “Then let us begin the final test.”
Test?Lazlo said I’d be giving a speech. He never told me that the final test was still happening.
Panicked, I started panting. “What am I supposed to do?”
The lord waved a woman up onto the platform. She carried a glass bowl filled with tiny clay tiles.
“Choose one and complete the test,” Lord Bleyer II commanded.
I hoped one of the tiles had something on it like making biodiesel or drawing a picture of the Tennessee flag.
I reached in and shuffled my hand around, grabbing hold of one. I handed the tile over.
He read it aloud. “Masie Stark, you are to choose five people in this room. Five vampires, I should say, who wronged you in your past life. And if you choose correctly, you will execute them.”
Kill five vampires. Holy Christ.But maybe I was getting ahead of myself. I had to guess correctly first.
“How’ll you know if I choose correctly?” I asked.
“Queen Anna kept meticulous notes for posterity, including a list of her enemies.”
I hated to point out the flaw in this system, but it seemed like something I should mention. “Someone coulda just given me the list.”
“Have they?” he asked.
“No.”
“Good. Because the list of names has never been made public—for the sake of peace among our kind. I am the only one who has ever viewed it. Shall we proceed?”
Unexpectedly, I felt a gust of cold air pressing against my head. I looked at Montgomery Stark. His expression was indifferent, but I knew it was him. Was he still pressuring me to change my mind?
I swallowed hard, my hands trembling.
The other faces in the dark room—at least the ones nearest to me—suddenly looked uneasy, like nobody wanted to be here. Maybe this wouldn’t be so difficult after all. I just had to scope out vampires who were sweatin’ bullets.
I stepped off the stage and wandered down the center of the room, trying to make out the faces and expressions. “Can someone turn on the lights? I can’t see in here.” The air was thicker than swamp fog.
The lord snapped his fingers, and the ceiling lights came on.
“That’s better.” I scanned the multitude of guests, observing which vampires made eye contact and which ones avoided me.
There was a group in leather giving me the death stare. One man, with a deep scar on his forehead, stood in front of them. Their leader?
I walked up to him. “What’s your name, honey?”
“Gerald Acero.Honey,” he added dryly.
“Aren’t you a funny boy.” I turned toward the lord. “Am I allowed to ask questions?”
“Yes, though, ultimately you must choose your five.”
I turned back to Gerald. “Did you wrong me in my past life?”
Gerald stared fearlessly. “No. But I did hate you. It is foolish to believe that we vampires can live peacefully among humans. They would hunt us into extinction.”
I happened to agree, and humans would be right to do it. “I believe you.” Mostly because he seemed like the type who wasn’t afraid to die for his beliefs. No reason to lie.
