KIngdom of Embers (Kingdom Journals Book 1) Read online

  “Can you eat anything?”

  I flipped the menu over, scanning the choices. “The carrot sticks.”

  “You can only eat the carrot sticks here?” Nick asked. “We could go somewhere else, get you something better to eat.”

  “It’s okay. I’m used to it. No big deal.”

  When I gave my order to the waitress, Hannah and Melody looked to each other and rolled their eyes. Did they think my allergies were a scam? If so, I could show them what being sick looked like. Wondering where my flash of anger came from, I retrieved my calming balm from my bag.

  “That smells good. Can I have some?” Sophie asked.

  “Alena is like addicted to that stuff. Let me smell.” Melody held out her hand, and I passed the vial to her.

  “What is it?” She took a whiff.

  “It’s like cedarwood, mandarin, and lavender oils. My grandfather made it.”

  “Of course.” She closed the cap and passed it to Hannah. “It’s all natural.”

  “You can buy them too.”

  “I’m sure.” Hannah wrinkled up her nose as she sniffed the bottle.

  “Hey, great game guys.” Sophie diverted the conversation.

  Nick and his friends started reviewing some of their plays, and Hannah huffed.

  “We don’t want to talk football.”

  “Well, switch and sit by Melody,” Andy said.

  Hannah shrugged and switched seats with him. The rest of the meal flowed seamlessly, although the carrots were limp and soft. Even so, thinking I might pass out, I forced several down.

  “You okay?” Nick picked up my nearly full basket of carrots.

  “Yeah, I ate before the game anyway.”

  We finished dinner and moved to the arcade. The hum of the machines picked at my ears, and I had to really focus to keep up with the dialogue. Tugging at my sleeve, Nick led me to a golf game, and we waited for our turn.

  “You play this before?”

  “Nope. I’ve never been to an arcade.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding!” He laughed.

  We both started naming things we’d never done. Mine were all related to destinations with lots of people: amusement parks, fairs, zoos. His were outdoor activities and traveling to anywhere but Hawaii.

  “See, you’re not that odd,” he joked as we stepped up to the game.

  I took the club from him and looked to the screen. Unfortunately, I swung like I would have on a real golf course, and my virtual ball went sailing into the woods. As much as I tried, I couldn’t get it to stay on the green.

  “Here.” He stood behind me and wrapped his arms around mine. Feeling the heat between us, I focused on shutting my capillaries and veins in my hands and arms and slowing my heart rate. It was uncomfortable, and my body felt chilly, but Nick’s warm hands encircled mine as he demonstrated how I should swing slowly and gently.

  “I don’t get this.” I laughed. “If it’s not like real, why do it?”

  “Yeah, I have no clue.” He chuckled and backed away.

  “Here, you do it.” I handed him the club.

  “I’ve played a lot so…” He swung, and the ball landed in the middle of the green.

  “Ugh.”

  “Let’s try something else.” He grabbed my hand. “Wow, that’s warm.” I studied our joined hands, and I again shut off the blood to my fingers.

  “I was sitting on it.”

  “Oh.” He found an open air hockey table. I concentrated on missing the puck to let him win the first game, and then I won by a couple of points the second. Next, we played a game where you threw balls up a ramp into a target. Again, he showed me his form by wrapping his arms around me, and I pulled my blood into my core.

  After a few more games, we found Sophie and David playing virtual baseball.

  “You okay? You look pale,” Sophie commented as I sat on the stool beside her.

  “Sure.” I felt my arm and realized I’d forgotten to release the blood back into my hands. Looking around the room, the lights blurred into each other.

  “You okay?” Nick’s face appeared before me, and he took my hand. “Hey, your hands are like super hot.” He put his palm to my forehead. “Whoa, you’re burning up?”

  “I’m fine. I’m usually warm.” Suddenly the hum of the machines was too much. “I’m going to get some air.” I forced my legs to engage.

  “Want me to come?” Nick asked.

  “No, I need a minute.” I walked towards the exit.

  Ganby appeared in front of me. “Hey, it’s zombie cheerleader. You’re looking particularly ashen tonight. Is this your date look?”

  Taking a deep breath, I glared at him. “Leave me alone, Ganby.” I shoved past him, knocking my shoulder to his bicep.

  “Whoa.”

  I looked back to see him holding his arm. You deserve that bruise, I thought as my temples pounded. Digging my nails into my palms, I pushed the exit doors open and took a huge breath of night air. The scent of fried food hung all around me, and I flexed my fingers, considering whether to go back and pelt Ganby.

  “Madam.” Will appeared in front of me. “You seem on edge. Do you need to go?”

  “Yes. No. Leave me alone.”

  “Why don’t you let me drive you home?”

  “I don’t want to go home.” I jumped away to avoid his hand reaching for my arm. “I need air. I’m going to take a walk.”

  “But, miss…”

  Lifting my arm straight up to the sky, I cloaked myself and walked away.

  “Miss? Where’d you go? Damn.” I heard him behind me.

  I looked back to see him pull his phone from his jacket pocket.

  Within thirty seconds, my phone rang. “Dear, what’s wrong? Where are you going?”

  “I need to be alone.”

  “Why what happened?”

  “Stupid teenage stuff.”

  “Come home. We can talk about it.”

  “I’m sorry, Mother. I need some space. I’ll be home by eleven.”

  Weaving through the near empty sidewalks, my pulse slowed and breathing evened out. Still my muscles held taunt. With the adrenaline wearing off, I shivered. I needed food. My people will understand, I thought. I opened the map application on my phone. Fahim’s bookstore sat four blocks away, and I turned in the direction of his building.

  Outside, I hesitated. He’d told me to only enter when he was there. I sensed a decent crowd of vampires in the back room, but no witches. Finding the front doors locked, I walked around to the alley. Shedding my invisibility shield and cloaking my magic, I pounded on the door with my fist. When it opened, a male vampire of at least six foot six stood in the doorway.

  “You’re in the wrong place.” He swung the door closed.

  I shoved my foot into the frame before it connected. “Please. I’m in the right place.”

  He opened the door and sniffed the air between us. “Maybe, maybe not. This is a pretty rough crowd, and you are a slight half vamp.”

  “Maybe, but I need”—I glanced at the stars, thinking of how to word my angst—“to be with my own kind. I was this close to offing someone at an arcade.” I held my fingers a centimeter apart in front of his face.

  Aaron appeared behind the bouncer. “Who’s there, Cedric?” Then, Aaron’s eyes landed on me. “Oh, Alena. Didn’t Fahim warn you not come when he wasn’t around?”

  “Yes. But please.”

  “She is feeling extra murdery tonight,” Cedric said.

  “Okay, well, perhaps for a bit.” Aaron waved me into the dark space.

  I followed him down a hall paneled with dark wood. Entering the main room, the dim light bounced off the smoke hanging in the air.

  “This is everyone.” He waved to the crowd.

  As I followed him to the bar, eyes fixed on me momentarily and then drifted back to their previous subjects. Taking a stool, I placed my palms on the soft wood of the counter. They twitched, and I tucked them under my legs, scanning the room. The musky smell
of vampire hormones filled the space, and my nose crinkled in protest.

  “That nose cringing reaction right there is the one you should be having about now.” Aaron pointed at me. “But seeing as how you look as if you could use a stiff drink, I’ll pour you a glass. What’ll you have?”

  “You have any red wine?” I peered at the bottles on the shelf behind him.

  “Red wine it is.” He popped the cork from a bottle and picked up a glass, filling it nearly to the top.

  After a few gulps, my blood pressure dropped, and the humming in my ears stopped. “Thank you.”

  “You finish your glass and be moving on, okay?” He turned to help another vampire who had plopped down a seat away from me.

  Dimitri appeared beside me. “You look like you could use more than a glass of red wine.”

  “This is fine.” I lifted the glass and took another long sip.

  “What’s ailing you?”

  As my ears picked up bits of conversation from around the room, I realized my bully problems were probably insignificant. In the far corner, a gentleman stuffed a raw steak into his mouth, repeating the words blood and meat over and over. In the center, a man sat sharpening a knife on a stone. Closest to me, I heard the phrase stupid vamp hypocrisy as a man slung a thick dark liquid down his throat. But Ganby’s image appeared in my mind, and his words echoed in my head: zombie cheerleader, ashen.

  “Yep. Glassy eyed, drooling,” Dimitri said.

  I slammed my hand on the bar. “I am not drooling. I’m hungry. I haven’t eaten since lunch.”

  “Here. This’ll fix you up.” He handed me a glass of dark liquid.

  “What is it?” I sniffed the mixture, and the smell of iron, honey, chocolate, and steak almost overwhelmed me.

  “We’ll figure out how strong your vamp genes are.”

  “What are you doing?” Aaron snatched the drink from my hand. “Fahim will have your head.”

  “Look at her. She’s clearly hurting. Nothing going to stop that faster than a little juice.”

  Barely registering their words, and drawn to the smell emanating from glass, I jumped the counter and landed in front of them. Taking the glass from Aaron, I downed the liquid in one gulp.

  “See, she wanted it,” Dimitri said.

  A surge of energy coursed through my body and every nerve tingled in response. “What was that?”

  “What was that?” Dimitri laughed. “Such a newbie.” He rolled his eyes and walked away.

  I spun to face Aaron. “I’m serious. That was like the best feeling I’ve ever had, the best thing I ever tasted. I feel so amazing right now.”

  “Yeah, Fahim picked a good vampire to train up.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Look, sweetie.” He poured some more of the liquid from a large cast and held it up to the light above the bar. Red color blared through the glass, and I thought I might be sick. Dashing from the room, I let the cool outside air clear my senses.

  Aaron was beside me in a second. “You figure it out?”

  “That was blood? Human blood?”

  “We are vampires.”

  “Where does it come from? Fahim said he didn’t drink blood.” I doubled over, supporting my hands on my knees.

  “Fahim doesn’t, but many vampires do. Where do you think it comes from? People.”

  “But where do you get it? Isn’t it forbidden to feed off humans? That’s what the books Fahim gave me said.”

  “I don’t ask tons of questions. A guy brings it here, I pay him, and my customers are happy. You feel better, right?” Aaron leaned down so we were eye to eye.

  “Yeah.” My hand went to my neck. “That is disgusting. It is horrible that I liked that. I hadn’t eaten since lunch except for these wilted carrots at this arcade and then this … you don’t want to hear my teenage drama.”

  “It’s okay, keep going.” He tossed his wipe rag over his shoulder.

  “I was trying this thing I learned, to keep my skin cool—”

  “Yep, classic.” He nodded.

  “Anyway, there’s this bully who keeps teasing me about my pale skin and calling me a zombie cheerleader. It was too much.”

  His eyes got big. “Is the guy still alive?”

  “I shoved my shoulder into his bicep. He’ll have a bruise.”

  “Maybe he’ll stop. Try to avoid him.”

  “I don’t want to hurt him.” My phone dinged, and I pulled it from my pocket. Ten thirty, the alarm read.

  “I have to go.” I turned and jogged down the alley without even thinking of saying goodbye.

  “See ya next time.” I heard his voice behind me.

  I loved being outside at night. Sometimes when Mother and I went on our missions, we would dart from alley to alley, using the shadows to hide our quick movements. But that night, confusion and anger filled my pores. Did all vampires drink blood? Did Mother and Elizabeth? Did Will? I’d never heard anything about drinking blood from any of them. I knew there were uncivilized factions of vampires but had no idea that a black market for human blood existed. Further agonizing was that I wouldn’t be able to question them without raising suspicions.

  Even with my emotional upheaval, every cell of my body pulsed with energy. I’d never felt so strong as I jumped from roof to roof, scaled the fire escape, and landed on the ground. Running felt like flying as the wind whisked past my face. The blood coursing through my veins fueled a power I’d never experienced before. Nearing our building, I stepped from the alley onto the lighted sidewalk and opened my phone to check my appearance.

  “Miss Alena. I haven’t seen you in a while. Were you out by yourself?” Michael, the night guard asked as I entered the foyer.

  “No, my friend dropped me off.”

  “Okay, miss, well, you have a good night.”

  “Thank you, Michael.” I checked my messages as I waited for the elevator. Nick’s and Sophie’s were the same, checking in to make sure I was okay. Ganby had told them he’d seen me leave, and I felt bad about not saying goodbye.

  I texted an apology to Nick and then Sophie. Nick replied almost instantly.

  I WAS WORRIED. YOU DON’T HAVE A STOMACH BUG DO YOU?

  NO, JUST LOW BLOOD SUGAR.

  OKAY, WELL, TAKE CARE AND LET’S TALK TOMORROW.

  OKAY.

  Mother appeared in front of me as soon as I crossed the threshold of our home. “Where were you? You smell of smoke.”

  “I went to a coffee place. It was kind of smoky.”

  “You know that’s not good for your lungs.”

  “I know, but I needed something to eat and a warm drink, so...”

  “And what of the stunt you pulled with Will?” she asked.

  “I needed to be alone.”

  “I need an explanation.”

  I let out the breath I’d be holding. “Fine. There were only wilted carrots, and I was using the cooling trick and started feeling woozy. Then there’s this boy who always teases me, and I felt like smashing his head into a wall.”

  “You can come home and tell me these things.”

  Tears rolled down my cheeks, and I swiped them away. “It’s stupid human stuff.”

  “No, dear, you were threatened and reacted on instinct.”

  Thinking she may open up more, I pressed on. “Do you remember being a teen? How did you handle the mood swings?”

  “Well, it was a long time ago, and things were different then.”

  “Different how?”

  “We didn’t have high school for sure. We lived off the land. Did you run out of your calming balm?” she asked.

  “No, I think I needed food.”

  “I agree.” She wrapped her arms around me. “Do you need anything else?”

  “No, I want to shower and get to bed.”

  I roused at the sound of the bell. We never had guests, and I raced to the foyer. On the screen, I saw Nick in the ground level lobby holding a bunch of flowers.

  “That is Nick. What i
s he doing here?” Elizabeth asked.

  “I don’t know. Tell him to wait. I’ll dress and go downstairs and meet him.”

  Rushing back to my room, I snatched a pair of leggings and a shirt from my drawers and pulled them on. Splashing my face and brushing my teeth I dashed back to the foyer. Fingers tapping on my leg, I rode the elevator down to meet Nick.

  “Hi.” His face relaxed as I reached him. “Wow, this place is like Fort Knox.”

  “Yeah, sorry.” I didn’t know what else to say.

  “Oh, these are for you.” He held the flowers out to me.

  “Thanks, this is so sweet.”

  “You look much better.”

  “Yeah, I think I needed something to eat and some rest.” I tucked my hair behind my ear.

  “Good, well I wanted to see if you would like to go to lunch. Sophie said you like sushi?”

  “That would be nice. Want to come up so I can ask my mom?”

  “Your mom?” He took a deep breath. “Sure.”

  He folded his arms over his chest, thrust them in his pockets, and repeated the motion, his eyes tracing to the ceiling and back to the floor as we rode the elevator to the top.

  “Don’t be nervous. She won’t bite.” I laughed to myself, thinking it might not be entirely true. Had she drunk human blood before? Like directly from a human’s veins? Mother’s words from the previous night played through my mind. Lived off the land? What was that supposed to mean?

  The elevator stopped, and I led Nick into our foyer. Mother’s heels announced her approach.

  “Hi Nick, good to see you again.” She extended her hand as she reached us.

  Nick’s eyes scanned the room. “You have a beautiful home.”

  “Come in.” She motioned to the living room, and we sat on the sofas. Elizabeth came in with a tray of water glasses and set it on the table.

  “You remember my grandmother, Elizabeth.”

  “Nice to see you again.” Nick reached for one of the drinks. “Thanks for the water.”

  “Of course.” Elizabeth sat in a chair opposite us.

  Hoping to cut the visit short, I stood. “Nick asked me to go to lunch. Is that okay?”

  “How nice.” Mother looked between us. “Of course, dear.”

  With hardly a smile between us, we rode the elevator down to the lobby and walked out into the sunlight.