Elemental Dawn (Paranormal Public) (9 page)

“Wow,” said Hyder. He quickly
dropped to both knees and pressed his hands to the ground. It was the position
of respect that a werewolf afforded an important vampire.

Princess Lanca was now the most
important vampire of all.

“Please,” said my friend, coming
toward us so that I could just make out the sadness in her eyes and the tight
lines around her mouth that hadn’t been there before. “I have not been crowned
yet.”

Hyder was slow to get to his
feet, still staring at Lanca in wonder. It was safe to assume he hadn’t
realized how well his daughter and her friends knew the vampire princess. Hyder
had had several surprises since I showed up. He and his wife had had a quiet
and successful life up to now, but Sip’s friendship with the only elemental was
obviously going to change that.

Helen took her husband’s hand and
held on tight. She was quieter, but she looked just as overwhelmed.

“Forgive me,” said Hyder quietly,
“but is this the normal way in?”

“Certainly not,” said Lanca. “The
normal way is being watched, as am I. The Rapiers are sadly confused if they
think that my becoming queen is going to turn me into a prisoner, but after
losing my father” - she swallowed hard and her eyes filled with tears, but she
forced herself to continue - “they are more afraid than ever. If something
happens to me . . . I don’t think a war could be avoided.”

“You realize that it probably
can’t be avoided anyway?” Lisabelle asked.

She got no answer.

“Follow me,” Lanca said. Now that
I saw were she had come from I could see a giant, gaping hole in the ground.
She motioned for the Quests to go first.

“Should you be out here alone?”
Sip asked Lanca.

The vampire shrugged shoulders
that had become painfully thin. “I’d like to see them try. Besides, no one
knows I’m out here.” She gave a very thin, very Lisabelle smile and waited for
us to follow Sip’s parents into the black hole.

I watched Sip and Lisabelle go
before me. When it was my turn I glanced nervously at my friend. She waited,
looking slightly bemused.

“You face demons and hellhounds
and are afraid of a little jump?” she teased.

I glared at her. “I don’t like
heights.”

“You are not going to fall,” she
said, rolling her eyes. “Besides, Keller’s waiting.”

That’s all she needed to tell me.
Right after I jumped I realized that I was glad she could still joke about
boys. From her expression in the brief minutes since she had snuck out to get
us, she hadn’t joked much lately. With her dad murdered, there was no surprise
in that.

Instead of falling into black
nothingness, I landed on what felt like a cushioned bench. Slowly, with a
strange creak, the bench started moving sideways and down. I gave a tiny cry
and gripped the sides for dear life.

This was unlike any elevator I
had ever ridden before.

“How is it?” I heard Lanca’s
distant voice call, but I was too busy gasping in shock to respond. We were
moving pretty fast, but the ride still took a while. The elevator seemed to
know where I was going, and there was just enough room for me to breathe and
lift my head, but not much else. I was in a black container in a vampire
mountain and by the time I reached the other end I wasn’t sure it was very much
better than being attacked by a Knight.

The elevator came gently into a
small room that reminded me, I’m sorry to say, of a morgue, where the bodies
are kept in freezers and then pulled out on massive trays.

“You look like death warmed
over,” Lisabelle commented. She was already standing with Sip and her parents,
looking very happy.

“I was thinking about a morgue,”
I told them, sure that my eyes were huge.

“You really must stop being so
morbid,” Lisabelle chided me.

“Yes, she’s the one who has that
problem,” said Sip.

I looked around the room. There
were several slides for elevators, all covered with black cushions. The walls
were painted a dull brown and the carpet on the floor was also black, but
somehow the room wasn’t really depressing. The more I looked around, the more I
realized that the impression of a morgue had come more from my morbid imagination
than from what was actually there.

“Lanca coming?” Lisabelle asked,
glancing worriedly behind me.

“Here I am,” said Lanca, emerging
through a door.

“I took the long way round,” she
said, by way of explaining why she hadn’t used the lift like the rest of us.
“It’s my mountain, so I can,” she said when Lisabelle continued to stare at
her.

“Now, where were we?”

“You were about to explain why
you snuck out and risked getting killed to meet us,” said Lisabelle. “We’re
honored, but we were doing fine. At least I was. Sip was struggling a bit.”

“Yes, showing up looking battered
and on a broom - not the plan - makes you seem really fine,” Lanca drawled. She
was the only one who could match Lisabelle for sarcasm. Or at least almost
match.

“Mr. and Mrs. Quest,” said Lanca,
turning to Sip’s parents. “You must be very tired from your journey. Allow me
to show you to your quarters.”

Mr. Quest looked like he was
about to argue, but Mrs. Quest stopped him.

“Darling,” she said, “I think we
have a lot to learn. Chief among those items is not to underestimate our
daughter again.”

Sip’s shoulders straightened a
little with pride.

“Mom, Dad, don’t worry. We’ll be
fine,” Sip assured her parents.

Hyder shook his head. “You are
all barely more than children. How can you possibly think you know what you’re
doing?”

“We’re the ones with the
responsibility,” said Lanca simply. “How does it make sense that senior
paranormals understand our positions better than we do, when we are the ones
who must live them?”

“You cannot underestimate
experience,” said Hyder loftily. “Your elders should be able to advise you on
matters of. . . .”

Lanca’s eyes flashed. “They have
done nothing but advise me. They certainly do think they know what’s best for
me, but here’s the thing,” she said, stepping forward. “I am the princess. I
will be queen of the Rapier sect that commands Vampire Locke. I decide.”

The Lanca I knew, the beautiful
and confident college student, was gone. In her place was a queen, harder,
colder, more beautiful and more confident in her deadly abilities. I had some
adjusting to do. We all did.

“I will discuss matters that are
important to me with the people I trust. I don’t care what their age is, or
mine. If I’m the one expected to make the decision, I will make it however I
like.”

“Dad,” said Sip.

“Never mind,” Hyder snapped,
storming out of the room. “Get yourselves killed.”

Helen gave a helpless look, but
followed her husband.

“I’ll show them where to go and
then come back for you,” said Lanca, not remotely ruffled by Hyder’s outburst.

“So, this is an interesting
development,” said Sip. “And we were worried we wouldn’t see Lanca at all.”

“I don’t like it,” said
Lisabelle, shaking her head.

“What’s to like? She has to sneak
around her own mountain,” said Sip, shaking her head. “She has handlers and
they don’t want her talking to us. That’s bad. On the other hand, we have a
friend who has a mountain!”

“It’s way worse than that,” said
Lough from the doorway. Lough Loughphton stood framed by the little light that
came from the hallway behind him. He had blond hair, a round face, and bright
red cheeks. He smiled easily and laughed even more easily than that. Lough was
a sophomore with Sip and me, in the Airlee dorm. He was one of only two dream
givers on campus. Unfortunately, the other dream giver, Trafton Rooks, was also
in love, or at least in extreme like, with Lisabelle. Luckily, Trafton had
decided to go surfing instead of attending Lanca’s coronation.

“Yay!” Sip cried happily, racing
forward.

“It’s about time,” said
Lisabelle, moving at a slower pace.

“Nice to see you,” I said. The
four of us hugged as one, Lough wrapping his chunky arms around the three of
us. His cheeks were still rosy and he still had that lovely smile. He tried
hard to hide his love for Lisabelle, but when he pulled back and looked at us
it was obvious that seeing her warmed his heart. It made me miss my own
warm-hearted boyfriend.

“Sorry,” he said. “Lanca just
sent word that you were here and that she was meeting you and that secrecy was
necessary.”

“Do you know why?” Sip asked
worriedly.

“No,” said Lough, “But I know
that since her father’s death she hasn’t been left alone. I’m pretty sure she
has a body double in her room or something. I have no idea how she managed to
get away.”

“Are there other darkness mages
here?” Lisabelle asked. “Is she afraid of something?”

“There are darkness mages
everywhere,” said Lough. “Like, loads of them. I’ve never seen so many crabby
people in my life.”

When Lisabelle glared, Lough said
quickly, “None as crabby as you, though.”

“Where are they all staying?”
Lisabelle pressed.

“No,” Sip cut in. “Lisabelle, you
are not seeking them out.”

Lisabelle rolled her eyes. “I
have to talk to them at some point.”

“Fine, but I’m going with you,”
said Sip, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Yes, that’s a good idea, take
the angry werewolf to see the crazy darkness mages. Couldn’t possibly go
badly.”

“I forgot about their bickering,”
said Lanca, coming back into the room and looking at me with another small,
tentative smile. “I have not had much reason to smile recently.”

“I’m sure you’ll remember quickly
now,” I said.

“I’m delighted to amuse you,”
said Lisabelle. “Don’t you have some explaining to do?”

Lanca sighed. “Yes, let’s go for
a walk.”

“Can’t we just go to our rooms?”
Lough asked. “They could really use a shower.”

“Excuse me?” said Lisabelle,
pushing one dirty lock of hair out of her face and pretending to be offended.

“We can’t go to your rooms,
because your rooms have been bugged,” said Lanca patiently, as if she was
talking to stupid children.

“That won’t last long,” Lisabelle
muttered darkly. “Rude.” I could see some magic in the form of bug-destroying
in Lisabelle’s near future.

I shifted. Vampire Locke was not
a comfortable and welcoming home like Sip’s or Public. It was more like a
prison. I didn’t like the idea that even my own room was ruled by enemies.

“Only tamper with them if you can
make it so that no one realizes I warned you,” said Lanca tiredly. “I don’t
want to tip anyone off that I know how closely I’m being watched.”

“Wait, you don’t mean there are
bugs in your room as well?”

“The Rapiers have very
sophisticated monitoring systems at Vampire Locke,” said Lanca. “There are no
rules like the ones at Public about not spying on paranormals.”

“But you’re the future queen,” I
said, pointing out the obvious, worried now for Lanca’s safety. “Don’t you have
a say?”

“Just follow me,” she commanded,
and glided away. The four of us exchanged looks and followed her. “We have a
lot to discuss.”

“This is even worse than I
thought it would be,” Lough muttered.

“Imagine exactly how bad it can
be,” said Lisabelle. “You are a dream giver, so you should have a healthy
imagination, and then picture it as much worse. You still probably aren’t
close.”

“You don’t really think Lanca is
in danger from other vampires, do you?” Sip demanded.

Lanca was leading us through
corridors and down dimly lit halls. We never saw another vampire. We never even
heard other living creatures.

“Of course she’s in danger from
other vampires,” said Lisabelle. “She’s the main source of power for vampires
in their own caste system. The Raors and the Radvarious would love to see the
Rapiers crumble. Her father’s murder was the start of that process, or so they
hope.”

We continued to follow Lanca, or
rather, the sound of her footsteps, because long ago we had stopped being able
to see her. We were spiraling downwards, and the further we went the warmer,
closer, and darker it got. The dank smell of mold and wet hair hung around us
and I wanted to cover my mouth, but I didn’t dare.

“Pretty sure my mom was right to
be worried,” said Sip grimly.

“Your mom is smart,” said
Lisabelle. “That’s why she wants you to stay away from me.”

Sip looked genuinely hurt.

“Mom doesn’t understand,” Sip
said hotly.

Finally, we came to a rock wall.
We had to get really close to even see that that’s what it was, because there
was no light. “Oh good,” said Lisabelle. “End of the line.”

“Almost,” Lanca murmured.