Entanglements (37 page)

The room fell silent but for the ticking of the grandfather clock in the corner of the library. After a few moments, my silence produced an irritated huff from the prince.

“Perhaps,” the prince said, rising, “if you accompany me on a charitable mission I am about to attend to, you will understand just how dire our situation is here in Dorcha.”

“Ummm.” Crap. Prince Leopold wanted me to leave the palace with him. So much for the rendezvous with Gethin...and our escape...and reaching the portal in time... “Your highness, I am very tired. Perhaps tomorrow?”

The prince stared at me with narrowed eyes. “This will not take long, Come.” His voice, although soft, held a hint of menace.

At an impatient wave of his hand, I stood and followed him. Outside the library Eugene waited like a sentry. The prince strode by him without pause.

“The royal carriage awaits you, Highness.” Eugene scurried to keep up.

I had to move my feet double time not to get left behind as well.

“What of tonight's recipients of the Prince's Trust Beneficence Society?” Prince Leopold asked.

“They are gathered at the East End location you specified.”

“Excellent.” The prince trotted down the magnificent staircase Rom and I had climbed earlier and into the entry hall.

A closed carriage, black with intricate gilded filigree at its edges and along its top, pulled by four huge horses, awaited us in the courtyard.

A ghoul liveryman assisted us up the steps and inside where the interior was luxuriously appointed. The minute my butt hit the leather seats, the horses were off at a dash. As the carriage left the palace grounds and began moving along the mall, I noticed a group lining the route. They cheered as we passed.

Prince Leopold waved to one side.

“The subjects I'm taking you to see are among the most miserable of the realm.” He turned and directed his wave to the opposite side. “They are illegitimate.”

“I don't understand.”

“They are bastard children of the aristocracy.”

“Vampires can have children?” I asked, confused.

“After a fashion,” he said with a wry smile. “A vampire is considered illegitimate if created without royal sanction.”

“I see.” I didn't see at all but it seemed like the thing to say.

“The requirement of royal sanction is part of my efforts to keep down population growth and therefore prevent famine.”

The carriage turned off the mall and I gripped the side to keep from falling against the prince opposite me.

“However, accidents apparently will happen and bastard vampires are created despite my best efforts,” the prince noted. “Nevertheless, be assured that violators of the royal edict were punished.”

I had no doubt of that.

After a few more turns, the coachman brought the carriage to a halt and the door opened. Prince Leopold hopped out. My emergence was a bit more hesitant.

The surroundings I found myself in were grubby. This was by far the poorest neighborhood I'd seen in this dimension. The buildings appeared to be crumbling around their inhabitants and the smells turned my stomach.

A group of rag-wearing vampires numbering about twenty huddled together in front of a church. They applauded as the prince passed. We entered the church building where we found about fifty more equally pathetic undead. I took in one male who appeared so gaunt he seemed about to collapse in on himself.

If I had thought the vampires at the ball looked upon me as a meal, this horde gazed at me with ravenous hunger. Many licked their lips. When one on my right gave a weak, snarling growl, the prince fixed the offender with a glare. The vampire sank back, disappearing behind others.

“You see? These poor wretches are nearing starvation.” He surveyed the group. “Only my charity stands between them and oblivion. If nothing changes, if I cannot open a new world to our exploration, this will also be the fate of the royal court. This could ultimately be my fate.”

His speech was very like the one I'd seen in the television commercial with that has-been celebrity trying to interest viewers in sponsoring a hungry child in a third world country.

The vampires we'd seen outside filed into the church. Once more I had the impression of the mass of them closing in on me. Prince Leopold must have sensed they were on the verge of attack also because he turned to whisper to a ghoul I recognized as Lt. Colonel Bryan. The officer bowed in response and barked out his own orders.

A group of ten uniformed ghoul soldiers surrounded me. My not-so-human shields. I hoped they would be strong enough to hold off the bastards if they decided to storm us.

After striding through the nave to the altar, the prince wheeled about to address the group.

“My loyal subjects,” he intoned. “On this anniversary of my ascension to the throne, I come here to tell you your monarch sees your misery. What is more, I come to offer hope. In the coming days the Empire will commence exploration of a new world with new opportunities for food production. Thus, your days of hunger are coming to an end.”

His words were met with wild applause. Once the clapping and hooting had faded, the prince continued. “Nevertheless, I recognize that until the exploration I speak of can be fully realized, you are in need.”

He waved a hand toward the guard at the entry. The ghoul opened the door. A uniformed ogre entered leading six humans: four men and two women. As they filed in, something struck me about their manner. Each human walked as if in a trance, more zombies than living people.

An excited groaning commenced from the starving vampires. The hissing and twitching I'd observed earlier with the aristocrats came next.

“I offer you the best of our royal food storehouses,” the prince proclaimed with a wide sweeping of his arms.

A sound rose up that was a cross between cheering and slurping.

Lt. Colonel Bryan issued orders to the vampires to form a line. The first vampire in line, the gaunt male I'd seen earlier, was brought forward to a human woman. The vampire grasped her, bending her so that her neck was exposed to him. He reared back and his fang incisors visibly lengthened before he struck, biting at her neck. The woman gave no reaction but instead stood placidly in his embrace with no change in her expression.

One by one five more vampires were led to their feast. Soon, a guard tapped the first vampire charity case. The vamp released his victim with obvious reluctance and was replaced with the next in line.

My eyes remained riveted as the human soup kitchen continued. So intent was my concentration that I failed to notice the Prince Leopold's approach.

Would these humans become vampires too? Or ghouls?

I must have spoken aloud because the prince answered my question. “The livestock transformed?” The prince's eyebrows arched in surprise. “Of course not. A blood exchange from the parent is required to create a new vampire.” He waved a hand dismissively. “And a ghoul is created by an entirely different process.”

“Why don't the humans fight, protest, react...something?”

“Because they feel nothing,” he informed me. “They are in stasis. Gethin has devised the most humane food production and distribution processes possible.”

“Humane?”

“Of course. Have I not said they feel nothing? They know no fear, no pain.”

Now I knew how the cattle at the slaughterhouse felt. Oh God get me out of here and I'll be a strict vegetarian from now on, I promised silently.

“Where did they come from?”

“We've instituted a state-of-the-art feedlot system,” the prince said, puffing out his chest with pride. “The only downside is that due to the lack of supply, such a system makes the resulting product very expensive.”

One-by-one the orphan vampires continued to feed. The sounds of the sucking almost made me retch.

“Well, have you had time to decide whether to accept my offer?” the prince asked after a few moments. “My offer regarding your return home?”

I tried to produce a smile but it came out as more of a grimace. “I would like to think over what you’ve said and talk to Rom.”

“Consider further if you will.” The prince's eyes blazed as he met mine “But do not take too long. Remember, if you do not provide a solution to our hunger problems through the portal, you and your friends can always join the food line.”

He waved a hand at the line of vampires each waiting their turn at a human meal and I knew he meant we'd be the food.

* * * * *

I returned to my guestroom in the palace to find Rom there pacing along with Billy. They’d both changed their clothes.

“I hope this is good, Taylor.” Billy gave a nasty sneer.

Rom grabbed him by the throat. “I tire of you,” he growled.

“Stop it, both of you,” I shouted, retrieving my own clothes out of the wardrobe. “We don’t have time for this macho bull.” Ducking behind the screen in the corner, I began to change. “Gethin, the wizard, offered to help us escape.”

“What does he seek in return?” Rom asked.

“He wants a one-way ticket out of Dorcha through our portal. What else?” After slipping on the jeans I tugged on the t-shirt.

“Give it to him,” Billy said. “Anything to get out of this nightmare.”

“I’ve already told him it’s a go.” I pulled on my jacket and walked back into the room. “We meet him in the stables.” I glanced at the watch. “In about ten minutes.”

And a good thing too. Only four hours, forty-eight minutes, sixteen seconds until there wouldn’t be a one-way ticket out of Dorcha for anyone.

Sitting on the bed, I pulled on my sneakers and quickly tied them as Billy cracked the door open and peeked out. He motioned to us to come. Rom and I followed him out. At the end of the hall we made a turn toward a back staircase and came face-to-face with a uniformed ghoul. The ghoul made no move to question us. After a moment of hesitation, we continued down.

As we proceeded through halls and the kitchen we passed numerous ghouls, orgres and sundry creatures I couldn’t identify. None of them stopped or questioned us. While I felt grateful to be unimpeded in getting to the stables, the ease of our movements also concerned me. I hoped it meant the prince was so confident in his perimeter security he didn’t care what we did in the palace.

The stables, called the royal mews, consisted of an enormous structure with beautiful wood arches over the stalls and at intervals down the center aisle. After entry, we passed two royal carriages but no horses until we reached the fifth stall. There a chestnut peered back at us with big brown eyes.

“Awww sweet.” Automatically, I reached out a hand.

“Do not touch him,” Gethin ordered, striding toward us from the end of the mews. “That horse bites. It’s vampiric.”

Snatching back my hand I moved quickly away from the cute blood sucking horsey. I’d never look at my childhood Black Beauty stuffed toy the same way ever again.

“They are all vampires.” Gethin made a sweeping motion with his arm, indicating the other stalls and I noted that about half of them enclosed horses.

“Where’s Juliette?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Billy added. “Where?”

“This way.” Gethin waved us back towards the stall he’d just come from. Inside, was the cart with Juliette’s cube still atop it.

“I thought you were going to break the spell and get her out of there.”