Alyxandra Harvey

“The sound of carriage wheels and horses was faint,seeming more distant than they actually were. Drops of water clung to the wool of my dress and my cloak, the men dragging in the grass. We were in a soft cocoon.It might have been romantic.If it wasn't for all the dead bodies.And the faint scratch of a footstep.”

“I hauled myself over as if I were mounting a horse. Which I'd never actually done before.Needless to say, it was hardly a graceful affair.”

“And though Xavier was handsome and well-to-do, he had one major flaw.He wasn't Colin.”

“I slammed the door shut before we had a cold buffet in the front corridor. The shouts grew louder, denied their target. If I had better aim I'd have opened the door and tossed it all right back at them. But with my luck I'd hit the sleeping baby or an innocent old grandmother out for her morning constitution. And then we'd be dragged through the streets for certain. Dread uncurled in the pit of my stomach."Is that cabbage?" Colin asked, coming out of the dining room. Listening to the raised voices, he reached for the doorknob, frowning. I caught his hand. "Don't.""Whyever not?"I raised an eyebrow. "You'll get a rotted meat tart in the eye for your trouble,that's why.”

“He shrugged one shouler, looked away. "It's not so bad,not really.""Why do you stay?" I asked quietly. "Is it because your mother mentioned me?""I knew I shouldn't have told you that," he muttered."What did she say, Colin?"He didn't answer right away. "Colin?"He sighed, raked a hand through his hair. "She spoke of a girl with violet eyes.That's all.""Do you still miss her?""Aye." He came closer."Is that why you stay? To honor her memory? Even though my mother is horrid?"His eyes locked onto mine. "I stay for you, Violet."I suddenly felt warm all over. "For me?”

“You are beautiful as always, Violet," he murmured. His parents smiled at us from where they sat sipping wine. There. Every single one of us was smiling.It was all very pleasant, even if my cheeks were starting to hurt.”

“Me own mam saw things," he said, looking at the fire as if she might be there behind it. "And they always came true. She didn't say anything about spirits. She just called it the Second Sight. Said it was hereditary and dangerous sometimes,if you didn't take care.""Do you have it? Do you see things?"He shook his head."Colin." If he thought I was going to be fobbed off with a vague reply, the day's events had clearly addled his wits. He had to know I had no intention of letting this lie."She told me about a girl with violet eyes," he said quietly, rising to his feet.I looked up at him, startled. "She did?""Aye." He nodded. "I should go." He stalked toward the door, opening it slightly to make sure the hallway was deserted. His hair was still damp, tousled. I couldn't help but remember the weight of his body pressing me into the grass."Colin?" I said quietly."I have to go." He didn't turn around.The door closed behind him.”

“I blinked at him. "What does salt have to do with any of this?""It protects you from evil.""Salt?" Disbelief all but dripped from my voice. I couldn't help it. "Table salt? How is seasoning myself going to help? This isn't a dinner party.”

“We'd been waltzing and eating tea cakes with a murderer.”

“Finally, my mother's training will be put to good use. Never mind finding an eligible bachelor, I mean to find a murderer.”

“R," Elizabeth breathed. "For what? Rheumatism? Retinue? Richard the Third?"The planchette continued to move, torward the O."Romantic? It's going to tell us our husband's name! Or else...rotund." She paused. "Is it calling us fat?"W."Someone's going to have a row?”

“I'd seen elevated social mamas do far worse in the name of securing a husband for their daughters. An eldery, gray-curled grandmother once tripped an eligible bachelor on his way to the gaming table so he would fall at her granddaughter's satin-slippered feet. Instead he'd landed on a footman and broken his arm.”

“It wasn't my most fashionable dress, but anyone who called for me at nine o-clock in the bloody morning would have to take what he was given.”

“Isn't he utterly divine? Beautiful?""Somehow,I think he'd disagree with that last one." And not enough with the first."All right," she waved her dismissively. "Handsome then. Do you think he noticed me?""We were sprawled in a heap of twitching limbs and lace at his feet. He would have had to have been unconscious not to notice us."She wrinkled her nose. "I meant,do you think he noticed I'm nearly on the Marriage Mart now?"I didn't know how to reply. I didn't want to hurt her feelings,but I wasn't sure Frederic noticed anything other than cards and port.He was twenty years old,after all,and quite wealthy. He was acting exactly as he was expected to.Her cheeks were red. "We should return before Mother wonders where we've gone off to.Heaven forbid we might be somewhere enjoying ourselves!”

“I can't breathe. I'm joing the Rational Dress Society the very moment we are back in London,and I fully intend to leave their pamphlets under Mother's pillow and tucked into her corsets.”

“I turned my attention back to the tal, handsome footman who was waiting patiently for me to take his hand and descend out of the plush carriage. Colin looked at me blandly. I knew perfectly well that he was remembering last spring when I stumbled out of a hired hack and sprawled, rather spectacularly, into a muddy puddle.”

“Traveling all alone,are you?" One of them asked with what could be described only as a leer worthy of any penny dreadful.Blast."Let me pass," I demanded. Where the devil was everyone?"There's a toll,love," he insisted. "Didn't you know?"We were well hidden by the luggage and a shroud of steam,thick as London fog. The third boy looked uncomfortable, as if he wanted to stop his companions but didn't know how. Fat lot of good his squirming would do me."Give us a kiss,then.”

“Mother was delicate the way badgers were delicate.”

“I was usually hungry enough to eat what I was given without comment, but if the Earl served boiled tongue or calves' foot jelly, I fully intended to wrap it in my napkin and hide it in the nearest umbrella stand.”

“Come to rob my sister then,have you?""Certainly not," Mother replied, her smile brittle."This fashion for talking to the dead is pure poppycock,if you ask me.Dead is dead.""Agatha,that's rude even for you," Mrs. Gordon said."Shall we begin,Mrs. Willoughby, before my sister's abominable manners drive you clear away?”

“Tucking my nose into a book makes me completely oblivious to my surroundings. I would have made a terrible spy in the army--the first person to hand me a novel would have been able to shoot my head clean off without me noticing.”

“I pulled open my window and leaned out. “Are you daft?” I whispered loudly.He bowed extravagantly, deeply, his dark tousled hair falling over his brow. “Such poetry, my lady.”

“It would have been perfect if my grandfather hadn't interrupted us.”

“The sky was as blue and delicate as a porcelain teacup, and the hills rolled gently in all directions, intersected occasionally with the silver ribbon of a river.”

“Yeah.You got me through”

“If we act like prey, they’ll act like predators”

“Her eyes went so wide they nearly bulged. It was probably wrong of me to find that amusing. Or to want to take a photo of Nicholas with his fangs out and wearing a black cape lined with red satin and then hang it over my pillow in a heart-shaped frame.”

“Solange and all her irritating brothers could get themselves killed without me. I deserved to be part of their clandestine plans. I'd earned it. And I was sure they'd need a human touch at some point. And if they asked Hunter to help instead of me, I'd stake every last one of them myself.Mom says jealousy is unattractive.So's a broken nose.I'm just saying.”

“It seems only fair," Matthew continued. "A bit of karma, if you will." He twirled the stake again. "Shall we see how long you scream?""Are you ever going to shut up?" I snapped, fear and irritation filling me in equal measures. "This isn't your monologue, Hamlet. It's the battle scene, in case you've forgotten."His eyes narrowed so fast they nearly sparked. They were the color of honey on fire. One of the others growled like an animal, low in his throat. It made all the hairs on my arms stand straight up.I was going to die for making fun of Shakespeare.My English Lit professor would be so proud.”

“With great hotness comes great responsibility.”

“My brothers are idiots.Anyone can see that under the scars and the attitude, Isabeau is more fragile than she looks. And as a reclusive Hound princess, her first introduction to the royal family shouldn’t be a dose of Hypnos and four idiots gawking at her.If I’d managed not to gawk, they sure as hell could have. She was beautiful, fierce, and utterly unlike anyone I’d ever known.It was really hard not to gawk.Much better to pace outside her door with one of our Bouviers sitting at the top of the stairs watching me curiously.“This sucks, Boudicca,” I told her. “I don’t think we inherited Dad’s diplomacy.”She laid her chin on her paws. I could have sworn she rolled her eyes.”

“Can I give you a word of advice?" Lucy asked."I suppose so.""You have a great French accent. If a guy asks you to wear a French maid's costume, kick him in the shin.""Especially if it's one of my brothers" Solange agreed.”

“I might have been more worried if I hadn't been defending myself against six brothers my whole life. And if I didn't have a mother who thought she was a ninja.”

“How did you know it wasn't really me?""Are you kidding? Your eyeballs could be on fire and you wouldn't bat your lashes at me like that.”

“You are precious" I insisted. "Stubborn and secretive and independent to a fault, but precious.”

“What got you through?" I whispered. "Do you remember?"He nodded but wouldn't look at me. When he didn't elaborate, I turned to face him. "What? Is it a secret? Don't I know all the Drake secrets by now?"He shifted uncomfortably. "I guess""What then?""You"I swallowed, stunned. "Me?""Yeah" He stood up and went to the door, where he paused for the barest second. "You got me through".”

“I paused, folding the top corner of the page to keep my place. My dad used to wince every time he saw me do that, but I think books should be loved to pieces. They should be as worn and soft as flannel.""Chapter 2 Christabel, page 24”

“Never mind that I totally knew more about fighting vampires than my peace-loving parents. Or that Logan's girlfriend, Isabeau, had given us two full-grown, trained Rottweilers to protect us, plus the Drakes sent their human bodyguards by a couple of times a night. I named them Van Helsing and Gandhi. The dogs, not the bodyguards.""Chapter 1 Lucy, page 15”

“You’ll have to turn your back.”He turned slowly. The view from the back was just as good as the view from the front. I could practically hear Lucy snickering in the back of my head. I might be the vampire daughter, but she was the one who was a bad influence. No question.”

“Love is the best revenge”

“Where's Lucy?" I asked the others."At the farmhouse," Nicholas said with grim satisfaction."How'd you manage that?""She's in a closet." Solange rolled her eyes.I stared at Nicholas. "You locked your girlfriend in a closet? Smooth.""She's going to eviscerate him," Quinn said cheerfully.”

“Very possibly this was the night my white-knight complex, as Solange put it, would get me killed. Someone had better write a poem about it. It was only fair.”

“I can do this, Logan," she said confidently. "Kala trained me for this.""What if something goes wrong? I can't exactly wave a magic wand over you. I'm not Harry Potter.""Who?""Never mind.”

“Exactly. These guys just want me to play Snow White singing in her little cottage while they do all the work.'Lucy snorted. 'Snow White and the Seven Buttheads. You could give Disney a run for their money.'Nicholas poked her in the ribs. 'I am not a singing dwarf!''No, you're a butthead. Weren't you paying attention?”

“Do we have a plan?''We fight like hell.''Good plan.”

“Nice dress. Can you breathe in that thing?”I smoothed the front of my dress. “It would be much more fun to wear if it wasn’t what I was going to be buried in.”“You are not going to be buried.” He paused, lifted the clothes up suspiciously.“Vampires don’t bury their victims,” he added distractedly.“Hey, looking for comfort here.”

“You look like you belong in a bad comic book,” I told him cheerfully.----------------------“What did the Drakes do that’s got you all pissy?”“Pissy? Did you just call me pissy?”

“Hart and Hope,” I muttered. “If you’re going to name your kids like that, of course they’re going to think they live in a comic book.”

“Your eyes.”“What? What?” I scrubbed at them violently, horrified at the thought they might have those gross goopy things at the edges. Or were they even more bloodshot? I’d heard of that happening, where the whites ran with blood.“I think . . . the color’s changing.” He paused. “Is that even possible?”“Is that all? Now you’re the one scaring the crap out of me.”

“I blinked, pushing myself up into a sitting position. I felt less like a truck had run over me and then backed up to make sure the job was done properly. Now it felt as if the truck had hit me only once.”