The Princess and the Bootlegger

Celine pondered on what the little goblin kidnapper had said as she weaved through the crowd of carnival goers in search of funnel cake. It gave her a sense of creeping dread to think that someone else was out there hunting for her now. The wolf pack was bad enough. Her mind wandered to Brutus’s killer and the fact that someone else may have seen her leaving the morgue. Someone who bought heavy chains in their spare time and was capable of snapping the head off a full grown, hundred year old werewolf. A chill skittered down her spine as her mind began conjuring up ways such a killer might twist and tear a dhampir body. Or a human one.

“Hey, are you okay?”

Kade’s voice made her jump. “What?”

“You look like you just swallowed a spider,” Kade said. “Are you sure the goblin magic didn’t have a side effect or something?”

“No, I…I was just thinking. Sorry. What about you? The spell threw you pretty hard. You don’t have a concussion or anything do you?” She leaned up to study his face before he could say anything.

“I’m fine, I promise. There’s a stand there for your weird cake thing.”

Her mood lifting slightly, Celine scurried over and bought a funnel cake covered with powdered sugar and strawberries and whipped cream. She got two forks and presented it to Kade with a flourish. He raised an eyebrow, looking from the cake to her and back again.

“It’s a sugary snack, not a snake. Just try it.”

“I’m not-mmph.”

Celine stuffed a forkful of fried dough in his mouth to silence his protesting.

“See, I told you it was good,” she said as Kade finally managed to finish chewing the massive bite she’d given him. “Admit it.”

“I prefer not to admit to anything under duress.”

“Fine, if you don’t like it I guess I can just throw the extra fork away and eat it all myself.”

Kade snatched the fork out of her hand. Celine smirked and flicked some whipped cream at his nose, suppressing a giggle when he scowled at her and wiped it off. They polished off the funnel cake, and then Kade caught her off guard by asking if she wanted to stay a while. She glanced at him in surprise.

“If you don’t mind,” she said, almost shy. He was a surprisingly good sport about following her as she flit around the carnival like a kid on Christmas. She had expected him to complain the whole time, but he didn’t say anything even when she rode the carousel three times in a row. On her fourth spin, she dragged him with her and only then did he grumble a little.

“Come on, I know it’s not exactly smoking fairy tobacco with a bunch of shapeshifters but I promise it’ll be fun.”

He sighed and relented to being tugged onto the carousel and followed her as she looked for the horse she wanted. He sighed again and climbed onto the one next to her.

“I hope you know I look ridiculous,” he said.

“I was aware of that,” Celine replied, giving him a cheeky smile. He rolled his eyes. As was her custom, Celine saved the ferris wheel for last. She could never resist getting a view of the whole carnival. The cart was fairly small, and she tried to keep a little distance between the two of them. But as soon as they lurched up to the very top Celine felt her stomach do a little flip flop.

“I guess you still get nervous on the ferris wheel, huh?” Kade asked quietly. Celine blushed when she realized she had scooted more toward the middle of the bench and gripped Kade’s arm. She hadn't even been aware of doing it. She slid back to her side, cheeks bright pink.

“Sorry,” she said quickly. “I just get a little jittery with heights.”

“It’s okay. You can hold onto my arm if you want.”

She regarded him for a moment before edging back closer to him, linking her arm with his. “I’m impressed. I was expecting you to follow that up with some kind of lewd pick up line.”

“Well, I mean, if you want to hold onto anything else of mine, you’re welcome to that too.”

Celine surprised herself by laughing instead of rolling her eyes or pushing him away. She had surprised him even more, judging from the expression on his face. Their cart finished its first rotation and lurched upward again, and Celine found herself pressing close to his side, but she still peeked over the side this time to take in the view. They were suspended up in the air for a few moments, and she gazed down at the lights and movement below them.

“I always get nervous but I still have to look,” she said. “I’m not sure if that makes me brave or stupid.”

“I’ve gotten that a lot.”

A gust of wind rocked the cart as they began to descend again and Celine let out a tiny yelp of surprise, her fingers lacing with Kade’s. She expected him to pull away. It was one thing to jokingly flirt with a girl who was half monster; another entirely to have her cling to you like a startled cat. But he didn’t move and her stomach did another little flip flop that she didn’t really want to think too hard about. They disembarked and her hand was still in his as he helped her out.

“Um, thank you,” she said, her face warm again.

“Don’t mention it.”

The cab ride back to the hotel was spent in silence, though it felt oddly comfortable instead of like they were just ignoring each other. Celine was still worried about whoever had paid the goblin to kidnap her, but she decided she’d panic tomorrow. When they returned to their suite, Kade flopped down on the loveseat while Celine arranged her seashells on the vanity.

“So, you said you used to go to carnivals with your mom?” he asked hesitantly.

“My mother was human, you know,” Celine said softly. “Dhampirs are somewhat rare, for some reason a human and a vampire usually can’t produce offspring. Some people don’t want a baby who’s half monster, so sometimes they surrender them, or sometimes they’ll just kill dhampir babies. I’ve heard that drowning them is the most common method.” She saw Kade grimace slightly in the reflection. She finished with her shells and went to sit on the bed, curling her legs up. “But my mom wasn’t like that. She was…amazing. She was beautiful, and she loved to sing, like me. She loved my father, even if he was a vampire. I think he loved her too, honestly. He sent Emile to take care of us; sometimes vampires hire dhampirs for things since we can go out during the day.

My mom loved having a daughter, and she spoiled me. I grew up in this beautiful house and she painted my room with roses and moons. We were inseparable. But of course, plenty of humans don’t like dhampirs and vampires. I don’t know if you ever heard about the mobs that began attacking non-humans for a few weeks, around cities like Beaumonte and Ives. It was about thirteen years ago. People knew my mom had a dhampir daughter, so one of the mobs came for us. For me. My mom tried to stop them, and they killed her. Emile saved me.”

“I’m…sorry, Celine. I’m surprised you don’t seem that hostile toward humans, after that.”

“I wanted to hate humans at first,” she admitted. “They took my mom, and all she was doing was trying to protect me. But when I tried to tell myself I hated them all, I’d always just picture my mom, singing me lullabies or playing hide and seek. And I never actually had it in me to hate humans. My mom was the best person in the world, and she was human. And she wouldn’t want me to turn bitter and mean. And I’ve seen vampires do terrible things, and werewolves and even fairies. But I’m both, human and monster. So I understand them both enough to care about them despite them hating each other.

That’s why I don’t want to send Christophe to put down MacIntosh’s pack, and why I want to find out who killed Brutus; especially if they plan to kill anyone else.” She glanced briefly at Kade before looking back down at her hands. “And that’s why I warned you about the pack coming after you. I know we’re not exactly friends; I’m pretty sure you don’t actually even like me. But I didn’t…I couldn’t just…I mean, it would prey on my conscience to know I just let someone die for something they didn’t do.” She cleared her throat, hopping off the bed.

“I’m gonna get ready for bed,” she said, speeding to the bathroom to hide her awkwardness. She undid her hair and washed her face, shimmying into her nightgown and robe before stepping back out. She went to brush out her hair while Kade disappeared into the bathroom. While he was gone, she glanced over at the sad little loveseat and sighed. She set her brush down and took Kade’s two pillows and the sheet and put them back on the bed, smoothing out the blanket and fluffing the pillows.

Kade emerged and stopped short, raising his eyebrows. “What, I don’t get any pillows now?”

“You can sleep on the bed.”

“Beg pardon?”

“You’re right, okay, the loveseat is too small. So, you can stay in the bed. On your side, over there.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes, Kade, I’m serious.”

He approached reluctantly at first, as though expecting her to change her mind. When she made no move to stop him, he relaxed a little and circled to the other side of the bed. Celine took off her robe, tossing it over the vanity chair, feeling mildly self conscious in her sleepwear. She slid under the covers.

“Am I allowed to use the blanket too?”

“Yes, Kade.”

“Do I get a bedtime story?”

“Good night.” Celine clicked off her lamp and he chuckled quietly. She snuggled down under the covers, curling up into a little ball.

“Oh, and Kade?” she said softly.

“Yes?”

“I wanted to say thank you. For paying off Fobble to save me. I promise when this is all over I’ll pay you back.”

He was quiet for a moment. “Maybe we should just call it even.”