Page 18 of Little Doll

“Nova, your brother Draven does not know,” Cleo said. “And he must never know.”

I groaned. “Know what?” I snapped. “About the curse? What curse? What are you all on about? You say you’ll explain everything, well get on with it. ‘There is a curse,’ hardly explains a thing.”

Arcane, still absentmindedly stroking her own neck, seemed to have composed herself somewhat. “There is a lot to tell you, Nova. Please be patient. This was never supposed tohappen.” She gave me a pleading gaze, her sparkling eyes threatening to cry again.

Shadows crossed Cleo’s face, and her eyelids drooped as though she were weary. She shifted in her seat, making herself more comfortable to settle in. Watching her transported me back to my childhood when Cleo would read from big leather-bound books by the fire, telling us stories at night before bed. I felt small again, gazing into my grandmother’s tired eyes. I felt alien. I felt ashamed of my behavior since awaking from my troubled, sick sleep.

“The Westminster bloodline spans back untold generations,” Cleo began. “In fact, our lineage is so old that it began in the days of magic. A time when myths were real and fairy tales were true.”

Fane’s hand slipped around mine and I rested my head upon his shoulder, captivated by our grandmother’s slow and even voice.

“But it was also a time of monsters. Things you only hear of in whispers now. Vampires.”

My body tensed at the mention of the dark word. Fane squeezed my hand and stroked it with his thumb.

“It was also a time of great passions and high, frantic energy. So, people would feud. Humans and dark forces clashed. Little is known about what sparked the curse on the Westminster family. It was so long ago. But as a result of thefeud, the Westminsters fell victim to a threat of becoming a vampire. Most of our ancestors were unaffected and remained blissfully unaware. But for a few… The curse was very real.”

“What is the curse?” I whispered, prodding Grandmother softly along.

“Any Westminster who tastes the blood of another before their 18th birthday is through will transform into a vampire. Any who makes it past their 18th birthday and never tastes the blood? They are safe from the curse.”

I straightened and pulled away from Fane, though he clung to my hand.

“Are you telling me that if I’d made it just one more day… No, less than a whole day, this would not have happened to me?”

Now Mother wept again. She lowered her face into her palms and sobbed great shuddering tortured cries.

Fane leaned forward and shifted, reaching to use his finger and tilt my chin, attempting to get me to return my attention to him. I was fixated on my weeping mother, transported back into the terrible feverish nightmare of my transition.

Into a vampire, apparently.

I tore my eyes away from her to meet his stare. “Yes, Little Doll, but if you had made it without falling to the curse, they would have shipped you off to be the slave of a stranger. Tobe callously tossed from our home. To have God knows what done to you.”

I gasped and peered around at all of them again, reminded of the anguish I’d endured when I discovered Father’s plan for me. “Yes! I remember! What has become of this husband you chose for me?”

Mother jumped up once again, and Fane stiffened next to me. But she flew to me, dropping to her knees, and clutching my hands. “Nova, you must know, we only wanted to protect you! We only wanted to get you away from here, away from the darkness of this place.”

“Darkness? Blackmoth House? The only home I’ve ever known? The place that houses everyone that I know and love?” I cried. “If I would have been safe from the curse after my 18th birthday was over, then why would I have to be protected?”

Mother struggled to draw in a jagged breath. “There is so much here to need protection from,” she claimed darkly.

I stood up and brushed past her, crossing to stand in front of the fireplace and stare into the flames. A tear trickled down my cheek. “If that’s true, why didn’t we all just leave?” I asked, my voice pitiful like a little girl.

Again, my mother crossed the room to take my hands and implore me. She placed her slight frame in front of me and all but forced me to lookdown into her beautiful blue eyes, which were swollen and red. “Nova, you know I cannot leave this place.”

I smirked. “Why, Mother?”

“You know why, darling! I’ll get very sick if I leave! My allergies!”

“Oh please, Mother. I haven’t believed your excuses since I was a child. Are you under some ancient curse too?”

I noticed Mother’s eyes dart toward my father and then drop. “No, Nova. I am not a Westminster by blood. I am not cursed. It’s my allergies, whether you believe it or not. Leaving Blackmoth House is simply not an option for me.”

“Oh, but it is for me, I see,” I snapped.

Costel chuckled, a low, mean sound. “Well, not anymore, Nova,” he quipped.

He stood and paced, raking his hands through his hair. I could see his mood shifting even darker than it already had been. “To answer some of your questions, without all the purple prose and pleasantries… Your prospective husband is gone. Called off. He didn’t sign on to marry a fuckingvampireand allowing him to find out would have resulted in your certain DEATH.”

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