Page 43 of Prince with a Chance of Darkness

Should any of our roommates dig deeper and notice the loose floorboards beneath my bed, and lift them, I’d have a lot more explaining to do. There was a battle-ax, daggers, a crossbow and countless stakes there.

Willa liked to call it my floor stash of death. I called it comforting.

As I dashed through the dark woods, I chastised myself for only bringing daggers with me. They were hidden away in sheaths that tucked nicely in the top of my boots. The Damascus double-edged blade had been handcrafted, as had the bone handles. I’d spent a lot of time carving symbols into handles, ones I could remember seeing in books our father had in our family vaults when we were little. Ones he’d told me helped tofight evil and kill demons. So far, they’d served me well over the past four years.

The heavy weight of being watched came over me again. Darkness seemed to creep in at me from all angles in the woods. My slayer vibes went haywire, alerting me to dark magik, not that I needed them to figure out whatever was happening wasn’t normal. I didn’t slow my pace. If the dark magik wanted me, it would have to work for it.

Instead, I increased my speed, leaping over downed trees and rocks before outright jumping and swinging from a low-hanging branch like I was about to compete in a parkour free running competition. The abilities had been something I’d discovered I’d had after Romania. I could only guess they’d come from the attempted siring I’d somehow lived through.

Not looking a gift horse in the mouth, I thought, jumping over another large rock.

Movement caught my eye—a flicker of something darker than the surrounding night. I spun toward it, dropping into a slight crouch. I cocked my head to the side, knowing that action was animal like. I didn’t care. I listened for the threat.

Nothing.

Just the normal sounds of the woods at night. But the sensation of being hunted intensified.

I sprang forward, continuing toward the campus. Whatever was out there, it already knew exactly where I was. The smarter play was to get to more open ground where I'd have room to maneuver if I needed to fight.

The trees blurred past me, branches reaching like gnarled fingers in the darkness. One scratched my cheek, but I paid it no mind, knowing it had cut me. The invisible pull to campus had become almost painful now, a constant yanking sensation that threatened to double me over.

I burst through a dense patch of undergrowth and nearly collided with a weathered stone gargoyle. They were everywhere on campus. The school really seemed to take their mascot name seriously.

The cemetery. I'd made it to the chapel grounds.

The watching sensation disappeared so rapidly it made me wonder if I’d let my imagination run wild. If anything had been watching me at all. One second, I'd felt like prey, the next—nothing.

I turned, looking back at the woods, wondering if something would leap out and try to bite my throat out. Wouldn’t be the first or last time.

Nothing.

With a shrug, I turned to make my way through the cemetery but stopped as a group of men stepped out of the shadows, looking like they were some kind of made-for-TV gang of baddies. My slayer side let me know what I was dealing with—vampires.

Wonderful.

I counted six in total but that didn’t feel right. Was there another? One watching from a distance?

They spread in a loose semicircle, surrounding me, acting like they had the upper hand.

Cute.

I didn't want to burst their bubble just yet, so I stood there, trying to act scared, when all I really wanted to do was stake them and get back to the Gallows Lane house—to whatever had been pulling me in that direction.

”Lookie. A toy to play with.” The tallest of the group stepped forward, his accent thick—Russian maybe. “A little mouse who has lost her way?”

I wrapped my arms around myself, making myself look smaller, more vulnerable. “I-I was just taking a shortcut back to campus.”

A second vampire laughed, the sound harsh and grating. “Through a cemetery? In the middle of the night?”

”Brave little mouse,” said a third, moving closer. His gaze fixed on my neck in a way that made my hands itch to throat punch him. “Or stupid.”

I backed up a step, playing my part. “I… I have to go. People are expecting me.”

“Sure they are, sweetheart,” said another.

Sweetheart? I was for sure going to ram my boot up that one’s ass.

The leader's eyes danced with evil glee. “There’s no need to rush off.”

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