Page 1 of Hunters and Hydrangeas

Prologue

SOPHIA

“I don’t like this,”I declare to the people I used to call my friends.

I’m jumpy, tired from getting absolutely no sleep, andhungry.They’ve taken my phone, and now they’re withholding blood. On top of all that, I haven’t had my medicine for days. This must be what a drug addict feels like. I keep twitching, and my fangs ache. Everyone in the hotel suite is starting to look appetizing, including Larissa’s corgi. Which isextremelyconcerning.

The last few days have me rethinking all my life choices.

“Think of people like Richard,” Larissa says patiently. “He would be dead if it wasn’t for you.”

I twist my hands in my lap and stare at the aquamarine ocean outside the balcony window, knowing she’s right. If Cassian becomes archduke, it’s going to become even harder to save people than it already is.

“I’ve helped so many…” I muse.

Larissa nods, lounging in a white chair. The hotel suite is decorated in a modern, coastal color scheme, with an emphasison pale blue and tan accents. The wall of windows might not make the suite the best choice for vampire lodging, but at least there are drapes to pull when the sun shines directly into the room in the morning.

“Maybe it’s time I retire?” I finish.

My friend/kidnapper stops nodding. Her scarlet lips frown, and she sighs like I’m difficult. It’s an expression I know well.

“Sophia,” she sighs.

“My pardon will mean nothing if I’m caught spreading the virus after the date Cassian signed it,” I remind her. “I’ve been given a golden ticket—why would I light it on fire?”

“If you want to quit, then quit.” Larissa’s tone is a touch too calm, making me suspect she’s holding back her frustration. “But don’t block the way for others to help people like you have.”

“I’m not blocking anything. I’m merely stepping aside and letting things play out as they will.” Feeling like a petulant child even though I’m well over a hundred years old, I cross my arms. “I don’t want to do this.”

“The last person we want on the throne is a vampire who hates what he is.” Alfred lowers his yachting magazine as he joins the conversation. “Cassian wants to exterminate our kind.”

“He doesn’t want toexterminateus,” I say, exasperated.

“No, but he wants to eliminate the virus,” Larissa points out.

I could argue that a vampire who truly wanted to eliminate Vampiria B wouldn’t have infected his friend, but there’s no point. We’ve been over this half a dozen times.

“Just do this one thing,” Alfred says soothingly, in that lazy-yet-patronizing tone he’s perfected over the years. “And we won’t ask anything else of you.”

“And if I agree, will you give me back my phone?”

“I told you,” he says with mock patience. “I didn’t take your phone.”

“Sophia, would you stop with the phone thing already?” Larissa rolls her eyes. “You probably left it on a shelf while we were looking at bedding.”

“It wasn’t a cup of coffee,” I insist. “I didn’t justset it down.”

“I don’t have your phone,” Alfred snaps. “Will you make the blasted call already?”

Ah, now he’s showing his true colors.

“Maybe I would be more willing to help my kidnappers if they treated me better,” I say waspishly.

Larissa closes her eyes. “We didn’t kidnap you.”

“You didn’t give me a choice. It was just, ‘Get in the car, Sophia! Now! We’ll talk about it later!’ And the next thing I know, I’m on a plane, heading for the stickiest, hottest state in the continental US. If that’s not kidnapping, what is it?”

Alfred snaps the magazine closed, growing really irked. “You want to play prisoner? I can make this a little less comfortable.”

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