Page 69 of A Dream of Stars and Curses

If Chiara has been back, she hasn’t said anything, and she hasn’t bitten me again. I think she has been in the room, though—I’ve felt her glare on me a couple of times, though I couldn’t turn my head to check. I want to ignore the pain and do something, but I’m terrified the slightest movement will open the wound. I can’t afford to lose any more blood than Chiara has already taken, or so I assume, anyway. I can’t risk it.

Is Kate looking for me? Has Leverett picked up my scent? I don’t see Chiara being so careless as to leave my scent, erm... lying around? I’m not sure Leverett will be able to find her unless she allows it—at least that was her threat back at Anton’s party—and if even Leverett can’t find me... No offense to Kate, but what’s she supposed to do? When I first came to, I’d wondered if Bonnie might forgive me long enough to answer Kate and come looking for me. Now I hope she doesn’t. Leverett would have a chance against Chiara, but I don’t think Kate and Bonnie would fare any better than I have.

Besides Chiara, I haven’t seen or heard anyone else. The basement seems to be soundproof. That, or Chiara makes zero sound as she moves, which is possible—I haven’t heard one floorboard creak. Does she live alone? Is there a whole group of human-hating Veiled in this house? But they’d have come to check out the stupid, defenceless human. Wouldn’t they? If nothing else, I’m three hundred percent sure Chiara would have brought them down here to gloat. Unless she’s brought them down here while I was out cold, but where’s the fun in that for them? So I’m fairly sure she’s alone up there.

Which doesn’t help my chances of running away any. Neither does the lightheadedness.

I don’t know how much blood Chiara has taken, but I think I’d be able to stand and walk around if it weren’t for the angry throbbing in my neck. The only real assurance I have that Chiara hasn’t taken a dangerous amount of blood is that she wants to keep me around for a while. If I die on Day 1, I imagine she’d see it as a waste of a perfectly good toy—although, from what she said, she doesn’t expect me to last very long at all. Hours, she said. Does that mean it hasn’t even been a day yet? All of this is degrading and humiliating, and I want to throw all the threats and dark promises at her if only I could make myself believe them. I’ll make you pay. Would I, though? You will regret this. Oh? What am I going to do? Die faster? Right. That’ll show her.

The longer I lie here, the more the dizziness fades. It’s probably a safe assumption that the blood loss was only part of what caused it. The shock and panic made up the rest. If only I could get up, I could test how well I can move. I don’t know what I’d do with that knowledge since my chances of running away from the pissed-off vampire are non-existent, but there must be something I can do.

The door opens, and I go rigid. I kept my eyes shut this whole time since I couldn’t turn my head to look around anyway and because the dark is oddly comforting, so hopefully, Chiara won’t know I’m awake.

I sense her coming down the stairs more than I hear her. Something about the way the air shifts and flows around her.

‘Wake up, Estelle,’ she coos right into my ear.

I jump. I didn’t realise she was this close, and now my sleep cover is blown, too.

‘Oh, poor thing,’ she purrs. ‘Did I scare you?’

She strokes my face with one finger and turns my head to the side. My whole neck screams; the pain flares into my shoulder and scalp. I hate that I gasp. I hate that I give her exactly what she wants, that I can’t even keep such a small sound to myself.

Chiara tuts. ‘Oh, my. That looks bad, doesn’t it? Have you seen it?’ She laughs. ‘Of course you haven’t. Hang on, my sweet, foolish human.’

She sits next to me and pulls me up until I lie against her. She eases my head back against her chest with one hand while fumbling in her pocket with the other. I’m not sure what she’s up to until she holds up a small mirror. I instinctively close my eyes. It’s not much, but I will defy her in every way I can.

‘Look at your neck, Estelle. Look at what I did to you.’

She wants me to cry when I see the wound. She wants me to beg.

I brace myself, determined to give her neither, and open my eyes.

My neck looks like a mess at first glance. Most of it is dried blood smears, though. The actual wound is just two small points—not the wide-open gash the pain is pretending to be. That’s a relief. But I still pale at the sight of it.

‘Do you see now how pretty you are with some blood on you?’ A strand of hair falls in front of my face. Chiara strokes it away. ‘Just think how much prettier you’ll look when your whole body is red.’

I smirk and confuse defiance with stupidity.

‘Leverett thought I was pretty without it.’

Chiara’s eyes darken. Her arms around me stiffen, and she rams her fangs into my neck, only slightly off where she bit me before. The pain is so intense I can’t even gasp. Whatever strength I had left drains right out of me and down her throat. She didn’t take too much before, but she’s angry this time.

My vision darkens around the edges. A tear runs down my chin; I hope it mingles with my blood and ruins it for her. Although, she probably likes the taste of human tears.

Damn it, I can’t even die right.

But at least I’m going out having made her feel like shit, if only for a moment.

I slowly blink myself awake, surprised that I get to wake up at all. I was so sure Chiara was killing me, but I suppose there’s no fun in that for her. I have zero delusions about her ever letting me go, but now that I’ve taunted her? She’ll really draw this out.

It begins to sink in that this room is the last thing I’ll see. I’ll never see Bonnie again, or Kate, Lady. Leverett. Everything we said to each other seems so stupid now. Did I really think I’d be better off never seeing him again if I couldn’t love him? The fuck am I, fourteen? And Bonnie... I can’t believe we fought. The boggart twisted our feelings until we said those things, but we still said them. It only brought out what was already there, didn’t it? Bonnie and I should have talked it out long before now. When we were kids, we made a pinkie promise to always be honest with each other. Turns out that’s a lot harder in reality when you have to take the other person’s feelings into account. And did I really suspect Sunitha, who seemed so lovely when she came over?

I’m such an idiot. Even if Kate deals with the boggart somehow, there’s no guarantee that Bonnie will forgive me. I might still lose my job. Leverett might still decide that loving a human is too painful.

And I have no right to argue with any of it. They’re all grown-ups. They can make their own decisions. And I will respect them, no matter what they are.

But all that is pointless, really, because I’m never getting out of here. I can’t fight Chiara, at least I don’t see how. I’m losing everything—have lost everything, since I’m somewhat trapped—and it’s all my fault. If I’d just talked to Bonnie and Leverett, if I’d just taken Lady to the vet instead of being afraid of what her diagnosis might be... I could have saved every single relationship. That option is gone now.

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