Free Blood, Milk & Chocolate - Part 1 (The Grimm Diaries Book 3) by Cameron Jace Page B

pentagram,
some called it. Some said it was a good sign, while others associated it with
evil—a sign associated with the nameless witch who had cursed the land. A
pointed five-star inside an apple was the universe's way of showing us how evil
was just inside everything good and sweet, I learned. A lesson I should have
paid attention to.
    But I
couldn't. Angel was all I could think about.
    By noon,
Angel was still in my head, an image of him in front of my daydreaming eyes.
The feeling wasn't subsiding. It was intensifying. I had to ask the peasants
about the handsome apple trader. The girls snickered first, knowing I liked him
already, and then shocked me with the fact that he had ridden his horse back to
Germany, and that he wasn't coming back until the next season to buy more
apples.
    However,
something told me I was going to see him again. Whatever that voice inside me
was, it also told me it wouldn't be an easy ride. Angel was going to change my
life in the strangest ways.
    Later that
day, still thinking how I'd be meeting Angel again, I caught my parents in a
tense conversation in the dining room of the castle. They were arguing about my
father's quest to kill the vampires in Transylvania. My mother worried he was
starting a war that would doom the Karnsteins forever. My father responded that
none of us had a choice. The war between the Karnsteins and the Sorrows was
inevitable. The name "Sorrow" sent chills down my spine. I had no
idea why.
    My father
told my mother that Night Von Sorrow, the vampire king in Transylvania, had
been hiding for years, planning on sending vampire spies disguised as humans
all over Europe. The vampire king knew that in order to let vampires rule the
world, the Karnsteins had to be killed first. It turned out we were the only
family in the world that was destined to kill vampires. It was either the
Karnsteins or the Sorrows in this world.
    I ran back
to my room that day, wondering what my role would be in all of this. Was I
really destined to kill vampires? I realized that after I met Angel I didn't
want to do any of it. I didn't want to please anyone or be the sum of
expectations of my parents. And I couldn't bear being alone, either. All I
wanted was to be with Angel.

 
    ***

 
    A few days
later, we were invited to one of Austria's royal weddings. I got to wear a
fabulous dress that day, and the servants told me I looked fabulous in it. No
boy dared look at me, as usual. The best I got was short and fast glimpses,
stolen among the crowd. Nothing like Angel's daring eyes.
    At some
point in the wedding the girls went to a nearby pond to look at their wavy
reflections in the water, pondering who'd be the first to get married next—legend
had it that she whose face was fully reflected in the water, not wavy or
blurred by the faint ripple of the surface, was the next bride.
    My mouth
went dry. I wanted to be with the girls. A firm glance from my mother cemented
me in my place. The day went on as I faked happiness, fighting the urge to cry.
    Back home,
still in my new dress, I gazed out my window at the surface of the nearest pond
glittering in the moonlight—I did glimpse my reflection in the glass of
these windows a few times, but it was neither clear nor satisfying, and nor did
it trigger the curse.
    No matter
how much I reminded myself of the consequences, I couldn't hold my desire
anymore. I could either wait to meet Angel again or go see for myself.
Impulsively, I climbed down the window behind my parents' back and ran toward
the pond. They thought their guards would stop me, but I had secretly pondered
the escape plan many nights before. I knew what secret route to take.
    I ran
across the castle's garden and passed by the fountains, holding the hem of my
dress with both hands, my breath foggy in the still of the night. And right
there before the gates, a couple of my father's guards appeared in their silver
armor before me. I wasn't going to make it.
    In my
desperation, I didn't