06 Love Bites - My Sister the Vampire (9 page)

Ivy was glad that she hadn’t had to grow up always worrying what the ‘refined’ thing to do was.

‘We have a happy life among humans,’ Mr Vega said. ‘Many vampires do.’

‘My understanding is that you had your own doubts on this matter,’ the Queen challenged.

Mr Vega coughed. ‘It is true that I thought once that vampires and humans together could only bring harm; I was proven incorrect. Of course humans and vampires can live together happily. My daughters are proof of that.’

Ivy got the sense that the Queen would not tolerate Alex having similar thoughts, despite the
fact that he was at this moment escorting Olivia on a private tour of the palace grounds.

‘Do tell me the story, Charles,’ the Queen commanded. ‘Your parents have spent years talking about it in your absence.’

Mr Vega glanced at his mother, but said nothing. Ivy wondered if one of the windows had been left open, as cold air seemed to chill the room.

‘Ivy, my dear,’ Mr Vega said, ‘you must be eager to join your sister exploring the delights of the palace gardens.’

Ivy didn’t need asking twice. She nodded and leaped up, almost knocking into the glass bowl, grateful that her father was giving her an excuse to leave – especially because she didn’t trust herself to keep her mouth shut if the Queen was dismissive of her parents’ story.

She dropped an awkward curtsy and hurried out of the door.

In a hallway lined with tapestries of wolves hunting, Ivy asked a maid where the cloakroom was. She pulled on her crushed velvet coat and headed out into the cold. She could see the footprints where Alex and Olivia had been, and wondered if she would be able to catch them up.

Ten minutes later, Ivy was regretting it. ‘This hill is impossible!’ she said as the freezing wind whipped her hair into her face.

Two steps after taking a left fork in the path, her foot hit a slick patch of ice and caused her to do the splits. Good thing she was flexible enough not to feel like she’d been ripped in half.

As she picked herself up, she heard a male voice above her. She was almost at the top and realised she could hear Alex speaking, but couldn’t quite catch the words.

The voice was coming from a direction that took Ivy slightly off the path. She stepped on
to some stones that led up the hill in a natural staircase.

She poked her head over the crest of the hill and saw her sister talking to the prince by a tree. She could just make out what Alex was saying.

‘. . . I think the poet wanted to show that you can’t judge something, or someone, at first glance.’

Oh my darkness,
Ivy thought.
He’s talking about
poetry!

Then Alex grabbed her sister’s hands but a gust of wind prevented Ivy from hearing what he said next.
Uh-oh,
she thought.
Picturesque views, clutching hands, poetry, Olivia looking wistful.
Ivy knew exactly what was going on here. It was the day before Valentine’s Day and Alex was milking the romance for all it was worth.
The vampire prince has fallen in love with Olivia!

Just then, her foot slipped. She tried to catch herself, flailing her arms and staggering, but it was too late. She twisted over, landed on her backside and slid down half the hill, right into the bushes. A pile of snow fell on top of her.

Ivy wiped chunks of ice from her face.
I should have asked for snow boots!

She climbed to her feet, brushing the snow off her sleeves.

‘So much for my vampire skills,’ she muttered. Vampires were meant to be extra-specially agile, but that hadn’t stopped her from falling on her behind.

Back to the warm,
she decided, marching towards the palace doors. And after that? She’d find out once and for all what the prince was up to.

‘Welcome back, Miss Ivy,’ said Horatio as he opened the car door. Ivy breathed a sigh of relief.

Compared to the Queen’s estate, this is almost as ‘at-home’ as the Meat and Greet,
Ivy thought.

‘Right over there,’ Prince Alex was saying to Olivia. He leaned in close to show her where he was pointing.

‘That fountain was where I broke my arm, trying to prove to Tessa that I could balance as well as she could,’ Alex said. ‘I couldn’t.’ Alex had insisted on accompanying them home.

‘I remember that,’ the Count said. ‘We had to
send you off home in an ambulance. You were only eight.’

Alex smiled at the memory. ‘I got into lots of trouble.’

Ivy watched carefully, trying to see if Olivia had realised that Alex seemed to be into her, but Olivia was as relaxed and happy as ever.

Lunch at the palace had involved even smaller portions than last night’s dinner so Ivy decided to sneak off to the kitchen for the half hour before they were going to meet in the games room for a darts tournament.

Ivy pulled open the kitchen door and saw Tessa. She was washing plates in the deep ceramic sink. ‘Good afternoon, miss,’ she said and curtsied, her hands full of soap suds. Strands of dark hair had come out of her long braid, framing her pretty, heart-shaped face.

Ivy felt guilty for interrupting her work. ‘No,
no, please, don’t be so formal,’ Ivy insisted. ‘I’m just sneaking in for a snack.’

‘Of course, what would you like?’ Tessa replied.

‘I can make it myself,’ Ivy said. ‘Please don’t stop what you were doing.’

Tessa smiled so that the freckles on her cheeks crinkled up. ‘Honestly, I’m happy to do it, and I know where everything is,’ she pointed out.

Ivy couldn’t argue with that, and she was pleased to see that Tessa had recovered from her crying fit last night. ‘OK, you can help, but you aren’t allowed to laugh when I put my smiley face of honey on my Platelet Porridge.’

Tessa grinned. ‘The Countess does that, too.’

Ivy was glad to learn that there was a fun streak to her grandmother.

‘Have you always worked here?’ Ivy asked. She
didn’t know how to ask Tessa about the crying; she didn’t want to embarrass her.

‘My father was Horatio’s right-hand man before he passed away five years ago, when I was eleven. I grew up here,’ Tessa explained, reaching for a saucepan. ‘I’ve only been working since I turned sixteen.’

As Ivy pulled down the box of porridge, Tessa started to speak: ‘Er, excuse me, miss. If you don’t mind my asking, is everything OK for you? I mean, you’ve seemed a little upset since you arrived.’

Ivy looked at Tessa, wide-eyed.
But
you
were crying the other night!
she wanted to say. Still, if Tessa wanted to pretend that had never happened, Ivy would just have to go with it.

‘It’s been hard to adjust,’ she stuttered. ‘Especially when my sister fits right in. Everyone loves her – even Prince Alex.’

Tessa stopped stirring the milk into the porridge. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Olivia’s the human. I’m the vampire,’ Ivy explained.

‘No, I mean, about Prince Alex,’ Tessa asked.

‘Oh. That he seems interested in Olivia.’ When Tessa blinked in confusion, Ivy said, ‘You know – romantically.’

‘He’s not,’ Tessa stated.

Ivy put down the honey. ‘But I heard him spouting poetry on the hilltop at the palace.’

‘I’ve known him my whole life. He’s like that,’ Tessa said, turning back to the stove. ‘He’s just trying to irritate his mother as much as he can. Trust me.’

A warning sign flashed in Ivy’s mind. ‘What makes you say that?’

‘Over the past year, Prince Alex seems to take every opportunity to annoy her.’ Tessa shook her
head, and put Ivy’s bowl of piping hot Platelet Porridge on to the counter. ‘Flirting with a human girl will certainly do that. The Queen would burst into fog if the heir to her throne was in a romance with a non-vampire – or anyone she deemed . . . unworthy.’

Ivy felt her blood boil.
Could the prince be pretending? Is he just using Olivia? Well, no boy is going to hurt my sister! I don’t care if he’s a movie star or a prince!

But before Ivy could ask for any more details, the kitchen door was flung open and Olivia burst in.

‘There you are!’ she said. ‘Come on! Alex and I want to go to the frozen lake to ice-skate. I already asked the Countess, and she said we can borrow whatever we want.’

‘There are plenty of pairs of ice skates in the shed,’ said Tessa.

‘What about playing darts inside where it’s
warm?’
Ivy said, wanting to avoid anything that involved her sliding around on ice. Her behind was still throbbing from that fall outside the palace.

‘Oh, I’ve already proven that I can beat Alex hands down,’ Olivia said, grabbing an apple out of the fruit bowl. ‘Let’s skate! Tessa, will you join us?’

Ivy wanted to say something about Alex, but the last time she’d become involved in Olivia’s love life, she’d made a mess of things. She sighed.
I’ll have to wait until I’m absolutely O-positive that Prince Alex is up to no good.

‘Come on, Ivy!’ Olivia was bouncing on the spot. ‘Tessa is coming.’

This could be a chance to watch Alex with Olivia,
Ivy thought.
I can see what he’s trying to do.

‘OK,’ she said, ‘I’ll come, but not until I’ve eaten my porridge.’

Wow, these Transylvanians are good,
Olivia thought as she skated along steadily.

A few of the prince’s friends had arrived on the frozen lake, joining Olivia, Ivy, Alex, Tessa and Nadia, the other young maid. A blond guy with a buzz cut was skating backwards in sync with a red-headed girl, both with one leg out in an arabesque. Another two girls were practising spins in the middle. One of them had her black hair slicked back in a high, long ponytail and her dark silver coat looked almost metallic. Her friend had on a black-and-white patterned coat and a black beret. They looked like Olympic gold medallists who had skated right off the catwalk.

Except,
Olivia thought,
it would be cheating if they actually competed in the Olympics because of the whole vampire super powers thing.

‘Come on, Olivia!’ called Alex. ‘Show us what you can do!’

Olivia smiled and looked at the red-headed girl, who was now doing a fast spin. ‘I can’t compete with that!’

She sped up a little bit and let Alex take her arms to push her even faster. Olivia hadn’t icestated much, but her cheerleader’s balance and grace helped her to at least keep up with the vampires.

As they sped across the ice together into the wind, the white of the snow, the brown of the trees and the blue of the sky smeared across her vision. It was another moment that she wished Jackson could have been a part of.

Jackson,
Olivia thought.
I’ve got to tell Alex.
Ivy’s warnings had spooked her; it was best that she explain to the prince about her boyfriend back home. But just when she was about to say
something, Ivy skated over with Tessa.

Or Tessa skated and Ivy sort of shuffled and fell forwards, clutching Tessa’s arm. Tessa was wearing a cosy-looking, well-loved wool coat with big black buttons.

‘I thought you vampires were supposed to be good at all things athletic,’ Olivia teased Ivy.

Tessa grinned. ‘It’s not her body; it’s her mind. She’s got the Fear.’

‘After my episode in the mall, and a little slip earlier today –’ Ivy grimaced – ‘I don’t want to fall on my already sore butt.’

Olivia chuckled but Alex didn’t seem to be listening.

‘Hello . . . Your Highness,’ Tessa said.

‘Uh, h-hello, Tessa,’ he said. Olivia was surprised to hear Alex stutter. It sounded as though he was going to say something else but was holding back. He offered a quick nod that
was almost a bow. ‘Excuse me.’ Then he skated away towards his friends.

‘I should go, too,’ said Tessa. ‘I’ll get back to the kitchen.’

Why is everyone leaving?
Olivia wondered.

Ivy frowned and called after Tessa, ‘Don’t go!’ But she was already zooming away.

‘Alex was so rude to Tessa just then,’ Ivy declared and started awkwardly skating after Tessa towards the edge of the lake.

Olivia hadn’t noticed. ‘What? How was he rude? No, I’m sure he didn’t mean anything.’ When Ivy wobbled she held out her hand for her sister to hold on to.

Ivy shot a look over at Alex and his friends.

The girl with the slick ponytail was sniggering. ‘And did you see her ancient coat?’ they overheard the girl say.

‘See?’ Ivy hissed. ‘Alex and his friends don’t
want to be around Tessa because she’s a servant.’

‘That’s too harsh,’ Olivia replied, as they neared the frozen mud and grass that surrounded the lake. ‘Alex didn’t say anything bad about her. He probably just wants to spend time with everyone equally.’

Ivy almost collapsed on to the ground and started unlacing her boots. ‘You saw how his mother acted towards Tessa last night at dinner.’

Olivia looked back at the group, laughing and playing tag. It definitely wasn’t OK with her if they were being mean to someone just because of their job.

‘And are you sure
you
should be spending this much time with Alex?’ Ivy asked.

‘I don’t know,’ Olivia replied. She didn’t want to think that her friendship with Alex might be wrong in some way.