The Blood Princess: Episode One (Chapter 3)

Prudence walked over and pried open the ambulance’s back door. A young woman, quite short, with extremely short red hair and freckles, was standing in front of a similar contraption as the ambulance, only differently shaped and red.

“Phew, I found ya. When I saw the mausoleum door, I ran as fast I could. Good thing Joe hadn’t left after he hit ya.” She looked at the inside of the ambulance and smirked. “Have a good snack?”

The woman's heart was steady, and she didn't even flinch when Prudence growled at her from the shadows. It made Prudence want to stand back and observe instead of attack.

"I'm going to give ya something that belongs to ya. But try and make me a meal and you'll wake up with a massive headache." The woman removed what could have been a gun if Prudence squinted hard enough, from her shoulder. She put her hand in her pocket and tossed something out. It glinted in the sun and landed in front on Prudence.

Prudence knelt and snatched it out of the patch of sun. It was a necklace — a soft chain on which there was a pendant. The top of the tear-shaped pendant was rough and felt unfinished. She had a vague recollection of this being around her neck and the feeling of it on her skin. When she turned it around, she knew the initials P. D. would be there. They were a bit faded but still legible.

The fog lifted, and Prudence felt the familiar feeling of knitting needles boring into her head again.

She was crawling over the bloody floorboards again. But this time she could see around her. The house was small, and in shambles, the walls around her splattered in red. The man above her was graying and menacing, heavy-set, but unencumbered by it. Prudence saw herself rip off the necklace from her neck. And then her vision turned red.

The pain subsided, and Prudence fell from the ambulance to the ground. Breathing heavily, she rose.

“Who am I? Who are you?”

“The first question is too complicated to be answered here. Second question – I'm Charlotte, and ya were in my great great Aunt Prudence's grave. I got a letter telling me to keep an eye and take care of ya when ya wake up."

“Why?” Prudence tread lightly.

“How the hell should I know?” Charlotte shrugged. “The important thing, for now, is for me to help you hide those dead bodies.”

Prudence turned around. She opened her mouth in horror as the faces of her victims stared back at her. She could recall everything she did in visceral detail. Every sound, smell, and taste. Half of her wanted to throw up. The other was sated and content.

Prudence realized she could still smell the blood on her hands. She started wiping them on her dress. Tears rolled down her face. Her mind focused on the victims’ terrified expressions. She took their lives, she tore through their bodies and relished it.

Before she could realize it, she had sat down on the ground, hugging her knees. The screams tumbling down from her throat were ones of an animal in pain.

Charlotte approached her. “What’s gotten into ya?”

Prudence looked up. Charlotte’s expression was horrifyingly calm. “What has gotten into me?” Prudence pointed at the ambulance. “I did that! I took another person’s life!”

Charlotte blinked several times. “The letter said ya’ve been hit with a bout of amnesia, but you seriously don’t know why you did that?”

Prudence got up, walking over to Charlotte. She towered over the small redhead. “Why did I do it? Tell me!”

Charlotte took a deep breath. "I guess we're doing this here after all. One of ya parents is or was a vampire. Ya know what a vampire is, right?"

Prudence stepped back.

“Ya not only spent several centuries stuck in a stone box, occasionally moved, with no food or water, ya got hit by a car going 50 miles per hour. The guy that hit ya, Joe, said ya flew out of some bushes, and most of your body was mangled. It’s obvious ya were probably on the brink of death. Instincts happen.”

“That’s all you have to say?” Prudence yelled. She looked at the road, at the trees around her. The vision of the hanged woman floated back into her mind. “I shouldn’t be alive.”

Now it was Charlotte’s turn to yell. Her high-pitched girly voice carried a surprising amount of weight. “No, ya don’t. Ya’re going to get into that truck before the sun makes ya get blisters and I’ll clean this up. How could ya have stopped if ya didn’t even know what you were? And don’t even try and sneak out, I have good aim.”

"You really think that will hurt me?" Prudence eyed the gun.

"Ya're still half human, and these darts can put down an elephant." Charlotte pointed at the truck behind her. "Go, now."

Click to Read Chapter 4