Blood and Snow 8: Telltale Kisses Read online

  “Lips red as rubies, hair dark as night. Drink your true love’s blood, become the Vampire, Snow White.”

  Praise for the Blood and Snow series:

  “The modern twist on the Snow White fairy tale was interesting and original, which isn't easy to find these days. Highly recommended.” Sarra Cannon, bestselling author of the Peachville High Demons series

  “This book will definitely suck you in (no pun intended) instantly.” Anthony

  "BLOOD AND SNOW draws you in from the very beginning and never let's you go, only to leave you anticipating more! Loved it. Can't wait for volume 2." Debbie Davis from Debbie's Inkspectations

  "This is a fun, smart, and sexy read!" Elizabeth Mueller, award winning YA author of Darkspell

  “I definitely look forward to more, and recommend this to anyone who likes a fairy tale with a twist.” Kay Glass

  “If you enjoy vampires and fractured fairy tales you'll enjoy these quick reads!” Laura Pauling, author of the Circle of Spies series

  “Best books that I have read!” Mercedez

  Main Menu

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  Afterword

  Additional Works by RaShelle Workman

  Indelible Authors

  About the Author

  Contact Information

  Copyright Information

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  I took my first big adventure while still an adolescent. My sister, Sharra, and I dove the depths of the Mediterranean Sea. Abernathy told us many stories of a dragon living along the sea floor. If we found him we could claim a wish, anything we desired, and the dragon would grant it. For weeks we searched, and were about to give up when we found a cave entrance along the sea floor. It sloped downward. A dim blue-green light glowed, begging us to see what secrets it held.

  Hands clasped together we went down, using our wings to push us further, deeper. After a long time we arrived at the center of a cavern made completely of salt. Inside, the sea dragon lay curled in a scaly ball. He was sleeping (not a big shocker given dragons are lazy). Two blue eyes, the color of midnight, peered at us.

  “I suppose you’re here for a wish, little vampires.” He shook his stark white mane, making it dance in the water.

  “Yes we are,” I said.

  “Very well. What is it?” He swam closer, and we noticed he had fins instead of feet. His scales were the color of pearls, and he had a very long fin for a tail.

  When we’d decided to search for the dragon, Sharra and I had long, sometimes hostile, discussions about our wish. So, without hesitation, I looked directly at the dragon and said, “We wish to see our parents.” We’d never met our parents. My first memories were of Sharra and I taking care of each other. We’d watched the other creatures have children, saw the way they cared for their infants, and knew we must have been born of parents as well.

  When the dragon’s face loomed in front of us, he asked, “Are you sure that is your wish?”

  “It is,” we said together.

  “So be it.”

  The cavern turned black, as though we swam in ink instead of water. I couldn’t see my hands in front of my face.

  “Silindra?”

  “I’m here.”

  “What happened?”

  “I don’t know.”

  A clicking sound started from a ways off, and grew louder and louder. Sharra and I clung to each other.

  “I’m scared.”

  I tried to calm her, stroking her hair. “Shhh, it’s okay. You’re safe.” I was terrified as well, but I didn’t dare move. I had no idea where to go, or how to get back the way we’d come.

  When the clicking sound got so close I thought it would run us through, a bright light flashed, startling me. Two large sets of eyes, so beautiful and yet so chilling, peered at us. Light radiated and swirled around their bodies, like a lightning storm. Their forms, even now, are hard to explain. They were like all creatures and none at all. A swirling unknown entity one second, and corporeal the next.

  When Sharra and I talked about the experience later, neither of us ever could decide what we saw.

  But Sharra, normally the shy one, asked, “Are you our parents?”

  “We are, and ever will be.” The voice was like liquid, neither male nor female, and seemed to reach me to my very core.

  “Why didn’t you stay with us? Why do we drink blood? Why are we so different from all other creatures?” Sharra asked, moving out of my arms.

  It surprised me she was suddenly so bold, especially in the presence of creatures I didn’t understand.

  “Dear ones, you are the sum of all other magical creatures—the beginning. Blood is your sustenance because magic is strongest there. And we saw no purpose in staying. When we created you, we provided you with each other.”

  They turned, swimming away, taking their strange light with them. We were again plunged in darkness. The clicking sound, which Sharra and I guessed came from our parents, got further and further away. Blue-green light filled the salty cavern. The sea dragon was gone too. We were alone.

  Sharra cried.

  I forced back my tears, knowing they wouldn’t make a difference.

  From that moment on, Sharra and I became more than sisters, more than girls related to one another.

  And I promised to protect her, always be there for her. I became the parents she never had.

  That was several lifetimes ago.

  Since then I’ve been in hundreds of caves and every single time I think of Sharra and the tears she shed for our non-parents.

  Standing on the precipice of another, while Titan’s ugly troll face scanned mine, Sharra’s image crossed my mind.

  The beginning of the end, I thought sadly.

  … “Snow’s eyelashes fluttered. Did you see them?”

  “Whatever is going on inside of her, I think it’s almost at an end. Look at her skin. Completely back too normal. It shouldn’t be much longer.”

  “You don’t think… she isn’t… dying, is she, Pops?”

  “I’m not sure, Dorian. I hope not. For her sake, Gabe’s… well, all our sakes. She’s got to live.”

  “You hear that, Snow? We aren’t giving you a choice. Come back.” …

  Chapter 2

  “Welcome to my secret fortress, Silindra,” Titan said.

  I grunted my response, walking past him to the doorway in the mountain, its entry bursting with light. The surface my feet touched was smooth and hard, like polished rock. But it wasn’t rock. It was some kind of iron. It swayed slightly, and I grabbed hold of the rails.

  This is incredible, Snow White said.

  I agreed wholeheartedly. Metal catwalks crisscrossed each other, reminding me of a spider’s web. Tall beams rose to the ceiling where millions of lights shone. It was as though Titan harnessed a portion of the sun, and somehow held its ray’s captive within.

  In the center of the mountain, and vertical, reaching the top and I guessed touching the bottom, was a thick grated tube. Inside the tube were two sets of stairs. One used to walk up, and the other for down. A steady flow of occupants used them; exiting through archways onto walkways like the one I was on. The walkways led to large, cylinder-shaped holes carved into the mountain.

  Cautious, I glanced over the side and felt my throat drop into my stomach. A seemingly endless amount of walkways weaved from the center stairs, and downward.

  I took a deep breath, noting the tang of something sour, like curdled milk. The voices of thousands echoed as trolls, fairies, gremlins, and other magical creatures busily rushed around. Like a strange city.

  “What is this place,” I finally asked.

  “This is V
arden. The place where all the scientific magic happens,” he responded, pushing his bulky body past me, walking briskly along the path. The metal shuddered under his weight, and I held my breath. Snow let out a tiny scream.

  I tried to calm my nerves and Snow’s.

  It’ll hold him, I told her and myself. And I hoped I was right.

  When he reached the stairs, he turned. “Do you want the strength of a troll or not?”

  Lifting my chin, I said, “Of course I do.” With pretend confidence, I reorganized my wings, and headed toward Titan.

  He started down the stairs, and I followed.

  I was surprised to see so many different creatures working side by side… in seeming harmony. They talked quietly amongst themselves. That’s when I noticed each level led to at least ten different tunnels.

  “Where are they going?” I asked. We were on the third level from the top, and moving down.

  “Each level holds a different department. When a fairy, elf, dwarf, gremlin, vampire,” he eyed me meaningfully, “comes to Varden, we discuss their talents, and then they get to work on whichever level suits them best. Those two,” he began, pointing at an elf and a troll walking side by side, chatting excitedly. “They work in the efficiency department as part of a team creating sustainable energy.”

  It shocked me that the battle above didn’t seem to affect anyone within Varden. Elves were killing trolls and vice versa above, yet these creatures didn’t appear to care.

  I shook my head in awed amazement. A vampire can’t live a millennium and not see everything. At least that’s what I told myself. But this truly was new. All species, including and especially the magical ones, kept to themselves. Elves lived and worked with elves, dwarves with dwarves, gremlins with gremlins, vampires with vampires, fairies with fairies. It was the way life went. Order was kept by adherence to the rules. Yet in the heart of the enormous mountain, those lines were crossed—blurred into extinction. Didn’t these creatures understand they were messing with age-old laws? Surely, at some point, their blatant disregard would destroy them.

  “I know what you’re thinking.” Titan stepped off the stairs onto a metal hallway. “Do you?” I asked, joining him.

  He nodded. “You’re wondering how I can allow a war to rage above while this goes on below.”

  “That is curious,” I agreed noncommittally.

  “This mountain, and what goes on down here, is of the upmost importance. Devoran and his band of elves think to take the mountain, believing it belongs to them. But, if they were to gain control, they would discover our secrets, and Devoran would never let the science continue.” His face grew angry. “The elven King is ancient, and set in his ways. I won’t allow him to destroy everything we’ve worked for in the name of old-fashioned beliefs.”

  I understood Titan’s passion. I held the same beliefs for the quest I was on, to save magic, but I doubted what Titan was doing down here would matter in the long run. I’d heard the term, Science, thrown around at the last Council meeting. The word meant little to me. “What else do you do down here?” I asked.

  “Let me show you.” He glanced over and smiled.

  I blew out my breath in frustration.

  “You believe I’m heartless, uncaring. Is that it? You’re wondering how I can put science above the lives of my people.”

  “Something like that,” I acknowledged.

  “The reason is simple. Down here we take emotion out of the equation. We take a problem and use science, along with magic, to solve it. Up there,” he pointed one of his thick fingers toward the ceiling, but I understood he meant above ground. “The trolls and the elves fight over an imaginary line, an important line, yes, but a line nonetheless. The elves only desire power. We aren’t oppressing them. They have plenty of food and shelter. It doesn’t matter. They fight because one of the elven chieftains believes a troll chieftain should give him more land. He says his land is far greater, and that it’s unfair.”

  Titan threw up his hands, flashing long, unkempt armpit hair. “They don’t realize if they would work together, use the resources from each side to benefit the other, their lives would be far better.” He spun in a slow circle, his arms extended wide. “This, down here, is the true power. Down here, we have harmony, accord, a group of intelligent beings working toward the betterment of the entire world.” He moved toward one of the corridors. “Come with me. I want to show you something.”

  As Titan walked, he continued talking, “You probably think none of this has anything to do with you. Vampires are lucky they can’t die of disease.” He raised a finger, “But other magical creatures can, and you, Silindra, have the equivocal title of Earth’s Queen.” He waved his hands in a circle. “All of this should matter to you. Once you’ve seen what we do, perhaps you’ll encourage more vampires to join our cause.”

  I wanted to snort in disgust. Instead I said, “What kinds of sicknesses?” I wanted to take the focus off what I wouldn’t do, and turn it toward what he found so fascinating about this place.

  He gave a knowing smile. “The top rung houses the center for disease control. One ailment our scientists are working on is the loss of fairy wings at half a millennium. Did you know that happens?”

  Worry formed in my belly. Ryden wasn’t a fairy, but a pixilette. Still, I wondered if she ever got sick? If her wings would fall off. I’d never known her to be ill. “I didn’t,” I answered quietly, still lost in my own thoughts.

  “We’ve discovered it’s a degenerative disease. And our scientists found a cure.”

  That surprised me. And Snow White.

  Cool. I never really thought about fairytale… um, I mean fairies getting sick or old, she said.

  Me either.

  … “Snow. Merde! I’m so over not being able to get your advice. I need to tell you about Gabe. The guy has lost it. Last night I was at Warehouse Video and he pulled up in his silver CRX wearing a sword across his back, like some kind of Knight of the Round Table. He looked sexy and completely stupid. Sexy, because I know what he is—the leader of the chayot. Stupid, because everyone else thought he’d gone nerd. I mean, really, if I didn’t know what he was, I would’ve laughed my ass off. He didn’t even notice the kids laughing at him. It was like he saw no one else, except the vampire dude who’d been sniffing around one of the cheerleaders. Gabe grabbed him by his coat collar, and yanked him into the car. I have no idea what happened to him, but I’m guessing Gabe killed him.

  “Honestly, I don’t know what to think about Gabe. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t believe witches did anything to you, so that’s good. But, ugh, how do I say this? I guess I’ll just spit it out. See, he’s… I… Kuso! That’s Japanese for dammit. Anyhoo, Gabe asked me out. It was weird. He came into work, sat at a table in my section, and when I brought his water and bread, he was all, ‘Hey, Cindy. Want to see a movie with me on Friday?’

  “I think my mouth might have dropped open. I was like, ‘No way. What about Snow?’ His features grew angry, and I thought he might hit me, but then he crumbled, like his heart was fractured. He said, ‘I just need someone to hang out with.’ Well I couldn’t say no to that, so I agreed. I hate to admit it, but after the movie, which was all blood and guts and totally gross, he took me home. We kissed… like a lot.

  “Please don’t be mad. I’m so sorry. But that’s why I need you to wake up, so everything can make sense again. See, I think I might have feelings for the idiot. Ugh, please Snow. Wake up.” …

  Chapter 3

  For the next several hours Titan took me through the immense innards of Varden, winding us through the most elaborate structure I’d ever seen. Like the inside of an anthill, or a beehive, everything was precise and grand.

  When we finally reached the bottom I sensed a change in the air, like the crackle of electricity right before a lightning storm. There was a vibe, a droning energy. It made me nervous.

  “What’s this level for?” I asked, moving after him into a tunnel. A reddish glow pulsated to
some unknown rhythm, and a coppery smell inflamed my nose.

  Titan turned back, and smiled, the light bouncing off his sharp teeth with a menacing radiance. “Down here we extract, study, and discover the delicacies of each creatures guts.”

  I stopped. “You what?”

  Snow White shivered.

  “This is our lab. It’s fascinating.”

  Tentative, I hurried after him. The further along the corridor I went, the worse the smell. If Snow White could’ve run, she would have. I sensed her immense desire to turn back. She didn’t want to see whatever we were headed into.

  When we arrived in the room, I worked not to gag. The large room contained magical creatures in varying degrees of decomposition. Some lay on the table, their innards spread out on top of their body. Others hung from the ceiling, their eyes opened, and vacant.

  “What have you done?” I asked, stepping toward a fairy pinned against a piece of wood, his guts pinned around him, his chest opened and peeled back like a banana. “This is wrong,” I added, my throat dry. I couldn’t swallow.

  “How can you say that?” Titan asked, throwing his hands up in exasperation, scaring the trolls busily doing whatever it was they were doing. “Without this room we wouldn’t understand how each creature works.” He paused and picked up what looked like a walnut still in its shell. “This is the brain of a fairy. Right here,” he touched his dirty index finger to the back of the brain and continued, “is where the ability to do magic is stored. Without this tiny piece of the genetic puzzle, a fairy can’t do magic.” Then he tapped a portion on the left. “This tells the fairies body it’s going to be small and winged.” Then he pointed at the portion directly in front. “Right here, this tells the fairy it wants to reproduce every six years.”

  I was mesmerized and revolted at the same time. It was fascinating that he knew such information, but as my eyes searched the tables, witnessing all the carnage, I couldn’t be excited.