A Vampire To Watch Over Me [Vampire Coven Book II] by C.L. Scholey Page A

own rooms; everything was shared. There was a door to his room for privacy; it was treason and yet Honor was glad it was there. Things hung from the walls in Laken’s own room—pictures, he called them. Nothing in the pictures moved, it was like time was frozen in them—spooky.
    Strange pieces of furniture were set in a tidy way. There was a dresser—an odd box with tiny caves Laken called drawers to keep clothing in. Her people had no need of them—they wore their furs or heaped them in piles. There was a wood box of sorts with glass and behind the glass were tiny objects. Honor stared hard at them and began to shake. They looked like small motionless people and animals. Did Laken shrink these things and stick them in a glass cage? More magic?
    “Honor?”
    “Those poor creatures in your cage, did they suffer?”
    Laken gave her a blank stare before catching where her gaze was centered. He strolled over to the cabinet and removed an object. Honor stared at it, wide-eyed. Laken held it up and turned it in his hands.
    “This is what’s known as a knick-knack, a figurine. It’s porcelain and never at any time was it alive. Like the statue you saw in the pool only smaller. Didn’t you have any type of toys growing up? A doll or life-like thing you played with? A stuffed bear at least?”
    “No, not that I remember, and why would I have a stuffed bear? Bears are deadly, why would you encourage a child to play with such a dangerous thing?”
    “What did you do for fun?”
    “Sometimes Peter and I played hide-and-seek. He was closest to my age; we really had no one else to play with.” For some odd reason she saw Laken stiffen with the mention of Peter’s name. “The elders told stories. Mostly we helped clear more tunnels. Talek said the bigger the labyrinth, the harder it would be for the vampires to find us.”
    Laken put the object back. He went to sit by her on the bed and took her hand. Honor’s first thought was to snatch her hand back, but it felt so nice to be touched. His fingers were so large compared to hers, and his contact was never hurtful. The bed dipped where he sat, and it was hard not to press against him.
    “You ran from your home, Honor.”
    “Yes.”
    “I didn’t swoop in and steal you, you found me. I didn’t force you from your loved ones. I had thought, foolishly, because I hadn’t kidnapped you, that you would be grateful for being here. I didn’t realize the extent of change you would endure. It was dumb of me. We have brought ice dwellers here before but none had never seen outside at some point or time—even the females.”
    “Everything is so different,” she murmured. “I hadn’t really thought things through when I left. I needed to escape. I think I could have begged Talek for my life if I hadn’t run, his vanity would have been appeased—but I couldn’t go on with the un-living. I thought I’d teach myself to hunt and I would find someone who wouldn’t look at me like I shouldn’t exist.”
    Laken cupped her chin in his hand. “I’m happy you exist.”
    “But for what purpose?”
    “Right now all you see is the bad in my world. Everything scares you. Let me show you the good. Let me help you understand what seems scary really isn’t.”
    “You called me a breeder female.”
    “It’s a term vampires use for a woman of childbearing years.”
    “It’s forbidden to have a child.”
    “Those are ice-dweller laws, not the laws of the coven,” Laken said.
    Honor jumped up—then placed a hand to her woozy head. “Laws, always the damned laws.”
    “The laws are in place not so we can die—but so we can live.”
    “So you can bleed us dry.”
    “Have you been bled dry?” Laken smiled as he said this.
    “No.” She knew she sounded petulant.
    “You grew up hating your laws. You don’t understand ours yet. Once you heal, you can see others and judge for yourself if they’re happy. For now let me try to help you to not be as scared.”
    “I’m not