Butterflies and Vampires

CHAPTER 24

It was raining again, heavily, a day or two after my talk with Cecile. That morning Yves and Uriel rushed to my room eagerly after they had breakfast. They looked ver their shoulders, paranoid, voices in a hush.

"Can you sneak out?"

"Hurry!"

"Get dressed!" Both were talking over one another. I made a pained face.

"Can you talk one at a time?"

"We can sneak out!" Yves was saying, "We need you to get used to shooting."

"The rain here is so loud a gunshot probably won't be heard," Uriel said.

"It's raining, won't you humans die from the wetness and cold?" I asked, frowning. It wasn't a good morning. I felt lethargic, tired, even.

"I went with you last time, Margery, did I die?"

"So as Uriel said, we'll be waiting for you downstairs. Back door."

Yves smiled innocently and Uriel, unaware, nodded in confirmation.

"This is the perfect opportunity."

"Are you two wrong in the head?" I looked down for a long time and finally up. "Fine. If I get caught you two will be slaughtered, though." But I would be in the dungeon, too. What a pain.

It didn't take long for them pull on their jackets, and when they returned I had on a thick dress but no outerwear. Always the gentleman, Uriel gave his up for me, and then Yves insisted he not because I was a vampire.

"They are built to withstand the cold."

He wasn't wrong, but I was supposed to reject Uriel. Growling, I turned and sighed. "Let's hurry."

Downstairs I watched out for Sabine and Primrose. Hopefully Gregoire and Cecile, the lovebirds, were too busy to mind us, so we left from one of the escape doors we had to crawl out of. I dragged my dress through the mud and could barely keep my breath in, but I did. Uriel pulled me out when I was frozen.

"Something is strange with you, did something happen?" he asked, warily.

"No!"

"Then why are you so frustrated?" His eyes made contact with mine, and I ran my hands through my hair, already wet from the rain.

"What? I can't hear you," I lied.

We were outside and Yves gave me the rifle. It was as heavy as I remembered and I turned it around in my hand before he grabbed it and turned to the back. He had to speak loudly into my ear because the rain was pounding on the castle.

"Load the bullets like this. It's called a chamber. Always fill it up or you'll have empty shots—"

"What?" I actually couldn't understand him for once.

"Just fill it like he's saying," Uriel explained. Well, not explained, because I knew anyways.

His hands held mine before taking the rifle Yves was handing us. I thought of what Cecile told me. Touch. He was touching me. He liked me.

Oh no, Yves is going to kill me.

Wait. No, he won't, because Uriel likes you. Loves you, even.

I looked at Uriel and smirked. Despite everything, he was in love with me. Those fake times he acted like he was calm his heart must've been beating like mad, every time he sketched me he must've been aroused...

"Margery!" Yves shouted. "Pay attention! I need to drill this into you."

"I'm listening!" I hollered back. He wiped the water off his face and I realized how he was squinting and panting.