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They hurried their pace across the lawns and up toward their front door. Alice kept glancing over her shoulder to see if they were being followed. They raced up the steps. Alice removed the brass key from her pocket. She opened the door. They hurried inside, and she locked the door shut behind them.

An excited Max wagged her tail as they returned home. Hugo petted Max on the head.

“So, do you want to let me in on what’s happening?” he asked.

Alice tossed the coats onto the landing step. She pulled back the sheer black curtain to look outside. There was no one.

“Alice! What’s going on?” Hugo asked.

She turned around. “There was something in the wine,” Alice said. “Something similar to Red-Hearted Queen.”

“It didn’t taste the same. Are you sure?”

“Yes. I tasted it before. You said you had another reaction on Halloween night. What happened?”

“It was a dream. A very real dream. After I passed out, I woke up in my bed. I was laying with someone who I thought was Elizabeth, only it turned out to be you. I swear . . . for a moment, it was real. You were there. We were in bed together. It was as if everything before was the dream and what I was experiencing was reality. I wouldn’t have snapped out of it if Max didn’t wake me up.”

Alice leaned back against the wall in deep thought. “It was real . . . at least to your mind. It probably would have kept going until something snapped you out of it. You were in a trance-like state, reflecting what your mind wanted you to see. Similar to how the ghoulish Elizabeth appeared before you in the restaurant until my voice brought you back. The same with Max.”

“Were they trying to poison us?”

“Worse. It was blood wine. They were using it to make it easier to enthrall us.”

Hugo reared back and titled his head. A perplexed smirk on his face. “What do you mean blood wine? What do you mean enthrall?”

The ornate, diamond shape doorknob jiggled, filling the hallway with the sounds of brass against brass. Alice and Hugo snapped their focus to the origin of the sound. Alice flicked her right hand, producing a flaming purple ball of arcane energy.

“They can’t get through, right?”

“Still have your key?”

“Yep.”

“Then they’re not getting through.”

The doorknob stopped jostling. Scratching, like the sound of fingernails against wood, came from the door as someone traced the wood frame on the other side of the door. Alice gingerly approached the door. Her heart pounded. She gulped.

Max came to her aid by barking at the would-be intruders. The scratching stopped. Max growled at the door, not fully satisfied they were gone.

Alice moved her free hand to the black curtain over the window of the door. She sought conformation from Hugo before progressing. His face was pale, eyebrows furled, and he was clearly holding his breath. However, he clenched his fist and stood ready to strike. He nodded. She pulled the curtain back to reveal the would-be intruder.

No one was there.

Alice moved closer to get a full view of the porch. No sign ofSylvia, Sebastian, or anyone else. Alice put the curtain back and dissipated her arcane flame. She turned back to Hugo.

“They didn’t have us over for dinner to be neighborly,” Alice said. “We were going to be their dessert.”

Hugo shook his head in shock. “What are you talking about?”

“They’re vampires.”

Chapter 6

The King’s Queen

“It’s her.” Sylvia slammed the door behind her. “We found her.”

Sebastian sat at the dining room table finishing his meal. He never let his good food go to waste. He took another bite. “Are you certain?”