What Kills Me by Wynne Channing

before focusing his gaze straight ahead, his chin high
and his shoulders pressed down. Clad in a black jacket, dress
shirt, and dress pants, he looked older. I loathed his haughty
expression. Inside I raged.
    “Transporter,” the Empress
said.
    Transporter?
    “Yes, Your Highness,” Paolo
answered.
    “Do you recognize this
vampire?”
    “Yes.”
    “Who is she?”
    “She is the human who brought me to
the church.”
    I whipped my head around to look at
him. “What?”
    “She wanted to see the church. Once
inside, she ran away and I followed her.”
    “He’s lying,” I said.
    A soldier struck me with the back of
his hand and stars exploded before my eyes.
    “Ow!” I hit the floor with my
shoulder.
    “Soldier,” the Empress
said.
    “Forgive me, Your Highness,” he said.
He pulled me back upright, and the stinging in my cheek and the
ache in my shoulder receded.
    “Were you going to drink from her?”
the Empress asked Paolo.
    “Yes.”
    “We should all be so lucky that our
prey invite us to a secluded spot for a feeding.”
    The crowd tittered.
    “Were you going to kill her?” said the
Empress.
    “Yes.”
    “You’re a monster!” I
blurted.
    As the vampires around us started
whispering, the Empress raised her left hand to silence the voices.
The soldier moved toward me as a warning and I flinched.
    “Transporter, will you remind the
court what your duty to the Monarchy is?”
    “I deliver provisions.”
    “And have you ever been to the church
before?”
    Paolo paused. He was paralyzed. Like a
rat afraid to move in the presence of a predator. “Yes, Your
Highness.”
    “That’s right. You’ve delivered blood
to the cleric,” she said. “Our Roman emissary’s daughter, Merrill,
says that she has seen you around the premises.”
    The Empress’s tone dropped an octave.
“Did you know about the shrine?”
    “No, Your Highness.”
    “But you knew that it was sacred
ground.”
    “I…”
    “You knew that the cleric ran errands
on Sunday so he would not be there to disturb your
feast.”
    “No…” His mouth opened, his lower jaw
jutting out.
    “Your behavior, Paolo, is most
displeasing,” she said. “Your wanton trespassing on holy ground to
satisfy your bloodlust is a disgrace.”
    Paolo looked as if he had been punched
in the gut. “Please,” he said, his voice wavering.
    “Your behavior is unworthy of the
Monarchy,” she said.
    I saw the faces in the crowd. Grim.
Unforgiving. I looked back at Paolo. His eyebrows had shot up in
alarm. He slapped a hand over his chest and dropped to his
knees.
    “I beg Your Highness for her
forgiveness.”
    “The Monarchy accepts your apology,”
she said. “However, your transgression requires
punishment.”
    “Please…”
    “For your actions that led to the
desecration of our sacred shrine, I condemn you to
death.”
    “No!” Paolo cried out as two soldiers
grabbed him.
    He managed to push one away, sending
the soldier flying, but then four more swarmed him.
    “Axelia,” the Empress said, surprising
me by using my name. “Your existence is in violation of all that we
hold sacred. You are a mistake, one that requires immediate
correction.”
    No. Please.
    Unconsciously, I rose from my knees to
face her verdict.
    “I condemn you to death.”
     
     

Chapter
10
     
    “Please!” I yelled. “Let me go. I
haven’t done anything wrong!”
    Sinking onto my haunches, I pulled
against the shackles that bound my wrists behind me. My throat
burned from screaming and from thirst, and I felt hysterical from
fear and exhaustion. I longed for the metal door to swing open and
for Uther to be standing there.
    “Is anyone there?” I cried out. “I
need to speak to someone!”
    Paolo and I were trapped together
inside a tight, cylindrical enclosure. The soldiers had chained
Paolo two feet away against the opposite wall.
    “Will you just shut up?” He wore a
look of disdain on his once-charming face, his nose scrunched as if
he smelled something