Stolen By The Vampire King by Roxie Ray
Nic
Iclosed the door to the safe house and locked it behind us. Then I ensured the thin, white drapes were tightly closed as I left the French doors open to the balcony. They fluttered in the breeze, and the sound of the French Quarter drifted into the room.
“Hey, man! Why you shutting out the view?”
I shot my most withering glance at Jason, and Seb held up his hand.
“Manners in front of your king,” he spat.
For a moment, Jason’s eyes widened. Then he chuckled. “Shit.” He looked at me. “Did you compel your brother to be your guard dog?”
I sighed. “I don’t have time for your bickering. You know exactly why the drapes are closed. We can’t see out, no one can see in.” For good measure, I switched on the ceiling fan, the low sound it produced helping to muffle our chat. “This isn’t exactly a conversation we want anyone to be aware of, right?” I hardened my gaze, looking at each man in turn. “If anyone is having any second thoughts at all, now is the time to voice them. And then you’re on your own getting back to Baton Rouge—hitchhike, for all I care.”
Only one thing mattered, and that was Leia. My chest ached and I rubbed absently over my heart.
I was met only with silence, and I glanced around the safe house Kyle had arranged. “Who the hell lives here anyway? Someone’s granny?”
We were in a room that resembled a Victorian parlor—complete with thick, floral wallpaper, heavy velvets with too much fringing, and lace tablecloths and doilies.
Kyle chuckled. “Nah. My contact.” He drew his phone from his pocket. “I should tell him we’ve arrived. Get this party started.”
I crossed my arms and ankles and leaned against the wall while Kyle had a brief, quiet conversation, the street sounds of New Orleans filtering in behind me, the breeze bringing the bitter tang of coffee and the cloying odor of swamp. I’d never really enjoyed New Orleans. It had always been enemy territory, but diplomatic visits had always been necessary—and Father had usually relied on me for those.
But since Leia had been attacked here, I didn’t just dislike it. I hated the entire city with a loathing that burned through my veins. Final death would be too good for Francois Ricard.
I hadn’t figured out what to do with him yet. But maybe New Orleans was ripe for takeover.
“Nic?”
I glanced at Kyle. “Yeah?”
He shook his head slightly and his eyes narrowed. “I said Temple’s on his way.”
I nodded. “Good.” I returned to my thoughts then glanced at Kyle again. “But who the fuck is Temple?”
Kyle chuckled. “Nice to see our eminent leader was listening when I just explained all that shit to everyone.”
Irritation tightened each of my muscles, and I ground my jaw as I waited for my gums to stop aching at my desire to lash out. At Francois… Fuck, at anyone. Even one of my guys if they continued being smartasses. Frustration was a drum beat inside me.
“I’ll ask one more time.” My voice was low and deadly. “Nice and slow, so you all hear. Who. The. Fuck. Is. Temple?”
“I’m Temple.” A new voice answered my question.
I spun toward the sound, my lips pulled back to reveal my fangs as I sprang toward the man I’d never seen before. I stopped, my hand a mere hair’s breadth from closing around his throat. “Wait. You look familiar.”
He stood perfectly still. Either frozen in the face of my anger or without a single care at all.
“I saw you…” I looked him up and down. “I saw you when I brought Leia to The Neutral Zone.” I closed my fingers fully around his throat, watching for a moment as his face reddened before I turned to Kyle. “What the hell is this fucker doing here?”
“Put him down.” Kyle sounded bored as he examined his fingernails. “He can’t help us if you end his life.”
“Help us?” I ground out the question even as I relaxed my grip. “He let Leia walk right out of the restaurant and she nearly got…and she…”
Temple stepped back, warding me off with his arms out in front of him. “Hey, dude, it’s not my fault if you let your unprotected virgin girlfriend go wandering all over the French Quarter unguarded.”
I growled, the sound echoing from deep inside my chest, and Kyle’s head snapped up to watch the two of us.
“Can it, Temple, you dumb fuck. Pissing off the King of Baton Rouge isn’t smart.”
“Take a seat, Nic.” Jason stood up from the ridiculously delicate-looking chair he’d perched on.
“Shit, no.” I shook my head. “That chair looks like it could break under the weight of my fucking stare.”
“Get over here, Temple, and tell the king what he wants to know.” Kyle jerked his head to his left.
“And what’s that?” Temple still sounded cocky. A little too confident.
“Who the fuck you are.” Kyle’s tone held no room for negotiation, and Seb watched Temple with interest as he walked closer to the fussy sofa.
Jason hovered behind me, just over my right shoulder.
Temple folded his arms, seeming to broaden his chest as he looked at me. “I work at The Neutral Zone, like you said. I was there that night you paraded your virgin around, showing off to New Orleans, challenging the prince without directly challenging him.”
I hissed, my fangs slicing through my gums once more.
He didn’t even flinch. “You know it, I know it. Point is, I don’t give a fuck if you challenge the prince or humiliate him in his own city. He deserves it. He’s an insane fucker who turns people without their permission.”
I released a long breath. “He does what?”
This put Leia in even more danger.
Temple shrugged. “You heard what I said. He turned me without my agreement, and I’ve watched him do it to many more through the years. If he gets your virgin, he’ll be king.”
“If he gets my virgin, he’ll be dead,” I growled. She was so much more than simply my virgin but Temple didn’t need to know any of that. I didn’t need to lay myself bare to this guy. “But what are you here to do?”
“I know how she’s doing, where she’s staying, the best time to go in and grab her.” He checked off each item in his list on his fingers as he spoke. “Simply put, I’m your best hope at getting her back unbitten and still alive.”
I blew out a sigh. “Well, shit.” I met Kyle’s steady gaze and jerked my thumb in Temple’s direction. “This guy is the best you could do?”
Temple stepped back. “I don’t need to fucking be here at all. I’m happy to let y’all manage by your own damn selves and carry on with my other blood-based plans for the crazy prince myself.”
Sebastian stood and walked to lean against the door, blocking the exit. “I don’t think that’s an agreeable option.” He grinned in his usual carefree way, but there was an unmistakable hardness to his voice.
“Look, relax.” Temple leaned back and closed his eyes—a brave fucker, or a stupid one, in a room full of enemy vampires. “I’ve contacted a witch who can help us. She already helps me. She’ll be here soon. Until then, we just wait.”
“A witch? For fuck’s sake. How many more people need to know we’re here?”
Temple cracked open one eye, his movement almost lazy.
“Do you want the virgin back or not?” His words were dangerously close to a challenge, and my men tensed. “I mean, I’m just saying, my way is the way we get her back.” He chuckled to himself and closed his eye again. “Baton Rouge guys, always up to fight someone,” he murmured.
We waited in silence for the next twenty minutes before Sebastian pushed himself away from the door. “Someone’s coming. Get Nic out of view.”
He waited until I was standing around the corner then threw the door open, reached out, and dragged an elderly woman inside before slamming the door behind her again.
“Temple?” The witch looked around, obviously familiar with the New Orleans vampire. “You didn’t mention your friends would have no manners.”
Temple opened his eyes but didn’t make any sort of move to straighten his position. “Relax, Lettie. Let me introduce you to the King of Baton Rouge.” He pointed at me. “The rest of these guys are his entourage. Not my friends.”
“My guards and my brother,” I ground out. “I don’t have an entourage.”
The woman in front of me, her hair a frizzy gray mess, lifted her chin. “Word is you don’t have a virgin anymore, either.”
I bent down, pushing my face into hers. “And what do you know about it, witch?”
She held her ground. “I know I did a lot more to help her than you did the night she was attacked. If it hadn’t been for my amethyst, the outcome would have been a lot worse.”
Ah. Pieces fell into place. “Then I owe you a debt, witch.”
“That’s right. And you’re about to owe me a great deal more.”
“You can help us rescue Leia?”
She nodded. “But only because your heart is pure.”
I barked out a laugh, and Temple tilted his head, his gaze turning to one of curiosity. “Not what I was expecting to hear.”
Nothing I’d ever expected anyone to say about me, either, and I drew back from the witch, unwilling to let her look any further inside me.
She laughed. “Temple might know our prince’s routine and movements, but I know the way in. The only way in, so don’t even think about double-crossing me.”
“Of course not.” I had no plans to. She’d already proven herself when she gave Leia the amethyst pendant. I switched my focus to Temple. “What’s the plan?”
“Well.” He sat forward now, his posture not unlike that of Kyle on the jet on the way up here. He’d probably have made a great strategist if hadn’t been turned in the wrong city. “Lettie said she can open a portal from the king’s mausoleum, where he lies in stasis. A direct portal to the Ricard land exists from there because no one is supposed to know how the king has declined—and he will be weak when he wakes, so appearing in public would be too great of a risk. It’s the route the family uses.”
Lettie cackled, the sound grating. “The old mad king is nearly dead.”
“Yes, and what will you have then? A new mad prince?” I spat my questions.
“Or a king, if he takes what’s yours.” She narrowed her eyes knowingly.
“Shut up, witch, and let Temple speak, or I’ll never get my may—” I shook my head. I’d nearly said too much. “My virgin back, and you’ll never be free of the New Orleans dark prince.”
She inclined her head in acknowledgment and gestured for Temple to continue, and I pinched the bridge of my nose at her high-handed attitude, but I didn’t speak. For now, I needed to listen. I could force myself to do that much, even though tension and anger coiled so tightly inside me, it took an iron will to control it.
Luckily, I had that iron will.
Sebastian didn’t feel the same, however. “If it’s just a trip to the mausoleum, we can go there now. Into the Ricard house, grab Leia, home. Simple.”
“No.” Temple sighed, a sound of long-suffering and tested patience. “Not simple. We can go to the mausoleum now, under cover of darkness, but we need to wait until daylight to pass through the portal. Francois has changed his hours. He leaves the house in the morning and returns in the evening to spend time with his bride.”
Temple emphasized the five words, and his gaze met mine in another challenge.
I pressed my lips together.
He nodded, seeming pleased with my silence. “The house should be quieter in the day.”
“Surely at night they’re all asleep?” Jason stepped forward. “Wouldn’t that be easier still?”
“No.” Temple shook his head, his word a frustrated sound like we weren’t getting it. “Once Francois is at The Neutral Zone—”
I coughed out a bitter laugh as I heard the name of his restaurant again.
“I can keep him occupied. I can keep him from his house so you can take back control of what’s yours.” Temple nodded. “He’s an unknown when he’s inside the house.” Then his mouth twisted down. “He’s more unstable of late in general. Started to worsen when you brought your virgin to his territory, vampire.” He leveled a glare at me.
I pushed back my flush of anger, unable to defend my part in this mess, unwilling to lose control. “Okay. We do it your way.” I waited a moment. “But this had better not fail, or I’ll be coming back for your beating heart. I’ll hold it in my hand.”
“We all understand the urgency,” Kyle spoke in a low voice. “We travel to the mausoleum now and wait until sunrise. Then we can make our move through the tunnels.”
“I’ll signal you from The Neutral Zone when Francois has arrived,” Temple added.
“Signal?” Sebastian raised an eyebrow. “We’re not bats.”
“But I doubt you’re modern enough to own a phone, old man.” Temple raised his eyebrow. “Kyle will receive a text.”
“The time for talking is over,” Kyle said, and he checked his gun before patting the thigh pocket on his cargo pants where he kept his extra ammo. “We need to get ourselves into position.”
We all stepped toward the door, but Temple remained in place.
“I’ll text you, Kyle,” he said as he closed his eyes again, effectively dismissing us from his home.
“Thank you for your hospitality,” I murmured before I passed through the door, and he smirked.
We made our way to the Ricard Mausoleum on foot. I wanted to race, utilizing my super speed, but the witch couldn’t have kept up, and she wouldn’t be carried. Instead, she insisted on leading.
“Where are we going?” I fell into step beside her, keeping my voice low as we stuck to lesser-known streets.
“Out beyond Holy Cross, to one of the oldest cemeteries. No one will bother us there.”
“Good.” I nodded. “But I wish you’d let me carry you, witch, so we could move at speed. We’re not exactly unobtrusive here in New Orleans, even where it’s quiet.”
I cast a watchful gaze around.
“It’s going to be a long night, but I have my own protection and my own strength. I’ll get you to the cemetery, I’ll open the portal,” she said. “You will have one hour. No more, no less. But that’s all I can hold the portal open for. Temple has told me where the girl is, and I can give you precise directions through the home.”
“And how do you know about this portal?” I asked a question I didn’t expect her to answer, but she surprised me.
“I created it. I’ve created many a portal over the years. Or even a basement where none should exist in this water-logged ground.” She cast a sidelong glance at me. “Dead man’s blood can even be supplied for the appropriate fee. I have a lot of things I’ll do for the right money.”
I sighed. I could only imagine the price tag attached to a double-cross.
“Or the right person,” she added but said nothing more.
* * *
Hours later,when the sky was already considering lightening again, we entered the old cemetery. Grass grew waist high in some parts, and the old tombs were cracked and broken. A large mausoleum stood directly ahead, looking like a small house. A fence of wrought iron encircled it, and it had a small door I’d need to stoop to pass through.
Lettie raised her hand and pointed with a trembling finger. “The Ricard family resting place. That’s where the king lies in his stasis. We ne need to go inside without triggering the warning spell.”
“How long will he sleep?” Jason approached and asked his question, his voice pitched low.
Lettie waved her hand in a gesture of uncertainty. “Possibly fifty more years. That’s what legend says, but it could be longer. The old man is weak, made weaker by his mad bloodline.”
“Can you lift the warning spell?” I asked.
She looked at me, her mouth twisting briefly, her eyes lighting with amusement. “Child, I wrote the spell book. But we should wait to enter until the sun appears over the horizon. The king is vulnerable in his stasis and daylight weakens him further.”
I nodded my agreement, and we retreated to the shadows to wait out the rest of the night. Leia roamed my thoughts, her image teasing me. I should have protected her better.
“I warned her, you know.” Lettie spoke closer to me than I expected. “I warned her to stay out of the shadows, but apparently she can’t resist you.”
“It’s mutual,” I breathed, confessing far more than I ever planned to. “She’s the bright flame that tempts me.”
“As I thought,” the witch murmured. Then she moved toward the mausoleum. “It’s time.”
As one, we moved behind her, passing through the door when she opened it, and silently stepping only where she directed us to step.
She walked to the far wall of the space with quick, efficient strides, much different from the woman who had trudged here on increasingly slow feet.
She stood, back turned to us, and raised her arms, and energy seemed to crackle through the air, lifting the hair at the back of my neck and prickling across my skin. A low murmuring filled the space, and I glanced at the king, finding him still peaceful in his repose. Lettie’s chanting grew louder until it seemed to echo off the walls and thrum in my blood, but still he didn’t wake. Then a patch of the old stone seemed to almost melt and spark before purple fire blazed against the wall, and Lettie stepped back.
“The portal.” She gestured to it. “I can hold it for one hour only. Move quickly to retrieve your female.”
The oval purple fire shifted and moved, revealing shadows and faces with each flicker, and part of me reared back. There was a reason I employed witches only for the purposes of strengthening my wards, but I had no option but to trust this woman.
“But Temple hasn’t sent the signal yet.” This rescue mission was no good if we wasted our time waiting to know if Francois had left.
Lettie smiled, her uneven teeth reflecting the eerie, flickering purple. “Three, two, one…”
Kyle reached for his phone and checked it. “Temple just texted,” he confirmed. “We’re a go.”
“One hour,” Lettie repeated as she sank into a crouch against the smooth stone wall adjacent to the portal. “I will keep my hold on these spells for that long only, then I’m closing the portal, raising the warning spell, and leaving. I won’t wait around, and I won’t look back.”
I nodded. “Agreed.” If our mission took longer than an hour, I’d burn my way from the house, because I wasn’t leaving New Orleans without my mate.
Kyle glanced at me then strode forward, vanishing through the portal. Sebastian went next, then I followed, and lastly Jason.
We were going to retrieve Leia, and no one would stand in my way.
