Stolen By The Vampire King by Roxie Ray
Nic
We appeared on the other side of the old witch’s portal and stood in a garden. A garden that smelled suspiciously like—I inhaled deeply… It smelled like death. Dew coated the rich lawn and formed droplets on the leaves above, but body-shaped lumps in the grass drew my attention.
“Fuck,” I ground out. “What the hell has Francois been doing?”
“Is… Is Leia…?” Kyle glanced at me, rare uncertainty in his eyes.
“No.” Sebastian bit out the answer before I could reply. “Nothing out here carries Leia’s scent.”
Kyle glanced at him suspiciously before redirecting his focus to me, and I swallowed against the unwelcome reminder that my brother knew my mate’s scent almost as intimately as did.
“Sebastian’s right,” I said, my voice rough. “Leia isn’t buried here. And the decay is too old.”
Kyle nodded. “Okay then. Let’s get to the house. The witch said Temple told her the best way to get in is via a side entrance. He said staffing is at a minimum during the hours after Francois leaves for the restaurant. He knows people who work inside.”
I nodded. “Let’s go,” I agreed and took off running, ducking as I hurried under the cover of low-hanging trees, until the main house was a short distance away across an open expanse of lawn. I watched for a moment, noting the shadows passing across the windows. “It certainly looks busy in there, Kyle.”
He grimaced then shrugged. “Things must have changed.”
I chuckled, the sound dark. “Unless Temple sent us into an ambush, right?”
“This is our only chance, though.” Jason crept up alongside me. “We’ve got a witch holding open a portal and Leia is in that building. We won’t get a do-over.”
A low growl rumbled through me. Fuck. I liked plans, I liked order. I didn’t like the unexpected. I couldn’t control that. I made my hands into tight fists. “All right. Let’s go.”
We were blurs racing across the lawn, although fellow vampires would have seen us if they’d happened to glance out of one of the windows. I slammed against the wall, my attention distracted for just a moment, and a crack appeared in the masonry.
“You usually land better than that.” Jason’s voice was a low murmur at my ear.
“Yeah. Saw something weird in one of the windows.”
“Oh?” He quirked an eyebrow.
“Yeah. Just let me check.” I darted away but was soon back at his side. “Fuck. There’s a wedding dress hanging in one of the rooms.”
“Then we can’t wait, brother. How does it look? Unworn?” Sebastian rested his hand on my shoulder, but I shrugged it off.
“How the fuck am I supposed to know if she’s worn it?”
“Blood stains around the neckline?” Seb turned as if looking for something, and I almost laughed at his complete lack of tact. “Where’s that fucking door?” he mumbled.
Kyle whistled low from further away. “It’s over here,” he whispered. “We have to do this thing now. We haven’t got time to waste peering in windows.”
I bristled at his low-key criticism but said nothing. I trusted Kyle to lead this mission right.
He twisted the doorknob, and the entire thing crumbled under the flick of his wrist and squeeze of his hand. “Oops,” he murmured. “How careless of me.”
He pushed the door open, and we followed him into a mudroom of some kind. The room was stone walled with a stone floor, with metal rings secured to both. The scent of fear and death lingered in here, too.
“That bastard,” I breathed, and my heart rate picked up until I could only hear my blood rushing through my ears. I’m coming, Leia. I only hoped she was strong enough to hold on.
“This way, I think.” Kyle led us forward. “You just let me know if you pick up on her scent.” He paused. “Same instruction to Sebastian, I guess?”
My gums ached and I could only nod as my lips stretched tighter over my mouth at my effort to keep my fangs at bay. Sebastian and I definitely still needed to have a chat about things that belonged to me.
“We have to move quicker,” Kyle said. “They have to be aware of us now. An ambush is almost guaranteed at this point.” He left the small stone room and we entered a kitchen.
A girl, possibly a maid, arranging flowers in a giant vase, squealed and turned to run but Kyle descended on her and twisted her head, snapping her neck before she even reached the door.
He turned, pain etched on his face before it cleared, becoming line-free again, the mask of a soldier. “She was too young.” But that was all he said.
I crouched and fingered one of the petals of the calla lilies she’d dropped on the floor beside her.
“Wedding flowers?” I glanced up to meet the eyes of my men. Maybe we weren’t too late.
“We have to keep going. No sentimentality over fucking flowers, Nic.” With a regretful glance at the girl on the floor, Kyle strode forward, his words less an instruction to me and more one for himself.
I closed the girl’s unfocused eyes and followed.
Then Kyle stumbled backward as a large vampire threw himself onto my head guard, his fangs primed over Kyle’s throat.
I roared and leapt forward, my fingernails raking the vampire’s cheek. He howled in pain, and I sensed the guys behind me moving into a defensive formation.
“I think we just announced our arrival,” Jason said. “Better get this finished up quickly.”
I ripped the vampire off Kyle, digging my nails into his throat and tearing through his windpipe. Blood spurted from the hole I’d pierced through his jugular, and he collapsed to the floor.
Kyle kicked him out the way, his boot connecting with at least one rib. “She’s upstairs,” he ground out. “Francois isn’t exactly secretive about his guest. Temple seems to know a lot of shit about how this house works.”
A face appeared at a partially closed door to my left, then it closed further until only an eye was visible before the door clicked into place. “Come on,” My voice was a low growl as it caught in my thick throat. My heart seemed to be trapped there rather than sitting in my chest. “If you think any one of these goons isn’t phoning their prince right now, you’re wrong. He’ll be on his way back before Temple can even try to delay him.”
A movement above us caught my eye and a second burly vampire launched himself from the second-floor landing, knocking me to the floor. The breath squeezed out of my lungs, and razor-sharp fangs slid against my skin before piercing my neck.
“Fuck.” Jason’s shout sliced through my struggle.
“Brother!” That was Sebastian, but it was Kyle who appeared first when he ripped the man from me, and blackness dimmed my vision as my neck tore and pain blazed through me.
“Nic.” Jason dragged me to standing, and Sebastian appeared in front of me, but his face blurred in and out of focus.
“Brother,” he murmured again before he lifted his wrist to his mouth and ripped a chunk of flesh away before spitting it on the floor. He mashed the bleeding vein to my lips, and I clamped on, sucking as I applied pressure to my neck.
Holding myself together while I healed.
“Come on, Nic. We’re nearly there. Don’t die in Francois fucking Ricard’s house while he’s planning his marriage to your mate.” Jason’s voice was clearer now, and I released Sebastian’s wrist, licking over it to speed his own healing before he drew it away.
“Brother.” I acknowledged his deed with a nod.
He returned the gesture and added a small bow and amused twist to his lips. “Hopefully that goes some way to settling my debt.”
I nodded again.
“If you’re done with the family reunion?” Kyle asked, his arms folded over his chest.
The vampire who’d jumped me lay at Kyle’s feet, his head twisted at an awkward angle. My head guard was a cold-blooded mercenary killer, and I’d never been more glad of it. As we moved forward, he drew his gun.
“None of the fuckers are getting anywhere near us again,” he said. “That was too close.”
We climbed the stairs, and I glanced around at Francois’s unhappy home. It reeked of sadness and sorrow, but also of Leia. Her scent wound through everything else, calling to me, a beacon of light in a very dark place.
“Jesus, if this is what Francois’s home looks like, I’d hate to live inside his head.” Jason kept his voice low, but I was pretty sure he was saying what we were all thinking.
“I think she’s nearby.” Her scent had intensified. I glanced at Sebastian for confirmation but at first, he only tightened his lips. Then he nodded, the movement almost grudging, like he knew his ability to track my mate wasn’t exactly a welcome one.
“I concur,” he said.
We slid along the hallway, close to the wall, sticking to the shadows that seemed to blanket every surface. We reached a door with a worn brass doorknob and I stopped.
“I think this is it.” I pressed my hand to the wood like I’d somehow be able to feel her, and I automatically turned the handle to go in. “Is the door being locked a good sign?”
It had to be. Anxiety squeezed my heart. I had no idea what Francois was capable of—I hadn’t thought him capable of even this. I simply had to hope Leia was most valuable to him alive and unharmed.
Kyle motioned me away from the door and Jason checked his watch.
“We have to step this up, guys. Nic nearly getting his throat ripped out cost us more time than we planned for.”
Without further hesitation, Kyle destroyed the doorknob in the same way he’d crushed the one downstairs. He didn’t pretend clumsiness this time, swinging the door open instead as he stepped forward with his gun raised. I shoved him aside.
But the room was empty.
Her scent was strong, along with the bitter scent of her fear, and something that tasted like pity, but Leia wasn’t there.
“No.” I ground my jaw. “No. Fuck, no.”
I glanced at Jason and Sebastian, but their eyes were wide like maybe we’d reached the end of the road. We hadn’t planned for this.
“Now what?” Surely we hadn’t missed them again?
“Now, we keep looking.” Kyle’s voice was grim as he bent to peer beneath the ugly, raised bed then strode to a door that revealed a closet packed with ugly, antique gowns. When he tried a handle on the only other door in the room, rattling it to see if it would open, something squeaked on the other side.
“Wait.” I held up my hand to stop him before he wrenched his way in. Leia didn’t know Kyle. If she was in there, he couldn’t be the first face she saw.
Putting aside any illusion of skill or grace, I ripped the door open and strode into the room, my heart beating more wildly than ever before. I sucked in a lungful of air as the squeak sounded again, and I moved forward until I spotted a curled-up bundle of black and red fabric.
“Leia?” Relief almost stole my voice, her name little more than a disturbance in the air.
Her natural scent was almost entirely saturated in fear, and her face was pale when she lifted it, her hands shaking as she twisted her fingers together. “Holy crap. You came.”
Her words were almost voiceless too, but I heard the disbelief and relief.
I forced out a chuckle as I moved forward, like this was just another day in the life of any of the Baton Rouge vampires.
“Of course I did.” My voice was rough with the emotions I was trying to keep at bay. “You don’t get out of a one-month contract with me by running off with rival vampire royalty.”
I wanted to fall to my knees and worship her, but I stopped and gathered her to my chest, cradling her against me. She said something, and I bent closer.
“What was that?” I pressed my ear toward her mouth to hear her reply.
“I’m willing, I’m willing.” Her breath caught on a half-sob. “Take me.”
I tightened my grip and pressed my lips into a tight line as I strode from the room, the all-conquering king once again.
For fuck’s sake. What had Francois done to her?
“Let’s get this show on the road.” I nodded my head to the bedroom door as my men looked at me. “I’ve got her.”
She weighed practically nothing in my arms as we jogged back through Francois’s house—as much a mausoleum as where his father lay in stasis. In front of me, Kyle fired his gun, clearing our path from the house. When I glanced behind me at Jason, he had his gun in his hand, too, and even Sebastian was armed.
“These were the backup plan.” Jason grinned. “Wooden bullets. Anything to keep you safe.”
“It’s for Leia,” I called back, as we burst from the house, a trail of unknown dead and injured vampires in our wake.
“For both of you,” Sebastian added as we sprinted toward the portal, not bothering to conceal ourselves on the return trip.
Francois would likely be back any moment, and I wanted to be on the jet before he thought to travel to the airport.
“Jason—” I started
“Already on it.” He clutched his cell phone to his ear and issued instructions to our pilot to prepare for our arrival at the jet and a quick departure. The pilot would probably compel someone at air traffic control to bump up our place in the line. We always got away in pretty good time when we needed to, anyway.
We flung ourselves through the crackling purple portal, and Lettie looked at us. Her gaze lingered on Leia then skimmed my neck, and the dried blood coating my skin.
“Everything okay?” She raised an eyebrow.
“Nothing we couldn’t handle.” Kyle scowled as he spoke.
Lettie didn’t take her eyes from me. “Only the worthy deserve a true mate, Your Majesty. Keep her out of the shadows.”
Leia hadn’t moved or made a sound as we’d escaped Francois’s house, but I looked down at her now, rearranging the fabric bunched around her neck and face, and her brown eyes were wide and scared in her pale face, her lips a vivid slash of red. Her soft breaths came in rapid spurts.
“I need to get her home.”
Lettie almost grinned, her wrinkled face folding along the well-worn creases. “And I need to go. Our business is concluded. I suggest you don’t hang around either. The prince believes only his family members know of this portal, but it doesn’t mean he won’t check.”
I almost expected her to vanish in a puff of smoke, but she climbed through the mausoleum entrance, her shuffling gait forcing us to wait before we could follow.
“So much for a quick exit.” Jason chuckled as he spoke, but Kyle sent him a glower.
“We have superspeed, Jason. I plan to use mine.” His tone was almost a challenge, and as soon as Lettie had moved far enough away, Jason took off, almost a blur on the horizon as he raced toward the airport.
Perhaps Lettie had utilized a puff of smoke after all because she was nowhere to be seen when I walked into the daylight. Sebastian secured the old door so it looked undisturbed, and then we jogged away, picking up speed until we couldn’t be seen by the human eye as I clutched Leia protectively.
My jet was standing on the runway as we approached, and I slowed to a jog, confident Francois wouldn’t reach us this quickly. I glanced at Leia, and her skin had taken on a green tinge.
“What the hell?” Her voice sounded weak, and she swallowed convulsively.
“Shh,” I soothed her. “You’re safe now.”
“I feel kinda sick, though.” She grimaced as she grumbled at me, and for the first time since she’d been taken, I laughed, actual joy swelling in my chest and bubbling out of me.
I clutched her tighter. “Puke anywhere you like. As long as I’ve got you back, I don’t care.”
“Uh. Eww.” Jason grinned as he gestured for me to carry Leia up the steps.
I half-expected her to protest and demand to walk, but if anything, she snuggled closer, her arms winding tighter around my neck.
“I promise you’re safe now.” I made my words low and emphatic. “I’ve got you.”
And I didn’t intend to let her go again, but probably that would be a declaration too far when I didn’t know what she’d suffered at the hands of Francois.
I slowed down at the seat I’d occupied in the main cabin, and my men made themselves comfortable as my flight attendant closed the main door and got us secured for take-off, but I didn’t want to share Leia or surround her with vampires.
I settled us on the bed in the private cabin the back, but I didn’t loosen my grip on her, and she didn’t loosen hers on me.
“You know,” I said. “If you didn’t like the clothes I selected for you… If you prefer something with more lace and ruffles, you only needed to have said.”
She barked out a short laugh but pressed her lips together, the color fading from them. I wanted to bury my nose into her hair and inhale her right down to my toes, to reassure myself I had her with me, that I didn’t need to be without her ever again.
My eyes prickled and I blinked against the unfamiliar sensation. A shudder worked through my chest, and I clamped down on it, but an anguished noise pushed past my lips as Leia turned her face to look at me.
I exhaled my sadness in gasping breaths as I covered those beautiful brown eyes with my hand, not wanting her to see more than I was ready to reveal. Then I pressed a soft, desperate kiss to her forehead as a single tear tracked down my cheek.
I’d come too close to losing everything. And I wouldn’t make that same mistake twice.
