by E. M. Moore
“I’ll get a team together. We can leave within a half hour,” Lex said, her voice rising.
Her hand fluttered for the cell phone she always kept in her pocket, but Gregor moved forward. “That won’t work. The careless stunt my son has pulled off has also gained us some insight into Dumont. He has far more followers, and a bigger reach than we expected, or dare I say, even thought to consider. We must change our tactics. It is no longer possible to try Dumont through our usual methods. He has made it impossible for his mission to fail. Unfortunately, we need him alive in order to calm his people. Killing him would do nothing but entice them to throw everything they have at us, and since he’s been plotting his revenge for some time longer than we even knew he was still around, I think it best if we get him here, and he and I can sit down in a civilized manner to discuss things.”
“Sir…” Lex started. “You’re not actually thinking of letting his behavior go unchecked, are you? A truce of some sort? That’ll be why his people won’t quiet. We should use brute force to squash them.”
Gregor’s lips thinned. “I refuse to behave like those we shook off this pedestal. I have worked hard and long to live peacefully, and I will not live like Dumont just to defeat him. Nor will I risk our guards in what will sure be a fight to end all fights. There has to be another way.”
Lex’s jaw clenched. I looked back and forth between the two while they stared one another down. I could see both points. Gregor would stick to his wishes, though. First it would be brute force to rid the world of Dumont and anyone who wanted to avenge him, but how would others perceive that? Would they see the Ravanas acting that way and remember who it was they threw from the throne centuries ago? It would go against everything Ravana believed in to fight amongst his own species. And that didn’t even bring into account the fact that Nic said they rivaled us in numbers. The chances of winning such a war were slim, and as he said, put all of us in jeopardy.
Interrupting their stare down, I said, “I guess the bigger question at the moment is how do we get Nic here faster to give Gregor and Dumont more time to talk without his hoard of angry followers? He’s in a car, and they’re not far behind. To ensure his safety, we need to see about getting him here quicker than driving. Can anyone fly? Does anyone have a plane at their disposal?”
“Pavone”, Connor and Stephan said at the same time. Stephan eyed me warily, and although I recognized the name, and why I recognized it, having him help wouldn’t bother me. I’d thought his tastes were vile, but now that I’d experienced the same thing, they weren’t as heinous as I imagined. Not that I wanted to be in that situation with him again, with Zeke telling him I loved being fed off of for sexual purposes.
Lex pointed at Stephan. “Get him on the phone. Tell him we need him at the airport as soon as he can.” She looked at Connor. “Start researching small air fields or places to land a plane between here and your brother’s last known position.”
The people in the room scattered. Gregor walked forward, handing me back my cell. He looked around the room briefly, finding Stephan talking quickly into his phone the only other person left in the room besides us. “If you’ll excuse me, Ariana, I have to go tell my wife the news we’ve just heard.”
I nodded, and he left. As soon as the door closed behind him, Stephan’s hands wound around my middle from behind, and he pulled me back to him. I laid my head back against his shoulder. “Did Nic say anything else when I wasn’t here?”
Stephan kissed my cheek, his lips lingering. “No. He just reiterated that he thought it may have been a little too easy to get to Dumont, like he wants to be in our custody for some reason. Father thinks that sitting down and discussing things with him like men, like world leaders, might do some good.” He sighed. “Maybe they’ll come to some sort of compromise. Then again, maybe that’s just me and my wishful thinking. I hate to see anyone get hurt. Not our people.” He squeezed me tight to him. “And not those who are following him. They can’t know what kind of man he really is. I hate to see them fight, or worse, die, for something—someone—so unworthy.”
I closed my eyes and lifted my chin up. I prayed that Nic’s count on Dumont’s followers was off. Like Stephan, I hated the thought of senseless bloodshed, but in my experience, you didn’t move forward without giving something up. If Dumont refused to back down, I really didn’t see any other way out of this. I’d love to shield Stephan and the rest of the princes from something like an all-out war with actual armies on each side, but at this point in time, I didn’t see another way out of it.
24
Perhaps I should’ve mentioned before I got in the airplane that I’d never flown before. I was a foster home child. It wasn’t like my foster parents were scurrying around to send me on vacations. I’d dreamed about flying before. It always seemed so mystical. A way to get somewhere really fast, but up above all the clouds so that when you stared back at Earth, everything looked so small and insignificant. It was kind of telling. Maybe if we weren’t on the way to save a guy I loved, I would come up with something about how we shouldn’t sweat the small stuff and everything was small stuff, but it wasn’t, really. Was it?
Saving Nic was my number one priority. The Dumont Clan vampires were creeping up on him. We’d made the right decision to come pick him up. Who knew what would happen if they did catch up with him? Surely it would be a fight, and being as outnumbered as Nic was, it definitely wouldn’t have been a victory on our side.
The plane dipped and I grabbed onto the metal sides. Ryan Pavone had been able to procure a slightly larger plane than his normal one. It was a bit like a cargo plane, and he’d already told me that if we crashed, I was pretty much as good as dead. Maybe that was the reason for my sudden fear of flying. It definitely wasn’t the way I imagined being introduced to it.
Lex sat across from me on the floor. Her lips curved up when she saw my minor freak out. “Here I thought you weren’t afraid of anything, Stuart,” she said, speaking into her headset.
I smiled back at her, trying to relax my nerves. “First time. Just trying to get my bearings.” My own headset smelled like funk from whoever usually flew this hunk of metal. I closed my eyes and remembered who I was doing this for. He owed me big time though. I was thinking a much needed vacation after all this. Somewhere we could fly to. First-class. Not any of this cargo-plane-turned-passenger nonsense.
The speaker crackled in my ear and Ryan spoke from the cockpit. “Fifteen minutes until landing.”
Lex held the headset to her ear while she listened to his voice, then grabbed the mic and put it closer to her mouth. “Roger that. Connor’s got our ears down on the ground. He’s got us nicely lined up with Nic being at the pickup spot just two minutes after our arrival. As soon as we get him and Dumont inside the plane, be prepared to take off again. I don’t want any wasted moments. The sooner we get the package back to Gregor the better.”
“Package,” Ryan snickered.
I rolled my eyes, but Connor’s soothing voice sounded from my earpiece. “Don’t be stupid, Pavone. Also, no one congratulated me on how awesome I am at getting you and Nic there at basically the same time. I mean, we couldn’t have planned it any better if we’d planned it that way all along.”
I smiled at him. “It was a sweet job, Connor.”
I colored once I realized I said it out loud. Connor only chuckled back, the sound easing my stress. He mock cried. “She cares. She really does.”
“Alright, alright,” Lex said, though I could see from the look on her face she was enjoying this as much as I was. “Let’s keep our minds on the task at hand. As soon as we land, T.J. opens up the doors, I move out with Stuart right after, then T.J. Zeke, I want you to hang back and secure the plane unless we get company then I want you to do both.”
I sneaked a look back at him. He was as calm as a cucumber. To me, he didn’t have any emotions other than cocky and asshole. Sure, he may have tried to thank me once, but he was still cocky when he did it. It shouldn’t both
er me so much. I guessed as long as he was cocky while we were saving Nic, I could tolerate him better. Apprehension niggled in my brain though. Would Zeke and I always be going out on missions together? Was that my plight from now on? To get paired up with this jerk? I hoped not. At least after graduation when I was awarded the guardianship of the Ravanas, I wouldn’t have to see him again. I hoped.
“Two minutes,” Ryan said.
I realized then that the plane was making its descent. I held on to the coarse rope I was using as a grip as the plane tilted, nose down. Memories came flooding back to me as soon as my fingers touched the woven strands. The rope climb. The obstacle course. A lot had changed in such a short amount of time. In a way, I couldn’t wait to get back to The Fort and finish what I’d started. Even though what we were doing now was more like the real world, I could admit it was nice having the sanctity of The Fort, back when we thought nothing could touch the Ravanas and the worst thing I would have to do in guarding them would be making sure people didn’t trespass, or making sure those who were at the estate should’ve been at the estate. Dumont had given our world a lot of fear in a short amount of time. It was time for him to pay.
My stomach clenched as my ears popped. I was too scared to look and see how fast the earth was rising to meet our plane. I thought taking off was bad, this was worse. At least with taking off we were moving away from the thing that could kill us. During landing, we were coming closer and closer to a hard surface that we were supposed to glide across. In this case, we were landing in a field with just enough room to slow the plane down, turn it around, and then take off again.
“Impact in three, two…”
I gritted my teeth together to keep from making any embarrassing sounds. Like crying or yelping. Nonchalantly, I traced my floral tattoo with my thumb, making sure to touch the four stems that represented my life.
The wheels touched down. The plane bounced up and down. I closed my eyes until I could tell we were rolling along the ground nicely—and safe. “I’m going to make the turn at the edge of the field. Feel free to jump down as soon as I make it.”
T.J. winked as he walked past me and moved into place. I got up after him, my legs a little shaky, letting Lex go in front of me. She had a stake already in her hand at the ready, and I followed suit. Mentally, I took a tally of what weapons I had on me and where they were on my person. I had two stakes around my waist, one in my pant leg and a knife in a holster around my ankle. The knife wouldn’t kill a vampire, but it would hurt them.
The three of us got jostled to the side as the plane made a wide, sweeping arc. Once the plane faced the other direction and Ryan gave us the go ahead, T.J. unlatched the door. Lex jumped down and headed for the tree line Connor had brought up from the aerial maps. Just beyond the tree line was the road where Nic would stop, exit with Dumont, and run back toward the plane, hopefully leaving all of Dumont’s people staring up at us from the ground while we happily flew back to the estate. They knew where the estate was, so we wouldn’t be rid of them for long, but what we really wanted was time to talk to Dumont without his gang of people, time to figure this all out without resorting to a blood bath.
“Good luck, Team,” Connor said.
I took my headset off and jumped. My knees still a little wobbly from the flight, I had to tuck and roll before getting to my feet and jogging after Lex. I didn’t have to look behind me to know that T.J. would be there.
Lex turned, her mouth moved, and she pointed toward the tree line. My eyes widened as I realized she was saying something, but with the changes in elevation of my first flight, my ears were messed up. It sounded like I was hearing through a tin can. I put my fingers near my ear and made furious circles until my ears popped. I yawned, trying to relieve the pressure all the while still following after Lex who’d turned back around and started moving faster toward the road. That was when I saw it. Christian’s sleek car. It pulled over to the side of the road with a cloud of dust trailing after it like sandy plumes in the sky. The driver’s side door opened, and my heart lurched, spurring my feet along even more. By then, I was running side-by-side with Lex who was notoriously a fast runner. I may not have had the time to go on my daily runs like I was used to doing, but the repetitive movement was still there. My muscles knew when they needed to stretch, and burn.
Nic jumped out of the car, leaving the front door wide open and pulled at the back door. He pulled out a body by his legs first. Lex and I were almost there. We were running through the little stretch of woods that bordered the road. Twigs and branches broke underneath our feet as we barreled through. As if he’d heard me and only me, Nic turned. Dumont was halfway out of the car, but when Nic turned, it was as if he’d forgotten all about what we were trying to do. His eyes met mine. As dark as he always looked, I swear his face brightened when he saw me. The shadows may have only pulled back minutely, but I still noticed it.
I smiled. Then, a wood stake went sailing past Nic’s face.
I cried out as Nic jumped back. His eyes widened and his eyes focused on the stake as it passed. He ducked, then looked behind the car.
“We have company,” Lex shouted.
Zeke should be exiting the plane as she said that. This was the second time I had to put one of my princes’ lives in his hands. I still wasn’t comfortable with it, but my options were slim. We all had to work as a team now that we knew some of Dumont’s people were here.
“T.J., you get Dumont. Stuart, take Nic and get him back to the plane.”
T.J. hauled Dumont up onto his shoulders and turned for the plane once more. When he passed, he locked eyes with me briefly before taking off, the ancient vampire bouncing off his shoulders as he ran. Nic crawled to me, his fingers sinking into the dirt. When he got closer, he wrapped his hand in mine. It wasn’t the time to feel the sudden jolt of togetherness, but my body didn’t realize we were under fire.
Another stake soared through the air, piercing the emptiness with a whispered scream, kind of like the sound fireworks made as they were being shot into the air. Except if the stakes hit home, it wouldn’t be near as pretty as fireworks would be.
“Run!” Lex screamed. “We got two cars behind us. They’re emptying out. Pavone, get that plane ready. We need to leave as soon as I get on.”
“Copy that.”
A stake sunk into the tree Lex was using as cover and vibrated, the loud thwack it made echoing in my head. I pulled Nic’s hand and pushed him in front of me. If he wasn’t trying to wait for me, he’d be on the plane right now. We all knew he was much faster than me. “Go!”
He looked back at me, his face pure incredulity. He wasn’t going to leave me.
I bared down, willing my legs to move faster. More stakes soared through the air. I looked at them with fascination. How were they getting them to travel at that speed at that distance? They sure as hell weren’t throwing them. Or maybe they were. Vampires were stronger, but still, something wasn’t adding up. It seemed like they had help. Whatever the case, they had terrible aim.
Zeke passed us on his way back to Lex, dodging out of the way of flying stakes, his hand on his own wooden weapon poised to throw it when he got within distance.
Ten more yards and Nic and I were at the plane. Nic jumped up, landing in a crouch at the top of the plane and then turning for my hand. I ran and leapt as hard as I could. His fingers curled around my wrist and held on before dragging me up until my feet landed solidly on the airplane floor.
The plane’s engine roared beneath us. I looked back to find Lex not that far behind with Zeke at her heels. Catching Dumont’s crew in the tree line, I realized two things. One, they were using stake launchers. All they had to do was load the stakes and pull a trigger and the stake went flying at their target. Two, their aiming wasn’t bad. Or maybe it was, but we’d never know from what was happening right now. They weren’t aiming at all. They were just loading the stake and pulling the trigger without thought to where it would hit. That could only mean one thing. The
y weren’t trying to hit us. They were content with just scaring us.
I stared back at them, trying to understand what they were doing in all this as Nicolai caught Lex and handed her into the plane first, and then Zeke. He reached back and latched the plane door shut, sealing away Dumont’s people from my view.
“Take her away, Ryan,” Lex said.
Without an acknowledgment, the plane lurched forward, gathering speed. I sat down where I stood and scooted to the side of the plane, finding the handhold I’d had on the way here. Lex looked first at Nic, her eyes appraising, and then to the back of the plane where Dumont was still knocked out, lying down in front of T.J. as if he was asleep. When she realized our mission was complete, she sat herself. She dug around for her headset, and I found mine too. As soon as I slipped mine over my ears, I heard Lex say, “We’re on our way home. Nicolai and Dumont are with us. I repeat, we have Nicolai and Dumont.”
A whoop went up, and I knew instantly it was Connor. He’d done a lot to make sure this mission went off without a hitch including sending GPS coordinates to Nic’s phone to make sure he would be at the makeshift airfield when we got there. He’d gotten the aerial view of the field and told us exactly where Nic would be pulling up in Christian’s car and where we could find him. The only thing we didn’t realize was how close Dumont’s people were to Nic. Not that it mattered. They weren’t shooting to kill for some unknown reason. A very un-Dumont-like move.
A body sat next to me. Immediately, a warmth encompassed me that I couldn’t help but lean into. Soft lips pressed into my cheek and for one blissful second, I leaned into him, my eyes closing. But reality sunk in right away. My eyes flew open, and I looked straight at Lex. I might not have even known she saw anything except that a little crease appeared between her eyes. I swallowed the thickness in my throat and looked around at the other passengers in the back of the plane. T.J. was looking at Dumont, toeing him with his foot while Zeke scowled at the man on the floor. Though relief flooded me, I looked back at Lex and locked eyes with her. I didn’t know how she would take what she just saw, and all of a sudden, my mind was a whirl with a thousand different excuses on the tip of my tongue if she were to say anything.