It takes me a second to realize that he's already thrown Sorrow off and into a tree, cracking the wood and leaving the demon struggling to get to his feet. Vyce is still standing in one spot, his blood-red eyes focused on his boss, his father for all intents and purposes.
That's what's so confusing to me; I can't wrap my head around the idea that these men would choose me over him. I don't work well with unknowns. What can I say? I'm a suspicious motherfucker on the best of days. And when it comes to something as serious as this? I can't help it; I have to know.
"Are you insane?" Wolfe asks, shoving his guns back in their holsters and turning to me. His gray eyes are deadly serious as he grips my shoulders and looks into my eyes. "Do you want to get us all killed? Can't you just fight and ask questions later?"
"No!" I shout as Rumpel turns in our direction. He doesn't get very far though because Vyce is on him, knocking them both to the forest floor in a clash of magic that ripples out and makes my teeth chatter, my skin erupt in goosebumps. "He's your dad, isn't he?"
"Dad?" Wolfe asks with a scoff and a sharp shake of his head. "He's a goddamn tyrant, a jailer." I blink stupidly in the big man's direction as he cups the side of my face in his hand. "You're annoying and weird, but you rank higher in our esteem already. That's how much we hate him."
Wolfe presses a hard kiss to my mouth that's all heat and want and need. I rise up on my toes to meet the frantic press of his tongue, the warmth of his lips.
"Oh," he says as we break apart, a slight grimace to his expression, "if you really are infertile, then Rumpel's magic is strong as hell." Wolfe lets go of me and pulls both his guns out again. "Because you're pregnant. Try not to let him stab you through the stomach."
My mouth gapes open as Wolfe takes aim at the wild mess of fists and magic made up of Vyce and Rumpel.
"It's too early for you to know that!" I scoff, but like, magic. Magic can tell as soon as a sperm meets egg. What the fuck?! I'm not sure what my reaction is supposed to be, but I don't get any time to think on it. Rumpel shoves his hand through Vyce's stomach—thus, the warning from Wolfe makes sense—and throws him at me.
The vampire hits me like a rock and we go stumbling into the shadows of the forest.
"Are you okay?" I choke out which seems like a weird question to ask someone who's bleeding all the hell over you.
"I'm just fine," he snarls, looking like he wants to rip Rumpel's head off. Vyce pushes himself off of me and helps me to my feet. "But he isn't going to be when I'm finished with him."
"You came to save your future baby?" I ask and Vyce gives me a weird look, like I'm stupid or something. Fantastic. The same look from both Wolfe and Vyce.
"We came to save you," he says, giving my weapons and nightgown a look. "And it's been a long time coming for Rumpel to be taken out." Vyce runs his fingers through his blue-green-purple hair and exhales. "Did you hear that song he was singing?" he asks as Sorrow and Wolfe take on their boss in a flurry of bullets and blood.
"I didn't understand a word of it. But isn't this guy, like, invincible or something?"
Vyce's red eyes shimmer as he runs his tongue along his palm and then rubs his hand across the wound in his belly, healing it with his saliva. Vamp spit is some seriously powerful shit.
"You guess his name and he loses the bargain?" I joke. It's totally not the appropriate time for one, but what can I say? I excel at being inappropriate.
"He has a tattoo of his name. We have to find it and cut it off." Vyce glances down at me and smiles slightly. "If I die, and the baby turns out to be mine, give it an interesting name for me?"
"You're ridiculous," I snort, but my cheeks flush slightly with red. Wouldn't Harry love to see that shit? "So we have to find his ink, huh? How do we go about doing that?"
"Like this," Vyce says, taking off and hitting Rumpel as soon as there's an opening, slamming him back into a tree. The asshole's shirt is already hanging in tatters, and I don't see any ink at all. I move forward, noticing that Wolfe's ditched his guns and entered into the hand-to-hand combat with his brothers.
While I have a moment, I stand there and try to think. Where would I hide a tattoo that valuable? My first thought is it's on his dick, but maybe that's just because I want to cut his cock off for what he did to my mother.
But no.
Whenever he had sex, it would be exposed.
So probably nowhere near his genitals then. Under his hair? Nah, too obvious. All someone would have to do is catch him in the right light and they might spot it. That's when I remember one of the ogre girls that Harry picked up. She had a tattoo inside her lower lip. It said Eat Shit. She flashed it at him after she stormed out of the bar the morning after they had sex in his upstairs apartment.
The mouth.
Why not?
I slide Ricky from the sheath on my back. And even though I'm barefoot and...pregnant?! Eww! Okay, even though I'm barefoot and wearing a dirty silk nightie, I intend to kick some Rumpel Stiltz ass.
For what he did to my mother, I'd walk through the fires of hell for a little revenge.
I take off and leap over Sorrow's back, stabbing my sword through the man's throat. I manage to push my blade all the way through before he knocks me aside and sends me rolling across the wet forest floor.
Rumpel does the same to the guys, with a speed that's twice as fast as any of the Stiltz boys can move. And they move so fast that even I can't see them. So I'm not quite prepared for him to grab me around the throat. Rumpel lifts me up and slams me into the trunk of another tree. The brand is in his left hand. Our eyes meet as he thrusts it at my midsection. I'm fully prepared for the pain, but Sorrow stops him by grabbing his wrist in his long, red muzzle and squeezing hard. He yanks his master's arm aside, but Rumpel doesn't drop the brand. Even with a demon clinging to his arm, he holds onto it.
My sword is still sticking through Rumpel's neck, so I yank on it, spattering my body with blood. With my right hand, I reach out and pull his bottom lip down. I don't think he expects that, and I'm able to catch a glimpse of muddled black ink before he knocks my arm to the side and breaks it.
A scream tears from my throat as Wolfe grabs the metal brand from Rumpel's fingers, spins it around and slams the end into his master's chest. This time, it's Rumpel Stiltz' turn to scream.
"It's in his mouth!" I yell as the wind from the storm sweeps down and around Rumpel's body, ruffling up what's left of his clothing. Tendrils of magic wrap around him as the power in his own spell takes hold. It lasts for all of one second though before he breaks it, the brand on his skin fizzling away like it was never there.
Vyce grabs the man from behind as Sorrow shifts right in front of me, fully nude and not giving two shits about it. He yanks down Rumpel's lip and reveals his full name, tattooed right there in black. Yanking Lucy from the sheath on my thigh, I manage to slice down the length of Rumpel's lip as he screams.
Flesh falls away and I stumble back, expecting him to burst into flames or some other dramatic shit. Instead, he hits Sorrow so hard in the face that crimson liquid sprays out and I hear the distinct crunch of bone.
We're all going to need a lot of blood and sex after this to heal, huh?
Vyce wrestles Rumpel to the ground as I tear Ethel from my holster and lunge forward, sliding on my knees in the wet leaves. I put the barrel of my gun, loaded with my rowan ash bullets, to the man's skull.
Our eyes meet one last time, and I give a sad little smile.
"This is for my mother," I say, and pull the trigger.
12
My estranged brother, Vesnic, is a serious dickhead, but he lets me stay in the castle anyway.
At least now I don't have to pretend to be his queen, and I get to keep the stupid tower room I was staying in. Lucky me.
"So whose kid is it again?" Harry asks, looking seriously uncomfortable sitting on the chaise in my bedroom. I don't blame him. It's been several weeks since the fight with Rumpel, and I've spent about half of it in my gross apart
ment above Dog Town.
Oh, and did I mention that Mrs. Johnson, the owner, actually works for a dog rescue?! After I caught her luring another stray in, I hid behind a dumpster and then followed her to a veterinarian's office. So I guess she doesn't serve dog meat then? I'm not ruling out pixie meat though, not yet. I did see her swat one the other day like it was a fly. Totally heartless.
"Uh, the magic went a little funky so..." I start, leaning back on the bed and waiting for Miri to come out of the bathroom. She's been trying on all my spelled dresses and trying to convince me to give her one. I told her she could have the white one for her future wedding with Harry and he got all weird on me. Dickhead. "Like, all of them?"
"All of them?" Harry asks, frowning, his tusks protruding from his mouth. "All three of them are the fathers?"
"Why is that so weird?" I say, still not sure how I feel about this whole scenario. It's hard to wear leather pants, and stab vampire royals in the throat when one's nine months pregnant. But I guess I'll figure that part out later? "They're triplets, Harry. And it's Rumpel Stiltz magic, so what did you expect?"
"What did I expect? You told me you couldn't have kids."
"Which I was pretty excited about," I say, pausing when the door opens and the House Stiltz liaisons walk in. All three of them. It's about three times the level of hotness needed for me to spontaneously orgasm, sooooo... Lucky me? "I didn't really want kids, but I guess this is sort of a one-time deal with the fertility magic and all that? With Rumpel dead, I can't really replicate the moment, so I guess it's cool."
"Aw, you're such a sweetie," Sorrow says, picking up a dirty towel from the floor even though there are plenty of human servants to do it. "I appreciate you doing us such a huge favor." He comes over to the bed and kisses my cheek. The sweet little gesture turns lascivious when he decides to lick me instead, and I bat him away. But his words, pretty sure those are sincere.
Wolfe sits down beside me on the bed, glaring at Harry. Now that the asshole vampire sort of likes me a little, he uses his scowling and grumpy attitude to chase off everyone around me instead of focusing it all on me, which is nice. You know, especially if I'm carrying his kid.
"We've had enough time to rest," Vyce says, focusing his attention on me. "It's time to teach you a few tricks."
"I killed Rumpel, didn't I?" I grumble, but Vyce just crosses his arms over his chest and stares me down. "I don't get a pass for being pregnant?"
"Not yet. Maybe later, just to be safe. But magic, you can do that no matter how...uh...big you get."
"Big?" I ask, chucking a pillow at him. He catches it and smoothly tosses it onto the window seat. I don't know these guys for shit, and technically, Rumpel burned our contract, so there's really no reason I have to stick around.
But I want to.
When I'm around Vyce or Sorrow or Wolfe—or especially all three of them—I don't feel quite so alone anymore. Plus, I like Harry and Miri is...you know, okay-ish. So for now at least, I'll stick around here. I want to see what happens with House Stiltz now that Rumpel's gone anyway.
Things are bound to get interesting in this city, especially now that I've learned I'm the second in line to the throne of House Verenim. There's a whole castle here filled with the history of my father and maybe a few more clues about my mother.
Now that I don't have to run and hide anymore, maybe I can track down my grandparents and learn a little more about her.
"If you're off to train," Harry starts when Miri comes out of the bathroom in a pink dress and flips her green braid over one shoulder, "then we should get out of here before the vamps decide to snap our necks and bury us out back."
I roll my eyes.
"You can keep the dress," I tell the ogre girl as her eyes flick between the three Stiltz brothers. "Go dancing in it or something. Apparently, I won't get a chance to. I have to 'train'." I make quotes with my fingers as Sorrow ruffles up my blonde hair and I slap his hand away. "I'll be sure to give you a white one when Harry finally proposes."
"Go to hell, Cameron," he snarls, standing up and taking his new girlfriend's hand. He gives me a curt nod on his way out that says love ya, kid in his own, unique gruff way. Once the door is closed behind him, I turn to the three men in my room.
I have no idea what's going to happen between us, not even with future babies in the picture.
But I plan on finding out.
"Training first...or sex?" I ask, and Sorrow pretends to think for a moment before snapping his fingers.
"Sex," he says as Vyce smiles wickedly.
"Definitely sex," he agrees, and we all turn to Wolfe.
He glares at the other two men in the room before putting his hand on my knee.
"Sex. But you two can get the fuck out and come back later."
"Who's the one that needs a lesson now?" I ask with a raised brow. "Didn't anyone ever teach you to share in kindergarten?"
"Good luck with that one," Sorrow says, scooting close to me, until our legs are pressed up together. "He's a stubborn one."
"I'm willing to try," I say with a grin, scooting back from the boys and into the mound of pillows near the headboard. The way they're all looking at me now, I'm not actually worried. Wolfe will stay and he'll have a damn good time. I'll make sure of that. "And try and try and try..."
Vyce takes off his coat and tosses it aside while Wolfe removes his weapons and Sorrow kicks off his boots.
I take a second to appreciate the moment.
Everything is calm; everything is okay.
But it won't last.
Nah. I'm going to get lucky right now, but I'm not that lucky.
I'm Cameron Darke, dhampir, Stiltz trainee, and...dating three dudes?
I've never had an adventure quite like this before, but I'm looking forward to it.
What woman wouldn't?
About the Author
C.M. Stunich is a self-admitted bibliophile with a love for exotic teas and a whole host of characters who live full time inside the strange, swirling vortex of her thoughts. Some folks might call this crazy, but Caitlin Morgan doesn't mind - especially considering she has to write biographies in the third person. Oh, and half the host of characters in her head are searing hot bad boys with dirty mouths and skillful hands (among other things). If being crazy means hanging out with them everyday, C.M. has decided to have herself committed.
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She hates tapioca pudding, loves to binge on cheesy horror movies, and is a slave to many cats. When she's not vacuuming fur off of her couch, C.M. can be found with her nose buried in a book or her eyes glued to a computer screen. She's the author of over fifty novels - romance, new adult, fantasy, and young adult included. Please, come and join her inside her crazy. There's a heck of a lot to do there.
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Oh, and Caitlin loves to chat (incessantly), so feel free to e-mail her, send her a Facebook message, or put up smoke signals. She's already looking forward to it.
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Stiltz Page 14