by Moore, E. M.
“It’s about time things got shook up, don’t you think?”
“One in the doorway,” Lex whispered.
“One on the roof,” Matthews added.
Shocked, I started to look around. What did they see that I didn’t? I was too preoccupied with the one who was right there in front of us and our poor victim. We needed to get him some help.
Matthews pulled me to him. “Stay back. Don’t step in unless we absolutely need you.” Then, he shoved me backward. “Go!”
The three of them ran up the alley. Lex went after the main guy who’d turned and started to flee. She tracked him down and tripped him. That brought the guy from the doorway out, and the other one from the roof dropped down. Matthews and T.J. worked in tandem to try to take them out. I moved forward toward the victim. I pulled my hoodie off and used it to wipe away the blood from his mouth. He was pale, almost sickly. “We’re going to get you some help,” I said. I looked up to see that the three guards were still fighting with the others. They were in control, but they hadn’t taken them out yet.
When I looked down, my stomach turned. The young kid was looking up at me and smiling. His grin was too wide, too bright, and as I watched, fangs slid out of his gums.
I stepped back, pushing away. I fell on my butt, but I continued to move back as the young kid sat up.
“Gotcha,” he said. “And my, do you look good enough to eat.” He sniffed the air. “There’s something about sinking your teeth into guards, too. It’s just so much more appetizing than regular old humans.”
My hand found a small pile of dirt. I closed my hand around some and then threw it in his face while I got to my feet. He calmly wiped it out of his eyes and then stared at me. “That wasn’t very nice.”
“Watch out, Ri!” Lex called out. Then, I heard a grunt.
I was distracted for a second, just a second, when I felt the marble arms grab me from behind and tilt my head back so my neck was exposed. “Let my friends go,” the punk rocker called out next to my ear.
Irrational anger poured from me. Not again. I was not going to be the weak link again. In the alley, the three vampires that had been fighting the guards all pushed off and started down the alley nonchalantly as if nothing had happened. The vampire’s breath coated my neck, making my stomach roll.
“Don’t hurt her,” Lex said.
Screw that, I thought. There was no way I was going to let this be me again. I wasn’t going to be the guard everyone had to save. I was supposed to be doing the saving. I picked up my heel and slammed it down on the vampire’s right foot. Then I stepped around him, held on tight to his arm, and threw him over my shoulder and onto the floor like the Judo throw Samuel had taught us. He landed, and the ground shook a little.
My small victory didn’t last long. He hissed and flailed his hands out, his finger nails—no, claws—sliced through my forearm. I jumped back, pain radiating up my arm.
Lex’s gun went off again, but the vampire dodged it. The next thing I knew, I saw him crouch, look back at me to wink, and then he was gone. He ran so fast past me that Lex couldn’t get a good shot, and neither T.J. nor Matthews would’ve been able to catch him.
My breaths sawed out of me as I held my hand to my forearm. It stung, the pain slicing up through every nerve in my arm. The three guards ran toward me. T.J. was smiling. “Nice move, Ri.” Then, his gaze dropped to my hand, and the smile fell off. “He got you?”
“His fingernails.” I said, clenching my teeth around the pain.
“Claws,” Matthews corrected, coming up to me and moving my hand away. “Deep, too. Come on, we’ve got stuff in the car.”
Matthews guided me toward the car while the others ran ahead. I saw them going through the back. When I came around the vehicle, a First Aid kit was open. “We need to flush that out,” Lex said. “This is going to sting like a bitch, but if his venom gets too far into you, it’ll hurt worse.”
“Venom?” I mumbled, my head starting to go fuzzy.
“Do it now,” T.J. ordered. “Get her in the back. We’ve got to get her back to headquarters and get her looked at before it’s too late.”
I still wasn’t comprehending. Venom. It was in me? Did that mean if they didn’t stop it I was going to turn into a vampire? That wasn’t all bad, was it? At least I’d get to stay with my vampires forever. That was, unless The Council decided to have me killed because God forbid a guard turned into a vampire.
I started to walk toward the backseat, but my legs felt numb.
“Phase one,” Matthews said, his voice clipped. He swung me up into his arms.
“Shit,” T.J. said. “Come on, get her in there. Now.”
The rest of the next few minutes were a blur. Sometimes my eyes were open, and sometimes they weren’t. There were glimpses of Matthews hovering over me and blood trickling from the gashes on my arm. I caught bits of conversation too. “Fuckers,” T.J. said. “Getting creative, aren’t they? Victim was a vampire the whole time. Son of a—”
Huh. I thought. That was a bit of trickery there, wasn’t it? “Fu..ers,” I mumbled, not quite able to get the ‘ck’ sound out of my mouth. My lips, tongue, and teeth weren’t cooperating.
“Are you still flushing it?” Lex asked. “Nicolai’s going to have a shit fit. Damnit!”
“’Skay,” I tried to tell her. They wouldn’t be mad at her, anyway. They would be pissed at me.
Well, unless I was about to become a vampire. Then they might be really happy.
13
A cup being forced to my lips woke me. My eyes widened, but a familiar face was right there. His dark brown hair skimmed his eyebrows as he looked down in concentration. “Shh,” he said. “Drink this. It’ll make you feel better.”
I did as he said, the tangy liquid sloshing down my throat. When he pulled it away, my insides were coated in a thick liquid, the consistency of that nasty pink stuff one of my foster parents used to give me when my stomach was upset. I coughed, but he held my mouth closed.
“I need you to swallow, baby.”
I nodded and did so for him. His eyes looked too worried to do anything else. I wanted to wash that look right away from him, and if swallowing did that, I could do it.
Instead of the haze surrounding me, my thoughts started to clear. But with that came the fire from my forearm. I sucked in a breath through my teeth and tried to sit up. There was something on fire on my arm.
Strong hands pushed me back down. I looked up to find Nicolai staring at me from above. “Ri, it’s okay. Stephan’s working on it, but it’s just going to take a little while.”
I nodded. My eyes searched the room for my other two princes. Surely Connor and Christian were here too. I looked right and saw Christian talking with Lex. She was talking animatedly with her hands. Connor was sulking in the background until I caught his eye. Then, he moved forward smiling. “You got this, Princess. A little vampire venom isn’t going to take you down.”
I gasped, the memories coming back to me. That asshole punk rocker clawed me. He’d been a vampire, not someone I should’ve been trying to save. My eyes widened. “Am I going to become a vampire now?” The thought was oddly terrifying. I didn’t know if I was ready for this.
“What?” Connor asked, his head rearing back.
“A vampire,” I almost shouted. “The venom. Is it going to turn me into a vampire?” If anything, I wanted to have one or all of their blood running through me, not that douche who clawed me. Ew. No, I wanted it out of me now. I looked down to see Stephan wrapping my arm. It was still burning, but a little less so. I pushed his hands away. “Get it out of me.”
“Shh,” Nic said as he tried to keep me still. “You’re not going to become a vampire from his venom. That’s not how it works. You’re fine. You’re still human.”
“I still don’t want that asshole’s venom inside me. Get it out!” I shouted.
Stephan finished wrapping me up and then got in my face. Dear, sweet Stephan. I calmed instantly. “I got it
out, Ariana. It’s still going to hurt for a little while, but you’re going to be fine. Okay? I promise. It’s no longer inside you.”
I rested my head back against the cushion. Thank God.
Christian’s face came into view. “How are you feeling?” He had that serious look, but trying-to-smile-for-me face. “Lex said you did awesome out there.”
“She’s lying.”
He peeked to the front of the room again. “Did you hear that?”
There was a husky chuckle. “She’s delirious from the venom. She took the guy out. He just snatched out and caught her that’s all. Could’ve happened to any of us. In fact, has happened to me several times.” Her voice got louder and louder as she got closer. “They’re badges of honor, Ri. Welcome to the club.”
I looked at her doubtfully. She gave me a lopsided grin, turned, then peeled down one sleeve, showing off her shoulder. Four claw marks sliced down it. The skin was puckered and paler than the surrounding skin.
She turned back around and shrugged her shirt back on. “It kind of comes with the territory.” She bent at the waist and got real close to my ear. “Seriously, male guards go batshit crazy over how many claw marks you have. You just got about ten percent hotter.”
Well, that was different. She pulled away and there were four different sets of hard eyes on me. Yeah, the Ravanas didn’t like that. Not one bit.
Christian clapped Lex on the back. “Thanks for letting us know she was here. We’ve got it covered now,” he said, clearly dismissing her.
“Yeah, thanks, Lex,” Nic said, his voice hard, though I could tell he was trying to be appreciative.
Taking pity on her, Connor walked her to the door. When it shut, I looked around. Not recognizing where we were, I asked them.
“The small infirmary here at the house,” Christian said. “We don’t really use it much.”
“Thanks,” I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm. Like I needed the reminder.
His eyes narrowed and the cute little line between his eyes showed up.
“Forget it,” I said.
Nic smirked. “You just implied she was the only one to need aid in a while. Not really helping her confidence level any.”
“I’m fine,” I said, lying my butt off.
Nic rolled his eyes. “Just apologize to her Christian, so we can get on with it.”
His gaze narrowed at his brother. I could tell he didn’t want to say he was sorry for something he didn’t understand. I tried to lighten the mood. “No need to apologize. I don’t know if you guys heard, but I just got ten percent hotter for getting my arm clawed.” Nic growled. The rest of them just didn’t look happy. I lifted my shoulders and stifled a laugh. “Can I sit up now? I feel better.”
They all looked toward Stephan, who nodded. They hovered around me as I sat and swung my feet around the side. My world tilted a little, but for the most part, it wasn’t that bad. I’d felt worse. My forearm only slightly tingled right now.
Connor took my hand and squeezed. I squeezed it right back. “Lex was right. I saw the marks. I thought they were sexy.”
“Not helping,” Nic said.
Even Stephan managed to grin this time though.
They all just stood and stared at me. My skin began to crawl. “Sor—”
“Don’t even,” Christian said, moving closer and grabbing my knee. “If I hear you say sorry, I swear I’ll explode. Lex just told me everything that happened. They’re all impressed with you. And,” he said, swallowing hard. “I think she’s serious about the claw mark thing. I’ve heard it before.”
“Really?” I asked, hopeful that I hadn’t done as bad as I thought. I mean, the vamp did only get me a little. I was in a way worse position when he had my back, but I’d turned that around.
Nic’s eyebrows slammed down over his eyes. “Why does that seem to make you happy?”
I waved my hand at him. “Not about the male guards. I’m just worried all the time that I’m going to let you guys down.” My eyes caught Stephan’s, and he looked away. Damn. I’d pretty much all but promised him I wouldn’t get hurt, and here he was taking care of me again.
They all shook their heads in turn. “You did amazing,” Nic said. “I just wish I’d been there when you threw him.”
“You heard about that?”
“T.J. wouldn’t shut up about it,” Christian deadpanned.
“I also threw dirt in his eyes.”
Connor grinned. “They didn’t tell us about that.”
I shrugged. “They were kind of busy at the moment with their own guys. What sucks is that we didn’t learn anything.”
“Yeah, you did,” Nic said. “You learned that there are rogue vampires near here feeding.”
“Didn’t we already know that?” I asked. How was it that the Dark, Sexy & Badass one was trying to make me feel better?
“We didn’t know that they were still around,” he hedged. “Did they say anything else to you? I know Lex will want to have a debriefing at some point. We told her not tonight, maybe sometime after the Council meeting tomorrow, but if you heard them say anything…”
I racked my brain. Part of it was still pretty fuzzy from the jerk vampire’s venom. I shook my head. “Not really. He did say that he thought guard blood tasted better than regular old humans.”
“He knew you were a guard?” Stephan asked, his eyebrows lifting.
“He must have.”
They all exchanged looks, and my stomach bottomed out again.
“Is that bad?”
Christian sighed. “I guess we all just kind of hoped that the rogue vampires were like a wild sect. Maybe one was made accidentally someway, somehow and forgotten about, and then that one just kept making other vampires, and they didn’t know any better. Knowing about guards means they know how things work; they just don’t care.”
Yeah, I could see how that would put a new spin on things. I dropped my head and stared at the floor, my mind whirring. Why weren’t these vampires worried at all about The Council like everyone else in this world was? My first night here, I remembered Shannon saying something to me about not pissing The Council off.
“We have to get her to bed,” Stephan said. “They’re not going to push The Council meeting back just because she got injured tonight.”
“Do you think you can walk, Princess?”
“It’s her arm, not her leg,” Nic said.
I squinted up at him. There were more shadows than normal darkening his face. Connor didn’t seem to mind the sarcastic remark, but Nic was on edge about something. Ignoring him, Connor helped me down from the narrow cot, careful not to touch my injured arm. We walked in silence through the maze of hallways. The guys had taken me all through their home, but I didn’t recognize one bit of this area. “Servant wing,” Christian said.
For a servant wing, it was huge. I never would’ve dreamt I was in a house that needed servants. Did they even really need servants? This was the twenty-first century after all.
“They’re paid exceedingly well,” Christian tacked on. Maybe he recognized the confusion in my face or maybe Christian was just being Christian.
We went up the stairs and bypassed all our rooms to head to the library. As we got closer, a figure stood from a sitting position. We were too far away for me to see who it was. I paused in the hall. Connor, who’d been helping me along, stood back with me. “It’s just our mother,” he said.
Relief swept through me. I didn’t know who I thought it could be, but I knew for certain Isabelle wasn’t a threat.
She eyed me as we made our way in. Her pristine face was drawn down into a frown. “I heard what happened, Ariana. How are you feeling?”
“Better now thanks to Stephan,” I said. “And the rest of them,” I added for good measure. I’d been passed out for most of it. Who knew what they’d all done to keep me safe while I was dead to the world.
“I’m happy to hear it.” She strode forward and placed a slender hand on my cheek. “You keep s
urprising me, young one.” She looked at her sons and smiled. “Good night. Please don’t let Gregor find you all sleeping in here. I don’t want to listen to him complain for the next century.”
The guys all chuckled as she walked down the hall, me included. It was a funny image to have Gregor complaining for the next hundred years. The fact that anyone could do anything for the next hundred years blew me away.
“I call Ri tonight,” Nic said.
No one argued.
Tonight I was flanked by Christian and Nic, but Nic was the closest. When we laid down, he pulled his blankets closer to mine and faced me. We ended up staring at one another for at least a half an hour or more before the contented breaths of his brothers around us fell into sleep. Then, he finally spoke, “You scared me today.”
“Why?” I whispered.
“You got hurt.”
I wanted to shrug it off, but I got the feeling he wouldn’t appreciate that. “You told Lex to look after me, didn’t you?”
He nodded into his blanket, the image such a contradiction to Nicolai’s normally dark exterior.
“Why? You seemed excited for me to go.”
“I was, still am. That doesn’t mean I don’t worry about you.”
I guessed I wouldn’t punch him after all. “Maybe next time you can come with us.”
He gave me a small grin, then reached out to put my hair around my ear. “Now that would be something, wouldn’t it?” He scooted closer and kissed my cheek. “Good night, Ri. I hope you don’t mind if I keep my hand on you the rest of the night. I just need to be reminded that you’re still here.”
I placed my hand over top of his and closed my eyes. I knew how he felt sometimes. If my previous life had taught me anything, it taught me that good things just didn’t happen, and they could so easily be taken away in a heartbeat if they did. Tonight though, I’d go to sleep knowing I was surrounded by my princes. I wouldn’t think about tomorrow and what The Council meeting might bring. I’d just think about the here and now, the easy breathing of the ones I cared about around me. It was enough to soothe the wrinkles out of the worries we’d had since coming here. For now, at least.