*
Hours later, the whole population had divided up into smaller groups, each of them led by vampires who were familiar with the caves. They left at intervals over the next six hours, one hour apart each. The Knight brothers and their households each joined a different group, with Alex electing to remain as a guard among the virgins.
“Clearly, Alex has taken well to his new designation,” said Zach dryly when he learned that his brother had left among the first wave with them.
“I hope he knows what he’s getting himself into,” said Donovan. “Being the babysitter for a bunch of hot girls isn’t exactly an easy task. There were times I thought I’d go insane.”
“But still, you managed to behave,” Vivian pointed out. “I’m sure Alex will be able to do the same.”
“I hope so, for his sake,” said Zach. “Joseph is not overly forgiving.”
“Shall we go, then?” asked their guide, Jason, a vampire of about forty to whom they had been assigned. “The day isn’t getting any newer, my lord. It is already heading on five.”
“Yes, we really should depart,” Donovan agreed. “We don’t want to still be here when the Carpathians try anything else. Sunset may not be for another two hours, but they could strike earlier using their ghouls.”
“At which time we should all be long gone,” Zach agreed. “Let’s go.”
*****
“It would be unwise to assume we are alone down here,” Jason pointed out as the party of about thirty people stepped through the hidden opening at the very back of the network of caves they’d been inhabiting. “They may not know our entrances into the underworld, but the Carpathians may have entrances of their own. We must remain alert and ready for a fight.”
“Definitely,” Zach agreed. “These caves surely cannot be a secret, since they span the whole region. If we have a hope to use them to reach Mexico, others before us must have harbored those hopes as well.”
Since their group consisted of only vampires and ghouls, everyone shared the heightened sense of sight in the dark, so they didn’t need torches to light the way. Zach, Vivian, and Donovan stayed toward the front of the group and kept their eyes wide open.
It seemed like several hours had passed before they had the first inkling of other people, but they turned out to be members of one of their other groups who had stopped to rest. Not wanting to rejoin them since they were trying to keep their parties smaller, they simply greeted them and passed them by.
Another hour passed, and then another, without further incident. Vivian was starting to feel complaisant, and she knew that she shouldn’t be. The Carpathians, up until this point, may have been sleeping. They may have only just arrived at the stronghold, intent on laying siege, only to find it abandoned completely. Now was the time when they needed to become more vigilant than ever as their enemies began to work out where they might have gone.
“It’s so quiet down here,” said one of the vampires with a sigh. “I would almost welcome a fight just to break up the monotony.”
“You should not wish for such things,” Zach admonished him. “Not until I have made certain that my mate will be safe.”
“Mine as well,” growled another man, grasping the hand of his very pregnant bride. “And every other woman here, for that matter. We cannot take such a risk with this clan’s future.”
“Always about keeping the women safe,” Vivian grumbled. “This is the twenty-first century, boys. I’m pretty sure us ladies are capable enough to take care of ourselves.”
“Just because you are does not mean that we have to make it so that you must,” Zach pointed out. “If I am able to prevent you from being harmed to begin with, I’m going to do everything in my power to see to it that you are safe.”
“Would you two stop bickering?” Jason complained. “Your voices are echoing off the walls. I think we should all tread softly if we don’t want anyone to know where we are.”
“He does make a good point,” Donovan said, bumping his elbow into Zach’s arm. “You could always save this discussion for another time.”
With an exasperated sigh, Zach grumbled, “Fine. Maybe I will.”
Because they’d become quiet, they were all able to hear the distinctive sound of metal clanging against stone. Their eyes widened in suspicion, and then Zach was in his element once again. “All of you remain here and stay quiet. One scout, come with me. We’ll top the rise and get a look at what might be waiting just beyond. Fast and quiet. Do it now.”
A nimble young ghoul ran quickly and silently ahead of Zach, and soon the two of them had reached the top of a tall pile of rocks. They looked down with consternation on an army of about fifty Carpathian vampires who were making camp there. They did not appear to be alerted to the presence of their thirty members, and Zach was determined to keep it that way.
“We’ve got company,” he informed Jason. “We’re going to have to skirt around. If those boys find out we’re here, we’ll all be sunk.”
“This way,” said Jason, leading them all back the way they had come. When they reached the fork they had taken before, he sent them all down the next tunnel, and they made quick work of getting some more distance between themselves and their original way.
“If there’s an army of Carpathians down here, it’s likely that they’ll be told about how we all disappeared, if they don’t know about it already,” said Donovan worriedly. “We shouldn’t be taking any breaks.”
“Just enough time to drink some water,” said Jason. “The ghouls can’t continue without water indefinitely, and just ahead, there’s a freshwater stream. We can refill the canteens, at the very least.”
“Kevin?” said Zach to the young man who had gone with him earlier, whose name he had learned after the fact. “Scout ahead and make certain no one is lying in wait.”
“Yes, sir,” he nodded, skittering away. He returned with a smile on his face.
“What’s that about?” Zach asked suspiciously.
“It’s the virgins, my lord,” he grinned. “It looks like they stopped to bathe.”
“Dammit!” Zach growled. “What could they possibly be thinking? Don’t they understand that we’re down here trying to escape?”
Without hesitation, Zach stormed over to the little lake himself, glaring at Alex for being all kinds of a fool. “Get them dressed and under way, idiot!” he growled. “This place isn’t safe. We just saw Carpathians not one full hour ago. This isn’t some damned video game.”
“Rita said nobody ever comes here,” Alex defended himself. “That we are nowhere near the beaten path. I trust her judgment, since she’s been down here many times before.”
“I don’t care if you were reassured by God himself, little brother,” Zach complained. “They need to be back on the road.”
“All right,” he grumbled. “Fine. You heard the man, ladies. Put on your clothes.”
“Spoil sport,” some of them complained, while some of the others simply did as they were told. They were dressed and moving out shortly, and Zach’s own group remained behind to fill their canteens before they continued on as well.
*****
Not far up the path, they stopped short yet again as Alex and their guide, Rita, were rejoining the virgins once again after having gone up the path to have a look. It was obvious from the looks on their faces that the situation was grim.
“You’re going to want to know this, too,” Alex said, frowning. “Your fifty warriors are awaiting us just outside the opening, and by the look of it, they already know we are in here. It’s a fair bet they’ve already sealed off this tunnel from the other side as well.”
“So you’re saying that we’re trapped in here?” asked Jason with a frown.
“Yes. Well, at least until they decide to come in and bring us out, anyway.”
“Leave it to me,” said Zach then. “Maybe we can negotiate.”
“Are you crazy?” Vivian gasped. “If you go out there, you’ll be giving the bastards exactly what they want: the
head of the Knight Clan himself.”
“Better just me, instead of all of you,” he insisted.
“No way,” Vivian insisted. “I won’t let you.”
“Sweetheart, how do you think you’re going to stop me?”
“I’m sure I could think of something,” she insisted, though she said so with a great deal of uncertainty.
“They’re coming in!” Rita shouted. “You’re too late!”
“Don’t fight,” said Zach decisively. “Let them take us for now. We need to look the enemy right in the eye, and see what we can find out about all of this.”
“You really are crazy,” Vivian replied, shaking her head.
“Baby, sometimes crazy is how you manage to survive.”
Zach held his hands out in plain sight as he walked right up to the apparent Carpathian in charge. “Hey, there, Ricardo, you know who I am. Let’s see if we can talk about this thing, what do you say?”
“What thing?” he asked, confused. “We’re not looking for you guys. We thought maybe you were looking for us.”
“Take me to whoever is in charge,” said Zach then. “It sounds like we definitely need to work some things out.”
*
They followed the Carpathians down a long path which eventually led to an underground stronghold, guarded by four men who stood before a closed portcullis. They waited in silence as the wooden bridge was lowered, and all of the roughly one hundred people filed inside.
“Come along, all of you,” said Ricardo. “We have a dorm of sorts where we can put you for now. Zach? You’re with me.”
“Yes, of course,” he agreed, giving Vivian’s hand a squeeze and casting Donovan a look that clearly told him he had better return to find their mate in one piece. Don nodded back in understanding as one of the other soldiers led the group one way while Ricardo led Zach another.
“This place is one of the properties of the Renegade Prince,” the Carpathian explained.
“Alonzo?” asked Zach, gasping. “I had heard he went into hiding once the Arimathean took control, but I had no idea he’d come all the way to America before he dug in. Surely, he had no hand in building this stronghold.”
“Ah, no, this place was built by indigenous humans centuries ago,” he explained. “But when we discovered it, the place was completely abandoned. It has been in the Liato family since just after the Arimathean was overthrown. A process our lord did not agree with, as you well know.”
“The sentiments of the Renegade are very well known,” Zach said, nodding.
“Well, here you are then, at the heart of the hold,” said Ricardo. “Prince Alonzo awaits us beyond those doors.”
Zach inclined his head, asking him wordlessly to open them. Ricardo stepped over and did exactly that, throwing them open wide so that the pair could step in side by side. A bored-looking man sat lounging on his throne until he spotted them, then sat up more fully to greet them.
“What have we here?” he asked curiously.
“This is Zachary Knight, the new lord of his clan,” Ricardo explained. “We found him wandering the caves along with a group of vampires and about thirty Virgins of the Arimath. He claims that they were fleeing attacks on their stronghold through the tunnels.”
“Rumors have definitely preceded you, Zachary Knight,” said Alonzo with a smirk. “You and your brothers have riled up the entire Manchenso Clan, and a few others as well.”
“Don’t tell me this isn’t even about the war and the overthrow?”
“Oh, they’re mad about that too,” he shrugged. “But mostly, they’ve been going on and on about what your brother, William, did to Vittorio.”
“I don’t know the particulars about that incident, but I’m certain that Will believed the slaying was justified,” Zach insisted, crossing his arms stubbornly over his chest.
“Have no fear, Lord Knight; I am neither judge, jury, nor executioner,” he replied. “I am only imparting what I have heard and, also, my opinion on how best we might settle the issue and end the strife it has caused.”
“Well, I’ll not serve Will up to them on a silver platter, if that’s your thought.”
“No, of course not,” he chuckled. “I have only thought that perhaps it was unwise of me to hide here, rather than making my position clear. I’m the strongest living Carpathian, you see, so if I were to take a stand at Joseph’s side, making it clear that I’ve sworn fealty to him, perhaps then I could settle this dispute peacefully. But—and this part is important—he is only likely to trust me if I were to enter into a formal alliance of some sort.”
“Understandable,” Zach nodded. “What do you have in mind?”
“Well, after all this fighting and death, it seems to me that at least one or two of those Virgins of the Arimath might prove useful right about now,” he pointed out. “You know that, should one or more of his own daughters become my bride, the Arimathean would consider me to be on his side.”
“I cannot be the one to make such a decision,” said Zach, shaking his head. “You will have to approach the king yourself.”
“But you could arrange, shall we say, a meeting of the minds?”
“You would wish to open negotiations on this matter using telepathy?” Zach asked, somewhat surprised.
“Can you think of a better way to begin the process in secrecy?” he pointed out. “The Manchensos can neither be made aware of this conversation, nor be told that the virgins are now here. They would do all in their power to kill me, thus preventing me from gaining further influence in the king’s court, and either slay or take the virgins as well. And for my plan to work out to the advantage of us all, both I and at least some of those daughters are going to need to be alive.”
“Very well, I will attempt to assist you,” Zach agreed. “However, the last time I tried, I very much needed the assistance of my bride. Are you, perhaps, a bit of a voyeur, Prince Alonzo?”
“I always have been, and always will be,” he replied.
*****
When the soldiers had come to get Vivian, Donovan had been very upset to be told she must go with them alone. Vivian told him she was sure everything was all right, and they would be together again soon, and she even tiptoed up to give him a kiss good-bye.
“Keep Alex out of trouble while I’m gone, won’t you?” she added, rolling her eyes.
The sound of his laughter followed her from the room. Now, though, as they walked and said nothing to her at all, her bravado was completely dying down in favor of uncertainty. What possible reason could they have to bring her to see their prince, unless they’d killed Zach already and she was next? Perhaps the guy wanted to have fun picking them off one at a time.
But if that was so, shouldn’t Alex have been brought before her? Vampires were nothing if not male-oriented, for the most part. So clearly, it must be something else.
Before she had time to speculate further, she had already been led to some innocuous door. Inside, she found a bedroom, and she was about ready to balk until she noticed that Zach was sitting in a nearby chair, waiting for her. The soldiers did not enter the room, leaving the two of them there on their own.
“What are we doing in here, Zach?” she wanted to know.
He told her, “I’ll explain the details later, but you should know that someone will be joining us here shortly. It is much easier to relay messages to your father if the man who wishes to send them is close by, and this is a very important issue, my dear. I need you to help me get through, but I would appreciate it if you didn’t interrupt the conversation once it has begun. Understood?”
“Yeah—sure,” she said, blushing. “So you want to make love to me while some strange man is what, just standing there?”
“Of course not,” he chuckled. “He’s bringing a chair.”
Vivian rolled her eyes at him.
“Come here, Vivian,” he said, his voice somewhat stern.
She knew better than to resist him when he spoke in that manner, even though it wa
s a tone he seldom used on her. She managed to cross the room and sit next to him on the bed, though she was having difficulty keeping the blush off of her features.
“Not quite rid of that maidenly modesty yet, I see,” he teased, catching her chin in his hand and tilting her face up for a gentle kiss. “I promise you it’ll be fun, my dear. Don’t look so worried.”
“I trust you,” she whispered softly.
“Good girl,” he said, grinning.
A man entered the room as Zach continued to hold her, and he chuckled. “I see the party is starting without me. Sorry to be fashionably late.”
“You?” Vivian gasped curiously. “Haven’t I seen you somewhere before?”
“I would be surprised if you had not, Princess Vivian,” said Alonzo with some amusement. “I have been to your home before, though admittedly it was many years ago when you were still quite small. Maybe four or five? I’m surprised that you would remember me at all. Allow me to reintroduce myself, my dear. I am the Renegade Prince.”
“Oh yes, I do remember,” she chuckled. “You were flirting with the eldest daughters mercilessly, and hinting at the possibility of convincing our father to form an alliance with you through one of them.”
“My goodness, it seems your memory serves you quite well indeed,” he chuckled. “And the thought still remains, though now the possibilities are far more open than they were back then. In fact, my dear, I believe that is why I’ve called you here.”
“You can’t have me,” Vivian scoffed. “I’m already mated.”
“Not you, silly,” Zach smirked. “You are here to help us contact the Arimathean. Alonzo here would like to have a word with him.”
“About forming an alliance?” she asked, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. “And once forged, will that alliance cause the hostilities to stop?”
“The troubles you have endured are all at the hands of just one family among the Carpathians,” Alonzo explained. “As the highest ranking Carpathian lord now living, I can order them to cease and desist. And, as it is the primary leverage I have for convincing your father to accept my suit, I am more than willing to do so as soon as the alliance has been formed.”
Keep It In The Blood: A Vampire Romance For Adults Page 12