“Vampire, hand over the half breed.” The muffled voice came from the man with the cross bow.
“Never, state your business!” William snapped back.
In the distance I could see Marty and Nick running to us, dodging cars and people.
“Our business is our own and is of no concern of yours, hand her over or face the wrath of our people.”
“She is my claim, you cannot lawfully take her from me.”
The man with the cross bow stepped to the side a fraction as the other one walked closer.
“Vampire claims mean nothing to us. Hand her over or you will die.”
Marty appeared behind the man with the cross bow, hitting him over the head with what looked like a tyre iron. The cross bow went off, flinging a bizarre looking arrow into the tyre of the car. As he rubbed the back of his neck with a scowl, I realised that it probably wasn't the wisest thing to do. All it did was distract him and flatten one of William's tyres. Not helpful at all. In all of the confusion William had slowly been pushing me backwards until I reached the front end of the car.
“Run, go upstairs and stay in full view of the people.” He whispered. “They won't dare take you in view of the humans.”
I stepped between the concrete wall and the car, feeling my heart racing. This was a nightmare, William's car was almost immovable, it would take time to change the tyre. And then there was the issue of the dead body in the car. It wasn't as if we could just abandon the car, it was making for a complicated mess. The man with the cross bow had turned his attention to the two vampires that had sneaked up on him, the other was drawing closer to William and I.
“Go!”
Panic filled William's eyes, pleading with me to run away from this. To run for my life. I did as he asked, not because I wanted to or I thought that I should but because he asked it of me. As I ran between his car and the one beside it, the driver started to get out of his seat. My heart was beating hard as I side stepped him and bolted for the next row of cars. I could hear him yelling at the other two to get in the car, telling them I was on the run. A car screeched to a halt as I stepped out in between the two rows, tooting it's horn at the crazy woman that was me. In the distance I could hear the door slide shut with a slam and the car screeching over the concrete floor. The wheels squealed as they turned the corner, the roar of the engine drew closer. In the panicked state that I was in, I didn't realise that I had fallen straight into their trap. No one, not me or the three vampires that were desperately trying to get closer to me to save me had noticed there was a second van. It calmly drove straight up to me, opened the door with another two men dressed in black who proceeded to drag me into their van.
Chapter Thirty-nine
I was flat on my back as I stared up at the two masked men holding me down who were trying to stop me from fighting back. There was no way I would go along with this, I was going to fight back. The van seemed pretty standard, white metal interior with the seats removed. All except a row along one edge of the side where there was a long thin board. A man sat at the far end, quietly watching as I struggled.
“Stop it half breed!” One of them snarled.
He pulled his balaclava away, revealing a mighty fine view. I stared as the raven locks fell around his face, a soft tanned colour that highlighted the incredible green eyes.
“Behave yourself and stop acting like you're one of them.”
“I am one of them.” I spat back.
The other one fell back laughing, sitting on the floor of the van. It was a stupid move, effectively freeing me from his grip. I was still hungry, the feed from Adrian had set off something inside of me that wanted me to take more. It craved the pretty boy beside me, it yearned to taste him. My mouth watered with the thoughts, hearing his heart beat with the frantic beat of someone who wasn't sure of the creature before him. In a flash of movement I had him pinned to the floor with my fangs in his neck. The other one had stopped laughing and was trying to pull me from his associate with little luck. Something that I had found out quickly when I was feeding from Adrian was that once I had hooked onto a feed, there was no pulling away. He was trying with all his might to push me away, smacking at my body, wrenching at my hair. Nothing could stop me. Or at least I thought that nothing could stop me. Turns out there was one little thing that could. Cold metal pressed against my temple, a click echoed through the van. My eyes darted up to the man with the gun pointed hard against my head and reluctantly, I pulled away from the glorious feed. Whatever he was, he was tasty.
“Are you going to behave yourself half breed?”
This was the guy from the back of the van. He wasn't dressed in black from head to toe, he was in what looked like clothes from five hundred years ago. A tan jacket with gold scrolls around the collar trailing down the edges of the front panels. The cuffs of the sleeves were done in the same scroll only smaller, under the jacket was another layer of a similar colour. His black pants were dusty from the scuffle that he had reluctantly managed to get involved in. I grinned a bloodied smile at him, shaking my head as I sat up from the pretty boy. Blood was all over his neck because I was a sloppy feeder and I didn't care either. He pushed me off him, moving away from me as he wiped his neck, disgusted at the blood all over him.
“Infernal blood suckers.” The new man snarled with contempt. “Why would you treat us with such disrespect?”
“Probably because you abducted me, now if you don't mind I'd like to get out so pull over please.”
The well-dressed man chuckled at me as he sat back on the seat at the back of the van, the gun still pointed at me. Laughing man had pulled off his balaclava to revel that he was just as good looking as the other guy. Even the guy with the gun was hot in an older guy kind of way. I took a sly glance at the guy driving, total hell, I was in the van with a bunch of hotties. This was so unfair. No, it wasn't my mind thought devoted to your love, the man that would do anything to protect you, the man that was probably having a major freak out right about now all because he couldn't get in the car and drive after you. I inwardly sighed and stopped looking at the hotties as remembered that they had abducted me and that one of them had a gun pointed at me.
“No, I don't think we will do that. All of this nonsense could have been avoided if you had just responded to our request to meet with you.”
“What request?”
He turned to not hottie number two with a smirk.
“Looks like I won the bet, Eminilo. Do be a good lad and ensure that you pay up when we return home.”
“Sure.” He grumbled.
Blondie was named as emee-nelo, it was certainly the strangest name I had ever heard.
“What's your name fruitcake?” I grinned at my victim.
He sneered at me, still with his hand on the puncture wounds.
“Is it just as girly as Emilia over there?”
“Emee-nelo!” He snapped at me.
“Emm..” I frowned as I pronounced it. “Emm-ilia.”
He growled at me with anger in his eyes, flashes of an odd red colour in his blue eyes were a little startling but I held my cool.
“Oh for the love of Manistri. She is goading you Eminilo, fall back in line.”
Blondie did as he was told, sitting beside raven locks, both of them scowling at me. Making friends, check. I think the next chapter of my book shall be called, when abducted by masked men in white vans, be sure to play nice. What chapter was I up to? Aah yes, eleven, you shall be all about how to annoy your captors so they will become so annoyed that they end you or get rid of you. Either they would dump me onto the street and I could walk back to my love or they would kill me and I could plead with the master of the afterlife to return me to William.
“It doesn't surprise me that you weren't told Mary.”
“Oh so you do know my name. I was kind of wondering considering that you keep calling me half breed. So, are you guys fairies or something?”
It was raven that snapped, blondie tried to hold him back but
it was of little use. He pushed me back, thumping me hard against the cold metal floor of the van.
“Not a flippin' fairy!” He snapped.
I laughed, I don't know what came over me but I laughed. Maybe Adrian was high and because I drank his blood I was now high too. Crazier things had happened.
“I didn't say you were a flipping fairy, maybe you're a dancing fairy.”
“Do sit back Kietan, stop letting her get under your skin.”
I looked at the raven haired man and howled with laughter, tears were streaming down my cheeks.
“Kitten, that is so cute. Oh my gawd, you guys are a riot. What's your name fluffy-kins?”
His head raised back slightly as his eyes narrowed, in the sliver of the eyes that were showing, I could see the red flicker.
“Kee-tan.” He pronounced it slower.
I flicked the tears from my eyes, casually taking a glance at the dragon that was pacing back and forth. William was angry, no he wasn't angry. William was livid. I dreaded the thought of someone being stupid enough to get in his way, someone had taken his love from him and there wasn't a single thing he could do about it.
“We can solve that problem for you Mary.”
My eyes darted up to the man with the gun, his eyes lowered to the dragons with amusement.
“Don't you dare.” I hissed.
“See lads, all you need to do is find her weak spot. With this little lass, it's the vampire. Now you will find her more compliant because she doesn't know where he is. Maybe he's still in the car park. Maybe he's in the other van being taken somewhere. Maybe he's dead.”
Anger swelled in me, I hadn't ever felt like this before. He was so arrogant and smarmy, I couldn't stand the sight of him. The gun was forgotten as I leaped from the floor and pounced on him. Sinking in the fangs had never felt so good. The problem was that as I pushed him down it shifted the weight in the back of the van, making it fishtail. As the driver tried to gain control of the vehicle, war had broken out in the back of it.
Emilia and Kitten had tried to pull me from the smarmy gunman only to realise that they shouldn't come in between me and my meal. My eyes widened as I turned my head to them, growling like some crazed beast, I crawled over the cold metal floor. The driver was losing control, sending the car on its side and skidding along the road. We had tumbled with the fall, the gunman was now on the side of the vehicle, his body limp. If he was dead I do not know. I hadn't drained him completely though with the accident it was possible that he might have snapped his neck. Emilia was knocked out cold, his limp body was on the side of the van as well. Kitten looked at me with worry in his eyes, blood was gushing from a wound on his forehead. As the van came to a stop I grinned at him, licking my lips with hunger. I grabbed the gun and made my way to the door, sliding it open.
“Do be a good kitten and stay put.” I winked and climbed out of the van.
A crowd had begun to gather, I slipped the gun into the inside pocket of my jacket.
“Are you alright miss?” A man asked as he ran over to the van. He was of a slight build, almost weedy. Not bad on the eye but not really my type. I inwardly sighed, it was like my mind was set on smut mode and all I could think of was how good looking a guy was or not. This I would have to ask Marty about. Not William, he would have a major freak out and definitely not Nick, he would have a field day with it.
“Sure.” I said as I grinned.
“You're bleeding!” He gasped. “The paramedics are on their way, just sit tight.”
I nodded, dropping the grin and hoping that I could bluff my way out of this. I did not want to go to hospital, I did not want to attract attention.
“Sure, though the other fellows in the van, they are in more need that I am. You should go and help them.”
“Uh, okay.”
He moved away from me and looked inside the van, gasping at the scene. Slowly I began to slip away as they tried to help the men out of the van. The other van pulled up, the door opened and one quickly assessed the scene. I couldn't see anyone that I cared about in the van, just men that would try and take me if they could. He looked at me as I casually pulled the gun out slightly, showing him I wasn't to be messed with. Promptly the door was slammed shut and the van continued on. No one took any notice and I walked down the street, turning the corner away from them.
Chapter Forty
It took me half an hour to get back to the mall, trying to avoid attention because of the obvious bruise that was appearing on my head. The joys of being in a car accident, I was grateful it was all that I suffered. Nick was changing the tyre when I arrived at the car, he looked at me like I was some kind of miracle sighting. The tyre iron was dropped to the concrete floor and I was being hugged before I could even say hello. Instantly he fumbled through his pockets and pulled out his phone, madly pressing buttons.
“Hey, she's back.”
Nick grinned as he pressed the off button and returned the phone to his pocket.
“How has he been?”
“Do you really want to ask that?”
The smile I gave him was a mile wide as I shook my head.
“You look like you've seen better days, what happened?”
“Car accident, the van flipped on its side and skidded.” I gestured to the car and the smelly contents. “How's the victim, still in there?”
“Unfortunately, yes. So is the smell.” He sighed a little too joyfully. “Can't say as I'm happy at the thought of getting in there tonight.” He leaned on the back of the car crossing his arms with a mighty sigh. “You know, I have known William for many years. Actually, I think that the word many isn't sufficient. An eternity might just cover it. I have seen him wallow in sorrow for his parents, grow mighty with his gained powers, fall under the spell of that woman believing it was love and then the past forty years of anger and sadness because of her. But in all of those years I haven't ever seen him lost. I have never seen him unsure of what to do. It is rather unsettling, I can assure you.”
I smiled softly at him as he let out a pained yet happy huff. “Do you know what it's like to watch someone walk into a trap? To watch them take your love away from you and you cannot stop them? Burning bright sun stood between you and him and yet again he was prepared to walk into it to save you.”
“Is he crazy?”
“Probably.” He scoffed. “I had to hold him down until he would see reason. They have gone upstairs to find things to cover us so that we could go out there.”
I shook my head wondering what would possess William to risk the sun again. “You didn't even know where they were going.”
“Of course we did.”
The deep voice behind me filled me with a flutter of emotions, I turned and wrapped my arms around him. I had buried myself into his embrace, unable to see the pain on his face. I knew if I looked up I would end up crying. His body sagged into mine, I could feel the weight of it all about to crush us. William pulled me back to assess the mark on my face. As his finger traced over my cheek I winced, feeling a pain I hadn't felt before. Pain filled his eyes as he looked over me.
“Did they hurt you, why do you look like you've been badly beaten?”
“I don't, do I?”
Nick nodded at me when I looked at him.
“We were in an accident. I jumped the guy with the gun when he threatened to remove the claim.”
“Gun?” William paled as he looked down at me.
I could see his eyes wandering over me, assessing every bruise, every scratch. Here I was thinking that I had escaped with just one at the most, it was likely that I looked far worse than I imagined.
“Yep. I totally took it from him.” I grinned as I opened the jacket.
William took a slight glance at the gun from its spot on the inside of the jacket.
“The driver and the two masked men were all in black but the guy with the gun was wearing a fancy jacket with scrolled edges. I didn't get his name or the driver but one of the guys was called Kietan. Straig
ht black hair, tanned and green eyes. Both were pretty well built. The other guy, Eminilo was wavy blonde with blue eyes, fair skinned. Gun man was blonde as well, he could have been Eminilo's father, they kind of looked alike. I called Kietan a fairy and he totally flipped his lid. Were they fae?”
He shook his head with a pained look in his eyes. “They want us to believe it was, though I have my doubts. It's unlike the fae to be so aggressive. Porter might have said they are on their way for forceful negotiations but abducting you in broad daylight is not how they would operate.”
“So what are we thinking here?” Marty leaned on the car beside Nick. “Lycans?”
William shook his head again but it wasn't a dismissive gesture, it was more a frustrated movement. “What did they say to you, anything that might be of worth?”
“He said that all of this could have been avoided if I had agreed with their request to meet with them. Did someone ask to meet me?”
“Not that I was aware of.” William grumbled. “They are trying to drive a wedge between us.”
Marty moved off the car, closing in on us.
“I think you are all missing something a lot more important than their motive. How did they find us?”
We all looked at each other, trying to find some kind of explanation. She was right, how did they know where we were? Was it luck that they happened upon us? It didn't seem plausible. Did they follow us here from the edge of William's estate? I didn't remember seeing vans or any cars following us. They had two vans filled with men dressed in black, they laid in wait and were ready to strike at the right time. It was far too convenient for a spur of the moment situation. Wordlessly Nick moved off the boot and opened it, fumbling around until he found what he was looking for, a torch. He continued to move without saying anything, sitting onto the cold concrete floor and laying on his back. It wasn't until he hissed something from under the passenger side of the car that we realised he was searching for something. He crawled out from underneath and held out a metal cylinder with a red blinking light.
Deadly Beasts (The Curse of the Rose Book 1) Page 26
