by Erin R Flynn
“Stupid is gamey but still fun when they scream,” Wilson chuckled. “I could go for a hunt.”
“What are you offering?” the boss asked, a lot of his guys going pale like they hoped he took the first option.
“We have a boat that is loaded up and works, a good size one, not what we saw you had at your dock. We’ll give you that, as we won’t need it once we dock again.” I glanced at Darius. “One of you can do that racing blur thing and run over the water to that other section of land, right?”
“Something like that,” he chuckled, shaking his head at me.
I nodded, looking at the boss again. “And more than that, we’ll give you the chance at becoming like us. No one could take you out or over then.”
He lost his fear, and glee filled his eyes. “How does that work?”
“They’ll drink from you, and if the Goddess wills it, you will become like us. I’m too young, but the three old guys can turn you if She lets it be like they did me. You have more than enough people here you can feed and grow stronger off of.”
“You just need blood,” he accused, maybe not as stupid as most assholes.
Darius snorted. “I’m good for another few weeks. There is a plethora of blood to be had in the apocalypse.” He gave me a heated look. “Fine, but only because I want to speed this along as well. Let the Goddess decide if they’re worthy, and let’s move on so I can please my princess tonight.”
I shivered, wanting that too and glancing back at the boss. “We’ll even share where we found the best supplies in the area for you to load up and bring back here. No reason to let anything go to waste.”
“How do I know it’s worth it?” he muttered, glancing between us.
Kristof got in on the con, turning and punching the head off a metal war statue of some sort, the thing flying across the room and rolling until it hit the wall. “I’m old, but the young ones can do close to that too.”
“I’m in,” the boss whispered, bobbing his head as did several of the other guys. “Yeah, take the tapestry and whatever else.”
“Wonderful,” I chirped, nodding at the leopards to get the tapestry, seeing the flute was already missing from its case. They handled that as the boss called in some more of his trusted guys. I grumbled that thirty was a bit much but waved for the nobles to go ahead with a huff.
Right, because they didn’t have just a buffet now.
Watching them drink the men, I realized something, glancing between Jaxon and Darius. “You don’t drink from a woman unless you’re killing her. I don’t want your fangs in any female unless she deserves it and you’re giving her death.”
“Good because we don’t want your fangs in any random men either,” Jaxon reminded me. Glad we cleared that up then.
The leopards quickly told the boss the information we promised, and Kristoff said he’d leave the boat at the dock when we were done. Yeah, he could wormhole his way back to camp or, you know, sink in the ocean for all I cared at the moment.
None of the humans looked all that great as we headed out, amusement vibrating among us. It wasn’t until we were almost to the dock that we reacted, Wilson swinging me up into a hug.
“You are so much fucking fun. Oh my hell, that was awesome.”
“Yeah, it was,” Jaxon agreed, handing me the wrapped flute. “Nicely played.”
“I have my moments,” I teased, preening at their praise even if I knew it had been bratty, over the top, and downright dangerous.
“You are an accomplished liar as all princesses are,” Kristof complimented, all of us knowing it wasn’t actually praise and meant as a slight he verbally smacked me with.
I ignored him and focused on Jaxon as we got on the boat. “How much did you take? Did you get enough?”
“I took three or four pints from each.” He shrugged. “Way more than I needed. Fuck them. None of them were good guys, as one of those women he’d been forcing when we’d walked in was underage, and so were others along his hall.”
I gagged. I hadn’t noticed that, only how dirty and mistreated they’d been. “Good, fuck them.”
“Some might survive the blood loss, but well, they won’t all immediately drop dead, so we’ll be long gone before they figure it out,” Darius added. “They’ll probably think we brought in some new disease and he allowed it, and when they feel sick, they’ll kill them to be safe. Sounds fairly poetic to me.”
Yeah, me too as most of the people we’d seen clearly went in either the categories of bullies or bullied.
We got back on track with the day though since my way had worked out fast, as the moment we pulled away from the dock, the ghosts started showing up. So that was what I did for the ride and a bit after that.
I had just finished when Kristof finally decided to notice me besides backhanded insults. He found me alone as I was pulling out more tomatoes to make another batch of pasta sauce since the first was finished and turned out well.
“I left the boat and we have—”
“I’m making dinner,” I blurted, feeling like prey and just wanting to sidestep this whole mess. I cleared my throat and tried to calm down. “And I have plans tonight.”
“Yes, I heard,” he ground out.
I shrugged, deciding to leave it at that as I grabbed what I needed and headed for the camper. Having plans actually seemed like a good way to handle this. He’d figure it out that I didn’t want a repeat; that was a thing, right? That way no blow up and we just forgot it had happened.
Or I’d try to forget at least. He wasn’t what I wanted. I’d tried something new, it hadn’t worked out and I’d gotten bitten, and now I would just move on.
Simple. I liked the idea of simple.
The pasta turned out with all the meat and mix of flavors. The date with Jaxon and Darius was even better. It was perfect, everything good and wonderful. I wanted more of that and not just the seriously and ridiculously hot and body numbing sex, but plans and fun, and I told them that.
We had a long drive ahead of us, and we had to go in a roundabout way since there was a coven around Quebec City we needed to avoid, Montreal would most definitely have been hit with bombs, and there was another coven by Niagara Falls on the Canada side. So we were going to drive south through Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont before crossing back into Canada on the northern bridge of Lake Ontario.
Yeah, not a fun one to keep up with, but the way we had it planned out was smart and they all agreed on it, slipping into the area when most covens were sleeping. Apparently that whole “vampires were night owls” was a real thing. Funny, because I always, always got up with the sun.
So again, did I have to turn in my vampire card?
The next thing I needed to get was in the Ontario province, so we could get the heck out of the area and move on. It did raise the question of what other covens there were and times we would have to bounce around like that. For now, we had an idea of where to bury the flute, and it wouldn’t be that far from another item I’d buried in Maine, plotting ahead for retrieval.
We had plans to do things right, and now I was making plans to make sure I was treating Darius and Jaxon right as we got to know each other better. I thought it was a great plan, and if it worked with my plan to avoid Kristof until we moved past this… Whatever, then all the better.
They ended up packing us in and starting the drive overnight since they had excellent night vision. I got to sleep either way, so whatever was easier for the drivers. We stopped in the morning and had breakfast, in no rush and still already almost to the US border.
Not that there was anyone working the checkpoints and crossings anymore.
For the first time in a long time, I also didn’t have any ghosts bothering me since we’d not hunted the day before and hadn’t been attacked. I almost didn’t know what to do with myself and found myself smiling as I pulled out one of the books I’d snagged when I’d been at the bookstore alone. I’d made sure to get some extra jackets for hardcovers to hide what I was reading as
well.
I wasn’t embarrassed I was reading it, but… Why did anyone else need to know? It was my business and the guys would be nosy, so yeah, it seemed fair to cover whatever up as I cooked and handled some prep so we had more of what we needed. Also, making lists of what we should try to find if we could.
Plans. The focus was to make plans for the future, focus on the fact that we would have a future and together, with this family or coven we were building.
5
When we took a break for lunch, I had an idea for the longer dinner we were planning so we slipped through at the right time. I went over to Darius and jumped on him, shocking him as he’d been stretching. I took the tie out of his hair and ran my fingers through it.
“Well, you’re in a good mood,” he chuckled, easily able to hold me.
“How about we play some naked Scrabble tonight after dinner?” I murmured, running my nose along his neck up to his ear. “All the teasing and touches you want during the game, but the one who wins gets to fuck me as hard as he wants, however he wants, and for everyone else to watch.”
“And if you win?”
I leaned back, snorted. “I remember less than five years of life. You’re over two hundred, and he’s over five hundred. I’m not taking the game.” I wiggled my eyebrows at him. “But I most certainly will be the winner in the end.”
“Shit, yes, and yes,” Jaxon growled from behind me, snagging me from Darius. “Where did you come up with this?”
I shrugged. “We found some of those games for easy relaxing, and I remembered someone talking about the list of things she missed including strip poker. I thought this fun.”
“It is,” they both agreed. Nice.
Jaxon was in charge of dinner and everything was already in the fridge with the right spices dry brining, so all we needed was the grill set up on the next stop. We were in Vermont when we stopped, almost to the New York border. It was a perfect campsite that had the hookups we needed and the camper was the pump, unlike if we tried to use the water in a house.
Everyone had stuff to do, and given we weren’t staying the whole night, we were doing dinner that didn’t need to cook for hours, as the grill would need time to cool. I was bringing out the potato salad I’d made—since we now had eggs to make mayo—and the leftover bread from yesterday, when Jaxon and Darius raced over to me, almost startling me into dropping what I carried.
“What’s going on?” I asked as I put it on the table.
“Right, so we forgot to tell you yesterday that there was a noble at that place,” Jaxon answered. “You sort of melted our brains and we forgot.”
“Oh, shit. So bad?” I realized why they were acting as they did. “He’s coming here?”
“Aye,” Jaxon sighed. “I didn’t see him, just felt him. He wasn’t in the original group or even later, but I felt him. He had to have known we were there too, so we’ll have to see.”
We didn’t have to wait long, which made me worry since that probably meant he was older if he could blur fast enough to catch up to us. Right? I mean, we’d driven for hours and hours even with the longer stops.
Funny how a month ago I’d known of none of this, and I was so accepting I was now fine thinking of vampires moving faster than vehicles. Sure, no problem.
My breath caught in my throat as a man was suddenly just there. The ocean blue eyes locked on mine were amazing, swirling almost with too much for me to catch. He had a mop of unruly blond curls and a neatly trimmed goatee. I couldn’t tell how tall he was because he was kneeling though.
Yeah, that was one way to make an introduction.
He dipped his head. “Princess, I am Cerdic of the house Wessex, and I submit a formal request to court you.”
“Huh?” I asked, not having been ready for that, or really for all of this. I’d just come to set out the fucking potato salad, worried if it would taste right.
“He wants to be one of your nobles,” Jaxon muttered. “He’s saying he’s interested in you and standing at your side.”
“You don’t even know me,” I whispered, freaked out that people would ever seriously swear a forever oath to someone they didn’t know. “You don’t even know my name.”
“He’s not swearing an oath to you now,” Darius explained, knowing where my head was apparently. “It’s like—think of it like dating. He’s saying he’s interested and wants to stay, get to know you.”
Okay, well, that was way better.
“You still don’t even know me,” I muttered, shifting my weight when those seductive eyes met mine again. I wasn’t touching any more guys with sexy eyes, learning my lesson for sure.
“No, but the princess I saw today who cut through all the bullshit and bent that monster to her will with ease is a princess I would consider giving my oath to,” he explained. “And for the record, a much nicer faction within the camp overthrew the leadership when you tricked them into being weakened.”
“Why were you there?” Darius asked.
Cerdic shrugged as he stood. “Picking off assholes. They thought one of their own was murdering in the night, so they were properly distrusting and worried for their safety when she pulled her ploy today.” He smiled at me, my stomach fluttering at how handsome he was. “Well done, Princess. Others will long tell stories of your coming and giving them the way to take out the leader.”
“That wasn’t why I did it.”
“I know, which is why I had to follow your party and meet you.” He didn’t say anything else, waiting on me.
“Inez. I’m Inez,” I said, not sure what else to do. I knew we needed more people to grow a coven, but like, um, awkward. “So you’ve just been hanging out in Canada?”
He chuckled, rubbing his hand over his curls. “I must admit, I’ve been a bit lost though I’m hardly the only one. I took some time off trying to find the right court and princess for me after the outbreak and all hell broke loose.”
“You allow a kiss to accept,” Darius murmured to me, shaking his head when Cerdic opened his mouth to ask something. “Guests don’t get the secrets of her court.” He gave me a quick glance. “They don’t get the decoder ring as you’ve said.”
“And they’re not alone with you. Only in our presence may they interact with you,” Jaxon added.
“You are both sworn to her?” Cerdic asked.
“Act as if they are because I trust them completely,” I answered, knowing it was my turn to handle whatever. “There’s no rush to make it official given the state of the world and as you said, lots have been lost. Some could latch onto the wrong people and ideas when things are shaky.”
“I understand, as you wish, Princess.” He dipped his head to me, waiting for whatever.
“So he just hangs out with us?” I asked Darius and Jaxon. “Comes with and we assume he’s not like a spy or—walk me through it?”
“He has to declare if he’s already sworn to a court and princess,” Jaxon explained.
“Right, because people don’t lie,” I drawled.
“You saw what happened to Clarence when he broke the rules, the same would happen to anyone submitting an official request to court you,” Darius promised. “It’s seen as a betrayal to an oath they gave to their princess, even if at her request. That’s why he did it that way. Now, that’s not to say he’s not planning to report it to his family coven or whatever, but that’s why we don’t give him all the secrets.”
“So complicated,” I grumbled, bobbing my head. “What do you suggest?”
“Accept.” He shrugged. “We want to grow your court and with the right people, so accept his request to court you, and we get to know him. If he’s a dick, you revoke the request and he has to leave.”
Jaxon was of the same opinion, and I nodded. “Guess we’re going to have to reschedule naked Scrabble.”
“Fuck that,” they growled together, Jaxon continuing. “No way. He can get settled and stow his stuff or watch with the others.” He hugged me when I gave him a look like he was nu
ts. “Please, please don’t reschedule naked Scrabble, My Princess. I so want to win.”
I shivered, wanting that too. Both of them to win even. I nodded. Fine, what was one more guy watching me have sex, right? Maybe it was a good way to get me to stop blushing, as that probably wasn’t very princess-like either. I moved to Cerdic and nodded. “Um, okay, sure, we can try this out.”
He was sweet and kissed my hand, clearly knowing I was nervous and unused to all of this. And just like that, we’d picked up another person for our merry band of… Team Inez?
“So which of you has the magic to wrangle electricity, or did you find this in an area the EMPs didn’t go off as well?” he asked, glancing at all we had.
Luckily we’d already gone over the story we were telling anyone not in our immediate group of nine.
“I’m an electrical engineer,” Callum answered, extending his hand to Cerdic. He introduced the others, Darius and Jaxon giving their greetings as well. Cerdic’s eyes went wide when Kristof joined us.
“It’s been a while, Cerdic,” he greeted.
“It has at that, eight hundred years at least,” Cerdic replied. They didn’t seem leery of each other, more stumbling upon the other at such a place and time, which was pretty understandable.
I could see he was just about six feet tall now that he was close to Kristoff and stalky, built and filled in, like Kristof.
“I’m going to hurry and get the prime rib on so we don’t ruin you hard work,” Jaxon said, giving me a quick kiss.
“You made this, Princess?” Cerdic asked, giving me a shocked look.
“Inez is fine, and yes.”
“I’ve never known a princess to cook,” he muttered.
“Well, it’s the apocalypse, so anyone who doesn’t pitch in deserves to get eaten,” I drawled before heading in and getting some beer and drinks. Darius helped, and it wasn’t long before we were eating given prime rib didn’t take much time to cook with all the rare meat eaters.
