Darlings of Paranormal Romance (Anthology) (17 page)

“
You got your picture. Now
let’s go!”

“
Frank! Calm down. Don’t
make any sudden movements, or it might—” Sarah tried to warn, but
the creature had already become uneasy.

Taking slow, measured steps, the
primate moved in their direction.

“
Crap!” Frank aimed the
tranquilizer gun and fired, striking his target.

The creature jumped back and let out a
long, pained howl, then lurched forward.

Sarah gasped as Frank tugged her hand.
“Move it!”

Without
waiting for him, she sprinted, her heart thumping like a
jackhammer.
If Frank knows what’s best for
him, he’ll follow me.
As they darted
between trees and splashed through a tiny stream, the air behind
them filled with blood-chilling howls. She glanced over her
shoulder and screamed when she realized they were being pursued by
not one beast, but multiple hairy figures gathering in the
distance, darting behind them.

Suddenly,
Sarah’s hiking boot caught on a fallen log, and she tripped and
fell with a solid thud on the forest floor.
Crawling through the ferns, she peeked out. She didn’t see
Frank anywhere. “Frank! Frank?” she whispered. “Where are
you?”

She yanked off her camera and threw it
next to her, then lay flat on the ground as the howls grew closer.
Loud neighs and the sound of hooves echoed in the air, growing
louder by the second. She took a deep breath and peeked through the
ferns.

The
ground thundered as scores of men on horses galloped toward
her.
Whew, rescue!
Wherever they’d gotten the horses from, she only hoped they
were fast enough to rescue Frank, outrun those things, and get her
the heck out of the Bigfoot-infested forest. The curious,
scientific part of her yearned to stay there and discover more, but
without the assistance and backup of her team, she knew it just
wasn’t safe.
We’ll just regroup and come
back tomorrow,
she reasoned.
Besides, I’ve already got two good shots of a
Sasquatch. There’s no way Frank can debunk this one, especially
since he’s an eyewitness himself. Where the heck is he
anyway?

“
Princess, I command you to
come out,” a man’s voice said in a most demanding and condescending
tone. Not only was he dressed strangely, but he had the
pronunciation skills of a bad B movie actor trying to act in a
Broadway play.

Princess? A nickname of
some sort? They must have me mistaken for somebody else.

“
We know you’re here. We
heard you scream,” called out the same man. “I’m not going to hurt
you. I am here to save your life. There were six of them closing in
on you. If you don’t cooperate with us and we leave, you’re as good
as dead, and I guarantee you’ll never find your way out of these
dreaded woods on your own.”

Right
, she thought.
I found my way in here, and I can find my way
out. Do they take me for some kind of idiot?
Still, she knew hiking back to her vehicle by herself,
unarmed, might not be so smart with those huge creatures running
around. She raised her head a notch and noticed a pair of dirty
black leather boots with very unfashionable black bottoms; no
member of her team would be caught dead in such an atrocious
ensemble. The man, whoever he was, stood less than twenty feet
away. She needed to call for help immediately. Something might’ve
happened to Frank, and she thought maybe the poorly dressed cavalry
could help her.

“
Those beasts will tear you
limb from limb the second we depart,” continued the man. “You know
how territorial the Guardians are, and you know they have the power
to destroy our kind. One bite from those ferocious teeth, and that
will be it for you.” He paused and then continued. “It was quite
the shock to see your brother alive and breathing. Your family did
a fantastic job of staging his death. If you want me to keep his
secret, then it’s best you come out now. We both know what will
happen to him if I were to speak the truth.”

What was
he talking about? Sarah rose from her hiding place and gazed up at
the man on the dressed horse. His appearance was odd, nothing like
any park ranger she’d ever seen. From his royal-blue tunic top, to
the emblem of a crowned lion in the center, to his chainmail
sleeves, he looked as if he’d been zapped right out of medieval
Europe, or maybe that she’d accidentally stepped through some
magical wardrobe.
Black satin knickers
with boots up to his knees?
she
wondered.
This guy is in need of some
serious fashion intervention.
She scanned
the rest of the group, and it came to her attention that they
actually did look like knights in shining armor. For a moment, she
wondered if she’d ventured onto a film set, albeit a poorly funded
film, considering the D-list acting and the awful costuming.
Maybe there’s some kind of Renaissance Fair
nearby.

“
You must come with us,
Princess,” the man said. “There is no escape!”

No
escape?
She decided it might be a safer
option to sneak back into the vegetation instead of running off
with the crazy eighteenth-century cast party.
Just as she was considering it, a twig snapped under her feet.
The horse neighed, and the man jerked his head in Sarah’s
direction.
Crap! There goes that
plan.

She met
his gaze and realized he had the bluest eyes and whitest smile
she’d ever seen. His black hair was wavy and long, but it was worn
in a masculine style. In spite of his ridiculous clothing, she’d be
happy to be rescued by him anytime.
Hmm. I
wonder what he’s doing after work.

“
That’s it, Princess. So
glad you’ve decided to come out of hiding, as it’s nice to
officially meet you. Now where’s your brother?” he
demanded.

Princess? Brother?
The handsome man
had it wrong. “You must be mistaking me for somebody else. I don’t
have a brother. Listen, I don’t know what that script of yours
says, but we have to call 911! I lost my friend. We were being
chased by these hairy creatures, and we somehow got
separated.”

“
Who do you think scared
them off, Your Highness?” a knight with long red hair
asked.

Your
Highness? Would it kill one of them to slip out of character for a
second and tell me what the heck’s really going on?
“So you saw them?”

“
Of course.”

Witnesses galore! The press is gonna have a field day with
this.
Nobody is ever gonna call me an idiot
again, she thought.
Especially Frank.
Speaking of him…
“Later, I’m going to have
to get a statement from every one of you, but in the meantime,
could you please make that phone call? Really, this is serious. Get
rescue out here right now! My friend could be
hurt.”

“
Flushing you out was
easier than I expected,” the leader said.

“
Well, you woulda been
hiding, too, if those things were after you. Long story short, I
was hunting…er, uh, not real hunting like shooting a buck or
anything. I’m a researcher for The Bigfoot Field Researchers
Organization, the BFRO. Ever heard of us?” she asked, feeling like
a fool for mentioning it to the gorgeous guy in front of her. She
was rather sure there was no hope of getting his phone number, if
there ever was in the first place, because guys usually ran the
other direction when they heard what she did for a
living.

A knight looked at the leader, cocking
his brow. “Victor, we need to make haste. She must consult with the
healer.”

Yep,
that’s it. Either I’m nuts or they are. Victor, huh? Hmm. In Latin,
that means “conqueror”. Sexy.
“Listen, I
don’t need a doctor—just a little help finding my
friend.”

Victor swung lithely from his horse
onto the ground.

She
gasped at his towering height and muscular build.
Talk about tall, dark, and handsome! Who’d of
thought I’d meet this medieval hottie in the middle of some forest
on a Bigfoot hunt?
She scanned the stranger
and then the horsemen standing behind him. “Any of you got a
cell?”

They mumbled amongst themselves,
shaking their heads.

Their character acting was beginning
to get on her nerves. “Fine, but can one of you give me a ride back
to my Jeep? I can call for help there. I think we’re parked about
six miles north, near the main road.”

“
A cell? A Jeep? What are
these strange things she speaks of?” a confused knight asked. “She
is delusional, milord. She must be taken to the healer for her head
wounds.”

“
Delusional or bewitched,”
said a knight with a white mustache and matching white hair tied
into a ponytail.

“
Yes! She is spewing out
these lies to mislead us!” called out another.

“
Lies? I’m not lying,”
Sarah said. “I know it’s a long way back to my vehicle and a big
favor to ask, but we’ll get there in no time on one of your horses.
Look, I’ll even pay you to make up for your time off the set, but
if you’re not going to help me, then please at least get your men
to start searching the area. We can cover more ground if we split
up into groups and look for Frank. You three can go over that way,
and I will go with Victor here to—”

A dangerous glint flickered in
Victor’s eyes. “How dare you command us, princess or
not?”

She hesitated, taken aback by his
rudeness. He looked like Prince Charming, but he sounded more like
that caveman from those old dinosaur movies. “Listen, mister. I
love movies and all, and if you save me some tickets, I’ll be sure
to come watch this little performance of yours.” She tipped her
hat. “I promise I’ll even wear something nicer for your big opening
weekend and all, but right now, we need to get moving. A man’s life
is at stake.”

“
Bark out another order
like that, miss, and you’ll feel the sting of a whip on your back,”
Victor said.

Sarah
cringed.
Testy, ain’t he? Pssh! Forget the
phone number and the show then, buddy. How about some anger
management classes? Or…
A new thought
popped in her head, and she glanced around. “A-ha! I got it! I know
what you’re up to. Where’s the hidden cameras? You almost had me
fooled. Frank’s in on this little
Candid
Camera
act, isn’t he? Ooh, I’m gonna kill
him. Where have you got him stashed away?”

“
You should’ve thought
twice before you stepped onto enemy territory,” he said.

“
You’re good,” Sarah said,
pointing at him. “Stepping on enemy territory is a nice touch. Did
your producers put you up to this?”

Victor’s face hardened into grim
lines. “You’re now a prisoner of war, Princess Gloria.”

She stared at his stern face and
stiffened. “Look…this medieval game you’re playing is kind of cool
and all. Love the costumes and the attitude, but I really need a
phone. If you’re not playing some kind of joke, then this really is
an emergency.”

Victor’s menacing gaze ran over her
inch by inch. Stepping closer, he traced a finger down the side of
her cheek.

She shoved him back. “Don’t you touch
me!”

“
How dare you?” he roared.
“Are you not aware of who I am?”

Of course
she had no idea, nor did she really care. “No. Who
are
you?” The situation
was getting out of control. The hot guy was clearly a nutcase, and
she’d come to realize that Ashton Kutcher wasn’t going to be
jumping out of the bushes anytime soon, announcing that she’d been
punk’d by Frank. It was time to run and let them get back to their
jousting, or whatever it was they did to earn their pay from the
Renaissance Fair payroll office. Especially when she saw one of the
knights scanning her up and down, lingering a little too long on
the skin exposed where the two upper buttons had been ripped from
her shirt by a rather intrusive thorny vine.
Why the heck did I let Frank have our only weapon?
She scolded herself.
What
if these medieval jerks decide to take advantage of me out
here?
The thought alone sent shivers
through her body.
If I scream out here,
who’ll even hear me?
She was suddenly
sickeningly reminded of every horror film she’d ever seen where
stupid teenage girls wandered off alone in the wilderness, and she
was none too happy to be that stupid girl. As the knights fanned
out and surrounded her, her heart raced.

“
Stubborn woman! You know
who I am,” Victor said. “Your brother might’ve gotten away, but I’m
afraid you are in our possession, whether you like it or not. It is
my duty to make you pay for warning Charles and his knights about
my trap.”

Mistaken identity was putting it
lightly. “I don’t even have a brother,” Sarah said, “and I’m no
rat.”

“
More lies!” he hissed,
his blue eyes blazing. “Did you really think I would fail to find
you just because they dressed you up like a man in clothes that
blend with the trees? Foolish, foolish girl.”