Darlings of Paranormal Romance (Anthology) (18 page)

She huffed. In her line of work, she’d
been called plenty of names, but she’d never been mistaken for a
male. “A man? Why, because I’m wearing camouflage pants? I’m
hunting a creature, not going to the opera. What’d you expect, some
strapless mini-dress and stilettos?”

“
Milord, with all due
respect, the disguise is a rather ingenious idea, perhaps one we
should replicate in the future,” the blond guy behind the knight
said. “Had the princess not surrendered, we would not have seen
her.”

“
Surrender? Listen, you’re
making a big mistake.” She suddenly remembered she’d left her
pepper spray behind, and she regretted that. “I’m not a princess. I
don’t know what freaky game you’re playing, but my friend’s going
to call the police. And trust me when I say he has lots of
connections with the FBI. They’ll be swarming the place any
minute!”

Victor smiled. “Is that what you call
your knights? I’m afraid we dispatched this FBI hours ago,
Highness. That was how we knew they abandoned you somewhere in this
forest.” He knocked the fedora off her head and hastily jerked her
bunned hair to a disheveled mess. Tousles of long brown hair
tumbled down the middle of her back.

“
I told you not to touch
me!” she yelled, drawing her hand up to slap him.

He caught her wrist. “Do not ever
threaten to attack me, Princess, and you must cease with giving
orders to those who have you in custody.” A fiery blue flame burned
behind his eyes.

Loosening his grip, she yanked her
hand away. She realized that smacking him wasn’t going to help her
one tiny bit; all things considered, running sounded like a much
better option. She glanced around for the best escape route, but it
was no use, for she was completely surrounded. Her mind raced,
terrified to think about what they might try to do to
her.

Victor tugged at her holster and
pulled out her radio to examine it. “What kind of magic device is
this?”

“
Idiot,” Sarah whispered
under her breath, rolling her eyes. “It’s a radio. I know it’s not
the newest Sony type, all slick and thin and whatnot, but give me a
break. Pretending you don’t know what it is, is
just…lame.”

Victor raised an eyebrow. “A radio,
you say? Is that a weapon of some sort?”

“
No. It’s for
communication.” Boy, was she getting tired of this role-playing.
“You know, you talk into it, and someone else’s voice comes
out.”

“
Witchery,” mumbled one of
the knights.

Victor held up his hand to hush the
murmurs of his men and then gestured for one of his men to take it.
“Take this back with us.”

A tall, muscular knight walked over to
her, dangling her 35mm camera. “And what is this?” He snapped the
button, and a flash of light made the knights erupt in a choir of
gasps and shocked whispers.

“
A weapon to blind her
opponent!” one knight asked, blinking as if hundreds of white spots
filled his vision, like something he’d never experienced before.
“Tis surely evil magic, sir!”

Sarah
sighed and pointed to the digital view screen. “Magic? Seriously?
Look. There are your fine knights in all their glory. I think I’ll
call this shot,
Deer in the
Headlights
.”

The man gasped. “She paints a picture
of us in the blink of an eye, yet she has no paint or brushes!
Surely she is of an evil ilk, milord!”

“
Oh please. Give me back my
camera,” Sarah hissed.

Victor’s gaze narrowed. “You are
brave, captured yet still forcing demands upon those who would have
you in chains.”

“
Fine. You can have the
dang thing. But that film belongs to me!” After all she’d been
through, there was no way she was going to let her evidence go,
medieval army or not.

“
Film? What is this you
speak of?” a knight asked. He looked at Victor, who only shook his
head and shrugged.

Victor ran his hands down her pant
leg; she bit her lip to keep herself from kicking him hard, knowing
any kind of physical assault would only make things worse. It was
one girl against a platoon of nuts, and the odds didn’t look good.
She was just glad he hadn’t held a knife or a sword to her
throat…yet.

“
What other weapons are you
hiding in your man-clothes?” Searching her pocket, the man pulled
out the thermal camera and dangled it. “Your knights left you with
weapons we’ve never seen. Too bad you didn’t put them to good use,
Princess Gloria.”

“
Yeah, you wouldn’t believe
how dangerous a radio and a thermal camera are. And stop calling me
‘Princess Gloria’! My name’s Sarah.” She shook her head and raised
her hands in mock defense. “Tell you what. Just keep them both.
I’ve no idea what game you’re playing, and I really don’t care
either. All I want is to go home—with my film.” Her heart pounded,
and her palms dampened. She took a few long steps backward. “But if
you won’t give me the film, I still want to get out of here. So, I
wish you gentlemen all the best, and I’ll just be on my merry way
now, if you don’t mind.”

“
I would advise you to
halt,” a knight said behind her.

Crap.
Her breath caught in her
throat, and the same thought played in her mind.
What are these guys planning to do with me—or to
me?

Victor turned to his knights. “You
captured her this morning, here, in the Forest of the Guardians. Is
this the same woman who escaped from you?”

“
Yes, milord,” a knight
said, looking slightly embarrassed. “Without a doubt, this is the
same one who escaped us.”

The others nodded in agreement, some
looking at the ground in shame.

A case of mistaken identity was the
last thing she needed. “They’re wrong! I can assure you they’ve
never seen me before.” She laughed. “How could they? I wasn’t even
here.”

Victor scoffed. “Are you suggesting
that my knights are liars, Princess?”

“
No, but maybe this healer
of yours should get them all some bifocals. I’m a researcher
leading a major expedition. I study these creatures, uh, these
Guardians, as you call them, that are running around this forest. I
have been trying to prove their existence for a long time,
and—”

“
Prove their existence? You
know full well they exist! That is exactly why you entered this
forbidden place. You thought we wouldn’t follow you in, but I’d
risk my life to get my hands on you. After all, you are all the
leverage we need to make your stubborn father see the light.”
Victor climbed up on his horse and stared down at her, casting
periwinkle daggers through her. “Would you like to ride with me or
one of them?” He pointed to his men. “I must warn you that my men
are not as capable of keeping their hands to themselves. Has been
many weeks since they have seen someone the likes of you, and men
can get very lonely.”

The men exchanged glances and
guffawed.

Sarah glared at them, wanting to be
sick. “Well, it’s a good thing I’m wearing a chastity belt. Never
leave home without it,” she said.

“
I’m not here to defile
you.”

She hoped he wasn’t messing with her.
“That’s great to hear.”

“
You shall come with me. I
give you my word that your virginity, your chastity, will remain
intact, milady. I cannot make the same guarantee for your life,
however, for that shall depend on your father’s
cooperation.”

Sarah’s heart quivered, and
goose-bumps traveled to the surface of her skin. “I’m not going
anywhere with any of you. You’ll have to kill me first.” She
swallowed hard, wondering if she’d made a mistake of offering him
that option right then and there. It might not have been her
brightest idea. Shifting her legs to ease the stiffness only set
off her internal alarms, and with some burst of ridiculously
unfounded courage, she lurched toward the forest.

A knight locked his arms around her
waist and left her feet kicking above the ground. “I believe we
have a wild one here, milord,” he mumbled as he handed her up to
her captor.

“
I heard she was quite the
feisty one,” Victor said.

“
Let me go!” Sarah
said.

“
Listen. If you cooperate,
I will keep your secret.”

“
What secret?”

“
That your brother is alive
and well. I know you’ve never met me before, but I used to know
your mother. And because of that, I will keep your
secret.”

Sarah flailed, trying to escape, but
Victor pulled her into his strong embrace and wrapped one arm
around her waist as he turned his horse. He hauled her off as if
she was merely a possession, some spoil of war, in spite of her
futile attempts to squirm out of his embrace. “Calm down,
Princess,” he said. “You will come with me now, and if your father
values your life as a father should, he shall graciously withdraw
his forces from the Tastian border. If he does not, he is a fool
and will be a father no longer.”

“
Frank!” Sarah yelled.
“Frank, if you can hear me, call the police! I’m being kidnapped by
a bunch of lunatics. I know that’s what you think I am, but I’ve
found somebody even crazier than me.”

“
Nobody’s going to save you
now.” His long dark hair tickled her cheek as he bent to whisper in
her ear. “If you know what’s good for you, you will listen and
obey. This is not a game, Princess. Do you understand?”

“
Milord, we must be going,”
said a man with a black beard. “It is not safe out here among the
Guardians.”

She nodded. “It’s not a game for you
either. First-degree kidnapping is a Class A-1 felony. You’ll be
thrown in a hole for twenty years, and I’m sure Bubba will love
this little costume of yours!” she shouted. “You let me go right
now, or you’ll be the one somebody calls ‘Princess’!”

“
Enough of this nonsense.”
Victor’s voice turned sharp.

Nonsense? You got that right, buddy.
She wondered at what point she’d fallen head-first into the
Twilight Zone. “Who
are
you anyway?”

“
Don’t play the fool. You
know exactly who I am.”

“
Well, I’m afraid my
memory’s a little fuzzy on that.” She scratched her temple. “I
think I hit my head and blacked out.” It wasn’t a lie, and she
wondered for a minute if she was dreaming up the whole thing. She
could think of nothing better than waking up in her bed to the
aroma of a piping hot cup of coffee—or those bacon and eggs Frank
had promised before he took off to God-knew-where.

“
Perhaps that explains all
the strange babbling,” Victor said, pulling on the reins. “But no
matter. We shall take you to the healer for a look. Now, tell me,
is ‘911’ some secret code, a way to beckon your armies against
us?”

“
Something like that,” she
said, sighing again. “Anyway, please refresh my memory. Who are
you?”

Victor straightened in his saddle and
raised his chin a notch, the slightest glint of a smile playing in
his blue eyes. “I’m King Victor Fesque II. Your father, King
William Jarod, is currently my chief adversary. And now, thanks to
you, I have all the leverage I need.”

Sarah was sure no one was going to
believe any of it. She already got enough guff for chasing
eight-foot humanoids around the woods. There was no way anyone was
going to find out about this little fairytale, or she’d be labeled
a crackpot for life. “Please, I’m begging you to trust me. If you
let me go now, I won’t say a word to anyone—not even a peep. My
reputation is at stake, and that means a lot to me as a
scientist.”

“
Scientist?”

“
Listen, uh, Your Highness,
you’re making a huge mistake. You have absolutely no leverage with
me, because I’m not this person you think I am! My name’s Sarah
Larker. This King Gerald or whoever you’re talking about won’t even
know me.”

“
In spite of your lies and
your demands, Highness, it is a pleasure to finally meet you in
person, Princess Gloria Jarod.”

Chapter 3

Sarah
jumped when something resembling a cockroach—only much bigger and
grosser—scurried over her foot. Water dripped onto the dirt floor
from the craggy ceiling in an annoying and never-ending rhythm.
Dark, rusty, ominous chains hung from the wall; she was glad the
knights had spared her from being bound by them. A pile of
bloodied, filthy rags were clumped together in the corner. She
cringed, wondering if they used to be someone’s clothes.
A putrid stench hung thickly in the air, but even
that paled in comparison to the layers of muck covering the
walls.
In the opposite corner, were piles
of excrement. She had to get out of this place, preferably before
her next trip to the bathroom.

A breeze
whipped around her shoulders. As she shivered, her skin rippled
into another fit of goose-bumps. Sarah would have killed for her
leather coat, but it was locked in the trunk of her Jeep, along
with all the other stuff that would have been useful, like her
Swiss army knife and jack. She sighed and rubbed her arms with her
palms, hoping the friction would infuse some warmth into her
flesh.
In the dim light, a giant cobweb
dangled in one corner.
Haven’t these
people ever heard of dusting, deodorizer, or bug spray?
Who in the world uses a dungeon anymore?
She’d never even had a traffic ticket before, but
now she was thrown into some ancient hell hole. She leaned against
the stone wall and jumped when the cool, wet slime soaked through
her shirt. An escape wouldn’t be happening anytime soon. Wherever
she was, she doubted even Google Maps could find her.
She wiped her hands across her pants and
shouted,
“Listen, you medieval nutcases,
you’re all going to fry in the electric chair. I’ll personally
invent the thing myself. The least you could do is to leave me a
can of Raid.”