Microsoft Word - Jacks-Marcy-The-Werewolf-Love-Slave-and-the-Vampire-Prince.doc (16 page)

Andrew didn’t know, but now that he knew where his friends

were going with this, he was getting more and more jittery as the plan

formed.

“No, but I’m guessing they’re not. Even still we can’t break the  glass on his window, Vlad’ll burn,” he said to Morgan. “Everyone  else can go and fuck themselves, though. That room right there  belongs to Vlad,” Andrew pointed toward it on the first floor. There  was even a guard wandering around ten feet away from the glass. “If  we’re going to test this out, then everyone make sure to not shoot out  that window. Don’t want to risk he gets hit by anything.”

There was no guarantee that Vlad would even still be in that room.  That guard really could just be standing around, but Andrew doubted

112
                         
Marcy Jacks

he would be put into another bedroom if he was still in the house at  all. No, they either would have locked him in the  basement―vampires loved their dungeons―or they would’ve locked  him in his actual room.

To make this escape even possible during the daytime, Isaac had to pack away some thermal blankets on him. They were probably in one of the twenty or so pockets he had had on him. Thermal blankets were designed to keep heat, yes, but at least with them for cover, Vlad wouldn’t catch fire.

James sighed. “Okay, we just need a quiet distraction to get those guards off the lawn. I’m scenting seven.”

“They all have small firearms on them, too,” Nick said. “I can smell the oil and gunpowder.”

Nick was blind, but that left him with the strongest sense of smell and hearing out of the lot of them.

“Any suggestions?”

Andrew tried to think of one, but nothing came to him. No way that they could possibly engage, disarm, and put down every human guard patrolling the lawn before at least one of them sounded the alarms or fired their weapon in the air or did something that woke up the whole house.

“I might have something,” Isaac said, and he got up and strolled  out onto the grass, where every one of those humans would be able to  see him, with his hands raised in surrender.

He called out to them and then lured them closer to the shrubs

where DeWitt’s pack waited.

The Werewolf Love Slave and the Vampire Prince
          
113

Chapter Fifteen

Ivan stayed with Vlad, for which he was grateful, but he was only able to stay until just before sundown. About an hour before everyone was set to wake up, Ivan was forced to take his leave and go back to his bed or take the risk of being caught.

Vlad watched him go with the feeling of regret in his stomach. He still couldn’t so much as get a croak out of his throat without it lighting on fire. It occurred to him that he might never see Ivan again if Boris decided to take him to Russia tonight. Vlad hadn’t been around when Lord Dragunov and Markus were discussing his fate.

He was exhausted, and somehow he thought he managed to doze a little before a strange shattering sound entered his dreams. Screams from far away followed. A stomping giant came after him, chasing him down the dark hallway of this mansion, and no matter how fast he ran, he couldn’t reach the exit just at the end of the hall, and the giant came closer until it smashed through the wall.

Vlad jerked awake and sat up, his eyes popped wide, but it took him a second to realize that he was no longer dreaming and just what the giant had been.

The stomping had apparently been the pounding against his door, which was now in pieces and hanging by a single hinge at a sharp angle.

Andrew was standing in the centre of the wreckage, naked, his chest gleaming with sweat and heaving. They stared at each other for only a second before Vlad found the strength to fumble out of bed and rush over to him.

Andrew met him halfway with a crushing kiss.

114
                         
Marcy Jacks

It was likely the shortest kiss they had ever shared, because the second Andrew’s hands went behind Vlad’s neck, he was forced to

jerk away at the horrific pain that swelled angrily at the touch. It was  so much that his nausea returned and Vlad was forced to hold onto

Andrew’s shoulders for support.

Andrew held him by the arms so tightly he was likely to leave him with small bruises. “Baby, oh my God, your neck, what happened?  Are you okay?”

Vlad shook his head, looking up at Andrew and trying to convey with his eyes that he could not answer him.

Andrew touched his forehead, helping him stand straight. “Christ, you’re burning up. What the hell did they do to you?”

Andrew seemed to be asking himself the question this time, and, very carefully, took a corner of the bandage that was wrapped around  Vlad’s neck and, as gently as he could, pulled it down enough to see the wreckage.

The wound inflamed at the inspection, but not enough that Vlad couldn’t stand it. Mostly. Andrew hissed at what he saw, and that made Vlad all the more nervous. He hadn’t checked on his wounds

since the last time one of the guards had come in to put the salve on  his neck, and for Ivan to do it was completely out of the question.

Because of all the scares his brother had received over the years,  all the things he claimed to see, he wasn’t exactly known for having  the most steady hands or solid nerves.

“It’s okay. We’ll get you checked out when I take you home,  baby. Don’t you worry, everything’s going to be okay now.”

Vlad fell against Andrew again, wrapping his arms around the  other man’s neck. No sound left his throat as he sobbed, but his

shoulders shook and the tears did flow down onto Andrew’s shoulder

and down his chest.

Andrew was calling him that pet name again while stroking  Vlad’s hair, and Vlad had never been more happy in his life. He wanted to tell Andrew how scared he was that he would never see the

The Werewolf Love Slave and the Vampire Prince
          
115

other man again, and he wanted to ask what it was that made him

come back for him, but he had no voice.

“Shhh, Vlad, it’s okay now. Look at me,” Andrew said, pushing  Vlad off him enough to look into his eyes. “We need to get out of  here. It’s not safe. My pack is here and they’re going to help us get  home.”

Vlad wiped his eyes and nodded, though very gently since he was still trying not to irritate his neck.

Andrew saw it anyway and took him by the hand. “Let’s go.”

Vlad pulled back, he pointed around the room, and Andrew understood that Vlad was motioning to the house in general, not just the bedroom.

“The other vampires in the house?”

Again, Vlad made the smallest of nods.

“We’re taking care of them. We got the drop on the guards  outside, and now James, Isaac, Morgan, and Mick are out there  tossing rocks at all the windows. We’re going to make sure that the  vampires can’t follow us this time.”

They wouldn’t be able to follow because they would all be too  busy tending to their wounds and trying not to burn to death against  all the sunlight that was suddenly upon them.

Vlad thought it was pretty fitting, but then, no! Ivan! They were  going to break down one of his windows, too! He didn’t deserve to be  cooked like that!

“Come on.” Andrew started to drag Vlad out of the bedroom, and  though Vlad continued to fight him, Andrew was determined to not  allow him to stay in the bedroom.

Vlad had no choice but to follow, as quickly as he was able. He  wanted to ask where they were going, but he couldn’t.

Luckily, Andrew was all about telling him the plan. “We’ve got to  get to the garage first. Take out their tires. Do you know where the  keys are kept? Maybe we can take one of the Hummers instead of  tucking you into one of the thermal blankets Ivan brought.”

116
                         
Marcy Jacks

Thermal blankets?

They exited the east side of the mansion, where Vlad’s room had been, and were just running across the main foyer when Vlad started to dig his heels into the stone floor and pull Andrew toward the stairs.

“What? What is it?” Andrew said when Vlad pointed up the spiralling wooden steps.

“Who’s up there?” Andrew asked.

Vlad mouthed the words
 
brother
 
and
 
Ivan
, and even that was

nearly too much for his throat to handle.

“Shit,” Andrew said, and he and Vlad quickly took the steps two

at a time.

“Where is he?” Andrew said. Clearly he didn’t want to step into  the wrong room and find the burning form of one of the vampires  he’d just launched this attack onto.

Vlad could smell the rotten stink of burning meat, and he didn’t  want to think about just who that might be coming from.
 
Please not  Ivan. Please not Ivan.

Suddenly, one of the doors jerked open, and Queen Ravinia stumbled out, her thin pink nightgown freshly stained with blood. She was crying and wailing, black splotches over her face and arms from where the sun had gotten her full on, and surrounding the heavy black scabs were multiple dots of red blisters that oozed puss and blood and smoked.

She looked up at them and saw Vlad, and then she shrieked at him and charged, fangs and claws bared to tear to pieces the one she thought responsible for her condition.

Andrew stepped in the way of the coming attack, but then Vlad stepped around him and easily threw his fist out just as Ravinia came at him.

She practically ran into his knuckles. Her feet came up and her head went back as she landed on her back with a loud bang from the floorboards.

Vlad had never punched anyone before, and he shook out his

The Werewolf Love Slave and the Vampire Prince
          
117

fingers from the pain in his knuckles.

She was still breathing, her body smoking a little from the places  that had been especially burned, but she was still alive.

Andrew looked down at her and laughed a little. “Didn’t know  you had it in you, Vlad.”

Neither did he.

Heavy footsteps bounded up the stairs behind them, and Vlad saw another naked, very muscular and tanned man he’d never seen before in his life come up the stairs.

His long black hair was shaggy around his shoulders, and his dark eyes were confused as he surveyed the scene. The guy took one look at Vlad before addressing Andrew. “What are you doing here? James wants us downstairs and outside now.”

Vlad could vaguely recall the name of James as belonging to  Andrew’s pack leader. Even werewolves, free from sovereign cruelty that they were, had a leader that needed to be answered to.

“We’re getting his brother. I forgot he was here, too. We can’t leave without him.”

“What?”

The other werewolf looked ready to argue, but Andrew beat him

to it.

“Please, Eli, this will only take a second.”

Andrew took Vlad by the hand and allowed Vlad to lead him to  the right door before Eli had a chance to respond.

The thing that worried Vlad the most was that Ivan, like Vlad, had  his room facing west, so the sunlight would be pouring inside,  scorching his brother, if his windows had been broken like the others.

He ran to the door and had just grabbed the handle before Andrew  stopped him and made him stand to the side.

“Sunlight, remember?”

Vlad licked his lips and gave another small nod.

“Eli?”

“Yeah, yeah,” the unhappy werewolf said. Maybe they were both

118
                         
Marcy Jacks

going in just in case Ivan attacked them. Vampires weren’t exactly  friendly after being hit with sunlight, as was proven by Ravinia.

They opened the door, and more sunlight, lots and lots of it,  immediately spilled out into the hallway. Just standing so close to it  was burning Vlad’s skin and irritating his neck, but he didn’t dare step

away.

Eli made a sound of surprise. “Huh, I’ll be damned. Smart of

him.”

Vlad breathed a sigh of relief, but he wasn’t able to move until

Andrew and Eli walked out of the bedroom and shut the door with

Ivan in their arms.

Ivan had his heavy comforter entirely wrapped around his body.  Even on the hottest of nights he was known to sleep with his blankets covering every inch of his body. It was a defence mechanism he’d had as a child that he never grew out of.

Stay under the covers and the monster couldn’t get you, right?

When Andrew shut the door, blocking out the sunlight from the broken window, Ivan peeled off the comforter, and Vlad hugged him.

“Vlad, what is happening?” Ivan asked. “Who are these men?”

Vlad took hold of Andrew’s hand and laced their fingers together.

Ivan took note of this and smiled a little. “I see.”