es and yawned. “My lady, that was Prince Leo Romanov, brother to King Viktor, and next in line for the Monstranian vampire throne.”
The weight of the news forced her to sit back on her heels. She stared with wide eyes at the cat, horror filling her gut. Her brain rewound through her brief conversation with the prince, replaying every terrible thing she’d said. And he’d let her say them. She’d made a fool of herself.
So, that was a vampire. He might not have been the nasty monster of her imagination, but he certainly hadn’t won any accolades in her mind.
Despite her embarrassment, she filed away the piece of information, along with everything else she’d learned. Maybe, all of this wouldn’t be for nothing.
She just had to figure out how the Prince of Vampires would serve her cause.
Chapter Four
Leo fingered the bag of cash in his hand and whistled to himself as he strutted across an abandoned dock. After managing to escape the boredom of the royal wedding this evening, he’d made an appearance at his favorite secret poker ring in one of the warehouses dotting the wharf. The place had stunk of rotting fish guts, but that hadn’t kept him from cleaning house.
Thankfully, the fairies and goblins in attendance had taken his winning better than the ogres of last night. No fights and no near escapes. He was getting better at this. Viktor would be impressed.
His mind drifted back to the beautiful and mysterious woman he’d met at the wedding reception-Eina. She hadn’t been dazzled by his smiles or his touch and for some unknown reason, it’d made him like her all the more. If only she hadn’t disappeared.
He’d gone back to look for her after doing his grandmother’s bidding, but she was long gone. It was too bad. He really would’ve liked to take her on a romantic late night stroll and discover what made her so fascinating.
“I’ll bet she’s even more beautiful in the moonlight,” he mused to himself, reaching for his motorcycle hidden in the shadows.
The clatter of something falling behind him made him freeze. Someone was following him. The hairs sticking up on the back of his neck confirmed the suspicion. He turned in a flash of fangs and a nasty snarl, only to have a metal bat strike across his temple, knocking him out cold.
When he awoke an hour later, it was to the scent of bad body odor, rotten garlic, and sea salt. He wrinkled his nose and groaned, trying to understand what had happened. Someone had knocked him out. Of that, he was sure.
It wasn’t easy to take out a vampire, but use enough force and sometimes it worked. He clutched at his chest, half expecting to find a dagger sticking out of it. The only reason to decommission a vampire was to kill it. Luckily, there was no sign of any such wounds.
Yet.
“Don’t move, you filthy blood sucker.”
A voice came from the darkness. Leo squinted and saw a massive hulking form appear. As it grew closer, it split off into three separate bodies with green skin and stringy black hair.
“Earl, I should’ve known you and your brothers were behind this.” Leo frowned at the trio. “Determined to be sore losers, are we?”
“You cheated.” Earl pointed a thick finger at him, determination etched into the deep lines on his forehead. “And we want our revenge.”
He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. As if three dumb ogres could take him. Catching him unawares on the dock had been a fluke. They were lucky to still be in one piece. He would like nothing better than to drag them by their droopy ears back to the castle and deliver them to the guard.
“Let me go, Earl, and we’ll forget this ever happened.” Leo gave him a dazzling smile that held a hint of danger. “You don’t want the entire Monstranian army to come down on you, do you?”
“Army?” Earl slapped his knee and laughed. He pointed at Leo’s feet, tears springing to the corners of his eyes. “What army? You’ll be sleeping with the fishes long before they even notice you’re missing.”
Concern crossed Leo’s face. He looked at where the ogre had pointed and saw his feet encased in a large cement block, all the way up to his shins. Even more concerning was the sound of water lapping against the side of the boat they were on. Panic shot through his veins as he scrambled around for something to bash the cement apart. Nothing.
“It’s too late, vampire.”
Earl and one of his brothers closed in, their thick hands grasping his arms like vices. The third ogre grabbed his feet and grunted as he lifted the heavy weight.
“Come on guys, we can talk this one through.” Leo struggled uselessly against their hold. Sweat trickled down his forehead. “You want money? I can get you money. Ten times what I won. I can get you a whole castle, if that’s what you want.”
“No can do.” Earl gave him a grimace of a smile. “We’ve got a reputation to protect. Cross an ogre once, and you won’t live to tell the tale.”
His brothers grunted in agreement. They lifted him up to the side of the boat and held him precariously on the rim of the boat, his torso hanging over the water and his cement shoes still inside. Leo clutched at the slippery fiberglass, his fingernails scraping against the smooth surface.
Where was Rodrigo when he needed him? Probably rolling in cat nip somewhere, too busy giving himself a bath to wonder where his employer had gone. Leo would have to have a talk with him about his loyalties when he got back home. If he ever got back home...
From what he could see, they were miles from shore. No lights, no buildings of any kind. Just inky, black sky above and a shuddering depth of deep blue below.