Page 4 of Prince with a Chance of Darkness (Grimm Cove #7)

Chapter Four

Vlad

Vlad’s blood dripped uselessly past her lips, pooling beneath her head on the forest floor. Vlad pressed his wrist harder against her mouth, willing her to swallow, to take what he offered.

Bite her! his demon demanded. Turn her!

Vlad resisted. He had sworn after the incident with Dragos, Van Helsing and the others to never create another like himself. The risk was too great, the price too high. Offering his blood to heal her was one thing. Attempting to convert her was another matter entirely. The conversion process was difficult. It could kill her rather than heal her. And if it worked, there was no telling what she might become. He was not like other vampires. He was far, far more. Darker. Twisted.

She will die if you do not attempt it , his demon pressed. You know this.

“She is already gone,” Vlad said, his voice drowned out by a boom of thunder and a crack of lightning. Never had he felt so defeated, so unsure of himself, of the next course of action.

See with more than your eyes, his demon returned.

It often spoke in riddles. He’d grown accustomed to it. Closing his eyes, Vlad tried to draw upon his supernatural powers but found they, like him, were utterly spent. They always seemed so limitless before now.

Try again , the demon coaxed.

He did.

This time, he caught it. Something else was present with them. The unseen presence fluttered past his face, feeling like a thousand tiny butterflies when, in reality, nothing was there. At least nothing that could be seen with the naked eye. Whatever it was didn’t feel like dark magik. Didn’t feel like the forest witch. It made him think of the young woman in his arms.

It is her essence , said his demon, sounding relieved. Her soul.

The sensation slid over Vlad again. The scent of her blood called to him, but not with hunger. Something else entirely pulled at him—something he hadn't felt in centuries. Pure, unadulterated need.

Do it , his demon whispered. For once, there was no mockery in its tone. Her soul lingers. Bite her before it fades completely.

Lightning split the sky as Vlad bent his head to her throat. The moment his fangs pierced her flesh, power exploded through him. Not the normal surge from a feeding—this was different. Her blood tasted of old-world magik, of power, of something familiar yet forbidden.

Slayer blood.

His demon roared, not with rage, but with triumph, even as Vlad's mind reeled. The girl he'd crossed an ocean to save was born to hunt his kind. To destroy him. By rights, he should want her dead. So should his demon.

Instead, he drank deeper, his demon encouraging the act. Not with the intent to kill her, but with the desperate need to lure her soul back into her body. To convert her and bind her to him through a sire bond.

It would have been all too easy to lose himself in the glorious taste of her blood. To be gluttonous and take it all to hell with saving her. After all, her blood represented pure power. It could fuel him for weeks, hell even months.

No more! shouted his demon. Already her soul barely clings to us.

Vlad wanted to listen to his demon, but he couldn’t seem to stop. It wasn’t out of hunger or the fact he’d depleted his energy reserves. It was something else. Something he couldn’t put his finger on.

Mine.

The word floated into his head, bouncing around wildly, before settling on the tip of his tongue. It did what his demon could not. It got him to stop feeding.

Tearing himself away took more willpower than he'd needed in centuries. His fangs remained extended as he bit savagely into his own wrist again, tearing flesh and muscle, pressing the bleeding wound to her lips.

"Drink!" The command held power that would have brought armies to their knees. Yet she remained still, defiant even in death.

Force her to drink , his demon snarled, its hunger for her survival matching his own.

Lightning crackled overhead as Vlad's voice ripped through the air. "Drink! I command it!”

Thunder shook the ground as his power mixed with that of the forest witch’s—the dark magik.

The woman in his arms gasped.

In the next instant, the rains stopped as if someone had flipped a switch.

The woman’s eyes snapped open, bright blue irises darkening to solid black in the space of a heartbeat. Before Vlad could process the change, her hand shot up, fingers wrapping around his throat with supernatural strength. She came off the ground as if yanked by invisible strings, and in one fluid motion, she body-slammed him to the forest floor.

The great Vlad Dracula, Prince of Darkness, Son of the Dragon, the Impaler himself—found himself flat on his back in the mud with Ponytail Girl straddling him, her hand still locked around his throat. Never had he been happier to be one upped in his life.

His demon's laughter echoed through his mind. Any woman worth having does not come without a fight.

"I like her," Radmila said with a delighted giggle, her eyes flashing crimson. High praise indeed coming from her since she normally hated everyone.

Teya looked up from her macabre game, tilting her head at the scene before her. "Master is in the mud. Does this mean we get to play in it too?"

Vlad’s hands found Ponytail Girl’s hips as his pants began to feel tighter and tighter in the groin area.

She is too young for us , he thought, needing his dick to listen.

She is old enough to be mated , returned his demon.

Vlad’s eyes widened. Mated?

It went silent.

Ponytail Girl tightened her hold on his throat, her eyes filled with black. She hissed, showing off the smallest of fangs. They were so adorable that Vlad had to fight to keep from reaching up and touching them. They didn’t overpower her beauty. They enhanced it.

His gaze slid over her lips, and flashes of what it might be like to have them on his body filled his head. His erection grew. Yes. Vlad wanted that. Wanted her fangs on his body.

“Does the vampire-slayer want to play in the mud too?” asked Teya, knowing things she shouldn’t. She had always been that way. “She is welcome to play tic-tac-dead-man with me. It’s fun. Oh, does she want me to make marionettes out of the dead hunters’ bodies? That would be more fun! We can be the puppet masters.”

"Silence," Katarina snapped, though her gaze never left the newly turned girl. There was something calculating in her expression as she watched Ponytail Girl maintain her grip on Vlad's throat.

The white wolf had gone still, watching her sister with a mixture of horror and hope.

Lucian shifted back to his human form, not bothering with modesty or clothing. "Not so all-powerful now, Vlad," he muttered, his attention fixed on the scene before him.

The white wolf's ears twitched. Taking advantage of the Dark One's distraction and newfound vulnerability, the white wolf lunged, sinking her teeth into Lucian’s bare backside.

Lucian yelped, a sound far from dignified for the alpha wolf-shifter.

"Oh, dear. That's going to leave a mark," Teya observed cheerfully, returning to her tic-tac-toe game, in which she was now lifting the dead hunter’s floppy arm, using his hand to play too, as if he were a willing participant. She traced an X with his finger on his chest and then giggled. “You win! Such a clever hunter. Let’s play again.”

Radmila ignored her sister’s insanity and tipped her head, watching as the white wolf licked its now bloody mouth. Radmila grinned in a sinister manner at Lucian, her crimson eyes dancing with mirth. "What is the human expression for this? Something about a pot and metal?”

“Kettle,” corrected Katarina, watching Ponytail Girl much like a proud mother.

“Are you sure?” asked Radmila, seeming entirely too pleased with the fact Lucian now had a chunk missing from his backside.

The white wolf snarled, eyeing Lucian’s ass as if she might make another go at it.

Lucian pointed a finger at her and growled loudly, pulling the alpha card on the young wolf, making her cower and submit.

Ponytail Girl’s attention snapped to Lucian. Her still black gaze narrowed upon Lucian, and a growl started low in her chest. One did not need to be an expert on the supernatural or women to know what was going through Ponytail Girl’s mind. She did not like the threat Lucian presented to her sister.

Vlad didn’t like her attention being on Lucian—even if it was murderous. He wanted her full focus on him. Wanted all her attention, including the murder-filled thoughts. “Pay him no mind, uciga?a mea mic? de mon?tri .”

All eyes, except for Ponytail Girl’s, came to him.

The Weird Sisters watched Vlad as if seeing him for the first time.

Lucian’s brows raised so high Vlad wasn’t sure how they didn’t hit the man’s hairline. “ Your little monster slayer? Am I seriously hearing this right now?”

There were times Vlad strongly disliked surrounding himself with others who were fluent in his native tongue. This was one of those moments.

He caught the faintest fluttering of dark power around him once more, but it vanished quickly.

Lucian’s gaze slid to the white wolf, who was still cowering in submission.

Teya began to sing softly. Her choice of songs was a nursery rhyme about the forest witch.

Vlad knew then that she sensed the forest witch’s power lingering in the area too. That he’d not been imagining it.

Ponytail Girl’s body tightened.

Vlad’s hands went to her thighs, holding her to him for fear she might go at Lucian. He didn’t much care if she succeeded in injuring the betrayer. It would save Vlad the trouble later, but he worried she might be harmed during it all. Plus, it would put her closer to a very naked Lucian.

Unacceptable! his demon roared.

She tightened her hold on Vlad’s neck and he kept his hands on her thighs. While she was glaring over in Lucian’s direction, Vlad got a good look at the hole in her shirt where she’d been stabbed. The wound was starting to heal over, but looked as if it might leave a scar. Ironically, he had a scar on his chest in the very same spot.

Without thought, he brought his forefinger to his lips, pierced the tip on one of his fangs and then pressed it to her stab wound, gifting her more of his blood in hopes it would speed her recovery, giving her what little he had left after overtaxing himself. Her blood was powerful and had given him a boost, but he’d certainly pushed too far tonight.

Her attention snapped back to him, those black eyes widening slightly at the tender gesture. She jerked slightly and snarled down at him.

He lifted his hands and stretched out his arms, trying to make her understand he was no threat to her. “I surrender, lumini?a mea .”

Radmila jerked back slightly. “The master has surrendered?”

“Anyone not shocked that it’s with a woman astride on him?” asked Lucian.

Radmila's delighted laughter filled the air a second before Ponytail Girl’s eyes lolled back in her head, and she fainted on Vlad.

He caught her, holding her body to his, inhaling her sweet scent. He committed it to memory.

The white wolf tipped to the side, passing out as well.

Lucian hurried to her and lifted her gently in his arms.

Radmila looked between the men and rolled her eyes. “Men.”

With that, she took flight, evaporating into white mist within seconds.

Katarina went to Teya and eased the hunter’s hand from the woman’s grasp. “That is enough for now.”

Teya sighed and rose slowly. “I suppose. He was starting to get stiff and smell. Rigor mortis does put a damper on things. Oh, perhaps I could snap off his hand and use it to?—”

“No,” Vlad, Lucian, and Katarina said in unison.

Teya’s lower lip jutted out. “No one lets me have any fun. Baba Koreneva would let me play.”

Katarina sighed and touched her sister’s face. “I told you before, stay away from the forest witch. She is not to be trusted.”

Vlad looked to Lucian. “Once we get them back to the estate, return here and dispose of the dead.”

Teya smiled sweetly. “No need. Baba Koreneva will handle them. She will grind up their bones and use them in her potions and spells.”

Lucian’s gaze lingered on Teya a moment before he focused on Vlad. “Is she correct?”

“Yes,” said Teya, nodding her head. “ She is correct. Baba Koreneva likes men less than Radmila does.”

Radmila jerked around quickly. “Not possible.”

Lucian snorted. “I’m with Red. She has a lot of hate for anything with a penis.”

Radmila inclined her head. “Yes. I find most men, aside from the Master, to be tiresome and wastes of space. To be nothing more than walking blood banks.”

“We know,” said Lucian, still holding the white wolf.

Vlad shifted Ponytail Girl in his arms slightly, wanting to be sure she was comfortable despite being unconscious. “Radmila, remain and assist with the clean-up. Lucian will be back within the hour.”

“Yes, Master,” she said.

Teya giggled softly once more. “No need. You will only be in the way. Let her have this, please. She helped on this night as best she could—bringing the storm to hinder the other hunters. She tried to scare the girls away, but they ran toward danger rather than from it.” Teya’s blue gaze fell upon Lucian. “And she tried to warn you—with the lightning and the thunder. Had you not had a change of heart, she would have killed you.”

“Pity she changed her mind then,” said Radmila. “Is it too late to get her to rethink killing him?”

Lucian ignored her. “Vlad?”

“Leave the dead. Let us see how this plays out. Radmila, join us,” said Vlad before tapping into what was left his energy reserves to move quickly over the forest floor.