Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 79726 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79726 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
I feel my eyes pop wide. “That doesn’t help!” I squeak.
He shrugs and reaches over, intertwining his fingers with mine. “I suppose it’s better to be more on guard than less in this situation. But you should know better than to worry when you have me at your side.”
I look up at him, still a little weirded out by how, well, normal he looks. “Are they really—you know—” I gesture with the hand he’s not holding, not quite able to bring myself to say the word ‘vampires.’ Because, seriously?
“I’ve only met one, and he was very,” Remus wiggles his eyebrows, “you know.” What? No, I do not know? But then he looks away, not offering any more explanation. “Let’s hope they’ve become a little more civilized since the last one I encountered.”
Well, now my heart is really racing. But I guess I should have known better than to turn to Remus, of all people, for assurance. I know what everybody says about him, but surely he’s not looking for a fight, is he? Is it bad that I’m kinda sorta wishing it was Romulus in charge of the body right now instead of him? Immediately, I feel bad for the thought and squeeze his hand tighter. Maybe I’m just letting everyone else’s voices get in my head. Remus squeezes my hand back. I try to take it as reassurance.
And then we touch down.
Moments later, the back ramp is lowering. It screeches before making it past a certain point and continuing, I assume, because of the damage incurred when we were in that terrifying other place when the creature attacked us. My eyes immediately zoom in on the claw marks.
That is, until the ramp lowers more to see a tight grouping of about twenty men, all dressed in sleek black and standing in the courtyard where we’ve touched down. They stand ramrod straight, hands behind their backs, identical black hair and dark eyes watching us.
My nails dig into Remus’s hand, but he doesn’t so much as flinch. Indeed, when I look over at him, he’s smiling.
Layden immediately walks up the aisle and down the ramp before it’s all the way lowered, easily hopping off to the ground. The rest of us stand up, Abaddon taking the lead and pushing his wife, who’s holding his daughter, behind his large, bulky, glamoured shape. Even disguised as a human, he’s still intimidating, especially with the scowl permanently plastered to his face as he waits to see how Layden will be received.
Layden walks right up to the group and instead of holding out a hand, tugs down his collar and bares his neck. I hear a little growl from Remus in front of me and immediately know there’s no way he’ll be offering the same in greeting.
The man at the front of the pack tilts his head slightly in acknowledgment, and they begin to speak. I’m too far away to hear what’s being said, though I suspect Remus and his brothers, with their superior hearing, catch every word. The suspicion is reinforced when Remus, Kharon, and Abaddon all tense and lean forward at the same time like they’re getting ready to attack.
Ksenia must sense the same because she places a hand on Kharon’s shoulder from behind. “We need a place to rest,” she reminds him.
He only lets out a small, growled murmur in response, eyes still tensely on the exchange happening between Layden and the man at the head of the group.
But then the brothers’ heads swing toward the right. It takes several more moments before I hear what they obviously already did—a loud motor of some kind speeding towards us.
I frown, wanting to bend over and look through the chopper window but not wanting to draw any attention from the men below. They, too, are looking the same direction, but they don’t seem perturbed by whatever they’re seeing. Layden, also looking that way, smiles like he’s relieved. What on earth?
And then the motorcycle comes into view, louder than ever, circling right behind the gathered men in the courtyard and stopping dramatically. The slight figure pulls her helmet off to reveal a shock of curly dirty blonde hair and a beautiful face.
“Grandpa,” the woman sing-songs, “I’m ho-oooome.” Then she kicks out a stand, leans the bike over and hops off it at the same time, sauntering up to where Layden and the scowling man he was having a glare match with are standing.
She kisses the scowling man on both sides of his cheeks. I frown. Grandpa? The guy looks to be in his early thirties. Then I remember… vampires. And gulp. Holy crap. Am I really looking at a group of vampires? So how on earth is he her grandpa? How do vampires… make more vampires?
Which is when I realize that I am so in over my head and have been for a while now. I thought I could handle being a consort or whatever to a god. And then the rest of his god or supernatural angel family comes home. And oh yeah they’re all the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Then we’re attacked and now seeking refuge with freaking vampires…