Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 85552 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85552 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Sniffing the air, he chuckled. His feet stuck to the ceiling. His arm bent in an irregular way and reached out for Leeta.
Xander jerked back and then gently pushed me to the side. “You know our deal. She remains safe with me. No one will taste her.”
A loud cackle escaped the vampire’s wilting lips. “Our agreement was that all humans with you or your team would be safe.”
“And?”
Xander barked. His golden eyes brightened. “She is not human.”
Other vampires leaned in toward Leeta and sniffed. Their throats vibrated in unison.
The buzzing noise caused my flesh to quiver and the small hairs on the back of my neck to rise.
What is that noise?
Xander shook his head. “This woman is human.”
“No, fair and loyal prince. That was not our deal.” The eyeless vampire shook his head. Dark carved-out holes existed where his eyes should have been. Gray jagged flesh circled each hole. “She was human, but this one’s blood is changing to something else. I can sense it breaking down and rebuilding. She is no longer human.”
We both snapped our faces to Leeta. She resembled a peaceful, resting newborn baby.
I didn’t recognize any outward change.
What is he talking about?
“No,” another vampire with one missing eye croaked. “She is something else and no longer in the agreement.”
“Nevertheless, you will not bite her,” Xander growled.
“Prince.” The eyeless one hissed. “Are you breaking the deal?”
“Go ahead of me, Camille.” Xander nudged me forward. “Keep walking ahead and leave me here. You’ll see Ty and Victoria soon. I don’t want you here if they try to attack.”
“Don’t be crazy. I’m staying.”
“Blasted woman,” Xander muttered under his breath and pushed out his fangs.
I remained where I was, yanking out the tiny wooden dagger from my back pocket.
Xander frowned at me. “You stab one vampire and now you think you are some legendary warrior?”
“I can help.”
Xander growled as if that would scare me.
A cackle soared above us.
I gazed into the eyeless vampire’s decaying face.
He smiled, causing dust to fall from his cheeks. “You’ve made this one your queen. Now you’re no longer just a prince. You’re ripening. Some would argue you’re a fledgling king now.”
What?
Xander swallowed. “I agree.”
I looked at him.
Xander’s voice came out as a hiss. “And my first order as king is for you to grant the woman in my arms safe passage. Now!”
Many of the vampires cringed back, but not the eyeless one.
He simply smiled. “Okay.”
My pulse quickened.
The eyeless vampire nodded. “And will you lead us, King?”
“No.” Xander marched forward “I don’t wish to be anyone’s king.”
I stumbled behind him.
“Hmmm.” The eyeless vampire flipped through the air and landed three feet in front of us.
Shit.
His body straightened into a standing position. His bald and rotting head touched the top of the sewer’s ceiling as he towered over us.
Dear Ambi.
The eyeless vampire gave an awkward bow and straightened his posture. “Surely, you understand that we’re now in a predicament.”
Xander groaned in annoyance. “What now?”
“You say as king that we can’t have her, but then you say you’re not our king.”
My heart slammed against my chest. I tightened my grip on the wooden dagger and brought it out in the open.
Relax, Xander said in my mind. Ian is trying to scare me into leading him and his brood.
What?
Ian has been bothering me to be king since I first walked through these sewers.
How did he know you were a prince?
Xander didn’t respond.
The eyeless vampire, Ian crossed his rotting arms across his chest. “It appears you are in a predicament, Xander.”
“Get out of my way.”
Ian pounded his skeletal chest and let out a loud roar.
I inched back.
For a rotting vampire, he appeared to still have some strength.
Murky green drool dripped from Ian’s cracked lips.
Xander rolled his eyes. “What is this?”
“This is my asserting dominance over the agreement.” Ian slammed his chest again. A bone fell from his rib cage. Ian frowned and picked it up.
O-kay.
However, even with the absurdity of his body breaking apart, horror still coursed through my veins. The other vampires, enraged with the need for blood, writhed on the ceiling above us.
Xander? I repeated the thought again. How did he know you were a prince?
Ian is blind, but he can still see blood.
Xander turned his face to me.
He was the one who tried to attack you last time you were in the sewers.
Yes, I remember. The one who can’t die because of a magic spell?
Xander nodded and continued to speak in my head. He claims to be put under an enchantment; one that needs a vampire king to lift it. These other hungry vampires and him have been magically imprisoned down here for close to a hundred years, maybe more. He could see my princely marks on my legs within the blood.
“Oh, my.” Ian tilted his head to the side. His lips widened to a gap-toothed smile. “Xander, are you talking to your queen in a mind-to-mind connection?”