Page 73 of Hot Vampire Next Door: Season Five

“Great,” Arion answers. “One year and one day from now, you will release Bran Duval of any and all further suffering provided he’s fulfilled his end of the bargain.”

Draggun pulls a dagger from a sheath on his forearm, spins it in his hand, then catches it by the hilt. He drags the blade over the fleshy part of his palm, blood chasing the sharp tine as his skin parts.

He holds out his hand, then the dagger. Bran takes the weapon, repeating the wound and then they shake on it, blood dripping from their clasped hands.

“I think that settles it then,” Draggun says. “Now, if you’ll allow me and mine to do what we do best, we’ll move ahead of you and get into position outside the Summer Palace. Once we join the fight, we will feast on the suffering and none of you will stop us. Is that understood?”

“So long as it’s none of ours,” I say.

Draggun finally turns to me and finding his feral eyes directed toward me is a lot to bear. My heart quickens in my chest.

“You are bold, Winter Princess,” he says. “I like that.” His expression is hard to read.

But despite myself, I blush beneath the compliment.

He’s not just a creature of the darkness. He’s a master manipulator, I suspect.

And for a split second, I almost tell him thanks before I remember who and what he is.

“I appreciate you noticing,” I tell him instead.

His smirk is unmistakable. He did know what he was doing.

“We will see you when the mayhem runs high and not a moment sooner.” He nods to Bran, Arion, and lastly, me. And then he’s gone, taking his soldiers with him through the gate.

“That was really stupid!” I yell at Bran.

“It got us what we needed.” He’s walking through the meadow, assessing the damage. We only lost a few vampires, now just piles of ash in the grass. Cal instructs two of his shifters to carry the dead back to the Pack House. They lost four.

Thankfully Sam is untouched, but Cal is sticking close to her like he’s worried anything could take her out, even a rut in the ground.

Arion cuts across the meadow after conversing with Baspin and Bianca. “We should hurry through the gate. It won’t be long before the queen catches wind of Maven’s death. If I had to make a prediction, she has him marked with some kind of charm to track him or alert her to his death. She’s done it before. Being on the mortal side, it might take a while for the magic to link up, but it won’t be long enough.”

“Will we encounter trouble on the way to the palace?” Bran asks him.

“Probably.” Arion scans the meadow. “We could split up, use one of our groups as a decoy.”

Bran crosses his arms over his chest, thinking it over. “That might work.”

Cal and Sam come over to our huddle. “I’ll volunteer for the decoy group. I could take some of the shifters and the vampires.”

“You’re sure?” Bran asks him.

“Shifters fight better in the woods anyway. And I’m assuming that’s where the ambush might happen?”

Arion gives a nod. “Probably on the trail somewhere about halfway from the gate to the palace.”

Several strands of his blond hair hang in his face, so Cal unties it, then rakes it all back again with his bloody fingers leaving several streaks of red amongst the blond. How could Sam possibly resist this man?

“Which way should I take them?” Cal asks, winding the rubber band over the messy bun at the back of his head.

“Follow the main trail,” Arion instructs. “It’ll take you where you need to go. There are no forks in that path, so you just need to stick to the one.”

Sam wraps me in a hug. “I’m so glad I’m doing this. This is the most fun I’ve had in a long time.”

She smells like autumn air and the sharp tang of blood. “I’m not. I wish you were home right now safe and sound.”

She laughs against me, then gives me a big smacking wet kiss on the cheek. “I’ll see you on the other side of your victory, princess. Then we’ll have a slumber party to celebrate, and we’ll get super drunk.”

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