Page 56 of Prince with a Chance of Darkness

Tensing, I looked around the foyer fast, trying to figure out what the threat was. I felt it then, dark magik seeping in from every nook and cranny in the old home. They needed to stop whatever in the hell they were doing with the candle and the circle. “Stop the?—”

The dark magik increased. The candles blew out.

Gail force wind slammed into me from the front, sweeping me up and off my feet, knocking me into the door. It hurt. A lot. I wasn’t concerned for myself. No. My worry was for my roommates. The dark magik pushed at me more as if it were trying to shove me out of the house.

Not happening!

I twisted onto my hands and knees and crawled, unable to stand from the force of the power and the wind. It whipped my hair into my face and yanked at my clothing. I didn’t care. I kept going. Kept trying to get to my friends.

Had I been new to the horrors this world had to offer, I’d have frozen in terror and disbelief. This wasn’t my first supernatural rodeo, and I wasn’t going to accept whatever was happening without a fight.

Jessica was launched high into the air. She struck the ceiling with a sickening sound that echoed even over the wind. In the next breath, her body came flying at me. There was nothing I could do except brace for impact. She struck me, and I was slammed into the wall. The back of my head hit and for a second, I saw stars.

Furniture lifted and was flung about. Something big started to growl, the sound of it carrying over the wind, setting off every one of my slayer alarms. I didn’t need to see it to know what it was.

A demon!

Jessica’s body was limp and not far from me. Her neck was twisted at an odd angle. One that said, nothing good could come of it. Still, I pushed against whatever force was throwing dark power at me and managed to get to her. I felt for a pulse but found none.

My gaze met Astria’s from across the room. I shook my head.

Something seized me from behind, yanking me away from Jessica’s body.

“Mina!” Astria yelled.

I tried to break the demon’s hold on me, but it was too tight and cutting off my ability to breathe. I kicked and thrashed, knowing I wasn’t weak. I had the strength of a slayer plus that of a vampire. Still, I was powerless against whatever in the hell kind of demon it was. I clawed at its arm to no avail.

Chapter Nineteen

Vlad

Vlad woke with a start,confused as to where he was for a moment. It took a few seconds for him to remember he was on the ground in the woods, just off campus. He’d been dreaming about his time with the Ottomans. About Radu and how he’d sworn to always protect him but had failed. He dreamed of how he’d thrown himself in front of the young pregnant woman, trying to stop his brother from harming her, and of his brother’s final last words to him.

They’d been the true killing, hurting more than Radu’s sword ever did.

It was a dream that happened often enough, but this time was different. This time, Mina had been in the dream with him. At the last second, as Vlad lay dying in a pool of his blood, he’d glanced up and saw her there, just out of reach, looking every bit the angel she was. She was in modern-day attire, her hair pulled back in a ponytail, as it had been when he’d first laid eyes upon her. She’d been see-through in his dream, as if a ghosted memory of events that had not yet occurred.

Then again, in the dream, her see-through form had been holding a child—around the age of three or so. A girl. The little girl had eyes that were identical to Vlad’s. She’d been giggling in Mina’s arms, and then suddenly, the child had turned into bats. Just as Vlad could do.

For a split second, what had started as a nightmare had transformed into something beautiful—like it had morphed into his every desire. They were his—his family. And then Radu had used the same sword he’d rammed through Vlad to slash through the air Mina and the phantom child had been in.

Just like that, they were gone. In their wake stood Order of the Dragon high council members, and then Vlad was awake.

She is our wife now, said the demon, clearly as shaken as Vlad by the dream.We can take solace in that. She is alive and well in the here and now. Far from Radu’s reach. Safe from The Order of the Dragon for now. The Order does not know of her yet. We will take her with us—keep her safe. Protect her from them.

Vlad took a moment to exhale and calm his nerves. Then he planned to make love to his wife—again.

Something tickled the bottom of his foot. He looked down the length of himself to find his slacks were lying over his groin, but beyond that, he was naked.

Teya was sitting on the ground, near his feet, holding a leaf, using it to tickle the bottom of his foot. Her gaze found Vlad’s. “Oh, goodie. You’re awake. Did you know you stopped breathing? It was a very long time before you took a breath again. I worried you’d start to decompose or something. I hate it when bodies do that. The smell is so difficult to get out of my hair and clothing.”

She made his head hurt. “Teya.”

She moved her head back and forth. “Do you thinkshecan make me sleep like she made you sleep? I miss sleeping.”

“Her who?”

Teya’s gaze was glossy as she looked at him again. “Family isn’t always the one you’re born into. Not everyone gets lucky and has a good one to start. Some build their family along the way, wouldn’t you agree?”

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