Page 57 of Prince with a Chance of Darkness

“Teya, what is this? You said she made me sleep.Shewho?” Vlad demanded.

She began to hum as if he hadn’t asked her a question.

Confused, he glanced around for Mina. Both she and the darkness he’d created to give them privacy were gone. What happened? How long had he been asleep?

He remembered lying with her after making love, holding her in his arms, thinking his afterlife finally felt as if it had purpose. He felt whole. As if a part of his soul long thought lost to darkness had returned to him. “Mina?”

Teya took hold of his big toe and wiggled it. “This little vampire toe went to find her.” She touched the next. “This little vampire toe stayed here.” Her fingers found another of his toes. “This little vampire toe…”

“Teya!” he said firmly, yanking his foot from her hold and sitting up. He didn’t have time for her special brand of crazy. Vlad kept his slacks over his groin, not that modesty was a thing for him, and he didn’t even want to guess how many naked men Teya had seen in her long life. “Where is Mina?”

“Mina who?” she asked, something off in her voice. It sounded less manic than normal. It sounded, dare he say, sane?

He stood quickly and swayed, feeling off, as if he’d been drinking from drunken fraternity boys all night, as had originally been the plan. Since he’d not had a sip of drunken frat boy blood, it didn’t make any sense. He put his back to Teya and then put his slacks on. He tucked himself into them and turned, looking for his shirt.

Teya was directly behind him, his shirt hanging off her extended finger. In her other hand was a pair of sunglasses of all things. He wondered briefly which college student she’d taken them from and if she’d left them alive to tell the tale.

She smiled up at him. “Here. This belongs to you.”

He took it from her and put it on. As he buttoned the buttons, he glanced around again, his stomach tightening. “She left me?”

Teya tugged at her lower lip. “Yes. No. Maybe so.”

“I beg of you, do not speak in riddles. Not on this night,” he said. “Tell me. Where is she?”

“Who?” she asked.

He growled. “One of the twins who stayed with us in Romania.”

“Yourlumini?a mea?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Oh, well, Baba Koreneva thought it best she went home,” said Teya before reaching up and plucking a leaf from Vlad’s hair. She flicked it to the side and put her hands behind her back, rocking on the balls of her feet. “I’m going to miss her.”

“Miss her?” Vlad asked, alarm slashing through him. “Where is she? How long was I asleep? Why didn’t I hear her rise? Why didn’t I hear you approach? Where are your sisters? Why are you unattended?”

She stared up at him with a puzzled expression on her face. “That is a lot of questions, Master. We should pick one. I’ll go first. Blue. It’s my favorite color. Oh, wait. You did not ask that. Right. Oh, yes. I’m not unattended. I’m with you. Your turn. Is your favorite color red? You do like blood. I bet its red.”

His demon pushed up in him, stopping him before he did something like yell at the vampire.Our mate! She is in danger!

Vlad grabbed Teya by her shoulders. “Where is she? She is in danger!”

“Where is who?” she asked.

“My wife!”

A smile spread over her face as she lifted her arm and pointed in the other direction. “Follow the demons. They’ll lead you right to her.”

“Demons?”

She nodded. “And The Order of the Dragon’s foot soldiers. They’re going to the same place. To where she is. All roads lead to Gallows Lane. Fun trivia tidbit… The road got its name because it was once where witches were hung.”

“Teya!” he shouted, noticing something on the ground.

She pouted. “Master, do you not like trivia? I love it. I once drained a trivia show host of all his blood. He tasted like knowledge and teeth whitening strips. That was in Japan. No. Wait. Norway. Or was it, Cleveland?”

Vlad let out an enraged breath and bent to retrieve the item he’d noticed on the ground. It was Mina’s bra. Her panties weren’t far from it. He stuffed them both into his pocket and stood to his full height.

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