Page 78 of Prince with a Chance of Darkness

Master?

“No fucking way,” I whispered, the pieces starting to fall into place. I thought back to the moment he’d told me his name all those years ago. I’d thought he was joking. That he was playing a part. Turns out he was the real deal.

“Dracula?” I asked, my voice barely there.

He stiffened and then turned slowly, looking across the chaos at me. His green gaze widened. “Mina?”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Mina

Dark shadows cameup from the ground, right below Drac, swarming him, wrapping him in what looked like a mini-tornado. They did the same to the blonde Weird Sister that he’d called Teya.

She was ripped away from Temperance’s side.

I ran toward my daughter. I kicked a robed guy in the gut and snapped his neck on my way there. I was almost to Temperance when shadows came out of the ground by her and snatched hold of her. They lifted her, taking her high into the air.

“Temperance!” I screamed.

She shifted forms then, going to black mist and then to bats. She flew away from them and came for me. She reformed next to me, and I grabbed her, hugging her to me.

She embraced me back, squeezing me tight.

I patted her all over, looking for any signs of injury.

She let out a shaky laugh. “I’m okay.”

“Ohmygod, you’re so grounded!” I hugged her again and kissed her cheeks one at a time.

“Mom!”

The chaos around us seemed to die almost instantly. It was then I realized Drac and Teya had broken free from the shadows that held them. They were staring over at Temperance and me.

Teya was humming merrily. “Blood is red…the beaten enemy’s blue…death’s just a door…and she’s coming soon. But not today. She’s waiting to play until the other shows himself again.”

I wasn’t sure what she was going on about.

Drac’s eyes were wide. “Temperance? Mom?”

Temperance pushed in closer to me. “Mom, that’s, um, I don’t know his name. I call him Asshole. He kind of saved Hannah and me, so I guess I need to come up with a new name for him. Turns out, he’s not as bad as I thought he was.”

Unable to help myself, I teared up, having long ago given up ever being able to have my daughter meet her father.

Temperance grabbed me and hugged me again. “Mom, we’re fine. I swear it. He didn’t let them hurt us. Him and his friends, the three women…they protected us. Don’t cry.” She squeezed me tighter. “You never cry.”

I held her to me, breaking down more.

“Mom?” she asked, pulling back and wiping my cheeks like she was the parent in the situation.

Jonathan was near Hannah now, hugging her too. From the looks of it, he was holding her so tight she was fighting for air.

The black wolf snarled at him.

He grunted and loosened his hold on his daughter. “Thank you for protecting her, Lucian.”

“Mom?” asked Temperance as I looked where Drac had been.

He was gone.

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