Page 60 of House of Royals

One o’clock.

Two o’clock.

Three o’clock.

My eyes grow heavy. But I do not sleep.

Around four-thirty, it happens.

There’s a sound. It’s an unidentifiable one, but I know it’s there and there hasn’t been any other sounds all night.

I stand on the porch, straining my eyes in the dark. But I’m not a vampire yet and I can’t see much of anything. My movement, however, turns on the motion sensor light, flooding everything within fifty feet of the house in light.

A gargled scream cuts through the silent night and athwackfalls on my ears. Red eyes flash for a brief second. The sound of scattering gravel and a scuffle sound out.

“Who’s there?” I yell, bringing my crossbow up to eyelevel. I dart off of the porch and ten feet out. “I’m armed and if you don’t like the feel of wood splinters in your heart, you should get off of my property!”

Fangs flash, and as something hits the ground, another figure leaps out at me with the glint of yellow eyes. I fire off one shot, hitting them in the arm. Just as we collide, I pull a stake out of my pocket and swing.

We both go to the ground, and in the movement, my aim shifts and I embed the stake deep into the right side of the man’s chest. He grabs both of my wrists, pinning them to the ground. With a beastly howl, he screams in my face, fangs fully extended.

I swing my knee up, catching him in the balls. Just as he’s about to roll off of me in a fetal ball of pain, he’s gone.

Rath flies through the air and the two of them tumble through the gravel. He locks his arm around the vampire’s neck, choking him, as I scramble to my feet. Grabbing the other stake that fell from my pocket, I give a possessed war cry before jamming the stake through the vampire’s rib cage and into his heart.

His body instantly grows gray and still. Rath lets him fall to the ground.

There on the back of his hand, is the branded symbol of the snake eating its tail.

I dig through his pockets and pull seven glass vials of green liquid out.

“He’s looking for Born to take out,” I say, my brows furrowing. “Did he know I’m a Born? That toxin won’t work on me until I’ve resurrected.”

Rath shakes his head and his eyes go to somewhere in the dark. He stands and walks with direction. I follow him.

My eyes adjust just as Lillian’s shaking body comes into view.

“Lillian?” I breathe as I drop beside her. “What are you doing here?”

She’s a mess. The needle is still embedded into her neck. A stake is poking out of her stomach, right below her rib cage. Claw marks trace down one of her arms.

I rip the needle from her neck. “Let’s get her inside,” I tell Rath.

He scoops her into his arms with no effort at all. I pull out my cell phone and call Ian as we walk into the house. It goes to his voicemail. “I know you’re out looking for your own vamps, but I’ve got a dead one out on my front lawn if Bernie and Carl are feeling hungry tonight. Lillian just got attacked.” I hang up.

Rath carries Lillian into the first guest bedroom on the ground floor. Gingerly, he lays her on the bed. Blood instantly stains the light blue comforter.

“Do you know why I have objected to your and Ian’s relationship?” Rath asks with controlled anger in his voice.

I look back at him with a glare. This is so not the time.

“Because he makes you vulnerable,” he says, his eyes hard and cold. “Feelings blind you in any relationship and getting involved with such a volatile enemy such as Mr. Ward is dangerous.”

“Nothing about being in this town or this world will keep me safe from what is coming,” I say as I look back down at Lillian. “Get over it.”

Lillian’s eyes are unfocused, but her lips move slightly, like she’s trying to say something. I sit beside her on the bed and take her thin hand in mine.

“What can we do to help her?” I ask, once again feeling helpless. I look up at Rath.

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