Page 26 of Princess
“Has my sister told you what we are?” Nicuasked.
“Yeah, she did,” Cooper responded, looking around the room, taking in her brothers. Three of the vampires, all have black hair while one had the same dark brown with golden streaks as Nadira. All of their eyes were on him and Nadira. “Whatthreat?”
“Our enemy has targeted our sister. They are going to try to use her to get back at the vampire nation,” Nicu said, while walking around his desk, sitting down in the chair. “So you see why we were all pissed when we could not find her. We were ready to tear this city apart tofindher.”
“Our sister means the world to us. We would do anything to keep her safe,” the vampire namedAdriansaid.
“We would not hesitate to burn this city down if it meant getting our sister back,” the other black-hairedvampiresaid.
“So, she told you she was born a vampire? That we are all vampires,” Nicuasked.
“Yes, she told me that. She also told me about the Dark Shadows and that I need to share with you what I’ve witnessed,” Cooper said looking each of the large men in their eyes. He refused to back down. He got the sense from them that he was not their favorite. He just didn’t know if it was because he was human or that their sister was found coming from his bedroom dressed in nothing but a bedsheet.
“What is it that you have seen?” Adrianasked.
“It might be better if you start from the beginning,” Nadira suggested softly, holding onto Cooper’s arm. “I think they need to hear abouteverything.”
* * *
~Nicu~
The human detectivetold them of his current investigation. Bodies were found dead with no signs of trauma, yet drained of their blood. Someone was setting up the vampires to be discovered. Finding two small puncture holes on the necks of dead humans would point the direction of the murders to vampires. If humans knew to look close enough, or even open their eyes to the obvious, vampires might just get discovered and Nicu refused to allow that to happen. He would go to extreme measures, without a second thought, to ensure the vampire race remainedsecluded.
Nevertheless, Nicu knew that this was a message from the necromancers. Only they had the power to drain a human of their energy, take their souls, and then raise them from the dead later when they had a need for them. Draining blood from the victims was just the redherring.
As the human spoke, Nicu assessed him. He guessed the human would be considered handsome; he was tall, built, and could actually blend in with his brothers. The way he stood as if to protect Nadira from them, four vampire warriors earned him a little respect with Nicu. Even the way the human held his stare, not backing down, impressed Nicu. Not many vampires or human men could hold his icystare.
As the eldest Olaru offspring, Nicu took protecting the vampire race very seriously, especially his little sister. He would not even blink twice to kill to protect her. The necromancers were growing bolder. Their King, Sodan, made demands for Nadira to mate with his son, Xalak, as a peace treaty. They would go to war, before they would allow Nadira to mate with a necro. The king had refused to negotiate Nadira in any way. The necros had been in hiding for a half a century. Something drew them out. Why were they letting the vampires know that they were killing and raisingthedead?
“Where are the bodies of the other dead?” Nicu asked, cuttingCooperoff.
“They are still in the medical examiner’s office,” Cooper said from thecouch.
Nicu observed how close Nadira was sitting next to the human. The human’s arm was around her as if shielding her. Why would Fate choose a human as a mate for Nadira? A scowl found its way to his face. Humans were not as strong as vampires were and had no powers. As a human, he would not live as long as Nadira, surely she knew that. When vampires mated, they became bound. Should one mate die, the other would follow soon after, usually from a broken heart. The only way Cooper and Nadira would spend eternity together would be for him to become a vampirehimself.
“We need to move the bodies,” Adrian said. “There’s no telling when the necros will raise theothers.”
“Have you told anyone what you saw?” Toma asked from thewindowseat.
“My partner watched the video with me; we showed the M.E. because he didn’t believe us and our captain knows. We all agreed not to tell anyone else yet. My partner wrote up a report stating that the body was justtaken.”
“Good, it would lead to mass hysteria if people knew the dead could come back to life,” Teaguegrumbled.
“Can you get us the bodies? We have a containment facility that can house them when and if the necros raise them,” Nicu said, noticing that Nadira was starting to look a little pale. “When was the last time you fed, Nadira?” She looked up sharply. She glanced at Cooper before turning her gaze to Nicu. Nicu pushed a button on his desk, signaling for the housestaff.
“Ummm… it’s been about three days,” she said shyly, not looking up. Curses filled the room. Vampires could go a few days between feeding, but they would become weak. Most vampires tried to feed at least once a day or every other. They didn’t need much blood to survive. Nicu himself had even pushed it to a week and a half before and found himself weak as a small child. Three days for their sister, who was not a trained warrior, wastoolong.
“You know you shouldn’t go that long, Naddy,” Teague said angrily. “What if they would have taken you? You would grow weakquicker!”
“De ce nu te hranesc din om?” Nicu asked her, switching over to their native language.Why did you not feed from thehuman?
“Nu am vrut sa -l sperii,” she responded in their native language.I did not want to scarehimaway.
There was a knock at the door. Watson, the family butler, entered the room. The graying butler nodded his head to everyone. He raised an eyebrow at the human in the room when his gazereachedNicu.
Watson was one of the most trusted members of the house staff. The King hired him on ninety years ago when he was human. One night, eighty years ago, the Olaru mansion was under attack and Watson was fatally wounded. The king himself turned Watson into a vampire that night.‘Friends and trustworthy staff are hard to come by’, the king had said. Watson had sworn to forever serve their family for savinghislife.
“You called for me, my Prince?” Watsonasked.
