Chapter 8: Bloodrose Court

Duncan maneuvered the SUV down the next half mile of the driveway, trees lining the way. Who needed a half-mile of driveway anyway? They were vampires! It's not like they couldn't hear us coming from the second we pulled onto it. Hell, they had probably heard our conversation loud and clear.

When we finally cleared the trees, I had to hold back a gasp. It was a giant estate and much prettier than I had ever imagined. The grounds were so much more expansive than I would have expected for a vampire. There was lush green grass as far as the eye could see, with multiple gardens interspersed throughout. I couldn't imagine the money they were spending on gardeners alone.

The house itself couldn't even be referred to as such. It was a giant mansion made of light brick, with swaths of ivy running up to a deep blue roof. There were more windows than I could even begin to count, each sporting a cheerful, warm light. It was a stark contrast to anything I had expected when I had pictured the vampire king's estate. I had expected a large house, but I hadn't expected to find it beautiful. Add in the dying sun setting behind the house and the picture was breathtaking.

Duncan drove us up the circular drive and came to a stop in front of the mansion, which was somehow even more divine up close than it had been from further back.

"Well, this definitely wasn't what I expected," I said, relieved to see him look just as astonished as I felt.

"You can say that again. Ready?"

I nodded, and we stepped out of the SUV, only to realize we were surrounded. Six tall vampires encircled us, Duncan on one side and me on the other. Before I even had time to think about it, a stake appeared in my hand. Many humans would exclaim at seeing the vampires in the sun.

It was a common myth perpetuated by Hollywood media. The vampires I knew had no qualms about hanging out in the sunlight and holy water only made them that much cleaner. Come at them with a plain wooden stake and they'd laugh their heads off as they bit your neck. The only way to take out a vampire was a wooden stake tipped with silver. It had to be the combination of the two, for whatever reason.

"Easy, fellas," I said, eyeing each of them in turn. "We're just here to speak with the king."

"Your kind isn't welcome here," a voice said to my left.

My gaze jumped to his hostile one. He was shorter compared to his comrades by at least a foot, but that didn't make him seem any less menacing. His green eyes glittered with anger, and his sneer told me he knew exactly how he'd prefer this exchange to end.

"Humans?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "Somehow I doubt that. How else would you lot eat?"

"No, not humans," he seethed. "Half-breeds."

He said the name like a curse word as if he could think of nothing more disgusting. I snorted.

"Seriously? I'm half-human. What the hell do you think I'm going to do to your precious king?"

The guards shifted around us and I felt, rather than saw, Duncan change his stance, preparing for a fight.

"What do I think you're going to do?" The head vampire asked scathingly. "I think you will attempt to do what you've done to dozens of our kind, half-breed. I say attempt because if I'm still in charge here, you will never see the king."

I scowled at him, getting more annoyed by the second. "Look, we're just here to ask him some questions. I don't want any trouble."

His face darkened at my words. "You don't want any trouble? You have been a bane on the vampire name since you were born. Then you have taken it a step further by hunting my kind. You have been nothing but trouble from the second your father decided to debase himself enough to copulate with your mother."

Before the last word left his mouth, my stake flew from my hand to land in four inches into his chest. He glanced down at it, eyes widened in surprise.

"You missed," he said, referring to the fact that the stake had landed in his right shoulder.

"I didn't miss," I said, sliding another stake into my hand. "I gave you a warning. Don't. Talk. About. My. Mother." I let the menace slip into my words, saying them slow enough for the meaning to slip through. And that was enough to break their control.

The next moment was chaos. The vampires flitted to my side with their supernatural quickness, teeth dangerously extended. I threw my stake into my other hand as I darted away from them to give myself more room to move. I whirled around as a black-haired vampire thought to sneak up on me and sliced his chest with my stake, then followed up with a hard kick to the stomach.

One vamp down, three more to go. Two of them charged at me and I jumped, grabbing their heads, and slamming them together as hard as I could. I heard bone crack as their skulls splintered and down they went. It wouldn't keep them down for long, but it sure would hurt as it healed.

I turned and faced the final vampire, the one who had claimed to be in charge. He was leaning against the SUV with his arms crossed, watching my progress with his lip curled in disgust.

"Pathetic," he spat and lunged.

He grabbed me around the throat and threw me to the ground, knocking the air out of my lungs. Trying to keep my wits, I slashed out with my stake, managing to rake him across the face. He snarled at me, his teeth so close to my face, I could see the sharp points glinting in the dying light.

He snatched the stake from my hand and stabbed it into my upper arm. Agony shot through me as I held back a scream. I could feel the stake barely bypass my bone to sink through my muscle and into the ground.

"How does that feel, little half-breed? Feels good, right? I am going to spend all of my time shoving this godforsaken stake through every inch of your skin until you're begging me to kill you."

I felt a wave of fury wash over me. Like hell I was going to let some sadistic vampire threaten me. I grabbed the stake out of my arm, trying not to pass out from the agony, and shoved it into his neck, feeling a sick pleasure at the sight of it poking out the other side. When I pulled it back out, he fell on top of me, making grunting noises as his throat began to heal. What a baby, I thought as I rolled my eyes.

Suddenly, his body was thrown off and a tall vampire stood over me, scowling. He wasn't one of the vampires that had encircled us early. I brought the stake up defensively, just in case he started to get any funny ideas.

"Are you okay, miss?" he asked, his voice smooth as silk. He studied me closely, looking for signs of injury. With all the vampire blood coating my clothes, I could see where he might be concerned. However, given that a bunch of his friends had just done their level best to kill me, I wasn't feeling all that trusting at the moment.

"Who are you?" I asked as Duncan ran around the SUV to see me lying on the ground covered in blood. He didn't look like he had fared too much better than me. He had blood running down his face from a wound on his head.

"Emily!" He rushed to my side and bent over me. "Are you okay? Don't move; we need to call an ambulance."

"I'm fine," I said, brushing him off as I sat up. My left arm screamed at the movement, and I gasped. "Except for my arm. Damn, that hurts!"

The vampire took a step toward me, and Duncan rushed forward, seemingly ready to protect me with his life. I felt a rush of gratitude toward him for a moment. This man had taken on two vampires all on his own and apparently won. Though not before getting knocked around a bit in the process.

"Duncan, it's fine. He's not going to hurt us. At least, I don't think he will." I gave him a questioning glance.

"My name is Clarke Moreno. I am the chief of staff for King Damien. And no, I don't mean you any harm."

I gathered my strength and stood, using Duncan's shoulder as a leverage. "You'll forgive me, Clarke, if I tell you that I don't entirely trust you."

"I won't blame you in the slightest, Miss Emily," he said, throwing a dirty look at the pile of vampires behind me. "King Damien will be most displeased with how you have been treated today. It was not his intention."

"Is he here?" I asked, wondering where this amazing king was while his men had been trying to send me on my way to the Almighty. I was a little testy about it if truth be told. I'm weird that way.

"Unfortunately, no. He is out on business. He should return tonight."

I scoffed. "Well, no offense, Clarke. But I'm not waiting around for his highness. I have an arm to attend to. You understand, I'm sure."

He bowed his head. "Of course, miss. I will be sure to inform him of the…" he hesitated for a moment, searching for the right word to use. "Unfortunate incident."

"Right," I said and walked over to the vampire who had stabbed me in the arm. "Hey, Clarke, what's this vamp's name?"

Clarke's lip curled slightly. "That is Richard, miss." His tone was heavily disapproving. Apparently, Richard was in for a long night. Good.

"Richard, huh?" I grinned and then kicked him hard in the ribs, grinning with satisfaction when I heard a crack. "See ya around, Dick."

He groaned and glared up at me, his throat still healing. When a vampire was short on blood, like he was, it took a long time to heal. He'd either be down and out for hours or someone would have to fetch him a human to feed on.

Clarke chuckled darkly behind us. "Dare I say it, but welcome to Bloodrose Court, Miss Emily." I glanced at him over my shoulder and saw something in his eyes that I couldn't quite place. A sense of foreboding forced me to turn back to Duncan.

"Let's go, Ems," Duncan said from beside me, guiding me to the SUV. "We've got better things to be doing."

But as we drove away, I couldn't stop myself from glancing back at the beautiful house. As we drove by, my mind again went to a vampire with dancing blue eyes.