Ten, page 49
Paige snarled and yanked on her underwear and Lorcan’s old shirt. Just as she was fumbling on the first button, the door burst open to her room. She growled as she smelled nothing but blood and old-undead funk.
“I told you that an hour was more than enough time for her to wear him out,” Lady Claudia Jaeger said as she pointed to the
helpless Lorcan. The tiny vampire cracked her knuckles and licked her lips as she saw Paige on her feet. “This might be a bit of fun.”
Paige bared her teeth and snapped out her claws. The vampire’s smile grew wider.
“Claudia, please,” Merlin said as he slipped into the room and closed the door gently. “We are here to help the happy couple, not ruin their night.”
“Speak for yourself, schatzi,” Claudia cooed. “I’ve wanted to show this bitch who is boss for a while. She has those same nasty Jew eyes as her filthy ancestors.”
Paige snarled but still didn’t take the bait. Her hands warped and tightened into full werewolf form, but she remained in a protective position between the vampires and Lorcan.
“Come on you filthy, little—” Claudia quickly devolved into a rapid-fire tirade of German racist slurs, but Paige remained doggedly focused on the other vampire.
“Lorcan, order your wife out of the way, or I will let my friends move her,” Merlin warned.
Lorcan barely managed to push himself up to a sitting position.
He stared with bloodshot eyes and smiled weakly. “Paige, do you feel like moving?” he asked.
She shook her head. Lorcan shook his head as well. He then looked at Merlin and summoned up just enough energy to sigh, “Do your worst, you arrogant son of a bitch.”
Merlin returned the gesture and sighed deeply as he took a slight step to the side. Paige only saw the air shimmer for the briefest of moments before she went flying against the wall. She scrambled to her feet and flailed wildly but only managed to snag a sleeve. She yowled as Claudia jumped on her back, while the invisible vampire twisted her arm and pounded her chest. Lorcan took one valiant leap to try and stop them, but it was Merlin himself who swooped in and slammed Lorcan into the wall as well.
Paige thrashed and slashed. She roared triumphantly as she managed to get one solid swipe across Claudia’s smug face.
Unfortunately, Bam-Yin managed to grab her arm right after the slash and wrench it behind her with an agonizing pop.
“I’m told you’ll heal, bitch,” Claudia whispered as Paige felt the blade slide into her back. Her legs faltered and went numb as she collapsed to the ground.
“Paige!” Lorcan cried as he was thrown to the ground next to her.
Bam-Yin dropped to his knees to pin the former Lord Pendragon down, while Claudia did the same to the stunned werewolf.
Meanwhile, Merlin pulled a little, black pouch out of his breast pocket and paced as if lost in thought. He looked down at the two of them with total pity in his eyes.
“You know, there was a time when you were the most feared vampire in all the world, Lorcan,” Merlin sighed. “The very mention of your name caused others to tremble. You were ruthless. You were vicious, and above all, you were my prized abomination. What happened to the berserker who laid waste to armies?”
“I’m not that man anymore,” Lorcan said softly.
“Too many years with my pacifist of a daughter, I suppose,”
Merlin mused. “Maybe you’ve just gone soft in your old age too.”
“Do what you want to me, but leave Paige out of this,” Lorcan said.
“I was hoping that Paige would do the work for me, but as it seems, I need to help Mother Nature a little,” Merlin said as he pulled a spinal tap syringe out of the pouch.
“I can’t feel my legs,” Paige snarled as she still tried to push herself up. “You bitch—”
Merlin crouched down next to Paige and brushed the hair from her face. She tried her best to bite him. He smiled.
“You see, it’s not enough to bring my son back,” Merlin said. “The only way to mold him, to truly shape him, is to give him the same tools he had before. I found him knights that will serve us faithfully, a strong-willed human woman to challenge him and ultimately love him, but, most importantly, he needs his greatest adversary. Child, Arthur needs his Mordred.”
“This is madness,” Lorcan said. “Mordred is long gone—”
“Mordred was the first undying, the first betrayer, and, above all else, the first berserker ever to become one of us. You are nothing but a pale imitation, no matter how hard I tried,” Merlin sighed.
“So, you’re going to kill him?” Paige asked as she stared at the needle.
Merlin staggered slightly at her accusation. “Kill him, my child?”
he asked. “I don’t want him dead. I want him stronger.”
And with that, he plunged the needle into Paige’s spine, just above Claudia’s wound. She yowled as she felt every inch of the needle and the terrible sucking pain of her cerebrospinal fluid being sucked out.
“Of course,” Merlin sighed as he yanked out the syringe, “if this does kill him, I’ll just have to try and turn one of the others. Maybe Kyle would make a fine abomination or Morgan.”
Paige roared as the fur burst from her arm. The knife wiggled and worked its way further into her back sending terrible pain throughout her body.
“Save your strength for when you really need it,” Merlin said. He then plunged the needle into Lorcan’s chest. Lorcan screamed as the fluid was forced into his center mass.
Merlin rolled away and motioned to his two cronies. “Trust me, we don’t want to be here, no matter what happens,” the elder vampire warned. Leaving the stunned pair writhing on the ground, all three of them ran from the room.
Lorcan gasped and wheezed as he clawed at his heaving chest.
He turned to see Paige crawling towards him with a knife in her back. Somehow, he found the strength to reach over and pull out the weapon.
“You have to get—” he choked out before his eyes rolled back into his head. Paige yowled again and shook him, but he wouldn’t wake up.
“Come on, you bastard, we have to get out of here,” she snarled as she felt the flesh on her back start to knit together. Her face fell as she saw Lorcan turn deathly ashen. “Damn it, you are not dying on me!” Paige cried. “Lorcan!”
Paige looked towards the ceiling. “Not one for miracles, but come on and give a girl a break,” she prayed.
She shivered as she saw the pool of blood growing around her midsection. Her hands began to slide back into purely human form.
“Damn it,” she whimpered as the lights in the room seemed to grow dim and haze drifted over her vision. Her eyes slowly closed.
“Is this it?” Mordred whispered in her ears. “Are you simply going to lie down and take this?”
“I’m pretty sure I’ve been stabbed in the back, am paralyzed, and left for dead,” Paige muttered as she felt the cold floor seeping into her cooling body. “And I’m going to die while being taunted by my dead husband’s ghost.”
“Oh, really?” Mordred asked.
Paige fluttered her eyes open and pushed her hands against the floor with an infuriated roar. Her tail twitched instinctively. She stared in awe of her left leg, which was slowly, weakly, but definitely pushing against the floor as well. She reached back and touched her spine.
“Ow!” she yelped as her tiniest tap sent shooting pain throughout her body.
“Paige!”
“Oh, God, I’m hearing things,” she muttered.
“That wasn’t me,” Mordred said from the mirror.
“Paige!”
“Kyle?” she asked as she crawled for the door. “Kyle, is that really you?”
The door burst open, and she saw a wonderfully familiar face.
She felt strong arms lift her up and carry her to the bed, and, for once, a welcome stab as he immediately went to work patching up her back.
“What the hell happened?” she heard.
“Merlin,” Paige managed to choke out. “Lorcan. . . Merlin infected Lorcan with me.”
She pointed to the syringe on the floor next to the perfectly still vampire. Red welts had already erupted on his chest and shoulder.
“Well, this is bad,” Kyle muttered as Paige passed out.
36
“HOW BAD?” Georgia asked as she helped the limping Morgan into the room. The werewolf continued to gulp down whey protein even as he stumbled into a scene straight out of a horror movie. Georgia gulped as she saw the vast smear of red across the floor. “Oh, god, this is bad.”
“Paige!” Morgan cried as he finally registered the scene. He took a staggering step towards the bleeding woman, but Kyle waved him back.
“Not now, lover boy,” Kyle growled as he ripped apart sheets and did his best to bind the poor girl back together.
Georgia ran over to check on Lorcan. She picked up his wrist and listened to his chest. It took nearly a minute before she heard a tiny whoosh. His skin burned, but he remained completely unresponsive as she shook his shoulder.
“What do I do for a comatose vampire with a fever?” Georgia asked.
Morgan threw his bottle to the floor. Whatever magic was contained in the milkshake had transformed the skeletal weakling into a thin but functioning human being. He cracked his knuckles and dropped down next to Lorcan.
“Can I move him?” Morgan asked. “I can smell more bloodsuckers nearby.”
Georgia steadied herself as a wave of dizziness passed over her.
She looked up and saw a slight shimmer in the corner of the room.
Her blood ran cold.
“Damn it to hell, I need a real hospital,” Kyle snapped as he kept fighting with Paige’s wounds. His eyes widened with surprise as his patient moaned and regained consciousness again.
Georgia kept her eyes locked in the corner. “Please,” she mouthed to the phantom that no one else had noticed.
“We have to get out of here,” Paige whispered as she fought to get back on her feet.
“You can barely move—” Kyle muttered.
Morgan scooped his arms under Lorcan and threw the vampire lord over his shoulder. Kyle sighed and scooped up Paige. “Believe it or not, she’s heavier,” he muttered as he headed for the door.
The shadow in the corner remained frozen. Georgia gave it a little nod before she ran to open the door. Her heart sank as she saw guards heading right towards them. She took a brave step in front of the werewolves, but the guards simply kept walking and paid them no mind.
“Um—” Both Kyle and Morgan stammered.
Georgia ran to the end of the hall where the next set of guards snored peacefully. She could see another set of feet poking out of an alcove ahead.
“I don’t think it’s supposed to be this easy,” Georgia muttered as they stumbled their way towards the north stairs. In fact, they made it all the way to the elevator before a slender form in a hooded coat and her coterie of armed guards surrounded them.
“Please, we don’t want any trouble,” Georgia stammered.
“Trouble? You freed prisoners from my dungeon and are in the process of kidnapping a member of my house,” Mina Pendragon said as she pulled back her hood. “You are aiding and abetting my ancient enemy’s escape.”
“Please,” Georgia said. “This is going to be really hard to explain
—”
“Every servant in this castle now has a special connection to me,”
Mina said. “They say and do, exactly what I wish, don’t they, Morgan?”
Morgan’s eyes glazed over slightly. “As you wish, madam,” he said.
“As long as I’m in your way, you can never escape,” Mina said sadly. She looked over at the limp form of her ex-husband. Her face became frighteningly cold. “I’m sorry that it has to be like this, but my father and my brother need my help, and you’re in the way.”
“Lady Pendragon, just let me ex. . .” Georgia trailed off as there was a distinctive ding, and the elevator slid open. Everyone gasped as an improvised-wooden stake appeared right next to Lady Pendragon’s throat.
“Is that one of my croquet mallets?” Mina asked.
“Yes, actually,” her assailant said as she peered around the vampire. “Great-Grandma Mina, would you mind telling these good people to let my brother and his friends pass?”
“Kayleigh!” Mina said. “I thought we were on good terms!”
Another woman hopped out of the elevator with a stake in hand.
Georgia stared in awe at an over six-foot-tall amazon with a crown of purple hair.
“Nadia! Sis!” Kyle cried as he slipped by with Paige in tow. “Took you long enough.”
“Well, we didn’t have the best help,” Nadia sighed as she dragged the stunned Georgia and Morgan into the elevator. “But we made do.”
“What’s wrong with Grandpa?” Kayleigh asked as she shoved the stunned Mina into her pile of equally stunned helpers. “Sorry, about this Lady Pendragon!”
“Georgia!” Mina exclaimed.
“I’ll be back, and I’ll explain, I promise!” Georgia called out as the elevator doors shuddered shut.
“You’re going back?” Kayleigh asked.
“Grandpa?” Georgia asked in return.
“Really long story, Georgia. I’ll be happy to catch you up when my friends aren’t dying,” Kyle snapped as Paige continued to bleed through her bandages. “Sis, how the hell did you find us?”
“Like I said, we had help,” Kayleigh said as the door opened to reveal both Steve and Minerva guarding their escape.
“Steve?” Georgia cried.
The vampire tipped his fedora and motioned towards the hall.
“Explanations later, running now, Sweetheart,” he said.
Sending servants running and screaming, they ran through the house and out to the barn. Nadia, Kayleigh, Morgan, and Kyle all winced. “Alarm’s been set off,” Kyle groaned. “This is going to be fun.
Georgia ran as fast as she could to help wrench open the barn doors. A rather dilapidated, old van with a sweet shop logo on the side awaited them. Steve smiled apologetically.
“It was all I could steal, sorry,” he said.
“You stole a candy wagon?” Georgia asked incredulously. Her eyes widened even further as she saw strange double cutouts on the side panel. “Oh lord, those are for binoculars, aren’t they?”
“Don’t look in any of the boxes in there, and don’t get stopped for any reason,” Steve warned as he jumped into the back. The entire crew, except Georgia, piled in and, Nadia took the wheel. As the van puttered to life, Georgia could just see a group running from the main house.
“We need to get out of here,” Morgan snarled as he slammed the back doors. The vehicle lurched and tried to stall.
Georgia shook her head and started stumbling away from the van. “I’ll go back and stall them—”
“Sweetheart, this might be your only chance to get some answers,” Steve said quickly. He reached out his hand. “Come on!”
Georgia reluctantly joined the crowd in the back. The van continued to squeal and shake as the driver tried to feed it enough gas to get it to start.
“I thought at least you seemed competent,” Minerva sighed from the passenger’s seat.
Nadia growled. The engine finally roared to life and peeled out of the barn. Georgia grabbed onto Steve as the van flew over a bump.
The vampire smiled as she landed against him.
“You know, I would have turned traitor much sooner if I thought it would end up like this, Sweetheart,” he said as he tipped up her chin.
She groaned and pushed away.
“This is going to be the longest van ride ever,” she muttered as they careened through the back roads of Nottingham.
“No rest for the weary, my love,” Paige heard as she came to in the back of a jostling minivan. She saw a flicker of green out of the corner of her eye.
“Damn you, Mordred,” she muttered under her breath.
“Where the hell are we going?” Paige heard as she rubbed her eyes. She rubbed them again as she sniffed the air. Finally, she blinked and stared at the filthy, naked chest of the man across the van from her.
“Morgan?” she asked weakly. “Am I awake?”
The van lurched again, and she felt a stabbing pain in her back.
She yelped but continued to shimmy so that she could see the entire gang in the back. Her great-grandfather tipped his hat to her.
“OK, why aren’t we in the castle?” she asked. “Where’s Lorcan?”
Morgan’s face fell instantly, but he pointed to a bundle in the middle of the van floor. Paige rolled over to peek at the lifeless face of her husband. “Is he?” she asked.
“He’s still hanging in there, but I don’t know how long he will last,”
Kyle said softly. “His fangs have already fallen out again, and you’re lucky that you were unconscious earlier when he had the seizure.”
Everyone in the van turned slightly pale. Kyle continued, “Paige, there is a very real chance—”
“What can we do to save him?” she asked.
“Right now, we’re just trying to save all our skins,” Nadia said from the front. “We are not going to become slaves to the Lung ever again.”
“I’m not sure what’s going on,” Georgia chimed in. “I actually don’t really know you guys, but, um—”
“You’re my sister,” Morgan blurted out. “And vampires killed our parents.”
The van fell into an awkward silence. Finally, Steve peeked through the creepy portholes and broke the silence with, “Yeah, those are the docks.”
“Docks?” Paige asked.
“Well, they bought my hotel and my plane, so you’re going to have to make do with my last relic of being a rich asshole, guys,”
Steve sighed. “I don’t know where we are going, but we are definitely going on a boat.”
Paige wiggled her toes and tapped her knees for good measure.
Kyle just watched and shook his head.
“Your nerves can actually regenerate,” he said in awe. “You should be paralyzed or worse.”
“What are we going to do? How are we ever going to—?” she said as their getaway van ground to a halt.
