RW1 Ravyn's blood (6 page)

The Prince was holding his own in the center of the room. A ruby-red sword hung from his grip, and he dispatched another enemy to hell.

“About time, boys!” he gasped. Though he was a fine warrior, he was not trained to have the stamina needed for a battle. He was a Prince, for God’s sake! Sweat poured off his body in rivulets. Obviously they’d caught him just as he’d awoken from the day’s rest. The Ravyns closed in on all sides of the assassins, systematically picking them off. When the last one fell, they all embraced their Prince.

“We’re sorry we weren’t here sooner, your highness,” Tony gushed. “We expected Dageus to give the call if anything came up but…well, it didn’t happen. Obviously he was dealing with too much to sound the alarm,” Tony offered up as they all made their way back to Allasandro’s side.

Dageus was the first to reach him, cradling his head in his lap as he stared into the unconscious features of his brother. His eyes flooded with tears.

“Wake up, Ally-cat. Please wake up. I’m so sorry!” Tears spilled down his cheeks, and he kissed his brother’s forehead. His lips came away smeared with blood from the cut on Ally’s temple.

“Tony, do something!” he begged, fingering the edges of the cut with horror. “Please!”

“Would you stop being such a drama queen? Jeez.” A hoarse voice startled him out of his panic. Allasandro gasped, coming awake, his gold eyes halfway closed in pain. He groaned at the pain in his head. He rubbed his temple with his hand and pulled it away bloody.

“You son of a bitch! You scared me half to death!” Dageus growled, repressing the urge to shake him.

“You’re going to need the healing springs for that,” Druas said, offering him a hand up.

“Man, what happened? Did we get them?”

They all nodded, and Allasandro smiled.

“Good. Bastards.”

Tony continued to talk to the Prince as they spoke. “So, we’re all very sorry we were late,” he offered lamely.

“Did they incapacitate Dageus?” he asked Salvatore. “Is that why your call was late in coming?” Dageus shifted uneasily from foot to foot.

Salvatore frowned and spoke. “I’d thought the guard lineup had been switched. Dageus never showed up for duty.”

Tony’s eyes bulged. “What?!” He turned his fiery gaze toward Dageus. “Where the hell were you instead of guarding your Prince?”

Dageus swallowed visibly. “I was, ah, I was…”

“He was with me,” a feminine voice crowed from the doorway. Shock set in as Angelina stepped forward, an aura of magick surrounding her.

“Is that true, Dageus? Were you really screwing some girl instead of doing your duty?” Tony looked like he was about to have a coronary.

Dageus stammered and hung his head in shame. “Yes,” he whispered.

Angelina gave a smile of victory before leaning against the wall with a gloating smile. “Told you he was a whore. You’re a fool to trust in the reliability of whores.”

Salvatore’s eyes narrowed to pinpoints.

“Get her out of here,” he growled to the nearest of his morning guard. “Get her out of my sight before I kill her myself.”

She smiled at Dageus with cold eyes.

“If it makes you feel any better, Kal, you were the best lay I’ve ever had,” she called over her shoulder as she was led roughly from the room. Dageus felt like he was going to throw up.

“I’m so sorry, Tony.” he whispered, sick to death of his behavior. “I just wanted her to take it back. When she came and offered, I don’t know what came over me. I’ve failed you all. I’m sorry. If you want to banish me from the order, I leave judgment up to you.”

“Stop being so melodramatic!” Allasandro said, rolling his eyes even as he winced at the actions. “So you fucked up. Who doesn’t? You’ll never do it again, I wager.”

Tony cut him off. “We forgive you, brother, but I don’t know if our Prince does.”

They all looked at Salvatore expectantly.

“I must say I am disappointed in you, Dageus,” Salvatore said. Dageus hung his head in misery. “However, I fell for her charms once upon a time myself, so you are forgiven for that. Don’t disappoint me again.”

Dageus dropped to his knees in front of his Prince. “I offer you a vow of celibacy for my disloyalty.”

They all gasped at the offer. Dageus knew this to be right. After all, wasn’t it his insecurity over his fascination with men that had caused him to screw up during practice as well as screw that hell bitch?

“I realize now that was what was making me slow and what caused me to falter. It won’t happen again, my Prince.”

Salvatore’s eyes widened in response to Dageus’s proposal. “You don’t have to offer that, Dageus. We all get into debacles once in a while. It’s normal.” Dageus shook his head.

“Not for me, my lord. I will allow nothing else to distract me from duty. My life for yours. My chastity so that I may be more loyal to you.” He bowed his head. Salvatore petted his head in acknowledgement, a warm expression on his face.

“Then I can do naught but accept your offer. Thank you, my Ravyn.”

Dageus smiled and clasped the Prince’s hand. If he couldn’t control this freakish urge to be fucked by men, and he couldn’t be trusted to fuck women, he just wouldn’t fuck at all. He decided. His brothers would never have to know. He felt better already.

Chapter Eight

They sat around a round table, discussing what to do about Desmond. Dageus watched the brothers volley ideas between them in fascination.

“We can’t do anything from here. He knows all the hidden places of the Ravyns. He’s studied our lore, and he has scouted our dens. It only makes sense that we travel to a different realm for now and plan to attack from there,” Tony concluded, watching each Ravyn’s face for reaction. They all seemed to be in agreement.

“It’ll be safest for the Prince if we chose a location far from Demontia as well as off the beaten trade paths. Any suggestions?” Allasandro added, the thin line of the scar that graced his forehead making Dageus choke up all over again. Almost two months had passed, and it still wasn’t healed completely, and it was all Dageus’s fault.

“Earth,” Salvatore suggested out of the blue from his position at the head of the table. “That is one place that has had little exploration and has human forms like ours.”

They all nodded in agreement.

“Sounds good. The only thing Demontia gets from there is slaves,” Druas agreed.

“Never been there,” Dageus said, smiling.

“You’ll enjoy it, little brother. The city that Salvatore has in mind looks right up your alley,” Allasandro said reading his Prince’s mind.

“Haven, Minnesota is one of my favorite cities. Well, it can’t really be considered a city, but it is a lovely town,” the Prince said chuckling.

“Why, my lord?” Dageus asked out of curiosity.

“Haven is home to my favorite entertainments, La Petite Morte. They’re a wonderful theater group that deals mainly in the exotic tales of vampiric origin. The owner is the Master of Minnesota, as matter of fact. I have all their DVD performances if you want to see,” Salvatore said eagerly. Dageus grimaced. He wasn’t one for ballets or plays or anything else that involved people twirling about fruitlessly.

“No thank you, my lord Salvatore. I’ll pass.”

Salvatore laughed at his horrified tone. “None of you have any taste.”

“So we’re in agreement? Earth?” Tony asked. One by one, they nodded their approval.

Chapter Nine

Dillian sniffed the air as the thunder rolled in with the clouds. Rain was coming. He looked at the setting sun and sighed, wishing he was with his pack mates inside the protective circle of the LuNar. Instead, he was on guard duty because his King had gotten ill over Dillian’s dalliances with his only daughter, Kyra. He sighed. This is what he got for screwing royalty. Guard duty was the most boring job to be given on the night of the full moon. The Jaguars would be out hunting, and he would be stuck guarding the entrance to the LuNar. Nothing ever happened on the full moon.

A sudden burst of light lit up the sky like a Fourth of July firework.

“Oh, sweet Jesus!” Dillian gasped.

“Holy shit!” another guard stammered. A large hole of light seemed to project itself in the area just above the tree line.

“What the hell is it?” Marco asked.

“Aliens?” another guy, whom Dillian had never met, offered stupidly. Another brilliant slash of green light sent them all scattering. None waited around to see the six figures dropping out of the sky.

* * * *

Dageus lifted his nose to the air and sniffed. “We’re in the Jaguar territory outside of the city. Right on target. Twelve shifters in the woods plus the six scouts on the outside of the meadow.”

Salvatore cast an impressed glance at the Ravyn. His nose was absolutely phenomenal, even better than his last reincarnation.

“We can take them over then?” Tony asked. Dageus nodded his agreement.

Salvatore drew a deep breath. “That really isn’t necessary. We have no need to take over a colony of shifters. I’d prefer to impact the community as little as possible. Be discreet.”

They all bowed to their lord. “As you wish.”

They slipped from the forest in absolute silence. “I need Druas, Allasandro, and Dageus to go scout the area and attempt to find us some place to stay. Our Prince will need somewhere to rest when the sun rises.” The three nodded.

“Are you going to be all right with just you and Germany?” Dageus asked. They had never divided their forces so greatly. They worked best together.

“No one knows we’re here, and we really need the best trackers on the job, and you guys are it. We’ll be fine. Get on it.”

“Where do you suppose we should go first?” Druas asked as they took the five-mile jog into town.

“Follow Dageus’s nose,” Allasandro offered with a grin.

“That’s not a bad idea.”

Dageus looked at the two of them. “What am I, a scent hound?”

Druas and Allasandro grinned.

“Just find us some food,” Dru said, pushing him a few steps and causing him to stumble.

Dageus growled at him as he lifted his nose to the air and sniffed. Instantly, a million different smells assaulted his nose. Something smelled vaguely of food, and he took off in the general direction, cutting across a park and a four-lane highway. Cars honked their horns at his passing, but he paid no attention.

He suddenly found himself standing outside a building with blazing-yellow arches. One sniff at the contents of the establishment had him cringing. Yuck! That wasn’t food. That was preservatives and oil. He grimaced as he saw the humans inside eating their meals in delight. Dear Gods, what was wrong with these people? Demons had weird tastes in food but nothing like that!

“Good Lord! What is that smell?” Druas asked, his nose wrinkling as he approached. “I thought you were supposed to be finding food, not poisons!” he added the closer he got. Dageus shrugged.

“It is edible.”

Allasandro gagged. “Says who?” They all turned from the monstrosity and began to jog away from the horror.

“Anything else, Dageus?” He nodded and took off.

“What’s a ‘supermarket’?” Dru wondered as they walked through the automatic doors that slid open at their entrance.