Throne of Oak (Maggie's Grove) (20 page)

She needed to end this fight quickly.

If Kate hadn’t lost her balance
,
she’d already have won
,
her blade stuck in Mina’s side.

The clang of metal against metal filled the Throne as the women fought across
,
each one taking turns driving the other back.
Mina’s blood continued to flow—both from the wound in her side and the one on her hand—glittering drops that had no meaning in the real world
,
but were wounds to her mind.

Kate drove forward again
,
aggressively going for Mina’s wounded side.
Mina saw her opening
,
a
slight lowering of Kate’s parrying dagger.

“
Do it.
”

Greer’s voice echoed in her head
,
giving her the courage she needed to end this battle.

The dagger bit into her side
,
the cold pain making her gasp.
As she stared into Kate’s eyes
,
the surprise there made her smile
,
despite the pain.
“
Goodbye
,
bitch.
”

Mina
,
who’d given Kate the opening just so she could do this
,
drew her blade across Kate’s neck
,
slicing her open.
She drew down her blade and pulled free of Kate’s dagger
,
lurching back with a cry as the pain nearly sent her to her knees.

But that was the difference between Mina and Kate.

Kate’s hands went to her throat
,
her eyes wide as she desperately tried to stop the bleeding.
Mina’s was already slowing down as Greer’s steady song kept her from dropping.
Without him
,
both women would be lost.

Instead
,
her enemy fell to her knees
,
unable to stay on her feet
,
too frightened to use her magic.
Hers was not the power of healing
,
and she toppled over
,
gagging in her own blood.
The shimmer that had surrounded her started dissipating.

Kate looked up at Mina
,
her gaze terrified as her eyes glazed over—life leaving them before she could heal herself.

Mina stood over Kate and watched her die
,
her heart heavy.
As the forest queen she was both a giver of life and death.
It was the natural cycle of things
,
that one life end so another could begin.

But she hadn’t wanted this
,
never wanted this.
She’d never liked Kate
,
but she hadn’t wished her harm
,
either.
Kate had to have known that once Dragos and Mina met they were destined to be together.
Kate had left her no choice
,
and now Mina had to wonder if her death here would mean a soul death
,
a
body death
,
or merely the death of Kate’s mind.

“
I
don’t know
,
my
sotiei,
but I am glad you won.
”

“
Selena?
”

“
They are beyond the perimeter.
The Van Helsings are gone.
”

Mina cursed under her breath as the world around her faded
...

* * *

She opened her eyes to find herself standing in the Throne, Greer off to one side and humming under his breath. “Greer?”

He held up his finger, and the lingering soreness drifted away. Whether or not the battle had been real, it had physical repercussions she hadn’t expected. The last of the pain in her side faded away just as Greer toppled over.

“Greer!” Mina raced to his side and turned him over, sighing in relief. He was pale, but his breathing was steady.

“
Apparently your wound was worse than we thought.
”

The sheer rage in Dragos’s mental voice shook her. “
I’m fine
,
love.
”

“
Thanks to Greer.
” He paused. “
Love?
”

“
Go check Kate’s house.
She might have information on how the Van Helsings have set up their defenses
,
things young Blake may not have been privy to.
”

“
At the very least she might know where they took Selena.
Thank you
, dragâ,
I
was not thinking clearly.
”

“
Take Ash—he’ll want to be there anyway.
We
will
get both Iva and Selena back.
”

She darted a glance over at the yew. Over half the leaves had yellowed. They were losing Iva, and there was nothing she could do but pray that Dragos, Noah and Ash got to her in time. “
Hurry.
”

* * *

The boy woke up just as they arrived at Dragos’s house. The kid jumped as soon as he saw Dragos’s face, but Dragos’s did not break stride, carrying the boy into the house and right to the stairway. His Renfield would still be awake, waiting for him to come home. “Eddy!”

A thousand rampaging elephants stampeded down his staircase, all embodied in the slim form of his Renfield. How someone so small could make so much noise was a mystery, one Dragos had been pondering since the boy first learned to run.

Eddy hunched over in his now-familiar Igor impersonation. “You rang, master?”

A soft snarl was Dragos’s only warning as Trajan descended the stairs in a far quieter manner. “You know I hate it when you call him that.”

Eddy winked at Dragos. The little shit was doing it on purpose.

From the expression on his face, Trajan was obviously aware of it too. His fond gaze rested on Eddy as he reached the landing, his arm automatically going around Eddy’s waist. “What do you have there, brother? Takeout?”

Dragos rolled his eyes and carried the young Van Helsing into his office. He’d pulled the boy’s wallet on the way over, so at least he now knew his last name. “This is Cody Cheong, one of the Van Helsings who have been harassing the town. His friend should be here shortly. Parker’s bringing him.”

“Why bring them here?” Eddy took a step as if to follow Dragos, but the arm around his waist prevented him from moving very far.

“Melissa Weimer is dead.” He set Cody in the same chair Blake had so recently occupied. The boy was slowly coming around, blinking and crying out when he saw Dragos looming over him.

“The coven leader? Holy shit.” Eddy began to tug on Trajan, dragging the reluctant dragon behind him. “What happened?”

“You knew Selena wasn’t the coven leader?”

“You didn’t?” Eddy finally managed to get Trajan into Dragos’s office. He settled his mate on Dragos’s leather sofa—then settled himself on his mate’s lap.

“Obviously not.”

Dragos winced as his front door slammed open. “Honey, I’m home.” Parker sauntered into the office with a boy slung over his shoulder. “Did someone order takeout?”

Cody was shaking so badly his teeth were chattering. “You said you weren’t going to kill us.”

Dragos put his hand on the boy’s shoulder, but he didn’t think his gesture eased Cody’s fears at all. “I think you’d be surprised how many bad vampire jokes we make around here.”

“Oh, I got one.” Eddy was bouncing on Trajan’s lap. Dragos did not want to know if his brother’s pained expression was due to actual pain or... Yeah. He did
not
want to know. “What do you call a vampire duck?”

“Oh, God. Eddy, no.” His Renfield could do this all night. In fact, when more than three Renfields got together it was something of a friendly competition to see who could come up with the worst vampire joke.

As usual, his Renfield ignored him. “Count Quackula.”

Parker snickered. “Good one. Haven’t heard that before. How about, why was Dracula so unlucky in love?”

“Because he always loved in vein.” Eddie’s eyes were gleaming with mischief. He was enjoying himself far too much to stop on Dragos’s say-so. “What does Dracula eat at a baseball game?”

“Pfft. That’s easy. Fangenfurters.”

Dragos exchanged a pained glance with Trajan. “Kill me now.”

Parker and Eddy looked at each other and cracked up.

“You people are so weird.” Cody was staring at them all, wide-eyed, but at least he’d stopped shaking.

“Parker, your guest?” Dragos gestured toward the chair next to Cody.

“Peter Meuller. Little shit put up quite the fight. Sad to say, I had to knock him out.” Despite his harsh words, Parker gently put the unconscious boy in the chair next to Cody. He shook his head, all his normal good humor leached out of his expression. “Who sends children to do a man’s job?”

“Harold Carpenter, apparently.”

“He told Petey-boy here that Nelson Rhodes’s son was being held captive. Peter thought this was a rescue mission, which is why he fought me so hard even knowing what I am.” For just a moment admiration flittered across Parker’s face. “You have to respect someone willing to fight to the death for a friend.”

“Carpenter must have told Cody the same thing.”

“Where is Selena?”

Dragos blinked, shocked. One moment Cody was sitting in his chair, slowly calming as Eddy and Parker joked with one another. The next, he was dangling from the fist of an icily angry dryad who glared at him as if he’d like nothing better than to slowly rip him to shreds.

“So much for proving we’re not monsters.” Parker sighed and tapped Ash on the shoulder. “If I promise that the boy doesn’t know anything, would you put him down? There’s a good chap.”

For a moment it looked as if Ash would refuse to comply with Parker’s request, but then he slowly lowered the boy back into his chair. “If she dies...”

Both Dragos and Parker’s eyes turned blood red, but it was Dragos who answered. “Then we hunt, but not the boys. Cody and Peter are as much victims in this as any of us.”

“
I’ve got Greer conscious again.
He has a nasty headache
,
but he’ll be all right.
”

The relief in Mina’s voice was welcome. “
Good
,
I’m glad to hear that.
Eddy is utterly calm around Cody and Peter.
I
think it’s safe to leave them here.
”

“
Then I’ll meet you at Kate’s.
”

“Mina will be meeting us at Kate’s house.”

That news seemed to startle Ash out of his angry funk. “Mina can leave the Throne?”

“She broke Kate’s hex all by herself.” He had been terrified for her during her battle with Kate, but no one could be prouder of her than he was. Breaking a curse was no easy feat for a witch, let alone a dryad, but Mina had done it through strength of will alone.

“That’s wonderful news!” Parker’s gaze became unfocused, the vampire passing the news on to his
sotiei
. “Amara says she’ll head over to Kate’s house as well. My
sotiei
doesn’t want Mina alone with her.”

That left only one thing to do—double-check with both Eddy and Blake that Cody and Peter would not betray them. If the Van Helsings got even a hint of what Dragos had planned they would be prepared, and his people slaughtered. “Eddy?”

“They’re both good. You can leave them here with me.”

“Are you sure?” With Peter being unconscious, he wasn’t certain how accurate Eddy’s reading was.

“Barring a Kate clone climbing into their heads and fucking things up, yes.” Eddy looked totally relaxed at the prospect of staying alone with the former Van Helsings.

Trajan leaned in close to his mate and whispered something in Eddy’s ear, something that had the Renfield blushing so brightly Dragos feared for his heart. Surely pumping that much blood to Eddy’s face couldn’t be good for him. Trajan then stood, making sure Eddy was seated comfortably before joining Dragos. “I’ll be going with you to protect your
sotiei
.”

That surprised Dragos. “I thought you’d remain behind, both to guard your mate and prepare Vasile for the upcoming challenge.”

Trajan snorted his amusement. “Vasile will destroy Laurentiu—have no doubts about that. And my mate tells me he is safe around these men, and I choose to believe him.”

“Eddy.”

“Yes, master?”

Trajan growled.

Dragos ignored his brother. He would have to get used to the way Dragos and Eddy worked together if he was going to live here with them. “Go fetch Blake, please.”

“Yes, maste—eee!” Eddy’s scream as he ran from the room was priceless. Trajan had turned on Eddy, chasing him from the room with a low, amused growl.

“Brat.” But the affectionate smile on Trajan’s face as they listened to Eddy thunder up the stairs belied his words.

“
Your
brat.” Dragos was thrilled for his brother. He’d never seen Trajan happier.

“Yes, he is.” The smug satisfaction in Trajan’s voice matched his expression.

Parker was grinning like a loon. “You two have the strangest relationship.”

“Says the man who is married to an eight-foot-tall weretree.” Dragos wouldn’t let anyone, not even Parker, make fun of Eddy and Trajan’s relationship. Even if he secretly wanted to say it himself.

Dragos almost laughed at the confused expression on Trajan’s face. “Do I want to know?”

“We don’t have time to play around. We need to get to Kate’s and find out where they’re holding Selena.” Ash practically vibrated where he stood.

“I’m not leaving my mate here until I’m certain it’s safe.”

Ash barely nodded his acceptance of that. Luckily Eddy arrived just then with Blake, who took one look at Cody and Peter and rushed to their sides. “Oh my God! Guys, are you all right? They didn’t hurt you, did they?”

“I told you they were all right.” Eddy pointed toward Peter. “See, he’s even coming around.”