Darlings of Paranormal Romance (Anthology) (21 page)

“
We gotta go. We need to be
in position for Jules’s whistle,” Frank said. “Ready to be my
prisoner?”

“
Yep. I feel like I was
ripped out of my world and just thrown somewhere I don’t belong. I
want to go home, and I have a funny feeling clicking my heels three
times isn’t going to work.”

“
Yeah, dirty boots can’t
take the place of ruby red slippers, I’m afraid, even if I do look
like the Tin Man in this thing,” he joked, thumping his metal
chest.

“
Well, you could use a
heart.” She smiled, stepped in front of him, and placed her hands
behind her back. “Anyway, you got here in the nick of time. That
psychopath thinks I’m some princess and plans on making me his
wife.”

He let go of her hands.
“What?”

She spun around. “If you hadn’t come,
I’d be a queen. He wants me to bear his dozen
offspring.”

Frank looked away, but she didn’t miss
the narrowed eyes and the frown forming between his brows as he
mumbled, “I don’t believe this.”

“
Don’t
worry. It’s not gonna happen. I got caught in the middle of a
hellish war between two kings. The one who threw me down here
mistook me for Princess Gloria, the daughter of the other king. He
wants to use me as a pawn for vengeance. The idiot could’ve checked
my
driver’s
license. It’s nothing more than a big fat case of mistaken
identity and being in the wrong place at the wrong
time.”

“
Well, come on. We can talk
on the way,” Frank whispered, motioning her to step in front of him
so she could play a proper prisoner. But halfway up the corridor,
he stopped. “Wait…I have an idea.”

“
I don’t know what’s
running through that mind of yours, but this might be the first and
last time I’ll ever be willing to ride off into the sunset with
you, so let’s just go.”

He turned to face her, lifting his
visor, and let out a long breath. “What you just said changes
everything. You’ve got to go back.”

She
stared at him for a brief moment, unable to speak.
Why did I have to open my big mouth?
The thought of being left in that place made her
gut tighten. “No! No way. You can’t just leave me here. Why? That
makes no sense.”

He
pressed his hands on her shoulders, his voice softening.
“You
have
to marry
the king.”

“
What the heck are you
talking about?” she asked. “Do you even hear yourself? How much ale
have you been chugging with the locals?” Anger bubbled up inside
her. She balled her hands, emotion choking her. “Wow, Frank.
Really, I know you’re the jealous type, but this?” She took a
steadying breath. “You’re even trying to speed things up by dumping
me here.”

Frank shook his head, his eyes
serious. “You’re staying.”

“
He’s a
lunatic. He threw me up against the wall and threatened my life.”
And then it dawned on her. “Wait…there’s something in it for you,
isn’t it? Are they making you editor-in-chief of the
Tastian Times
or
the
Guardian Gazette
or something?”

“
No! What do you take me
for? That’s ludicrous.”

She shoved his shoulder. “Then tell me
why!” She started to walk off, but Frank refused to budge. “What
kind of knight in shining armor are you? You tease me with rescue
only to send me back to my cold cell that’s in desperate need of
fumigation?”

“
You know there’s a method
to my madness. I’ve been talking with my sources. We need that
wedding ring to get back home. So you go play nice with Mr. King.
Act like that princess and bat those eyelashes a million miles a
minute if you have to.”

She
crossed her arms. “What about the romantic dinner date I promised
you for going into the cave? It’s not going to be so nice when I
bring along
my new husband,
His Royal Pain in the—
”

“
Yeah, that could be a
deal-breaker.” He paused for a moment. “Leaving you in the arms of
another suitor really sucks, but we don’t have any other choice. Is
he at least hot?”

She glared. “Very.”

His jaw set. “He’ll never lay his
filthy hands on you.”

She cocked an eyebrow. “Yet you want
me to marry him.”

“
I’ll get you out of here
before he can consummate the marriage.”

“
Let me get this straight,
and excuse me if I’m a tad confused.” She took a deep breath. “You
came here to rescue me, which you aren’t. Now you want me to marry
King Victor, and you promise to make some triumphant return before
Kingy McJerkwad has his way with me? Frank, I don’t get this at
all. We should be running for the hills, but instead you’re doing a
total 180 on me!”

“
We
aren’t going to get back to our dimension anytime soon.
Those
Guardians, those Bigfeet, can go in
and out as they please, but it’s not that easy for
us.”

Sarah tapped a finger against her
lips. “Explains why we can’t find a specimen now, doesn’t
it?”

“
Seriously? Do you really
want to debate Bigfoot at a time like this?” He shook his head.
“Anyway, a person can walk through the portal, but once they’re in,
that’s it. There’s no getting out, unless we have this special
key.”

“
Let me guess…the key’s
impossible to get? We’re stuck here, just like my sister probably
is? How do you even know all of this?”

“
I’ve been digging all
morning and have found some reliable sources. There’s a way to get
back through, but we have to open the lock with an ancient wedding
ring that only royalty wears.”

“
We’ll just find a way to
steal one, to borrow it temporarily so we can get the heck outta
here.”

Frank
shook his head, a shadow crossing his face. “It’s not that easy,
Sarah. The owner of the ring has to
wear
it when activating the
portal.”

“
You want me to exchange
I-do’s with this guy so I will be royalty, so I’ll be handed the
royal ring? You’ve got to be kidding.”

“
Once I found you, my
original plan was for us to somehow kidnap a queen, a prince, or
maybe a king just long enough to open the portal.”

“
You were going to hold
them hostage with the…” She looked him up and down. “With the
tranquilizer gun I gave you? Brilliant, Frank. Just brilliant…and
completely insane.”

“
Funny. I got the same
reaction from the people I’ve met here. They told me it would be a
suicide mission. Fortunately, thanks to you, we can scratch that
and move on to Plan B.”

“
What’re
you saying?
You want me to be the queen in
your crappy excuse of a plan?
The only way
that will happen is if I marry Mr. Lunatic King so he’ll place a
wedding ring on my finger.”

He pointed at her finger. “The vows
won’t mean anything, Sarah, except that you’ll be wearing the key
to the portal.”

She massaged her temples to ease the
sudden tension building inside her skull. “What if this doesn’t
work? I’ll be stuck as Queen Guinevere, married to some
medieval—and I do mean evil—whack-job for the rest of my life,
taking care of his bratty little minions.”

“
It will work. It has to,
or else we’re both gonna be ditching our careers and putting in
applications at the Round Table.”

“
That might work for you,
Frank, but I’m not having it.” She scoffed. “I can fight with a
sword if I have to, even if they’ve never heard of Joan of Arc.
Regardless, I’m going to get my hands on that ring-slash-key
because I’ll do anything to get back home.”

“
I’ll come up with an
escape plan.” Frank pulled her close. “If I didn’t think you were
up for the challenge, I’d never have asked you to do this, but I
know how tough you are. If anybody can pull this off, Sarah, it’s
you.”

It was a bold and daring plan, and she
had to stay strong, focused, and determined so they could pull it
off and get back home. She simply could not allow fear to creep in.
“Fine. King Victor is a royal pain in the butt, but don’t worry. I
can handle him.” She touched Frank’s arm, knowing full well she
should’ve never made Frank go inside that cave. Now they were stuck
in some crazy world trying to pull off a jewelry heist. “I’m sorry
I dragged you into all of this.”

“
Are you kidding? I
couldn’t let you have all the fun.” He hesitated, his gaze
connecting with hers. “At least not alone.”

She cleared her throat and inched
closer, peeling her gaze away just to avoid the depth of those
hazel eyes.

Frank shook his head as if in
disbelief. “I still can’t believe this place exists. You really
think your sister is here?”

“
Yes. I believe she’s
alive, somewhere in this medieval world. I can feel it.”

“
I agree, now that I’ve
seen it with my own eyes. Anyway, the first thing we need to do is
get the ring,” Frank said. “If we don’t take this opportunity, we
may never get home. We’ll be stuck here forever. Once we have the
ring, we’ll go undercover and hunt for your sister.”

Hundreds of thoughts raced through
Sarah’s mind, but she managed a nod. “That’s a beginning. In the
meantime, Frank, do as much digging as you can. You’re a reporter,
a million times sharper than Lois Lane, remember? And right now I
need you to be my Superman.”

“
I knew those words were
going to come back and bite me.”

“
While you’re out there,
keep an eye and ear out for Liz, okay?” Sarah whispered. Her voice
came hoarse, barely audible in her own ears. For a moment, she
wasn’t sure he even heard her, but then he gave a sharp
nod.

“
I’ll see what I can
find.”

A black beetle scurried over her foot.
She squashed it, digging her boot into the dirty ground until dust
whirled up. “I don’t want to risk getting stuck here forever, but
there is no way I’m leaving without my sister—not after looking for
her for so long.”

“
Then you have to play
along, or we’ll never get the chance to get our hands on that
ring.”

“
Princess Gloria seems to
be in hiding, letting me take the fall. What if he figures out I’m
not the real deal?”

Frank cupped her face. “You need to
bring home the Oscar at all costs, babe.”

A shudder rocked her body. “We don’t
have much time. The ceremony’s tonight. Boy, I can’t wait to see
the comments I’m gonna get when I tweet and Facebook this
crap.”

“
You
won’t
really
be
married, Sarah. It’s not legal.”

“
Whatever. He said sunset,
though, so you have to hurry. Trust me, it’s the only thing he
looks forward to. The guy’s dying to knock me up with triplets,
quadruplets, quintuplets, and sextuplets.”

Frank smiled. “Wow. What a lucky
man.”

“
What, you want a try too?”
She slapped his armor. “Focus, please. We need all the brain cells
we can get.”

“
I swear to you that I
won’t let it get that far. Our plan is to get the ring, break out,
find your sister, and then run like hell to Sabrino Cave—back to
reality and that diner we were talking about.”

She shook her head. “It’s doable…I
think.”

He nodded. “You can do this. You’re
the strongest person I know. Who goes out in front of thousands of
people and gives lectures about supposedly imaginary monsters
without batting an eyelash? Who politely tells off all the
reporters and debunkers? Who got the biggest research grant in the
state of California?” He smiled. “You did, Bigfoot researcher,
Sarah Larker.”

“
Aw, shucks. I never knew
you had so much confidence in me.” She smirked.

“
You know it, Princess.” He
softly kissed her hand. “I can’t believe this. I’m down here
dressed like some Lancelot wannabe in a creepy dungeon in another
dimension, trying to win you back. What kind of joke is fate
playing on me anyway? Man, karma can do a number on a skeptic,
huh?”

“
Life’s funny that way,
always throwing us some kind of curveball. I mean, when I woke up
this morning, I never dreamt I’d be a medieval queen in the land of
Camelot.”

A chirp sounded nearby. “That’s the
signal.” Frank peeked down the corridor.

Footsteps echoed, and Sarah jumped.
“Somebody’s coming.”

Frank’s lips softly brushed hers.
“Leaving you is the last thing I want to do. You know that, right?”
He flipped his visor down.

She gasped, anger rising inside her
once again. “Don’t feel guilty for leaving me here to marry a
complete stranger who wants nothing more than to see my stomach
swollen with his seed.”

He turned around, his eyes wide.
“You’re right. I can’t do this. What in the world am I thinking?
Leaving you here is just…stupidly impossible. Come with me, Sarah.
We’re gonna find your sister and find our own way out of this
Renaissance nightmare.”