Authors: Khloe Wren
Angelo tried to control himself but the very thought of his Darcy being close to death had him seeing red and wanting to go on a rampage.
"Angelo. Stop. This is what they want. They want you to go rushing in without a plan. Calm down and let’s get back to your apartment. We need to look at all the information and formulate a course of action. One where we all go in, and all come back out again with Darcy."
Angelo slumped back in his seat and looked out the window at the passing traffic’s lights flow past. He knew his father was right, but it still hurt like hell that his Bride was out there alone, and was going to be injured.
"I know, father. I just—I just miss her and need her back."
His father squeezed his shoulder once more before releasing his hold completely to allow Angelo a much needed moment to himself.
~ * ~
Karl was nervous. He’d never had much to do with the Elders but since losing and then kidnapping Darcy, he’d not been outside the Elders’ main compound. It had been five days since he’d arrived with Darcy, and this morning after he’d escorted her down to the main area, he’d been summoned here to this meeting. Karl hadn’t had a clue as to what went on inside these walls before today. The fact the Elders 'bred' with the claimed brides came as a shock. The fact they wanted to lay a trap for Angelo that would have him claim Darcy before they caught him, so they could breed with her had his blood simmering. He’d spent six years with Darcy and cared for her. This last week of escorting her back and forth to her room had cemented his feelings for her. She was a strong woman and even though she was facing up to twenty years locked in this place, she was still holding her head high and doing what she had to do.
"Karl, you will be needed for this to work."
"Yes, Sire. Whatever you need of me."
"You will escort Darcy tonight as usual, but you will not return her to her room. You will bring her to the garage. The van will be ready. You will get in the back with her and keep her calm, if you cannot, she will be restrained. From there you will follow the direction of the Elders. Do you understand?"
"Yes Sire."
"Leave us now."
With his head bowed, Karl backed out into the hallway and headed back to his own room. How the hell had he ended up in the middle of all this? He thought back to his childhood, to his father explaining how being a Noble was important, vital to protect the human race against the vampires. He had no memory of ever having a mother—now he knew why. His father would have raped a claimed bride, then ripped him away from her after birth. It was a cruel barbaric practice, one he couldn’t quite get his brain to process.
He most definitely couldn’t allow Darcy to be treated the same way, especially after her own mother had abandoned her. It would tear Darcy apart to even think her child might feel like she'd abandoned him or her on purpose. She’d never cope having a child ripped from her. She shouldn't
have
to survive having one taken from her.
He began to go over all the information he had about the plans for tonight. It wasn’t much unfortunately. He tried to work out how he could help free Darcy, before she was injured. Should he tell her what he knew? No, that wouldn’t end well. She’d give herself away and then he’d be removed from being her Guardian. What to do, what to do?
He was still pacing his room when the bell chimed to tell him it was time to go fetch Darcy. Taking a deep breath and straightening his spine, he headed out of his room and toward Darcy.
He opened the door to the brides’ workroom and found Darcy with her head down, concentrating on her sewing.
"Darcy, it’s time. Leave what you are doing and come with me now."
~ * ~
Darcy lifted her foot from the machine’s pedal and looked up at Karl with a frown. Something was different tonight, his words where short and hard. She slowly stood from her chair and before she could move, she was wrapped in a tight hug.
"I don’t know what, but something is going to happen tonight. Stay strong, and have faith. Your vampire will come for you. I love you, Darcy."
Sharon’s whispered words both warmed her soul and froze her heart, "I love you too. Mum. If he comes for me; if I get free, I will come back for you. I promise."
Her mother patted her cheek and with tears in her eyes kissed her forehead. Blinking back her own tears she turned back to Karl, who now had a quizzical look on his face as his gaze went between her and her mother. She followed him out into the hallway where they began the walk back toward her room.
"What was that all about?"
"What do you mean?"
"You and the other bride, what did she say to you?"
"Oh, nothing important. We’ve spent a lot of time together for nearly a week, a bond forming is only natural."
"I guess you’re right."
Darcy slowed her pace as they walked past the hallway that led to her room.
"Karl, where are we going?"
Without saying a word, he grabbed her arm tightly and kept her moving up the hallway. She began to get worried and tried to free her arm, but his grip tightened.
"Karl, you’re scaring me. What's going on?"
Just as she started to really panic, Karl dragged her through a door into a large garage where the windowless van awaited them.
Karl grabbed both her upper arms and forced her into the rear of the van. He followed her and pushed her down into a seat where she was quickly buckled in. She looked up to Karl and caught his gaze. The pain and desperation she saw there confused her.
What the hell is going on?
The sudden rumble of the engine made her jerk with surprise. She didn’t bother with any more questions. It was quite clear Karl had no intentions of answering her. The three other men in the back with them didn’t look any friendlier. In fact, they all gave her the creeps. All of them kept running their eyes over her body, lingering on her breasts and between her thighs. She swallowed against the bile that rose in her throat at the thought of any of these men touching her like that. She was Angelo's. She would have no other. Ever again.
After what felt like forever, but was quite probably only twenty minutes, the van stopped and Karl was instructed to 'remove her'. Karl unbuckled her seat belt and helped her out of the back of the vehicle. Once on the ground, Karl held her upper arms in a strong firm grip. The other three men all climbed out after them, each one brushing past her body, touching her breasts, as they went. Her body shivered with disgust, and she swallowed more bile down, ordering her body not to throw up.
A moment later she was being pushed forward toward a strong looking gum tree. Its trunk split into two near the ground, each trunk was about as thick as her torso. As she got closer, it became clear the tree was her destination. Karl turned her around and backed her against the tree, pressing his body into hers. She shivered with revulsion again, unable to believe she ever let this bastard touch her.
She felt her arms being pulled behind her and felt the roughness of rope over her wrists. Her body tensed and she pulled her arms hard. She would not be tied up and left helpless against these bastards. She couldn’t get her arms free with Karl holding them back as they were secured with rope around the tree behind her. She started to scream and yell. After her hands were bound, Karl stepped back from her. The sorrow in his eyes gave her a moment of pause, but she soon got over it. She kicked out at him as hard as she could. He grunted and fell to the ground, cupping his balls as he fell. She smirked at him as he writhed on the ground. Let that be a lesson to any of these fools who thought she’d go quietly to the slaughter.
"Tsk, tsk, that is not very ladylike at all, Darcy."
The robed Noble’s voice was mocking, like he was scolding a small child. Her blood heated further as her fury increased.
"Well, tying me to tree in the middle of a golf course isn’t very gentlemanly, so I guess we're even. Let. Me. Go."
"Not just yet, pet, but soon."
Darcy frowned at him, what the hell was he talking about? She watched as he bent to grab Karl by the arm and drag him back over to the van, and roughly shove him into the back.
A movement to her right caught her attention and she swung her head back to see what it was. A moment too late. Her eyes went wide as she watched helplessly as a sharp knife slid deep into her upper thigh, the pain seared through her body and clouded her vision. She screamed out her pain as she felt the warm flow of blood run down her leg. He must have cut her artery.
She was going to bleed out. Within minutes she started to feel faint and she slumped against the tree, with her last ounce of strength she screamed out, "Angelo! I’ll love you forever!" The darkness swallowed her and she knew no more.
~ * ~
Angelo hissed through his clenched jaw. Darcy had been hurt. He was still at least a mile away and he’d just heard her screamed declaration. His sweet Bride must think she was dying to utter such words. Considering she was with the Nobles, she most likely was.
"Let me go. I have to go to her now. I will not stand here as she dies!"
His father moved to position himself before him. He had three vampires holding him back, "None of us will allow you to go anywhere, until you calm down and start thinking with a level head. What would the point be in saving her, only to get caught and have her forced into breeding Nobles? Calm. Down."
Angelo knew his father spoke the truth, but damn it. His Darcy was dying! He closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths. His eyes flew open as he bared his fangs.
"I can smell her blood. I will do my best to follow the plan, but I must get to her. I will not allow her to die, father."
With a grim smile, his father stepped back.
The others released him and he sped across the grass toward the smell of his Eternal Bride’s blood. As he drew closer, he slowed and all thirteen of their team stopped around him.
"I will rescue my Bride. You all need to circle around and take out all the Nobles in the area. They are stupid enough to think I would come alone."
He didn’t wait for a reply but instead used his supernatural speed to rush over to his Darcy. The sight of her made his heart bleed. She was tied to a tree. She had slumped into a heap at the base, her arms pulled back at an uncomfortable looking angle. The hilt of a knife protruded from her right thigh and her precious blood continued to rush from around the blade.
He ripped the shirt from his body and tore two wide strips from it, tossing the rest away he moved to remove the knife. Sliding the knife free he quickly applied one strip wadded up to the wound as he wrapped the other around her leg as tightly and as many times as he could. Once he tied it off he looked up at her ghost white face.
His beautiful Bride.
Tears pricked his eyes and he did nothing to stop them from falling. His heart and soul lay before him, near death. He picked up the knife and cut the ropes binding her wrists; collected her in his arms and ran with every ounce of his supernatural strength to the waiting vehicles they had left.
As he opened the back door to lay her in, his father came up beside him.
"Get in with her. I’ll drive."
Angelo’s knees weakened as gratitude for his father’s perfect timing washed over him. He climbed in and kept Darcy on his lap, cradling her against his chest.
"You may want to claim her, son. I can hear her heart and it’s not sounding very good. I know you want to get her to your apartment first, but I don’t believe you have the time."
Angelo sighed, he could hear her rapidly weakening heart rate too.
"I know, father. I wanted her to make the decision, to tell me she agreed. I don’t want to force this on her."
"Boy, your mother and I raised you to use your brain—start using it! With, what she believed to be her final breath, she screamed to the world she’d love you forever. I take that as acceptance, don’t you?"
His father’s words warmed his heart. Angelo knew he was right.
He brushed her hair away from her now pale white throat and watched her pulse flutter, stop then flutter again. He was running out of time. He lowered his mouth to her neck, whispering his eternal love for her before baring his fangs and sinking them into her soft flesh.
He groaned at her taste, she was exquisite. She tasted better than the finest wine, richer than the best quality dark chocolate money could buy. He drew pulls on her vein, three, four, five times, before he withdrew his fangs and licked the wounds closed. He then bit into his wrist, pumping his fist so the blood began to flow. He gently opened her mouth and pressed his open wound against her lips, allowing his blood to slide down her throat where it would be absorbed into her system. Healing her, binding them together. At the first tingle through his leg, he withdrew his wrist and licked closed his wound.
A moment later a burning pain ripped through his thigh, he cried out from the agony. Damn, what Darcy was going through! He was suddenly very glad she was unconscious, for this pain—which he now felt as though it was his own—was almost enough to render him unconscious too.
For the rest of the drive home he panted through the pain, watching his Darcy as her color slowly began to return to her skin. By the time his father pulled up in front of their apartment building, she was breathing easily, her thigh was nearly completely healed and her skin was looking a healthy pink color. With renewed strength gained from the knowledge his Eternal Bride was safe and claimed, he lifted her and carried her up to the apartment. He glanced at his father in the lift as they ascended.