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1
On the run again, Stasio, traveling with three other Welsh prince vampires on the flight destined for Wales, who had been friends before the Black Death had turned them, headed back to the bathroom on the plane for the fourth time this trip as streaks of lightning ripped across the sky and more turbulence lifted and dropped the plane. His friend Levka shook his head. Caitlin, a human witch, who had been turned by Levka to save her life, ran her hand over Levka’s dark hair, his dark brown eyes glancing at her before he gave her a small smile. They were together and would be forever, hopefully, if a vampire assassin didn’t terminate them beforehand.
Caitlin had used her magic to cloak their presence when they’d landed in Dallas where they were sure Vlad, the vampire who claimed she was his, and his thugs would end up. But Caitlin and her friends had gotten the only flight out to Dallas, the next one hours later. Petroski, a vampire assassin, had missed the Dallas flight also. That had given Caitlin and her party time to make the flight from Dallas, Texas to Cardiff, Wales. They’d had to stop in Atlanta, Georgia, then Amsterdam before they reached Wales, but they’d managed to slip away without getting stopped. She was worried, as they all had been, that Vlad or Petroski might have called on someone in Dallas to apprehend them when they arrived. Either they had, and they hadn’t located them because of her cloaking ability, or they hadn’t because pride wouldn’t allow them to ask for help. Now, thankfully, they were on the last leg of their journey, heading to Wales.
The problem was—not that it couldn’t be remedied—they’d lost their luggage by taking a flight to Dallas that they hadn’t planned on taking.
The airplane shook again, the turbulence awful, forcing everyone to remain in their seats with their seatbelts on—except for Stasio. Caitlin usually wasn’t bothered by thunderstorms, but this storm was bad, lightning flashing all around them, the rain driving against the windows, the droplets sliding across the glass. The pilot had already diverted them once, trying to move out of the storm’s path but it just seemed to extend forever.
Caitlin couldn’t believe she was on the run with the four vampire princes, returning to their own country after taking refuge in the States for centuries. It was mostly because Levka, the leader of the group, had turned her into one of their kind and hadn’t been authorized to do it. She had really cared for the wheelchair bound teen on the cruise when she’d first met him. She’d loved him and his friends who were always there to cheer her up like she’d tried to do for him. What a shock to learn they were all vampires and that he was finally able to heal from his injuries and was no longer confined to a wheelchair. It had been just as much of a shock to them to learn that she was a witch.
“What is wrong with Stasio?” Caitlin watched him return to the bathroom for the fifth time, his light blond hair hanging loose around his pale face. It had been sandier colored and pulled back in a tail, but he’d shortened it and lightened it to his natural color to give himself a little different appearance from what it had been to confuse anyone who might be coming after them.
“He doesn’t like traveling by plane at the best of times. He can fly, but only when he’s in control of his flying,” Levka said. “The tumult doesn’t help.”
“It usually doesn’t bother me, but this time even I feel a little queasy.” Caitlin moved the armrest up so she could snuggle with Levka. “Do you think the Dallas League of Vampires will catch up to us?”
“Hopefully not,” Levka said.
At one time, the four princes had owned motte-and-bailey castles. Caitlin knew it was depressing for them to think they would have to return home to live in something other than their own castles. She sure wished they could stay at one of them to make up for all the trouble of being on the run constantly. Not to mention, she would love to stay in a castle since she’d never been in one before. For now, they had to keep a low profile so that the Dallas League didn’t locate them. The problem was the princes were also in trouble in Wales. Though that had been decades ago. Not that the vampires living there would have forgotten. Decades, even centuries could pass, and some would still hold grudges.
Levka sighed. “It depends on if they realize where we’ve left the States. Jurisdiction issues can be a problem at times. If a league in one place wants the renegade vampire or vampires enough, they’ll cross borders or oceans to go after them. They could just send word ahead and warn the local league. Or they could send someone from their own league. Best-case scenario? They drop it because we’re no longer in the States to cause problems for them.”
“Stasio said you were in some kind of trouble in Wales.”
“Centuries ago.”
“Centuries ago? Then maybe no one would remember.” She had high hopes they wouldn’t because she wanted to settle down to a normal life, though she didn’t think that would ever be possible again. Her parents and sister had died in a shipwreck, and she’d been the only survivor. Living with her foster parents hadn’t been the problem. Her foster sister had been. Though the vampires had wiped their minds and none of them knew she even existed. Which she was glad for. But she was a newly turned vampire and that meant she had other kinds of problems. They didn’t have to feed very often. She needed to feed small amounts lots more.
“Vampires would remember.” Levka glanced through the onboard magazine.
“What did you do?”
He let out his breath. “We sided with a rebel group who was trying to change some of the archaic rules of the old regime. We failed, which is why we lost our castles and ended up in America.”
“Did all the rebels leave Wales?”
“Yes. Well, those who were not outright killed.”
Caitlin processed that information for a moment, not liking the scenario. She wished Levka had told her before they flew out here. “Is the old regime still in charge?” She had trouble thinking in terms of well, centuries. To her, that was the way distant past. But to them, they had lived through that time, suffered through the Black Death, were turned into the vampires, others died, some made it through the chaos intact as humans, while others were stronger and more powerful like vampires, another version of humans who were hunters of the rogue vampires. Though in the beginning, everyone had been trying to learn how to survive. Hunter leagues and vampire leagues had been formed to make the rules for them to live by so they didn’t all annihilate each other and the human population. But some rules were just archaic and needed to be changed.
“Yes. But we’ll keep a low profile until we can make arrangements to find another suitable location to travel to. We know the place, well, such as it was eons ago. But it has been so long ago that we’ve been there, that it seemed a safe place to hide out for a time.”
Caitlin sighed. “I will do everything I can to help. Stasio said you each had your very own castle.”
“We did.”
“Too bad you still don’t own one. It would have been fun staying at one.”
Levka slipped his arm around her shoulder and hugged her. “I don’t see why we couldn’t. Stasio’s castle has been turned into a hotel. I doubt anyone will believe we would return there when we left so long ago and because we no longer own it.”
“What if they catch you there?” Caitlin couldn’t lose her four companions. She might not have been with them for that long, but they really had grown on her.
“It would not go well for us, I’m afraid.”
“What if we just hop on another flight when we land?”
Levka shook his head. “You need…nourishment.”
