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The first guard lunged at him and tried to kiss Severin, but the vampire turned his face away. He held the man by the neck and lowered his lips to his throat and the guard gasped and surrendered. Severin continued to trace the hard outline of the guard’s cock through his breeches while he bit him.
The man groaned and bucked into Severin’s grasp. Blood spurted into Severin’s mouth, sweet and delicious, and semen dampened the guard’s breeches instantly. The man clutched at Severin’s arms as the vampire drank. Truth be told, he was kind of full from his meal at Emil’s table but he was not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Too late he realised the guard was drunk as the alcohol swarmed into his bloodstream.
Severin moaned and pulled back, dribbling blood down the guard’s neck. The man slid to the ground and Severin leant against the side of the booth with his head spinning and gripped the hair of the second guard as he came down his throat.
The man swallowed obediently and drew back, licking his lips with his pupils dilated. Severin staggered and just about stayed upright as he fastened his breeches. “Open the drawbridge,” he directed.
The man seemed dazed. He climbed to his feet with his breeches tented and set in motion the heavy lever operating the drawbridge machinery. As the bridge started to clank down, Severin heard horses’ hooves on the cobbles.
“Thank you, my man,” he said and pushed the guard aside as the bridge dropped and the hansom gathered speed. A shout came from the top of the steps at the castle as the two guards there raised the alarm.
The hansom thundered towards him as the drawbridge completed its final few feet and men poured out of the Schloss. Shots were fired, bullets whistling past him. Severin ran for the hansom which showed no sign of slowing down for him. The driver urged the horses forward and Istvan leant from the interior, exhorting Severin to hurry.
Severin jumped and grasped the top of the hansom, feet scrabbling for the back wheel. The carriage pounded over the drawbridge and onto the ramshackle road and Severin heard the winning pistol shot before a bullet embedded itself in his biceps.
He cried out, lost his grip, and strong arms gripped him around the waist. For a moment he stared at the ground racing by him, his toes catching the dirt, one shoe flung off. Then four arms had him and he was dragged into the dark carriage. He fell to the floor, gasping, pouring blood, as the horses pounded the three men away from the castle.
???
“Is he going to be all right?” Nikolaus asked anxiously as Istvan tore Severin’s clothes open, exposing his muscular torso. Even under these circumstances, the sight was enough to make Nikolaus shiver. He’d watched the castle guard sucking Severin’s cock and it had made him hard despite the burning jealousy he felt.
“He’s a vampire, isn’t he?” came Istvan’s scornful answer as he removed his cravat and tore it into strips to use as bandages.
Nikolaus crawled closer. He lifted Severin’s head and sat with it cradled in his lap. Istvan looked at him, surprise written all over his face and a hint of apology at his brusque manner. Perhaps he was re-evaluating his opinion of Nikolaus. He didn’t doubt that Istvan only had bad reports from Severin to go on regarding Nikolaus’s character. He had hardly let on his true feelings since he and Severin had met again. Until tonight that was. He remembered Severin’s words.
You act like you hate me and I don’t know why. All I did was love you. It wasn’t a crime.
Severin loved him. Helovedhim. His eyes dewed with tears. He hardly dared believe it was true. Severin had just risked his life to take Nikolaus away from Emil. That should have been proof enough. But still, Nikolaus was scared.
Chapter Thirteen
Severin came back to consciousness looking at the roof of the carriage. Soft light lit the interior. He was lying on the floor with his head cradled in Nikolaus’s lap. His ruined coat and shirt were gone, exposing his torso while Istvan worked on him.
“Will I live?” he asked dryly, still feeling a little drunk on his stolen blood.
“Oh yes,” Istvan said, winding strips of fabric around his upper arm. “You’ve survived much worse. As I recall you were almost decapitated once and survived that.”
Severin smiled. “A strange thing to have one’s head almost hanging off.” He looked up at Nikolaus and found the human positively green.
“Do you mind?” Nikolaus said.
“Not at all,” Istvan said with a cackle. He sat back, admiring his handiwork.
Severin struggled to a sitting position and Istvan and Nikolaus helped him onto the seat. He sat back with a sigh and looked again at the human. Nikolaus’s eyes were red. Had he been crying? He glanced at Istvan. “Have you given the driver directions?”
“Not beyond the forest. It would be folly to go back to Vienna. It would be the first place Emil looked for you.”
Severin was displeased but knew Istvan was right. Nonetheless it was a wrench to realise it might be some time before he could go back to his beloved Vienna. He had already spent enough time away from the city during the ten years he had been apart from Nikolaus.
“Then we go to Prague,” he said.
They made haste through the Bohemian Forest and crossed the border, arriving in Nýrsko well before dawn. The driver stabled the horses and Istvan gave him coin for lodgings. The three travellers asked for rooms at an inn on the banks of the Úhlava River and congregated in Nikolaus’s chamber for planning.
A fire crackled in the hearth. Nikolaus slumped tiredly in a chair by it. Severin and Istvan were wide awake but would need to sleep soon. Severin’s arm ached but the bleeding had stopped. Emil’s blood had gone some way to limiting the seriousness of the wound, he knew, but he would nonetheless need to feed before dawn.
Istvan sat on the bed. “We can’t travel by day.”
Severin bit his lip. With Emil’s resources, he doubted the three of them would be safe from him by day. The vampire king would find a way to travel or send henchmen on his behalf.
