do with some stitches.
"Is that all of them?" he asked as he leaned back against the side of the house. He was feeling a little woozy, his head spinning and his stomach swirling. He might have underestimated the damage caused by the wound in his side.
"I counted five," Nico said. "I didn't smell any others."
"Saul, go check the house. Nico, help me inside."
Saul took off.
Dmitri hated admitting he needed help, but, he needed help. He winced when Nico's arm wrapped around his waist. After taking a couple of deep breaths, he placed his arm around Nico's shoulders and then they started for the front door.
"You need blood, Dmitri."
"Yeah, I know." Blood would help him heal quicker and give him a boost of energy. He suspected he would need both. "Is there any in the car?"
Nico shook his head. "We didn't get time to restock the vehicle from the last time we took on some rogues."
"We need to think about doing that from now on. Maybe a new order that all vehicles need to be fully stocked before they leave the prince's estate."
"Put Gavril in charge of it. He'll assign someone to do it." Nico snickered. "Probably Raymond."
Dmitri grunted. "Would serve him right."
He was not thrilled that they had to take Raymond on after he'd betrayed his tribe and tried to steal Aldrich's mate. Aldrich was the head enforcer of Prince Nikolas Vaile's tribe, and very good at what he did. He'd almost torn the tribe apart when his mate had been kidnapped.
Dmitri was glad they had gotten Mateo back unharmed, but having to deal with Raymond's bitching made him want to run the vampire through with his sword. If he had to hear one more time how Raymond hadn't known mates were real so he wasn't responsible for his actions, Dmitri was going to send the guy back.
Nico tightened his hold when Dmitri stumbled going up the front steps. "You really need to get some blood."
"I'll call the house and have someone send some over." It would take a little bit for the synthetic blood to arrive, but the wound wasn't fatal. Just painful.
When they got inside the house, Nico led him over to the couch. Dmitri sank down and then leaned back, letting out a deep sigh as some of the burning agony in his side faded. "Sword wounds suck."
Nico chuckled. "And that is why we're trained to not get stabbed. You should try it sometime."
"Yeah, I'll get right on that, just as soon as I stop bleeding." Dmitri glanced up when Saul came into the room. "Anything?"
"No," Saul replied. "No rogues, no vampires, no children, nothing."
Dmitri sat up so fast his head spun. "What do you mean no children?"
There should have been children.
"Just what I said," Saul replied as he gestured back down the hallway. "Ain't no one back there."
Dmitri swayed a bit when he stood, but was able to quickly start walking. He hurried down the hallway, Nico and Saul right on his heels. He threw open every door he came to and scanned the interior of each room.
They were all empty.
He lifted his nose into the air and drew in a lungful of air. He felt a bit like a dog trying to sniff out a bone, but it had the same effect. "I don't smell any other vampires."
Saul's forehead crinkled. "Do you think they left?"
Dmitri's eyes narrowed. "I think that's exactly what they did."
Quinn, the little shit. He'd purposely lulled Dmitri into a false sense of security, making him think the guy was agreeing to meet with Prince Marcus when he planned to run the entire time. And Dmitri had totally bought it.
He was obviously an idiot, but he wouldn't be fooled twice. As soon as he found Quinn, he was going to handcuff the guy to his wrist until he could turn him over to the prince.
"We need to go after them." He refused to admit to the prince that he'd lost the guy.
"You need to call and have someone bring you some blood first," Nico said. "You're in no condition to go chasing off after anyone."
Unfortunately, Nico was right.
"There was a bag of blood in the refrigerator earlier," Dmitri said. "Go check and see if it's still there." He wasn't sure if Quinn and the kids had left before or after he'd searched the place.
Nico hurried into the kitchen, coming back a moment later with the bag of blood and a glass. He poured some of the blood into the glass and then