The Vampire's Surprise - Stormy Glenn Page 0,40

him closer. "Do you know who has my rajaaka?"

The doctor frowned. "Quinn is your rajaaka?"

"Yes," Dmitri snapped. "Now, where is he?"

"I don't know."

The man struggled to get free. Dmitri merely tightened his grip and flashed his fangs. "Then what do you know?"

"J-just what I overheard." He pointed to the pile of ash again. "Him and his friends, the other rogues, they were talking about what they were going to do when you all got here. They had some great plan to draw your prince out and hold him for ransom."

Damn it, it had been a trap.

Dmitri loosened his grip on the doctor before glancing at the others in the room. He jutted his chin out at them then spoke in a low tone as he asked, "Are they human?"

He wasn't close enough to smell them. The scent of fear was overwhelming almost everything anyway.

Dr. Webster nodded. "They are," he whispered, "but my nurse is aware of our kind."

Dmitri was pretty sure after tonight, the others were aware of their kind, too.

"How did you end up here?" he asked.

"You need to understand, I treat anyone who comes into my clinic, human and vampire alike. I do not differentiate between them."

Dmitri nodded. "Quinn told me."

"I have two rules. No violence and no drinking from humans unless you're mated. Up until now, everyone has respected that. Yes, I do occasionally get an unruly patient, but there are those in the neighborhood who look out for me and the people who come here needing my help. They usually take care of any troublemakers."

"What changed?"

"The guys who came in tonight, they were nothing but pure trouble since the moment they walked through the doors. Luckily, it was late enough that the waiting room was almost empty or there'd be a whole lot more humans to worry about."

"Did you know these guys? Were they from the neighborhood?"

The doctor shook his head. "I've never seen them before in my life, and frankly, I hope I never do again. They had rogue written all over them, and not the good kind either."

Dmitri was still getting used to the idea that there might be good rogues and bad rogues, so he didn't comment on that. He wanted to know more about the vampires who'd broken into the clinic.

"What did they want?"

"Quinn initially. They showed up right after he left after getting his blood drawn. When I told them that he wasn't here, they searched the place and then left. Quinn called me a little while later needing a place to hide, and then there was this explosion and—"

Dmitri held up his hand. "I know all about that. I want to know about the men who showed up here tonight, the ones who are after my prince. Are they the same guys who were after Quinn?"

"Four of them I've never seen before, but one of them was the same guy from before. I don't know what happened to the other two he was with." Doc cocked his head to one side and frowned. "They didn't ask for Quinn this time. They didn't really ask for anyone, but that's when I overheard them talking about kidnapping the prince and holding him for ransom. They just brought us in here and tied me up, but I got the feeling they were waiting one something or someone."

"Why do you say that?"

"About fifteen minutes ago, they all darted out of here like their asses were on fire, all except the one guy you killed."

"Did they mention anything about where they might be going or where they planned to take the prince?" If he could get even a hint of where the princes and Quinn were being held, that would help.

Webster gasped. "They actually have your prince?"

"They have Prince Marcus, Prince Nikolas Vaile, and Quinn."

"Bloody hell!" The doctor shoved his hand through his hair. "We have to get them back. I might not like Prince Nikolas, but he needs to stay in power. He's our only hope to keep the rogues who go violent in line."

"Why don't you like Prince Nikolas?" Dmitri asked. "Is it that synthetic blood thing?"

"Among other things."

Dmitri cocked an eyebrow.

The doctor grimaced before pushing his glasses up his nose. "I'm a rogue."

"I figured since Prince Nikolas had no idea who you were. How did you end up going rogue?"

"I wanted to be a doctor and treat anyone who needed medical care, human or vampire. My prince at the time disagreed with me treating humans and forbade me to attend medical school,