The Vampire's Surprise - Stormy Glenn Page 0,48

to people, hoping I will catch their interest long enough for him to convince them to back him in his bid for world domination."

"That doesn't explain the kids," Dmitri pointed out.

"But, it does," she insisted. "Some of these men are all too willing to take what my father offers them, namely me. There have been times when a child has resulted from those situations, and I refuse to allow my child to be raised by men like that."

"So, you dropped them off for Quinn to raise?"

"I wanted them to be together."

"Wait." Quinn turned from where he had his face buried in Dmitri's chest and looked at his mother. "I thought you said our fathers were all human."

"I didn't want anyone to know who their fathers were. If you said anything to anyone, I wanted them to think they were half human so they'd be of no use to anyone, especially my father. He'd want nothing to do with a half vampire child, but if he knew one of his grandkids was a pureblood, nothing would keep him from going after them."

"Well, that explains why the kids need blood," Dmitri said. "But what about Quinn? Was his father a vampire, too?"

Mara shook her head as a small smile came to her lips. "No, he was human. He was my rajaaka, but my father found out about him before we could complete the bonding. Like I said, only by promising never to see them again was I able to keep my father from killing him."

"Then why did your father send men to kill him?" Dmitri asked.

"It was the first time he offered me to someone he wanted something from. When I refused, he had my rajaaka killed, but he left Quinn alive to keep me in line. He threatened him every time I refused to do what he wanted."

"Bloody hell," Nikolas whispered. "That man really needs to be taken out."

"I don't think that's going to be a problem," Nikolas said. "Here they come."

Dmitri tensed when he saw a slew of vampires coming over the fence. "Quinn, take your mother and run."

"No, I'm not going to leave you here."

"I'm a lot better prepared to fight than you are." Dmitri pressed a kiss to Quinn's lips and then gave him a gentle shove toward the trees. "Go, head to Nikolas's place. The kids are waiting there for you. You'll be safe there."

"Dmitri—"

Dmitri could hear the sounds of a battle starting behind him and knew they didn't have more than a moment. "Please, baby, just go. We'll be right behind you."

"Promise?"

"Yes." Sort of. He'd be right behind Quinn, just as soon as he took care of the rogue vampires and killed Chambers. "Go, rajaaka."

Quinn took a couple of steps back then grabbed his mother's hand, turned, and started running into the woods. Dmitri pointed to Nico and the two guards holding Saul up. "Go with them and keep them safe. Take them to Prince Nikolas's headquarters and get Saul to their doctor."

Nico nodded, and they took off after Quinn and Mara.

Dmitri pulled out the gun Louis had given them and then headed into the battle. It was easy to pick out Nikolas's and Marcus's enforcers from the rogue vampires they were fighting. The enforcers were all dressed in black tactical gear and armed, almost as if they were headed into battle. Go figure.

He fired at the rogues closest to him even as he searched the woods for the princes. He knew for a fact that they had stayed behind to fight, but he couldn't allow them to be injured.

He spotted Marcus several yards off to his right. He was fighting back to back with Nikolas. Both men had swords in their hands and were swinging them with expert precision. Dmitri would have been impressed if he wasn't so freaked out.

He fired his pistol several times by the time he reached the two princes. He never let any rogues get close enough to him to do any harm, even though he regretted the number of lives he had to take in keeping himself safe.

If what Quinn had told him was true, and a lot of them were just trying to get on with their lives, then the loss of life was horrible, but he didn't think that was the case here. These rogues were out for blood and they knew exactly what they were doing.

By the time he reached Prince Nikolas and Prince Marcus, the fight was pretty much over. The enforcers had brought guns with