Kidnapped By The Vampire Prince

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“You too,” he responded with a handsome smile. “My friends are waiting, so I have to go, but can I ask you a quick question?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Where did you park? I parked in the Target parking lot, but I’m not sure if we were allowed to park there…”

I laughed a little bit at his nervous expression. He definitely wasn’t as intimidating as he seemed. This whole Ashton thing was making me paranoid. Kyle couldn’t be an evil guy if he was wondering about parking.

“It’s okay to park there,” I told him,

“I parked there too. Toward the back though. It’s easier to pull out.”

“Is it?”

“Yep.”

“I’ll remember that for next time,” he told me, a grin spreading across his face. “Thanks, Emily!”

I waved my hand at him. “No problem! See you around.”

“You too!”

For a second I watched as he walked away. I couldn’t help but think about how cute he was. It was normal for a girl to think that too. It didn’t mean anything. Pulling myself from my thoughts, I headed back for my friends. Luckily, they were still near the basketball game. The penguin was in Leah’s arms and Kai was holding his eye, scowling at her. I raised an eyebrow as I grew closer.

“Where were you?” Alli asked curiously.

“I ran into Kai’s friend, Kyle,” I told her, glancing at Kai to gauge his reaction.

Kai’s eyes grew round. “What? Kyle’s here? Where?”

Using my pointer finger, I pointed back to the food stands. “He went off that way to meet with his friends.”

“Argh! I need to find that kid!” he responded, frowning. “He owes me twenty bucks!”

“You owe me fifty!” Leah told him.

He scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, well… I’m going to go find Kyle! See you guys later!”

“Wait!” Leah demanded, chasing after him. “I’ll find you two later!” she called over her shoulder to Alli and I.

The rest of the doubt in me was cleared by Kai’s words. He obviously knew Kyle. Maybe Vincent was right. Ashton wouldn’t try anything in public. I was safe here and I was making a new friend. Kind of. If I kept running into him like that, he could become scared of being harmed when he was near me. I smiled to myself at that.

“Emily? Want to go play with darts?” Alli questioned, waving her hand in front of my face.

“Let’s go!” I chirped, linking my arms with her. “I’m going to own you!”

She laughed. “Why’d you get so happy all of a sudden?”

I gave her a confused look. “What do you mean?”

“You went off all tense and returned all relaxed,” she clarified, leading me toward the darts.

“Maybe I was just really thirsty,” I told her, trying to change the subject. “I think I’m going to try to win Kai a giant penguin. I kind of feel bad.”

“I’ll help,” Alli said, letting out a sigh. “Otherwise we’d never hear the end of it from him.”

“True,” I agreed, wrinkling my nose.

“Oh, by the way, can I hitch a ride home with you? Leah’s going to her mom’s house which is on the other side of town.”

I bobbed my head in an affirmative response. “Any certain time?”

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She shook her head. “Nope.”

“Okay. Now let’s go win that penguin!” I cried, thrusting my fist into the air.

Two hours later, sixty bucks down the drain, Alli and I finally were victorious. After trading up multiple times, we’d succeeded in winning three more giant penguins- one for each of us. Leah and Kai had rejoined us and for the rest of the time the carnival was open, we sauntered around showing off our prizes and eating different carnival snacks. By the time we were heading toward the exit, my legs felt dead and only a few stragglers were left in the area. The mall had shut down, so the only cars in the parking lot were the few teenagers left in the carnival.

“I parked up here,” I informed my three friends, gesturing toward the dark part of the parking lot. “So we’ll split up here.”

“I’m going with her,” Alli told the other two. “So see you guys later.”

“Bye,” they chorused, both raising a hand in farewell.Còntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org

I returned it with a quick wave. “Bye guys. Come on Alli, it’s freezing.”

“Sure,” she replied eagerly, crossing her arms over her chest. “Put on the heat full blast.”

“I will,” I told her, feeling a shudder run through me.

We hastened toward my car; ready to get out of the chilly air. The only light in this section of the parking came from the stadium lights facing the carnival, so it was shadowy and a little intimidating. It reminded me of the night I’d run into Joel and Vincent. My body subconsciously moved closer to Alli.

“Hey!”

Both Alli and I jerked in surprise at the loud voice shouting after us. Turning around, I saw Kyle coming toward us, a stuffed bear in his arms. He grinned as he approached. “You two leaving now?”

“Yep,” we replied simultaneously.

“Want a bear?” Kyle offered me, holding out the white plushy.

I raised my penguin. “I’m good. Thank you though.”

He smiled and shrugged. “No problem. I won it kind of by accident. I didn’t realize how good at darts I was.”

Alli and I exchanged a secret glance.

“Who are these girls?” a new voice asked, a young male appearing in my field of vision a few seconds later. He was about as tall as Kyle, but much more physically built. A wave of unease washed over me as I took him in.

“This is Emily and…”

“Alli,” Alli introduced herself with a smile. “And I hope you don’t mind, but we’re cold, so we’re going to head out, okay?”

Kyle’s smile faltered a little bit. “Oh, sure…”

Alli gripped my arm, turning me and leading me toward my car. I turned to look at her. “What’s wrong?”

“Who is that?” she asked, lowering her voice. “That guy and his friend aren’t normal… There’s something weird about them.”

“That’s Kai’s friend Kyle.”

She stopped, giving me a confused look. “What? No. I know Kyle and he definitely doesn’t have silver hair.”

My heart skipped a beat. “What? Are you sure he didn’t dye it?”

“No, I saw him yesterday,” Alli told me, looking as apprehensive as I felt. “We should probably go…”

“Not just yet.”

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I whipped around to see Kyle- or whomever the smoky eyed man was – standing behind us with his bulky friend and another new person, this time a slender, young male with pale blonde hair. Alli took a step closer to me, drawing herself up to her full height.

“Who are you?” I demanded, forming my hands into fists.

The blonde man on the left turned to the silver haired one. “Wow, you were right. She really doesn’t know who you are.”

Smoky eyes chuckled deeply. “Well, I might as well introduce myself, shouldn’t I?”

“How’s Joel?” the bulky one asked, his black eyes piercing into mine. “I haven’t seen him since I left him bleeding.”

Ice water washed through my veins. That guy had to be the vampire who’d attacked Joel. One of Ashton’s goons…

“Who are you? Joel’s perfectly fine,” Alli spoke up, her voice ten times more confident than mine.

The blonde frowned at her. “Who is this girl, Ashton?”

“Ashton,” I gasped, my eyes locking onto his grey ones.

“I see you’ve heard my name,” he commented casually, not showing any kind of emotion at all.

Alli nudged my side. “You know these guys?”

“Luca.”

“Yes?” the blonde, Luca, asked, turning toward Ashton.

He pointed at Alli. “Take care of her.”

Before I could blink Luca was in front of me, shoving me away form Alli. “Let go!” she shouted as Luca captured her arms and twisted them behind her back.

“Let her go!” I cried, gripping Luca’s shoulders and trying to pull him away. “Stop it! She doesn’t have anything to do with his!”

“What’s going on?” she demanded. “Let me go!”

I whipped my head to Ashton. “Ashton! Tell him to let her go!”

Suddenly Alli started screaming. “Help! Someone help us!”

“Luca,” Ashton barked.

As abruptly as it started, Alli’s screaming stopped and her motionless body crumpled to the ground. For a second I couldn’t breathe as I stared at her still body. “W-what did you do?”

“Don’t worry. She’s not dead,” Luca responded in an offhand voice. “It was just to shut her up.”

Swallowing nervously, my gaze switched from Alli, to my car, to the three vampires before me, and back to Alli, and back to my car again. There was no way I could just leave Alli here, but I had to get away. No one was around to help me out. I was in serious trouble.

“Get her in the car,” Ashton demanded. “Jared, bring the redhead back to her house on Bridge Street. Number thirty-six.”

How did Ashton know where Alli lived? Was he stalking my friends? Before I could think about it anymore, Luca moved toward me. I twisted on my heel, preparing to run. I could come back for Alli. For now, I couldn’t be caught. Unfortunately that plan came crashing down around me as Luca stuck out his foot, bringing me effectively to the ground. Just as I was about to scream, a hand was slapped over my mouth. Ashton took my hand, pulling me to my feet and shoving me toward what I assumed to be his car. Luca followed us, telling Jared he’d see him later.

My heart pounded so hard in my chest I was afraid it was going to burst out. I was positive the reason Luca and Ashton were smirking was because of the sound of it. Panic was welling up in me, but I managed to keep it from spilling over. I’d been kidnapped before. It wasn’t something new. I came out of that one okay… But this one was a lot different.

These vampires actually wanted to hurt me.

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