Kidnapped By The Vampire Prince

After Ashton shoved me into the back seat of his black SUV, I could talk. Immediately I tried to escape out the door, but child lock was on. Great vampires think alike, I thought sarcastically. That or they all took a course in kidnap.

“What are you doing with me?” I demanded as Ashton climbed into the front seat. “Vincent will know I’m missing-”

With a loud rev of his engine, Ashton floored it, causing me to lose my balance and fall back into the seat. “Don’t talk,” he ordered. “It distracts me when I drive.”

“Let me out!” I cried, moving to one side to bang on the window. “Stop the car! Let me out!”

“Hey! Don’t break the windows!” Luca growled, turning in his seat to scowl at me. “Touch them again and I’ll break your wrists. Both of them.”

“Luca,” Ashton said in a reprimanding tone. “Stop it. Emily, please don’t bang on my windows.”

I stared at the back of his head incredulously. What was he thinking? Please? Asking me to please do something while he was kidnapping me?

“See, Luca, saying please always works-”

“Let me out!” I cried, resuming my pounding on the windows. Why wasn’t anyone driving around? It wasn’t that late!

Luca snorted, twisting in his seat to scowl at me. “Apparently not, Ashton.”

“Where are we going?” I demanded, shooting Luca a dirty look.

“If I told you that would ruin the surprise,” Ashton responded.

Gritting my teeth, I fell back into the leather backseat, bringing my foot up to kick Luca’s seat. After ten seconds of this, Luca bared his fangs at me. Instead of being frightened I scoffed at him. “Do you really think that’s scary?”

He narrowed his eyes. “I can make it scary. Come here.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Too scared?”

“I don’t want to catch your ugliness,” I snapped back at him.

He jolted forward in his seat, stretching his arm toward my neck. Before he reached me Ashton grabbed his arm, pushing it to the side. “Children, please.”

“Can we kill her now?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

Ashton decided to ignore him. “Emily, I heard you’re a blue blood. Is this true? Or did our little spy make it up?”

“Who’s your spy?” I countered.

He waved me off. “No one you’d know of.”

“If you won’t answer me, I won’t answer you.”

A quiet chuckle left his lips. “Ah, but I don’t think you’re in the position to be bargaining with me.”

Luca smirked. “Speak up, little girl.”

“No,” I stated, turning my head away from them. “You can’t force me to tell you anything.”

“We’ll find out soon enough,” Luca commented, a hard edge to his voice. “Can’t say it’ll be too pleasing of an experience for you.”

His words shook me, but only a little. If I showed my fright, they would think they had the upper advantage. For now I had to keep my cool. Maybe a chance of escape would come up. Or Vincent would realize I was gone. I blinked. Even when he did realize I was missing, he wouldn’t know where I was. A groan of annoyance escaped my lips.

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“Car sick?” Ashton inquired.

I ignored him. Luca glared at me for a few more moments before he turned around and faced forwards again. A sick feeling was beginning to spread through me. Habit had me crossing my arms over my stomach to try to settle it.

Apparently the rumor that Ashton knew about my blood was true. Did he kidnap me because he wanted my blood? Was he going to kill me? I couldn’t keep the mental imagines out of my head. Pictures of me lying like a prune on the ground, all the blood drained out… My hand shot up, covering my mouth as I resisted the urge to be sick. That probably was what would happen.

Silence settled in the car now, leaving my thoughts to wonder and become more gruesome. I shut my eyes tightly, trying to block them out. Maybe I was being too negative. Maybe they were just going to take me out to dinner…

Yeah, and you’re the main course, a dark voice in my head stated.

I shooed it away. They weren’t going to eat me. Vampires didn’t eat humans; they only drank their blood. And when it came to my blood, they’d probably pour it into tiny vials and keep it stored for future use.

“Emily?”

My head snapped up, my gaze landing on Ashton’s through the rearview mirror. “What?” I snapped before I could stop myself. So much for keeping silent.

“Do you know where we are?”

I glanced out the car window. We were whizzing by a dark forest, the tall trees blurring together. The sight felt familiar, but I couldn’t quite place my finger on where I’d seen it before. It kind of reminded me of the trip I’d taken to Vermont with my family a few years back, but we were definitely not in Vermont.

“Do you seriously not know where we are?” Luca questioned, a smirk playing around his lips. “You’re stupid, aren’t you?”

I glowered at him. “No, I’m not. Sorry I don’t recognize a blurry mass of trees, Blondy!”

He rolled his eyes. “Good one. You’re blonde too.”

“You know what-”

“Right around the corner is Rutherford manor,” Ashton informed me, his eyes piercing mine through the windshield mirror again.

Realization swept over me. That’s why it looked familiar! Even though I’d only traveled this path a few times, I’d been able to commit the inky forest to memory. What were we doing here though? Why would he be bringing me to the manor? Was he trying to get himself killed? Who in the right mind would bring the girl they kidnapped to a house full of the vampires they’d kidnapped her from? Well, in a way. Technically Ashton hadn’t kidnapped me from anyone, but Vincent was supposed to be watching me so…

“If you’re thinking we’re going to the manor, you’re wrong,” Luca informed me, rolling his eyes. “Believe it or not, we’re smarter than that.”

“Where are we going then?”

“To a campsite,” Ashton told me. “My makeshift campsite, rather. I would bring you to my house, but I’m afraid once the Rutherfords catch onto your disappearance they’ll come hunting for you and my house would be the most obvious place.”

I frowned, biting my lip. It was nearly impossible for anyone to be found in the woods at night. What if they were planning to kill me? I was definitely a goner. And then it’d take a while for the police to scavenge the area for my dried up remains…

I shook my head. No. No depressing thoughts. Maybe they were just dragging me out here to scare me, or something.

“Luca, call Jared to see where he is.”

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“Why do I have to call him-”

“Do it.”

Luca growled quietly, but didn’t protest again. I knew why, too. Ashton’s tone had scared even me, and I wasn’t talking to him. After a second Luca whipped out his cell phone, putting it to his ear. My hand went to my pocket absentmindedly, checking if I had my cell phone. Satisfied when I felt it there, I relaxed back into my seat.

Then I shot back up. I still had my cell phone! That meant I could call Vincent! Or Joel! Or anyone who could help me! Luca and Ashton noticed my sudden change in stance and glanced at me. I smiled sheepishly at them, trying to keep my face straight as possible. After a moment Luca sighed, looking away, but Ashton still frowned at me.

“Where are you?” Luca barked into his phone. “You’re supposed to meet us here. We drove slowly!”

Drove slowly? Is that what they thought

slowly was?

“Luca, calm down.”

Luca grunted. “Fine. Get here quickly. I don’t care about that. You can kill him if you have to.”

My eyes widened. Kill? Who were they killing?

“He can’t kill anyone,” Ashton said in a hard tone. “Luca, give me the phone.”This text is property of Nô/velD/rama.Org.

“He already hung up,” Luca responded, snapping his phone shut. “And why does it matter if he kills a cop? They’re pigs anyway… Literally.”

“It matters because he’ll be killed for killing a human,” Ashton snapped at him. “Think a little bit, Luca.”

An awkward silence settled into the car again and I returned my focus out the window. For a bad guy, Ashton sure did look out for his friends. If Jared was his friend. Maybe he was his follower. My hand rested on top of my pocket that held my phone. How was I supposed to use it without being noticed? Would I even get a chance? Nobody was on speed dial, so I would have to look up a contact. That would take at least five seconds. Would that be too long? Unless Vincent was on my recent calls list. Then I could just hit the call button twice… That would give me enough time.

Ashton suddenly veered right, sending me off balance. I rectified myself, noticing we weren’t traveling on the dirt road anymore. Now we were speeding through the forest. It became incredibly bumpy, so I clung to the door handle for support. After about five minutes of this, we reached a small clearing that was lit up by the moon. The trees cast sketch shadows around it as they waved in the gentle wind. My heart was starting to beat faster at the ominous scene.

“Luca, get Emily out of the car,” Ashton ordered, bringing the car to an abrupt halt.

I watched as Luca nodded, climbing out of the passenger’s door and coming around to mine. As he opened it, I scooted to the other side. This didn’t amuse him. “Get over here before I force you out by your hair.”

After sending him the harshest glare I could conjure, I slowly slid back toward him. He grabbed my arm, yanking me out the rest of the way before slamming the door behind me. With disregard to my stumbling feet, he brought me over to Ashton, who was leaning against the hood of his car. He studied me for a few minutes. “If Luca lets you go, will you run away?”

“No,” I promised easily. Even if I did try to run, one of the two would catch me and break my legs or something.

Seeming satisfied with my response, he ordered Luca to let me go. Doing as I promised I stayed in the spot I was in, shooting Luca a dirty look. Didn’t he know not to manhandle a girl roughly?

The wind whipped my hair into my face and I brushed it back, too afraid to let my eyesight be blinded for too long. Luca shifted on his feet uncomfortable. “Are you going to do it or not, Ashton?”

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