Kidnapped By The Vampire Prince

Without warning, my arm was chicken-winged, causing me to cry out in pain. Joel held me tightly, keeping it almost impossible for me to struggle without inflicting pain on myself. “Joel! What are you doing? Let me go!”

“No can do, Em,” he responded, shaking his blonde hair out of his face. “You’re going to make me rich.”

“Surprise,” Ashton said, finally stepping out from the shadows. “You wanted to know who my little secret agent was, right? I do believe Joel suggested it was one of the kitchen help to the queen and king.”

Joel nodded. “I did. And they believed it.”

My jaw dropped. “But it wasn’t… it was you all along. That’s how Ashton found out I was in the castle. That’s how he found out I was a Blue Blood. That’s how he knew I was in a relationship with Vincent!”

“Bingo!” Joel replied happily.Content is property of NôvelDrama.Org.

Betrayal coursed through my veins. “I… I thought you were my friend,” I whispered, wishing I could see his face.

“I can still be your friend if you forgive me for this. We’ll be seeing a lot of each other in the future, you know. Me, you, Luca, and Ashton. We’ll be four best friends!”

“No way!” I cried in disbelief. “You think I’ll be friends with you after this? Joel, you’re Vincent’s best friend! He trusted you!”

I felt Joel shrug. “You trusted me too, didn’t you?”

“But it’s different with your best friend!”

“I was never his best friend, I only played the part,” Joel snapped angrily. “Don’t be ridiculous. You don’t need such things as friends in this world.”

My mind was having trouble processing the situation. Joel? Joel was on Ashton’s side? Happy-go-lucky Joel? Unfortunately it all made too much sense. He was the reason Ashton knew everything about me. How could we not have known? The time at the carnival should have made it obvious! I wanted to slap myself! Joel left me alone when he knew Ashton was after me! How could no one have realized he wasn’t on our side?

I shook my head. “What about that night you were attacked, Joel?”

“Luca and I got in a fight,” he explained casually. “It got a little bit out of control. Lucky I had you to go back home to.”

“Speaking of Luca, where is that brat?” Ashton questioned, crossing his slender arms over his chest. “Sebastian will be here soon.”

My breath caught in my throat. What did Ashton want with Sebastian? Was he going to try to bargain me with Sebastian’s crown? I couldn’t believe it. We had everything all wrong. Ashton wasn’t going to go after Vincent because he was in a relationship with me. Of course not! What good would come out of that? Ashton would go after someone who cared about me and held something of interest to him!

“Ashton, if I go with you, can we just leave now?”

He shook his head. “No. You were easy to capture. I knew it’d be quite simple all along. I only said you had a chance to escape to throw you off if you decided to choose between the two of you. However, my master plan was to get everything I wanted. That’s including you and the throne. Hopefully Sebastian will give it up easily. I don’t think he wants anyone getting hurt.”

I swallowed. “Who’s anyone?”

“You, Vincent, Solomon, Luella, Fiona… Anyone, really. Whoever we can get our hands on. Elijah and Ace- you don’t know them, but they’re part of my crew- are keeping an eye on the ladies. I’m not worried about Solomon; Joel’s informed me he’s guarding the entrance in case I decide to come in that way. So when Sebastian gets here, it’ll be just you and him against Joel, Luca, and myself. I can almost guarantee things will go my way.”

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I kept quiet, seeing two flaws in his plan. One, he forgot to mention Vincent. Who was watching over him? Two, Sebastian could easily lie and say he’d renounce the throne and get away with it. There was no assurance that Ashton would gain the crown. Sebastian could easily tell the counsel, or whatever, that he was forced to lie.

A rustle of clothing announced the presence of a new vampire. Luca. He grinned evilly at me. “Well hello there, Emily.”

“Luca.”

“You don’t look pleased to see me.”

“There’s just something about your ugly face I can’t stand,” I shot at him.

He scowled. “Watch your mouth.”

Ashton stifled at a laugh, placing a hand over his mouth. Luca changed his glare to him. “Sorry,” he apologized, clearing his throat. “It’s just weird seeing someone say something like that to you. Usually the insulting person would be afraid of having his neck snapped.”

“She should be,” Luca growled.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “You won’t kill me. You need my blood.”

Ashton nodded. “We might as well make use of what we can, right? After that, you’re useless.”

“What do you mean what you can?”

His eyes twinkled in amusement. “Ah, could it be you don’t know?”

“Don’t know what?” I demanded, the tightness in my stomach returning. It was becoming hard to swallow. Was he about to mention what Sebastian was going to tell me? “Does my blood return to normal eventually or something?”

He nodded. “Something.”

I furrowed my eyebrows. “Something what?”

“Stop asking questions,” Luca snapped.

“Shut up.”

“You little-”

“Children,” Ashton interjected, throwing Luca a dirty look. “Can you please not argue?”

Joel chuckled, his laugh reverberating through his chest. “I like a girl who can stand up to Luca.”

A bit of hurt washed over me at his words. Why was he talking like I was a stranger? I was the same Emily! He was the one who was different! He was the backstabber her who’d betrayed everyone’s trust!

My ears perked as I faintly heard someone calling my name. Ashton smiled broadly, coming closer to me. “Ah, it seems that your knight in shining armor has arrived.”

“Oh no,” I breathed.

“Oh yes,” Joel chirped. “This is my favorite part! I love seeing people’s faces when they realize they’ve been stabbed in the back!”

I shook my head. I didn’t want to hear that coming out of Joel’s mouth. It was hard enough trying to accept the fact he’d double-cross the Rutherfords and myself.

“Emily!”

My heart skipped a beat. “Sebastian! Go away!” I shouted as loudly as I could. “Don’t come over here! Go get help!”

“That’s not right,” Ashton said, frowning at me. He easily cut off my shouting by cover my mouth with his hand.

My cries were muffled as I continued to try and warn Sebastian. It didn’t work. A few second later he appeared in front of me, his eyes wide. “Joel?”

“Hey,” Joel greeted him.

He continued to stare at him, not understanding the situation. “What are you doing with Emily?”

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Ashton waved his free hand, catching his eye. “I do believe he’s helping me out, Mr. Rutherford.”

Fury flared in Sebastian’s eyes. “Joel?” he repeated, this time in a threatening tone.

“Does this mean we’re not friends anymore?” Joel questioned, artificial sadness in his tone. “How upsetting.”

Sebastian clenched his fists. “You’re a true blackguard.”

Joel laughed. “Blackguard? I didn’t realize just how old you were, Sebby.”

“Shut up,” he snapped at him. “Let Emily go.”

“No can do,” Ashton answered for him, still holding his hand against my mouth. “You know what I want, Sebastian.”

Sebastian’s body tensed. “I won’t give you the throne.”

“I know you won’t,” Ashton responded calmly. After a brief second of silence, he removed his hand from my mouth and started walking toward Sebastian. “I’ve been thinking about this a lot…”

“Sebastian, run away,” I ordered, struggling to liberate myself from Joel. “Get Vincent or someone!”

“No, Emily, I won’t leave you alone,” Sebastian told me, glancing around him. His eyes landed on Luca and he frowned deeper, apparently realizing it would be two on one if anything happened.

Ashton sighed deeply. “How romantic. You know, if it wasn’t for Joel, I would’ve assumed it was you two in love, not Emily and Vincent.”

I glowered at him. “Shut up, Ashton.”

“Let Emily go,” Sebastian demanded coldly. “I won’t do any negotiating if you have her like that.”

“I’m not here to negotiate,” Ashton said, glancing at me. “But I guess it wouldn’t matter if we let her go. Just don’t try to run, Em. We don’t want you accidentally breaking a leg…”

Joel released me at once and I jolted away from him, turning to give him the best glare I could. He grinned at me. “That’s the kind of expression I like most.”

“You’re unbelievable.”

“I know.”

Ashton clapped his hands, gaining my attention. “Okay, so let’s talk. I’ve been thinking about ways to get you to give me the throne. Every way I thought of had some kind of flaw to it, unfortunately. For example, you could just lie to me, or trick me. That wouldn’t work out in my favor.”

Sebastian stayed silent. I did too, holding my breath tightly. If he’d realized that, why was he still calling Sebastian out here?

“That’s when I realized what I had to do,” he continued somberly, a grave expression taking over his face.

The bad feeling in my gut returned. It was hard to breathe again. The tension in the air felt so thick you could almost cut it. My heart was hammering in my ears as I waited for Ashton to continue. Somewhere inside me I knew what conclusion he was about to come down.

“What’s the best of way of assuring the throne goes to me?” he questioned out loud, tapping his chin. “Oh, that’s right.” He grinned maliciously. “Killing the only person in my way. Luca, now.”

“Sebastian!” I screamed as Luca lunged at him.

He managed to avoid Luca, twisting around at the last possible second. Luca attacked again, this time using a fist. Once again he managed to avoid the assault, using his fists as defense. It never occurred to me Sebastian would know how to physically fight. However, it was clear who had the upper advantage. While Sebastian seemed stronger, Luca obviously knew how to fight better. The advantage of being a rogue vampire, I assumed.

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