“Then you will need to book for another day.” She cocks her head on one side, her previous helpfulness evaporating as I feel someone join the line behind me.
I’m so hot in my winter coat and this stuffy place, my usual cool deserts me. I can’t think straight. I don’t have the money, but I have to get out of here. I can’t ask my friends for help, or they’ll know something is wrong.
I am completely and utterly alone.
“What about a waitlist? Cancellation? Anything?” I ask, unable to stop the desperation seeping into my voice.
She slides my passport back across the counter. “No.”
“Is there anything I can help with?” A deep, velvety baritone voice comes from over my shoulder, and then he says something in Hungarian.
The sales assistant’s face lights up with a megawatt smile responding to him rapidly, her eyes sliding to me and then back to him.
I am paralyzed. I recognize the voice. I’d recognize it anywhere.
The vampire king has already caught up with me. I am already dead.
Lucy
Grace
I hate you had to go so soon. I wanted to take you all to Seycheni baths.
Eliza
Yay! Baths!
Lydia
Lucy is all work and no play
Sophia
She doesn’t want to risk finding a Hungarian hottie like you, Grace LOL
“Aren’t you going to answer them?” Dominik lounges in the plush ice-white leather seats of his completely over the top Rolls Royce Phantom as it purrs back towards the center of Budapest. “You could say you found aHungarian hottie.”
I turn the screen off and glare at him. He exudes power in a way I didn’t think was possible. His muscular frame poured into a suit which was clearly made for him, his carefully selected Alexander McQueen tie an obvious nod, or clear dig, at the fact I wanted to get back to the UK. His shoes are so shiny, I’m surprised they can’t be seen from space.
He makes me feel like a dowdy pregnant frump sitting next to him.
“I could tell them you kidnapped me.”
He raises his eyebrows as if I’ve insulted him.
“And you think they would believe you? I helped Ferenc. I got him out of prison and made it so he and his mate could come back to Budapest and get married.”
He shakes his head at me like I’m a child.
“No, I think they will not believe you,” he purrs. “You are my honored guest. A Van Helsing under my roof. What a treat!”
I see the thrall chauffeuring us raise his eyebrows at the sound of my family name.
“If you think killing me will get you revenge, you’re wrong. My family doesn’t care about those who fail them.” I grit my teeth, my hands curling into fists.
“So, you were happily going to spend the price of a first class ticket to return to such a welcome?” Dominik says, opening up the console between us and pulling out a crystal decanter filled with something which absolutely isn’t wine.
“I…might have,” I retort.
