8

  Levka couldn’t believe Arman and Ruric had woken him at this ungodly hour. “Somebody better be in danger of losing his or her life if you’re here disturbing us,” Levka said, letting Arman in.

  “Stasio contacted me, well, tried to get ahold of you first, concerned that six men are at his bed and breakfast who might be assassins. He’s having breakfast with Jasmine.”

  “When assassins could be ready to take their heads?” Levka shook his head.

  “I’m sure he didn’t want to lead them to the rest of us. Though calling us to come as backup will have the same result,” Arman said, “because we’ve always been there for each other.”

  “Caitlin should stay behind,” Ruric said.

  “How often do I have to say this?” Caitlin sounded annoyed. “You might be bad vampire princes, but I’m the queen of witchiness. I won’t be left behind.”

  “All right.” Levka couldn’t believe they’d brought a vampire assassin into the fold and were already in more trouble because of it. “I think Jasmine’s going to be a problem.” Levka and Caitlin packed their bags and loaded up the van. Then he drove across the street to Stasio’s place.

  “You said the same about me,” Caitlin reminded Levka.

  “You were different.”

  “It’s just that you’re so used to your friends as many years as you’ve been together, before the Black Death even. I’m still an unknown quantity in many ways. Jasmine will be too. In a hundred years, you’ll probably be more used to us.”

  Levka parked the van and leaned over and kissed her cheek. She was right, but he wouldn’t admit it.

  Several vehicles were parked at the bed and breakfast, but Levka couldn’t believe the Welsh League had gotten hold of the Scottish League to tell them rogue vampires were in the area. How would any of them have known where they had ended up?

  As soon as they walked inside the bed and breakfast, ready to fight if they had to in order to protect their friends, Stasio and Jasmine quickly joined them from the dining room. Levka saw the men, all appearing to be in their twenties. One of them stood up from a sofa in the sitting area, his curly blond hair reaching his shoulders, his blue eyes steady on Levka as he inclined his head in greeting as if he knew he was the one in charge.

  “You’re the vampires that led the revolt against the Welsh League of Vampires, aren’t you?” he asked. “We need your help to overthrow the Scottish League.”

  “You know how well that went, don’t you?” Obviously not well because Levka and the rest of the Welsh rebels had failed to change the regime and the princes ended up losing their castles and estates and had to leave their homeland behind. But many others involved in the battle had lost their lives on both sides.

  “Aye, but we can’t do it on our own. I’m Scotty, by the way. We heard you had returned to your castle in Wales.”

  “It was Stasio’s.” In a way, Levka would have liked to have been in his own castle, except he wouldn’t have been happy with the changes made there, nor would he want to see that someone else was in charge of it.

  “Right. Well, we heard you had a bit of trouble with the League there and that an assassin was after you—”

  “After Stasio’s cousin,” Levka corrected.

  “Uh, aye. And you had to flee.”

  “So how do you think we can help you?” Levka was surprised Scotty and his followers knew so much about them.

  “Over a thousand of us are willing to go against the League.” Scotty glanced at the other men with him, and they nodded in agreement.

  “We lost in our fight against the Welsh League. I don’t understand how you think we can assist you with your revolt,” Levka said.

  “You didn’t have the numbers of rebel vampires fighting your cause the last time that we have now. You were much more newly turned back then. So we could really use your assistance. I’ll lead them, but you’ve been through this before.”

  Levka folded his arms. “And lost.” He didn’t want them to have any delusions about how sideways this could go.

  Scotty smiled. “We know you can do it, or we wouldn’t be asking you. We’ve seen the reports on what you’ve done in the States. We know you are constantly in trouble with the Dallas League and not because you’re doing anything wrong. We do the same for humans who need our help, think of it like a vampire vigilante service. And we know about you and the lady.” Scotty glanced at Caitlin. “Things happen that are out of our control. But we do what is right for all the right reasons. The Leagues would label us as renegades for breaking their rules, rules that have outlived their purpose. For instance, take your saving the girls from those thugs in the warehouse district in Dallas. You nearly lost your life. For what? To save humans, something the League strictly frowns on. But given the same circumstances, we would do the same. Why is it condemned instead of looked upon as a heroic deed, as it should be? The bottom line is that we need your help to pull it off.”

  Levka agreed, of course. “If we succeed in helping you to overthrow the ones in power?” He and his friends weren’t mercenaries by any means. But if he were to put his life, and his friends’ lives on the line, he had to know what would be in it for them. Otherwise, why should they risk dying over what he truly felt was a lost cause? He didn’t know these vampires. He had no idea if they had done anything like he and his friends had done that had put them in a horrible light. They might have just wanted to overthrow their League to take the power to rule and not plan to help others—humans or otherwise.

  Scotty shrugged. “The majority of us have voted for twelve of us to be in charge after we’ve overthrown the current council. It won’t be one man running things.”

  Caitlin glanced at the men gathered there. “No women on the council?”

  “Half of the council members will be women. None of the others are here who will be sitting on the new council. But all of us will be in the fight. We have alternates who will take over should any of us die in the coming battle. And we are going to do this. One league at a time, I suspect. Once we overthrow ours, it will open the way for the others to do the same with theirs. Who knows but you might become the ones who start a catalyst that makes for the changes we all need. And the best thing is you won’t have to keep running.”

  Okay, now that appealed. Levka could see the interest in his friends’ faces. Jasmine just folded her arms and looked annoyed, like she couldn’t believe they would get her mixed up in a revolution when she was perfectly happy being an assassin. Caitlin ran her hand over Levka’s arm and took hold of his hand and squeezed. She nodded to him. She was in.

  “All right. If there ever came a time that we could use your help—that is if this is successful—you will aid us?” Levka wasn’t about to do this only out of the goodness of his heart. He did think though that if they cleared the way for the new regime, he and his friends could stay in Scotland whenever they needed safe refuge.

  “Aye, you know we will.” Scotty smiled. “Ale all around at a pub down the street.”

  Levka sure hoped he wasn’t getting his friends and Scotty and his people into a real mess.

  Jasmine grabbed Stasio’s arm before he joined Levka and the rest of his friends to have an ale and talk about their plans for the revolt. “If anybody was asking me, I’m not all right with this.” Jasmine couldn’t believe that her mission to take down one rogue vampire had turned into joining his cousin, a rogue also, and his best friends, all of whom had to flee other assassins, and now were getting ready to battle it out with the Scottish League.

  Stasio pulled her into his arms and kissed her. “You don’t have to fight in this war.”

  “Then what? I’m on my own? You got me mixed up in all this. What am I supposed to do?”

  “You stay here at the bed and breakfast. When we’re through, we’ll come and get you and then we’ll decide from there where we’re going.”

  She shook her head. “No. I’m out of here.”

  “You can’t leave.”

  “Like hell I can’t.” She went back up to her room, realizing she didn’t have a bag to pack. She needed to get some clothes to tide her over.

  Stasio followed her up there and leaned against the door frame. “You are already one of us. You don’t know the trouble you could get into being on your own. You’re my girlfriend, but I respect your wishes to stay out of the battle.”

  She sat down on the bed in a huff. “I can’t believe I’m in the middle of all this.”

  Stasio had the nerve to smile. “Look at yourself in a situation like this. You would hound your prey forever, wouldn't you? Until you finally finished the job? You would want your pay."

  She frowned. "Yes." As much as she hated to admit it, Stasio was right. If the League sent assassins after her, she would be in the same boat as the rogues she had been after. Stasio appeared so forlorn, like he was about to lose his best friend in the whole wide world. She poked her finger at his chest. "If I stay with you"—his expression brightened—"I will be every bit as much a rogue as you." His smile broadened. "That is not a good thing."

  "But we will be doing the right thing. You can't take the League's word for everything. It's like listening to the news. Some newscasters report what sells, not the truth. So the League won't look at the problems with the system and make any changes. It has been done like this for hundreds of years. It will continue to be done like this for thousands more. Is it right? No. Does it need to change? Yes. And it doesn't mean we'll make sweeping changes all at once, but if humans need our help, what is wrong in offering it to them?"

  She let out her breath, knowing this was what she would do even if she also knew it was dangerous, could get her killed, and she wasn't sure she was doing the right thing. Yet she also knew that Stasio was right. That change was needed. She had just chosen not to look at it.

  "All right. I'll watch your back; you watch mine," she said.

  "Always," Stasio said, most sincerely.

  “Though I…might change my mind about the battle at the last moment. A woman’s prerogative.”

  “Absolutely.”

  Then she kissed him, and he kissed her back as if they were sealing the bargain. But it was more than that. She was dating him, so no other vampiress need apply. And no human either, who might think she stood a chance with Stasio.

  "Do you think we might be able to win?" she asked.

  "We always stand a chance to win." Stasio smiled, running his hands over her arms.

  "Or lose."

  "Exactly. It's a gamble. Life is in general. When you fight a rogue, you take the chance that you could come out the loser also," Stasio said.

  "True. All right, so I'm in, but don't make me regret this," Jasmine said.

  "I will try not to." He telepathically told the others Jasmine was staying with them.

  His friends were all thrilled. She wasn't sure if it was because they would have lost Stasio too if she had left them behind and he stayed with her or because they genuinely wanted her to be part of the team. She realized that was just what this would be. A team effort.

  Four rogue vampires, one vampire/witch, and one vampire assassin. She had never been part of a team like this. Certainly, never with a group of rogue vampires, but Stasio just drew her in like a vampire could with a human, though she was a vampire, and they couldn't use their charm on another vampire like that. Yet she felt he cast a spell over her that she couldn’t break free of and didn’t want to either. Jasmine hoped Caitlin hadn't used some love spell on her and Stasio.

  Then again, Caitlin hadn't been around when Jasmine had first met Stasio and immediately she'd been hooked on him. Just a little bit.

  “Some time I need to go shopping for some clothes. You all grabbed your bags before you left. All Stasio did was grab me,” Jasmine said.

  For two weeks, the new council met undercover with Levka and his friends, making plans to fight the battle. Stasio thought Jasmine might even be ready to fight. They'd done everything they could to keep everything under wraps. Who knew if the walls had ears, or there were traitors among the rebels who might be willing to turn them in so they would be rewarded for stopping the battle before it even began. Stasio was ready for this. They had to fight in the ancient way with swords and fangs. Though Jasmine was all for using something a little more advanced. So was Ruric who loved to think of the future with laser weapons like they had in “Star Wars.” But they needed to just concentrate on causing as little bloodshed as they could so they didn't alienate too many people who had strong bonds with the current League council members. They also didn’t want other councils to come to their aid, should they worry about their own vampires wanting to follow suit. They hoped they could do this and then it would be over. Stasio and the others could just settle back and enjoy some peace and quiet and do some fun things without having to look over their shoulders all the time.

  They'd agreed—if everything worked out okay—that they would stay in Scotland for as long as they felt comfortable with it, and maybe even plan their own coup in Wales. They just truly hoped that the London League didn't send reinforcements to the established one in Edinburgh. What a mess that would be. They'd tried to come up with every contingency plan to counteract any problem they could foresee. They thought they'd done a good job of it.

  Two more weeks until the Friday that they would go to battle.

  Jasmine had seriously thought of taking off and not participating in this battle. She usually didn’t waffle about missions, but this one was different. She still didn’t feel like she was a rogue vampiress. She didn't feel the need to side with the Scots who wanted to fight the establishment. She was part of the establishment! Or had been. As far as everyone knew, she was still trying to track down Stasio's cousin, so she hadn't been deemed a traitor—or rogue—yet, that she knew of. But if she got into a fight to overthrow a foreign league’s rule that they didn't win, or even if they did, her own League would consider her a rogue. There would go her job and she would be in the same mess Stasio and his friends were in. She really cared about Stasio. So it wasn't like she could just say goodbye and be gone.

  She didn't want him to get hurt, or worse, killed. She didn't want him to do this alone, even though they now had 1500 vampires at their disposal, a few from Wales, because Levka and his friends were involved, and they'd helped in the first attempt at overthrowing their League in Wales. Even some vampires from England and France had shown up to help them fight. She figured they all wanted the same thing. If they fought for the Scottish vampires to overthrow their league, they would want help in turn to do the same thing with their leagues and their archaic rules. It was a sound idea, if the Welsh vampires did help them, and if they were successful in their own coup. That was a lot of ifs. And she wasn't sure that they would make it.

  She liked more of a sure deal. Which was why she liked her job so much. Take down rogues who would put all vampires in a bind. She just hadn’t expected to fall for one who was bound to get her into a world of trouble. She realized she was brave when it came to fighting rogues, but when it came to doing something totally out of her comfort zone? She couldn’t think straight.

  But she had to decide, one way or another. Go with him, fight their cause, whether it was a lost cause or not, and pay the consequences, or leave them behind, tell the New York League that her target had been taken down by hunters, and sign up for a new one. There was always a new vampire rogue who needed to be terminated.

  Gareth, Stasio's cousin, suddenly showed up and he couldn't believe Jasmine was still with them. He eyed her with distrust. Yes, yes, she wasn’t forgetting she was with Levka and the others, and she couldn't honor her contract on Stasio’s cousin any longer.

  "Leave it to Stasio to fall for an assassin who is out to take my head. You can't have it, you know," Gareth said.

  "Yeah, I gathered that. Not after I learned Stasio is your cousin and he and his friends would support you and eliminate me if I tried."

  “Well, as to the coup, I’m always up for a good cause,” Gareth said. “I’m in.”

  Levka said, “Do you have alternative plans if we fail, Scotty? A way to safely get out of the United Kingdom? You know everyone who is involved with the coup will have to find a safe way out.”

  “We have safehouses lined up to go to if we fail at this. Everyone has made their own arrangements. It’s better that way,” Scotty said. “That way none of us know where the others have gone in case some of us are caught and the elders try to force the locations out of us.”

  “Okay, that’s an excellent plan,” Levka said.

  “You have connections though,” Jasmine said. “We’re not from here.”

  “Exactly,” Scotty said. “Some of the elders or their cohorts might have an idea where we are going, if they know of any of our known associates. But with you, you’re all unknowns. So you can make plans on your own that they’ll never be able to tap into.” Scotty moved off to talk with someone on his phone.

  “I can cloak us until we can find a place to hide,” Caitlin said to Levka and the rest of their party.

  “But not for hours,” Levka reminded her.

  That was if Caitlin even made it through the fight. Jasmine wondered if Caitlin had ever been in any kind of a vampire fight. Probably not because she was so newly turned.

  So if Caitlin didn’t make it, then what? Jasmine liked a more substantial exit plan than that. “If we fail, should we split up?” Jasmine had worked by herself for so long, she was used to fending for herself and not having to worry about others. It seemed to her that it would be easier to hide as individuals rather than if they tried to stay together. But the others had always done things together, so she suspected they would stick with each other.

  “We stay together,” Levka said. “We have always taken care of each other, forewarned the others when we learn of trouble, made sure all of us stay safe. When I was injured so badly after saving those girls, I would never have made it out alive if my friends, and then Caitlin, hadn’t taken care of me.”