The Dark Prince's Captive • Complete

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲-𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫 - 𝑹𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓

Everyone was quiet on the drive down to Comana, even when we hit Bucharest traffic and Alex spent half the time laying on the horn as he dodged cars who had little appreciation for lane delineations. I had yet to see a car accident, but I didn’t know how the Romanians managed it with as little respect they gave to lanes and turn signals. Cars packed the highway four abreast even though there were only three lanes. Sometimes five.

Occasionally, a car would pass by playing loud dance music with a heavy bass thumping wub wub wub.

I got the feeling Alex and Savannah might have been more talkative—they kept exchanging significant glances in the rearview mirror—except for the fact that Savannah was sitting in the back with Mihai. Aka, the reason they were staying so quiet.

They couldn’t risk leaving him behind and since they didn’t exactly know of a safe house or somewhere to lock him up, the only thing to do was to bring him along. Plus, as much trouble as he’d caused… well, Alex had decided we had to be practical. Mihai was the only one of us who’d even been to Comana before, so he’d have to act as a guide. An unwilling guide, but as slow as traffic was, it was looking like it would be past dusk by the time we got there.

We’d be out in the vast Comana forest at night. We needed someone who knew the trails. And Alex had destroyed Mihai’s phone at Poenari, so it wasn’t like he could tell anyone where we were going next.

A few hours later, by the time our tiny Dacia pulled into the small parking lot of Comana monastery, it was twilight. I shivered. Why did we have to keep doing these things in the dark?

The sun had dipped past the horizon about an hour ago and we’d almost missed the turnoff for the monastery in the dark.

“Sooooooo,” Savannah finally said, pulling her seatbelt to the side and leaning forward until her head was between Alex’s seat and mine. “We’re all just gonna ignore the elephant in the room? We sort of just escalated to dropping bodies and kidnapping here without ever really talking it over.”

Alex’s eyes flicked to the rear-view and he glared at Savannah—a not so subtle shut the hell up in front of the captive.

Savannah quickly lifted her hands defensively. “I’m not saying I disagree with anything you’ve done. I know those guys attacked us and it was all self-defense. But what are the authorities gonna say when they find them like that?”

I swallowed hard. I didn’t want to think about anything she was mentioning. I just wanted to end this and go home.

“And…like, what’s the plan here? Are we thinking ahead about what we do with this one” —she whispered while jerking a thumb towards the back seat— “when we’re all finished with our little task?”

“I won’t tell anyone,” Mihai inserted hurriedly, obviously overhearing. “I never saw thing. I swear, I won’t tell!”

“Shut up!” both Alex and Savannah said at the same time.

I looked back and forth between their tense faces as they shared another glance.

“We can’t back out now,” Alex said, his jaw flexing as he kept his eyes ahead on the dark road. “We’ll never get another chance like this. There wasn’t any surveillance at the castle, thank Christ. It’ll take time for them to trace our identities from any forensic evidence we might have left behind. And by that point, we’ll be long gone.”

Savannah bit her lip but then nodded. “You’re right, there’s no stopping now.”

Movement from over her shoulder caught my eye. At her words, Mihai had started struggling even more vigorously against the zip-ties holding his wrists together.

He should bleed for his betrayal.

I jolted in my seat at the thought.

No, what the hell? Where had that come from? I rubbed my forehead as Savannah pushed further into our space. I was getting a headache. When was the last time I ate something? God, was I faint or something?

“So seriously, what’s the plan?” Savannah asked again.

Bleed him.

I choked a little and squirmed in my chair.
Savannah stopped in the middle of what she was saying and turned to me. “Are you okay?”

“Fine,” I coughed out, waiting for her to continue. But it was a damn lie. The little voice in my head was louder, and there was this pressure, like the front of my skull was pressing against my forehead from the inside, pounding and threatening to burst out.

What the hell was going on? I didn’t— I wasn’t—

“We won’t hurt him,” I said loudly, in a way I hoped sounded final. Did they hear it?
How it sounded like I was trying to convince myself?

“We’ll do what we have to at the monastery and then let him go,” I kept on, my voice still too loud. “We’ll leave him behind and go before he can tell anyone. Everything will be fine. It’ll all be fine.”

Savannah and Alex exchanged another glance, as if they were trying to silently communicate something about me this time.

Oh God, I’d sounded weird, hadn’t I? I felt sweat break out on the back of my neck. Wait, what was I even worried about? I was fine. Everything was fine.

…I knew what it was, though, even if it didn’t make sense to me.

I was worried…that they’d find out my secret.

But what secret?

I didn’t have any secrets.

Still though, there was… it was like there was something wrong with me. Alex took the corner a little sharply and my head swam as we braked hard.

I blinked and tried to clear my suddenly blurred vision. Everything had gone dizzy for several seconds before settling back into place.

Whoa. I grabbed the sides of my seat, still trying to catch my balance. I didn’t feel so good, if I actually thought about it.

I was nauseous and dizzy and sweating a lot. I lifted a hand to my head.

“River?” Alex said. “You sure you’re okay?”

“Oh my God, stop it already,” I laughed him off, turning my head toward the passenger side window so they could only see the back of my head. The last thing I needed was to slow them down because I may or may not be running a tiny temperature.

We just needed to get this done. Find Dracula’s long lost remains. Burn the bones. Break the curse.

The only reason we might have people looking for us was because we’d gone to Poenari castle—and we’d only ended up there because I’d had a crazy half-baked plan based off of a strong gut feeling.
I’d never followed a “gut feeling” before in my whole life. My life had been ruled by logic, strict scheduling, and the ever-present knowledge that if I didn’t keep my shit together, my life as I knew it would crumble around me—including the lives of those depending on me.

I was the kind of girl who kept elaborate spreadsheets tracking receipts, accounted for every cent received and spent, and read as many reviews as I could get my hands on before ever leaving my house to go to a restaurant, or theater, or…anywhere.

I did not go off of my gut.

“We’re here,” Alex said as we pulled into a small parking that was mostly gravel and had maybe been paved twenty years ago.

Sorry for the slow progression of the story. Click on the star, don't forget!