She coughed, trying not to be sick.
The bald man grabbed her elbow and dragged her farther into the alley.
“Get up,” he demanded.
She tried to pull away, but he had hold of her elbow. She twisted, rolling to her side and kicking wildly. He cursed and she scrambled away, trying to get to her unsteady feet.
Suddenly he loomed over her, grasping her arm and pulling her to face him. Without warning he punched her with a closed fist, breaking her glasses and her nose. Blood spurted, falling in great, fat droplets to the ground.
She howled in pain, tearing the broken glasses from her face. Tears sprang from her eyes as she covered her face with her hand, fighting to breathe through her mouth.
The man yanked her to her feet. He pulled her by the hair and swung her against the wall.
Raven saw stars, pain shooting from her forehead.
The world spun and began to slow as two of the men pushed her chest against the wall, pinning her arms out to her sides. The ringleader stood behind her, his hands lifting her shirt.
Roughly, his fingers climbed her naked skin until they closed over her bra. He squeezed her breasts, making a crude joke. His companions seemed to encourage him, but Raven was no longer able to understand the words they were saying.
She felt as if she were underwater. Her head pounded and she gasped for air, trying not to choke on the blood that dripped down her throat.
The man unzipped his fly and pressed himself against her backside. His hand trailed to her waistband. With a flick of his fingers, he unbuttoned her jeans.
She struggled as his hand slid into her pants.
“Stop! Please. Please.”
A young woman’s cries, slurred and desperate, reached the Prince’s ears. In the distance, he could sense the approach of Lorenzo, his lieutenant, and Gregor, his assistant. Others of their kind were not far behind.
The Prince increased his pace, unwilling to share the source of the sweetest vintage he’d smelled in centuries. The scent seemed almost familiar, so much so that his already heightened desire was coupled with nostalgia. A nostalgia he had no wish to indulge.
His cunning and prudence had served him well, enabling him to survive while others had been dispatched to whatever afterlife abominations such as he deserved. He did not act without caution, which was why he stopped at the edge of a rooftop and peered into the alley below.
The narrow alley was lit by a single streetlamp. He could see a young woman who was being held by three men, one of whom was molesting her from behind, his fly open, his stiffened member rubbing against her. The other men cheered him on, pinning her against the wall like a crucifixion.
The imagery was not lost on him.
It would have been a simple thing for the Prince to steal the victim from her attackers and spirit her away, descending to another darkened alley in order to drain her of her prize.
He closed his eyes for a moment, inhaling deeply, and was seized by recollection: a half-naked woman lying at the foot of a stone wall, her body broken, her innocence taken, her blood crying out to him from the ground . . .
Revenge.
His appetite for food was swiftly replaced by a greater appetite, one that had been quietly fed over the centuries by anger and regret. The illustrations he’d taken great care to steal dropped from his hands unheeded as he leapt from the roof.
“What the—” The man was dead before he could finish his sentence, his head ripped from his body and casually tossed aside like a football.
The other men released the woman and attempted to run, but the Prince caught them handily, sending them to hell with a few swift movements.
When he turned to claim his prize, he found she’d fallen to the ground, the sweet scent of her blood heavy in the air. She seemed unconscious, her eyes tightly shut, her face battered.
“Cassita vulneratus,” he whispered, crouching next to her.
She opened large green eyes and stared up at him through the raindrops.
“A girl. How disappointing.” A woman’s voice broke the silence. “From the scent of her I thought she was a child.”
The Prince turned to find four of his citizens standing nearby—Aoibhe, a tall woman with long red hair, and three men, Maximilian, Lorenzo, and Gregor. All had pale faces and all stared hungrily in Raven’s direction, but not before bowing to their prince.
“How did such a delicacy go unnoticed? If I’d smelled her in the street, I’d have taken her.” Aoibhe moved closer, her posture regal and elegant. “Come, then. She’s old enough and easily shared. I’ve not drunk a vintage that sweet since I fed on English children.”
“No.” The Prince’s voice was low. He moved almost imperceptibly, standing between the girl and the others, obscuring her from sight.
“Surely, Prince, you would not deny us.” Maximilian, the largest man, gestured in the direction of the various body parts of the three dead men. “The others are dead and reek of vice.”
“There’s an unspoiled corpse by the bridge. You can have it, with my compliments. But I have first rights to the girl.” The Prince’s voice was quiet, but it held an undercurrent of steel.
“Your prize is almost a corpse,” Aoibhe spat out. “I can hear her heart stuttering.”
In response to the woman’s words, the Prince turned in the girl’s direction. Her eyes were closed and her breathing was labored.
“What a mess!” one of the other men exclaimed, his Italian accented with Russian. He stepped forward, examining the bodies of her attackers, coming perilously near their victim.
A growl escaped the Prince’s throat.
The Russian stopped abruptly.
“Pardon, my lord.” He took a cautious step back. “I meant no disrespect.”
“See to the perimeter, Gregor. If no one wants the other corpse, remove it.”
The young assistant scurried off into the street.
“Not even a feral would want to drink from them.” Everyone turned to look at Maximilian, his focus on the mutilated men.
His eyes moved to his ruler and narrowed. “I thought the Prince didn’t kill for sport.”
“Cave, Maximilian.” The Prince’s voice was threatening.
“Are you challenging the kill?” Lorenzo, the Prince’s lieutenant, stepped forward.
A noticeable tension hung in the air at the sound of his words. Everyone stared at Maximilian, awaiting his response.
He glanced from the Prince to the bleeding girl and back again, his blue eyes calculating.
“If the Prince never kills for sport, why are these men dead? He could have stolen her easily.”