Chapter 3

Nicholas POV

I couldn't help but be in the greatest mood that next morning. I had finally grew a pair and asked Lucy out on a date. Well it's not really a date, date because I'm sure she doesn't think of it as that but it's a step forward. I figured the best way to court Lucy was through food but most of all chocolate. I smiled to myself thinking about her crazy rant yesterday.

"Why are you so damn chipper this morning?" Marcus said, his eyebrow raised. Crap was it really that obvious?

"Good morning to you too. Can't I just love my big brother?" I said while trying to hug him with all my might.

"Yeah…this is strange and I regret asking. Anyway, can i I use your car? Mine has an empty tank." Marcus said. This is going to ruin my plans for me and Lucy.

"Why do you need it? I was planning on going out in an hour." I said trying not to reveal my plans.

"Well Mom, Dad and Sebastian need a ride home since they trashed their car in a Hel-Blar attack." he said nonchalantly "Of course Mom thought it'd be entertaining to run over a group of them."

Well this was just my luck. It's not like I could say no; Mom would kill me. I grabbed my keys off the counter and tossed them at Marcus. Not missing a beat he caught them mid-air, grumbled a thanks, and left. How did my day go from great to horrid so fast? I thought of yesterday and an idea came to me. Maybe today wouldn't be so bad.

Lucy POV

"That cheating son of a-" Solange started. I had slept over two doors down into Sol's room to tell her everything that had happened yesterday. After an hour of her interrogation, I also told her what occurred with a certain brother of hers, even though I was about confused as she was.

"Hey at least we'd only been dating a month rather than it happening later on." I said trying to calm her down.

"I don't care Lucy, nobody should treat you like that. Wait until any of my brothers' find out what that ungrateful pig did to you." she warned.

"Sol please don't! I don't want anyone's pity, including yours, I'm fine." I begged. I didn't like Julian either but I didn't want anyone in a body bag, which is what will happen if the they all got involved.

"Fine. I'll call off the cavalry but if you ever change your mind, say the word and…you know." she implied. Solange was usually most calm and the least violent in her family so this conversation astounded me.

"Wow. It seems I've been rubbing off on you, young grasshopper, that was violent…I'm so proud!" I joked. I glanced at the clock on the wall and gasped. I needed to start getting ready. After what seemed like hours of Solange's teasing about Nick and Lucy sitting in a tree, I left her room. I went to my room showered in ten minutes, changed into a yellow sundress, and was heading towards the garage when something stopped me. What was that smell? My mouth began to water and I floated to the kitchen. Chocolate. The sight before me caused me to stop in my tracks. Nicholas was in the kitchen making enough chocolate pancakes to feed an army and was wearing an apron with a smiley face on it; it even included fangs. I collapsed into a chair and marveled at him. Since when did Nicky cook?

"You can stop drooling and help by fixing up the table, you know." Nicholas said without even looking at me. I disliked that smug tone in his voice but did as he asked and started gathering plates and utensils.

"So I'm guessing we're staying in this morning?" I asked, curious to what brought that on so early in the day.

"Well, you guessed correctly. Marcus took my car to go pick up Mom, Dad and Sebastian, who are going to be here late in the afternoon, so I figured I'd give you the next best thing by making you and everyone else breakfast." he explained.

"Oh dear Nicholas! How so very kind and generous of you! Is there anything at all I can do to repay this wonderful deed of yours?" I said batting my lashes and in my best southern belle accent. I even stood up and added a little curtsy.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, you can try some of MY delicious, home-made, chocolate-fudge pancakes." he said in his version of a British accent. Which sucked, by the way. I laughed at him meanwhile he prepared a plate of pancakes. He grabbed a fork, cut a piece of a pancake, looked me straight in the eye, lifted my chin closer to his and slowly fed it to me. It would have been the sexiest thing if Logan hadn't walked in two seconds later.

"Morning Lucy. Nick, what's with your face?" he asked. Then his eyes looked back at me, then again towards Nicholas. "Oh. Oh. Well then. I guess that's my cue to get the hell out. Wait a minute, I take it back, are those pancakes?" Nicholas shot daggers at him and then rolled his eyes at Logan's mindless chatter. Soon the rest of the pests, followed by Solange, came crawling into the kitchen for breakfast. I loved the feeling of having a huge family, no matter how annoying they can be at times, it filled the void of my parents. Watching Quinn fling food at his brothers and Solange scolding them for acting like pigs, made me smile and grateful for their company. Nicholas saw my dopey smile and lifted his eyebrow, so I stuck my tongue out at him. The family moment was ruined when the lights began to go on and off, as if they were panicked. The silent alarm. Conner got up and looked outside the living room window.

"Hel-Blar. Let's go, there aren't too many. Nicholas you stay here with Solange and Lucy." he ordered. The boys all went from joking to protective in less than an instant. As soon as Solange's creepy stalker, Montmartre, was dead they could all rest easy. There was an ancient prophecy that foretold a girl would be born, not made, into the Drake family and become queen blah blah blah. Solange was said girl to be born in a trillion years, so she happened to have multiple vampires courting her and giving her unwanted gifts and attention. Montmartre just so happened to have created the Hel-Blar as his personal slaves, which he sent to give gifts and maim a few of us in the process.

As everyone sprang into action, Logan went into the forbidden (well at least to me) weaponry room and took out stakes, a crossbow, and other pointy stuff (hence the forbidden to me part).

"Can I get a crossbow?!" I asked him. Everyone stopped and glared at me. "Is that a no, then?" They all continued to stare and I tried to look not so me-like.

"Not just no, but hell no. Did you forget what happened with Marcus last time? None of us want a gaping hole in our chests." Logan retorted. They all shuddered simultaneously. Nobody's ever going to let me forget that one, but it was worth a shot. Once again everyone got moving. Logan threw a few stakes at Conner and Duncan. Quinn took the crossbow smugly, and winked at me. They headed outside while Nick and Solange stayed with me. We could hear the fight outside, along with Quinn and Logan arguing over who got to kill this or kill that. Ugh, boys. Somewhere in the house, a window shattered, it was so close we heard the glass fall, and then the crunch as someone stepped into the house.

"Shit!" Nicholas cursed. He grabbed Solange and I by the arm, then continued moving us inside the weaponry, shoved the deadbolt in place and we waited. Inside, the room was lit by a chandelier that held multiple candles, which casted shadows on the walls. Almost all the wooden walls held different weapons on it, all ranging from stakes to samurai swords. Surely Helena chose all the weapons because there were plenty torturing devices in the room. The only remotely normal thing in the room was an ordinary bookcase, which stood out immensely. Nick lifted a finger to his mouth to point out the obvious.

THUD.

THUD.

THUD.

We all flinched when the sound of a body meeting the heavy door came again and again. Despite the look Nicholas gave me, I grabbed an axe and smiled a Cheshire grin. He shook his head, took the axe, and gave me a wimpy stake. Solange armed herself with a crossbow (no fair) and stood in front of me facing the door. I gave her a no way look and moved beside of her instead of behind.

TH-THUD. TH-THUD.

Great. Now there were multiple bodies throwing themselves at the door. How the hell are we going to get out of this now?

"Don't worry, Mom made sure these doors were strong enough to sustain a ridiculous amount of pressure. There's an entrance to the tunnels somewhere in here, help me find it." Nicholas ordered in a hushed tone. We all looked around trying to find loose floorboards or hidden levers, when a thought came to me. The bookcase. I walked to the corner of the room and started pulling out books hoping one would cause a hidden door or staircase to reveal itself.

Nicholas looked at me and scowled, "Lucy, this isn't some comic book-" He was interrupted by the soft click coming from behind the bookshelves.

"Help me move the bookcase, Mr. Know-it-all." I said with a smirk. As soon as it was out of the way, there was a cool breeze rising from the missing part of the wall. A tunnel appeared, lit by torches on the walls and a few cobwebs splattered here and there. As we all entered, leading was yours truly, followed by Sol, with Nick holding up the rear as he put the case back in place.

"Mom always said that the tunnels all led to the openings in the woods surrounding the house." Solange said. Even though I couldn't see her, I could hear the worry for her brothers in her voice.

"We have to get out there. Who knows how the others are doing, they could've been ambushed." Nicholas said voicing our worries. We continued onwards at the fastest pace the tunnel allowed, since the walls were so close together, we were forced to continue in a single file. We walked for a few minutes without a change in scenery and I felt we were making no progress, when the tunnel opened up into a small cave-like room. And by room, I mean it was big enough to fit all three of us, if we stood closely. At least I learned something new today: it turns out I'm claustrophobic. The walls were made of rock and the roof was about four feet taller than Nicholas, but it had light shining through a small opening, the size of a large doggy door.

"Sol, you're going to have to stand on my shoulders and try to go through the opening. Once you're up there, I'll lift Lucy up into it so you can help her." Nicholas suggested.

"How are you going to get up?" I asked. He looked at me as if I bumped my head. Oh, right. He was a vampire, so of course he could levitate or use some other cool method to get up, like jump. He lifted Solange up as if she weighed no more than a backpack and then it was my turn. Nick kneeled down on one knee, I put my foot on his shoulder and tried to stand. As soon as I was balanced, he stood up slowly and lifted me up the small doorway to the outside world where Solange waited to help me up. After that whole ordeal was over and done with, Nicholas seemed to easily lift himself out of the opening. From the outside it was nearly undetectable because of the size, so unless a person got their foot caught, it was invisible to the naked eye.

"The house should be this way, it'll take a while to get there but who knows how many Hel-Blar are in the house, or in the forest surrounding it. With that being said, we should move quickly but quietly." Nicholas said. I wonder where this side of him came from, the hot, commanding side, that is. Today I saw multiple sides of Nicholas Drake but my favorite was the one who makes chocolate pancakes and feeds-

"Lucky? What the hell? Snap out of it, you've been daydreaming for a while now. Did you even hear a word I just said?!" And then there was the side of him that made me extremely annoyed. I stomped on his foot and proceeded to walk with Solange towards the house. As it came into our line of sight we saw, Quinn and Conner side by side, taking on about six vampires by themselves, and by the looks of it they were losing. Inside there was more commotion which meant Logan and Duncan were most likely fighting for their lives as well. Nicholas appeared to be distraught. He looked back and forth as if he were deciding on whether or not to go help his brothers, or stay and protect his baby sister. Solange decided to take matters into her own hands instead. She bolted forward as soon as it looked like the twins' were losing their upper hand.

"Solange, no!" Nick yelled after her. While she ran towards them, Nick grabbed hold of me, looked me in the eye, and said "Don't go anywhere Lucy, I mean it." Then he left to get Sol out of harm's way. As soon as the Hel-Blar caught a whiff of her scent they stopped paying attention to Quinn and Conner, big mistake on their part, and focused on Sol. As they began to advance on her, Conner shoved a stake in in one's back, turning it to ash, and Quinn managed to shoot an arrow straight into another. That left four, who paid no attention to either of her brothers. Solange threw a stake, but it caught one of the Hel-Blar's shoulder instead of its heart and continued to pursue her. By this time Logan and Duncan came outside bloodied and bruised, but otherwise unharmed, to try and help. I hated having to wait and hope for a positive outcome, but if I tried to help, I'd only be a distraction to them all. Nicholas positioned himself in front of Solange, which made him their target as they continued with caution. Predator's hunting their prey. He didn't have any weapons on him until Sol threw a stake, which he caught and killed another, barely avoiding a claw to the face. If any of them got bitten or even scratched…they'd be turned into one of them. One down, three to go. Nicholas, Logan, Duncan, Quinn and Conner finished the last remaining Hel-Blar with ease. As soon as Nicholas, flushed from adrenaline, looked back towards me, I saw his face visibly pale.

"LUCYYYY!" he yelled. Then the world went black as I suffered a blow to the head, and felt a pair of hands carry me into the unknown.