Chapter 7

(Safety in numbers)

Katie's point of view

I opened my eyes as the road became bumpy and smiled. The sun was rising and I felt a sense of relief. Dracula couldn't come after me at least until tonight. At least I didn't think so. I hadn't been at the count's London estate for long but I hadn't seen a garage anywhere. I'd learned the count could be awake but could not enter direct sunlight. It gave me a sense of peace, at least for now.

The Arcadia I was in had turned off the main road and was heading down a dirt path. I looked around not finding anything. There were several trees and vegetation. I doubted I was actually in London anymore.

"You're awake."

I looked over to my right to see the man that had led me out of Dracula's estate and ultimately away from him sitting next to me. "I'm sorry. I think the flight and…"

"You don't need to apologize. I doubt you've had a good nights' sleep since the Count took you prisoner," He replied.

"No I haven't," I admitted. "I was always afraid of what would happen next."

"You're safe now." I looked toward the front of the vehicle and immediately recognized the blonde man I'd seen at the airport.

"How did…"

"Everything will be explained soon," The blonde man promised looking back in the rear view mirror at me.

"Here we are," A lighter brown haired man said from the driver's seat.

I looked outside to see a one story house covered by treetops. Looking around I noticed everything seemed a bit overgrown to me. Not dirty or, even, over wild; the house blended into the environment very well.

"It's not flashy but blends in well to avoid being easily seen by enemies," The man next to me said.

"I'd rather not ever see that creature again," I said not hiding the fear from my voice.

"We understand," The blonde man said opening my door and helping me out. "I'm Dennis." Gesturing to the other two men, first to the lighter brunette he added, "This is Trent and Memphis."

"Thank you," I said openly appreciative they had saved me.

"You're welcome," Memphis told me. "Come on Monica is probably pacing wondering where we are." Hearing an insistent tap; as if she'd been cued, stood a woman with shoulder length black hair and hazel eyes; tapping her foot. She pointed a wooden spoon at the three men clearly not happy.

The woman named Monica did not look happy and I couldn't help but be concerned it was my presence that she wasn't happy about.

"All three of you have a phone!" She yelled at them. "Not one of you called!"

I watched as two men revealed two broken cell phones. She rolled her eyes and looked at Dennis.

"Well? What's your excuse?"

"You haven't replaced mine since you ran over it two weeks ago," The blonde man replied to the irritated woman.

"Oh…right…well…I've been busy," She replied and turned her eyes my way. "Hi Katie I'm Monica," She said introducing herself. "Come on in." Her voice had suddenly turned from upset to completely friendly. I relaxed and went to her as she motioned for me to approach.

We entered the house and while I wasn't surprised to find it very rustic looking in appearance on the inside I didn't expect to walk in and realize it was so much larger than it appeared. The house might only be one story but it was very spread out and large inside.

"You're back!" A blonde woman said running up and throwing her arms around Dennis. "Why didn't you…"

"Already yelled at them Sonya," Monica told her.

"Did they at least have a good excuse?" Sonya replied cocking her head to the side causing her medium length ponytail to bob.

"Broken phones and…we need to still replace Dennis' phone," The dark haired girl said.

"Ah." Sonya released the blonde man. "Alright I'll let you off this once." Pleased she turned around to face me. "You must have like a million questions, Katie."

"Beginning with how do all of you know my name?" I asked no longer able to contain my curiosity.

"Let's sit down to breakfast and we'll explain," She replied taking my hand and leading me through a large open space before leading me into the eat in kitchen on the other side. We sat down at the table and less than five seconds later a red haired woman put a plate of eggs, hash browns, bacon, and toast.

"Thank you," I told her.

"Sure thing sweetie," The woman who appeared to be in her early forties replied. "Sit down boys," She added and put breakfast before the men that had rescued me as well. Getting her own plate she sat down across from me.

"Katie this is my mom Danielle," Dennis informed me.

"Really?" I asked.

Danielle nodded. "Yep. Been doing this for a long time."

"Doing this?" I watched as the redhead looked at her son.

"Katie fell asleep in the car so we haven't explained anything to her yet," Dennis informed her. Danielle nodded and gestured for him to start talking.

Dennis put his glass of apple juice down and looked at me. "You know Dracula is real so it shouldn't be too hard for you to accept we're slayers."

"So you kill vampires," I replied.

"That and other things that are evil but mostly vampires," Monica replied. I nodded it made sense.

"How we know of you is because Dracula wasn't the only one at the theater the night Dracula took you," Trent said hesitantly. "I was there as well. We were trying to locate Dracula when I followed one of his high minions into the theater."

I became quiet as the slayers informed me that they had not expected to see Dracula that night. When Trent saw Dracula watching me he knew he needed help and had quickly called for backup. Unfortunately by the time anyone else arrived we had already entered the alleyway. They arrived in time to see a limo Dracula had put me in drive away. From that point they had been making plans on how to save me.

"We wanted to save you sooner but his estate was too heavily guarded. This was our best chance. His guards wouldn't fully be in place," Danielle explained.

"We tried to reach you at the airport but couldn't get to you in time," Memphis replied. "Security is a hassle there and we had to be careful."

"Luckily we had already found his new estate here," Sonya replied.

I was disappointed they hadn't saved me sooner but I couldn't be mad at them for being too late. They had tried and they had no reason to save me and they had.

"Dracula kill…well I guess he turned him not killed my ex Sam," I told them.

"Maybe maybe not," Dennis warned. "There was a lot of blood where Sam was attacked. I doubt he could've been turned."

"I've seen him," I replied as a flash of him with the three women returned.

"Careful Katie what you saw might not be the same thing as what you think you saw," Danielle warned. "Dracula is evil and very good at making one thing appear to be something else."

"He was….doing things with other women," I replied sadly.

"He might be turned Katie but he could also be an animated corpse," Monica warned.

I blinked before my brow furrowed confused. "What's an animated corpse?"

"Basically like a Zombie. He may have made it appear that Sam had willingly given you up when in fact he is dead," Danielle replied.

I thought for a moment. "You mean what I saw was…dead people?" The idea horrified me. How could anyone do such a vile thing?

"We couldn't say for sure without seeing Sam again but based off the blood we saw I wouldn't put it past the count," Memphis replied. "He's one twisted sick bastard."

"Why would he just…"

"Choose you?" Sonya asked. I nodded. "Dracula can sense past the obvious."

"I don't understand," I replied looking at the blonde woman hoping for a better explanation.

"He saw your strength Katie," Memphis replied.

"Strength? He terrifies me!" I said shocked. I shook my head. "I'm not brave or strong."

"Yes you are," Danielle replied. "I've seen girls who have only had a moment with him and they shake a cry for months; even years. He kept you close Katie and while you may fear him you're not falling apart here and now. You're upset and scared but you're far stronger than you realize."

"I really don't think…."

"If he came through that window right now and attacked you what would you do?" The red-haired woman asked me pointedly.

"Try and get away."

"Exactly. You'd try and fight. Others would fall to their knees and beg for mercy but you'd try to get away. He hasn't broken you," The slayers mother said.

"What happens now?" I asked.

"We work to take him out," Dennis replied.

"What can I do to help?" I asked. I wanted Dracula gone and I'd help any way I could.

Monica smiled at me. "I'm sure we can come up with something." The other slayers nodded in agreement.

Dracula's point of view

I cursed as I looked at the picture of a slayer in my hand. He'd been one of the flight attendants on the plane. I didn't know how I'd missed it but I'd make him pay for taking Katie from me. I cursed again realizing my enemies had her. Enemies I knew would speak only hate if me.

A frown crossed my face. There was no doubt they would turn my beautiful bride further against me. I didn't even know if they'd forcefully taken her or she'd willingly gone. If it was willing I'd have to punish her upon her return. If not I would force her to watch their suffering so that she would fear not being at my side.

"Master."

I looked up to see Sedrick standing at the door. "Come," I told him. My servant immediately approached. He laid an envelope on my desk and bowing backed away. Sedrick frowned and lowered his eyes to the floor. 'Not a good sign for me,' I thought to myself. I looked at the envelope and knew I would not like what I saw.

Opening the envelope I was surprised to see pictures. Seeing a picture of Katie at the Theater I smiled. She had been a vision in her pink dress. It took me only a moment when I realized there was a slayer in the background. I wasn't shown in the picture but I wouldn't be. Vampires don't show up on film. It's why there are paintings of us but not photographs.

I growled as the fact they'd seen me watching my dark haired beauty. They had probably followed after Katie but had been too late. Angrily I picked up the stapler and threw it across the room and into the wall.

"There's more." I looked at Sedrick less than pleased. I watched as he walked over and opening the cabinet revealed the TV and turned it on. The security cameras came on and I immediately growled as I watched Katie willingly go with the slayers and get into a suburban and drive away.

"I will punish her!" I snarled angrily as I swiped my hand across the desk and knocked all of its contents on to the floor. "Find her now!"

Katie's point of view

I'd never felt as safe as I did here with so many slayers. I watched through the day as some of them performed maintenance on some of their weapons while others trained or made new weapons.

At first I had thought it was a small group of slayers that had saved me but I quickly learned there were more as the day continued.

I stood at the sink in the kitchen peeling carrots as I helped prepare the evening meal. I'm not a slayer so right now this was the most help I could be.

"Hey Danielle. Do you know where…" Hearing a voice I looked over to see a man with curly dark blonde hair and medium blue eyes.

"Parker this is Katie," Danielle said introducing us.

I think I stopped breathing when he looked at me. Parker was tall and skinny but not a bean pole. His chest was broad and even clothed I was sure he was very fit; probably from being a slayer. "Hi," I said feeling suddenly shy.

Parker smiled at me. "Hi."

"Katie is the young lady Memphis, Trent and Dennis rescued early this morning," She informed the handsome man. "Parker here is one of our best slayers," The woman added a moment later. "What was it you needed?" Danielle asked.

"Huh? Oh right. Do you have any more black locust bark?" The slayer inquired.

"Let me check. Katie when you're done you should take a break," Danielle told me. "I'll be right back she told Parker and left the kitchen leaving us alone.

"I have to admit I'm surprised you're in the kitchen," Parker commented.

"It's where I can help," I replied and turned back to continue peeling the carrot I had previously started. "I don't know anything about weapons or slaying but this I know how to do," I told him.

"That's not what I meant," He said as he came to where I was and leaned on the counter. "Most women don't hold up this well so quickly after they've been in Dracula's presence. He's not normally nice."

"He's cruel and manipulative," I said openly despising the creature that had kidnapped me.

"Yes he is," Parker agreed. "At least he didn't hurt you." I looked down and away. "Katie…" I couldn't stop the tears that formed and began to fall. "I know losing your boyfriend couldn't have been easy. It will get…"

"He marked me," I said sadly. "He branded me."

"What?" Parker said angrily. "That Jackass!"

"Why are you…"

"Bastard branded her!" Parker said upon Danielle's questioning.

"Where?" Danielle asked. "We need to check for infection."

"On my rear," I replied as I shuddered at the memory.

"It's okay Katie," Parker said pulling me into his arms. "It doesn't mean anything. You don't belong to him."

"Parker watch the stove," Danielle instructed. "Come with me Katie. I need to check it." Reluctantly I pulled away from the slayer that was holding me comfortingly and went with the woman who seemed to direct everything.