Just on chance, he even opened the fridge. He was a little surprised by the bag of blood he found, but it made sense considering the things the waiter had told him.
He moved to the dining room and began going through the china hutch built into the wall. There was no china in it, but it did hold a bunch of books and a couple of ceramic cups that looked as if they had been made by a child.
He planted his hands on his hips and glanced around. A smirk worked its way across his lips when he spotted a pile of mail sitting on a small table near the door. He quickly walked over and picked it up. He leafed through them to make sure they were all addressed to the same person, and they were. Now he had a name.
Quinn Anderson.
The name Quinn seemed to fit the guy, but not the Anderson part. Dmitri didn't know if it was an alias or not, and it didn't really matter. He could at least stop referring to the guy as "the waiter."
He pulled out his phone and dialed Prince Marcus. "I have a name. Quinn Anderson."
"Good," Prince Marcus replied. "I'll get someone on it."
He glanced toward the door when someone knocked. "I need to go. Someone is here."
"Call me if there is a problem."
"Yes, sire." Dmitri hung up, slid his phone back into his pocket, and walked to the door. He could tell even before he grabbed the door handle that two vampires stood on the other side. Luckily, he recognized them.
Dmitri pulled open the door and then nodded to Nico and Saul. He stepped out onto the porch and closed the door behind him. "Set up a perimeter. Keep an eye out for rogues. I will remain here inside the house to watch over the occupants."
"What are the chances we'll encounter more rogues?" Nico asked. "I thought we already took them in."
"The man here, who is that waiter that warned us back at the restaurant, seems to be of interest to the rogues." Dmitri didn't admit that Quinn was a rogue himself. "Prince Marcus wants us to keep him and his kids safe until morning, when we are supposed to take him back to meet the prince."
Nico's dark eyebrow arched. "Kids?'
"There are three little ones. A boy around eight, a little girl around three, and an infant." He grimaced as he thought about the other information he'd learned. "The children are half vampire and require blood."
Both of Nico's eyebrows shot up as he glanced toward the house. "They are vampires?"
"Technically, they are rogues, but there are mitigating circumstances, which is why Prince Marcus wishes to speak with Quinn. Our duty is to make sure they are safe so they can meet with our prince."
Both men gave a quick nod.
"Try not to wake the children if you can help it." Dmitri gave each man a stern warning look. "Quinn threatened to make me deal with them if I woke them up. I will do the same to you."
Saul shuddered, but Nico just chuckled.
"I have a younger sister. I spent a lot of time caring for her during the Civil War while our father was off fighting. I remember what she was like."
"I'm not sure if you're aware of this," Saul said, "but the world has changed a lot since the Civil War, dude."
Nico smirked. "Maybe, but I doubt children have."
That was probably true, but Dmitri wouldn't know. So few children were born nowadays, he'd never really dealt with them. He wasn't sure he wanted to either. It wasn't like he could engage them in a sword fight or anything.
Dribble may or may not rust sword blades.
It was debatable.
"Go secure the perim—" Dmitri didn't even get the chance to finish what he was saying before he smelled vampires in the area, and the scent wasn't coming from the two in front of him or those inside the house. "Go!"
Nico and Saul took off.
Dmitri drew his sword and narrowed his eyes as he scanned the area. The scent was growing stronger, telling him that the vampires were coming closer, but he still couldn't figure out where they were or which direction they were coming from.
He heard a shout to the left side of the house and took off running. When he rounded the corner, he took a second to assess the situation—Nico and Saul were both in hand-to-hand combat with five rogue vampires—and then jumped into the battle.
He swung his sword, slicing through the first rogue he came to. Luckily, the man's back was to him and he was able to easily dispatch him. The next rogue wasn't so easy. He'd seen his buddy go down and spun to take Dmitri on.
It was a mistake, but it was one that Dmitri paid for with blood and sweat. The rogue was good. He could have been a great enforcer if he hadn't decided breaking council rules was more important. By the time Dmitri took his head, he had several small nicks and one slice down his arm that could probably do with some stitches.
"Is that all of them?" he asked as he leaned back against the side of the house. He was feeling a little woozy, his head spinning and his stomach swirling. He might have underestimated the damage caused by the wound in his side.
"I counted five," Nico said. "I didn't smell any others."
"Saul, go check the house. Nico, help me inside."
Saul took off.
Dmitri hated admitting he needed help, but, he needed help. He winced when Nico's arm wrapped around his waist. After taking a couple of deep breaths, he placed his arm around Nico's shoulders and then they started for the front door.
"You need blood, Dmitri."
"Yeah, I know." Blood would help him heal quicker and give him a boost of energy. He suspected he would need both. "Is there any in the car?"
Nico shook his head. "We didn't get time to restock the vehicle from the last time we took on some rogues."
"We need to think about doing that from now on. Maybe a new order that all vehicles need to be fully stocked before they leave the prince's estate."
"Put Gavril in charge of it. He'll assign someone to do it." Nico snickered. "Probably Raymond."
Dmitri grunted. "Would serve him right."
He was not thrilled that they had to take Raymond on after he'd betrayed his tribe and tried to steal Aldrich's mate. Aldrich was the head enforcer of Prince Nikolas Vaile's tribe, and very good at what he did. He'd almost torn the tribe apart when his mate had been kidnapped.
Dmitri was glad they had gotten Mateo back unharmed, but having to deal with Raymond's bitching made him want to run the vampire through with his sword. If he had to hear one more time how Raymond hadn't known mates were real so he wasn't responsible for his actions, Dmitri was going to send the guy back.
Nico tightened his hold when Dmitri stumbled going up the front steps. "You really need to get some blood."
"I'll call the house and have someone send some over." It would take a little bit for the synthetic blood to arrive, but the wound wasn't fatal. Just painful.
When they got inside the house, Nico led him over to the couch. Dmitri sank down and then leaned back, letting out a deep sigh as some of the burning agony in his side faded. "Sword wounds suck."
Nico chuckled. "And that is why we're trained to not get stabbed. You should try it sometime."
"Yeah, I'll get right on that, just as soon as I stop bleeding." Dmitri glanced up when Saul came into the room. "Anything?"