"No," Saul replied. "No rogues, no vampires, no children, nothing."
Dmitri sat up so fast his head spun. "What do you mean no children?"
There should have been children.
"Just what I said," Saul replied as he gestured back down the hallway. "Ain't no one back there."
Dmitri swayed a bit when he stood, but was able to quickly start walking. He hurried down the hallway, Nico and Saul right on his heels. He threw open every door he came to and scanned the interior of each room.
They were all empty.
He lifted his nose into the air and drew in a lungful of air. He felt a bit like a dog trying to sniff out a bone, but it had the same effect. "I don't smell any other vampires."
Saul's forehead crinkled. "Do you think they left?"
Dmitri's eyes narrowed. "I think that's exactly what they did."
Quinn, the little shit. He'd purposely lulled Dmitri into a false sense of security, making him think the guy was agreeing to meet with Prince Marcus when he planned to run the entire time. And Dmitri had totally bought it.
He was obviously an idiot, but he wouldn't be fooled twice. As soon as he found Quinn, he was going to handcuff the guy to his wrist until he could turn him over to the prince.
"We need to go after them." He refused to admit to the prince that he'd lost the guy.
"You need to call and have someone bring you some blood first," Nico said. "You're in no condition to go chasing off after anyone."
Unfortunately, Nico was right.
"There was a bag of blood in the refrigerator earlier," Dmitri said. "Go check and see if it's still there." He wasn't sure if Quinn and the kids had left before or after he'd searched the place.
Nico hurried into the kitchen, coming back a moment later with the bag of blood and a glass. He poured some of the blood into the glass and then handed it to Dmitri. "You can't get into trouble for drinking human blood if it doesn't come directly from the source, can you?"
Dmitri shook his head. "No, as long as it's bagged, it's fair game."
Knowing Quinn had meant this blood to go to the kids, Dmitri grimaced before taking a large swallow. He barely got past the first gulp when he felt it. A raging in his veins. A pounding in his head. A pulse that beat faster than his heart.
A warm glow flowed through him. His entire being sang with joy, and he felt blissfully happy, fully alive for the first time in his life. A soft gasp escaped him as he realized what this meant. It was quickly followed by a rage so great, it almost took him to his knees.
Dmitri clenched his jaw to kill the sob building in his throat. "Quinn is my rajaaka."
Chapter Five
Quinn ushered the kids up the steps and into the clinic. Unlike most clinics, this one was open twenty-four hours a day. Granted, the staff changed shifts, but the doors remained open. Dr. Webster said injuries didn't only happen during the daylight hours. In fact, statistics showed that more people got injured or were sicker at night than during the day.
Whatever the reasons the doors remained open, Quinn was just thankful they were. He needed a safe place to hide until he could figure out his next move.
Once inside, he walked up to the reception desk. "Is Dr. Webster still here?"
"Sorry." The nurse behind the counter sent him a quick smile. "He's already left for the day."
"Can you call him for me?"
Her eyebrows lifted.
"Please. I just need to ask him something. It's really important."
The woman's eyes dropped to the baby strapped to Quinn's chest. "I'm not really supposed to do this…"
"It's a matter of life or death, I swear."
She stared for another moment before picking up the phone and dialing. "Dr. Webster, there's a young man here who says he needs to speak with you. He says it's a matter of life or death."
"Tell him it's Quinn."
"He says his name is Quinn." Her eyes rounded as she handed over the phone.
"Sorry for the late call, Doc."
"What's wrong, Quinn?"
"We had late-night visitors, the wrong sort. The kids and I had to run. I need a place to crash until morning. Is that apartment still vacant upstairs on the third floor?"
"Yes," the doctor replied. "You can stay as long as you like. Hand the phone back to my nurse and I'll have her give you the keys."
Quinn handed the phone back to the nurse.
The woman nodded a couple of times, her eyes growing even wider, before hanging up. She reached into a drawer and pulled out a set of keys, handing them over. "Dr. Webster said you know where you're going?"
"I do, thank you."
"You going to be okay?"
"We will. We just need to lay low for a little while." Quinn wasn't sure how much to share with the nurse. He didn't know if she even knew about vampires. "There's some guys in our neighborhood who've been hassling us."
"We get a lot of that around here." The nurse nodded as if she knew exactly what Quinn was talking about. "Do you want me to arrange for some food for the kids?"
Quinn shook his head. "They've already eaten. I just want to get them somewhere they can lie down and go back to sleep. I had to take them right out of their beds."
"Oh, the poor dears."
He held up the keys. "Thanks."
"Of course."
"And if anyone comes looking for us—"
The nurse held up her hand. "I never saw you."
Relief almost made Quinn shudder. "Thank you."
He ushered the kids toward the back of the clinic where the back stairs were located. When the doctor took over the clinic, he took out the stairs in the front of the building and put in a waiting room.
The one bedroom apartment he was headed for was on the third floor. The doc kept one of the apartments on the second floor for himself. The rest had been redone to make a medical ward for those patients who needed around-the-clock treatment.
Quinn had been curious how a doctor could buy an entire three-story building and then have it retrofitted and turned into a medical clinic. The doctor had chuckled and said the money came from his fairy godfather.
Quinn stopped asking at that point. He hadn't wanted to know. He knew from experience that people often did things they'd never think of doing on a normal basis, except when forced to by people or circumstances.
Once they reached the third floor, Quinn led the kids down the corridor until he reached the apartment he was looking for. He'd been here once before when he was helping the doctor move some stuff around. There were actually four apartments on this floor, none of which had been retrofitted. They were still just apartments.
Quinn unlocked the door and ushered the kids inside before shutting the door and relocking it. He glanced around. There were some basic pieces of furniture. A small square table and two chairs, a couch, a queen-sized bed in the bedroom, and a dresser. Other than that, there was nothing except the appliances, counters, and bathroom plumbing.
It wasn't great, but they'd been in worse.
Quinn dropped his bags to the floor and then unstrapped the baby and handed him over to Robby. "Take them into the bedroom and get them laid down. I'm going to go hunt us down some blankets."