"Over there," Alexandria said, motioning with her elbow. "There is a key over there somewhere, hanging on the wall."
D'Artagnan snatched the torch out of the holder, leaving the girls in darkness, then darted across to the opposite wall, his hands moving quickly over the stony surface, searching.
"Hurry," Alexandria shouted. "We have to get her out of here. I don't think she can hang on much longer."
D'Artagnan moved faster along the wall. A second later, something tore into his hand and he shone the torch on the wall. A large brass ring with a key hung on an old rusty nail jutting out of the wall. "I've got it," he said, lifting it off the nail and rushing back to Alexandria and the girl. He returned the torch to the sconce, then quickly unlocked the manacles at the girl's wrists and ankles, freeing her. "I've got her," he said, lifting the girl into his arms.
"Okay," Alexandria said. "Now how the hell do we get out of here?"
The white wolf stirred, alerted by a sound only he could hear coming from the woods. His ears pricking, he stood, listening and sniffing the air.
"What can you hear?" Kat asked, watching the wolf bound across the clearing and into the tall trees bordering the Witchwood property. "What, no goodbye?" she said, as he disappeared into the darkness off the woods.
"I should have known you'd be involved in this mess somehow," Nina said, her closed parasol swinging from her hand, the fair-haired runaway traipsing along after her like a lost puppy. "Sit," she ordered the man, poking him with her parasol. The man dropped obediently to the ground by her feet. She tapped him on the head unaffectionately. "Good boy. Stay." She hooked the parasol in the crook of her arm.
Kat stood up, still clutching D'Artagnan's hat firmly against her chest. A trickle of blood ran down the fair-haired man's throat. Kat stared from the man back to Nina. "Did you," she waved a hand towards his throat, "feed on him?" she asked curiously.
Nina scowled at her. "Don't be ridiculous."
Kat nodded, somewhat relieved.
"Now if he'd been Italian…" Nina said, glancing down at the man. "I do like Italian..."
Kat stared at her open-mouthed, not sure if she could believe the vampire standing in front of her. "Then what happened to his throat?" she asked, uncertain about wanting an answer one-way or the other.
"Injured running through the woods, I imagine. The smell of his blood is what attracted me to him in the first place. Of course, I knew he wasn't from around here the moment I saw him, which brings me back to my original question."
"It was actually a statement."
"What?" Nina said almost absently as she studied the newness of the brightly lighted gazebo beneath the old oak.
Kat took a breath. "You didn't ask me a question, you made a statement."
Nina shot her another warning glance.
"I'm just saying," Kat murmured, shrugging and taking a step backward. She looked at the gazebo, hoping that Alexandria and D'Artagnan would return soon, but it remained motionless.
"Where did you get that?" Nina demanded, motioning toward the pocket watch hanging around Kat's neck.
Kat grasped it protectively in her hand. "It belongs to Alexandria. We opened the portal with it. The two of us. Then that perv came out," she said, pointing accusingly at the man seated on the grass. A dreamy look drifted over Kat's face when she thought about D'Artagnan and she smiled.
Nina eyed Kat suspiciously. "So where's Alexandria now?"
Kat let go of the pocket watch and pointed toward the gazebo. "In there," she said. "But don't worry, she'll be quite safe. D'Artagnan is with her…" she drifted off, imaging how it would feel to have his hands on her.
"D'Artagnan? From the musketeers?" Nina asked. "How interesting."
Kat nodded enthusiastically. "Do you know him?" she asked dreamily.
"All the pretty girls know D'Artagnan."
"Isn't he the most gorgeous being to ever walk the—"
Nina rolled her eyes. "Yes, the most gorgeous thing … now snap out of it, stupid, and pull yourself together. Tell me, what else happened?"
Kat let out a long sign, and continued. "She heard voices … Alexandria heard voices, I mean. I never heard a thing. Anyway, they went in there ... it was a portal then ... to save her. The girl, I mean. To save the girl from ... well, I'm not sure from what, exactly, but Alexandria said—"
"Please stop blabbering," Nina said. "I need to think and I can't do that with you blabbering on like a lovesick schoolgirl."
"But I am a school—"