“Gotcha,” Ruby said, letting out a slow breath. “All right. Where to now?”

Bennett took a moment and concentrated on the sounds in the house. “I can hear heartbeats below us. There’s an arena one level down they use for sparring. My guess is Napoleon’s hiding there, far enough away from this not to get scratched, but close enough he could listen. Follow me.”

The two women continued through the house, ever watchful for movement and ever alert for the faintest sound until Bennett stopped in front of a hefty wooden door. She pulled it open, and they lost any chance of a surprise attack when the hinges squealed.

Bennett turned to Ruby, lowering her mouth to Ruby’s ear. “As far as I know, this is the only way in or out, so this is most likely a trap.”

Ruby pondered their predicament for a second before pulling two daggers from her sleeves. She slid them between the door and jamb and bent the hardened steel like it was tin. “Not if the door won’t close,” she said, motioning toward the stairs. “Go ahead. I’ve got your back.”

Bennett drew in a deep breath and crept down the stairs with Ruby acting as her shadow. The nearer they came to the bottom, the more the pungent odor of sweat and dampness surrounded them. When Bennett reached the last step, Napoleon, Ivan, and a dozen heavily armed vampires came into view.

Like an emperor, Napoleon sat on his carmine throne. With one leg draped over the other, he waggled the one dangling to a beat only he could hear while Ivan stood at the ready to his right with his beefy arms folded under his man boobs. His grotesque dental misfortune filled Ivan’s smile, and gripped in his knobby hands were swords, their razor-sharp edges reflecting in the light.

“Ivan, it looks like I owe you some more pussy. They did make it this far. Of course, we’ll have to go hunting for some new slit for you since we sucked all the old ones dry, but no worries,” Napoleon said with a flick of his wrist. “There’s plenty of time for that.”

Bennett took a step, and Napoleon scrambled to his feet, running behind his chair as his twelve sentries stepped forward. Bennett snickered. “Do you honestly think they will be able to kill me?”