Even though the vampires slept all day, they still felt exhausted. The events of the previous night playing in their heads. Nyx had dislodged herself from her mates and retreated into the room behind her bed. She came out with six blood bags, setting three on each side table. Nyx noticed the rest of the room  stirring, "Just to tie over until we head out." "Matron, we're going to head out soon. Do we want to look for new ladies here or no?"  Nyx was unsure about replacing Janet and Annya with just anyone around  Santa Carla with the amount of drug addicts. Or maybe becoming a lady is what some woman might need?

"If you don't find anyone suitable tonight, we'll look near Sacramento the following night."  The Matron had finished cooking dinner for the rest of the household when the vampires came upstairs. She knew they would not be eating in,  so she made sure Sam, Laddie, Sasha, Susan, and Maria ate dinner.  "Evening everyone. I trust you slept well, or as well as you could all  things considered." She set down the last of the plates in front of  Maria and Laddie.

Nyx answered before anyone else, "Yes, Matron.  We'll be heading out shortly. Also, we need to resupply the cavern.  Still have ten left, for now." The six vampires had quickly down their blood bags, then Nyx and Izzy changed clothes before coming upstairs.  "So, what are you guys going to do tonight?"

Laddie spoke with his fork in his mouth, "We're gonna play hide and clap." He was very excited to play such a childish game.

"Aw, that's such a fun game." Izzy quietly says to everyone. The guys look at her with a confused expression.

So  Nyx explains the rules, "It's like hide and seek. But there's no home base, it's played in the dark and the seeker is blindfolded. Once the seeker is blindfolded, they spin around ten times, giving everyone time to hide. Then the seeker asks for a clap (Nyx claps her hands twice),  and they have to try to find someone by sound. About a minute after the third clap, if nobody is found, the lights come on, take a break and the next round starts with the same seeker. I've gone three rounds being the seeker before. Rule of safety, it is played on one floor so there's  no possibility of falling downstairs."

The boys looked at each other, sharing a silent conversation. David shook his head, "Maybe next  time, we need to take care of some things." "I do know I need to speak with Max soon. He's been too quiet these past few days."  The boys agreed Max needed to go. He was too unhinged to have any control over them. Paul, Dwayne, and Marko agreed that David would be a  better head vampire than Max. David was already more of their leader anyways.

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When the group entered the video store, they noticed the atmosphere felt off. Paul and Marko walked up to the girl behind the counter to ask if her boss was in.  Unsurprisingly, Max had not been at the store that night. She told the two blondes that he had to go to his other store to deal with some loose ends. The guys did not like the sound of that.

For now, they would push the thought out of their minds and just spend some time with their mates. Dwayne, the normally quiet one, has not stopped talking to  Izzy about anything and everything. Izzy has never felt better, plus she had her voice back. David just smirked and watched the two talk,  absorbing what he could about Izzy. Learning that she was not usually that shy, but losing one's voice does that. "We should complete the mate bond tomorrow night," David had sent the message to his brothers. Marko is the only one partially bonded to his mate. And from the events of last night, they agree that being fully bonded sooner than later is best.

Unfortunately, things do not play out that way.

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Max did a little digging for information about the girls. He found out that they were pureblood vampires and have a price on their heads. He grinned evilly while walking into a nightclub in LA owned by Deacon  Frost. Max was going to kill two girls with one sentence, "I know where  they are."

Max left the nightclub battered and bruised but smiling just the same. He will have his boys back to himself so he could get rid of them. Max was bored of them and disliked that he had no control over them. And in his mind, the only solution is to kill them and start new. Maybe with girls this time.

Max went to start his car when it exploded. Mercury had set his car to blow up when the ignition was turned. She was ordered by Frost to kill the vampire because of his poor choice in fashion.

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Marko woke the next night with the boys, but he felt off. Like he had been drugged with a sedative. He felt dizzy and disorientated. Marko carefully got down from their perch in the cave. He looked up and saw his brothers were still sleeping. The feeling was getting worse. "Guys! Something's wrong."  Marko yelled through their link. He slumped down against the cave wall as Paul dropped from the bar. David and Dwayne followed Paul down. They could feel what Marko is feeling but it is not as strong. David also  felt a strong wave of power hit him, "Max is dead." He and his brothers were free of their sire, but now more pressing issues.

"Marko, try contacting Nyx." David is growing more concerned for Marko. His brother seemed to be getting worse.

Marko grew even paler, which is a feat in itself since he's a vampire. "I  can't reach her. It's like her mind is muddled, lethargic." The dizziness started to fade like it was getting further away. "David, I  can't find her."

That sent the boys in overdrive. They didn't bother with their bikes, just flew to Hollyvale. Marko continuously tried to contact Nyx. Nothing.

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When they arrived the house was deathly silent. Nothing looked out of the ordinary...at first. Dwayne noticed the windows reflected the yard.  Meaning the shutters were down.

Marko was the first one inside,  "NYX! NYX!" He ran through the kitchen into the family room, then he was going to head upstairs when he heard one of the ladies groan. Maria was laying in the hallway bleeding out from multiple gunshot wounds. Brutus and Tank's bodies were not too far from the front door with several bullet wounds. They fought until the end, if the grotesquely torn limbs near them are any indication.

The others had joined Marko in the hallway by Maria. "What happened?" They could feel and hear her heartbeat slowing. They don't have much time.

In between every wet breath, Maria coughed, "Frost... He found them... Took everyone..." Maria tries to sit up, "Help me..." Paul helped her sit up against the wall facing a massive painting. She points to it, "There's a magnet... on the  side shaped... like a Rook..."

Dwayne found the magnet. He nodded to Maria, "Drag it... from the side to... the bottom... until it clicks..."  Dwayne follows her instruction and slightly smiles when he hears the Click.  The painting had separated from the wall like a door on a hinge.  "Inside... There's the master CB... Turn it on and hand me the receiver."

Dwayne handed her the receiver, stretching out the cord. Maria took a deep,  painful breath, coughed, and spoke, "Ladies of de Romanus." She releases the button on the receiver.

The group hears several responses at once.

"We're here." "Si, Aqui." "What's up?" "Maria!" And several others, twenty in total responded.

Maria  clicked the receiver, "Frost has the house." She said the one code phrase none of them ever wanted to hear. That one phrase told every Lady listening that Deacon Frost had found Nyx and Izzy and had taken them.

"What about the royals?" One of the Ladies asked about Akasha and Enkil.

"Safe.  Nyx, Izzy, and The Matron were hit with heavy sedatives. The other  surviving Ladies and two young children were taken." Since sitting up,  Maria could breathe easier, but she was losing the battle to stay conscious. The boys could only stand by and listen.

"I'm two hours outside of LA." "Three hours." "Just outside of San Fran."

David  grabbed the receiver from Maria, "Whoever is closest to Santa Carla,  swing by and get us." Dwayne knelt to check Maria's pulse, seeing as she went incredibly pale and he couldn't hear her heartbeat anymore. He closed her eyelids and stood up.

"Who's this?" The Ladies have not been in contact with The Matron for some time, so they were not updated on the girls finding their mates.

"We're their mates. There's four of us." David spoke into the CB.

One Lady asked the question they were all thinking, "Are you human, or...?"

Marko snatched the receiver, "No, we're vampires."

"What kind?"

"Grim.  Why?" Marko and his brothers didn't understand why they were asking this. They could hear some of the Ladies laughing over the CB radio.

"Oh, Frost is so fucked! Four Grims going up against Commons. The scales just tipped in our favor."

The Lady closest to Santa Carla came over the CB, "30 Minutes out. Be ready. Ladies, see you soon."

"Roger, roger." "Over and out." "Let's burn it down!" "Pleasure living amongst you fools." A few others said their goodbyes before radio silence.

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Marko set down the receiver and closed the painting. "We should bury Maria."  He bent down and picked her up bridal style and carried her out to the backyard. By the time the dirt had been replaced on Maria's grave, a  sports car pulled up in the driveway.

"Name's Stacey. We're taking their car. Unless you boys want to follow me?" She walked right past the boys into the house and grabbed the keys for the Charger.

"We'll follow you," David held out his hand for the Charger keys.

Stacey handed them over, "That works for me. Please turn on the CB." She went back to her car with a feeling of relief. Not wanting to be squished in the same car with four pissed-off vampires.

Both vehicles took off for LA. The anticipation of a fight was killing them. All during the drive, Marko continued to try and contact Nyx. The usual five and a  half-hour drive was cut down to three hours with the empty highways and exceeding speed limits.

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Stacey's voice came over the CB, "Gentlemen, five minutes out...Ladies, what's our count?"

"Finally," Paul said what they were all thinking.

"Not counting the Grims, fifty. Locked and loaded."

Stacey and the boys pulled onto a side road where the rest of the Ladies were waiting. Stacey got out and explained where they were, "Frost is an idiot. He didn't bother being discreet about where he lives. We're about  a quarter-mile outside of his property."

Another Lady, Margaret,  walked over to them. She and one other Lady scouted the property. "There are about twenty armed guards patrolling the property. All human. A few  Common vampires standing at the entryways, and about twenty newly turned Commons inside. Bringing it to a total of forty-eight. Once we get past them, all that's left is Frost and his inner seven. I'm  guessing Mercury is the one that shot off the sedatives."

Stacey  was busy loading the shotgun she brought, "Fucking bitch." She turned to the boys, "Mercury was once a Lady of de Romanus a little over a  hundred years ago. She met Frost and fell for him, then turned on the family because he wanted the sisters. She's only with Frost because he bound her to him. But she chose her fate the moment she met him."

Margaret called over eight Ladies, then spoke to David, "Have you guys eaten? You're going to need your strength."

David nodded his head, "We did actually. That last pit stop we took." The guys couldn't help but laugh.

"That's what took you so long. Well, solves that dilemma. Are we ready?" Stacey asked everyone around her. She was walking through the group when she spotted one of the crazier Ladies, "Lindsey? Is that a bomb?"

Lindsey was sitting on the ground with a screwdriver and a makeshift explosive, a guilty expression on her face. "Maybe."

Sighing  and rubbing her forehead in frustration, "You're on door duty." She continued walking to the front of the group, "Alright Ladies. Try to make it out alive, but if not... It has been a pleasure."

All fifty of the Ladies and The Lost Boys trekked up the last quarter mile to rescue the de Romanus family.