Hazel would know. My friend was an attorney that worked in both the human court system and the Moroi one. I didn’t have an office here at HQ, so I made my way to the floor where I kept some personal items, texting her as I went.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
One of my foster mothers always said that things happened in threes.
David didn’t come back.
Amy left.
Karsten was taken by GC.
Was that it, or did David not count and I had something more coming down the pipeline, gunning for me?
Sighing, I slid down the wall and sat on the floor in the lounge for my workgroup.
My mind began to take me to dark places.
Like when one foster family decided they’d had enough of me. I’d come home after school and found my things packed in a new garbage bag. They’d been waiting with my case worker to tell me that things just weren’t working out.
I’d always been a fighter, but this time was different.
Karsten was different.
I had never really loved Owen the way I loved my Viking.
I mean, really loved him.
I love-loved Karsten, and it terrified me. The thought that someone could just storm in and take him away was crazy…
My phone vibrated in my pocket.
Pulling it out, I looked at the number.
Aurev Vatia.
“Hello?” My voice sounded weepy and pathetic to my own ears.
“Child, I’m here with your maker, Ms. Richards. I wanted to talk to you about the man you know as Sten.”
Tears burst from my eyes unexpected, and I sniffed. “What’s happening Aurev?” My voice was tremulous and thick, but there was no helping it.
“I’m giving the phone to Hazel, dear.”
“Sarah?” Hazel sounded rushed, and a bit panicked. New tears burst out at what I was sure would be bad news.
Hazel was cool, calm and collected. If she was panicked, Karsten was screwed.
“What’s going on? They won’t let me see him or talk to him… Hazel?” I couldn’t continue, sobs were racking me.
“Calm down Sarah. For now, Karsten has chosen to be his own attorney and doesn’t want me involved. So, I’m not allowed in. However, this is what I know, we did a preliminary DNA test and what I’ve heard is that the initial results are positive for a match.”
“There has to be some other explanation. He told me he’s not her maker. He was certain of it. I can’t believe that he lied to me.” I sniffed.
“Hmmm. He might have asked to be his own representative because he’s guilty. I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it looks like he may have done this.”
There was a long pause in the conversation, my mind rejecting her words.
“The DNA results have to be wrong. Which test did they run? Those tests take a week to complete. Who are they sending it to? Who’s doing the tests?” My words rushed out in one burst.
“I don’t know. I’m not privy to all the details. The test is being rerun here at Chronos along with another more accurate test.” I immediately stood and ran my hands through my hair. “But Sarah, you cannot involve yourself. Do not do anything… I hear you pacing. I repeat, DO NOT DO ANYTHING BRASH.”
Jesus! Hazel knew me too well.
I was already changing into scrubs to enter the lab. “I’m not going to do anything. I just want the results. I want answers.”
Aurev came on the line. “Where are you, Sarah?”
“I… I’m in Trenton. I’m on my way there! I’ll come as soon as I can!”
I clicked off the call and wondered how long it would take them to realize I’d lied. But I didn’t want them to know what I was going to do. They needed to have plausible deniability.
The crime lab was used for DNA and court testing.
Opening my locker, I dumped my clothing inside and slipped my ID around my neck.
I was going to find the test, and I was going to run it myself.
If Karsten was really Emilie’s maker, then I was going to change the results.
He didn’t deserve to die for one mistake!
One mistake.
It wasn’t fair.
It was the law, but I remembered Emilie’s story about her maker. He’d been blood starved and severely injured. He hadn’t meant to harm her, but he’d taken too much blood. He was only trying to heal her when he’d accidentally turned her. Just like she’d done to Owen.
I’d done it before–feeding a human after such an incident worked well. They didn’t turn into a Moroi.
Even though Emilie is so small, he wouldn’t have miscalculated her blood volume being as old and controlled as he was. She must have had some kind of heart defect that caused her organs to shut down before Karsten could give her his blood. Some sort of biological defect of her human body was what turned her, not Sten!
Most of the labs were on this level, but the one I needed to go to was in one of the many basement levels of the building. Sprinting to the end of the hallway, I barged into the staircase. I didn’t want security to be able to track what level I was on.
They’d know–if they checked that I’d taken the stairs, but they couldn't say what level I would exit on.
Running the flights downward, I ran across a few Moroi. Two were having sex, and another one was smoking.
This was the hallway where you went if you didn’t want to be tracked or needed a little privacy.
When I finally came to B2, I pushed on the door, and it opened into the legal and crime labs. Casually I strode down the busy hallway toward the lounge area, trying to act as nonchalant as I could, before darting into the bathroom. I examined my pale complexion and splashed water on my face before drying it off with a paper towel.
Then I smoothed back my hair and redid my ponytail.
I needed to think more clearly.
“What’s your plan?” Sten’s voice echoed in my brain.
I needed to plan.
My lip curled up on one corner when an idea came to me. Dr. Peters usually worked down here, and I’d need to avoid him. Mentally, I went through the list of anyone I knew who worked with him. Did everyone know Karsten worked with me?
I wasn’t sure.
Going to that level’s break room, I found some foil in the trash. After cleaning it, I folded it into a small square and taped it to the underside of my hand where my chip was located.
I should be able to enter the lab since I usually had access. But using my chip meant I would be listed on the logs.
Plastering a smile onto my face, I strolled to the small hallway outside the locked lab door where I pretended to tie my shoe. A short, black-haired woman came by and ran her hand over the scanner.
Not her…
I bided my time until two other lab techs came out of the elevator.
Standing, I ran my hand over the lock scanner. It made no beep due to the hidden foil. I pretended to try again.
“What the hell?” I said in mock anger.
“Oh, hey Dr. Shepard. What’s wrong, the scanner not working? What are you doing down here?” Mavis, another tech, asked me.
Her scrubs bore the crime lab symbol. She was the perfect person to let me in. Talkative and friendly, she looked up to me because I was a doctor. As a floater, she worked upstairs in infectious disease or pharmacology.
“Mavis, how are you?” Relax, relax, relax… I smiled. “My hand got caught in the elevator door, and it must’ve broken my chip. Is Dr. Peters here?” When she shook her head, I continued, relieved, “Well, he’s got his knickers in a twist about something he needs me to check on. He’ll have my hide if I don’t report to him asap.”
She nodded and agreed with me. Dr. Peters was a stickler and known to be very unpleasant when unhappy.
Mavis ran her hand over the door lock and smiled. “Don’t worry,” she said, motioning with her head, “Come in. Get it fixed later. I won’t tell anyone.”
“Thank you so much! I owe you.”
&n
bsp; “Don’t worry about it. No one wants to be on his bad side. I get it. I was late coming back from lunch last week by like two minutes, and he freaked out on me. Crazy! I know what you mean. If he wants it now, he wants it now.”
We entered and separated. Looking over the staff boxes, I flipped through the paperwork looking for Sten’s DNA test.
Of course, I found the paperwork in the last place I checked. Christie was assigned the tests.
I’d never personally run a DNA test, but maybe I could find Christie in the lab.
Suiting up with a gown, cap, mask, and gloves, I made my way inside.
Chances were that if Christie was scheduled to do the in-depth DNA test, that she’d probably done the first one. I sat down at an open computer station and thought about logging into Christie’s lab documents for the first test results.
I needed her password though.
Poking my head up from the cubical, I looked around for the tech and spotted her on a computer behind the glass.
If only I could get her to leave her station…
When I noticed a fire alarm in the lab, I thought it too obvious. Then I saw one outside the main glass entrance, in the spot where I pretended to tie my laces.
The coast was clear, so I took my shoe off and left it jammed in the door. Using vamp speed, I pulled the alarm and was back inside the lab before it would begin to buzz.
The floor began to empty, and I took my chance.
“Christie! Quick! Go!” I told her, pulling her away from the computer before she had a chance to log off. In my mask and gown, she couldn’t recognize me.
I pretended to follow her to the door, then feigned, “Oh, crap! My phone! I’ll be right there.” She continued to leave, and I dashed back to her computer station and took a seat.
The siren and lights kept flashing as I looked up Karsten’s paperwork. His file popped up, and just as I began looking over the rapid results, a hand touched my shoulder and pulled on my arm.
I glanced back at the screen–Sten and Emilie were related by their Moroi blood. My heartbeat picked up as I ran the possibilities through my mind.
“Ma’am?” He said. “You need to leave the building.”
I could smell his blood and hear his rapid heartbeat before I even turned around.
“I will, I just need to finish…” I barely closed the search before he yanked me from the chair. My fangs ran out as he pulled at me, spiking my adrenalin. Turning on him, I watched his eyes as they flashed in fear.
“You never saw me, I wasn’t here. But you need to get to safety,” I told him, trying compulsion, but feeling weak from not drinking in a few days. He continued to drag me toward the exit, my attempt to push his mind failing.
“I don’t know what kind of game this is, but I did see you, and I know you’re here. We’ll both get to safety.”
His grip on my arm was strong, and I watched the screen of the computer move farther and farther away.
Then I bit him.
I had gone a long time without drinking from a human, but I chose this, not my thirst. I’d bit straight into his exposed arm and drank. The blood filled my mouth, and I began to count his heart beats.
One, two, three… When I got to ten, I struggled to stop.
Moaning, I drank deeply one last time before pulling away.
His eyes glossy, the tech lay prone on the floor.
Feeling much stronger, my compulsion worked this time, “You never saw me and won’t remember me. You’re sleepy and will wake up when everyone comes back.”
I ran back to the computer just in time for the screensaver to start.
Picking the lab tech up, I used his implanted chip to open the door, then I positioned him carefully on his back.
Crap.
Karsten looked guilty.
Few Moroi didn’t turn humans. The task was difficult and could quickly go wrong. Besides, you needed to petition GC ahead of time. Rogue vampires like Emilie weren’t super rare; mistakes happened, and most of the time the guilty Moroi would serve entombment after twenty years mentoring the young Moroi. As horrible as that sounded, it was better than abandonment, which was what Karsten was charged with.
Understandably, abandonment was one of the worst things a Moroi could do. It unleashed an uneducated, thirsty vamp into the human world. These abandoned Moroi were the seeds for all the vampire legends. As new Moroi, we’re sensitive to the sun and unusually thirsty. Many struggle to control their thirst for a few years… like me. Without a mentor to keep them in line… well then, all hell could break loose. Especially if the new vampire didn’t know what they were.
Like in Emilie’s case.
She claims she’s never killed anyone.
I didn’t believe that for a second… But… Hmm. She was so damn human.
My phone rang, and I looked at the screen.
Hazel Richards.
“Hey…” I tried for nonchalance as I took the steps two at a time in the stairwell.
“Sarah. I knew you were reckless, but I didn’t think you were stupid.”
“What?” I asked, a little more high pitched than it should’ve been.
“Don’t what with me. I watched the footage from the security cameras when the fire alarm was pulled in the crime lab.”
I stopped in the empty stairwell. “What?” I asked breathlessly.
“You know I love you, and I’m glad that you found Karsten, but you need to stop acting like some teenager from the ghetto and start acting like the professional you are. You’re about to ruin your life with this kind of stunt, and I’m not going to sit by and just let it happen.”
“I haven’t done anything wrong.”
“You’re lucky that only Aurev and I know what you’ve done. I’ve talked to him about it, and we agreed that you need to go back to Colorado to reconnect with your kids.”
My jaw dropped open. I was caught, and there was no use lying about what I’d done. I began to make my way up the stairs again. “I need to be here for Karsten. I can’t leave until I know that he’s okay. He’s…he’s innocent.” Was he? Was he innocent? I chewed my lower lip. According to the rapid test he wasn’t.
“Sarah. If you try to involve yourself any further, Aurev will take steps to stop you and trust me, they are worse than going to Colorado.”
“But…” She cut me off.
“I’m sure that you’ve seen the genetic report by now. Dr. Peters told me that he’s almost positive that Karsten is Emilie’s maker. You need to accept what’s going on and try to move past it.”
Tears clouded my eyes.
I sighed. “He told me that he’s innocent…”
“I’ve booked a flight for you out of JFK. Grab a bag, I’ll have a car take you in about an hour.”
“I’ll take the subway,” I told her defiantly.
“No. Aurev said to have a car take you.” Her voice firm but not angry.
Would Hazel always think of me as that ratty fourteen-year-old? I blinked back tears. Would I ever be more than that orphan they found all those years ago?
“Fine,” I said tightly. I hadn’t crossed Aurev since my teen years, and I wasn’t about to do it now. As sweet and elderly as he acted, he could be terrifying.
“Just tell me, what’s going to happen to Sten?”
I listened to her sigh over the phone. “I was about to go visit him right now.”
I sucked in a breath, I was afraid to ask. “Will…? Can…?” I hesitated, “Hazel, I have to see him. I love him.”
She grunted, then said, “Fine. Meet me at the detention center in ten.”
A smile crossed my lips, and I wondered why she or Aurev hadn’t tried to bribe me with that in the first place to get me to leave.
Don’t get me wrong, I wanted to go. I wanted to be with my kids, but not with Karsten in trouble.
My kids would still be there, but I had no idea if I would ever see the man I loved again.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
I looked at myself
in the lounge mirror, brushed my hair and practiced a smile. Grabbing my overnight bag from my lab locker, I realized that everything in it was dirty.
It didn’t matter.
I felt cold chills run down my spine as the elevator ticked the floors away.
Karsten was with the GC. He’d been a GC soldier. Would they be easier or harder on him?
Thinking back to my first encounter with the Global Council, I remembered a Moroi that worked in my boarding school as a teacher.
I sat in the empty garden in front of the main building trying to read one of Shakespeare’s plays and failing miserably. I was a math and science girl. When the black SUV pulled up, and several armed guards seemed to pour from the vehicle, they wore FBI uniforms with another logo that read GC on them.
I was curious, so I followed them into the entrance of the main building and tried to listen.
“We’re looking for Ms. Lila Jefferson.” I heard a female guard say.
“Oh? She’s in her office, just down the hall.” My social studies teacher, Mr. Frank, told them in a concerned voice. I knew he wouldn’t get involved. This school was known for its discretion. Wealthy children of diplomats and politicians went here from all over the world.
Lila was my liaison to Chronos at Emery Academy. The motto engraved in my head, “Vincit qui se vincit.” It means you can conquer the world if you master yourself, your temptations, your urges.
I laughed at the irony that this was my high school saying when I was first turned. I couldn’t conquer anything.
After coming to terms with my cravings and bringing control to my life, would I be able to conquer my own emotions? My loss, if I never saw Karsten again?
I waited in that school entryway, my hands gripping the thick oak banister of the wide staircase, looking between the second floor and vincit qui se vincit carved into the arch above the main doors.
Then I heard a tussle and looked up where Ms. Jefferson stood, hair askew, eyes wide. To this day I have no idea what she’d done to bring on the wrath of the GC. I was frightened, and also curious.
Shades of Red Page 37
