Beth seemed taken aback, her dark eyes widening in surprise. “You want me to live with you again?”
“Blame London rent prices, it’s not like I missed you or anything.” My straight face turned into a smile within a few seconds and before long, Beth and I were giggling like nothing had changed. Like she wasn’t a vampire, and I hadn’t just about killed myself to save a bunch of girls from a crazy bitch lady demon. Hey, just another month in the life of me, I guess.
“I’ve got your discharge papers here,” a nurse announced as she slinked in through the door. Beth and I shared a glance, both equally relieved she hadn’t walked in just a few minutes ago or I’d be at risk of being put on a psyche hold.
I reached out as she approached the bedside, and the nurse eyed my bandaged arm for a brief second. The hospital staff hadn’t said much about my injuries, and I had to wonder if Gabriel had something to do with that. The rules and regulations angels had to follow were too long and boring for me to memorise but maybe he’d pushed them all to one side and done me a solid by making it so that the staff at the hospital didn’t question the numerous bite marks that now covered my skin.
“Sign at the bottom,” she indicated, passing me a pen. “Oh, and these came for you.” Without waiting to take the forms back, the nurse turned and left the room. I raised an eyebrow in Beth’s direction, but she just shrugged her slender shoulders in confusion.
Seconds later, the same nurse appeared with a large vase in her arms. It was big enough that she was struggling with the weight and hardly managed to set it down on the small table beneath the wall mounted TV.
“Who are these from?” I asked, recognising the arrangement of hydrangeas and chrysanthemums in their moody purple hues.
“Here.” She plucked a card from the bouquet and passed it to me. “They came this morning, by courier. You can take them home with you, of course.”
The room faded away as my fingertips danced across the sealed envelope. The thick ivory paper felt like velvet in comparison to the rough sheets on the hospital bed.
“What does it say?” Beth asked excitedly, perched on the edge of her seat.
The card inside was just as luxurious as the envelope, and written on the small piece of paper was a short note.
Looking forward to calling in that favour, little Imber. I do promise that next time, I’ll let you choke me.
Samael.
I scoffed, tossing the card across to Beth and shaking my head. “Guy’s an asshole. Angel or not.”
Beth’s eyes searched the paper with a frown, her mouth hanging open.
“You don’t mean to tell me this is from Samael?” Beth stammered.
“I imagine there’s only one,” I groaned, stretching the taut muscles in my neck.
“I’m going to need you to fill me in on this one,” Beth said, shuffling her chair closer to the bed.
Countless units of blood later and too many stitches to count and I was free to leave the hospital. I’d be left with even more scars, but I figured it was the least of my worries. Lilith would be back, and from what I’d gathered from our conversation, she would come for me. For now, though, I had one last thing I needed to enjoy before the dark reality of my new life took hold once again.
“Knock, knock,” I said quietly as I entered the hospital room. Lily’s bright, smiling face met mine first, but I barely had the chance to look at it before her arms were wrapped tightly around me.
“Ow,” I squeaked against the pressure, and she backed away.
“Sorry, I just… I don’t know…” she stammered, tears already welling in her eyes.
I turned my attention back to Jocelyn and edged closer to her bedside. “You look better, real daylight suits you.”
She laughed, nodding. “It does. Thank you, I mean it. For everything.”
“You don’t have to thank me,” I replied quickly, already feeling uncomfortable. The bandages covering my arms didn’t help—it was like I’d come in here to be all like—hey look at me and the sacrifice I’d made. The truth was, I just needed to make sure I hadn’t imagined the whole thing.
It was so bittersweet, knowing Thatcher would never know I’d done it. I’d solved this one. Yet there was still one thing weighing heavily on my mind, one question that had gone unanswered.
“Can I just ask you one thing?” I began, sitting down in the small seat at Jocelyn’s bedside.
She nodded, “Of course.”
Lily edged closer to listen, her protective big sister instincts kicking in.
“Who was Meri?”
The question hung in the air for what felt like hours. Jocelyn’s brow furrowed and her eyes flashed back and forth between me and Lily before she drew in a deep breath.
“He was just a guy I was seeing,” she replied. “But he left town. I didn’t know why. He sent me letters, though.”
“So, he didn’t have anything to do with your kidnapping?” I asked, my voice firmer than I’d intended. Something didn’t fit here. The pieces weren’t melding together like I needed them to.
Jocelyn shook her head, “Definitely not. He’s a good guy, he wouldn’t do something like this. I haven’t seen him in months. He left way before any of this happened.”
“Do you have an address for him?” I asked. “I’d like to speak to him, if that’s OK. Just to clear some things up.”
Although she appeared hesitant, Lily set a hand on her arm and stroked up and down, gently nodding. “It’s OK, Quinn just wants to help keep you safe.”
“But this is over now, right?” Jocelyn asked urgently, fear creeping into her light voice.
“Of course, yes. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to come in here and worry you. I just have a few loose ends to tie up on my side of things, that’s all,” I smiled reassuringly.
Jocelyn reached for a piece of paper and a pen from her small bedside table and scribbled down the address, all the while biting down on her bottom lip. She tore the paper off and passed it to me, as though she were frightened she’d change her mind.
“Thank you,” I said. “Get some rest, let me know if you need anything.”
Just as I said my goodbyes and was about to step foot through the doorway, I was brought to a sudden halt by a large figure looming in my path. I looked up and found myself face to face with Xavier. He scowled down at me, his brow heavy and his wavy dark hair pushed back from his sharp-edged features.
“You had me blacklisted from your visitors’ list,” he stated matter-of-factly.
I smiled awkwardly back at Jocelyn and Lily, waving goodbye before I grabbed Xavier’s arm and pulled him further down the hallway.
“I’m surprised you don’t have someone in the hospital to pull some strings,” I snapped. “Isn’t that a thing you do?” I folded my bandage arms across my middle, immediately regretting the decision but too stubborn to take back the movement. With Xavier, I had to stand my ground.
“Yes, but out of respect, I thought it best to wait a while and let you come to your senses,” he replied quietly. “How could you go against everything I told you? By the time I got to the Silver’s apartment it was a bloodbath in there, do you know what that was like for me, Quintessa?” Xavier’s voice broke as his volume increased and I noticed a few of the nurses’ attentions being drawn to us.
“Come with me,” I sighed and pulled him into an empty room and closed the door behind us. “You can’t just talk about blood baths in a hospital, Xavier, God.”
“This isn’t a joke!” He yelled, his hands shooting up to twist in his hair as he spun away from me and begun pacing the room, eventually turning back until his chest was pressed against mine and my back was flush with the wall.
“I killed them. You should thank me for the blood bath. I did what you wanted.”
“The blood bath I found was yours!” Xavier argued. “It was you I could smell, your blood. I thought they’d eaten you alive, torn you apart. A fucking feeding frenzy—you haven’t seen what a frenzy looks like. What a vampi
re can do to a person. You’re lucky there was any of your left.”
I swallowed, on the verge of tears as the guilt threatened to overwhelm me.
“I knew the risks, Xavier,” I whispered, daring to lift my hand to touch his face but pulling back at the last minute. “I wasn’t the only one who lied.”
His brow furrowed, and he stepped back. The warmth the closeness had brought to my stomach left with the proximity of his body, and I wanted nothing more than to pull him back to me. As much as I hated it, hated him right now—I had missed him. Whether it was the blood bond or just the relationship we’d built over these past few weeks, I was beginning not to care. I was hungry for the comfort he brought when we were together, when we were close.
“Lilith,” Xavier breathed, wiping his large hand down over his face.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were her son?” I questioned, fighting to keep an edge to my voice. “Don’t you think that’s a pretty key piece of information, Xavier?”
Although he looked apologetic, he didn’t say sorry.
“The next time you need my help, call me,” Xavier announced flatly. “You have my number.”
Without hesitation, he pulled his sunglasses out of his chest pocket, put them over his eyes and stormed out of the door.
“That’s it?” I called after him. “All of this, everything that’s happened, and that’s all you’re giving me?”
He paused in the middle of the hallway and held up his hands.
“If you want to paint me as the fucking villain, Quintessa, fine. Call me when you’re done.”
The moment he was gone, disappearing in the elevator, I wanted to burst into tears—unsure how I’d made him so angry just by asking a simple question. Except, a little voice in the back of my head realised that I had done nothing wrong. He’d lied.
Yes, I’d done a stupid thing and almost got myself killed, but I’d also saved eight innocent women from being vampire dessert. Sounds like a win in my book.
Despite the argument from my injuries, I stormed down two flights of stairs and out of the hospital into the bright sunlight. I glimpsed his dark suit as he rounded the corner towards his car, and my brisk walk turned into a jog. Xavier must have caught my scent, because he turned on his heel and tilted his head back, removing his sunglasses as if he was preparing for a barrage of verbal abuse.
Instead, I hoisted my arm back and threw it forward with as much force as I could muster. It landed square against the side of his nose, knocking him back a few steps until he caught himself. He clasped his hand to the impact and shot me a look of utter shock.
“I think you broke my nose,” he grunted, taking his hand away from his already swelling nose to check for blood.
“I fucking hope I did. You deserve more than a black eye for that stunt you pulled back there. The audacity you have, honestly. King or not, you act like a spoiled little shit at times, Xavier,” I snapped in retaliation.
He shook his head, stepping forward and setting a hand on each of my shoulders so that he could peer down at me through his somewhat bleary eyes. “No, I think you broke my nose.”
Confused, I stared right back at him.
For a vampire who was supposed to be king of this realm, he sure was stupid.
Vampire.
King.
Or I was the stupid one.
“I can’t hurt you,” I said. “I’m not strong enough to hurt you.”
Xavier shrugged. “My broken nose says otherwise.”
End of Book One
Beneath the City Sleeps Series
Orchard of Bones
Due for release in 2022.
About the Author
Shannon French lives in the Scottish Borders with her husband, two kids, two cats and her dog, Zeppelin.
After contracting Bacterial Meningitis a few years ago, she was left with a lovely collection of chronic neurological disorders that make day to day life a struggle. Writing has always been a passion of hers, but lately it has provided an escape from real life like no other. She’s a real sucker for werewolves, witches and vampires!
Keep up to date with Shannon on:
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Silver Vein: Beneath the City Sleeps Book 1 Page 25
