“Have you seen Alexis?”
“Seen, as in, laid my eyes on, like physically?”
Squinting, Sanjay lost his hands behind his back and leaned into him. Somehow the shadow of his presence grew larger. “Seen, as in I’m short on patience, so you best answer me earnestly.”
And there’s that fuckin’ alpha swag.
There were a ton of unpleasant things that could fly off his tongue, but he had to be very careful of what he said in front of the soldier who was a slave to the Federation. “No, not recently.”
“I have reason to believe that she was at Officer Davis’s quarters last night, the same time you were there.”
Uh-oh, someone’s been tapping into drone feeds. Guess Moonlight wasn’t as sneaky as she thought she was. “The answer’s still no.”
Face bunched in aggravation, Sanjay stepped closer and glowered at him. “Do you know what happens to those who lie to high ranking officials?”
“I’m sure you’d love to tell me, but sadly, I don’t have the time.”
“Where is she?”
Lips pursed, Bishop shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
Sanjay’s eyes grew wide, his jaw clenched, and his nostrils flared. “You should keep in mind that I could make your life a living hell—”
“Chico, por favor,” he sighed, flicking his hand at him. “I’m the head scientist of this region. You can’t do shit to me, except watch my sexy ass strut away. Stay in your lane, Vice-Commander.” He spun on his heels and proceeded across the bridge. A strangled groan echoed behind him.
“Look, I know you don’t like me…”
Correction: I despise you!
“But I’m concerned about her. Something’s wrong.”
He was right about that. Something was definitely wrong with her. “Could be a number of things.” Bishop turned back around, then closed in the gap between them. “She could be tired of this war, or tired of being your little secret plaything. No lo sé. How ‘bout you try talking to her like someone you actually care for, instead of treating her like one of your dispensable Federation mutts. Woof.”
Shoulders pulled back, Sanjay curled his hands into fists. The sound of him grinding his teeth reverberated between them. “Just tell me where she is. I know you know.”
Brow cocked, Bishop stared hard at the agitated Commander. Something’s off. Sanjay’s eyes…they were dilated. But not in a drug-related way. He wore the distant gaze of a Black Swan. That didn’t make sense though. A man who was one of the top vampire killers in the nation couldn’t be a Swan. Must be a side effect from the new Prolibrium injections. Had to be.
“Hey! Did they already distribute the new packs?” Bishop leaned in close, standing mere inches from him. “I was still tweaking the formula, but it looks like the Primos jumped the gun. So, how does it taste? Any muscle strains? Any surprise erections?”
Eyes dancing, Sanjay reared back. “Excuse me?”
“Looks like you’ve had more than the suggested dosage,” he rambled on. “Is it everything you ever hoped for in an enhancement drug? How exciting! This is my first time seeing the results up close. Think I can get a blood sample from you later on? For research purposes, of course.”
A look of nervousness crossed Sanjay’s face as he took several steps back from him. Without another word, he about-faced and marched away, his posture stiffer than it was before.
Hm. Seemed odd that something like that would run such a headstrong asshole away. “Hey, where ya going, big shot? You had me on the ropes. I was ‘bout to tell you everything!”
Without looking back, Sanjay hurried past the sliding doors.
“A’ight then, good talk. Catch ya later, Vice-Commander Hottie!”
Now that he’s outta the way… Bishop continued on to the laboratory, with a quickness in his step. He stepped off the elevator and paused in the doorway.
His staff and scientists scampered about, as usual, testing samples, and surveying readouts.
The children of the night were still inside of the suspended pods, deep in cryo-sleep. It was no different than when he checked in on them through the camera footage back at Cole’s place. Everything seemed normal.
However, something felt way off.
As he made his way across the lab floor, he eyed those who seemed fully engrossed in their work.
Now that’s unusual.
Normally, when he walked into the lab, reports were shoved in his face, and exciting discoveries were disclosed from a number of his workers simultaneously. But no one even glanced his way.
A nervous chill slithered down his spine. Something’s wrong.
In the translucent study cube, the queen bee of the bunch was still perched on the bed, clutching a porcelain doll. She looked over at him with a small smile on her darling face. A hint of some frightening rested within her big eyes.
He stopped at Glenda’s work station and leaned over her chair. “Any changes in her behavior?”
Glenda’s fingers paused over the keypad. She turned her head slightly. “If I make any sudden moves, she’s going to kill me,” she whimpered, a quiver in her voice. “Please help me. I don’t wanna die.”
“Que?” Bishop dropped a hand on her shoulder. The lights dimmed, but only for a split second. Gaze shifting about, he stumbled backwards. He bumped into something, or someone. At least it felt that way. When he looked back, no one was there.
What the hell?
Bishop scanned the enormous space, taking in all the workers. They continued to move about as if he wasn’t standing there.
This isn’t real. It’s an illusion, set specifically for his eyes.
He glanced up at the orb-shaped cameras in the corners of the room. The illusion was powerful enough to manipulate the footage. His gaze, once again, shot over to the little girl.
Her cute smile grew wider. Her eyes flashed silver.
What a clever niñita. He pulled in a deep breath, held it a second, then released it on a slow exhale to steady the erratic tremor in his heart. Stay calm, Bishop. Stay calm. He slowly lifted his hands in the air, palms outward. Winking at her, he wiggled his fingers.
She giggled bashfully.
With his right hand, he stroked his fingers through the air, drawing a symbol before him. A gentle light followed the path of his fingertips, exposing the hieroglyph. “Reveal.”
A wave of darkness rushed in, forcing the light away. The view of his bustling staff changed. The pods that held the children, as well as the main cube where the little princess was a second ago, were all empty.
Shiiit!
Glowing eyes beamed through the dimness. His workers stood frigid, barely breathing, their frightened eyes locked on him. At their sides, a child of the night clutched their hands, holding them captive in such an innocent way.
Something tugged on his lab coat. “You know Elvish,” said a sweet voice right next to him.
Startled, he swallowed a shriek as his breath hitched. He wanted to stumble away, run even, but that wasn’t a good idea. Showing fear would only make them anxious. Besides, his fellow scientists were counting on him to keep his cool, being that this was a life and death situation.
“Lo seinto,” he heaved out, once again trying to steady his trembling heart. He looked down at the pretty little thing who clung to the hem of his coat. “Been a long time since a vampire snuck up on me.”
“Not that long ago, actually. One visited you months ago. Yes?”
Coño, she knew. How?
Bishop hesitantly scuttled back from her dark, accusing gaze. The vision of his past lover, his captor, his Noble crept in his thoughts.
The night she came to him…he’d just got home from the lab. He wanted to do nothing but curl up in Cole’s arms and fall asleep. But she… She was in his bedroom, waiting on him, wearing nothing but a seductive smile. At that moment, the whys and hows weren’t a factor. He didn’t care how she found him, or how the hell she got inside the walls. He just wanted her. That night
, she had her way with him, as she’d done so many times in the past. She reminded him he would always be her special pet. Then she vanished, leaving him winded, near death, but desperate for more. He felt her close the days after that. His senses led him to Liège.
“A Noble within the walls. You knew many months ago, but told no one.” Eyes narrowed, the girl tilted her head. “Why is that?”
He glanced around at the frightened scientists looking his way. A sense of dread rose in his heart. What will they think of me now? He knew a Noble had breached their defenses and didn’t ring the alarms like he should’ve. Many humans probably died as a result.
“Don’t worry. They can’t hear us.” She lifted her hand to him. “Tell me why,” she persisted.
He slipped his palm over hers and clutched her small hand. “You don’t spend ten years of your life as a prisoner, offering your soul and body to a demonic woman and not catch feelings. Guess that makes me a demon too.” What can I say? I’m fucked up.
“Have you called to her since?”
“Of course not.”
“Why? You know she’s close, but you don’t call to her? Are you resisting her compulsion? Is it the tonic you consume that keeps you from doing so?”
He grinned down at her. “That’s a lot of questions asked in one breath.”
“I know you keep secrets, Dr. Bishop.” She skipped ahead of him and tugged on his hand, making him shuffle along behind her. “Some secrets you’re not even aware you’re keeping. April ninth. Is that the last time you were with her?”
“I’m gonna leave that question unanswered ‘cause that’s grown-up talk.” He squeezed her hand, surprised by how warm it was, as he allowed her to lead him through his lab. “Where are you taking me?”
“You know Elvish,” she stated a second time.
“Yeah, I picked up a little Elvish from the Swans during my time on the—the Pegasus.” He hadn’t spoken of the luxurious air castle since he escaped. Or was he set free? The events of that day were fuzzy, a collection of blurry images in his mind.
“The flying horse?”
“No. It’s an air castle, guarded by a massive air fleet, and hidden beneath the illusion of clouds.”
“I see. That’s how she evaded the Legion for so long.”
“She never left the sky.” Which was why he was so shocked to find her in his bedroom that night. She had to know they were after her. What the hell would make her come down from her perch beyond the Heavens? “She was always surrounded by Elves. I learned a lot from them.”
The girl glanced back at him, her eyes narrowed. “One doesn’t just learn Elvish, especially spells that only exist within their bloodline.”
“Know what? You sound like an old soul, like you’re much older than you appear to be. How old are you? Like a hundred?”
“Your charm and chatty distractions aren’t enough to cover your secrets. You should stop now before I get angry.”
“Aw, c’mon, niñita. You know as well as I do there’s no way to keep secrets from a vampire who has looked into your eyes.”
“There is if you’re a Black Swan. She has a firm grip on your mental waves, Dr. Bishop. That makes it impossible for a seer to peek into the window of your soul without damaging your cerebrum.”
“Ah-ha! A seer!” he shouted in excitement. “I knew you weren’t a full-fledged vampire.”
She stopped.
Suddenly, her touch was cold as ice, like the dead. A crushing grip bit into his fingers. The sound of bones cracking whipped through airways.
“Oww—shit!” he cried out. The pain was so great, it took him down to his knees, bringing him face to face with her.
Branches of blackness spread out from her eyes and overtook the top half of her face.
“Oh, I get it,” he grunted with a wince. “You can turn it on and off. You must be a product of a priestess.”
“Says the product of an Elf who tried to make me believe he’d learned Elvish along the way.”
Another sharp cry leaped out of him. Fuck! He could see his fingers being contorted the wrong way within her tiny grasp.
“I may be a child, Dr. Bishop, but I am no fool.”
“Okay—lo seinto. Could you…stop crushing my hand now?” Baring his teeth in pain, he slapped his free hand on the floor and bowed his head. “Por favor!”
She loosened her grip, but kept a hold on his hand. The pain eased up. Then, to his relief, it completely vanished.
He breathed out a heavy sigh as he stood upright on his knees. “Whew! That’s the most pain I’ve felt in a long time. What a way to know you’re alive.”
She released him and stepped back. “Stand.”
Rising to his feet, he curled and extended the fingers that were crushed a second ago. “Think we got off on the wrong foot, baby girl. Let’s start over.”
“Be honest with me and we won’t have to worry about the wrong foot.” Her adorable smile returned as she tilted her head in curiosity. “You knew you shared blood with the Elven race, but never told anyone, not even your closest friend. Why is that?”
“You’re an inquisitive little thing, aren’t you?” He straightened his lab coat and rolled his shoulders back. There was a tweak in his lower left side. He may have strained something while trying to endure the pain he just suffered. “Uhm, I wanted to move on from it all, everything that reminded me of her. I didn’t even know I was part Elf until I was abducted. Every Noble has their addictions and preferences—Hers were Elves.” He dragged his hand over his face as he pondered on something he thought he would never have to explain aloud. “Exposing that part of myself was last to none on my list of things to do when I joined the Cross Knights. And when I met Cole…” While he shared a lot of his past with Cole, his Elven nature was the one thing he deemed to keep out of their relationship. “It was nothing he needed to know.”
She blinked, but didn’t bother to question him further. “Okay. Come along, Dr. Bishop. We have work to do.” Again, she offered her hand.
He stared at her little outstretched limb as he backpedaled away from her. “Are you gonna crush my hand again? ‘Cause that wasn’t fun at all.”
“I’m not sure. Am I?”
He scanned the room again, taking in the gazes of his nervous staff. “Are you going to kill me? Us?”
She placed a finger over her lips and looked away briefly, as if in thought. “I haven’t quite made up my mind about that yet.”
“But you definitely have orders to kill me?”
“Yes.”
“A’ight then. Since you’re having second thoughts, guess all I have to do is appeal to your better nature.” Once again, he dropped his hand in hers and winked at her. “That happens to be my specialty.”
Her rosy cheeks blossomed with a bashful grin. “Dr. Bishop, you are quite the charming one. But know this, I will kill you if I have to.”
“Gotcha, hon.” This wasn’t the first time a vampire threatened his life. Luckily for him, he wasn’t afraid of death. But my workers… He looked into their eyes as she escorted him through his lab toward his office space. It would tear his heart into pieces to see any of them die. Especially when he had the means to save them.
She guided him around the frosted barrier and over to the hover-chair in front of his super-com. His crew and the other vampire children were no longer in his sights. A few wavering silhouettes were the only thing he could see.
Please God, grant me this one request and save the lives of my workers.
She tapped the console. “Activate it.”
“Computer, activate.”
“Voice authorization confirmed,” the com replied.
Twelve wide monitors, stacked in pairs of four, flickered to life. His arc-shaped keyboard illuminated on the table.
“Now drop your firewall and link your systems to the Central Command unit one eighty-four.”
“Qué? After all the trouble I went through to secure my own server so they couldn’t catch a glimpse of
my dealings here? C’mon now. Ask for something else, anything else.”
Without a word, she lifted his hand and placed it on the keyboard.
“Coño!” Not like he had a choice. His fingers went to work. What took days to do was undone in a matter of minutes. “There!” he grumbled. “All my research and samples on display for the fuckin’ eyes of power.”
A tsking sound entered the room. “Watch your language around the young one, doctor.” A face popped up on the far-right monitor. A pair of golden catlike eyes gazed at him from the screen. “She’s at an impressionable age, ya know.” A colorful accent laced her voice. Sounded African. Hair the color of the ocean framed her face in a pixie cut. This woman—she was most likely a shifter. A gata shifter. But that wasn’t her full make.
Studying her features, he leaned in closer. She was something else. A half-blood.
“And what may I call you?” he asked on a jesting tone. “Pretty-eyed kitty?”
“You may call me Nobody.” With her tongue poking from the corner of her mouth, she swept her fingers across the screen. “Now let’s see if this little trick of mine will work. Hang tight, doctor. This will only take a few moments.”
A series of letters emerged. They scrolled from one monitor to the other, in numerous rows. As they did, they turned into symbols. Elvish symbols. Shortly after, they changed into numbers.
“Okay, I see what’s going on here, Miss Nobody. You’re trying to back door into the security system by using my server and a little magic. Probably ‘cause you can’t figure out how to infiltrate the main Central Command system.”
The cat woman sneered at him. “I can figure it out.”
“Then why use me?”
Her slanted eyes slid toward the little seer at his side. “Make him shut up.”
“I would if I could, but he’s a chatty one,” the girl replied with a giggle.
“What do you mean if you could? You didn’t charm him?”
“He’s uncharmable.”
“Yet extremely charming. How ‘bout that?” Bishop glanced at the child and winked, drawing out more giggles. Truth was, there were several things she could do to shut him up. Mainly concerning his team, who were still under the watchful eyes of their pint-sized captors. That aside, he had a feeling his new little friend got a kick out of watching the gata squirm in frustration.
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