by A. Vers
There was a gasp, and the pain faded to a dull ache. My fingers closed over my neck. Within seconds, they were damp with something warm.
My blood.
I huddled in on myself, sure I would vomit all over the steps. “What ... did you ... do?”
Ames wiped at his mouth, glaring at me with more rage than I expected. “I saw it all.”
All?
“Of?” I asked.
“You and Morgan.”
Oh. No wonder he was pissed.
Wait.
I blinked, and the world came into focus. I was still weak, but the odd haze was retreating. My thoughts were no longer muddled. But clear. I looked around. “What did you do?” I asked again.
“You kissed my betrothed and nearly got her killed, but you want to know what I did?” I glowered at his sarcastic tone. He huffed. “I drank some of Morgan’s blood from your system. It was slowly killing you even as it healed you again and again.”
I felt what little blood I had left run away—screaming—from my face. “What?”
He shook his head, stood, and pulled me bodily to my feet. “Why are you here, Ryder?”
“What? You didn’t see all that too?” I snapped, trying to breathe past the merry-go-round that was the world thanks to his harsh yanking.
“I saw a house and some of your journey here. Everything else was murky because of Morgan’s blood.”
Fine.
“The mayor signed a contract with hunters. They’re coming here. For all of you.”
His pale face turned ashen. “How do you know that?”
I looked at him, really wishing I could do this any other way. “Because I am one.”
I don’t know what I expected him to do. Maybe escort me inside to Harrington. Or maybe finally tell me what he meant about Morgan being missing.
What I wasn’t prepared for was to be punched in the jaw by a vampire.
A full-blood vampire.
I corkscrewed off the steps and landed in a heap on the pavement.
Dear god.
I rolled listlessly and groaned, holding my face. “The hell is wrong with you?” I spat to one side. More of my blood spattered the concrete.
“You’re a hunter?” he demanded, stalking to me with his eyes burning like two small suns.
I held my hands up as his fist went back again. “Wait! I came to warn you, Ames. To warn all of you. Does that make me the bad guy? No. It means you now have warning to get ready to deal with the real bad guy.”
He stopped and sneered down at me. “I should kill you.”
I waited.
His exhale was fierce. “But Morgan is my only priority.” He turned on his heel and started off.
I climbed slowly to my feet and tried to jog after him. Every time my foot struck a stone, it jarred clear into my hip.
God, he hit like a damn tank.
“Ames.”
He never slowed.
“Ames, what do you mean Morgan is missing?”
He spun. “She was with me earlier. We went to check the blood log in the nurses’ office. She thought that if we could narrow down everyone who had not taken from the bank, we could figure out who was killing the humans.”
“Because they would already be full,” I said and could not hide my distaste. “She come up with it?” He just nodded. I had a moment of burning pride that Morgan had thought it through on her own.
“But she disappeared.” His expression closed off, and the vampire before me was icy. Cold. This was the protector male of their race. “She was there and then she wasn’t.”
“Let me help you find her.”
He glowered. “No. Morgan is mine. Mine to protect. Mine to feed—” He clamped his lips together. “You warn Harrington of your hunters. I will find Morgan.”
He had me and he knew it.
But I couldn’t leave Morgan with only Ames as back-up with whatever she had gotten herself into. He was strong, but he was no fighter.
The one punch notwithstanding.
I grabbed his arm. “Give me two minutes,” I said. He opened his mouth to argue. “Let me warn Harrington. You scour the area for any trace of her scent. I’ll catch up to you.”
His eyes narrowed.
“She saved my life, Ames. Even if she nearly killed me afterward.” I searched his expression. He knew I had kissed her. The vampire had seen it. But he hadn’t killed me for it.
Yet.
“Let me help, Ames.”
His lips peeled back from a set of wicked fangs. “Hurry. Because if I catch her scent, I’m leaving you here.”
I inclined my head and ran full tilt up the stairs to warn a school of supes they were in danger from my kin.
And god help me if they reacted like Ames.
Or worse.
Chapter 34
Morgan
My head lolled to the side. I came awake, blinking into the hazy darkness.
What—
I peered around as my head pounded. But nothing made sense. This was not my room. Nor did it appear to be anywhere on Lokworth property.
The room was made of slick stone and filled with rusted metal chains. Each long piece hung nearly to the stone floor. A floor that seemed to house an old grate recessed deep into the center.
I attempted to stand. But I only managed a kind of defeated topple before the numbness in my legs made itself very clear. I glared down at them.
“Awake, I see.” Giroux’s voice was cool from somewhere behind me.
I tried to roll. To rise. Anything to keep me from such a vulnerable state amidst the flagstones. “Let me go.”
He tutted softly. “I can’t do that, Ms. Read. Surely you understand.”
“I understand you’re insane,” I snapped. “Let me go!”
Something grabbed my hair, hauling upright by the roots. My scalp burned, and I cried out. The sound echoed piteously around me.
Giroux towered over me, his coal black eyes burning with a crazed light. “Now, now, Ms. Read. This is just the beginning of our time together.”
Ice filled my veins and sat like a lead weight in my stomach. “Why are you doing this?” It came out a whimper, but I couldn’t stop it if I had tried.
I had little experience with abuse of any sort. My parents, though distant, had never laid a hand on me. Even when they had found my nanny dead in my rooms, their coldness and accusations had been careful. Rigid. Ames, with all his anger, was faster to fall into a kind of meditative pose than to lash out at anyone.
This was new territory for me.
And just as that morning had offered a bit of an eye opener, I realized that all the bad that had happened so far was nothing compared to the hatred burning in Giroux’s eyes.
He was going to make me hurt. In every way he knew how.
And no one knew where I was.
My eyes burned. “Whatever I did, I’m sorry.”
He snarled, and the sound would have made one of the beastkin proud. “You apologize, but you don’t know what you did?” His lips turned into a deadly sneer. “Let me enlighten you then, Ms. Read.”
Giroux hauled me up to my feet by one hand in my hair and the other in a bruising grip on my arm. He pushed me a step ahead of him. But my legs didn’t want to cooperate. I began to buckle as the pins and needles sensation grew unbearable.
But he didn’t care.
The vise grip on my body ground my bones together as he pushed and shoved me over the slick stones.
I was forced into an adjacent chamber, this one round and covered in yet more chains and long lengths of wire. Several recessed cages sat in the shadowed corridors off to the side. I also spotted an old battered trunk, dark fluid filled jars, and a wicked looking knife.
But center of the room was a single coffin.
It’s sides were made of opaque glass. All along the edges was gold inlay, like Snow White’s casket from the human fairy tale. And I knew that whatever was inside was not something I wanted to see.
I stru
ggled against his hold. “Let go.” I twisted and turned, trying to pull away.
“You will see what has been done, Ms. Read.” Giroux’s words ripped through me as his fingers dug into my arm.
Ryder’s voice filled my head. ‘If they grab you, drop your weight. Kick, scream, claw. Do whatever you have to in order to get away.’
So I did.
My body collapsed like someone had thrown a switch inside my head. The pain was immediate, but I ignored it. My rear hit the floor, and Giroux bent to pull me back up.
I kicked out with my leaden feet, gnashing teeth that had gone long and pointy. My heel connected with something solid. But he never made a sound.
Something struck my face. Hard. My vision darkened and I swayed, losing my resolve to stay seated. I tried to blink. But the pain in my cheek was blinding.
Gods!
Crushing force closed over my throat, squeezing until all the air in my lungs burned and my legs kicked feebly as I fought to draw breath. Giroux leaned over me, his teeth bared.
“I was going to merely show you this horrendous crime. Now you will rot with it until you can see reason.” He hit me again, making my ears ring.
While I wove from the blow, he lifted me by my throat, cutting off any protests or hopes of getting away. He slammed me back into something hard. It dug into my spine, jarring me. But I couldn’t cry out. The hold on my throat flexed, and I choked.
My lungs burned and my eyes watered. My shoulders twitched but there was no air. I tried to swat at his hands, to break his too tight grip. There was a squeal, then the stale odor of cold, dead air.
I gagged. Or tried to.
Giroux lifted me bodily and shoved me into the coffin. No sooner did the pressure on my throat ease than the coffin lid was wrenched back overhead.
No.
Choking and trying to breathe despite the foul air, I beat at the lid, railing to open it back. But something about the mechanism held it firmly in place.
Gods.
My shoulder dug into something soft. Too soft.
The foul odor increased, bringing with it the scent of decaying meat and flesh. I went still. My head slowly turned.
Terror ripped through my insides.
On the velvet pillow beside me, my nanny lay in death. The long flow of her golden hair was like faded sunlight against the white of the coffin’s interior. Her once full cheeks were sunken, hollow as her skin had turned grey and waxy over time. She looked exactly as she had that morning five years ago.
The morning my world was ripped to shreds from a crime I had no memory of committing.
Her throat was ripped wide. Savaged by a wild beast. A beast that had just developed an insatiable appetite for blood.
It had taken me five years to put that day behind me. Five years to try to let go of a mistake I still had no recollection of making. And yet, here it was again. In flesh and bone inside a gilded coffin.
A keening sound tumbled from my lips and from the outside of the casket, Giroux began to laugh. I turned away from Lady Nancy’s torn neck and pressed my palms flat to the lid. Pushing and straining until my shoulders burned, I screamed endlessly but couldn’t get out.
I was trapped inside my worst nightmare, and no one would save me this time.
Chapter 35
Ryder
Harrington gave me a disgusted glare. Her lips pursed and her carefully styled bun was in disarray. It seemed she had already been in contact with the board. One who had assured her they would not resort to any drastic means.
And judging by how she was watching me, Harrington was officially in the category of ‘all humans are liars’.
But I didn’t have time to worry about that. She now knew there would be hunters. It was up to her on what she did with that information.
“I hope you understand that this means your residency at Lokworth is over, Mr. Hanlon?” she asked briskly. “I cannot allow you to further endanger my students.”
I wanted to retort something smart-assed or sinister. Like how I still knew where they all were. Or that I would be watching. But I settled for a shrug and started for the door.
It wasn’t like I could say I was surprised. This was a betrayal to them all. But none of their opinions really mattered. Not Ames, Headmistress Harrington, or the rest. The only one I was remotely concerned with …
Well, I couldn’t worry about Morgan until I found her.
I left Harrington’s office and made a beeline for the bottom floor.
Ames was pacing on the steps, his gold gaze casting bright lights over the weathered stone.
“Anything?” I asked.
He looked up and shook his head. “I have walked the entire circumference of the school. I cannot pick up any trace of her scent out here.”
That made me frown.
How had she just disappeared?
If she had left, and I wasn’t sure why she would have, she should have left some sort of trail. Be it by scent or tracks. But Ames’ senses were better than mine. If he said she wasn’t here, she wasn’t.
But I had no idea where she was.
Morgan was not a fighter. She had shown me that against the humans. She was practically defenseless. Sure she had fangs, strength, and speed. But what good was any of that if she didn’t know how to use it?
“Next plan,” I told him. He peered at me, the agitation and worry palpable. “We extend the search. Do you know anyone that could help look? Other vamps? Shifters?”
His mouth opened. Then closed. He knit his brows. “Maybe. But …”
“But what?” I asked, impatient.
With every minute we wasted—
His eyes raised and locked with mine. “Never mind. Let’s go.” He started back up the stairs and flung the doors wide.
I trailed him at an easy jog, and we climbed the ramshackle staircase to the colony’s dorm. The one I had glimpsed days before.
He strode into what appeared to be a rec room and looked around. His gaze locked on one corner.
A set of blonde twins sat, heads together, as they conversed in low tones. Ames stalked over.
“Morgan is missing,” he started without preamble.
They raised their heads in unison. The girl, who looked like a small blond doll with ringlet curls and bright blue eyes, twisted her lips. “Maybe she’s with her new human.”
I coughed slightly and stepped from behind Ames. Her eyes whipped over. I waved sarcastically. “New human is present, Morgan is not.”
Her expression darkened for a moment before she carefully scrubbed it free of emotion. She tossed her curls over one shoulder. “We haven’t seen her.”
Ames took another step. “Riki, she is missing. Help me find her.”
The male twin appeared more amicable than the girl, his darker blue eyes nearly cobalt in the dim room. “Missing?”
Ames nodded. “She disappeared this morning. I have not seen her in hours.”
He stood slowly. “I’ll help you find her.”
The girl gaped at him. “Roman.”
He glowered right back. “Mor was your friend first, Riki. I know you’re still upset with her. But I don’t want to see anyone else hurt. Or worse. So I’ll help look for her because it’s the right thing to do.” Something about his words made her pale significantly.
He turned to us. “Where was the last place you saw her?”
“Nurse’s office,” Ames said, already moving to the door.
Roman and I were close on his heels and nearly to the frame when a harsh feminine growl erupted behind us.
“Wait, blast it all.” Heels pounded over the old wood floor.
I turned as the girl, Riki, ran to join us.
Her cheeks were flushed with anger, but there was a firm resolution in her shoulders. “I’m not happy with Morgan right now. But I don’t want her hurt. I’m coming too.”
I looked at Ames, but he merely nodded.
My shrug was as empty as it had been to Harrington. “More the merrier,�
� I quipped and pushed past them all.
Ames said they had been in the nurse’s office.
So that was where we would start.
But if any of them slowed me down, they were going to learn why hunters were still feared.
Chapter 36
Morgan
I kept my eyes closed and bit my lip until it bled. My arms shook from fatigue, and there were dark red smears on the glass above me. I was sure I ripped my nails off. But I had to get out.
Raising up as far as I could, I dug my hands into the slick surface and heaved with every ounce of strength left in my body. Another whimper poured from me, but the casket lid would not budge. Nor would it break. It was too thick.
I sagged into the velvet interior and screamed long and loud. The echo rattled my ears, but there was no sound of laughter from just outside. No shadowy, menacing male form. I had no way of knowing if Giroux was still nearby. No way of getting out either.
Even with Ames’ blood in my system, the chemicals Giroux had used to incapacitate me left me weak. Like a newborn babe.
Would it wear off before the blood left my system?
I couldn’t wait that long to find out. There was no way of knowing Giroux’s end game. If he truly intended me to rot with Lady Nancy …
“No,” I snapped at myself and curled my aching, bleeding fingers into fists.
Turning sideways in what little room there was, I tried to ignore the scent of decaying flesh. Or the waxy figure beneath me. I scoured the interior of the glass coffin, searching the velvet lining and Lady Nancy’s dress. Anything and everything for something to help get me out.
There was a long, decorative cross around her neck. The base was surprisingly thick and appeared to be metal, maybe silver. Small pearls and gold inlay decorated the embellished top.
I reached and gingerly lifted it free. Her skin was too cool. Too slick. It was like touching an new candle.
Forcing the bile back down my throat, I yanked. The chain broke and her body jerked, leaving my heart racing wildly. I knew she was dead. Had known for years. But in that moment, I began to wonder.
