Chapter Eleven
Grant
Imanage probably an hour’s sleep sometime around noon. I crawled into the bath as soon as I locked the door early in the morning, and then I’m hoping that my power soundproofed the entire room because I cried for a while.
It’s not just Rachel. It’s my parents. The rest of my family, my friends. I keep imagining the funeral she said they held, the fact that they’ve never really had an answer as to what happened to me.
And what am I supposed to do about it now?
I want to ask Vlad to take care of it, but that’s not his job, whether he turned me or not.
Besides, I was so mad at Rachel when she started to blame him, even if that’s what he wanted her to do, because he saved me.
I would have died without him. I was dying, maybe a heartbeat from the edge.
I strip off the shirt and my trousers at some point, so I’m lying in the bath in just the mesh top I was wearing last night and my underwear.
I have to go back to the club tonight. I have to go there and convince Jakob to try to lure me in more and focus on him instead of Vlad and Rachel and this whole mess, and I truly don’t think I can do it.
I dig my phone out of my trouser pocket and scroll through my messages to Quinn. He won’t know what to do either, I think, but that doesn’t really matter.
I don’t think I can do this.
His reply is quick, which is not all that surprising, considering it’s only early evening. I hear something shift in the bedroom. Vlad is awake, too. The sun isn’t quite down yet, but I don’t know that he’s slept any more than I have.
Why not?
A lot of shit has happened. What if I fuck up?
Vlad’s there, isn’t he? He’ll help you out.
I frown at the screen and then tip my head back on the edge of the bath. The pillow I took is wedged beneath my lower back. Not the most comfortable.
I don’t want him to always have to help me.
Quinn takes longer to reply this time, little dots disappearing and reappearing as he clearly thinks his answer through.
What if he wants to?
I scoff and rest my phone against my chest for a moment. Vlad wants to keep me safe. I know that. He turned me. Why have that go to waste?
But helping me with every little thing? Why would he want to do that? Technically, I’m in my mid-thirties now. And what have I been doing for the last fifteen years except rely on him for everything?
My phone buzzes again and I let out a heavy sigh before I lift it to check the screen.
Asher wants to help me with everything. I help him, too.
My face flames, and I glance at the door reflexively, as though Vlad might somehow know that Quinn sent that and burst into the room. In his own way, he cares about me. Some people might even call it love. Fine.
It’s not the same as what I feel for him. It can’t be. I want to crawl out of my own skin when I’m around him, which is literally all the time, but how can he see me as anything more than, what, a child?
I groan and push myself out of the bath after sending a thumbs-up to Quinn. He’s off-base, but that’s fine. He clocked my feelings for Vlad immediately, so that’s… whatever. I grab the pillow and look at the door.
I can do this. Margot might have been angry at us, might not like vampires at all, but I know she’s hurting over her friend’s brother. If I do this, I can stop Jakob and this fae from hurting any other vampires again.
I have to do this. I take a breath and open the door.
Vlad and I don’t talk about my running off to the bathroom all night when I finally emerge, but he does already have an outfit laid out for me, which makes tears prick the backs of my eyes.
He looks at me, concerned, and stiffens when I can’t help myself and wrap him up in a hug.
He gently pats my shoulder, and I can’t look him in the eye when we part, so I rush off to shower and dress.
I want this done tonight. I want us to discover this fae’s name and tell the Huntsman, and then he can send whoever he needs to bring her in.
He can do it himself for all I care. I want to be back at home, back in my bed, where I can think about all the stuff this job has raised in peace.
Jakob is already waiting at the club, of course. He smiles when he sees me, and his control is better than it was last night—the smile reaches his eyes.
I don’t bother with our game. Instead, I slip right into the booth, and that seems to take him by surprise.
“Here I thought you might give me the runaround again.”
“If I’d planned on that, I just wouldn’t have bothered coming back at all.”
He strokes a finger down my jaw. “Now that would be a shame.”
I don’t lean into the touch, but I don’t bat him away, either, and I let him serve us both spiked blood like he did last night.
This time, I drink faster, letting myself sway where I’m sitting.
Tension has the bond between me and Vlad quivering.
I’m going too fast, maybe, but it’s not like I’m actually impeded by the drink, and if Jakob thinks I trust him—or that I’m willing to get closer to him for whatever reason—he might let something slip.
“You should slow down, little bird,” he says once I’m three glasses deep.
I pout at him, twisting my body so I can lean my shoulder against the cushioned back of the booth. “You’ll look after me, won’t you? You said you’d be a gentleman.”
Something in Jakob’s grin shifts. I’m wearing shorts again tonight and his hand lands heavy on my bare thigh. “I don’t remember agreeing to that.”
I huff and reach blindly for my glass, making my movements thick and clumsy.
I don’t want to hurt anyone—I can’t say I’ve ever really wanted that.
Having that vampire die in my grip was more than enough, and it’s what has me surprised that the Huntsman allowed me on this job at all.
But Jakob? It’s not about the way he’s touching me.
It’s that I know he did the exact same thing to all those other vampires before…
whatever happened to make them burn themselves up.
“Just a little one,” Jakob says. He plucks my glass from my hand and fills it again. I give him a smile before I lift it to my lips. How can I get the fae’s name from him? That’s all I need to do.
I drink my fresh glass—Jakob has been sipping on the same one all night—and when I set it down, he reaches out and swipes his thumb over the corner of my mouth.
The pad comes away crimson. Fuck. Now or never.
At least if I get him alone, I can try to use my powers to get an answer out of him.
We do this, we go home and maybe, just maybe, Vlad will come to realise that I’m more than only his turn.
Before Jakob can move back, I grab his hand and suck the tip of his thumb into my mouth. The blood tastes like blood, fine, but I study the way Jakob’s eyes darken and how he shifts in his seat.
“I always forget how hungry you fledglings can be.”
I shift back in my seat, letting his thumb fall from my mouth. “So hungry,” I reply, voice breathy, and his grin only widens.
“Let’s go somewhere more private, little bird.”
“Your place?”
“Oh, I’m sure I can do better than that.” His hand moves higher. “I wouldn’t want you to starve.”
I giggle, even though I really want to bite him, and he gets to his feet before extending a hand to help me up. When I sway and fall into him, his arm slips around my waist.
The bodyguard perks up, but whatever signal Jakob gives him has him settling again. I don’t look for Vlad. I feel faint echoes of his concern, but what else can I do? If Jakob gets bored of me, he’ll go and look for another victim. We can’t have that.
He ushers me through a door marked for staff only, hand sliding up to rest under the cropped T-shirt I’m wearing this evening.
How far will this go? How far can I let this go?
I do my best to distance myself from the bond between me and Vlad.
He doesn’t need to know any of it. All he needs is the name.
Jakob presses me up against a wall next to a closed office door and tilts my chin up so I’m looking him in the eye. “I’m going to make you scream for me.”
My stomach rolls. Gross. But I smile and laugh drunkenly all the same. I just need him to get me through that door. Once it’s shut, we’re unlikely to be interrupted and already my power is buzzing, reacting to this man who I clearly want nothing to do with.
“Can’t wait,” I murmur, and Jakob opens the door to let us into the office.
I realise at once that something is wrong, even before I see the woman sitting in the chair. Her magic floods the room, icy and sharp, and when she nods at Jakob, he shoves me further inside and closes the door.
Wards settle around me. They’re not like the wards the rest of the Hunt can conjure. Even the bond between me and Vlad is blocked, and panic claws at my chest.
“You found an interesting one,” the fae says approvingly, and I finally look at her. She’s high fae and not even trying to hide it. The pointed tips of her ears emerge from long blond curls, and her eyes are flat and dark. In the faint glow of the lamp on the desk, her dark skin shimmers.
“Thought he might be,” Jakob says. “Shame you won’t let me have fun first.”
“I should go,” I say. It’s utterly inane, but I don’t know what else to do. I have to get out of here.
The fae is faster than I am. Her magic becomes sharp edges, wrapping me up so tightly I gasp, all the air squeezed out of me. I try to push at my own, to get it to fight back, or at least to strengthen the bond between me and Vlad, just enough that he knows something is happening, that he can—
She gets to her feet, eyes never leaving me as she rounds the desk and approaches. The tips of her sleek shoes touch mine and she grabs my jaw, fingernails digging into my skin. I’m lightheaded, even though the lack of air shouldn’t matter at all.
I don’t need to breathe. I need to slow down, to stop panicking. I need to find a way out of this.
Her eyes narrow. “He’s even more interesting than I thought.”
“He is?” Jakob perks up. There’s a perverse interest in his eyes when he runs them over me now. He likes me struggling. Likes me unable to fight back. I try to calm my racing heart, but it’s difficult now, panic lashing out so I can’t push it back where it belongs.
She smiles. It’s not pleasant. Did I see her pass through into our realm months ago, or did I leave before she made it?
“You’re one of Iagan’s little pets,” she says.
Who? I’m Vlad’s. Only his.
“Who?” Jakob asks.
“No concern of yours,” the fae replies, brushing him off. “But we won’t need the serum. We’re going to try something different with this one.”
“All that work, and you—”
Her magic tightens around me again, squeezing bones so tight I fear they might break, and I try to make a sound, but I can’t because her magic surges into my mouth and down my throat, snaking through every part of me like she’s trying to burn out all the power I have.
“I do not answer to you, vampire,” she hisses, but now she sounds really far away.
My knees go weak. Her magic keeps me standing, but her magic is still in me, trying to find every part of mine, and black creeps in at the edges of my vision.
I know where Vlad is. I know why he isn’t here.
I know this is all my fault.