Chapter 32
Emmy woke to familiar, masculine voices speaking too quietly for her fever-addled brain to parse. She kept her eyes closed, just listening to the cadence, the rise and fall. Safe sounds.
“She’s awake,” Zander said, and Emmy opened her eyes.
He sat in the chair beside the bed, still in the dark charcoal henley and black cargo pants he’d been wearing earlier, but there was something different about him now. A stillness. A satisfaction that hadn’t been there before.
“Hey,” Emmy managed, her voice scratchy.
Spence’s arm tightened around her — she was tucked against his chest, his body warm behind hers, one of his hands resting on her hip. The ice packs around her head were still held on with an ace bandage. She knew it looked ridiculous, but she was too tired to care.
“How are you feeling?” Zander asked.
Emmy took inventory — fever still burning through her, headache a persistent throb rather than the splitting agony of earlier, body aches everywhere but manageable, and her stomach relatively settled for the moment.
“Like I got hit by a truck, and then it kept backing up and going forward, over and over again.” She breathed out and back in.
“My digestive system is doing better, so that’s a start.
Now if I can just get the fever, body aches, and headache to follow suit, but not having to run to the bathroom every twenty minutes means I’m getting some sleep, and that helps. ”
“Your aura feels stronger. Spence tells me you managed six spoonfuls of chicken broth before you went to sleep this last time?”
“Yes, and I actually held them down. Maybe I’ll try for eight this time. Spence says you found the assholes who did this?”
She tried to sit up, but Spence’s arm held her tight against him. “He’ll tell us what he can. We don’t need to move.”
Zander leaned forward, elbows on his knees, those impossibly blue eyes focused entirely on her. “A married couple from the Slovenian Alps — Vladislav and Svetlana Krvi. They call themselves the Vladar Krvi — Masters of the Blood. The humans in the area call them the Lords of the Summit.”
“Oh,” Spence said. “Svetlana is a fucking scary bitch.”
Zander nodded. “They organize hunts at their alpine fortress — wealthy vampires pay to hunt enslaved shifters for sport and blood, the hunter’s choice of whether to kill or accept ownership papers for the slave they win.
They’re Concilio sympathizers, militant traditionalists who believe in absolute vampire supremacy. ”
Emmy’s stomach turned, and not from the poison. “They poisoned us because…?”
“Because I allowed both factions to attend Mordnik peacefully. Because I refuse to take a side in their political war.” Zander’s voice was cold, controlled fury barely leashed. “They wanted to destabilize my neutrality, sow chaos, force me to choose — or discredit me if I refused.”
“And having two people spreading the poison threw us off when we looked through the video feeds,” Spence said quietly.
Zander’s jaw tightened. “Yes. The mammal poisoning was wolfsbane delivered topically, applied with a fingertip during what would look like casual contact. A stroke on the back, the shoulder, the arm — an invisible symbol that only showed up later as the poison metabolized.”
“The rumor was that the mark meant traitor?” Emmy asked.
Zander nodded. “Technically it means oath breaker, but close enough. It’s called an ezret, and was historically used to brand oath-breakers before execution in a culture that’s been dead for millennia, but vampires continued the tradition well past the humans.
Anyone over about fifteen hundred years old would recognize it immediately. ”
Emmy processed that, her mind grinding through the implications. “And the reptile poison?”
“Different delivery method, and you were right about the reindeer stew — it was a given the four reptiles would choose it. Their plan was to up the dosage slowly, to go from making shifters sick to killing them.”
“You’re sure it’s just the two of them?” Spence asked.
“I’m not finished interrogating them, but at this point, it appears it was just this couple. They aren’t known for their ability to work with others, so it isn’t likely that’s changed. Still, once I have the slave drain on them and own them as slaves, I’ll know for absolute certain.”
Spence nodded. “Death would be too easy.”
Zander smiled. “Exactly right, Dearest. I’m not sure I’d have found it, but someone on the security team measured the inside and outside of every piece of luggage, and this told them one suitcase had a false bottom.
We couldn’t figure out how to get into the secret compartment, so a saw was produced, and security cut it open.
We found the wolfsbane, the reptile poison, and another aimed at birds. ”
He looked at Spence, then Emmy. “They went for reptiles before birds because they apparently realized my connection to your father would make me more protective of you.”
Emmy nodded. “That’s okay. I survived it, and Rhea might not have. Plus, there are more birds than reptiles, so less of us got sick this way.”
“It’s not okay,” Spence said. “Nothing about this is okay.”
“It isn’t,” Zander agreed, “but I also understand Emmy’s stance. Bottom line, they had enough poison to kill every shifter in the silo twice over.” He met Emmy’s gaze again. “And they had the original recipe for dragon poison, so I’ll have to bring your father in, but not yet.”
Emmy’s breath caught. “Dragon poison. The real thing.”
“Yes.” Zander met her gaze, something fierce and protective blazing in his expression.
“The goal on this first poisoning was to make you sick without killing you. They knew it might be enough to kill a snake, depending on how much he ate, and they tried to calibrate it so it wouldn’t, but later dosages would’ve killed you, if I hadn’t sent you away, which I would’ve, if we hadn’t been able to find the perpetrators. ”
“How old are they?”
“She’s older than me. He’s about my age.” The muscles at his temples rippled. “Old enough to know better than to try this in my territory.”
Zander leaned back, a predator at rest but ready to strike. “They brought lion bodyguards, but didn’t tell them what they were planning. When I scanned the lions’ minds, there was nothing. They were deliberately kept ignorant.”
“What will happen to them?” Spence asked.
“Already dead,” Zander said. “They’d have died an excruciatingly slow death once I put the slave drain on their Masters, and would be drained and miserable in the coming days while their Masters are in a box awaiting punishment, so I killed them humanely rather than make them suffer.”
“And what will you do to the vampires?” Emmy asked, though she suspected she knew.
“Justice.” The single word carried weight, finality. “Public justice, so everyone understands what happens when you harm my people. I’ll fly Kendra in once we know all the reptiles are strong enough to attend. I’ll start and end the ceremony, but she’ll have her fun in the middle.”
Emmy blinked. “You want us to watch?”
“I need everyone to watch.” Zander’s gaze swept between her and Spence.
“Every vampire, every flock member, every guest, every maid, every cafeteria employee, most every security guard, though some will be posted elsewhere, obviously. I want it spoken of far and wide what happens to those who harm my people. This spectacle will be spoken of in hushed tones for centuries.”
Spence’s hand tightened on Emmy’s hip, but he didn’t protest.
“The theater?” Emmy guessed.
“Yes. With Vladislav and Svetlana center stage.” Zander’s expression was arctic. “No one harms someone under my protection without facing consequences a hundred times worse.”
Emmy had heard whispered stories about what Kendra is capable of — Zander’s Secundo, his chien méchant, his most feared enforcer. The Exsequor who made ancient vampires whisper her name with dread.
Zander stood, moved to the bed, and sat on the edge beside her. His cool hand touched her forehead, checking her temperature. “But first, you need to heal. Can you do that for me, brave little dragon?”
The endearment made her chest tight. “Yeah. I’m working on it as fast as I can.”
“Good.” His hand lingered a moment longer, then withdrew. “Spence will continue caring for you most of the time, but you’ll have me, I’m afraid, while he sleeps. The nurse says another day or two and you’ll be past the worst. You’re strong, Emerald, and you’re a fighter.”
“How are the rest?” Emmy asked.
“The cobra is still critical, but stabilizing. The others will be fine. Like you, it’s just a matter of working the poison out of your system at this point.”
Zander looked to Spence and back to her. “Everyone will survive, and you’ll all get … I believe it’s called hazard pay, these days.”
Emmy nodded, exhaustion pulling at her again. “Thank you. For finding them. For…” She gestured vaguely at the room, at Spence, at everything.
“You’re mine to protect,” Zander said simply. “I failed you when they poisoned you. I won’t fail you again.”
He stood and looked down at her. “Sleep, Emerald. Either Spence or I will be here when you wake.”
Emmy’s eyes were already closing, Spence’s warmth at her back, Zander’s presence a solid anchor in the room. Safe. Protected.
She drifted off thinking about justice, about consequences, and wondering what would happen after the public punishment was over, when she was well and the danger had passed.