Chapter 11
We walk slowly through the wide corridor.
After I shared as much as I could bear about my time with the vampires, we sat in silence for a long, long while. But it wasn’t the uncomfortable kind. It was the sort that somehow eases the pain, a shared trauma, a communal grieving. A silence that heals, not divides.
Gage leans against the wall ahead of us where he’s talking quietly to two soldiers. Now dressed in military fatigues, he flicks his gaze to me as we approach. The soldiers with him give a nod and then hurry away down a side hallway, their steps echoing against the cold concrete.
He strides to us. “Georgia, I know you’re catching up with Wyatt and Evie, but can I have a quick word?”
“We were going to show her the lab,” Evie says, though there isn’t much conviction in her voice.
I think we’re all drained. Happy to be together again, but somehow also crushed under the weight of it all.
“Maybe save that for tomorrow? It’s been a big day for everyone.” Gage stops in front of us, his warm eyes on me. “I’ll escort you to your quarters after.”
A few soldiers pass, both of them staring at me though clearly trying not to stare at me. When Gage turns to look at them, they finally decide to look straight ahead and nowhere else.
“She’s rooming with me, right?” Evie asks. “I’ve got plenty of space. No roomies at all.”
“Absolutely.” Gage smiles.
“Good.” She gives me a side hug. “I’ll show you how the shower works, and if you’re nice, I might even share some of my snack rations.”
“How nice are we talking?”
“Why don’t you share your snacks with me?” Wyatt harrumphs.
“Ugh.” She takes his good arm. “Come on. I’ll give you some of those fake cheese cracker things, all right?”
“Those are my favorite.” He lets her lead him away.
“See you in a few,” she calls over her shoulder.
I wave.
“Come on.” Gage juts his chin toward a set of metal doors a few paces down the hall. “Let’s talk.”
“Okay.” I follow him, passing a few more people, one of them dressed like a nurse and a few others in civilian clothes.
He takes a left and scans his badge, which opens another door that leads to a living area. “My quarters,” he explains as he holds the door for me. “I thought we’d be more comfortable catching up in here.”
I glance around. A simple living room with a faux plant and furniture that looks more like office fixtures than a homey space. Plain walls just like the gray ones in the hall.
“Please.” He gestures toward the couch.
I walk in, the door sealing shut with a click behind me, and have a seat on the stiff couch.
Everything in the room is somewhat spartan, and there’s a sleeping area with a bed farther back.
No kitchen. Everything is concrete, wood, and scratchy fabrics lit by fluorescents.
Made for survival, nothing more. For a moment, it gives me echoes of the dungeon beneath the Black Cavern where I’d been held.
My mouth goes dry, and I pull my knees up, wrapping my arms around them.
“You’re probably all talked out by now.” He hands me a bottle of water and sits beside me.
“But I know you have to have a lot of questions for me. You took a leap of faith to get into that helicopter, especially after all you’ve been through.
I want you to know that you made the right choice.
” He angles himself toward me, his gaze searching for mine. “You know that, right?”
“I—yeah. I think so.”
“Good.” He smiles and relaxes a bit.
I glance at the small Saints emblem embroidered on his chest in gold thread.
He catches the movement. “We’re still the United States, just a hybrid of organizations is all. It was necessary after DC fell. And I promise you, the Saints that attacked you are not part of this.”
“I know they aren’t. They’re dead,” I say flatly.
“Right.” He nods. “Valen.”
Valen. He’s still in my veins. Ever since I’ve been in this bunker, I can still feel him. Fainter now. But he’s there. Will he always be there? Is he safe? Did he find Coal?
“I’m just so fucking happy you’re here now.” He leans to me and pulls me into a hug. “God, I’ve missed you.”
I pat him on the back awkwardly until he lets me go.
“When I told General Lopez that you had created a poison that could take out the vampires—that you killed Theo with it—you became one of our top priorities. We knew we had to get you here, to supply you as best we can. You’re our only hope of wiping them out.
You can create more of the poison, right? ”
“I think so, yeah, but—”
“Perfect.” He smiles and runs a hand through his red hair. “I knew you were a solid bet.”
“A bet?” I can’t keep the irritation from my tone.
“You know what I mean. Not a bet, just—well, I think you know I’ve always had a good feeling about you.” He hurries on, “I won’t pretend to know what you’ve been through, what those things did to you, but I can tell you how much you mean to me, to everyone here who’s been hoping I could free you.”
“Why?” Overstimulated, overwhelmed, I’m finding it hard to keep my emotions in check. I should’ve gone with Wyatt and Evie to the lab. That would’ve calmed my nerves for more than whatever this is.
He raises a brow. “What do you mean?”
“Why does everyone here care if I’m alive or dead?”
“Because you killed Theo.” He says it easily, like it’s a simple fact, not my own death sentence.
“Wait, you just said you told your general about the poison. Are you saying everyone here knows?”
He shrugs. “They know you were there, and maybe I let them believe that you had a hand in killing one of the most vicious monsters this world has ever seen. You. A human. They needed hope. You gave it to them.”
My heart sinks. I can’t believe what I’m hearing. “You’ve killed him.”
“What?”
“Valen. If word gets back to Gregor that I’m the one who killed Theo, he’ll kill Valen.
He entrusted me to Valen and if he finds out …
If Gregor realizes I did it, oh god! He’ll do so much worse and then—” My stomach turns, the food I’d just eaten threatening to come back up.
Valen went through so much to hide me from Gregor, to hide what I did.
All the while, Gage was flaunting it like a feather in his cap.
Vertigo hits me, the world inverting, monsters become heroes, heroes becoming what I fear most.
Gage puts a hand on my shoulder. “Valen is one of them, Georgia. The enemy.”
“I know what he is.” I swipe his hand away. “I know better than you ever will. We have to warn him. Send him a message or whatever it is you do to speak to him! He’s in danger. All of us are in danger.”
“We’re secure here. The people in this base aren’t—”
“All it would take is for one accident, one of your soldiers to fall into Gregor’s hands! You know that! If they give me up, then Valen’s life is forfeit. We have to tell him.”
His brow wrinkles. “Valen was using you. Keeping you prisoner. Doing things to your mind. That’s what they do—they use their blood to control us. You’re still suffering from what he did. That’s why you—”
“Shut up.” Aghast, I stare at him. “Just shut up. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I do. It’s a sort of Stockholm Syndrome made worse by the influence of his blood. I feared something like this might happen.” He frowns, his hands reaching for mine again. “I tried to get you out, but he wouldn’t let you go. He had his claws in you so deep, he never would’ve let you go.”
“I’m not under any influence.” I stand and back away from him. “Send him a message, Gage. Send it!” The hum in my veins, that low note that seems to pulse with my heartbeat, grows louder.
“Georgia, wait.” He follows me. “Listen, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to come out that way. Please, just sit down.”
“No. I think I’m done here.” If Gage won’t warn him, then I’ll have to think of some way to do it myself. Maybe the bond? Maybe I really can speak through it somehow? I hurry to the door, but it won’t open. “Let me out.”
He’s at my back. “Just stay. Please. I’m saying this all wrong.”
“No, you were perfectly clear. Open the fucking door, Gage.” I whirl and glare up at him. “Now.”
He moves closer and eyes my mouth. “I’ve wanted you, too. Not for what you can do. Not for anything else. Just you.” He lifts a hand to my cheek. “Can’t you see that? I wanted to save you. I wanted you.”
“Don’t.” I press my back against the door. The hum has changed now, it’s a violent buzzing, an entire hive of wasps.
“You felt it, too. I know you did. On the roof that night.” He leans in.
I shove him, but he’s strong and stays planted in front of me. “Don’t touch me!”
“Georgia!” Surprise and hurt mix in his voice.
“Open the door.” I bare my teeth like a wild thing, like one of them.
“Okay, okay.” With a wounded tone, he drags his keycard across the pad.
I hear the lock click, then turn and yank the door open.
Right as I step into the hallway, the buzz in my blood goes nuclear, and a soldier flies past me and slams into the wall.
“Georgia!” Valen roars as he storms down the hallway toward me, blood splashed across his face.
Another soldier rounds a corner and shoots at him.
Quicker than I can follow, Valen is on him, crushing his gun and sending the man flying, his yell dying away as he hits the wall in the same spot as the other guard.
And then Valen’s in front of me, face bloody, eyes feral, his hands so gentle as he cups my face. “Did he hurt you, my Blood?”
“No,” I say shakily and lean into him. Safety, my blood sings. Mine.
He sighs and wraps his arms around me, his heart thudding heavily beneath his ribs.
How can a man—a monster—feel like home? I don’t know, and in this moment, I don’t care. He’s here, he’s alive. The vicious buzzing beneath my skin fades into something soothing, gentle waves on an endless shore. I can breathe again.
More soldiers, guns drawn, appear at the end of the hall.
“Stand down!” Gage jogs out and yells. “Everyone stand the fuck do—”
Valen grabs him by the throat and lifts him in the air.