26. Alexander
26
ALEXANDER
N othing.
Nothing but pages of the ramblings of a Frenchman. Nothing from Julius. I was trapped in a prison of my own mind, stuck in indecision, and I couldn’t do anything about it. Emily was dying, and it was my fault.
I hadn’t returned to the U.C. headquarters because they were expecting me to bring her back to them. Returning, even to rest, would be seen as a failure, and they would send someone else to collect her.
The interior of my car, immaculate as it was, mocked me.
Turn her. You can either turn her or bond her. Either way …
It seemed like the only way, and if that was the case, then I had to do it to save her. It went against everything, but?—
“No.” I balled my hand into a fist and struck the steering wheel. “No.”
I got out of the car and walked toward the entrance to the Lowberry Pub in Brooklyn. It was a corner building, with a black overhang that whickered in the wind that swept through the night. The windows were blacked out, the front door shut, but a sign in the door indicated that they were open.
This was my last hope.
I entered the pub and found it rowdy. Several men sat at the bar, drinking mugs of beer; others lay on the tables, too drunk to continue drinking. All of them were vampires. Vampires who had come to bury their sorrows in “neutral” territory. The only reason the Lowberry existed was because the U.C. protected it. But there were vampires here who knew things. Had information that might help me.
The room smelled of booze and smoke, and the wooden floors squeaked underfoot. I stopped at the bar, a long slab, polished by years of use, and found a burly bartender clearing away glasses.
His dark gaze met mine, his eyes sparkling the deep crimson of a “free” vampire. “What you want?”
“I’ve come to see Patrick,” I said.
“He’s in the back.” He gestured toward a door at the far end of the room.
I nodded my thanks.
Anticipation wasn’t the correct word for my current mental state. It was more than that. I had come to Patrick as a last resort. He was an old acquaintance, one who’d been a part of Sanguine Nox, but he had found his place here rather than in the U.C. He called himself a free-thinker, but he was just as much a slave to vampire society as I was.
I knocked once on the door, ignoring the stares of the other vampires who didn’t appreciate my presence thanks to my lighter eyes, and entered the room.
Patrick lounged in a swivel chair, swinging it from side to side and talking on the phone. “Yes, darling,” he said, “yes, but I can’t exactly leave now, can I? You’ll have to wait for me to—” He cut off and narrowed his eyes. “Talk to you later.” He hung up. “You don’t wait to be called.”
“Not by you,” I said. “Not by anyone who isn’t my superior. ”
“For a man who wants information, you sure don’t act like you want it.”
“Time is short. I came for answers.”
Patrick tapped his fingers on the top of his desk. “And you think I have these answers for you?” He ran a hand through ginger hair. “Listen, I’d love to help, but I don’t know that I can. This cursed item you mentioned, is there any chance I can see it?”
“No.” I couldn’t risk him or anyone else knowing that I hadn’t handed it over to the elders.
“No?”
“No,” I said. “I don’t have it. But I can tell you about it.”
“Go on then.”
So I told him, briefly, about the book, its contents—not anything about Guardians—the blood-stained pages, the curse, and the slow weakening of its human victim. I left out the part about who that victim was.
“Hmm.”
“What do you think?”
“I think that you’re screwed if you want this human to live,” Patrick said. “I think that you ought to let them die.”
“I can’t do that.”
“The only way to keep the human from death is to turn her into a vampire.”
Frustration welled inside me. “No.”
“What’s wrong with that? You don’t need to get it sanctioned if you’re concerned for their safety. The human’s safety, I mean.”
“I might not need to have it sanctioned, but it goes against everything I believe in.”
“Then you’re a fool.”
I glared.
“You are a fool,” Patrick repeated. “Listen, I’ve been around for longer than I’d care to admit, and do you know how many humans I’ve turned?”
I tucked my hands into my pockets .
“A handful. And each time, it’s been when they were on the verge of death. And when they’ve asked me for it. Been presented with the choice. Have you considered asking this human whether they wanted to be turned or not? It’s not entirely your choice, you know.”
“I appreciate the feedback, Patrick,” I said.
“Eh, you don’t look like you appreciate it,” he said. “But I can’t help you more than that without actually seeing the cursed book. Even then, I doubt I’d be able to help you. You’ve got to turn the victim.”
I didn’t bother arguing. I had known Patrick long enough to know it wouldn’t go anywhere. We were equally stubborn.
“If that’s all?” Patrick asked.
“That’s all. Thank you.” But I wasn’t grateful. I wasn’t grateful for the knowledge that I couldn’t save Emily without doing the unthinkable. And I wasn’t grateful for the constant knot of guilt in my stomach.
I left the Lowberry, grinding my teeth, the tension banding around my chest.
He’s right. Ask her.
But even if I did that and she said she wanted me to turn her, what then? Emily despised me. I couldn’t offer her love or care when I had nothing to give.
I got into the car and started it, leaving the bar behind.
By the time I had reached Emily’s apartment building, my mind was made up. I would offer the choice, but it would come with the explicit knowledge that I had no intention of pursuing our relationship. Because a relationship with me would lead to her death. I had too many enemies, and I had no space for love.
I kept myself invisible as I entered the building, unlocking that glass front door with a wave of my hand.
The minute I stepped inside, the smell hit me.
Vampires. Multiple.
Blood. Fear. Sweat.
Emily .
I burst up the stairs, using all the speed I possessed, and found Michael’s door shut and a new ward in place. My vampire magic was gone.
I slammed my fist against the door repeatedly. “Michael! Emily? Emily?” I turned myself visible again.
The door latch clacked. Michael appeared, pale, worn, a bloodied bandage wrapped around his naked torso.
“Where is she?” I snarled.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Mike said. “This is your fault.” But his words were watered down; the heat in them was gone. He sounded defeated. “They took her.”
I cast out a hand, desperate to grab hold of him, but the shield wall blocked me. “Who?”
“Three of them. Pale blue eyes. I took down two, but they nearly killed me in the process.”
“You let them take her?” I could barely see through my anger. “You let them?—”
“I did more than you!” Michael roared. “I protected her more than you did. You abandoned her. You endangered her. You?—”
“W-What’s going on?” Morgan, Emily’s roommate, peered into the living room from around the corner. “Is it more of them?”
“Yes.”
“I am not one of them,” I said.
“Alex?” Morgan was shaky. “You!” She pointed at me and came charging across the apartment. “You! You were the one who started all of this, you absolute asshole! Emily’s gone because of you. She?—”
“Enough.” I put up my palm. “I will accept my part in all of this, but I need information. Tell me everything that happened. I need to hear it.”
“There were three of them,” Michael said, after a moment of quiet.
Morgan backed up and leaned against the counter.
Michael gave me all the details, and the longer he spoke, the hotter I became. I had never felt this before. This … rage. They had ta ken Emily? And it was because of what the Elders had said. She was unlocked because of our night together. And they could sense it, even if they didn’t know what it meant.
“I’ll get her back,” I said.
“Yeah. Sure, you will,” Michael said.
“You doubt me?”
“I don’t care what you do.” Michael laughed. “You’ve done nothing but cause discord and strife in her life and ours.”
“Hear, hear,” Morgan said. “I didn’t think I’d ever support this asshole.” She jerked her thumb toward Michael. “But here we are. You’re way worse. You’re a liar.”
I accepted what she’d said but swept it aside.
“I’m calling in my hunters,” Michael said. “They’re going to find her and bring down you and your covens.”
“Futile,” I said. “You’ll die trying.”
“Did you forget the part where I took down two of you?”
“Well, technically, the magic took down the first one,” Morgan said.
“Shut up,” Michael growled back. “It counts as two. They came through my door and two of them died in here.” He pointed toward a pile of ash in the kitchen then patted the stake hanging from his belt. “I’m the one who killed them while you were throwing up in the bathroom.”
“Yeah, and I’m not a friggin’ vampire hunter or whatever. That’s you. I didn’t ask for any of this. And now Emily’s in danger because you two,” Morgan said, pointing from Michael to me and then back again, “couldn’t stop fighting over her long enough to tell the damn truth.”
“I’m sure that would have gone down well,” Michael said. “‘Hi, Emily, there are vampires and one of them is trying to get into your pants. Oh by the way, I’m a vampire hunter.’ Tell me you seriously think she would have believed that.”
“That’s not the point. You’re still a liar! ”
I didn’t have time for this. Emily had been taken. “Blonde with blue eyes?” I prompted. “The vampire who took her?”
“Yes. And his name was Ezekial.”
My blood ran colder than it already was.
The name was familiar to me. Painfully familiar. I had spent more than enough time in Ezekial’s presence to know how dangerous he was. And just how much danger Emily was now in because she was within his reach.
I snarled, grinding my teeth.
“I don’t like that look on his face,” Morgan said. “Why do you look like that? What’s going on?”
“Ezekial,” I said, “is the right hand man of … of the leader of Sanguine Nox. He’s at the top of the organization. If they sent him and his brothers, then there would have been a good reason for it. They won’t let Emily go without a fight.”
“Oh crap.” Morgan scratched the back of her neck then put up her hand. “Question. Do you think I can, like, leave? Because I’m over being in this apartment with Michael.”
“It’s fine,” Michael said. “They were after Emily, not you. You can go.”
“You don’t have to be like that about it. Damn.”
I shook my head and left them to bicker, my steps sure as I sped toward the exit. Emily needed me, and my only choice was to report this to the U.C. so I could get her back. Though I wanted to, I couldn’t take Sanguine Nox down on my own.
They were a fortress. I knew because I’d been a part of their group. Reaching Emily would be incredibly difficult.
And time was quickly running out.