Chapter 7 #2
“Blood bags, unless you’re volunteering your vein. He also needs food. And liquids. And if I can find a health elixir, that would be ideal.”
His eyes narrowed at me. “Did you meet the angel upstairs?”
I shrugged, studying him for delicate points I could use to drop him so I could get on my way.
Except that I couldn’t hurt him and expect him to not hurt my angel.
“We didn’t exchange names and have a polite conversation, if that’s what you mean, but I never really got the hang of polite conversation.
I need to get supplies for us. Is that a problem? ”
He scratched his neck. “And where would you get blood bags?”
“I’d break into the nearest hospital and steal it.”
His eyes widened. “And bring heat to my bar? I don’t think so.”
“Your bar? I thought Tiago was in charge.”
He glowered. “Naw. He’s just better at manipulating people than I am.
Polite conversation isn’t my thing either.
Forcing people to comply is much more my playground, but Tiago’s convinced me that a soft hand flies under the radar.
So that’s our policy. Fly under the radar.
I don’t need you to stir up any trouble.
You have angels after you. You also need to fly under the radar. And that dress is not doing it.”
That’s right. I looked like a princess in this thing. “You have another source that distributes blood bags?”
“Can you pay?”
I hesitated, then nodded. “If no one’s tracking my accounts.”
“The Laboratory distributes blood to vampires without checking too closely at their income. And if you can’t pay, they’ll still give you blood. It’s almost like they don’t want vampires to go feral and start ripping apart citizens in the upper city.”
“The laboratory…” I scowled at him. The laboratory was run by the Scholar, who was Singsong City’s version of the Vampire King.
Of course, he’d married some kind of angel.
He’d want to talk to me. I hated talking to people, particularly vampires who were powerful enough to take away your will. Like the king had done to me.
“Is there a problem?”
“I don’t like vampires,” I said, crossing my arms. “But if you insist, I suppose I can try to be polite.”
He smiled slowly, then stepped aside, gesturing me out the door. “I insist. I know it’s difficult, but these are the things we do for love.”
I glowered. “I don’t love the angel. Obsession isn’t love. But he doesn’t know that. He should. I should tell him.”
“Do you want me to tell him for you?”
I hissed at him. “If you want to die.”
His grin was broad, sincere, and very amused. “Angels can get under your skin, for sure. Be back soon. He won’t stay in bed forever.”
I dashed past him, blending into the shadows as I made my way through the alleys and towards the Laboratory, feeling like Shane with his leather-wrapped knuckles was manipulating me.
If he could manipulate the elf into doing his manipulations for him, then he was certainly dangerous.
At the same time, Gavriel wasn’t defenseless.
The laboratory was as ominous as usual, with a few groaning bodies dangling from the walls, lit with red ominous lights. I went through the front door, determined to make this quick. I went directly to the first guard, a werewolf who was scratching his shoulder.
“I need blood bags.”
He blinked golden eyes at me. “And you’re telling me why?”
“Can you not direct me?”
“Ah. You’ve never been here before. In that case, you’ll have to sign in and fill out a form.”
I bared my teeth at him. “I’m in a hurry.”
He bared his teeth back at me. “Aren’t we all?” He nodded to a room behind glass windows where people were holding papers and sitting at white tables, filling out forms. “The line is short. You’re in luck.”
I left him, hurrying into the white room filled with vampires in various periods of clothing. None of them were wearing a blood-stained ballgown, but none of them looked particularly surprised to see me in one.
I stood in line behind a woman in a black slinky dress, long black hair, and a black umbrella.
It didn’t take long, but I was edgy the whole time, glancing out the window at the main hall, expecting any moment to have to run from an angel or something else.
Finally, I was at the counter, and the vampire woman smiled at me with her white polished fangs and then scowled at me.
“I know you. You’re supposed to be in jail. ”
I glanced around, counting how many people there were that I’d have to kill to get to the door. “I wouldn’t say that I’m ‘supposed’ to be anywhere. I have no master.”
She rolled her eyes and handed me a clipboard. “For stealing blood bags from the hospital, you should be in jail. Fill this out and then you’ll have your blood. What’s your preference?”
“Anything is fine.” I took the clipboard and went to the nearest table.
I put it down, picked up the pen, and then frowned at the blurry lines.
I hadn’t worn glasses when I was alive, and in undeath, I shouldn’t need them.
It didn’t matter. I still had trouble reading fine print.
Also large print. Any print, really. I narrowed my eyes and then widened them, leaning closer and then away, trying to read the blurry words.
A clawed finger pointed to the top line. “It says, ‘print your name,’ but we all know who you are.” His voice was low, deceptively gentle, and terrifyingly powerful.
I slowly looked up at the Scholar who looked so incredibly polite and respectable.
I stood, moving so the chair was between the two of us. “I’m here for blood bags.”
“Yes. I know.”
“That’s perfectly legal.”
“Of course. You could order blood at any restaurant in Song. You must need to stock up.” He made it sound like a question. Why did I need to stock up on blood bags?
“I don’t always like to go out. Are you truly married to an angel?”
His eyes narrowed slightly, and I felt an answered prickle of danger. “Truly, she is something like that. You smell of angel, but a more potent sort than my heart. I heard that there is a vampire and an angel running from HOST.”
I held very still while I studied him for points of weakness I could use to make my escape. Killing him wouldn’t work, not without more research than I’d done, but everyone had at least one weakness. “Did you? I’m a vampire with the slight scent of angel, therefore, I must be the fugitive?”
He smiled slightly, showing fang, but not a lot. “I knew your master.”
“If you truly knew him, you must be very pleased that he is dead.”
“Oh, I am. The demon was a monster that needed to be eradicated. I have heard whispers of a demon rising again. I’m not saying that you broke into the HOST’s barracks to steal a weapon that you could use to destroy the demon, but in any case, I am not loyal to angels and wish you well.”
I stared at him and then shifted uneasily. “It’s much easier to kill a target that doesn’t see you coming.”
He raised his brows. “Then I will make a point of not having seen you here.”
I gave him a slight smile that he returned with his own. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Come back any time. You’re now in the system.” He took my blank forms and crumpled them in his hands. “Perhaps when your mission is completed, you will source some spectacles to aid your vision.”
A woman handed me an insulated box filled with blood bags. After one last look at the Scholar, I took it and fled.
Could a vampire get reading glasses? That would be ridiculous. As ridiculous as a cold-hearted murderer pining for an angel. And yet, the Scholar had made that last one work. Lucky vampire.