Chapter Eleven
Reyna couldn’t get warm.
No matter how many layers she had on or the hand warmers in her gloves. Her bones ached. Her skin had gone past the point of numb to a painful stinging. Her nose was bright red, and she kept having to sniffle. The rooftop overlooking City Hall downtown was a bad location right before a blizzard.
Beckham had spent the last hour securing their position. He didn’t want to take any chances. She sure as hell didn’t either. Being here was a huge risk. They were exposed and a lot of people wanted them—dead or alive.
Her gaze traveled to the waiting crowd in front of City Hall. The streets were filled for as far as she could see. People came to hear the big news the beautiful mayor, Penelope Sky, would deliver. No one cared that she had been turned into a vampire or that she was most assuredly a puppet.
The last time an announcement was made at City Hall—when the old mayor, Penelope’s father, began the Blood Census, issued mandatory identification bracelets, and initiated a curfew—Reyna had been swept up in a riot and nearly knocked unconscious by the crowd.
“This feels awfully familiar,” Reyna muttered. “Except for the cold.”
Beckham’s eyes turned to the crowd, and he frowned. “I’m glad we’re not down there this time.”
“Yeah. No angry mobs for me.”
The crowd suddenly quieted down as figures walked onto the stage.
She was lucky that Drew’s safe house had a pair of binoculars; he’d given them to her before she’d left.
It had been hard getting him to stay behind but convincing him to watch Laura did the trick.
Her stomach had already settled knowing he was alive.
Reyna brought the binoculars up to her eyes and watched Penelope walk onto the stage erected in front of City Hall. Roland followed behind her and took a seat to her right. A few people she didn’t know or recognize filed in. To her surprise, Harrington was absent.
“Where is he?” she muttered.
Reyna looked and looked and looked. But it was useless. If he was going to be there, then he would be front and center next to Penelope. He wasn’t the type to stand in the shadows and let someone else take the credit. Which begged the question—where was Harrington if not here?
Someone introduced the mayor to the crowd, which cheered at her introduction.
Reyna returned her binoculars to Penelope’s long, lithe body.
She was dressed in a sensible black pantsuit.
Her dark hair was glossy and expertly curled.
There were no longer any traces of the fire that had ravaged her body.
She must have healed just from feeding. There was no trace of her humanity left, just smooth skin and perfectly puckered pink lips and shining blue eyes.
Reyna had always thought she was the most beautiful human she had ever seen in her life. As a vampire, she was dazzling.
If only she wasn’t a two-faced snake who had attempted to claim Beckham, and when she had lost, had done anything necessary to try to fix it.
Even becoming a vampire and blowing up their entire operation on New Year’s Eve, all because Beckham didn’t want her.
Whatever pity Reyna had felt for her had evaporated.
The gunshot to Penny’s heart that night had been less than she deserved.
“Thank you. Thank you,” Penelope said into a microphone, holding up a gloved hand.
“Thank you all so much for coming out today in the midst of this cataclysmic weather. First, I would like to remind everyone to prepare adequately for the storm. It’s not like anything we’ve seen in a long time. Probably since before I was born.”
She let out her little tinkling laugh that endeared everyone to her. Then she suddenly sobered.
“Now to address the other occurrences around the city. I’m not immune to the death and destruction happening.
As you know, there was a spree of murders on New Year’s Eve, and I was targeted.
Luckily, I was spared from certain death again.
I can’t say the same for Cassandra Dressla, a top official in Visage, and a close, personal friend. ”
Reyna rolled her eyes. Yeah, right.
“Couple that tragedy with the blood disease sweeping the city, we are in dire times. Humans are unknowingly being affected and passing it on to vampires through their blood. Then the disease rampages the vampire’s system and turns them into starving monsters.
These rogue vampires try to kill everything in their wake.
We have identified this as Cogitare Anemia. ”
Reyna drew in a sharp breath. Washington had told her about this before everything had gone south.
They both suspected that Visage had been the one to unleash this deadly disease onto the population.
If treated quickly, the vampire could survive, but the longer they went, the worse they got.
And from Penelope’s speech it sounded like things were getting a lot worse, fast.
“Because of the domestic terrorist groups and this blood disease, we have come up with a solution.”
Beckham tensed next to her.
“With the full support of the government, the city is going to work with Visage to secure human safety housing. Anyone who believes that they may be infected or would like to be moved to safer housing during this, you are welcome. The housing is completely free. The only thing we ask is that you help us fix this problem in our city. Together we can eradicate this illness and bring peace back on the streets.”
A cheer rose up from the crowd.
Her stomach had sunk all the way to the floor. Free housing. Trying to cure a disease that Visage had unleashed. This sounded way too fishy to her.
“The city is providing our bus service to take people from specific locations to these designated areas. All costs will be covered. For more information regarding the new housing, stay tuned for a Visage representative.”
Penelope flashed a brilliant smile. But for a second, Reyna thought she saw something else in it. Fear. Distaste. It was only there for a second before it disappeared.
“Thank you all so much!” Penelope waved her hand and the crowd cheered even louder for her. They loved her. She quickly departed, anxious to get off that stage. A woman who had delivered a death sentence with a candy bar.
The Visage representative moved to the microphone and droned on about protocol, effectively losing the crowd. Reyna moved her binoculars to where Roland stood and approached Penny. She visibly flinched away from him. Oh, yeah, she was not enjoying her new role in this.
“We should go,” Beckham said.
“You don’t think we should go down there? Find out more information?”
Beckham sliced his head to the side once.
She nodded and followed behind him. It was likely that what Penelope had said was all she actually knew. Beckham had been Elle’s insider for so long. They all felt a little lost without him feeding them information about Harrington.
Reyna sensed that he felt a little out of sorts without it too. Though he’d never say so. He’d continue to go on and put on his big bad mask for the world. And she’d let him. They both needed it.
They took the endless stairs down to the main floor. Round and round they went until her legs ached.
When they finally made it to the ground again, the wind whipped her hair in her face, and she cursed. Beckham tucked the loose strand into her beanie. She looked up at him and smiled. Beckham gently took her hand in his and then hauled her through the crowd that dispersed down the street.
They veered toward the getaway car. It had been damn near impossible to find a place to stash their SUV on the way in. She wouldn’t mind the walk if it weren’t so bitterly cold. The wind chill was some obscene negative number. Like even the weather disagreed with Visage’s new plan to take over.
Halfway to the SUV, snow began to fall. Big, beautiful snowflakes so white and picturesque. A soft flurry that cascaded from the clouds and over the dark city streets.
Reyna couldn’t help it. Despite everything going on, the snow still amazed her.
She hated the cold, but the snow was different.
It was too beautiful to hate when it first fell and blanketed their world in a winter wonderland.
Before it turned to black ice or gross tramped-through slush on the sidewalks.
She stopped in her tracks, pulling Beckham to a stop beside her. Then she opened her mouth like a little kid and tasted the snowflakes on the tip of her tongue.
Beckham watched her in utter fascination. She might as well have sprung a second head for all her behavior made sense to him.
In the midst of the dire, the world produced beauty.
She intended to revel in it.
“You are a mystery,” Beckham said. His eyes followed her as she skipped a circle around him with her arms wide and her head tilted back.
“The world is a mystery, and I live in it.”
“So human.”
She twirled toward him and planted a kiss on his lips. “You were human once.”
“Might as well have been a lifetime ago.”
She shrugged and stole another kiss. “We have a lot ahead of us. You can enjoy the snow for a full second. I won’t tell anyone.”
And for that full second, he did. He dropped all his guards. Looked at her like his glorious snow queen and tasted the snow on his tongue.
She giggled and then traded her snowflake for his. As their kiss heated the space, the snowflake melted between them. She sighed against him forgetting the world in this moment of security.
And when she pulled away, a wind picked up, the snow all around them spiraling savagely toward them. She looked up as if she could find the source of the sudden current and just saw a blur barreling toward them. She got out a gasp before Beckham said, “Get back.”