Chapter 28
TWENTY-EIGHT
Alric was uncharacteristically silent on the drive to the Hive. Leo gave me a quizzical look in the rearview, but I looked away. The Prime’s pain belonged to him. I wouldn’t share what I learned, but the information had given me a strange insight into Alric’s character.
That woman had loved him with her entire being. I’d felt the depth of her emotions when she looked at him. Someone who was loved that much could not be entirely evil, could they?
The Prime had lied to me, yes, but I’d done the same to him. He’d brought me breakfast, paid to have my home cleaned, purchased clothing and other items for me, all to what end? What were his intentions?
The never-ending questions were driving me mad.
Leo pulled into the front drive and got out to open my door. Alric slipped out and waited at the front steps to guide me inside. “Come. This won’t take long.”
He led me through a veritable labyrinth of hallways and passages until we reached an area made of stone, so old I could almost feel the memories pressing against me.
His footsteps were loud against the gray stone floor. He hadn’t said a word since we’d walked inside the mansion, his face a blank mask.
I felt bad about what had happened, though there was no way I could have prevented the magic drawing us together. Alric hadn’t expected those images either, so whatever happened between us wasn’t exactly normal.
Yet another thing I’d have to look into once I’d dealt with the Beckett problem.
Alric stopped at a set of massive iron doors. He pressed his hand against an oddly out-of-place modern biometric system that hissed and clicked, the door cracking open to allow us entrance.
Vesper opened the doors the rest of the way, giving me a strange look when she realized who was standing beside her Prime.
“Are you sure?” she asked Alric.
“She knows,” he said shortly, jerking his head at me to follow.
Once I was inside, I couldn’t help but gape at the setup. We were now standing inside a massive lab—no doubt the product of a shit ton of money and an apparently mad scientist.
Beakers and lab equipment, ancient and modern, lay scattered all over the room.
Some held glowing potions with odd magical signatures.
Others bubbled and boiled inside their glass prisons.
Books of all shapes and sizes were crammed into towering metal shelves.
Notebooks with random notes lay open on the metal tables.
My spell lab was organized chaos. This looked like a rich man’s Frankenstein fever dream.
“Quit gawking and follow the Prime,” Vesper snapped.
I shot her a dark look. “Is there a reason you’re such a bitch all the time?”
Vesper blinked. A second later, a snort escaped her. “Wondered when you’d find a spine, girl.”
I frowned. “Seriously? Fuck off, scooter girl.”
Her mouth opened and shut. “Scooter girl?” she murmured, her brow furrowed in confusion.
“Vespa,” Alric called. “Bad pun, but she’s trying.”
“You can fuck off, too, Prime.”
Vesper grinned. “Atta girl. Now go follow the Prime before I bite you.”
I sighed and rolled my eyes. “This better be good.”
“From the wide-eyed awe in your eyes, you already know it is.” Vesper winked and shooed me away.
I glared at her, but she only laughed, the sound lighter and freer than I would have expected.
Was this the real Vesper, or was she trying to throw me off balance? Maybe I didn’t want to know the answer to that question. I followed Alric, taking in my fill of the bizarre place.
“Is she the scientist or is there someone else here who manages all this?” I asked when I finally caught up.
“She assists here sometimes. We have a dedicated team of scientists who are constantly researching vampire anatomy and our powers. The more you know and all that.”
“Huh. After all these years, you don’t know everything possible about your DNA?”
Alric scoffed. “Not even a little bit. We know our blood has healing properties, but why? Some of us can hypnotize, but why? Those are the questions we can’t answer. We need to know the why before we can figure out the how. One won’t work without the other.”
We came to another room with another biometric reader. Alric accessed that one and held the door open. I went inside and abruptly stopped, my brain trying to process what I was looking at.
Alric gently nudged me inside. “This is Beckett’s doing,” he said quietly. “We had to put all the infected in stasis. We can’t afford to wake them up until Beckett is neutralized.”
My eyebrows rose in realization. “He can control everyone here.”
Dozens of vampires lay in hospital beds, hooked to IVs filled with red liquid, presumably blood.
They all looked dead, which might have been laughable, had I not been confronted with the evidence of the damage Beckett had wrought on Alric’s Hive.
If a single vampire woke up hungry, I was the only available meal around.
Things might not end well for either of us.
Alric’s lips thinned, but he nodded.
“How many?” I asked quietly.
“Current count is sixty-five.” His face was somber as he looked upon his people.
“How are you keeping them asleep?”
“A cocktail of drugs and spells our illustrious doctor came up with. Waking them up might be difficult, but we can’t begin to think of that until we figure out how to cure Beckett.”
Vesper walked in and shut the doors behind us. “And we can’t do that until we figure out how you, dear Alex, are walking around uninfected.”
Her smile held an edge of violence.
I glanced at Alric. He seemed unconcerned about Vesper’s odd behavior. Or maybe it wasn’t odd at all, and I’d just willingly walked into a trap.
She slunk toward me, her eyes taking on a hint of a glow.
I took a step back.
Vesper’s creepy smile widened. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “You smell delicious. Tell me. What blood type are you?”
“You won’t bite me.” To my relief, the words came out without a tremor in my voice. “If you do, you’ll be infected.”
“But you show no signs. Maybe I’ll risk it.” Claws extended from her fingers, wicked and sharp, glinting like blades in the flickering lights overhead.
Alric said nothing. I looked between them.
“You sonofabitch,” I hissed. “You planned this.”
“She’s right. I can smell Beckett’s blood inside you. Why do you remain unaffected?”
I threw up my hands. “I don’t know! Why do I turn furry at the full moon? Why is the sky blue?” I took another step back as Vesper kept coming right at me. “If you do this, the witches will hunt you down.”
At that, Alric snorted. “The witches don’t like you. They’re afraid of you. To hear them tell it, your mother was quite the rebel. She had many secrets; secrets I will delight in digging out of you.”
His eyes took on that strange glow.
He was right. I was alone, trapped in the Prime’s Hive, unarmed and outmanned. My heartbeat kicked into a gallop. Panic began to set in. My mouth went dry, and my palms grew sweaty.
“She’s afraid, Alric. Can you feel it?”
“Fuck you,” I snarled.
Vesper chuckled, the sound wicked and gleeful. “Sorry, you aren’t my type.”
No one ever got used to betrayal. That old familiar pain in my heart opened like an old scab, and tears pricked the backs of my eyes.
I thought Alric and I had come to a truce, that we’d both agreed to share information.
Instead, he’d brought me here to do what?
Torture me? Open me up and pry my secrets from my DNA now that he realized I might be more than I seemed? Both?
A horrifying thought occurred. If I was already susceptible to a vampire’s blood, he could gain my secrets and use me to lure Beckett out, then turn me into his willing slave if he let me live that long.
This was a win/win situation for Alric. I stood to gain nothing, only the loss of my freedom, my secrets, and potentially my life.
That strange rumble of magic I’d felt when Beckett attacked me a few days ago rose to the forefront, itching to burst forth. I held it back until Vesper got too close, then allowed it to rise.
Vesper’s confident stride faltered. Alric’s expression went from smug to… something. Fear? Curiosity?
I held up my hands, black and violet magic sparkling in my palms. “Come one step closer and I’ll fry you both.”
“Kitten has claws,” Vesper said, but she didn’t take another step.
“That is not witch magic,” Alric said quietly. “Your mother isn’t the only one to hide secrets, it seems. What are you, Alex?” His eyes narrowed. “I shall look forward to finding out.”
I snorted, disgusted with the entire vampire species. “You and I are done. Trusting you was the worst mistake I’ve ever made. The next time you show up at my house, I’ll burn you to cinders.”
But Alric was unbothered by my threats. He took a step forward. “Would you kill me? I’m the one who made you. If anyone infected me with the virus he carries, it’s you.”
I felt the moment he turned his magic on, the one that made me want to drop all my walls and bare all my deepest held secrets. My fingers itched to reach out and trace the sharp edge of his jaw, to wander down his throat and see what lay under his shirt.
Cold sweat began to bead on my forehead. “Stop it,” I snarled.
“You want to talk to me,” Alric said, his voice a soft, hypnotic lure. “You want to show me what you are, how you work.” He came another step closer, so close now he could reach out and touch me. “You need me, Alex. You want me. You love me.”
My fingers shook, the new magic flickering like a faulty lightbulb. But he’d made a grave error. I didn’t love him.
Right now, I wanted to put him in the ground.
Yes, he was handsome. Yes, even without the compelling magic he was using, I found him attractive.
But I’d never loved any man. No one had ever been interesting or honest enough.
The word love broke his hold on me. Love was an emotion I could not afford. It only brought me heartache.
He realized it the same moment I did.