The posture of the two Indebted in the SUV made it clear they wished to tell me something but couldn’t.
I needed to know one thing.
“I hope this question doesn’t put you in an awkward spot. But can you tell me if I’m in danger with this second blood exchange?”
Laurel shook her head. “Your life is not in danger.”
I relaxed. Kyros was telling the truth there at least. If she was implying that my heart or mind might be in danger… Well, I was okay to risk those to possibly rid myself of a vampire stalker.
The ride to the hospital passed in silence as I stewed over what they’d said—and hadn’t said. The truth was I had a huge decision to make. There were good reasons to consider the second blood compulsion. If Kyros lost interest, it would keep me—and more importantly, my loved ones—safer. However, there was the small issue of not being fully informed and the extra restrictions he’d put in place in my mind during the exchange.
… Then again, if I posed a security risk already, Kyros would compel me further whether I liked it or not.
Which made it sound a whole lot like I had zero choice in the matter.
“I’ll take you in,” Laurel said, pulling up.
Leaving Fernando to park, she led me through the hospital and spoke with a nurse, introducing me as Rhys’s girlfriend.
We followed her through a set of swinging doors down a long ward.
“What were the police told about this?” I asked Laurel in undertones.
She didn’t break stride. “Clan Fyrlia altered the street footage to cover their tracks. All that remained was you and Rhys walking down the street prior to the altercation. Kyros told the police you weren’t willing to give a statement.”
My stomach flipped. “I didn’t know he did that.”
“At the moment, this is just an assault charge against three unknown men.”
At the moment.
The nurse directed us into a quiet and dark ward with a large nurses’ station in the centre. Rooms lined the perimeter. She stopped outside a room in the far corner and turned to me.
“I’m sorry to say that your boyfriend took a turn in the night. He came in with a crush injury that shattered his sternum and dislocated seven ribs. There was damage to his lungs and heart. He woke briefly after surgery, but our specialist has placed him in an induced coma to keep his stats level.”
My breath came fast and shallow. Not just a reaction to her words. It was this place. That Rhys could be in here when last night he’d been happy and laughing and calling me fascinating.
“I didn’t tell you to upset you,” the nurse said, eyeing me. “I tell you because Rhys is attached to a lot of machines right now. They’re helping him to breathe and monitoring his stats. Sometimes seeing a loved one like this is a shock, but Rhys is still there, and he needs you to be strong. You must always be positive in his hearing.”
“Okay,” I said hoarsely.
She smiled grimly and led the way into the dark room.
Her warning couldn’t have prepared me for the sight.
I stopped just inside the doorway, horror rooting me in place. “Oh god, Rhys.”
The nurse cut me a stern look, and I clamped my lips shut, recalling her warning.
He looked so fragile.
So small.
His face was pale—nothing like his bronzed complexion yesterday. All manner of flashing and blinking machines were plugged into him. So many wires and stands that I had no idea where they started and ended or what they were for.
A vase of flowers sat on a corner table.
“His family was here?”
How could they even leave his side when Rhys was like this?
The nurse drew the covers high to cover his shoulders. “I encouraged them to take care of themselves for a couple of hours. They’ll be back soon.” She threw me a curious look.
“New girlfriend,” I explained. “I haven’t met the family yet.”
I stared at Rhys again and forced myself forward to the bed.
“I’ll give you a few moments,” the nurse said. “Please keep your voices low and calm.”
Eyes closed, I listened to her leave. Laurel took a seat by the door, not uttering a word.
“Rhys,” I whispered past the lump in my throat. “It’s Basi.”
I listened to the sluggish blip of his heartbeat on the monitor. So slow. His chest beneath the bedspread was misshapen. A chest wasn’t meant to look like that.
The Tonyi triplets. They did this to him. Vissimo did this to him. Because of a stupid fucking game.
“You’re going to get through this,” I told Rhys fiercely. “You’ve got to make your own way, remember? You’ll end up richer than your mum and dad, and you’ll be proud of every cent of that money.”
I wanted to beg him to come back. Fuck. I so desperately wanted to say sorry, but those were words to make myself feel better. They wouldn’t help him recover.
I sniffed hard, squeezing his limp hand. “I’ll be back tomorrow to see you. I’ll bring some of that champagne and we can pick up where we left off. Well, maybe not exactly where we left off.”
Smile brittle as glass, I leaned forward and kissed his gaunt cheek. “Until then, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
The nurse startled as we passed a station in the hall. “Done already?”
My chest rose and fell as I battled back my reaction. “Can’t stay.” The words were barely audible.
Laurel exited, moving to my side.
“I understand, dear,” the nurse said, reaching out to take my hand. “It’s hard. Something we never expect we’ll have to do.”
I nodded, thankful not to see condemnation in her eyes. “I’ll be back tomorrow.” I really didn’t want to encounter his parents, but hopefully they’d leave at the same time each day.
The nurse’s eyes darkened briefly before she recovered herself. “Of course, dear. We’ll see you then.”
My walk was just shy of a run as I hurried to escape the cloying hospital walls, my chest tightening to panic levels. Fernando joined us as I sped past him in reception. He beeped the car open before I reached it, and I dove headfirst into the back seat.
Hugging my knees up, I bent my forehead to my knees as my mind screamed.
“Back to the tower, Miss Tetley?” Laurel asked softly.
The tower?
No, I couldn’t go back there. Not yet.
Voice muffled by my knees, I said, “Could you just drive for a while?”
“… Sure. Where to?”
To my grandmother. To Tommy.
“Just around. Maybe the estates. It’s nice out there.”
That was as close as I could get to my grandmother or she’d end up like Rhys. The vision of my grandmother’s chest caving in place of Rhys flashed behind my eyelids, forcing bile to my lips.
Tucked in a ball on the seat behind Laurel, I stared out the tinted window as the houses in Black—the second richest suburb—stretched into the sprawling lawns and manicured gardens of the place I’d always called home.
Hedges, three-metre-high fences, and gates. This was what I’d always known. Hundreds of hectares owned by a handful of families—the financial and societal elite of Bluff City.
What a joke. We were the elite of jack shit.
Every one of us was a chess piece, whether compelled or not.
The Le Spyre estate was coming up, and I counted three seconds per inhale and exhale in a bid to regulate my heartbeat. Coming here was pushing the boundaries, so I couldn’t show any sign of recognition; nothing could get back to Kyros.
The sight of the familiar matte-black wrought iron fence nearly undid that determination.
We drove along the fence for several minutes until the main entrance gate came into view.
I could push open the car door. I could sprint to the com and shout for Fred to let me in. God, I could fall into my grandmother’s arms and tell her all about Clint, and Rhys’s condition.
I could let her see my anguish and pain and confusion.
She was just through those gates, five hundred metres down the tree-arched driveway. I could almost feel her strong arms around me.
My vision blurred as we left the main gate behind.
Hope.
Gone in a blink.
I didn’t dare look back, focusing on my breath.
Minutes passed, and Laurel turned around. “It’s getting dark. I’d prefer to be back at the tower for nightfall even though it’s Fyrlia’s turn.”
My heart leaped.
We’d drive back past the estate? I assumed she’d continue all the way out the other side and circle back through Orange to Grey.
Could I handle going past again? It was a stupid question, really. I’d suffer much more for a glimpse of the only home I’d ever known.
Laurel swept back the way we’d come, and we were soon gliding back past the estate.
My eyes widened at the sleek black car exiting the gate. Fred was in the front seat.
My grandmother would be in the back.
“Stop the car!” I said.
Laurel screeched to a halt.
“What is it?” Fernando hissed, twisting in his seat to scan our surroundings.
Shit.
I broke off my stare at the car containing my only family member. She was so close. “Thought I was going to hurl. Seeing Rhys got to me more than I thought.”
Oh my god. Fred was getting out of the car. The family butler always had a friendly smile on his face and it was no different now.
My heart nearly broke at the sight of him.
“Phew, that human is as cold as ice,” Fernando whispered.
My brows crept up and I glanced at the butler again. Nope, couldn’t see any speck of coldness. Just saw his smile.
The windows of our black SUV were tinted, so I huddled into a tight ball and pressed myself against the car door as Fred approached Laurel’s window.
She lowered it.
“Having car trouble?” he asked.
His clipped tones washed over me like a warm memory.
“My companion felt sick,” Laurel replied. “Thank you for your concern.” Props to her, she somehow made that sound like a big fuck you.
“Oh, good,” Fred replied, his warm smile growing. “In that case, Mrs Le Spyre kindly requests you get the fuck out of her way.”
Laurel and Fernando gaped at him. I bit down hard on my lip, struggling not to laugh as the butler tipped an imaginary hat to the two Vissimo and returned to the car.
The back window rolled down and a pale arm stretched out, her middle finger extended.
Agatha Le Spyre was flipping the bird. At us.
My laughter got the best of me, erupting in a loud peal. Fred whipped his head around as Laurel sped us away.
I pressed my fingertips to the window, low enough to hide the gesture from the vampires with my body. I didn’t know if the butler could see. But if he’d recognised my laugh, perhaps he’d tell Grandmother. She hadn’t heard from me since my email several weeks ago, but at least now she’d know I was safe.
I’d come here hoping to catch a glimpse of the estate. I got more. My grandmother was going about her usual life. She was safe and charging through life unapologetically.
… Knowing that righted something within me.
She was my rock. My magic rock.
“To the tower, Miss Tetley?” Laurel said quietly.
I lowered my hand and released my knees, placing my feet on the floor like someone who wasn’t at breaking point. “Yes. Let’s go back.”
29
The phone trilled.
I stared. It had never rung before. Shaking out of my stupor, I glanced at the alarm clock.
1:00 a.m.
I’d sat in silent misery for longer than I thought.
I picked up the black handset. “Yeah?”
“Miss Tetley.” Laurel’s voice filtered down the line. “I have something to discuss with you. Is it okay if I come up?”
Her tone was impersonal.
Wasn’t as if she was tearing me away from anything important, even if the 1:00 a.m. call was unusual—even for vampires.
“Sure. But can I come to your room? These walls are getting to me.”
“Uh,” she blurted. “I sleep in the Indebted quarters.”
“Oh. I’m not allowed down there?”
“You are. It’s just… we don’t usually have visitors.”
I pulled a face at that. “If you’re up for one, I’d really like to not go insane in here.”
“Of course. Level LL4, room 54. You’ll have to go to the basement and exit the lift. There’s a separate elevator that brings you down to us.”
“Okay, see you soon,” I told her, hanging up the phone.
Throwing on a royal blue cardigan over my white-collared, two-piece summer outfit, I slipped into white loafers and grabbed my key.
Part of me expected Angelica or someone else to be waiting at the elevator to stop me, but I stepped off the second elevator—a far older model than the one I rode each day—without issue.
I eyed the concrete floors and exposed plumbing of the Indebted quarters. The doors to their rooms were like the ship doors on Titanic—heavy and metal. Many of the doors were open and the occupants fell silent as I passed by. Not hostile. Yet not welcoming in any way, shape, or form.
If I was an Indebted and this was my safety net, I’d feel pretty pissed to see non-Indebted down here.
I stopped outside number fifty-four and knocked, wincing as the sound boomed through the entire level.
With a deep groan, the door swung inward.
“Miss Tetley.” Laurel greeted.
“Hey,” I said, smiling. “Found you.”
She opened the door wider. “Come in. Take a seat.”
There was only one seat to take. Jesus, it was like a prison cell in here. I’d called Kyros’s room cold and empty, but it still had creature comforts.
A metal-framed bed was shoved against the far wall. A tiny inbuilt wardrobe was the only storage space, so Laurel had shoved her possessions underneath the bed to keep the floor free. All that remained was a crate table and a rickety chair. Nothing on the walls. The blanket looked decades old. Then again, why would she spend a cent on herself when she was trying to buy her freedom?
I sat on the wooden seat.
Her grim expression didn’t budge.
“What did you wish to discuss?” I asked, suddenly very certain I didn’t wish to know.
She sat on the bed. “I asked the nurse to keep me informed on Rhys.”
I shot to my feet. “Don’t say it.”
“He passed away just before midnight. I’m so sorry, Miss Tetley.”
“No,” I whispered, staring at her. My knees buckled and I sat heavily. “How? He was okay when we saw him.”
“He was in an induced coma.”
But he’d been breathing via the tube in his throat. “What changed?”
“His heart stopped. The nurse said it stopped twice during surgery last night, remember? This time they were unable to revive him.”
“Oh my god,” I choked out, pressing a tight fist against my lips to keep the cries inside. I squeezed my eyes shut, breath held as I internally screamed myself raw.
“He didn’t feel a thing,” she continued quietly. “There was no pain.”
Shaking, I lifted my head to her. “How do you know?”
“Because I smelled the medications they were using. His heartbeat was so slow he would have slipped away. I promise you.”
I believed her.
“The nurse knew he wouldn’t make it, didn’t she?” I said hollowly. Her eyes had darkened when I mentioned returning tomorrow. She’d known there wouldn’t be a tomorrow for Rhys.
Laurel dipped her head. “I think so, yes.”
My breathing quickened and I shot to my feet again, hand pressed to my chest. Exactly where Rhys was struck.
I dropped my hand in
horror.
I killed him. I killed Rhys.
A human was gone because of my actions. And horribly, selfishly, a part of me could only feel relief it wasn’t someone I truly loved. Rhys, I barely knew—and I was coming apart at the seams. If one of my two people was ever hurt like that, I couldn’t answer for what I’d become.
“It wasn’t your fault.”
I turned to the Vissimo, not answering her. Disagreeing would make her feel like she had to reassure me. I didn’t need reassurance because I was 100 percent to blame. I could only hope to accept everything that came with my mistake in time and take steps to protect those I loved.
“Thank you for telling me,” I told her. “And for thinking to keep in contact with the nurse. I appreciate it more than you know.”
She half bowed. “Of course, Miss Tetley.”
Had she ever bowed before?
I ignored the formality. “I’ll see you tomorrow for work.”
Laurel followed me to the door. It took two steps to cross the prison cell that passed for an Indebted’s room. “Where are you going now?”
Where was I going?
Pausing in the hall, I met her blue gaze. I did have more than one friend, I realised. Laurel wasn’t like Tommy in that we didn’t have the same history. But I’d known from the first meeting that we could be tight if I let her in.
I stepped close and hugged the vampire, bringing my lips to her ear. The Indebted on this level would probably hear, but we were so far down the tower, hopefully no one else would.
“I’m going to do the second swap.”
I pulled back and caught the sorrow in her eyes before she masked it. I was only telling her now because she clearly didn’t want me to undergo the second blood compulsion.
Part of me agreed with her.
The rest of me knew the second compulsion was happening whether I agreed to the scheme or not.
The fact remained that if things went to plan, Kyros’s enemies would lose interest. My family wouldn’t be used against me.
Over my dead body would Tommy or my grandmother end up like Rhys.
I waited until 3:30 a.m. when the call for the king’s approval would be over. Once Kyros came down, I wanted his undivided attention.
Blood Trial: Supernatural Battle (Vampire Towers Book 1) Page 35