“Well, they looked angry,” he said. “And they have really pale skin. But the biggest tip-off? One of them has blood on her lips.”
Chapter 20
“Shit.” I edged open the door. Within the midst of beer-addled college students, vampires stood eyeing up the customers like they’d just walked into an all-you-can-eat buffet. They looked hungry. Really hungry. And they didn’t look particularly happy either.
With trembling hands, I closed the door with a quiet click.
“This is not good.” I pressed my back against the door in hopes it would keep me steady because my legs definitely didn’t want to hold me up any longer.
Laura shoved her hand against her chest, covering her heart in a way I understood. She was scared they were here for her, and hell, they probably were. I hadn’t spotted Anastasia or Georgina, the women who had fed on her witch’s blood before, but they couldn’t be too far behind.
They wanted their new blood bag. Enough to start a war.
“What do we do?” She sunk halfway to the floor, her hands trembling as they gripped a shelf full of bar napkins, plastic skewers, and straws. “There’s no way to get outside from the stockroom. We’re trapped.”
Laura was right. There was a back exit, but it was in the kitchen, not here. In order to reach it, we’d have to exit this door, slither behind the bar, and hope to goddess we went unnoticed as we snuck into the kitchen. The odds of that happening? Well, they were pretty fucking slim to none. Vampires didn’t just get immortality, strength to rival the Hulk, and jet engine speed. Their enhanced senses would sniff us out the second we stepped outside that door.
“You guys really are serious, aren’t you?” Nathan asked, his eyes as wide as drink coasters. Poor guy. He had no freaking clue just how bad this situation was. And unfortunately, he was stuck back here with us. Meaning, if we were found, he would be, too. Another blood bag for the Daywalkers.
“As serious as a fucking heart attack,” I said in a low voice. “Those are vampires out there, and they want Laura’s blood.”
“Okay.” He dropped the keg to the floor and crossed his arms over his chest. “I can work with this. Sure, it sounds insane, but I’ve seen crazier. Right, Zoe?”
“Well. Probably not.”
“Right, okay.” He smoothed his polo shirt and strode over to the wall where a set of old keys dangled from a rusted, iron hook. “This is totally fixable. You two can hide in the basement until they leave.”
“The basement?” Laura’s voice went up a notch higher, hope and unease threading together. “I didn’t know there was a basement in here.”
“Me either,” I said, raising an eyebrow. “Since when?”
“Since always.” Nathan grabbed the keys and disappeared behind one of the many metal shelving units. “It’s back here, under the kegs. I only know about it because I have to haul these things in from the truck every time we have a delivery.”
My breath expelled from my lungs, and I shot a nervous smile at Laura. This was good news. As much as I hated to cower in a basement, I didn’t know what else we could do right now. If it were me on my own, I’d probably do what I could to stand against the vampires. But I had to consider Laura, and she was more untrained in magic than I was. Plus, she didn’t have a dagger.
Right now, the vampires were just taking a look around Blue Moon Tavern. They weren’t attacking anyone. They weren’t drinking anyone’s blood. But if they discovered the two of us in here, all of that would change. There were innocent humans toasting their night away. Lots of them. It wasn’t just my life at stake.
“I have a newfound appreciation for manual labor.” I shot Nathan a smile, and he grinned in return. “Thanks, Nathan.”
“For you? Anything.” Nathan knelt onto the floor and unlocked the basement before lifting up the door. It creaked on old rusted hinges that clearly weren’t accustomed to being used. Cobwebs reached across the corners, fluttering against the cool breeze coming from below. Clouds of dust swirled in the shadows.
“Well. That’s suitably creepy.” Laura wrinkled her nose. “But preferable to being killed by a vampire, I have to admit.”
“Come on,” I said quickly. “Let’s hurry.”
With a sigh, Laura eased her feet onto the first rung of the metal ladder that led down into the dusty darkness. I followed just behind her, my fingers clinging onto rough steel. The ladder shook under our weight, rattling so loud I closed my eyes in hope that the vampires wouldn’t hear the sound.
When our feet finally touched the ground, Nathan shot us a thumbs-up sign and smiled. “Okay. I’ll just close this and then—”
He paused, jerking up his chin to stare at something beyond my sight. It was in the direction of the stockroom door, and his rigid body sent shockwaves of fear through me. In seconds, he was scrabbling down the ladder, pulling the door shut behind him and plunging us into utter darkness.
Cold air enveloped me like a hug just as a loud crash sounded from above. Footsteps pounded on the floorboards, and excited whispers drifted through the cracks to meet my ears. Nathan clung to the ladder somewhere over my head, but I couldn’t see him in the thick black. All I could see were the shifting shadows around me, and all I could feel was the pounding of my own heart in my skull.
The footsteps continued up above, making my palms go slick with sweat. All the vampires would have to do was take one look behind the kegs, and they’d see the doorway leading to our hiding place. It would only take moments for them to reach us and seconds to drain Laura’s neck.
My body stayed rigid while we waited. Every moment felt like an eternity. Every breath from my lungs sounded like a hurricane. For too long, they searched the stockroom, and I was sure they realized we were somewhere nearby.
But, finally, after long and agonizing moments, the footsteps faded away and the door slammed shut behind them. My breath rattled out in a relieved sigh, and I reached out to grab Laura’s trembling hand. She squeezed back, leaning against me and sobbing into my shoulder. We had come far too close. I couldn’t let them get so near to her again.
The ladder shook as Nathan scaled the rungs to where we stood. He flicked on a small keyring flashlight, illuminating the small empty space. “I’m not sure they’ve left yet. I thought I heard them say something about checking out the kitchen next. They know something’s up. There’s no bartender out there serving people.”
“Shit.” I hadn’t thought of that. I’d been too focused on staying out of sight that I hadn’t realized how things must look to them right now. No bartender, no servers, no nothing. A packed bar full of people with drinks in their hands, and no one there to provide them with more.
“I’ll go back up there,” he said after a moment, handing me the flashlight. “I’ll say I was out back having a smoke or something.”
“You can’t do that,” I said, meeting his eyes in the dim light. “I don’t want you to put your life at risk.”
“I’ll be fine.” He was already halfway up the ladder, opening the hatch to the stockroom. “I’ll let you know when it’s safe.”
When the door shut behind him, Laura expelled a breath and slumped against the ladder. Her voice cracked, and her eyes were streaked with red. “I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.”
“Of course it isn’t. It’s fucking Enforcer Vincent’s fault. And the Magister’s. Looked like his scheming bit him in the ass though.”
Laura shook her head. “Maybe so, but I still let the vampires drink my blood. If I hadn’t, things might have ended with the Magister’s death, right? They wouldn’t still be waging war?”
“No, I think they’d still be fighting.” I paced across the creaking floorboard, dust billowing up around us. “He was our leader, and he broke the alliance. They’re not going to be satisfied very easily.”
She paced on the floor, her eyes glancing up above us with every other step. “Why haven’t they found me yet? I thought those vampires linked with me or something.”
I shoo
k my head, frowning. “Yeah, that’s what I thought because it explained how Vincent knew I’d be at the university. But clearly, I was wrong. Now, how he really found out? I haven’t the foggiest clue. This whole thing is a stupid jigsaw puzzle that makes absolutely zero sense.”
“There’s something I need to tell you,” Laura suddenly whispered, her eyes locked hard on her boots. Her cheeks flushed, and she swallowed hard. “I enjoyed it. You know, when they fed from me. It felt…really, really good.” Her eyes flicked up to meet mine. “And I don’t think it was because of the drink.”
She stared at me, her body tense, like she expected me to throw judgement in her face. But I knew what it felt like to be tempted by darkness, and I knew the sensation of wanting something I shouldn’t have. “I think that’s only normal, Laura. They have an aura about them that draws people in. Why do you think so many people line up to go to Slayerville?”
“It’s not just them though,” she said, her voice insistent. “It’s me. I wasn’t just drawn to them. I was drawn to the blood.”
Laura spoke her words as if they were layered in meaning, but I couldn’t pick them apart to understand. She was trying to tell me something. Something important.
“Laura.” Softly, I placed my hands on her shoulders and looked deep into her eyes. “Listen to me. Whatever is going on, I swear to the goddess that I’ll help you however I can.”
Her eyelids fluttered shut and she drew in a deep breath. “You want to know why I haven’t cast a spell to get my mark? Because for a long time, I’ve felt like I don’t belong in the Bone Coven. That’s not who or what I am. So, I’ve been too scared to go for it. Because I think I have blood magic running through my veins.”
Blood magic? That was impossible. Laura was born by two bone mages…well, I guessed that wasn’t as important as I’d originally thought.
Before I had the chance to answer, the overhead door popped open. Nathan leaned onto the ladder, gave a thumbs up, and smiled. “The vampire people are gone. Time for you guys to get out of here.”
Chapter 21
Home. I’d never been happier to see the creaky stairs, the flickering fluorescent hallway light, and the sagging door with the lock that barely worked half the time. The scent of mildew mixed with the lingering odor of the bar on my clothes, but instead of wrinkling my nose, I could only smile. This apartment, as shitty as it might be, was the only place I needed right now.
My happiness wasn’t fated to last very long though. As soon as we reached the landing outside of my apartment, my neck prickled, signaling that something wasn’t right. There was a buzz and crackle in the air that got under my skin and made it crawl.
“Laura, do you feel that?” I asked, my dagger out before I pressed my fingers on the door. The wards had been tampered with again. And this time, they felt cracked. Broken.
My heart roared, pain and fear charging through me like a runaway train. Before I could wait for Laura’s reply, I stormed inside the apartment. My eyes darted around the room, and I braced myself for the worst. But there Grams was, sleeping in her rocking chair. My breath expelled from my pent-up lungs, and I sagged against the wall.
“Grams?” I asked. Silence.
My fingers curled into fists as I walked over to her chair, leaned down, and looked into her face. Her knitting needles had fallen to the carpet. I picked them up and set them on the blanket next to her wilted hands.
“Wake up, Grams. I need to make sure you’re okay,” I said a little louder. Her breathing never faltered, her face slack in a peaceful expression. I hated to wake her if she was this tired, but I was more than a little freaked out by her unresponsiveness.
I placed my hand on her warm skin and shook her arm. “Grams, wake up.”
My fingernails carved lines into my palms as panic bubbled up in my throat. My shoulders clenched into knots. I smeared my sweaty hands against my jeans and shook her harder, fighting back the urge to scream. “Grams!”
Nothing. Nothing at all. The bitter taste of blood filled my mouth, and I realized my teeth were clenched tight on the insides of my cheeks. Grams didn’t move, didn’t open her eyes, didn’t slow her breathing. It was like she couldn’t hear me. Like she had no idea I was here. A familiar scent pressed in around me, like something stale and rotten lurked somewhere nearby. I’d only smelled this once before. When my mom and dad got attacked in the war. When they were dying. My ragged breaths shook my body as all the warmth swept out of me until I was left feeling frigid, my only emotion bitter fear.
“Grams!” I screamed, falling on my knees, “Grams, Grams, Grams!”
I choked on my words. My hands dug ruts into the carpet. I gasped for breath, tears pouring out of my eyes and down my cheeks.
“Help.” I sobbed into her arms, hoping someone could hear me, hoping someone could make her better. But only Laura could hear my cries from where she hovered beside me, shock and pain flickering in her eyes. “Someone please help.”
But she couldn’t help me. No one could.
My grandmother wasn’t here anymore. She was gone.
“Zoe,” Laura said in a cracked voice. “There’s a rune on the floor underneath her chair.”
With a new kind of panic charging through me, I jumped from the floor and moved back to get a good look at what Laura had spotted. She was right. Underneath the rocking chair, a rune had been drawn on the floor in what looked to be bright red ink. But it wasn’t ink. It was blood.
“The Blood Coven,” I whispered as my pain morphed into shock and then anger. “I can’t believe they would do something like this.”
“What do you think this means?” Laura asked, her whole face stark white.
“Someone has cursed my grandmother using blood magic,” I said. “I’m not sure what they’ve done to her, but it can’t be good.”
“Blood magic,” Laura whispered. “I haven’t seen that in a long, long time. Have you?”
“Of course not. I’m not a blood witch,” I said in a snappier tone than I intended. But I didn’t mean it. My nerves were just too rattled for me to keep control over the volatile emotions flooding through my veins. I was hurt. I was shocked. And I was pissed as hell. Whoever did this was going to pay.
And I had a sneaking suspicion who it had been.
I turned to Laura. “That warlock did it. Vincent, the Enforcer. I thought his powers seemed strange. Not to mention his friend tried to get in here before I saw them in the alley. Vincent wouldn’t be the first person to disguise his mark.”
Of course, I was talking about myself, but I wasn’t yet ready to come clean to the world about what I was, even if it was to my best friend. I would tell her. One day. Just not right now. It might take her awhile to understand, if she ever did. And I couldn’t afford to lose her right now, even if it was only for a few days. I needed her here by my side.
“So, he’s a blood warlock,” Laura said with a nod, her hand reaching up to touch her neck. “It makes more sense for someone from a different coven to do this, I guess. But why do you think he’d go after Grams? She’s just an innocent old lady, who minds her own business. She’d never hurt a fly.”
Actually, I bet Grams had hurt her share of flies when she was younger. There was no way she’d had her power and never used it. For good, of course. I couldn’t imagine she would ever fall into darkness, but there’d been plenty of fights and battles and wars over the years. For some reason, I had a feeling she’d been more than happy to join in the fray.
“To stop me,” I said with my lips pressed together. A tear slipped out of my eye, and I brushed it off my cheek. “This is all my fault, really. I went after him, and I tried to turn him in. This is his way of telling me to back off or else.”
The truth hit me like a ton of bricks. I knew I was right, even if it was just a hunch. He only came after her because I went straight to the council about his plans. If I’d just stayed out of coven business, like I always had, this never would have happened. Grams was in a magical coma—or wh
atever it was—because of me.
“You can’t think like that, Zoe,” Laura moved to my side and squeezed my hand. “That’s what he wants, isn’t it? For you to blame yourself and back off? You can’t let him win.”
“Hasn’t he, though?” Closing my eyes, I tried to imagine what life was like before this week. Boring, normal, safe. “We’re running and hiding. The vampires are carrying out full-fledged attacks. The council is nowhere to be found. And now he has us here, cowering in the dark.” I waved at the overhead lights we still hadn’t turned on just in case someone was lurking outside the windows again. “He’s won.”
The scent of power, musk, leather, and pine filled the room, and my heart lifted in my chest. I’d recognize that scent anywhere.
“He hasn’t won,” a low, deep voice rumbled from behind me.
I whirled toward the sound, my boots squeaking from the speed of my turn. It was Dorian, his entire body filling up the space of the doorframe and blotting out the hallway lights, making him look even more powerful than he normally looked. My nerves stirred at the sight of him, drowning out the anxiety I’d felt only seconds before. But I needed to stand my guard. He was a vampire, I couldn’t forget.
“Zoe, I’m sorry.” His hands hung heavy by his sides. “Summoner Salvatore escaped the vampires and called to tell me what happened. Leon and Vincent were both involved in all of this from the beginning. You know why I was following you for all these months? Because they asked me to keep a close eye on you. Now I know why. They wanted a fall guy. Someone already acting outside of the law. I’m sorry I didn’t see it sooner.”
Instinctively, I put myself between him and Grams, and reached out to grab Laura’s elbow before pushing her behind me as well. A lot of shit had happened already, but I would do whatever it took to keep this vampire away from the ones I loved, even if he wasn’t as dangerous as I’d originally thought.
“Zoe.” He frowned, his voice a growl. “I’m not here to hurt you. When are you going to get that through your thick skull?”
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