Chapter Twelve
Elias
It had been a while since I’d had to use one of the Queen’s safe rooms. Not only was the room warded weekly, it was totally light proof for vampire protection. Not that I needed that, but it did make the room nice and dark during the day.
While the room did appear clean enough, nothing else was impressive. Two double beds took up most of the room. A door on the end led to a bathroom that was probably rarely used since most visitors were vampires. A desk, chair, and a small dresser completed the space. There wasn’t even a TV here because it was rarely used for more than a night.
The one thing that made this room unique from the others in the hotel was the small fridge in one corner. I knew that fridge was stocked with blood bags for emergency use. While most vampires still preferred to get their blood the old-fashioned way, there was a movement toward bagged blood from donors. And bagged blood stood in when an official donor wasn’t present.
Under vampire law, all donors had to give consent and agree to the terms. There were always humans who stumbled into our world and gladly joined the ranks. I didn’t understand it but I suppose there’s always been a fascination with our world by those who don’t belong.
Of course, there were enough vampires who skirted the rules. That’s how I found myself in the service of the Queen. The vampires who dealt in illicit blood trades didn’t care who they bought or sold. They captured and enslaved humans and supernaturals alike. When they took my sister, they sealed their fate. I’d been hunting them one by one for the last decade, working my way through their ranks to avenge my sister’s killers. When I crossed paths with the Queen, rather than punishing me for the extreme and illegal lengths I went to for revenge, she recruited me.
“Well, this is cozy,” Skylar said.
“It’s safe, that’s what matters,” I said.
“I can feel the wards. Good quality work. Likely not enforcers footing the bill on this, I’m guessing,” she said.
Before I could say anything she set her hand on my upper arm. “Thank you.”
Her words took me off guard but her hand on me was the real distraction. What was it about her that made me lose focus? It was bad enough that I’d let her go last night. After she ran from me, I should have corrected it, but I couldn’t.
I’d resigned myself to stop fighting and just go along with this. We were one night down on our time so tomorrow night we had to find the killer or at least enough evidence to submit to the enforcers. Then, I’d be back on my case and move on with my usual work.
Skylar walked over to one of the beds and turned on the lamp before sitting down. She started to unlace her boots. “You want to take shifts?”
“You’ll be safe here,” I said.
“That might be the case, but I still don’t fully trust the wards,” she said. “Between the usual target on my back, there’s the added target of being Lola’s roommate. There’s no way whoever killed her doesn’t know I’m looking for them. And add in whatever enemies you’ve made in the service ofbothof your jobs.” She laughed. “Aren’t we the pair? Between us, we’ve probably got a dozen people hunting us.”
“I’ll stay up.” I flipped off the light switch by the door.
“You need to rest too.” She dropped her boots to the floor then turned to me, eyes narrowed. “Unless you don’t need to sleep.”
“I sleep, occasionally,” I admitted. “But I don’t really need to.”
“Well, there goes my theory,” she said.
“What theory?” I asked.
“That you’re a mage dabbling in dark magic.” She said the words without the slightest judgement. I’d never heard anyone discuss dark magic so nonchalantly.
I grabbed a chair from the desk and pulled it out, taking a seat, angling it so I faced the door. “Get some sleep.”
“Wake me at noon,” she said.
“Okay.” I didn’t plan on waking her so early but I’d deal with her being upset later. She was going to need all the rest she could get before we walked into the Clover Coven tonight.
I half expected her to argue with me again. Instead, she pulled back the blankets and crawled into the bed. She turned off the lamp. “Good night.”
“Night.”
For a long while, I sat in the dark, listening to her breathe. Finally, her breathing slowed and I could sense that she’d fallen asleep. Relief rushed through me and I relaxed, knowing she was safe and getting the rest she needed. Ignoring the strangeness of that, I stared ahead and ran through the events of the last few hours. Nothing about my evening had gone according to plan.
I’d been on the trail of Vincent Romana for a few weeks before I thought I had him cornered. I was sure he worked for the same group responsible for my sister’s death. He wasn’t high up in the ranks, but he was high enough that I thought I could get some information from him. Instead, I’d killed him, losing a chance at following one of the few leads in my case.
An organization known as the Knights were linked to more cases of missing humans and supernaturals than any other group. I wasn’t the only one trying to take them down, yet they’d evaded capture for a decade.