Page 5 of Deadmen's Queen

“My… my bag,” she whispered. Kate darted into the room, grabbing it from where it hung on the desk chair. Thankfully, it hadn’t been hit with the red liquid. Please don’t let it be blood.

“Paige, there’s another note,” she said. She plucked something off the bed and came back into the corridor, handing Paige a small red envelope with her name typed on the front.

“Another note?” I asked, my heart speeding up. “Paige, what’s going on?”

She shook her head, pulling away a little to open the envelope. The paper inside was red too, with typed letters in black, and her face grew paler as she read it. Too impatient to wait, I snatched it away from her and looked down at the message she’d been sent.

So, you like to crawl, Paige? I’ll make you fucking crawl for me. Before I make you scream like they never could.

I looked up at her.

“What is this, Paige?”

“I thought they were from you,” she said breathlessly.

My blood ran cold. “From me?”

“From the Club. There were black roses and these…”

I took a deep breath, my careful control shaky at best. “The roses were from us, but we never sent you messages, Paige. You’ve had more of these?”

She nodded. “Lots.”

“Give them to me,” I said, my voice harder than I’d meant it to be, and she winced.

“They’re in my desk drawer,” she said, looking over at Kate, who nodded and disappeared back into the room.

“How long?” I asked her.

“Since my first week here,” she answered.

Kate handed me a stack of red envelopes, kept together with an elastic band. “That’s all of them. She went to university security, and then the police, but they all thought it was just a prank, after she reported being followed by Reapers.” Kate’s face was neutral, but I could see the anger and the condemnation in her eyes.

Fuck.

“These aren’t from the Club, Paige.” I looked down at the envelopes, her name in simple black type. “How did you get these? They aren’t posted.”

“Under the door at night,” she whispered.

I frowned. “Don’t you have a night security guard?”

Kate nodded, her face twisting into a sneer. “Yes, but he’s utterly useless. You can never bloody find him when he’s on duty. I doubt he gives a fuck.”

“I see.” I looked down at Paige, feeling her trembling in my arms, then glanced over at Kate. “Are you ok here, if I take Paige to stay with us? We have much better security. I’m afraid there’s no extra bedrooms at ours, but I can find somewhere for you to stay if you’d feel safer?”

Kate shook her head. “He, whoever he is, isn’t after me. Paige, are you ok to go stay with Bast?”

Paige turned and looked at Kate, blinking. “Yes.”

“Paige, are you ok?” Kate asked, reaching out to touch her arm.

“She’s in shock,” I said. “Don’t mention this to anyone. I’ll get her home and safe, and then I’ll get some guys over to clean up and look into it. We’ll find him, Kate.”

She raised flashing green eyes to mine. “You do that, Blake. Find him, and beat the living shit out of him for doing this to my friend.” I grinned. I liked this girl.

“Yes, ma’am,” I mock saluted her, then reached out to take Paige’s bag from her.

“Call me when you’re feeling better,” she said to Paige, who nodded.

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