Page 81 of Taste of Fate

“Hey, it’s going to be okay. Really.” She allowed me to rub her arm and I took the chance to scoot closer to her. “The vampires live really well, you won’t want for anything again. There’s a brusang I’ve made friends with, Bea. She’s great, and we’ll both help you get through this.”

Amy let out a low growling noise I’d never heard from her before. “You don’t get it, do you? What makes you think I want to be around you or your new vampire family?”

“Amy, what?—”

She pulled away from me and stood, leaving me speechless on the ground. When she turned to face me, her expression seething, I had to admit she did look more monstrous than human.

“I told you I wanted to stay with humans, to preserve our culture and our way of life. You made your choice and I made mine. I thought we respected each others’ choices, Tavia. But now you’ve gone and turned me into this,” she gestured at herself, “and my choice is gone. Now I have to live in the vampire world, something I never wanted. You knew that and you forced this on me anyway!”

“I…” A sob choked off my response. Of course, I hadn’t thought of it that way. I was too out of my mind with grief to think of any real consequences. “Ames, you were dead.”

“You should have let me stay dead!”

“I couldn’t.” A harsh, shaky breath escaped me and tears blurred my vision. “I’m so sorry. I just couldn’t.”

Maybe it was selfish of me. Maybe I should have given more thought to what Amy would have wanted, but the simple truth was that I couldn’t let her go. Not when there was another option.

The grief might have slipped away, but now guilt overtook me. Had I doomed my best friend rather than saved her?

“I’m sorry,” I repeated, blinking to let the tears fall. “I’m so sorry.” The words were inadequate, but so was everything else I could have said. “I should’ve…fuck, I’m sorry.”

Eventually, Amy’s arms came around me. She was still so much smaller than me, and I rested my cheek on top of her head as I hugged her back.

Wrapped up like that, my best friend and I cried together.

Chapter 30

Cyan

Ilit up a darakt cigarette, tapping my foot while I listened to the phone ring on the other end.

“What’s up, Cyanide?” came Desmond’s greeting.

“Hey,” I said on an exhale of red smoke. “Any marrowers talking yet?”

“Oh yeah. We’re not getting anything substantial though. Detox is a bitch and they’re in a world of pain. All of them say the same thing, they don’t remember anything.”

I pondered that, taking another drag. “You believe them?”

“Thorne and Rhain seem to. They want to get your opinion, I think. Since you’re cozy with the marrowers.”

I blew out a breath. “I mean, Thorne knows better than anybody they’ve never gotten involved in any of the clan conflicts. As a whole, they’re a peaceful bunch and would rather hide underground than get into that mess. I’ve never heard of them having issues with humans, either. But every species has bad apples.”

There was a pause on the phone and some staticky rustling. It sounded like Des was lighting up a smoke of his own.

“I think they’re telling the truth,” Des confessed. “The big guy, Lore, he seems genuinely horrified at what happened, and swears up and down that he’s never touched drae in his life. And if you were here, seeing him coming down from this shit, I think you would believe him too.”

“Withdrawal is that bad, huh?”

“The guy says his skin feels like it’s on fire. I feel bad for him, to be honest.”

“Yeah, marrowers and drae just don’t make sense.” I rubbed my chin. “They like sunlight even less than we do, for fuck’s sake.”

“Right. So the feeling here, and I would agree, is that someone drugged these people and set them on the humans for some reason.”

“If that’s true, it could be anyone.” I sighed. “At least half the clans hate that the humans have their independent settlement here.”

“Sure, but like you said, marrowers hardly have beef with anybody. Who would use them to do it?”

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