Page 27 of Death Deals

Drugged.

By Andre’s men or from his own doing? I didn’t know. As much as I hated to think about it, part of me hoped for the former.

“Ricky!” I tried to meet his gaze as it danced over my face, not really seeing me.

“She knows him?” Hector’s drawl echoed behind me as more footsteps drew near. “How is this possible?”

I peered up at Andre, who was standing beside the chair, looking stunned and a bit irritated. Silently, I pleaded with him to help me here.

He said nothing.

“J-Jade?” Ricky’s shaky voice called to me, and I gasped in relief. “Jade, is that you?”

Finally, he’d found me, but instead of relief, confusion twisted his expression.

“It’s me, Ricky. It’s me. I’m here.” I ran my thumb over the purple bruise under his right eye.

“But you’re d-dead,” he said, and for some reason, his words were like a spike through my chest. The sadness they held spoke volumes, and I knew in that moment that he’d been the one to find my body after Ed had killed me. The disbelief of what he was seeing—me, alive—was all over his face.

Then, his eyes rolled and his head slumped forward. Drool trickled from his split lip.

I tried smacking him again to wake him up, but his head lolled. Unconscious.

How the hell had he gotten mixed up in this mess? First the Scarlet Knights and now vamp business?

Jumping to my feet, I grabbed Andre by the shirt, my anger taking hold of me now. “Why did you bring him here? What’s this about? You need to let him go. He needs a doctor.”

He opened his mouth to answer, but Hector’s sharp response cut him off. “How does your claim know an Omari scrub?”

Scrub? What did that mean?

“I’m sure she has an explanation for this,” Andre said calmly, but in his glare, I could see the warning. I had to be careful with what I said here, but if we lost the Perezes’ trust, this entire mission would be ruined before it even started.

Not to forget that I couldn’t say anything to hint at what I really was, too.

Freaking vampires.

I let go of Andre’s shirt and spun around. “He was a childhood friend,” I lied.

“Were you ever a part of the Scarlet Knights?” Hector asked.

“What? No!” I barked.

He eyed Andre skeptically.

“What do the Knights have to do with the vamps anyway?” I asked.

“She doesn’t know,” Andre said.

“Know what?” I couldn’t stand when people talked about me like I wasn’t there.

“The Omaris control the Scarlet Knights,” Hector replied after some time. “The gang is of their creation.”

“Fuck…” I ran a trembling hand over my face and glanced over at Ricky. His head still hung down, and every so often, his muscles twitched.

Shit, Ricky. What have you gotten yourself into?

There was no way he’d known the truth about the Knights. From what I’d learned from my last memory, he’d been just a guy looking to do what he had to help his family… and protect me. He couldn’t have known about the supernatural organization behind it.

---