Page 33 of Tainted Blood

“Alexius could handily take any of the other vampires out there,” Isaiah said, putting a hard stop on any thoughts I might have had about it. I knew Alexius could decimate nests. I had died before I could witness it, but he had walked through all of Edwin’s loyal vampires, then killed Edwin and Claire. This place was different, though. There were a lot of old and powerful vampires here.

“He could kill anyone here,” Conall said, coming up to the other side of me. “But on a different discussion… What makes you stick with Alexius? I believe everyone here heard your speech last night, giving Lucas a sharp edge to your tongue. I certainly did. It impressed Aelia, and that’s difficult to do. Isaiah must have already tried to claim you for his own nest since he’s had the chance to meet you before the rest of us. He likes taking in Orphans. It’s an unwritten agreement, for the most part, that if someone doesn’t have the time or patience to take care of one, he’ll always take one of you in.”

“I don’t think I’d like to live in a large nest, and he hired me to help him, which is something I want to do.”

“Because of Edwin?” Conall leaned a little closer. “You know, I knew him. He was a member of my nest for a century.”

“That’s nice.” I tried not to judge Conall for that, but it was difficult. So difficult.

“I never thought he was capable of doing what he did in Jacob’s nest. Isaiah let me know that Camilla was involved and that Edwin had fallen for her. It made sense after that. She was a problem, that one. My brother was one of her victims.”

“Oh…” I didn’t know what to say to that.

“Enough of Edwin and Camilla, though. I was expecting your answer to be how you owe him for making you a vampire.”

Everyone here is fucking nosy…

“He offered to hire me before Edwin caught me. As a human. He was going to hire me as a human. I didn’t have any plans to become a vampire. I’m grateful to be alive, but I didn’t need it to motivate me to work with him.”

“Considering your speech to the Romans, I am inclined to believe that. Edwin made a little vampire hunter out of you, didn’t he?”

I looked up at him. He was a regal man, no doubt. English nobility in the flesh, one of those hot men with a touch of age to distinguish him. He seemed amused by me, like an adult finding a child humorous when the child says they want to be a superhero when they grow up.

I found it incredibly insulting.

“I would be careful about teasing her, Conall,” Isis said softly before I could figure out how to respond to his condescending tone. “There’s fire in those eyes.”

“There certainly is,” he agreed, but he didn’t seem bothered, looking over me to talk to Isaiah. “Are you sure a fiery little thing like her is the best person to leave alone with Alexius?”

“Little thing? She’s not a child.” Isaiah seemed just as annoyed. “I don’t get to snap my fingers and tell two adults they can’t work together unless they’re breaking a law. Conall, if you want to try to hire her, give her your offer and leave her to consider it. I have no intention of trying to sway her opinion, though, so don’t try using me.”

That was really all Isaiah needed to say to sway my opinion. I was never going to work for the Master of London.

“I was wondering if someone with her temper was good to stay with Alexius for other reasons,” Conall said. Whatever humor that had been in his tone was no longer there.

“That’s not for anyone to decide but the man himself,” Isaiah replied. He didn’t deny that I had a temper. I couldn’t either. It was something I had never known myself to have as a human, but there was no getting around that I had one as a vampire. Most people didn’t lose their shit and rip out other people’s throats with their bare hands or beat someone’s head into the ground with a frying pan.

I silently beat myself up as I watched the trees. I had wanted to spend this trip trying to be uninteresting and out of the spotlight. I was failing spectacularly, and they were catching all of it. They were so focused on me, and I had no idea how Alexius and I were supposed to focus on what we came here to do. How were we supposed to find out who had killed Jacob, who was behind the events in Alaska, and was threatening me, if they were all watching my every step and listening to my every word?

15

Iwas relieved when Alexius returned first, a large stag over his shoulders with velvet-covered antlers. He was back only fifteen minutes into the hunt.

“Sometimes, I worry you might be too efficient,” Isaiah teased as Alexius dropped the stag on a small trailer attached to an ATV.

“It was a good hunt. The others will be back soon. The game is plentiful, so the only real trouble is making sure not to spook everything else in the process.” Alexius looked over his kill. It seemed like he’d just broken its neck, with no blood visible anywhere. I made a mental note that making these stealth kills was important, at least to Alexius. “I don’t know how he’ll size up compared to the others, but he’s a good one.”

“He’s a big one, that’s for sure,” Conall said. “Let’s hope there are any out there that can compete.”

“I wasn’t looking for the biggest. I came for the hunt, not the pissing contest.” Alexius looked over his kill, meeting my gaze before looking at the rest of the group. “You can tell me who wins after the hunt, but it’s not important to me.”

“That’s not very sporting of you.” Conall sounded displeased, but Isaiah shrugged next to me.

“I’ll tell you when I see you next.”

“I’ll head in with the two of you,” Isis decided. “Considering there’s Kamose.” She waved to the figure walking out of the trees. Everyone was quiet as he put his stag next to Alexius’s. It was smaller. Not by much, but it was obvious.

“Well, at least I was second in time,” Kamose said with a chuckle, accepting his clear defeat without issue.

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