Page 62 of Tainted Blood

“I didn’t want to make a larger panic than we already have, so I asked Stephan to keep things to the upper management who would know who belongs and who doesn’t. I didn’t want someone on staff attacking Aelia’s people or anything,” Isaiah explained.

Alexius didn’t disagree with that line of thinking. He would have done similarly if he had such a large staff. There was a reason he kept things small, though. He didn’t need a hundred people running around. Having a handful of trustworthy staff was enough. He still kept secrets with Rupert from the others, even with such a small staff. There was always one or two who could know everything. Not everyone could be in that circle.

“She tracked him to Ramman and Samas’ room, where she believes he picked up whatever messages he had delivered earlier. Then he left through the emergency exit. Damn it.” Isaiah growled. “If he got above ground, we’re trapped in the building. An hour before dawn would have been a problem, but we don’t even have the dawn.”

“She thinks he’s in the bunker you had built in the emergency passages,” Alexius said, putting the pad down. “Do you regularly send people there to check those?”

“No,” Isaiah said, sitting down. “However, it is near the surface. If he knows we’re coming, he just needs to get above ground. If he came with the others, he’s had time to set something up.”

“Are there no cameras in the emergency halls?” Alexius frowned as he considered the situation.

“There are. The doors all lock from the inside and are disguised on the other side to keep wandering humans from accidentally finding them,” Isaiah explained. He reached out and started clicking with Everly’s mouse, going through folders, things moving on the screen. He stopped with several folders open and dozens of files visible. “That’s how many videos we would need to watch to get the answers we need. This is my home, so the security is tight, but I don’t have twenty to thirty people to watch these in real time. Even if I did, they wouldn’t be here during this.”

Alexius rubbed his jaw, considering that. It was fair. Isaiah’s main place of business was in the city, where he hid his nest behind a business with dozens of employees, all magically silenced to keep from revealing the truth of vampires to the world. They did everything from accounting to housework. It was a massive operation. However, this was his country home, a place to relax in a more intimate environment, a place to train his offspring and spend time with those he considered friends.

Even if Isaiah had the staff to watch the cameras around the clock, he was right about the current situation. The other vampires here would never be okay with someone watching them in real time from a different location, not in someone else’s home. They wouldn’t have come at all or would have started other problems if they found out, and they would have found out.

And now, one or more of these vampires had taken advantage of that silent hospitality they all offered each other.

“We’d lose members of the nest if we forced them to do this sort of work,” Marcus said, turning away to do a lap around the room. “But we can watch from the point she said he went into the emergency tunnel.”

“That we can do,” Isaiah agreed softly, double clicking a file, then another. “There’s a camera at each door. One watches the door of the bunker. There are no camerasinthe bunker, though.”

“We just need to see if he left the building with the blood or if he’s using the bunker,” Alexius said quietly.

Isaiah nodded, starting the footage. They watched the human enter the escape passage and start running, his chest heaving as the fear of what he was doing showed. They watched him run until he left their view, then Isaiah quickly switched to the next file. They watched as he ran into view, and he stopped right where Everly believed he might—the bunker. He slipped inside and stayed there.

“We need to get into the bunker now,” Alexius declared, glaring at the metal door that the human would have locked the moment he was inside.

“We don’t know if he’s left. He might be there, he might not. It’s been several hours. This was before I even called Maria about the situation.” Isaiah looked over his shoulder. “Marcus, I know you can’t stay up as long as us, but can I motivate you to stay up as long as you can? Watch this footage, see if he’s left and what exit he took. Alexius and I will check the bunker.”

“I can check the bunker with Alexius—”

“This is my home. I will help Alexius find the intruder,” Isaiah said as he stood.

“I’m sorry, Marcus, but I prefer Isaiah in this. I will keep him safe if something happens.” Alexius didn’t dislike Marcus nearly as much as he did Isaiah’s other offspring, probably because of his loyalty to Isaiah and the path he’d chosen in life, not chasing power like most of the others. But even though he didn’t dislike Marcus as much, Alexius would always pick Isaiah over anyone but Jacob.

And Everly.

“No offense taken,” Marcus said, sitting where Isaiah had been. “I’ll look through this and let you know if I discover anything.”

“We’ll reach out if we find anything as well,” Isaiah promised.

“No one else comes into this suite, and you’ll leave Everly alone,” Alexius added before walking out, Isaiah on his heels. “Let’s hope this human is foolish enough to stay in the bunker when he’s not creeping around the house.”

“Let me do one other thing,” Isaiah murmured, typing quickly on his phone. “Okay, with his picture, the upper management of the human staff has been told to detain this human if they see him. They’ve been armed since the Samas incident, so if he’s carrying anything, so are they. They’re also locking off several staff halls so they can keep track of who is moving through those.”

“Not the entire staff?”

“I don’t need to scare the housekeepers or get some young person killed,” Isaiah snapped. He backtracked quickly, not that Alexius needed him to. “I can’t distract them all from what they have to be doing, and this human hasn’t posed a threat to any of them, other than the issue of posing a threat to all of us. I won’t get them involved beyond their job descriptions. The more normalcy we can maintain, the better we can manage the chaos when it happens.”

“Of course.”

With that settled, they left the suite together and moved quickly down the wing. As they went, Alexius heard the sound of metal, looking back to see that the other emergency path had been blocked. Alexius didn’t need to ask why. Isaiah was removing options for this human, taking away paths. From the staff halls to the emergency exits, this human was going to find himself with few options left to get around the building.

No one came out of their suites to find out what they were doing. Alexius knew that there were only a few vampires in the basement who were forced to sleep for any given amount of time. The old ones, like Galla and Lyra, could stay up through the entire day if they desired to do so. Those around Isaiah’s age could struggle through midday if they wanted to, but they felt the pull enough to lie down as the sun reached its peak. The fact that none were coming out to see what Isaiah and Alexius were doing was almost surprising.

I don’t know how any of them feel comfortable sleeping right now. I can’t fathom the idea of sleeping. Perhaps they’re simply passing the time, hoping for news that this has been resolved.

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