Page 63 of Tainted Blood

I shouldn’t question it. They are staying out of the way.

The lounge was quiet, humans working diligently to continue the repairs.

“Will they continue around the clock?” Alexius asked, nodding to the crew currently working. It was another piece of information he had to work with when it came to dealing with the problems at hand.

“Yeah.” Isaiah didn’t seem up for conversation.

The next wing was quiet as well, and they slipped into the emergency exit tunnel without anyone seeing them. Isaiah didn’t block this one, giving them a route back, because there were only two options now. The basement of the mansion or the outside world with daylight, something not even the strongest of vampires could fight. They all turned to dust at the same rate when the sun was in the sky and bearing down on them.

Isaiah’s phone buzzed.

“Marcus says the human left the bunker and went outside shortly after dawn,” Isaiah said, sighing heavily as he stared at the screen of his phone. “He took a small bag with him, but that’s all. Shortly after dawn was only thirty minutes ago. He probably hasn’t come back. We still might find something in here.”

“Let’s hope. He might have taken his chance to use the daylight to protect him and will come back later.”

“Of course. I’m going to have Marcus see how much this human has been using this bunker the last two nights. Any information is useful information.”

Alexius only nodded, continuing his path toward the bunker. As they reached it, the long walk nearly over, Isaiah grabbed the doorknob, revealing it was unlocked. He pulled it open, and Alexius heard a small click that didn’t fit.

He shoved Isaiah away from the door as hard as he could in the millisecond after that click.

A second later, he could only smell the smoke of fire and could only hear the cracking of stone as something shook the passage around them. Pain ran up his left leg, spread across his abdomen, and engulfed his left arm.

“Alexius!” was the last thing he heard as the world went dark.

28

Iwoke up in a different room. It wasn’t the office I had passed out in, but more disturbingly, it wasn’t my room in the suite. It didn’t look like it was Alexius’s, either. The sheets were a deep red made of fine material, feeling utterly smooth on my skin.

“What?” I said, sitting up quickly. The room was opulent and felt somewhat old in its design choices, and it was dark. Everything was dark.

“Good evening,” someone croaked, then cleared his voice. My head snapped in that direction to see Isaiah, who looked far more tired than I thought possible for a vampire. “Good evening, Everly. Stay calm. There’s a lot I need to explain.”

“Where am I?”

“One of the bedrooms in my personal quarters,” he answered. “I have two. This one is for when I have Turned someone and need to be ready for them to wake.”

“Why am I here?”

“Because Alexius is here.” Isaiah stood and pointed out a neatly folded stack of clothes. “I picked out something simple for you. I promise it’s nothing you’ll be uncomfortable in. Meet me in the next room, and I’ll finish explaining.”

“Isaiah, explain now!” I yelled, fighting to get out from under the sheets and blankets covering me, but he walked out. I hissed, throwing off my clothes from the night prior, and put on the simple outfit he’d picked out.

Why was Isaiah waiting for me to wake up? Why is Alexius here? What happened?

I rushed into the next room, where Isaiah was standing, holding a glass.

“I took this from the vein myself with an IV right before you were due to awaken. It should be safe.”

He held it out, but I only glared at him, waiting for him to explain. The smell of the blood was strong, still hot from the body it had been taken from, but I resisted the burn. I needed to know what the fuck was going on.

“Drink, Everly. God damn it, just feed so we don’t have to think about it again for several hours.”

Without a word, I walked across the room, grabbed it from him, and finished it quickly, then put the glass down.

“Alexius was severely injured,” he said, staring me down.

I staggered back a step as my heart skipped a beat. He reached for me, but I slapped his hand away. Finding a place to sit down, I closed my eyes and put my head in my hands. I doubled over, trying not to shake.

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