Page 70 of Tainted Blood

“I had the team take him to the cells and stay on watch to keep him there. They can hold him indefinitely. He’ll be given blood when you decide you want to talk to him.”

“I want him up tomorrow night, so feed him shortly before dawn.” Isaiah finished tucking in Alexius. “Tell everyone out there that Imani will be here in ten minutes, and she’ll be directing them for questioning. If they have a problem with it, I’ll send Everly after them.”

I snorted. That was the funniest shit I’d heard all night, but when they both looked at me, their expressions were clear that Isaiah hadn’t said it as a joke, and Marcus wasn’t taking it as one.

“Seriously? Do you really think they’re going to be scared of me?”

“You hissed, and they stopped,” Isaiah pointed out. “You were instrumental in killing both vampires transformed by cambion blood. I’m not sure what Alexius is teaching you, but he’s got you on the right track.”

“You weren’t just instrumental. You killed the second nearly single-handedly,” Marcus said, shaking his head. “I’ll need to remember that trick…”

“If you do that and get killed, I will ask witches to put your broken body back together so I can break it again,” Isaiah snarled. “I will ruin whatever paradise of an afterlife you get and make it hell. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And do not give her an ego. She doesn’t have the years to have an ego.” Isaiah finished, his anger with Marcus softening as he turned to me. He smiled once he made eye contact. “A reputation is fun, though. Don’t let your head get big, and a reputation should work in your favor. Once I’m done with other things, like getting you and Alexius fed… We’re going to talk about why you didn’t stay in the library.”

The last part felt like a soft threat.

I chose to ignore it.

“So, I get to meet Imani?”

“I called her in when Alexius was injured, but she was held up. The funny thing about the world ending is that it all happens at once. So clearly, once we resolve the problem, she arrives.”

“She’s a fun one,” Marcus said, then walked out.

I was left alone with Isaiah, a man clearly at his wit’s end. He came over to me, looking me up and down.

“Leg pain?”

“Yeah,” I answered, looking away to stare at the floor. “Not just the claw marks, either. It feels… deeper.”

He went to a knee, reached out, and started feeling over my thigh, looking at the gashes as he did. He didn’t need scissors, cutting away my pants with his claws, long and black as I could make mine. He stopped for a second to look at them, frowning, then went back to his inspection of my leg.

“Those are deep, but I think the impact might have fractured a bone or two,” he said softly. “Not big fractures, though most people would be in a lot more visible pain with even the smallest of cracks.”

“I think it’ll hit me soon,” I admitted. It was already beginning to really set in. He added some pressure to his touch, and I bit back a scream. “Yeah, it’s there. Please stop.” I wanted to cry.

“Then I’m right, but you don’t need a cast. I just need to get some blood in you, and you will need to stay off it the rest of the night. Don’t worry, nothing important to you and Alexius will happen tonight, and once you’re both healed, you’ll go home.”

“You don’t need us for anything else?”

“Marcus’ team took Solon in alive, and he’s all I need.” Isaiah stood and didn’t hesitate to easily lift me into his arms. I felt uncomfortable there but even more uncomfortable realizing how he seemed oddly good at the hold, making sure I was supported and comfortable without trying. He put me on the opposite side of the bed from Alexius, looking between us.

“There’s space, but I can put you in the other room if this makes you uncomfortable.”

“Where will you sleep? This is your room, isn’t it?”

“I don’t intend on sleeping,” he said, shrugging. “I’ll be back with blood shortly.”

He left me there, alone in bed with an unconscious Alexius. I looked at my nails, trying to summon the black nails that had retreated at some point between standing up and making it to a chair in here. I never got a good look at Raphael’s nails while we were talking to him with Kaliya, but I had seen his eyes. I’d seen Alexius’s eyes as well when he went berserk…

Are vampires and cambions… related?

I didn’t dare ask Isaiah when he came back with fresh blood. I drank it silently, and he closed me in the room, leaving me to my thoughts and a leg that I was considering just cutting off because it hurt so badly.

I didn’t want to keep thinking about it, comparing Alexius to the cambions and the vampires transformed by their blood, but the similarities were there. But it could have been a coincidence too. Not everyone with red hair was related, or blue eyes, or tall people. Magic done by different supernaturals could achieve the same effects.

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