Page 72 of Tainted Blood

It looked like a bad place to be.

“We’ve kept him functioning but unable to regain strength,” Isaiah explained. “I was planning on beginning this interrogation yesterday, but neither of you woke up, so I postponed. One day doesn’t amount to much.”

“What would you like us to do?” Alexius leaned on the wall across from the cell’s door.

“Nothing, just watch. Hopefully, I can give you some of the answers and information you need to move on.” Pulling out a large key, he unlocked the cell’s door and went inside, leaving the door open, not seeming concerned.

Solon looked up.

“I will… tell you nothing,” the Greek man spat weakly.

“Why did you or Kallias send emails to Everly?” Isaiah asked immediately.

The question definitely took Solon off guard, his face going from surprise to confusion quickly. His frown and the way his brow furrowed didn’t feel like an act.

“What? Why would we waste time sending emails to a little girl like her? She’s no one powerful or important,” Solon said, his tone coming off as though he was wondering what idiot would even consider that. “We didn’t even know her name until we arrived. Kallias and I had other things to worry about.”

“So, there are others,” Isaiah murmured, nodding. “Good to know. Thank you for telling me.”

I narrowed my eyes on Solon, that information not escaping me, either. Someone else in this mansion was emailing me, taunting me, having a laugh at my expense. I could only hope they’d died in the fighting, but I didn’t think it was likely.

“Others…” Solon chuckled weakly. “Of course, there are others. Do you not understand what’s happening, Isaiah? It’s time for a new regime. Out with the Romans who rule this world. The human Empire fell, but we all know that you continue it in spirit.”

“Who else?” Isaiah asked, not going for any of the taunting.

“I have no reason to tell you that,” Solon said, laughing.

Every time I thought I had Isaiah a little figured out, I saw a new side of him, and it made me grateful that Alexius and I were his allies and not his enemies. He was relentless now.

He asked again, and Solon refused to answer.

He asked again, and Solon refused to answer.

He repeated this for what had to be ten minutes until he switched his tactic.

“Did you help orchestrate Jacob’s murder? You’re about to die. You can admit to it now.”

Solon smiled.

“Killing that traitor is a crowning accomplishment in my long life.”

“Good… that means I get to make your death as slow and painful as I want,” Isaiah whispered. “Oh, Solon, you gloating fool… You could just tell me that you don’t know who your accomplices really are. They would never reveal themselves to you.” Isaiah walked closer and leaned, putting his face only inches from Solon’s. “Why would they reveal themselves to you? You’re all about the glory of Greece over Rome, a fight you lost over a thousand years ago, and now it no longer matters, but you still hold on because you have nothing else to make your lifemean something. You’re not trustworthy. At the end of this, you would have betrayed anyone else helping this scheme to knock me from power. They would have never kept you around for long, not once they exhausted your limited uses.”

“You always think you know so much,” Solon snarled.

“I might be making some assumptions…” Isaiah chuckled.

I could only think of how Lyra said Isaiah knew everyone too well, could manipulate them into losing to each other.

“You know what I do know? You are going to die slowly and painfully and exactly when I want you to, Solon.”

“I’m not scared of you. You’re a weak man, Isaiah. You always have been. You don’t have it in you. You’ve always been too decent, pretending to be so much more than you really are or could ever be. We all know you’re soft and the only reason you’ve stayed where you are is because more powerful and dangerous vampires have backed you… but not anymore.”

“Not capable? Toodecent?” Isaiah’s whisper felt intimate as he leaned in closer to Solon. “I’ve always been capable… of that and so much more. Do you know what your fatal mistake was?”

“I would love for you to tell me,” Solon taunted, jeering.

Isaiah’s move was lightning fast. His hand went from normal at his side to clawed and embedded into Solon’s eyes. Isaiah held his head to the wall, blood pouring out of Solon’s ruined eyes. He held there until Solon’s screams of pain changed to whimpers. I didn’t think I was ever going to forget how those screams echoed in the cell or the visual that I knew would come back when I closed my eyes next.

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