Page 8 of Tainted Blood

She deserved to live through that night after finding out the truth about my son’s murder. What else should I have done? Let her die and lose all possibility of a future?

Alexius snarled at the darkness in his room, not tired even though the sun was certainly up. This wasn’t unnatural for him. At his age, the sun only truly pulled on him right at midday. If he wished, he could stay up all day without facing any consequences or just meditate through the day without actually going to sleep and keep that up for several days. Most of his exhaustion was mental or emotional, not physical. All he needed was the proper strength of will, and he could stay up for days without concern, only needing to feed more regularly.

He hadn’t felt that strength of will in himself for months, but this morning it was surging back with his temper.

Trying to find something to do, he texted Isaiah and quickly received a response, granting him his request—the guest list for the gathering. Alexius only attended these damnable events because of Jacob, who had enjoyed getting out to meet other vampires from before they had come together as a society.

There weren’t many. Most were close to Jacob’s and Isaiah’s ages, with roughly fifty being around two thousand years old or older. Isaiah and Maria were considered the youngest of the ancients. Most vampires were less than a thousand years old, and a vast majority of those weren’t even five hundred. While vampires could get immensely powerful and nearly indestructible, few survived long enough to reach those heights. Even the smallest infraction of secrecy could get a vampire killed, and that was just one issue facing new vampires who needed to be careful. Over thirty vampires were roughly two thousand, which was an accomplishment. Sadly, he was so much older than them, he didn’t relate to most of them and wasn’t close to nearly any of them.

His eyes went further down the list, finding himself at the first name in the next section. The incalculably old. There were only eight names Alexius knew who could be considered close to his own age, not including his own. Nine vampires who had somehow survived the mindlessness of those ancient years, all of them with fuzzy histories like his own. They were so ancient, they couldn’t properly date how old they really were, only guess based on those fuzzy memories. He was the only person on the list who was marked to be bringing another vampire.

He read the list over and over, wondering which one of them had dared threaten Everly or plot to kill his son with Edwin and Camilla.

He couldn’t settle on any one name, much less make a list of potential options. He would have to finally do things the way Isaiah and Jacob liked to do them. He was going to have to play nice and mingle if he wanted to look into the different names here.

I’ll pay attention to who is too interested in Everly. Some will just be curious. Others will want her for their own nests or games because she’s an Orphan. One of them will be the person who emailed her, and they might give themselves away.

Growing tired of his dark bedroom, he walked out, not bothering to change into leisurewear for the day. He went to his office and locked the door, so no one would accidentally bother him. He sat down and looked up at the painting of Jacob and him.

“If you were here, you could tell me about every one of them. You always found a way to disarm people in a way that Isaiah can’t. He’s cunning, but he’s too political. Even the nicest of them can be prickly with him when he backs them into a corner. But you… You would know all of them in a way that could have told me something.” Leaning back, he put his feet on his desk and kicked off his loafers, not caring how they fell onto his closed laptop.

“I can’t let something similar to the situation in Alaska happen again. Isaiah would prove he’s the decent man you wanted me to believe he can be and take her into his nest for her safety. I don’t wantIsaiahto play the hero, Jacob.” Alexius sighed, his head falling back. He wasn’t tired enough to convince his mind to stop. “He’d be right to do it, based on her safety alone. He doesn’t even need to know how I…”

Alexius was worried someone might hear him in the halls even though he heard no footsteps or heartbeats. He couldn’t say it because once he said the words out loud, he couldn’t pretend they weren’t the truth.

His phone buzzed, breaking him from his thoughts. It continued to buzz at him until he hit answer and put Isaiah on speakerphone, leaving the phone on his desk as he leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling.

“What?” he asked, trying to soften it since he had already bothered Isaiah during the daylight hours. It was only fair that Isaiah could bother him in turn.

“I just remembered that you asked me about that… other project while Everly was around, and I wanted to give you an update. I figured it should be a phone call. I know she reads your emails and texts now.”

“Isn’t that what assistants do? Monitor my correspondence?”

“Absolutely, but you told me you wanted her to stay out of this particular thing,” Isaiah reminded him.

“I did. You have an update?”

“I will when you arrive,” Isaiah said, sounding like he was grinning.

“You called me to tell me you’ll have an update for me next week?” Alexius growled at the phone as Isaiah laughed.

“I did. You think I enjoy getting texts that require me to get up to find the right PDF file two hours after sunrise? You had it coming.”

“Yes, turnabout is fair play,” Alexius agreed.

“What are you doing in your office at this time?”

Alexius raised an eyebrow, realizing he hadn’t only hit the speakerphone button, he’d also turned on the video. Isaiah was in bed, holding his phone up, shirtless, as he leaned on his headboard. Alexius picked up the complicated and offensive cell phone, putting it on a little stand that Everly had put on his desk.

I want my old cell phone back. This thing is frustrating. I promised her I would give it an honest try, though, and if it gets mysteriously broken before we leave, she’ll have a new one ready before we get on the plane.

“I’m in my office because I’m…awake.”

“Ah…” There was understanding there. Isaiah was old enough to understand how power and age could keep them awake. The pull was stronger for the Roman, but he was old enough to understand Alexius’s problem.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve found sleep hard to come by. The sun has always helped me, but today, it fails to do so, as if it has no power over me at all.”

“How long? I’ve known you for a long time, but I know I am only about as strong as you were when wemet,” Isaiah asked, his words gentler than Alexius normally heard them.

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