Page 51 of Tainted Blood

“Because I couldn’t accept it, even if we found a way for them to be of use. I can’t ask two other rulers to clean up my problems, not with this, not right now. Jacob’s death, the mess with the werewolves, and now this. I have to remain in charge, even if that makes this harder on us.” Isaiah glared at the screen. “And I won’t ask them for help when they could have warned me of this possibility over two years ago. Kaliya met Raphael and killed Sinclair in late 2018.”

“We need to figure out how we’re going to do this. We can do it without them, but we need to make our plan now.” Alexius walked as he talked, stopping at Isaiah’s desk. “We need to figure out where the blood went and secure all the blood that was prepared. If we don’t know if something has or hasn’t been tampered with, everyone is in danger.”

“I’ve already reached out to my human administrators in the city to activate my list of emergency donors.” Isaiah went to sit behind his desk.

“That means we’ll have to feed from them directly, doesn’t it?” I hadn’t fed from a vein since I was forced to that night in Canada.

“Yes, and they’ll have to be carefully watched during times when they’re not with us. This means other humans on watch and external surveillance, people monitoring from a secure location.” Isaiah woke up his computer and started clicking. “Which I’m doing right now."

“Alexius, I want you and Everly to confiscate all the blood that was brought by the others. Some will fight it, but it must be done before anyone else is subjected to it. While you’re doing that, keep an eye out for that fucking cambion blood. I asked everyone to stay in the downstairs wing for the rest of the night. Check this hallway for those tending their wounded, but everyone else should be easy to find.”

“And if we find someone with the cambion blood?” Alexius leaned on the desk as Isaiah looked over his monitor. “I want to know what you want, Isaiah. This is your home.”

“Depends. If they fight you when you try to take it, you know what to do. If they just pick it up and give it to you willingly? We’ll talk to them about it before the night is over and determine what they were doing with it before we decide on their fate.”

“Consider it handled,” Alexius said. “Can I expect the blood situation to be handled before dawn?”

“Of course it will be handled. Aside from the wounded, the only vampire in the building who needs to be fed multiple times daily is Everly, and I will give her access to my most trustworthy humans, ones I would accept blood from under any situation.” Isaiah glanced at me. “I hope that works.”

“Yeah, thank you,” I managed to get out, my throat dry and hot as the burn set in. “Let’s get to work. I want to get to work.”

Needing air, I walked out, letting Alexius follow me when he was ready. I took a deep breath in the empty hallway of the family wing, trying to prepare myself for what was to come.

I have hours before I need to feed. I can focus on work until then. It’s important not to screw this up, not when there’s the blood equivalent of a bomb in the building.

23

Leaning on the wall next to the door, I turned my head to keep an eye on the hall so no one could sneak up on me.

“If anyone gives you a difficult time purely for the invasion of privacy, tell them they can come speak to me.” I could hear Isaiah through the door. It was very muffled, but with an ear pointed to it, I could make it out if I concentrated. “This is a matter of urgency, and I don’t have time to explain all of this to them if I want to make sure everyone has safe blood to drink before the sun comes up.”

“Would you like me to send them… to the library, possibly? To give them somewhere to meet while I do the room searches?”

“You know they won’t let you blindly look through their things, and it’s easier to keep them downstairs until I’m ready. I don’t know if I want them knowing it’s cambion blood. Most will have their suspicions, but I don’t want to race them for the prize or give them ideas. Not more of them, at least. At least one of them is our enemy, and that one probably knows exactly what is going on. Beyond that, other supernatural blood could cause us problems now that several important people are dead and everyone is trying to figure out where they're going to stand with each other going forward. I don't need someone like Dago juicing to kill Sucaria right now. They'll understand why this is happening, even if they don't like it.”

The one who emailed me. If that vampire knows what’s going on, they wouldn’t have fought against Samas. They would have known what was coming and gotten out of the room… or never entered the room to begin with, waiting for it to start.

“Do you think any vampires knew of this without telling you or Maria, like Kaliya and Raphael tried to keep it a secret?”

“I certainly do,” Isaiah hissed. “Mygi Pharmaceuticals was working on artificial blood substitutes for vampires, along with cures for the thirst or even suppressants. Vampires were only one focus of their studies, like trying to find a way to cure the werewolves and werecats. If someone told Sinclair, that fucking stupid mob boss, that cambion blood would make him more powerful, they were probably trying to buy his loyalty. They might have known it would have killed him in the end, silencing his involvement and keeping their secrets a bit longer.

“That it’s taken nearly three years for this information to come to light to me is honestly astonishing. Someone out there was keeping this to themselves, waiting for the right time to make sure it had maximum effect. They certainly found that opportunity…” Isaiah’s anger was still bubbling to the surface, as it had with Kaliya and Raphael.

“Now we know. We’ll have to develop a way to distinguish the cambion blood from the human blood, but now we know.”

“We do. When we’ve secured it, I’ll reach out to Raphael and Kaliya again, asking them if they would like to help. Even if I only have the blood from this, it would be safer for them and us to know how we can identify cambion blood before something happens. But that will have to come later. We don’t have the time for it tonight.”

“I’m going to get started. Reach out if you need anything.”

“Same,” Isaiah said.

Alexius stepped out and looked me over.

“Are you ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” I said. “You know where we’re going or where we should start?”

He nodded, directing me to a door two down from Isaiah’s.

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