Page 20 of Vampire Blood

My eyes narrowed. “From who?”

The vampire reached into his cloak, and half the guards drew their weapons.

He froze, then slowly pulled out a rolled scrap of parchment, sealed with dark wax. Blood red.

I didn’t move. I didn’t trust him.

But I took the parchment.

The wax broke easily under my thumb, and I unrolled the paper, scanning the jagged handwriting.

She’s alive. For now. But the bloodletting has begun. I don’t know how much time we have. Here’s the map with our location. K.

My vision went red.

Callum stepped closer, reading over my shoulder. His breath hitched. “It’s a trap.”

I crushed the paper in my fist. “I don’t care.”

“Lucas—”

I turned on him, barely holding myself together. “They have her, Callum. They’re draining her. I’m not sitting here while they bleed her dry.”

Callum didn’t back down. “And if you go alone, you’re walking straight into their hands. You’ll die, and she’ll still be lost.”

Ignoring Callum, I turned to the messenger. “How I do I contact him?”

“You don’t,” he shrugged. “I was paid to deliver this message. I don’t want to get involved in whatever this is.” He lifted his hands in a sign of surrender, and a moment later, he stepped back into the shadows, adjusting his cloak.

I turned to Callum. “I’m going.”

His expression hardened. “Lucas—”

“I have to.”

“No, you don’t!” He grabbed my arm, forcing me to stop. “You said it yourself—it’s a trap. It has to be. They’re baiting you.”

“They have her.”

“And if you die trying to get to her, then what?”

I shook him off, the heat in my chest rising fast. “Then I die trying.”

“Don’t be an idiot!”

I spun on him, the sharpness in his voice slicing through my control. “What would you do, Callum? Huh? If it was your mate? If you knew she was locked in a cell, bleeding out for their sick rituals, what would you do?”

He flinched. He didn’t answer.

“Exactly,” I said, my voice low, shaking with the weight of it all. “You’d burn the world down to save her.”

Callum stared at me, jaw tight. “You’re not thinking clearly.”

“No,” I snapped. “I’m feeling clearly. And that’s the only thing keeping me from losing my damn mind right now.”

“Lucas—”

“I have to go.”

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