“Merick and I will accompany Abigail on the case for Adrianna.” Oliver’s voice this time.
I opened my eyes to see them all standing by my bedside. “My room is not a meeting place.”
“Levi didn’t want you alone, so we compromised and met in here.” Oliver shrugged. “Sorry to wake you.”
I stared at him for a moment, waiting for his face to start turning into something else. I glanced at Catalina, and she was normal as well. Liz gave me a little wave as my eyes landed on her. “I’m okay now. I need some coffee and some pain killers because I’m sore, but I’m okay.”
I sat up, cringing a little bit at the protest in my muscles and the hint of pain on my neck. “Catalina and Mario, you’re dismissed. Oliver, Liz, and I can take my safety from here.”
“With all respect, Princess, Levi wants a vampire with you at night.” Catalina bowed her head. “So one of us has to stay.”
I debated in my head for a moment on if it was worth arguing. “Mario can stay.” He already knew most of what was going on anyway. No matter what, the discussion would be reported back to Levi, but Mario had a soft spot for me. Catalina did not.
She bowed her head. “I shall see you later then, Princess.” She disappeared, and I moved so there was room for others to sit on the bed.
Mario grabbed the chair from my desk and sat next to the bed. Liz crawled up by me, and Oliver sat on the foot of the bed.
“Where’s Simon?”
“He just went to check on the pups. He’ll be back tomorrow,” Oliver said.
I nodded. “What the hell happened at the party?”
“Someone drugged the wine that was brought to you.” Liz sighed. “We’re working on figuring out who.”
“How much did they give me?”
“We don’t know,” Oliver stated. “Then, Samuel bit you.”
“Yeah, I remember that part. We’re going to need a cleansing spell done tomorrow.” I glanced at him.
“Merick is prepared to help me with it.”
“Good. I want to get back on the Adrianna case.”
Liz snorted. “Told you she’d want to go back to work.”
“Abigail, you’ve been drugged twice, and Samuel has bitten you.”
“Samuel can go fuck himself. He may control Levi, but he doesn’t control me.”
“That vampire has no idea who he’s bitten.” Oliver chuckled.
“That’s the problem, he probably knows exactly who he has bitten.” Mario crossed his arms. “He could taste the blood.”
Reality settled in. Samuel knew that I was blood to Levi now. Just like Ira had. “One problem at a time,” I muttered. “Cleansing, then the case.”
“You didn’t list Samuel.”
“Yeah, because I’m still trying to figure out how to kill him and Hannah.” I glared at Mario. “Do not tell Levi that.”
Mario shrugged. “I’m pretty sure Levi’s counting on you doing that. But he’s also worried.”
“That Samuel will kill me?”
“That Samuel will change you and use you against him,” Mario corrected.
I shivered at that thought. “Much like he’s using Levi against me right now.”
Mario nodded. “This is different than Ira, Abigail. Samuel isn’t after data or experiments. He’s out for revenge.”
“Finish this case, Abigail,” Oliver added. “Then we’ll figure out what to do about Samuel.”
I glanced at Liz, and she shrugged. “I’m all for gung ho. Kill him if he tries to take you out.”
I snorted. “I’ll stab him in the heart, then make sure I…” I paused as memories of killing Ira filtered through my brain. There was so much fear in that moment.
“Abigail?” Oliver asked.
I shook my head. “Don’t worry about it.”
“I could sense the fear in you,” Mario added.
“I was thinking about when I faced Ira is all.” I pulled my pillow close to me. “I’m fine.”
Everyone was quiet for a moment. I shook my head. “Okay, everyone out. I’m going to get some coffee and some food, but first, I need a shower and to get dressed.”
They all muttered and stood.
“I’ll be outside your room, Princess. Yell if you need me.” Mario moved the chair back, and they all walked out.
I took a moment to take a deep breath and went to get into the shower.
I turned the shower on to let the water warm up, and I pulled Simon’s shirt off. Lifting my hair up, I looked at the bite mark and lifted my lips in disgust. It was bruised around the edges of it. The skin torn just slightly instead of nice neat holes.
An image of Samuel popped into my head. If he didn’t hold my fate in his hands, I would have called him handsome. But he was terrifying.
‘Abigail…’
His voice slipped through my head.
I growled. “No. Go away.”
Power brushed over my body, and I pulled my magic up to push away the power. It dissipated, and I let out a breath. I stepped into the shower and let the hot water wash over me.
Samuel wanted to play power games. I could play his game for a little bit. He didn’t know I had the cleansing spell. He didn’t know I had the Cult at my back. All he knew was that I was the daughter of Elizabeth and Levi. Oliver was right, Samuel didn’t know who he was dealing with.
I walked out of my room to see Mario standing there like a good little guard. I smiled at him and headed to the kitchen.
“I didn’t realize your fight with Ira was still bothering you.”
I shook my head. “It’s not often, but occasionally the emotions sneak up on me. I emptied an entire clip into Ira’s head. He’s dead, but the damage he’s done isn’t gone.”
“You should
