I flip open the first edition copy of Dracula I found and scribble a quick note about Pavel on the torn printer paper I have hidden inside it. It isn’t much, but it’s also only my very first day here. The real notes will get taken this afternoon, while everyone is sleeping.
But so far, it’s not a bad collection of information.
Acessa Milane
Polite. But is she hiding something?
Aston Cardence
Has the strength and the arrogance, but his drive isn’t there. The boy has all the aspirations of a browning banana.
Pavel
…physically unfit.
Rival Royale
A lover is the first suspect.
He threatened me, twice.
Has the motive. And the ability.
“Are you writing… in a first edition!?” a horrified voice asks, and I snap my book closed on my notes as well as my pen.
I fling my head up to find Acessa with her mouth agape and her eyes wide with terror.
Wow. I really am the monster in this fucking church of villains.
“Um, no. I— Sometimes I just like to imagine what it’s like to write a masterpiece.”
She blinks at me.
“You’re different from when you left for Milan.” A soft smile pulls at her lips. “You were so quiet before. I like this change in you.”
“Thank you. I’m trying,” I smile back at her. Secretly. I’m listening to the ticking of the clock and wondering when she’ll be tucking herself into her coffin for bed.
“I’m sneaking off to see Louis. Would you want to come along tonight?”
“Louis?” I ask with a pull of my brow.
If she could blush, it would be consuming the wide smile on her face right about now.
“Don’t tell the others, but I’ve still been slipping out at dawn to go visit him. I really can’t thank you enough for introducing us, Kyra.”
Oh. That makes sense.
It also means Acessa could have a motive outside of the vampire’s Council. Do the wolves hate them? Could Acessa have let Louis in?
What about Vuitton? Is he hiding something by keeping Creature Control out of this business?
No.
I mean… Shit, maybe?
I suppose I hadn’t really considered him as a suspect.
“Of course, I’d love to come!” I stand swiftly and hold tight to the book in my hand. “Meet you downstairs?”
She nods, and her short yellow sundress swooshes around her thighs as she strides out. Just for a different vampire to stride right in.
My jaw grinds when Prey comes up behind me. He continues to shadow me when all I really want is to hide the book away from the many watchful eyes lurking in this place.
It becomes painfully clear he won’t be leaving. As if it’s nothing, I place the book on the lowest shelf, sliding it into a dark little nook that I pray no one ever stoops down low enough to admire.
“We need to talk,” he announces to my back.
“We do, but not today,” I try to walk away, but in the flash of a second he’s in front of me, blocking my way.
His mouth opens, but the moment his gaze drops, his words fall away into something else entirely.
“You covered my mark.” His attention never leaves my neck.
“I don’t have time right now, Prey.” I step around him, but he just flickers all over again in front me.
“Prey!” I huff.
“You’re marked for a fucking reason, Kira.” Sharp points of his teeth extend as he speaks low, with a growl lacing his words.
It’s seething anger, and it grates suddenly against my already shitty feelings for him.
“And what would that reason be?” I ask, folding my arms hard across my chest.
“You know the reason why.” His gaze narrows on mine.
But I won’t let him gloss over this.
“No. No I don’t. Explain it to me.”
Say it. Say it. Say it.
“Because you’re mine,” he hisses.
And that’s the fucking show, folks.
My finger stabs hard into his chest. “Listen the fuck here! I belong to no one. I’m not your fucking property, and I’m not your goddamn human pet to despise one minute and toy with the next.”
His cold hand snatches around my wrist.
Prey’s skin against mine does something strange, laying claim to my erratic and confused little heart. The way he looks at me isn’t possessive.
It’s sad.
They’ve tagged this man as a low ranking vampire. A servant. He knows it would be an embarrassment for a High Council woman to bear his mark.
I’m not a high ranking anything, though. I’m just a girl wanting to put an end to the death count. I want to make what happened to my sister right.
And now I’m suddenly a woman who doesn’t want to hurt Prey’s feelings.
“I covered it because Kyra would have marked you a long time ago if that were an option. It would be too suspicious if I suddenly woke up with your mating mark and a human heartbeat to go along with it.” My gaze flicks away from him, toward the floor. I still feel his attention burning over my features though.
His hand around my wrist is a strange caress now. Long fingers sweep back and forth along my pulse. It’s a soothing sensation that reaches deep into my chest.
“I need a fucking cigarette,” he whispers.
And then he’s gone once more.
My eyes close. The air in my lungs slips out in a heavy woosh as I tread on with the bizarre nightmare of a life I’m currently living.
“Where are we going, exactly?” I ask as my high heel sinks into the grass for the fourth time in ten minutes.
Kyra would be absolutely pissed at the sorry state of her beloved shoes.
A chill clings to the air, despite how nice the sun feels across my face. Acessa leads me along through the tall grassy field without a single wavering of her steps. Somehow, her sunshine yellow wedge sandals are without stain or scuff while I nearly break my ankle with every misplaced step behind her. The morning laughter of small children and the rhythmic sound of the runners along the sidewalk of Lincoln Park faded away long ago. We’ve been weaving deeper through
