LUCIAN
I've been a vampire for what… a few damn hours… and Adrian decides to bring me in front of these ruthless monsters!
My legs were rubbery, but I waded forward, following Adrian like a frightened youngster cowering behind his big brother.
Corvin rose first, and holy shit, the man was a fucking mountain. "Well, well. Adrian." His voice slithered out, smooth and slick as silk but dripping with something jagged and sinister, like honey over a razor blade. "I see you've brought your friend."
"Your Excellencies," Adrian stated, slightly bowing his head. "This is Lucian Carter, my childe."
"New blood, huh?" Corvin's gaze snapped to me.
"Yes, Your Excellency," Adrian replied.
Lyra rose from her throne and drifted closer. Every step was slow and sly. Her eyes pinned me in place. I made myself look down at the marble tiles, hoping, actually praying, they would open and swallow me.
She stopped in front of me and just looked at me for a moment. Then her fingers trailed across my chest. "He's small…" Her voice was low and sweet. "And fragile."
Ronan snorted, arms crossed. "He looks fine to me."
"Corvin, what do you think?" Her voice was far now. I slightly looked up, and she was on her throne. I could swear just a second ago, I could feel her breath on my face.
God, just let me get through this night. I swear I'll stop dreaming about naked women.
Corvin started to walk toward me. "I wasn't expecting it to be happening so quickly." He stated.
"We ran into complications." Adrian's voice was clipped. "He was stabbed recklessly, and he was almost dead when I found him."
Then Lyra talked, and I nearly jumped out of my skin. "So, like a gentleman that you are, you decided to turn him for the sake of his pathetic life?"
She sounded like death itself, and I didn't have to look up to know that she was glaring right past me.
"It was already decided that I was going to turn him, sooner or later," Adrian said, adjusting his coat. "What matters now is the woman who stabbed him. And I believe it was Sarai."
Sarai. So, that's the name of that redheaded bitch!
Corvin came to a halt right in front of my face. I could feel him bearing down on me, suffocating, but I didn't dare to look up from his chest.
His smile flitted in the corner of my eye, and his fangs sparkled. "I'm sure Adrian did what he had to do to save you. Now, tell me, what do you remember about the person who attacked you?"
Oh, fuck.
They wanted me to talk.
My throat constricted, tight and dry, as if I had tried to swallow sand. Their gazes were crushing me. I could sense them reading every twitch, every breath, as though I were a riddle they'd already solved.
"Your Excellency, I remember…" My voice was hardly more than a whisper, trembling like a leaf. "A woman, about my height. She had red hair."
It came out sounding feeble, and then Ronan snorted, proving that it had been.
That asshole.
Corvin's lips curled, making my gut twist harder. "You're right, Adrian. That's Sarai."
He spun on his heel, walking with his hands folded behind his back. "That's a serious accusation." He stated. "We'll keep it in mind. Might even have something to do with your little assignment, Adrian."
"My assignment?"
"Yes, it…" Corvin faltered, then looked down at me again. "Maybe you should send your childe home. We have business."
I whipped my gaze so quickly my neck popped, and my heart slumped against my sternum.
Adrian didn't argue. His hand settled on my shoulder, firm and steady, leading me out as though I were a child being led out of the principal's office.
The doors clicked shut behind us, and we paused by the elevator.
"That worked out well." His voice was firm.
I blinked, incredulous. "It did? I got kicked out. That lasted what, two fucking minutes?"
I was restless, furious with anxiety, scowling at the elevator door.
"Believe me, Lucian, that was a damn fine first impression." He stepped back, straightening his coat as his eyes swept toward the elevator behind me. "Now, go down to the lobby and head back to my apartment. Take my car, alright? Drink some more blood from the refrigerator and wait for me."
"How long you gonna be?" My voice came out small, needy, and I despised it.
"Maybe, but…" The elevator dinged, cutting him off. "Hurry home and drink as much as you want. I shouldn't be leaving you on your first night, and Corvin knows it. If he's calling me in, it means something big is going down."
My stomach flipped. "So… anything I gotta worry about tonight?"
"Nothing, really. Just head back as soon as you can and stay inside. I promise I won't be long."
ADRIAN
The building was engulfed in flames when I pulled up. Flames clawed at the windows of this dilapidated shithole in the old quarter, spraying forth an orange light that sent the night reeling back like a bad omen.
The heat was on, and even from the curb, I was sweating, prickling from the temperature.
Oh shit. God… fuck.
Fire was the one thing that could turn me to ash in seconds.
Get the data. Corvin's voice kept going through my mind.
"Yeah, great plan, boss." I scoffed, letting out a breath.
It was on the fifth floor, apartment 52, and the whole damn place was turning into a bonfire.
I marched up and down, boots crushing glass into the sidewalk as my eyes scanned the building.
This was the factory district: a cesspool of lowlifes and rot. I wouldn't bite anyone here, not even if I were starving.
No one around here reads lips either, which bought me some time. Cops wouldn't rush to a dump like this, which helped too. Not much time, but just enough to figure out how to not die doing this.
The front was hell. It was a wall of fire, windows that glistened like hell's eyes, heat so stifling my dead lungs started to itch. No way I was going through there.
I cursed a blue streak, and my mind went wide open. Back door. Maybe the back's still clear.
I sprinted around the side, past littered, busted carts and rusted-out cars in the barren parking lot. The alley behind the building was a wreck, and the rear ends of other dead-end blocks were frowning at me.
It was a classic Nosferatu feeding ground. Creepy as all hell, but the fire had not reached this area yet.
The back door hung open from its hinges, chewed up, as though somebody had kicked it in a long time before the fire arrived.
I moved closer, taking a sniff of the air, but I got nothing but a full lungful of smoke.
Some shithead vamp had barricaded himself inside with secrets my sire valued enough to throw my ass into the fire for.
But this blaze was way too convenient. It smelled like a setup, and I was ready to tear someone's throat out over it.
But that was something for later. First, I had to get in.
Motion fluttered out in front. I could make of someone small and in a trench coat, scrambling up the stairs. Flames throbbed in their path, barring the upward road.
I blinked through the smoke, and my stomach plunged.
Sarai? What the hell is she doing here? My gut tightened as suspicion clawed at me. Is she after the data too? Or did she strike this match to burn it down?