Mark of Betrayal (Dark Secrets #3)(66)
Author: A.M. Hudson

“Hi.” I smiled sympathetically at her.

“Hello,” she said, bowing her head as she knelt beside me.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

“Danni.”

“Well, Danni, have you ever had someone drink from you before?”

She shook her head.

“We won’t let him bite you, okay?” I said, pushing down harder on the vampire’s chest, feeling the flood of his blood pulse up with each breath he took. “And if you don’t want to do this, you don’t have to.”

She looked at Quaid; he winked at her, and she gushed, blushing. “I don’t mind.”

“Okay.” I slowly pulled my hands back from the bloodied mess and held them out from my body, resisting the urge to lick my fingers, gross as that sounds.

Mike squatted right beside Danni and guided her hand to the vampire’s lips, squeezing her wrist as he made a cut; she looked away, scrunching her eyes tight.

The warm, dead animal smell of her blood wafted up to my nostrils, making the sweet, desirable scent of vampire on my hands seem suddenly so unappealing, like eating a doughnut in a room where someone farted. Quaid held the head of the newcomer so he couldn’t lift it, and Danni’s blood spilled, drop by drop, against his lips.

The bruising along his jaw receded and his eyes changed from black to a bright hazel colour as he sat up and took a deep breath.

“Better?” I said.

He nodded and looked right into Danni’s eyes. “You okay?”

She nodded.

“Thank you for that,” he said, touching her arm.

“You’re welcome.” She blushed again, and Blade helped her to stand, leading her away; she turned back to wave at Quaid, but he was too focused on the man to notice.

“Now. What’s going on?” Mike said.

“Drake turned volatile, started slashing people apart.”

“Why?”

“I heard it was something to do with oaths. Apparently he wiped out every member of the Blood Army—went to each Set, killed everyone who’d ever sworn an oath, then came back here and finished them off.”

“He killed the army?” I felt weak, dizzy. “Why would he do that?”

“Because,” Mike said, standing up. “When you take your oath tomorrow night, any man whose allegiance is sworn to the throne will switch to you.”

“Really?” I said.

“Yep, and that would have included Drake’s army.”

I looked back at the young vampire. “So, you haven’t sworn an oath?”

“No.” He sat up properly, his chest completely healed; he looked down at it, parting his shirt to give the skin a little poke. “I don’t really care for politics. I just heard screaming, looked out my bedroom door and saw Drake slice a man’s throat open.”

“Did he…did the guy die?”

“Yeah. I kid you not, yo. Guy just dropped dead, right there on the floor in front of me.”

“Wait! How is he killing vampires?”

“Don’t you know?” the kid said, his eyes wide. “There’s some new drug called Venom. Wipes ‘em out in seconds.”

“Drug?” I said, looking at Mike.

“What do you mean by drug?” Mike said.

“Dunno. I just heard some High Council dude say something a few weeks ago.”

“What did he say?” Mike asked.

“Something about vials—said we had four but Drake took it to his lab in Sussex and had it expanded into…I don’t know.” He swallowed, as if his mouth had made too much saliva to keep talking. “I can’t remember, but he made enough of it to walk ‘round the castle with a sword and just start cuttin’ guys up. Their eyes were open, ma’am—he just left ‘em there. Just…dead!”

I covered my mouth. “So, then you left?”

“Yeah, but I was lucky. I followed some guys out this tunnel and came out to a road.”

“How many escaped?” Mike asked. “Are you the only one that came here?”

“There were twenty who ran. But they all went in different directions. I only came here ‘cause of Eric.”

“Eric de la Rose?”

“Yeah. He—a few months ago he said he was fleeing the Set—asked me to come. I didn’t wanna risk capture, and he wouldn’t tell me why he was leaving, so I told him I’d stay. He just handed me a map and said if I changed my mind to come here.” He looked up at Falcon. “I’m sorry, man, I didn’t know this was some royal château or nothin’. I just thought Eric had really rich parents or something.”

Falcon laughed and helped the vampire to his feet. “No harm done.”

“What did you say your name was, kid?” Mike asked.

“Nate.” He folded over a little, obviously still in pain.

“Well, Nate, welcome to Loslilian. This here—” Mike presented me, “—is our princess, soon to be the new ruler of the Three Worlds.”

Nate looked at me then, flipping his chin. “’Sup.”

Everyone in the room laughed.

“Blade, go get Morgaine. Tell her to prepare a guest room for our new friend.”

Blade saluted with two fingers and turned on his heel, disappearing. He’d learned to use that speedy vamp run really well for a vampire who was only a few hours old. Smart bugger.

“So, you guys are all Lilithians?” Nate asked.

“Yep.” Mike bristled with pride.

“I heard of your kind.”

“What have you heard?” I said.

“You drink vampire blood. Some say Drake’s building a new army to come get some kid you guys stole or something.”

“New army?”

Nate nodded. “He ships humans in—thirty a day. At first I thought he was just really hungry, but then a mate of mine in decomp said he was only burning about half that.”

“Decomp?” I looked at Mike.

Mike winced and without looking at me said, “Decomposition. It’s the guys who get rid of bodies.”

I felt queasy. “So, he’s creating a new army?”

Mike sunk back a little, exhaling through his nose as realisation seared through him at the same time it did Falcon and Quaid.

“Because of the allegiance shift?” I said.

“Yep. But he can’t make them swear an oath because, not only does he not have access to the Stone, but the oath would be invalid as soon as you swear yours. He’ll have to brainwash them.”

“Mike—” I grabbed his sleeve, my eyes tearing. “We have to save those people.”