“Galina wouldn’t go after Jamal,” I said.
“You don’t know that,” she said, her mouth thinning with stress. She adjusted her grip on the Blade of Bane and ran. Javier followed her.
A gurgling sound caught my attention. I ran over to Violet. She wasn’t healing. Miranda used the blade and apparently it could slice and dice a vampire the same way.
“What happened?” the showgirl asked. Her dark eyes were wild with fear. Her deep brown skin turned ashen as the wound in her stomach first grayed, then blackened.
Whatever hold Galina had on her had disappeared. I cradled the vampire’s head. “It’s okay, your healing will kick in soon. You’ll be okay,” I insisted.
“She bit me.” The showgirl’s eyes rolled with fear, like a spooked horse. “She bit all of us and drank…and then she took my mind. I couldn’t get out, trapped inside. I hurt people.” She gasped as if realizing the horror of what happened to her.
“It’s okay,” I said, pulling her heavy headdress off and smoothing back her frizzing hair. “It’s not your fault.”
The memory of being controlled caused a lump to form in my throat. The powerlessness as someone made me do things I never wanted. It was a violation, being forced like that.
Big, fat tears rolled down her face. “I didn’t mean to. I didn’t mean—” Her words cut off as her eyes emptied of expression. Then her body turned to ash, disappearing into my arms.
I cried out in anguish. She didn’t deserve that. No one deserved to be controlled and used like that. I wished I knew her name.
Aaron pulled me away. I buried my face in his chest, a blubbering mess. He smelled like tropical fruits and suntan lotion. A comforting hand ran up and down my back, never saying a word, or asking a question, though he had to be in shock from what he’d just witnessed.
I pulled away from his embrace when I felt someone approach. Fallon. Timothy trailed behind him, looking like he wanted to say something to Aaron, but I couldn’t imagine he’d know what to say about this supernatural mess.
“Could you have healed her?” I asked Fallon, already knowing the answer.
“I can only heal humans,” he said. “And even I cannot reverse the effects of the Blade of Bane.”
Hot tears fell down my face, and I angrily wiped at them with the heel of my palms. “She was innocent. She didn’t ask to be made into a vampire. This girl was used, then thrown away.”
Fallon didn’t say anything, and I appreciated that.
“I need some air,” I mumbled, unable to stay in the spot where the vampire had expired. In moments, the three men followed me outside and into the warm night. Cars typically pulled up, picking up and dropping people off for their stay, but it was eerily quiet out here.
“The vampires were attempting to take me,” Timothy said to Fallon.
“I know,” Fallon said. I noticed a darkness in his eyes that hadn’t been there before. “They got Bianca.”
“What?” I asked.
He went on. “Galina is imprisoning anyone who opposes her. She figures if she can throw us into a deep, dark pit, by the time she lets us out, things will be so drastically different we will have to accept the new world order.”
“They came for you too?” I asked.
Fallon nodded. “Yes. I got away.” A lone gray feather drifted to the ground. The god had sprouted his wings to fly the hell out of there.
My body suddenly felt seized, compelled by an ancient force. Tribal drums pounded in my ears, a need to walk toward that power overwhelming me.
A hand gripped my arm and yanked me back. Timothy.
I blinked and off in the distance, I spotted two figures standing at the far end of the hotel grounds. I recognized Galina’s sleek figure, and a slim, petite woman with the same raven hair stood next to her. Even from here, I could see her eyes glowing red.
Sekhmet. The Original vampire goddess.
15
Vivien
“Who—wh—what is that?” Aaron stuttered.
