I wipe the hot tears from my cheeks.
What’s going to happen to me when the other vampires find out I betrayed them?
What’sshegoing to do to them?
CHAPTER 6: XAVIAN'S GONE
Paige
The door slams open, the sound reverberating like a gunshot through the hazy lounge.
Immediately, the celebration stops. Every vampire and living human turns in fear as Roslyn Night steps into the room, her presence like a chill creeping across a graveyard.
Trembling, I follow her into the lounge. I wish I could leave, run away as fast as my legs will carry me. But she commanded me to follow her, and I don’t have the will to disobey her.
“Waylan Night,” Crimson shouts, her voice making it clear that this is a demand, not a request.
The other vampire steps out of the crowd, disentangling himself from the woman he had been eying earlier. It already seems like a lifetime ago. Waylan runs a hand over his chin. He can’t hide the surprise in his expression as he looks over at us.
“Crimson,” he says, with a frown. “I thought you would be…in your office.”
“I’m sure you did,” she responds, her lip curling. “You thought I would be enjoying the blood of one of our new donors, didn’t you?”
Waylan’s eyes darken as they shift to me. I shudder, knowing that what he suspects is true: I told Crimson about his ruse. I can’t bear to think what he’ll do to me now.
But before I can spiral any further, Crimson’s hard gaze falls upon me. My heart explodes in my chestwhen she gestures toward me with two fingers, beckoning me. Unable to resist her summons, I move closer to her and the other vampires.
“You were unsatisfied with our newest addition?” asks a voice from the crowd. It’s Sabina, her arms crossed, an eyebrow raised innocently. “If you don’t like the taste of her blood, I apologize…”
“There’s nothing wrong with her blood,” Crimson replies sharply. “I sampled her earlier tonight, which is why I asked her into my office. The office that Waylan was occupying when I returned.”
She narrows her eyes at him. The other vampires and living humans around him back away slowly, giving them a wide berth. A few people scurry out of the lounge.
There’s a whisper from over by the DJ booth.
“Two thousand on Crimson,” says one young vampire to another.
“Fine,” says the other. “But only if she silvers him. I want double if she stakes him!”
“You’re on!”
Crimson clears her throat, and the vampires immediately quiet. She turns back to Waylan.
There’s a malicious twinkle in her eye. “Her blood is delicious. So delicious, in fact, that I’d likeyouto taste her, Waylan.”
The blood freezes in my veins. Waylan’s lip twitches violently. He realizes that he’s been caught. I wait in agony, watching the gears turn behind his eyes. Crimson reaches toward me, and pushes the hair back from my throat. I inhale shakily at the villainous intimacy of her cold touch.
Waylan takes one step forward, but he doesn’t move any further. Instead, he lowers his gaze, submitting himself to Crimson’s wrath.
Her eyes blaze. “Youpoisonedthis breather’s neck with a potion from a witch. A potion that would weaken me sufficiently so that you could stake me. Is this true?”
Waylan’s hands curl into fists, but he can’t deny it. He’s trapped, and he knows it.
“Murad?” Crimson asks, looking out into the crowd.
Another vampire steps out of the crowd, a serious expression across his face. He was holding a glass of the same thick red liquid that Crimson was drinking earlier, which he puts on a standing table. Everyone watches him silently as he bends to smell my neck.
“It’s true,” he confirms, in a somber tone. “It smells like evil magic. One of the Lucifer witches, perhaps.”
