“Consequences,” I say for him. “Yes, I know.”
He smiles coldly. “Just don’t want you to forget.”
He disappears after that. “How could I when you remind me every thirty seconds?” I mutter under my breath. I start to head back to my room and then remember I need to track down blood. With that thought in mind, I head to the room where they store the blood.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Sherese
I enter the freezing cold room, and a feeling of revulsion fills me. It always does when I enter this room. It always brings back memories of the first time Rizo brought me in here and told me I would have to drink blood to survive. I remember seeing all the blood bags and wanting to throw up, while at the same time fighting my urge to consume the entire fridge of blood. I walk over to the wall-sized cooler and pull on the handle, frowning when it doesn’t open. I see the small black scanner and grimace. Now, I’m going to have to get help with this one, too. I place my thumb on it, but it doesn’t work, not that I thought it would. I step out into the hallway, ready to track someone down.
“Little Lamb.”
I grit my teeth. I’ve always hated that nickname. I wipe my expression clean before I turn around. “Rizo.”
“Did you need something?”
I point behind me. “I need access.”
He makes a point of looking at the wall, then back at me. “You have a fresh source of blood. Why would you need blood bags?”
Dread crawls up my spine, but I keep myself calm. “I feed from him, but not for every meal. I still need blood bags to supplement.”
He cocks his head, and I wonder if I messed up. I actually don’t know if that’s true or not. From the look he’s giving me, I’m thinking it’s not. I rush to think of something, but he beats me to it. “Then you’re not taking enough at your feedings. If you’re taking enough, you should only need one feeding a day.” I searchhis face, looking for any sign that he knows I’m not really using Hunter. But there’s nothing there...that I can see anyway.
“Oh. Good to know. I guess I don’t take too much because I’m worried about draining him, and I would really hate to see that happen.” I don’t give him any time to dissect my words any further or give myself a chance to make a bigger mess than I already have. “Thank you.” I walk away from him quickly and make my way to the elevators. I nearly hit my head on the wall when I realize I can’t go without a thumbprint. Rizo shows up beside me a moment later. He pushes a few buttons and then steps back.
“Put your thumb in.” I follow the same process I went through with Ajax. “Now you can move around on your own.”
“Thank you.”
He nods, and I step into the elevator quickly before he says anything else. “Little Lamb,” he says, and I resist the urge to squeeze my eyes shut. Instead, I meet his gaze. “How are the sessions going?”
It takes me an extra second to realize the sessions he’s referring to are the ones with the healer. “Oh. Good.” He stares at me, and I force myself to stay calm. Finally, he nods and steps out of the elevator. “Good.” The doors close, and I sink against the wall of the elevator. When I get to the bottom floor, I walk slowly towards our room. As anxious as I am to get back, I’m not anxious to face Hunter. What in the world am I going to do about blood? Anxiety rushes through me. I can’t feed from him; I made a vow never to do so. And I would never dishonor him in such a way. By the time I get to our room, I decide not to tell him. I’ll figure out something. In the meantime, I’ll survive. I don’t need a ton of blood; I'll be fine.
“Sherese.” I turn at the sound of Ajax’s voice. He waves his hand, and I stare at him.
“I’m not a dog, Ajax.”
He scowls at me. “Come on.”
“Where?”
He doesn’t bother to explain. “Duty calls.”
Duty ends up being several hours of staring at screens. I’m in a room with two other vampires watching a wall of screens. Ajax explained that it’s our job to watch each of the shifter-vampires. If there was movement of any kind, we’re to hit the yellow button followed by the specimen’s number. It sends out an alarm to the workers who need to sedate the shifter-vampire. If one of them were to come completely awake, we are to hit the red panic button. If there’s time, we follow up with their number. But the most important thing is to send out the alarm. I know from before the damage one of these creatures can do. I’m not exactly sure how I got on this particular job, but I have a feeling it’s part of keeping a watch on me. I’m released to go do my job with the healer, and then I have to come back here again.
When I finally drag myself to our room after my last shift with the healer, I’m dead on my feet. Not only am I physically tired, but I’m emotionally wrung out. The healer had all but cussed me out tonight, and it was painful. I got it; I really did. I hated what I was doing to her, and yet, I didn’t know how to stop it without Ava paying the price.
When I finally open the door to our room—actually, Hunter opens the door for me—I walk right over to the bed and crash. I lie back and close my eyes. “Hey,” Hunter says after a minute. “At least get ready for bed first.”
I groan but sit up. He holds out his shirt to me, and I take it, too tired to find anything of my own. A few minutes later, I climb into my side of the bed. “Do you need blood?” he asks softly. I’m too tired to even sit up.
“I’m good.” I fall asleep right after that.
The next day is a repeat of the day before, except it’s another vampire this time that wakes us. I jerk the door open. “Youknow, if I had my phone, I could set an alarm and be ready on time,” I snap.
The vampire doesn’t so much as flinch. “Be in the patient’s room in ten minutes.”
