I look towards the end of the aisle, pitch dark.
There’s something there. Breathing. And then, flickering on like an old lightbulb, a pair of deadly red eyes.
Chapter
Ten
The bookcases get closer, pressing against my shoulders.Stay calm.I run my hands over a shelf, grabbing the tallest book I can find. I shove it on the floor, just in time to stop the cases from crushingme.
The vampire doesn’t move, but the red glow of her eyes helps mine adjust to the dark.
“This is a bad idea,” I say slowly. The turnstile continues its squeaking, but the book beneath me seems to be sturdy enough. For now.
“You little roach.” The vampire finally speaks, and I know I’ve heard her voice before. Jannet.Don’t get involved with the Red Ribbons,Penny had said. I’d thought they hadn’t recognised me. But I was wrong. “It wasn’t enough for you to invade our campus,” she hisses. “You just had to stick your nose where it ought not to be, didn’t you?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I say. The turnstile, which had for a second gone quiet, starts squeaking again. But this time in the opposite direction, giving me breathing room. “Listen, I don’t want trouble.”
“A little too late for that.”
I hear footsteps at the other end of the aisle.
I draw out the chain from my watch.
“Jannet,” a voice says behind me, weaker, trembling. “This is a bad idea.”
“I told you to not join us if you can’t handle the dirty work, Stella,” Jannet says, voice sharp. She stalks towards me, entering the narrow aisle.
Her red eyes bore into mine, and I feel the back of my head prickle, then grow numb as she attempts to compel me. “You’re going to kill Elia Tamarit,” she says, putting a hand on my neck, forcing me to look into her deadly eyes. Her nails are sharp, strangely damp. “And then you’re going to kill yourself.”
“But I don’t know who that is,” I say.Bite me,I think. Instead, Jannet stabs her nail into my neck, tearing the skin. Pain shoots through me, my knees suddenly weak.
“Look for her, and then—”
Before she can finish, I tighten my grip on my blade and slice upwards. The silver melts through her face, and she screams. Burning flesh hides the stench of her venom. Stella cries out behind me and starts running. But just like last time, I’m faster. I grab her long hair and shove her against the cold metal wall. She whimpers, while behind us, Jannet is clasping her face, making a gargling sound. I hold the blade under Stella’s neck, and she sobs. I hear it sizzling against her pale skin. “You won’t tell anyone about this, will you?” I ask in a low voice.
She shakes her head.
I should kill them both. Shove their dust under a bookcase, and hope no one comes back down into the archive. But they’re not working alone.Shit. Shit. Shit.
What would Penny do? She’s always in control. Jannet crawls out from between the aisles, holding her bloodied face, and when her wide eyes meet mine, she’s terrified. Stella is still clasping her neck, trembling. Maybe they’ll keep quiet.
And when questions come, I’ll say I was defending myself.
The excuse might not last long. But it’ll have todo.
Gritting my teeth, I turn on my heel and run through the dark.
The pain in my neck deepens. She must have licked her nail before stabbing me withit.
A few heads turn to stare as I race out of Kinsnet, and my head is pounding once I stumble out into the cold night. The wound is burning, mixing with the ache in my head. Then there are my period cramps, still twisting my insides. Pain continues to spread, my sight blurring. Does that leech even know her venom could kill a human?
I reach Tynarrich, hand clasped over the shallow cut on my neck. I slump against the cool wall of the lift, doors closing before it starts to climb up to the ninth floor. My head is swimming, cold sweat covers my forehead, red hair sticks to my skin in damp strands.
My room is empty. Penny told me to stay away. Focus on my mission. Why didn’t I listen to her?
I struggle out of my coat, and then grimace when I see the bloodstain on my shirt. I take it off, and hope Astra doesn’t walk in now. My period cup is full, so I empty and rinse it. My cold sweat turns into a shiver. A bath wouldn’t do me any harm, I think, turning the hot tap until steaming water pours from the faucet. Astra has a selection of bath salts. I consider pouring them all in just to piss her off, but I’m too dizzy to do anything except climb into the scalding water.
She probably won’t be back for several hours. She’s probably in some semi-public corner of campus, fucking another vampire. The cut on my neck burns as Jannet’s venom sinks into my blood. I stare up at the ceiling. How am I going to explain my way out of this? But before anxiety can distract me from the pain in my neck, the white steam clouds my vision, pulling me under.
