And then, just as quickly as the inability to move came over me, I’m mobile again. My legs buckle and I almost collapse to my knees, stumbling forward.
When I turn my head, I have a terrible sense of foreboding about what I’m about to find.
The vamps have all disappeared, and they’ve taken Silver with them.
“They said her name,” Zeph mutters, dragging his fingers through his hair, his eyes darting wildly around as he sucks in air, his chest heaving.
“What?”
“They said her birth name. They called her Alabaster. That means they know who Silver is.”
I’m slower than usual, my brain taking a while to click into gear. “The vampires?”
“No. The judiciary. That’s who took her.”
“Which means—”
“The judiciary has her. They know who she is. That she’s not dead like she’s supposed to be.”
My stomach roils and I have to breathe deep to avoid vomiting all over my feet. I eye the pile of bodies again. This is like a nightmare.
A trap.
One that we walked right fucking into.
“I saw her face, man. She was terrified, and it looked like we just stood there watching as they arrested her. What if she thinks we chose not to help her?” Roscoe asks.
“She’s not going to think that,” I say. “This entire thing was a trap. Ember being frozen and drawing her down here, the pile of bodies handily placed nearby. I bet it was all planned to lure her out.”
“I wonder if they somehow got that ghost guy to draw her out here, too.”
“Simpson wants Silver. He still sees her as his little pet.”
My stomach churns again, and bile fills my throat.
“We’ve been expecting something big. Another grand gesture, like setting zombies loose on the city, or cursing blood mages and causing carnage,” I say. “What if they’ve got another angle?”
“What are you thinking?” Roscoe asks.
My mind’s working a mile a minute as I think aloud. “They want to take over the city, right? And we know that either Simpson or one of his cronies can get inside people’s heads. What if they’re doing that already?”
Zeph lets out a growl, pacing back and forth. “Who do you think they’re controlling? The judiciary?”
“Them. The Archarcans. Could be any of them or all of them.”
Maybe even the people in our district, hellbent on destroying the place. Although, it seems too easy to blame everything on the vamps.
It certainly worked as a distraction, if that was their aim.
“Their first attempt didn’t work. The Archarcans ignored it and everyone went back to regular life, pretending like everything was fine after zombies tore the city apart.”
“And you think the vamps are gonna have gone for a more subtle route this time?” Ro asks, then gives a brief nod. “Until yesterday, they’ve been too damn quiet.”
“We should have got the fuck out of this city when we had the chance,” Zeph growls.
Another stab of guilt hits me in the gut and I rub my hands over my face. “I think you’re right.”
As Ro’s eyes widen, it’s beaten into me once again how much I’ve been messing up recently. Trying to do the right thing, but failing miserably.
