Clothes slapped back onto our bodies in a rush of magic as my room vanished.
We reappeared in my mother’s office at HQ a second later.
Mom was at her desk, and her head lifted. Her green eyes were sunken with exhaustion; her hair slightly mussed.
The calm in her gaze sharpened when she saw Vel, Dimitri still gripping her wrist.
“What happened?” she asked.
“She’s working with the humans,” Drecken said flatly. “And she just tried to take Rune’s blood.”
Dimitri’s hand tightened. A bone in Vel’s wrist popped.
She hissed, the syringe clattering to the floor as she dropped it.
Mom rose slowly, heels clicking on the floor as she came around the desk.
She took Vel’s face in one hand, fingers digging into her cheeks, forcing her to look up as Dimitri let go and stepped back. “Velestra Marrowyn,” my mother stated her name coldly. “House Head of the year-one agents-in-training. A succubus that we believed to be trustworthy.”
Vel’s throat bobbed.
“Dimitri,” Mom said without looking away from Vel. “Compel her. I want everything she knows.”
“I could make her tell the truth, too,” Zuko muttered.
I squeezed his hand, and he looked at me with adoration.
Dimitri moved in front of Vel, red eyes glowing bright.
Vel squeezed her eyes shut.
Drecken snapped his fingers, and Vel’s eyes flew open, held there by his magic. “Don’t even try to avoid this.”
“Tell us everything you know about the humans,” Dimitri ordered.
Vel’s fangs sliced into her bottom lip as she tried to fight it, but his compulsion was absolute. The words tumbled out. “Allison and her father took me in,” she gasped. “After I was attacked by supernaturals. They nursed me back to health. They even did their surgery on me to give me vampire essence. I can use vampiric speed now. It’s life-changing. I owe them everything!”
“Where are they now?” Dimitri asked.
“I don’t know,” she hissed. “Allison never told me where she was hiding. She said if I were to be caught, I couldn’t expose them. Their mission mattered more than me.”
Mom’s eyes narrowed. “You served as a spy for this Council for two decades. Seduction, infiltration, eliminating high-profile threats. You retired after a mission. I assume that was the mission where they ‘saved’ you.”
Vel glared at her, eyes flashing. “You were just going to leave me to die!”
“We came back for you,” Mom snapped. “Your squad died trying to reach you in time. It was the humans who slaughtered them!”
Disbelief flickered across Vel’s features, but Dimitri’s compulsion wouldn’t let her cling to that memory for long.
“Is that all you know?” he pressed. “About the humans. About Rune’s DNA.”
Vel’s shoulders slumped. “They don’t have her DNA anymore. They need it again. That’s their top priority. They couldn’t replicate it. They only had enough from the initial blood taken while she was captive. They injected it into humans, but they all died. They wanted to try to inject it into other supernaturals they’ve kidnapped to test it. That’s all I know.” Her gaze flicked up to Mom, full of fear.
“We never betrayed you,” Mom whispered, hand tightening on Vel’s cheeks. “You betrayed us. You betrayedourpeople. You betrayedmydaughter.”
Her venom seeped into Vel’s skin, fast and abrupt.
Vel’s healthy flush drained in seconds, complexion turning yellow, then ashy gray. Fine cracks appeared along her jaw, running down her throat, and spiderwebbing over her exposed skin.
