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  The elevator dinged.

  “If the baby had come the whole city would have known about it by now. They talk of nothing else in the market, I don’t think there’s a stall she hasn’t commissioned for some thing or another for it… Oh, Father.”

  I hadn’t heard his footsteps, but Wilfred Pearce stood in the doorway, leaning heavily on his cane. His dark eyes were as bone chillingly cold as I remembered them.

  “Wilfred, it’s lovely to see you again, sir!”

  Camilla was animated and fake, more like the woman I had experienced whenever we were outside the tower, all designer clothes and prim propriety, a heavily exaggerated version of herself.

  Jade smiled at the man though it looked more like a grimace. It pretty much summed up how I felt about him too.

  He looked at each of us in turn.

  “Good to see you, Camilla. Excuse the interruption, Jade. I have some news to share with you. Join me for dinner tonight on my floor?”

  The room was quiet for a moment before Scarlett and Camilla spoke at the same time, both eager to excuse her. Something was happening that I didn’t understand. After giving Camilla a withering glare, Scarlett tried again.

  “Jade has dinner plans tonight.”

  He turned on her. Something in his expression made me want to stand between them.

  “Really? Well perhaps after dinner then, or maybe right now. You and I could possibly have discussed the matter instead, but you were occupied when I needed you this morning.”

  He knew. I had a sinking, crushing feeling that he knew about whatever Scarlett had been prying in.

  “I was working.”

  She was outwardly cool and impassive, and I suppose in her focus on keeping her physical composure, she let down her walls emotionally. The amount of fear she had for the man terrified me.

  “Deep in the bunker? Not your usual place to work.” He turned to Jade beside me. “Jade, let’s go.”

  She got dutifully to her feet and Camilla jumped up after her looking obviously rattled. The thin veil of pretense everyone in the room was clinging to shimmered and seemed about to shatter, as I understood Jade was being threatened.

  Scarlett stood too, inserting herself between Jade and her father, looking supremely confident for all the unrest choking her. It was making me feel sick to experience it second hand.

  “I’m available for the rest of the day. Whatever it is, I’ll take care of it. Let Jade enjoy her dinner date with the Hawthornes. April invited her; perhaps she had the baby.”

  The room was silent while he considered it for a long moment.

  “I suppose that’s best. We wouldn’t want Jade to be missed. Next time you disappear into the bunker I’m sure she and I will get our chance to spend some time together.”

  It was a warning. Scarlett’s jaw was clenched tight. Camilla smoothed her palms over her jeans. She grabbed Jade by the hand, trying and failing to be casual about pulling her back down onto the sofa, and away from him. Cold eyes followed the movement and my stomach plummeted as they landed on me.

  “And what of your hybrid, Scarlett? Still human, I see. I look forward to meeting her as a vampire.”

  His gaze lingered on me in a way that made me uncomfortable. His appraisal of me felt like a physical violation.

  “Soon,” was the only response she gave, already back in her heels and heading out of the door. My eyes flitted to find hers, dark and anxious, as she waited for her father to follow. He studied me still.

  “Are you ready to join us, Rayne?”

  The question paralyzed me, and I stared up at him dumbly. Scarlett’s voice in my head took over and I lowered my gaze and dropped my head respectfully, as was her will.

  “Yes, sir. It will be an honor.”

  The words were not my own, but they seemed to appease him, because when I looked up, the two of them were gone.

  Jade spoke first.

  “He knows she’s been looking into things she shouldn’t.”

  Cami nodded grimly.

  “She’s going to get herself killed if she insists on seeing this stupid scheme through. There has to be a better way, a smarter one.”

  I cleared my throat, finally leaving my head where I had been reaching for Scarlett. A stone wall between us again left me to wonder what exactly Wilfred Pearce wanted from her. The dark bruising under her eye, thick scars across her back, all plagued my mind.

  “Is he going to hurt her?”

  Jade shook her head.

  “He doesn’t usually. Not often, anyway.”

  It wasn’t really comforting but it was all I had, so I clung to it.

  “So how else do we take down the vampire government besides killing them all or whatever Scarlett has planned?”

  I asked the question, trying to distract myself, bone shatteringly tired and done with missing her, with wondering where she was, with worrying myself sick over her. I just wanted her here, safe, pressed up against me. I regretted my earlier anger. No matter how much her clever evasion of my promise still rankled.

  “Killing them is probably the only way.” Camilla was musing aloud. “But perhaps there’s a smarter way to kill them, a cleaner way.”

  “Poison?” It instantly popped into my mind.

  “We’re mostly immune, though we all know a certain family who dealt in vampire-harming serums.”

  My mind went back to the Chases, Evan and his father Mark, the latter of whom had made a serum designed to kill a vampire over time, as well as an antidote. I had almost died for stealing it for Scarlett after she was infected.

  “Scarlett took the serum to the government. It was part of her big play to get Rayne back,” Jade supplied, the plan beginning to crumble before it could form, but Camilla seemed determined.

  “But perhaps that wasn’t all Mark Chase made, perhaps there’s more. Drew, Evan’s older brother, runs the tower now. He’s a drunk and he’s been besotted with me forever. I think it’s worth looking into.”

  Only Camilla could have the confidence to declare someone besotted with her. Regardless, I nodded my agreement.

  “A backup plan if nothing else. Couldn’t hurt.”

  Jade looked less optimistic. I wasn’t sure if it was because of lack of faith in the plan, or the fact Camilla was probably going to flirt her way into Chase Tower and to answers.

  “Do we mention this to Scarlett? Maybe she can help, or focus on this which seems kind of doable, rather than getting herself killed snooping in the bunker.”

  Cami shook her head.

  “She won’t listen. There’s no guarantee this will work, and she’s too tunnel vision right now to slow down enough to consider it.”

  “She’s single minded in protecting what she loves.” Jade sounded sad. “It’s her greatest gift, and her biggest flaw. Right now, she’s hell bent on saving you from becoming like her. If we tell her she’ll only try to stop us.”

  I let out a breath.

  “So, we keep it a secret.”

  Cami repeated my words.

  “We keep it a secret, for now, until we know if anything will come of it.”

  Chapter Seven

  THE FEELING OF being watched had followed me all morning, the fine hairs on the back of my neck raised, goose bumps rising across my skin. I missed Scarlett. She’d returned from her business with Wilfred and spent only a few hours this morning entwined with me in the sheets before she left.

  I couldn’t escape the memory of her big dark eyes begging me to let things rest when we talked, but she gave nothing away. She had been warm and more loving than I had expected, and in favor of enjoying that, I greedily hadn’t pushed talking. At least she wasn’t hurt from wherever Wilfred had taken her.

  The thirteenth floor was eerily quiet, lifeless without Jade’s comfortable presence, Camilla’s laugh, Scarlett’s fingers on the ivory keys of her piano. Something told me this would be my life more and more over the coming days. Camilla was obviously shaken by Wilfred’s sudden interest in using Jad
e to deter Scarlett from whatever she was doing in the bunker. The pair of them had blown out of the tower as soon as the sun was up, and I had a feeling they wouldn’t be back until much later in the day, if at all.

  “Rayne.”

  I shrieked, jumping to my feet and whirling around, my heart slamming against my ribcage and making it hard for me to breathe.

  Wilfred Pearce stood beside the recliner I had just been sitting in. I wondered how long he had been there at the same time as I wondered why he was here. I was horribly, acutely aware of how utterly alone I was. He could take me back to the bunker, he could turn me, he could kill me. I fought to get myself under control, panic rising in my chest.

  “Hello, sir.”

  I dropped my head as I remembered Scarlett commanding, and tried to think back over the protocol we once used when she was my mistress in public, eager not to offend him and spark anything more unpleasant.

  His outfit of dark jeans and a black button-up tucked in at the waist was different than those I had seen him in previously. Somehow, it reminded me of the tight dresses and leather Scarlett donned for the outside world, for business. My stomach rolled again.

  “Finally, you seem to be unoccupied.” I heard the true meaning in his words—finally, he had me alone. “Come, we have much to discuss.”

  He began to walk, slow enough for me to follow, and I was surprised to see he did use the cane he always carried. It was a strange paradox. This man was the monster under the bed of the biggest monster in Vires, but for all intents and purposes he seemed old, fragile.

  I trailed along behind him, warring with myself, trying to find my voice to ask if I could go get my shoes. The words wouldn’t come so I stepped into the elevator barefoot and in only jeans and a sweater. I hoped we weren’t going out in the snow.

  He pressed the fifteenth-floor key with one weathered finger, illuminating it, and I stared at it as we ascended. I had never been on the floors this high up Pearce Tower, and I had no idea what was up here to gauge what might be about to happen to me.

  We stepped out and I followed him down a long hall. This floor was as silent as ours today. No staff moved between the closed doors we passed. Even the air was still. Dread swallowed me. He opened the last door at the very end of the corridor and we stepped inside. I was surprised to be greeted by a sitting room.

  A large fireplace sat below a huge television, a small coffee table between two recliners nestled in front of it, with a mini bar close by. Off to the side, the room opened into a larger area, housing what looked to be a kitchenette. A small table was pushed up against the window that showed me only sky from where I stood, but I knew would look down over Vires in its entirety.

  “Please have a seat, would you care for a fire?”

  The question surprised me, and I was almost lulled into feeling more comfortable. Almost. I considered my answer carefully.

  “Whatever would please you, sir.”

  He didn’t respond, but he did light one anyway and I was grateful. As I sunk into one of the seats, I realized this wasn’t really a living room, but more of a meeting room. I wondered what business he had with me.

  “So, tell me about yourself.”

  He lowered himself down into the chair before me, and again, I was confused by how aged he seemed. His salt and pepper hair had not thinned, but deep lines were etched at the corners of his eyes, and across his brow.

  “I’m eighteen…” I wasn’t sure where to start or what to say. Honestly, I didn’t want him to know anything about me. “I came from New Hampshire, where I was in high school.”

  He watched me, impassive, attentive though I knew my mundane facts bored him.

  “And what do you make of our magnificent city? I’m sure society is very different?”

  “Yes, sir.” That was an understatement. “I think the city is beautifully built and this society has so many intricacies I’m still learning. I feel privileged to have Scarlett to guide me on how to fit in here.”

  His eyes lit.

  “Scarlett herself is an important part of Vires, a pillar of society some may say. Have you seen her work?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  His tone was light and curious, but the dark undercurrent didn’t escape me. His glittering black eyes reminded me of Scarlett’s when she held a whip in her hands.

  “And what do you make of that, Rayne?”

  His use of my name unnerved me. It was something that had always made me uncomfortable, it always felt too familiar, too personal, almost accusatory coming from anyone but Scarlett, and perhaps Jade and Cami now. From Wilfred, it was worse.

  “It amazes me and frightens me, sir.” My admission was quiet, and he tipped his head waiting for me to go on. I didn’t have enough time to lie. I was scared to say what she did revolted me, which it did on some level, so I went with the truth that I was still struggling to accept it.

  “It’s beautiful like a car wreck. I feel like I should look away but sometimes I can’t. She’s alive when she’s doing that in a way she rarely is outside of it.”

  I couldn’t bring myself to meet his eyes.

  “She is incredible.” Pride was evident in his voice. “But she wasn’t always. Like anything, talent must be nurtured. Once upon a time, Scarlett was much like yourself.”

  Those words got my attention, and when I raised my eyes up to his, he gave me a smile that chilled my blood.

  “I’m sure you have strong feelings for my daughter, Rayne. She owns you, yes, but I see she has personal interest in you beyond her usual toys. She got rid of the nurse to acquire you, and I can assure you that little fixation was quite the journey in itself. Soon, she’ll turn you and you’ll become one of us. You’ll no longer belong to her, per se.”

  I didn’t know what to say in response.

  “I suppose my question for you is this, what kind of life would you like for yourself in Vires?”

  Everything was starting to feel like a trap. I defaulted back to protocol and tried to defer my own choice to him.

  “I’ll be honored to become a vampire. I think it will make for a wonderful life.”

  He nodded, some of the pretense slipping.

  “Yes, yes, but what kind of vampire would you like to be? Obviously, you are a Delta, science has already proven that, and obviously you will be a Pearce. The very first hybrid ever discovered, manifested into one of us, of course you belong in a powerful family, but answer me this. Will you be another leaded weight around my daughter’s neck, one more thing for her to hide in this tower, or will you stand up beside her and help her weather the storm of her noble service to the city? Will you revel in it by her side and finally set her free from the last constraints holding her back?”

  I wasn’t 100 percent sure what he was asking me.

  “Scarlett won’t love you forever, Rayne. There have been others before you, and there will be more in the future if you let her outgrow you. You are unique in that you have something none of them did—the ability to be a true partner to her. She’s hardwired to care for things weaker than herself. It’s a compulsion I never could break.”

  He spoke about it as if Scarlett’s compassion, as selective as it was, was a burden.

  “But you have the unique opportunity to become a vampire, to have a lifetime that spans alongside hers, to rise to the top of the city beside her and keep pace with her. I can help you do it, when the time comes, but you must want to learn. Jade taught me that.”

  He was waiting for a response and I was still stumbling through the information he had poured on me. I tried not to let his pointed statements get inside me, tried not to imagine the throng of girls Scarlett had kept in my place. I had met her most recent girlfriend, Aria, first hand when Scarlett was involved with her, though she seemed to be more of a pet than a partner. I was sure I looked the same through an outside lens. Insecurity seeped through my cracks, the cracks left by a life of being nobody before Scarlett found me.

  “I’m not sure I could do it,
sir.”

  I surprised myself with my honesty, but Wilfred just leaned closer, as if he was on my side. The lines blurred.

  “I like you, Rayne; I like what you could become for her, for our city. You have potential where her previous distractions had none. You will either be great beside her or be the tool that finally drives her into greatness, and a darkness none of you—not Jade, not Camilla, not you—will be able to follow her into, or divert her from. The choice is yours.”

  The words stunned me, because in that moment they rung with a truth I didn’t know how to deny. I could never be a murderer—I didn’t want to be. My sense of identity, of self, fought to the surface, past Wilfred and his smile full of promises, past my love and undying need to be with Scarlett, and to be everything she needed. I wasn’t a sadist, I didn’t believe in hurting people, in denying them basic rights, in using and abusing them at will because of some assumed status. Like Jade I believed there was another way the vampires could live, that Vires could work, without this.

  “Let me help you decide. Don’t touch anything. I’ll be back to collect you later.”

  He got to his feet and I sprung up after him, suddenly terrified of what he was leaving me to. A firm hand on my shoulder pushed me back down. I almost reached for Scarlett, screamed down whatever connected us, remembering how she had come when I’d needed her before, but I held myself back.

  If she burst in now it could reveal too much, and it would no doubt not end well for her with Wilfred. I had to ride this out a little longer and hold my nerve.

  He reached for a remote I hadn’t noticed, and the TV clicked to life, static filling the screen. He hit play, and was gone, the remote vanishing with him.

  “What’s your name?” Wilfred’s voice asked off the screen before it cut to a little girl, sitting on a sofa. She had dark hair and two differently colored eyes that I would recognize anywhere, despite the roundness in her face, the gap between her teeth. She looked about five.

  “Daddy…”

  She laughed. He repeated the question.

  “Scarlett Elise Pearce.”

  “Very good, and how old are you, Scarlett?”

  “I’m six and…just six.”