WHERE YOU GO, I GO
Idon’t know where Sophie is.
I went to find her after the ball, wanting to talk over everything with her. There hasn’t been much on the news, thank darkness, apart from official photos, though a few images made it online. I’m still embarrassed, though. About being caught with Michael, and how close I came to screwing everything up, then the Scorpion debacle.
At least Joaquin is gone for a few days, taking his entourage to ‘see the sights’, as he put it. He made a big show of kissing me passionately before he left, despite the audience of Michael, Varin, my parents and a host of guards. Or perhaps because of it. I’m glad he’s gone, to be honest.
But Sophie, when I look for her, isn’t in the garage or anywhere else on the estate, even though she’s supposed to be back on shift. Nor is she answering my messages. What if she’s ill? I haven’t had a lot of time to spend with her, but I’m doing the best I can at the moment, with everything else going on. Worry curling in my stomach, I head down to the basement office, Bertrand in tow.
‘Is there any mention of her on the lists?’
A different guard is at the computer today, looking just as nervous as the previous one. I suppose when Bertrand is towering over you, dressed in the red-flecked livery of my personal guard, it’s enough to shake anyone’s confidence.
‘I’m sorry.’ She clicks her mouse. The printer in the corner whirs, spitting out several sheets of paper. Bertrand catches them, running his finger down the list of names.
‘It says she last left the estate three days ago,’ he rumbles. ‘Why has no one followed up on her not returning for her shift?’
‘That’s the thing.’ The young woman looks even more worried. ‘We don’t usually do that, because sometimes humans … well…’ She glances at me, apologetic.
‘Humans what?’ My stomach drops. ‘Theydie?They’re still people, though, each with their purpose!’ I snarl the last few words. The guard flinches. Bertrand glances at me, his eyebrows raised. I pull my anger back with an effort. ‘If people don’t show up for work, they need to be checked on. Please make sure this happens, going forward.’
‘Of course, my lady.’
God and darkness, this infuriates me! This division between vampire and human, neither one knowing what the other is truly doing.
‘Raven don’t share their concerns with us.’
Words spoken by the human guard commander, the one who helped me get home after Kyle’s death. Ohshit. Realisation hits me like a hammer blow. I can’t speak for a moment. Bertrand’s head snaps up, his blue gaze on me.
‘My lady?’
‘It’s fine,’ I manage to say. ‘Um, keep looking, please? I, er, I just remembered I’m supposed to be doing something.’
I leave the room. Bertrand follows me upstairs. He doesn’t say anything, but I can feel him glancing at me.
‘I need to rest,’ I say, when we get to my room. My mind is whirring.
‘My lady?’
I pause, my hand on the door handle.
‘Wasn’t there something you needed to do?’ He’s frowning. I know he knows I’m up to something.
‘Um, yes, but I realised on the way up I had the time wrong. So, I’m going to rest first.’
His mouth twitches. ‘Of course. Let me know if there’s anything I can do.’
I nod, closing the door. I sit on my bed, needing a minute to sort through everything in my head. But, oh darkness, it feels as though pieces of a puzzle are clicking together, faster than I can make sense of them.
The human commander who saved me wore a red flower in his lapel. As did the driver I saw that day at the guardhouse, when it was clear humans had been taken from the estate. I saw the same human commander hugging Sophie, that day in the garage. And I overheard his voice when I was hiding, when he cleared away the clothes left behind in the guardhouse. The same guardhouse where Kyle swapped a secret for a pass off the estate. It all seems connected to the mysterious red-flower symbol.
Which is also tattooed on Ira’s wrist. Oh God. I lie back on my bed, my hand on my mouth, tears starting as I realise where else I saw it. Sitting in a booth, gazing up at a domed ceiling studding with mirrored fragments, a cracked funhouse reflection of what was below.
Six curving red booths around a circular dancefloor. A red fucking flower.
More puzzle pieces, flickering through my mind.Irawas the one who brought Andrew and Jane to us. The same Andrew who let vampires on my islands to hunt. What if the North Wind didn’t surrender? What if it was some sort of plot, with Ira, to get what they wanted? Freedom. And I just fucking gave it to them, like an idiot, instead of punishing them for their crimes. The human commander knew Ira, too; knew he was sympathetic to humans, or so he told me. Yet he keeps them caged in his bar, their blood on offer to customers. Doesn’t seem very sympathetic to me. Ira was also at the Moon Harvest, where vampires hunted humans as punishment for the North Wind’s crimes. And, perhaps most damningly, he knew Kyle from before he was in the pits, before he came to work for us and betrayed me. And I know Kyle was a Reaper, because he told me. Just before I killed him.
What if Reapers and hunters are working together, capturing humans? It would tie in with the timing of the attacks on the Safe Zones, which my father said showed clear signs of vampire involvement and which, despite our increased guard presence, are still happening. OhGod.What if Sophie’s been taken, tricked somehow into going with them? My stomach lurches and I sit up, a violent wave of nausea hitting me at the thought of her being savaged, running in darkness, unable to escape. I run into my bathroom and vomit, then curl up next to the toilet, tears running down my face.
