Page 52 of Let Sleeping Vampires Lie

“But Rene⁠—”

“Rene needs you alive, not drained.”

Raven sagged against me, sweat beading at her temples despite the cold. Her hands trembled, fingers slick with her own blood.

Con reached out, touching the skin at the edge of the wound with the tip of one gloved finger. He lifted it to his nose, eyes narrowing.

“Don’t,” I snapped. “You don’t know what⁠—”

He ignored me and inhaled.

His expression darkened.

“It’s poison,” he said. “Applied to the blade.”

Raven’s fingers dug into my arm. “Of course it is,” she whispered, voice unsteady. “Why make anything simple?”

“Can you taste what kind?” I asked Con.

He shook his head. “It’s not anything common. Not wolfsbane, not nightshade, not any of the usual compounds. There’s something… metallic to it. Synthetic.”

“Military maybe,” Val muttered. “Figures.”

Raven tried to shift, winced, and stopped moving. “We don’t have time for this. Get me upstairs.”

“You can barely stay conscious,” I said.

“I’ve been worse.”

She hadn’t.

“We need to flush the poison,” Con said. “Or slow it down.”

“How?” Quinn demanded. “We don’t even know what it is.”

I bit my lip, thinking.

Magic prickled under my skin, restless. It didn’t like whatever was eating at Raven. The bond vibrated uncomfortably, like a string tuned too tight.

“I can try to pull some of it out,” I said.

Raven shook her head quickly. “No. If it travels through the bond, it could reach you. Or Rene.”

“Not if I block it right,” I protested.

“You don’t know that,” she shot back.

“She’s right,” Con added. “You’re already drained from earlier.”

Everyone stared at me.

Wind stirred the grass. Dawn crept a fraction higher, pale light washing over the gravestones and the blood on Raven’s side.

“We can’t stand out here arguing,” I said through gritted teeth. “We get her to Rene. He might be weak, but he knows more about poison than any of us.”

Raven gave a weak huff that might have been a laugh. “Now you’re listening to him?”

“He’s not wrong,” I said. “For once.”