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“Okay,” she agreed. “What should we do in the meantime?”
“Don’t tell anyone,” I said.
There had already been unrest recently. There had already been anxiety. There had been humans and vampires who were suspicious of the system, and there were people who wanted to see it fall. We’d been short on blood before, but as with Colin’s order, we found ways to work around it. This wasn’t a regular shortage, though. The numbers Clarissa showed me made it seem as though someone had straight-up stolen some blood.
“If the vampires think the blood in the hospital is gone, they’re going to start taking people.”
“You’re talking about war,” she whispered.
“Yeah,” I agreed glumly as I stared at the papers in front of me. “I’m talking about war.”
8
Colin
DEALING WITH MY BROTHER sucked.
Norman was the type of vampire who liked to brood. He sulked around the mansion. I wasn’t even sure if he’d actually slept or if he’d just walked around being moody. We barely spoke, which was probably a waste of his visit. It was just apparent to me that the only thing he wanted was to merge our cities, and I was adamantly against it.
“You need to do something with him,” Ida said, coming into my office.
“Excuse me?”
“He’s driving everyone crazy,” she said.
“What did he do?” I sighed.
“He’s trying to go through all of your stuff,” she said. “I caught him in the gardens and then in the sunroom and he was trying to get into the servants’ quarters, too.”
“What the hell?” I asked, standing up. “Why?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “But you need to entertain him or boot him out. I don’t know what his deal is, Colin, but it’s nothing good.”
“I’ll talk to him,” I said.
“Look,” Ida lowered her voice. “I don’t often tell you a lot about myself, and I don’t generally pull rank, but someone like your brother is dangerous.”
“You can’t pull rank with me. I’m in charge here.”
“I’m twice your age, Colin,” Ida said. “You’re practically a baby vampire in my book.”
That rankled me a bit, but I respected her, so I listened to what she had to say.
“Someone like your brother has a quest.”
“A quest?”
“A mission,” she nodded. “He might be telling you that he’s come to Darkvale to merge the two cities he ‘loves’, but there’s more to his visit than that.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning your brother is a giant asshole. He wants something, and it’s not a peaceful merger. Watch your back, Colin. I think he’s going to try to stake you.”
“Me?” I asked.
“You,” she nodded.
There was a knock. We both turned to see Juliet standing in the open doorway of the office. She looked tired, and a little worn out, and wildly beautiful. Her hair was hanging around her shoulders in a frizzy mess. That was fine. It was just a good excuse for me to give her a bath.
