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Every worst-case scenario is playing out in my mind, and my stomach rolls at each horrific possibility.
“He’s fine,” Law stresses, trying to reassure me. No doubt due to the panic he saw sweeping across my face moments ago. “He and Bash are in Seattle making plans. He’s fine,” he repeats, looking tired and forlorn.
I let out the breath I was holding. The last time I saw Julian, he was in the middle of the fray. Knowing he’s safe and that Bash is, too, is a huge relief. Yet Law doesn’t look okay.
“What’s wrong then? You don’t look all right.”
He takes a deep breath and sits down on a chair next to my bed. “There were some complications when you escaped. Many humans died, Marina. My human friends... they didn’t make it.”
I gasp. “They’re all dead?” The shock starts me shaking again.
“Yes,” he says, nodding solemnly, voice quivering. “And it’s my fault, Marina.” He lowers his head.
“No, Law,” I say, reaching out, but he brushes me away.
“It is.” His voice pitches as he moves from sadness to anger. “I invited them. They were my friends, Marina. Human or not, they trusted me to show them a good time, but to keep them safe. I failed them.”
I want to say something to ease his obvious pain, but I know nothing will help. Nothing will bring his friends back. What I witnessed at the party was a blood bath. Vampires slaying humans, just because they could.
Those people came willingly with the expectation of a good time. Something that Law had provided them many times. What happened isn’t his fault, but I understand the onus he’s placing on himself. I’d feel the same way. I do where Stacey is concerned. I failed her in the same way.
The moment when Marcellus walked into Law’s party flashes through my memory, and I suck in a harsh breath.
“Oh God.” My hands fly up to my mouth when I remember Shannon was there too. Marcellus had dragged her in, collared and obedient.
“Shannon? Is she dead?” My question is whispered, as though my mind doesn’t want to give life to the possibility.
“Shannon’s... alive. She’s with Julian.”
The tension in my body begins to disappear with that knowledge. Shannon lived. One of my friends is safe and with Julian.
I fling off the covers and swing my legs down off the bed, attempting to stand on wobbly legs. “I need to go to them.” My voice shakes and my knees quiver.
I fall back into the bed, ass hitting the mattress. I attempt to stand back up, but Law pushes me down again.
“Lie down,” he commands. “You fell and hit your head. You need to rest. Where do you think you’re going in that condition?” Law huffs, but I don’t answer.
Searching the room for my clothes, I start devising a plan to get her back. If I have to die trying, I will.Once the room stops spinning.
His strong hands grab me by the shoulders, holding me still. “Calm down, Marina. You can’t go storming the castle with a half-baked plan. In this shape, you’ll only get more innocent people killed.”
It’s an effective dose of reality. Having witnessed firsthand the strength that Marcellus wields, I know Law’s right. We need a plan, and we need more help. I won’t be responsible for any more deaths. I have too much blood on my hands as it is.
I take responsibility for Stacey’s death. Taking her to a party where vampires had access to a human was dumb. I put too much trust in vampires I didn’t know, and as a result, my friend is gone. And then there’s Maggie. If I’d have owned up to seeing creatures too, she might not have felt like she needed to end her life to escape it. We could’ve been in it together.
But I didn’t.
When you grow up believing yourself to be crazy, only to find that you were right all along and the rest of the world is just blind to the monsters living among them, you should rejoice in your sanity, right?
Wrong.
“Being clinically insane would be better than this reality.”
“How so?” Law’s brows scrunch together.
I sigh. “In that scenario the only person who’s in danger is me, Law. Instead, humanity is at the brink of war with vampires and they don’t even realize it.”
“Because they can’t know. Can you image the hysteria that would come from that?”
