Chapter 3

RED

I t took a monumental amount of self-control, but I let Octavia believe I'd fallen asleep. I waited, listening to her every movement. She paced for a while, waiting for me to fall asleep. And then she bent to kiss my knuckles. I wanted to yank my hand away.

I wanted to ball my fist and knock her out, quite frankly. But I did none of those things. I kept my eyes shut, forced my breathing to slow and deepen and I pretended to be asleep.

When her footsteps retreated, I swore I could hear her pacing in the corridor beneath the roof. I waited another five minutes, and when I figured the coast was clear, I shot up like a bolt and got the fuck out of there.

Which is why I'm now running through the castle.

How could she?

I scurry through the hallways as fast as I can, keeping my head down. The number of vampires in the mansion and the notoriety of these fucking trials mean I need to keep a low profile. No point hiding the fact my blood is warm. I find a cap and cloak on a rack by one of the side doors. I steal them both and shove them on.

And then, I run.

I run harder than I've ever run.

My feet pound over the cobbles, carrying me across Cordelia's courtyard, down the long avenue that leads up to the castle and into the underground tunnels beneath the base of the castle.

By the time I stop, my chest is killing me. I must have run hard enough to give myself a muscle spasm in my ribs. Gods, I assumed I was fitter than this. I'll have to work harder, go back to daily running.

I wait for a carriage to appear. This is the fastest way to get across the city and to the harbour where I can leave.

I need to get out of this city. I need to be away.

From her.

From the truth of what I am.

But more than anything, from what she did.

* * *

T he carriage ride takes longer than I'd like, which means I sleep part of the day away. When I finally reach the harbour, I pay the carriage driver and head towards the underground tunnels beneath the docks. I have to pay the dock man in sketches and painting to keep my comings and goings quiet. He makes a note of what I owe him, and I head into the tunnels.

Fuck Octavia.

Fuck her forever. We are done. She broke the one promise I begged her to keep. She tried to compel me to forget everything we had and for fucking what? Because I'm the dhampir? How fucking could she?

It's only as the light dips and I enter the tunnels, the cool, damp air washing over me, that I realise…

She tried to compel me.

Tried.

It didn't work.

Fuck me, it didn't work. Why didn't it work? It should have. Not that I want to be compelled, but I am no different to any other human or hunter. We're all susceptible and she's admitted she did it before—the night she turned Amelia.

So why didn't it work?

I run through the possibilities. Maybe it's because I'm the dhampir? Or I'm meant to be. I won't be if I have anything to say about it. Would being a dhampir make me immune to compulsion? It would make me half vampire. That has to have some impact on the susceptibility of being compelled. That must be it.

Though, wait. Vampires can compel each other. Or rather, Octavia and Cordelia can because they're two of the original three—they're stronger than all the others—which makes this make even less sense.

I rub at my chest as I step into another carriage that will take me most of the way towards New Imperium—there's only one person I want to see right now. Part of me feels guilty for not going to Lincoln, but he's in too deep and too close to Dahlia right now that I'm not sure where we stand. It's too much of a risk. I'll have to walk part of the way to the city. Which wouldn't be a problem if my chest didn't hurt this much.

I spend the entire journey wondering what caused Octavia's compulsion to fail. What if she didn't mean it enough?

Who am I kidding? Octavia doesn't do anything without intention. I'm not going to defend her actions. She can go fuck herself.

The carriage driver deposits me about a kilometre away from the New Imperium border. It's a little further from here, but I should be in the city soon. I can't wait to see my bestie. Bella will calm me down. She'll know what to say to make it better.

I break into a run, deciding now is as good a time as any to bring up my cardio fitness. But before long, my chest is heaving, and I have to stop and catch my breath. Each time I stop, I get more irritated with myself.

What the hell is wrong with me? I can normally do a ten kilometre run without much difficulty. Why am I struggling today?

By the time I hit the city border, I'm dizzy. I slow even further as I meander through the tunnels and out into the heart of New Imperium. This is the new town, or I'm fairly sure it is. And if it is, Remy—Bella's girlfriend—lives close by. I could start by going there and seeing if Bella is with her.

I'm staggering now, my breath short. My chest is full of hot irons, stabbing and pulling at my lungs, my heart. I find the street Remy lives on a little by memory and a little by luck.

But I collapse to my knees, entirely winded, wondering if I can call Bella to come here, but… I'm not carrying the orb calling device that Remy made.

And that is my last thought as I bend forward, dropping to all fours and collapsing into darkness.

* * *

"R ed, you silly cow, wake up," Bella's voice drifts into my consciousness along with the most potent and rancid scent I've ever had the displeasure of inhaling.

"What is…?" I mumble, but my words come out jumbled.

"She's had enough of that. Gods know I have, it's vile," Bella says.

"She needs to be fully conscious," another voice I recognise says. I can't place who it is, though.

My eyes flutter open. Bella's curvy body is bent over me. I cop an eyeful of her tits and I'm pretty sure I saw nipple.

"Mother of Blood, Bella," I say, shoving her back by the shoulders, trying to miss her cleavage. "What are you wearing?"

She glances down. "What? Remy and I were out for dinner."

"And you wear that for dinner?"

"Well, no," she shrugs, wrapping what I now see is a dressing gown tighter around her body, covering up the extremely skimpy lingerie I got an eyeful of.

"We finished dinner and were… having pudding… it was—" she starts.

"Please do not feel obligated to finish that sentence," I say, rubbing a hand over my face. I'm in an apartment. I glance around. There's a lot of glass and everything is clean and sharp, save for a messy office table in the corner with cogs and wires and a fuck ton of books.

Bella huffs at me and helps me up. Which is when I sort out who the other voice's owner is. "Quinn. Hey."

"How are you feeling?" she asks, waving a finger in my face and applying a daub of something gritty to my forehead.

I bat her hand away. Quinn and I aren't close like Bella and I are, but she's one of Remy's friends. They all work together for the crown in this city, and Quinn happens to be a rather excellent medic. No wonder she's here.

"I found you," Quinn says, running a hand through her hair. It's shaved on the sides but a mass of curls on top. "I called Bella down immediately. Scarlett's outside, guarding the building block."

"Where's the rest of your gang?" I ask.

"Remy got called out on a RuneNet server break-in. She owed a guy a favour. Stirling has stayed at the palace in Morrigan's place—because she should arrive at any moment."

A knock at the door startles me. Quinn dances off to open it as a kettle clicks off in the kitchen. Bella shuffles to the kitchen and clatters about. A minty smell drifts into the room and a moment later, she returns and hands me a piping hot mug of the minty brew.

Then she rubs my shoulder. "You're really shook up. What happened?"

"I fucked up, is the summary," I say, blowing cool air on the tea.

"What's going on?" Morrigan says, appearing from behind Quinn, who tuts at the tea and takes it out of my hand.

"Bella," Quinn whines.

Bella rolls her eyes. "It's only tea."

"It is not just tea." Quinn trots back to the kitchen, opening cupboards and making a racket before returning and handing me the now much cooler mug of tea. The colour has changed too, and it smells decidedly less appealing. I sigh and take a sip, and my mouth contorts at the bitterness.

"The fuck, Quinn?"

She laughs, "Drink it, and don't be a baby."

I do, and because it's cooler, I can take big gulps.

Morrigan pulls two chairs over from the dining room table. Quinn grabs the other one, but Bella pushes me up until there's space for her on the sofa. Then she takes my hand in hers and strokes the back of it as I slump against her.

"I asked you a question," Morrigan says, her tone a little clipped. I'd almost forgotten how in touch with her power she is. Morrigan is, to my knowledge, the single most powerful magician in this city. Her arms, neck, and legs and probably other parts of her are smothered in Collection tattoos—a sorcerer's marks that connect them to their buildings and enable them to wield magic. But aside from that, she's also a princess who will be queen and have control of the most powerful palace in the city, too. Essentially, she wears the don't-fuck-with-me-or-there-will-be-consequences type of pants. And aside from that, she reminds me a little of Octavia. She has the same dark-coloured hair, though Morrigan's is blunt across the fringe, and she wears a lot of black.

I take another gulp of tea. Each one I drink makes me a little brighter.

"We don't know yet," Bella says. "Give her a chance. Quinn called me and said she found Red collapsed at the end of our street. I called Stirling, who got in touch with you and Scarlett. And here we are."

"Why are you here?" Bella asks, patting my hand.

I frown at her and rub my chest. It still aches, though considerably less. But worse, the hunger is gnawing at my gut. The rising need for a piece of her. I'm never drinking blood again. I yank myself out of my thoughts and focus on Bella.

"Did you not consider, oh, I don't know… putting some clothes on before welcoming me into the flat?" I say.

She pouts. "I sorely hope that if Quinn phoned you in the middle of the night and told you I was unconscious on your street that you'd drop everything and come running, too."

I open my mouth to remind her she flashed nip at me, but have to concede she's absolutely right. "You make a good point."

"Exactly," she says. "Now, what the hell are you doing here? I wasn't expecting you."

Between Quinn and Bella coming to my rescue, and the tea, which is now finished, I feel considerably better. The ache in my chest has eased almost completely.

"Okay, look. I realise I came here unannounced, and I owe you an explanation. But I need to get back to Sangui City before anyone comes looking for me. Is there any chance you can take me back to the tunnels and I'll tell you everything on the way?"

"Who's going to come looking for you?" Morrigan fixes me with her regal stare.

Suddenly I recall that vampires and magicians don't mix, and me coming here without explanation when Octavia knows who Bella is was probably an epic mistake.

I stand up. "Bella…"

Her eyes widen as she takes in my expression. "Okay, okay, fine. I'll throw on a tracksuit."

She rushes off to the bedroom and reappears in about twenty seconds flat.

A few minutes later, we're all on the street, Scarlett fifty feet ahead of us, scanning the street and darting this way and that. Morrigan, Quinn, Bella and I walk in a huddle, our voices low. Morrigan wears a cloak with an enormous hood that conceals most of her face, no doubt to hide from the public. Though it's the middle of the night, I hope no one will recognise her.

"Things have gotten… Mother of Blood, I don't even know where to begin," I say.

"How about at the start?" Quinn says.

So I do. I explain how there's a competition that the Chief agreed to run with Cordelia St Clair. I have to stop and explain a little of the vampire-hunter politics, but I get through everything, including the trials and telling them that whoever wins gets to run the city in the future.

I also tell them about how one of hunters is the dhampir who will bring magic back to our city. Though I don't tell them Octavia believes it's me.

My spiel ends, however, because Bella jumps in front of me as we reach a tunnel entrance, and I careen into her chest for the second time tonight. Thankfully, this time it's covered by a hoody.

Bella folds her arms. "Nice try. None of that explains why you're here, or why you collapsed."

I sigh and sag against a bench nestled under a lamppost. Morrigan and Quinn sit next to me. Scarlett dives onto one end.

"You recall I hate vampires?" I start.

"To your very marrow," Bella confirms.

I lean forward, put my head in my hands. "Right. Turns out… I don't actually hate them all. Or at least, there's one specific vampire I don't entirely hate."

"Wait. What?" Bella shrieks. "You need to say a lot more, and quickly."

"It's complicated, and… there's more… I may have developed an addiction to blood."

I can't bear to look at them. Confessing makes my tongue taste bitter and my throat thick.

Bella's face pales, Quinn whistles, and Morrigan's eyebrows vanish up under her fringe.

Quinn touches my hand and pulls it away from my face. "I don't have extensive knowledge, but I know a bit about the physiology of hunters and vampires from my studies when I was an apprentice. The fae too. One thing that I never forgot is that the properties of vampire blood are…"

"Interesting?" I try to shrug it off with a laugh, but it comes out like a stifled cough.

"Did you fall for the vampire you were dosing from?" Morrigan asks, taking me by surprise.

I glance at Bella and then tear my eyes away and nod.

It makes Morrigan's lips purse. "I, too, have studied vampire physiology, history, anthropology and politics. You understand it's expected as part of my role?"

I wince as I say, "It gets worse."

Bella inhales a sharp breath. "I will actually drown you, Red, I swear to the gods. I will murder you, bring you back to life, and then murder you again for good measure. What have you done?"

Quinn's eyes flick a surreptitious glance at Morrigan. I suspect between the two of them, they already have the answer to that question.

"You bonded yourself to them, didn't you?" Quinn asks.

I nod meekly and keep my eyes low.

"I suspect the binding is why you collapsed. Where is she? This vampire you—" Morrigan cuts herself off and then kneels in front of me, gripping my shoulders. Her nails aren't sharp, but her fingers grip tight enough to shock me. "Did you run? Please tell me she knows where you are, and you didn't run…"

"Morrigan, what is it? What the hell is wrong?" Bella says, her voice pitching up.

But it's Quinn who answers. "If she ran, that's why her chest was hurting. When you bind yourself to a vampire, you can't leave them. Like EVER."

"How could you bind yourself without knowing all the fucking consequences, Red?" Bella's pacing intensifies.

Morrigan pulls me to standing. "No wonder you collapsed. Your entire system is tied to hers. You need to leave. Now. You have a standing welcome because of what you did for this city, I'm not banishing you. But you can't be here like this. You need to leave right now before this vampire c?—"

"Shit," I say, cutting her off. "I collapsed from the pain, straining the bond, I suspect, but now… Now, I'm better…"

"Which means…" Quinn says, her eyes darting in the direction of the tunnels.

Morrigan whirls around. "Scarlett! Get to the tun—" but the word is swallowed as I put my hand over her mouth.

It's too late. I sense her. It wasn't Quinn's tea, or at least it wasn't all the tea. I'm better because she came after me. Hunted me down like prey. Ironic, right? The hunter becomes the hunted. Oh Octavia, you should be proud.

"Sweet mother of fuck. There hasn't been a vampire in this city in centuries," Bella whispers.

"I'll leave," I say, releasing Morrigan and sprinting towards the tunnel entrance.

But I am too late because beneath the curve of the New Imperium tunnel arch, buried in the murky gloom, is the shadow of a vampire.

A vampire I recognise. A vampire whose blood calls to me, as if my hunger summoned her.

Her foot hovers in the light of a lamppost, waiting, no doubt, because she knows she'll cause shit if she steps onto the city grounds.

"Octavia, don—" I bark.

But she steps into the light as a set of Katana swords press against her neck and heart.