“If we work together—” Alexei begins but Marcus cuts him off.
“He was not alone here,” Marcus says. “Once we made contact with him, I could feel the vampires closing in. He has his own fucking army. Just because we stopped people who were likely working with him, like Chief Bowman and Addison, it doesn’t mean he doesn’t have more to fill their spots. Ender is right. We are influential in the VRC and with the vampires outside of it. He’s seeing which side we take.”
I try to urge Rylee to the others, but her fingers are digging so tightly into my shirt that she’s threatening to tear it. “None of it will matter if he’s dead. As soon as I recover, I’m going to kill him. Take care of Rylee until I’m done.”
I turn toward the door, but Claude steps in front of me and grabs the front of my shirt. It immediately puts me on edge, but the look on his face stops me.
“What did he do with them?”
“What?” I ask.
“I was selling artifacts at the time and was asked to transport some people into Abel’s care since I was going there to deliver a book. What did he do with them? I didn’t speak their language. What did he do with the people? Were you there? You were the vampire who was chained up, weren’t you? He told me you were a killer. I remember that you begged me to kill you.”
I jerk back, having forgotten that. It’s not like he was the only one I begged for help.
“Let me leave.”
“What happened to them?” Claude sounds so desperate to know.
“I don’t know,” I lie. “Can I go now?”
“Why did he keep you chained up? He told me not to go in that room, but that last night, I heard something and went in.”
“Let’s just… leave it here,” Mads says as he gently pulls me back. “Let’s figure some stuff out. I think it’d be best if we went to the university first. Can we go now? That sounds like a good idea. I feel like time isn’t extremely on our side. Should we all go? I think so. I think the more the merrier thing.”
“I’m going on my own,” I counter.
Mads narrows his eyes at me. “You’re going to let me get murdered? And you’re not even going to wait to take an antidote with you? The one you took wore off long ago. So are you just going to wallow around in misery when you could have gone with me? You aren’t even back to normal yet.”
“En, what’s going on?” Rylee asks. “Please don’t leave!”
“Stay until you feel better or else this will be an absolute waste,” Mads says.
I take a deep breath and nod. “Fine. We’re heading to the university now, then. Rylee, let’s go.”
“I need my cat!”
“Leave the cat.”
“He’s sad alone!”
“If you lose the cat, don’t come crying to me.”
“I would never cry. I’ve never cried since I was like a baby,” she says, but the way she eyes Finn and Orin makes me feel like that’s not quite true.
“I… think I’m going to head to the department to join Bentley,” River says. “I’m not quite sure I’m cut out to help with this part without Bentley’s assistance.”
Finn smiles at him. “Of course. He could definitely use your help there. We really don’t know what to expect or what might come of this. You need to be careful, though.”
“I will be,” he assures us.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
MADS
Claude has said nothing since we left Orin’s.
Ender is being forced to give the cat kisses, and even though he told Rylee that he would absolutely never kiss the cat, he ends up kissing it.
