Blood Trial Supernatural Battle (Vampire Towers #1) - Kelly St. Clare Page 0,56

Probably not.

Did I need to play along until I escaped?

Absolutely.

“Why not,” I replied, smoothing my skirt before stepping out of the elevator.

14

A cold wall of fear slapped me the second I entered Level 66. Knowing my reaction to their group presence was natural made things much easier—in that I could take a moment to acclimatise without someone sending me off to the looney bin.

The elevator doors whooshed closed at my back—my exit gone—and my heart rate tripled. I squeezed my eyes shut, breathing in rhythm with the thundering in my ears. I remained this way until the pounding faded, and then dared a look at my surroundings.

In the staff room, I was the sole focus of one hundred Vissimo, but on this level, none of the several hundred vampires in sight paid me any mind.

“What the…” The words left my lips as the vision before me registered.

“From 10:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m., you will find most of Kyros’s sub-clan on the top three levels of Kyros Sky,” Angelica said. She’d waited quietly while I tried to avoid a survival meltdown.

The floor was circular, obstructing my view of the whole floor. Kyros Sky was one of those towers that had a disc up the very top before the steeple. Now I knew the space ship appearance wasn’t for the 360-degree view—but to accommodate the masses of Vissimo up here each night.

A huge monitor covered the wall in front of me. A rectangle image with different coloured blocks filled it. Some of the blocks were flashing—whatever that meant. The monitor occupied the only wall I could see. Otherwise, glass-walled meeting rooms filled the outer perimeter of the level. The glass rooms were filled with small groups of vampires who appeared to be in the midst of animated conversation.

The wide expanse between the inner wall of the tower and the outer glass rooms was arranged into rows of compact work stations. Each station contained a monitor set upon a dark-grey standing desk. Vissimo occupied every single one, their eyes fixed on the screen, fingers typing in a blur.

I’d barely given the appearances of the staff at Live Right a thought beyond their bright eyes, but I looked closely at the monsters surrounding me.

The vampires varied in hair and eye colour and ranged in height from a head shorter than me to well over six foot—both males and females. At the moment, with hundreds of them in the same straight-backed position before the computer screens, a new element of fear crept over me.

The only thing scarier than a mindless beast was a cultured one.

I pivoted to Angelica. “Some kind of illegal underground stock exchange?”

The nearest Vissimo scoffed.

Angelica rested her eyes on them, and they quickly smoothed their expression, returning to work.

Angie is totally a dark horse.

“Understand, Miss Tetley,” she said in a firm tone, “our clan prides themselves on obeying and operating according to human law. It is the difference between us and our… competitor. While they may commit crimes against humans to play the game, we do not sink to their level.”

She said competitor like I said dog poop.

Which I’d stood in by accident it seemed.

I clasped my hands behind my back. “I see.”

She couldn’t seriously be telling me that they were legit? Like, legally legit.

God, I needed wine in my veins.

“Shall we?” she asked, gesturing to the rows of work stations.

I glanced at the huge monitor with the flashing blocks of colour again, trying to connect the dots.

Nope, nothing.

Shrugging a shoulder, I weaved between the stations after my fanged tour guide.

“How old is Bluff City, Miss Tetley?” she threw back over her shoulder.

Her question surprised me. But everyone knew the answer to that thanks to the stupid Bluff City anthem we were forced to learn in primary school. “Ah, 149 years old.”

“Correct. One hundred and fifty years ago, my sister—then not yet a queen—had two kings in her harem. When she fell pregnant for the first time, both kings granted the child royal status, as is their right, and claimed the baby for their own line. The qualities of our blood make human DNA tests ineffective, and though my sister was adamant the child belonged to our king, her declaration held no legal weight in such an instance. When the child was not given up to him, the second king declared war on our clan.”

This was just like Truth Ranges—except vampires. My first observation would be that having two kings in your harem was always going to lead to this, but I