at the foot of the stairs, watching the three vampires wind their way up the stairs that seemed much too grandiose, almost gaudy.
“Will you not go?”
Standing within arms reach of me, I swallowed the initial rush of discomfort of standing so close to a Vampire Lord. His power wafted from his skin like the scent of a flower and I felt the hair on my arms rise. “What would you have done if we had died in the passageway?”
He was quiet for a moment. “Honestly?”
“Honestly.”
“I don’t think I would have cared,” he said. “But you didn’t die. And so you are a mistake that we must now rectify. It’s like hanging someone, you know. If someone survives, they are considered strong. We vampires understand the strong.”
I couldn’t stop shaking. “Do you think I’m strong?”
He looked away.
“I don’t know, Ran. I don’t know.”
At that, I lost my nerve and ran up the stairs like the proper, cowed human I was.
14
Chapter Fourteen
The power they emanated flipped my stomach inside out and I had to put a hand on the wall to keep from falling face first into my own vomit.
I felt someone gather my hair up, keeping it into a loose queue at the nape of my neck. “Better in than out.”
Someone laughed. Shannon. “Really? How much more cliched could you get, Ryder?”
A hand rubbed wide circles on my back and even though my gut continued to clench and heave in the worst possible way, I pulled away. “Don’t touch me.”
I drew in a deep breath, and immediately regretted doing so as the sour-sweet smell of half-digested hamburgers and fries made me gag again.
“What’s wrong?”
I refused to feel shamed as Jason put a hand on my back.
“The power,” I managed to say through gritted teeth, determined to bring my body under control. Mind over matter. It really works...most of the time. “It’s making me feel sick.”
“I’m sorry,” said Vincent. “I forget. You’re human, so of course their auras would affect you in such a way. I suppose something like this has never occurred to me because, well, ordinary humans have never been called before the entire Committee before. I can see how this would be a bit...much.”
Breathing through my mouth made it easier to straighten back up, made it easier to take the handkerchief Ryder held out. “Here you go.”
“Thank you,” I muttered and tried to wipe the sick feeling off my lips.
I almost gave it back to him and then thought better of myself, stowing it back in my pocket, making a mental note to run it through some disinfectant before giving it back.
He winked at me. “Gives me an excuse to see you again.”
Shannon groaned, rolling her eyes. “Oh god, now I’m going to start throwing up.”
Ryder grimaced. “Please, don’t. Ran, I’ll try to comfort, but you, I think it’ll just make me sick too.”
They reminded me of siblings. “Please. I’ll be fine. I just...”
I swiped at the sweat on my brow and tried to ignore the strange, nauseating feeling that felt almost like I was standing on a boat in the middle of a squall.
So this was what power felt like.
I shivered and drew my coat closer around my body.
I didn’t like it. I didn’t like it at all.
But I didn’t think standing outside while they deliberated on Jason’s fate was an option. “I’m okay. I promise you.”
All four vampires stared at me with varying degrees of disbelief in their eyes and I pushed away from the wall, praying my knees wouldn’t start knocking together.
They didn’t, although it was a near thing.
“See?” I said and even managed a very weak laugh. “I’m okay. I just needed some time to adjust.”
The furrow between Vincent’s eyes did not fade nor lessen. “Adjust? And have you adjusted, hunter?”
I swallowed another rush of bile, but managed to walk away from the mess on the violet carpet. “I think so.”
“Hmm,” he said.
Jason put a hand on my arm. “Can you stand it?”
In all honesty, I wasn’t terribly sure. The power coming from the room at the end was almost too overwhelming. Something that felt close to a hot wind kept pushing the hair from my face, and my stomach twitched again.
I decided to just keep my mouth shut and nodded.
Shannon peered into my face as she fell into step next to me. The hallway was wide enough so that all four of us could have walked abreast without hitting any of the furniture or wall and there still would’ve been room for a few