wasn’t his memory, it was hers. That means, he took some of her blood, but also that he’d already turned her; that she was elite before she died. It means, he lied to Damien about her funeral, he must have.”
“What difference does it make now? That was all nearly a century ago.”
I gripped the edge of the table. I wasn’t sure, really. My mind was spinning in circles, trying to connect the dots.
“If he’d already made the elixir, maybe he’d also started on an antidote. Imagine if he turned his wife and she became like Penelope, bloodthirsty. He would have wanted to save her. King Richard has a lab in the citadel, but we’d never get in there. He showed me the security. It’s all glass doors and keypads and fingerprint scanners. But what if he had another lab, a long time ago, where Damien grew up? What if his original research or work was there?”
“That’s a long shot,” April frowned. “And how would you even begin to find it? Ask Damien where he grew up?”
“I won’t have to,” I said. “There’s someone here who might already know.”
10
The guards were awake this time, and there were two of them. I think I’d seen them before, but I hadn’t paid them much attention. I went during dinner, when everybody else would be distracted. They were sitting at a table nearby eating but stood up when I strode into view. One put his hand on the hilt of his dagger nervously. Interesting.
“I need to see her,” I said.
“Nobody is allowed down here,” one of them said. He was younger, with a trace stubble on his chin.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Geoffrey,” he said. “And this is Davis.”
The larger one nodded.
A noodle was stuck in his dark beard.
“Well Geoffrey, Jacob sent me down to check on the prisoner.”
“She ain’t a prisoner,” Davis said. “She’s an abomination and a monster.”
“Right, well, the procedure today didn’t go as planned and we need to make sure there are no lingering effects. So unless you want to go in there yourself and check her vitals, I suggest you let me pass.”
“Maybe I should just check,” Geoffrey said, reaching for his radio.
“Sure,” I rolled my eyes. “I’m sure Jacob doesn’t have better things to do than have each one of his orders triple checked.”
I pushed past them, unlocking the heavy door and stepping inside the truck. Penelope was still in the corner, locked up with heavy chains. I could barely see the cuts from last night, hidden under the dried blood coating her thin arms.
I wrinkled my nose against the foul smell, and took out the small dagger I’d tucked against my hip. I held it against my wrist, then pulled sharply until the steel bit into my flesh.
Penelope’s eyes snapped open, and she sniffed the air hungrily.
“That’s right,” I said. “It’s time someone fed you. I’m sorry, I should have done this sooner.”
She reached for me, straining against the chains. I stood over her and held out my wrist, turning it so the blood could drip down on her pale face. She wiped the blood with her hand, licking it off her fingers, then opened her mouth like a baby bird as I squeezed a small trickle of blood out.
I wrapped my wrist with bandages I’d swiped from the med center and leaned against the far wall.
“I’m sorry if it tastes funny,” I said. “There’s a lot we have to talk about. So much has happened since... this,” I said lamely. “Damien tasted my blood once and looked disgusted, but I found out later it was just because I tasted so familiar, because he knew my grandfather. But I am different. Half elite, impossibly. I don’t know if that makes my blood taste strange. But then, this is probably the first human blood you’ve ever had, so maybe you have nothing else to compare it to.”
I was rambling, waiting for any change in Penelope’s appearance. I’d never seen an elite this far gone before. I didn’t even know if my blood would revive her, but I had to try something.
Gradually, her eyes cleared, shining brightly in the dark cell like sapphires. Her irises focused after a while, and she tilted her head like she was considering me.
Then she tugged at her restraints, testing them, studying them critically. For a moment, I felt afraid. I’d locked myself in here with a starving vampire and given her a taste of my blood. If she escaped, the guards wouldn’t be able