filled him in on what I’d learned about Jessie. When I suggested we stop and question Jessie, Zack had the nerve to say he would handle it. This, of course, led to an argument.
“You do realize what I do for a living.”
He shot me a sideways glare. “You do realize you’re human.”
I glared back at him. “I shouldn’t have to tell you that I can handle myself.” His lack of response infuriated me. By the time we reached my apartment, we were no longer speaking to each other.
Once the shock at discovering that I had a new bed, rug, nightstands, and lamps wore off, it took me ten minutes to get ready. On the way out the door, I snagged my phone from the charger.
Right as we entered Tamara’s hospital room, the ants started crawling. I immediately clocked the vampire sitting at her bedside. Stupid Diana. I knew better than to walk into a strange room with my shields down. Time to get your head out of sexville and back into the game.
Zack stepped inside the room and paused. “Gunter, I’m surprised to see you here.”
So this was Gunter. He had blond hair, blue eyes, and a disapproving scowl on his face.
Gunter took one look at us, and whispered, “What have you done?”
Zack tensed beside me. “Now is not the time.”
The chair scraped across the floor as Gunter pushed to his feet. “You banished Victoria—for this?”
“Stop, Gunter,” Zack growled.
Wow, Gunter was a dick. And what did he mean by banished?
Gunter’s eyes flashed red. “I can smell her on you. What’s even worse is that I can smell you on her.”
Whoa, seriously? Neither of us had time to shower, but damn, that’s just TMI.
Zack was beside me one minute and the next he was across the room and all up in Gunter’s business. Whispered words were shared before Zack turned and motioned for me to go ahead.
Ignoring Gunter’s glare, I exited the room. Wow, he really didn’t like me.
Poor Tamara looked awful. Her face was gaunt, her skin sallow, her hair a mess of tangles. Hundreds of bite marks covered her face, neck, and arms. Something horrible had happened to this woman. Her eyes opened. She let out a surprised gasp when she saw me standing there.
“Hey, Tamara, I’m Diana Duvail. I hear you’ve been asking for me.” Panic hit her face, and I grabbed her hand to help calm her. The moment our hands touched, a large cavernous room flashed inside my head. It was filled with vampires—drooling, mindless vampires. They were hanging from the ceiling and crawling across the floor like bugs. As the bile raced up my throat, I quickly released her hand, instantly severing the connection, and took a step back. Holy shit, what was that?
“You have to save them.” Her ravaged voice made me flinch.
“Save who?” I asked.
“The other girls.”
“Can you tell me where they are?”
“Underground somewhere, I don’t know.” She started crying.
I reached for her hand again, then thought twice about it, and patted her arm instead. “Hey, we’re going to figure this out, okay. “Can you tell me about Jessie?”
She shook her head. “He didn’t have anything to do with it.”
“Okay, well, just so you know, I spoke with Anya and Naya. They said that Jessie took you to SangreLa. What happened after that?”
Her eyes widened with fear. “Please don’t tell that I went there. It’s against the code.”
“I won’t,” I lied. “It’ll be our little secret.”
She let out a sigh of relief. “Jessie wanted to go to SangreLa. His friend, Ernie, owns it, so he gets us in for free.”
“Us?” I asked.
“Whoever he’s with. That night it was just me. I had a lot to drink. At some point, I started to feel dizzy, like the room was spinning. I must have blacked out because I woke up in the dark. I couldn’t see anything.”
“What can you tell me about the room?”
“It smelled horrible. The floor felt like dirt, and I wasn’t alone. Other girls were there with me.” She pointed to the pitcher of water. As I poured her a glass, I thought about how hard to push. The last thing I wanted was to cause her more trauma.
“You’re doing great,” I said, handing her the water.
She took a sip, then continued, “They wouldn’t leave us alone. One girl would come back, and another would take her place.”
I held up my hand. “Whoa, back up a second. Who are they?”
“The handlers. I counted six but think there were more.” Zack chose that