Don't Hex and Drive (Stay a Spell #2) - Juliette Cross Page 0,43
he moved, it wasn’t very far. Then a medicinal smell. Antiseptic which he wiped on her neck. At least he was keeping her from infection.
“Good girl,” he purred again in a low whisper before latching on again and drinking deeply...
When he was done, he left the room, talking again to someone in the hall. Just before Emma fell into a toxin-fueled sleep, there was a distant sound of bells chiming. Church bells.
Her memories were hazed with glamour, like smoke cloaking her mind. There were other jumbled voices. Even another woman, not Emma, crying in the night. Then the next coherent memory was her staring at a garbage dumpster in the alley where I found her.
I pulled out of her mind and whispered soothing words to help her go back to sleep and to forget about my invasion. About our visit. Guilt hit me in the chest, having to add another layer of glamour on top of the snowdrifts our vampires had left behind. Being inside her mind was like being twisted out of shape and confused beyond reason. Her mind was so malleable it had flowed wherever the vampires took her. Wherever I took her. So easily. That’s when it hit me.
“Come.” I motioned for us to leave.
Ruben had remained near the door in the shadows, observing and saying nothing. Much like Jules who stood next to him.
Isadora stood and wobbled on her feet. I caught her by the arm. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” She nodded. “It’s fine. Most of the time I have no effects after transference.”
I walked her toward the door, keeping a firm grip on her shoulder so she could lean on me. “But you don’t usually use this much energy in normal transference, do you?”
“No,” she agreed, “I don’t.”
She didn’t fight my assistance as we headed down the corridor. With a flick of Ruben’s hand, the nurses didn’t see us pass, nor would they remember us coming tonight.
After making it back into the parking lot, I helped Isadora into the car. Then settled in beside her in the backseat.
Jules slammed the door, the last one in, and twisted around in her seat. “What do you know?”
“She was kept blindfolded the whole time. Most her memories were wiped. She held onto just one. There were two voices, but I could only make out one of them.” I clenched my jaw.
“What is it?” asked Ruben.
I met his gaze in the rearview. “This wasn’t a blood orgy. It’s a blood trafficking ring.”
“Fucking hell,” he mumbled as he pulled us out of the parking lot. “Are you sure?”
“I will be as soon as we get to The Green Light.”
“What’s at The Green Light?” asked Isadora.
“We have someone who may be a part of the abduction ring,” I answered. “But I’ll only know once I can question him.”
Jules looked over at Ruben. “So he isn’t killing them. Was Emma violated in any other way?”
“No,” answered Ruben. “Gabriel persuaded the nurse to give him her medical chart. She was examined, and there were no signs of sexual assault. She suffers from malnutrition and severe anemia only.”
“Thank God,” said Isadora, turning thoughtful. “I don’t understand blood trafficking. Vampires can use glamour and their other assets. I mean, is it really that hard for you guys to find blood hosts?”
Ruben and I exchanged a look. I raised a brow for him to answer this one. Isadora already thought I was the most arrogant ass in the world, so I wouldn’t pile it on.
Ruben blew out a heavy sigh then muttered, “Yes and no. For guys like us, it’s far too easy.”
Isadora huffed out a breath, smirking at me and rolling her eyes. I just shrugged. Because what was I going to do, lie and say it wasn’t?
“I’ll bet,” said Jules, her gaze swiveling out the window.
Before Ruben could say something else to smooth over that giant foot he put in his mouth, I added, “But it can be very difficult for some vampires who are socially awkward. Or who built a reputation for being too rough. Or maybe they’re just lazy. Or for that matter, just get low ratings.”
“Low ratings?” asked Isadora, shifting her body to face me. “What does that mean?”
I glanced at Ruben who was shaking his head in annoyance. “Tell them,” he said.
That got Jules’s attention. Her head snapped back around. “Tell us what? Have you been holding out from your Enforcer?”
Ruben laughed. “My Enforcer doesn’t need to know all vampire business. Only when it pertains to you.”