Mind you, if there had been the slightest chance that a broken bone or two could have saved me from the high council's edict, I might have considered the option.
We reached the long corridor and walked down to the door. It opened to reveal an impatient-looking Marshall.
He glanced at his watch when he saw us, then all but spat, "What the hell time do you think this is?"
"It's five to twelve," I said, somehow keeping my voice even, though all I really wanted to do was hit him one and then spin on my heel and walk out. I was working for Hunter, not her fucking lackey. "And it's the same time we normally arrive, so why the carrying on?"
"Hunter told you—"
"Nothing," I snapped. "As usual."
Of course, I had hung up on the bitch. Maybe she'd hung me out to dry information-wise because of it.
Or maybe she'd never intended to tell me, especially if this was another bloody test.
Marshall's grunt didn't sound pleased. "Well, the place is fucking packed tonight, which is why I wanted you here earlier. I wanted to get you into the side room before the main rush."
"Would it matter? Everyone in the main bar will know I'm there. They'll hear my heartbeat."
"Yeah, but without really seeing you, they'll just presume you're one of the thralls entertaining a client. Now they'll know otherwise." He glanced at Azriel. "Hope your friend has come prepared to fight, because if things get nasty—and I suspect they will, given the wait we have for the feeding rooms—I won't be able to control it. Not with the size crowd we have."
I stared at him for a moment, then said, with a touch of exasperation in my voice, "You can cut the act. I know the council intends to test me."
"They want you tested, yes," he spat back. "But I'm not entirely sure they want a bloodbath in this facility—which is exactly what they might get by introducing fresh meat and inciting trouble at this hour of the evening."
Dread rolled through me. "Fresh meat?"
He gave me a look that hovered between annoyance and concern. "We're talking junkies here, remember? For most of them, any female in this club who isn't a vampire has two purposes—to feed from or to provide sexual service. The thralls do the latter, the blood whores the former."