A Shade of Vampire 79 A Game of Death - Bella Forrest Page 0,108
through my leg. It was tolerable, but not at all pleasant. “You gave me vampire blood, right?”
He nodded. “It didn’t work. You’ll have to heal slower than usual, I’m afraid. Kalon insisted earlier this morning that we try with Aeternae blood, as well. Namely his, with Petra’s permission. Amal obliged, but it failed.”
Kalon. Yes. He’d… “He saved me. He found us down there, and he saved us.”
I couldn’t remember much, other than him killing the Darklings who’d pinned me against the wall. Everything else was still faded into that sweet darkness I’d just left behind. I’d find the missing pieces, eventually. For the time being, however, I was just happy to be alive.
“I know. Trev has gone into hiding, for now,” Tristan said. “Kalon should be coming around soon. He’s been stopping by every other hour. I doubt he’s gotten any sleep since last night.”
“What time is it?” I asked, trying to get up. My shoulder and side stung, forcing me to lie back down before I made myself suffer. “Ouch…”
“You need to rest,” he said. “It’s only noon. You’ll need another day or two before you can move around. Give it time, Esme. This is no ordinary wound. It’s not even letting your other injuries heal faster.”
“That bastard,” I hissed, my mind going back to Zoltan’s cold grin. “Did anyone know what he was doing down there? Did you catch any Darklings?”
“No, only the five dead ones,” he replied. Five. I counted in my head, trying to dig through what I could remember. The two who’d fought Trev, the ginger, and the two who’d gotten me against the wall. I’d injured the ginger severely, but I didn’t think I’d killed her. Maybe she’d tried to come after Kalon. Either way, they were dead. Useless leads.
“Do we know who they are?”
Tristan shook his head again. “The gold guards are investigating.”
“Mind you, two of them were Darklings,” I said.
“Yeah… Thing is, some of the soldiers haven’t reported for duty this morning. Something tells me that two are the very Darklings you’re referring to.”
“They’ve all gone into hiding, then,” I said.
“Corbin is organizing one hell of a search party.” Kalon’s voice came through, nearly startling Tristan. None of us had heard him come in, so he offered an apologetic smile. “Sorry. I wasn’t sure whether you were awake or not, so I didn’t want to make any noise.”
Tristan got up from the side of my makeshift bed, giving me a quick wink. “I’ll see you in a bit, okay? I’m gonna go fetch you some fresh blood from the kitchen.”
I wanted him to stay, since more questions were popping into my head. But Kalon was just as qualified to answer them—or at least most of them. Besides, my heart was already singing at the mere sight of him. I’d earned a moment alone with him.
As soon as Tristan left, Kalon took his seat beside me, taking my hand in his. The touch alone was enough to send electric signals through my arm, reviving parts of me I’d thought dormant or numb.
“It’s good to see you awake,” he said. “For a moment, I thought you weren’t coming back.”
I gave a short chuckle. “I’m like a cockroach. Not even an apocalypse will kill me.”
Kalon smiled, even though he clearly didn’t get the joke. How could he, if he’d never been to Earth? Nevertheless, he was a gorgeous sight for my very sore eyes.
“We’ll find him,” he told me. “Zoltan. We’ll find him.”
“They’ve all gone into hiding. I doubt they’ll be easy to track down,” I said. “I’m worried about their capabilities. That was a Reaper scythe he used on me.”
He nodded slowly. “I know. Your team has told me about Reapers and their weapons. I admit, I am worried, too. But you at least understand what you’re dealing with here. I trust your judgment, going forward.”
“I have no idea how we’re going to do this.” I sighed. “What about the Lord and Lady Supreme? What are their thoughts on this?”
Kalon almost smiled. “They’re in shock. They’re appalled. They’re speechless. I have never seen them like this before. It’s humiliating to them, to have had Darklings roaming freely beneath the palace. They had no idea.”
“Do you believe them?”
I wanted to see Kalon’s reaction where the two were concerned. Something nagged me about this, but I had to give Danika and Acheron the benefit of the doubt. That underground maze was extremely well hidden and protected. From what I remembered, it wasn’t easy to come upon.