Page 66 of Havenfall Harbor 2
“School grounds will be locked down until I learn every single detail of this betrayal,” Griff announces, glaring out at the crowd. “If you try to leave, I will assume you are forfeiting my protection, which means you will be my enemy.” In other words, he will kill anyone who tries to leave before he says it’s okay. Looking at him, I don’t think it’s an idol threat.
Griffin
Evan dismisses the room after asking if anyone has anything they would like to get off their chest before we question Rand.
The vampire’s admittance that HERO is involved in supplying Wet to the unblooded vampires took me by surprise, but it makes sense. Plus, I don’t think he’s duplicitous enough to come up with the lie to blame them on his own.
“Randell is your given name, correct?” I inquire once everyone else has filed out of the room. The vampire nods. “Tell me, Randell, how did you come to work with such an organization?”
“They didn’t give me much of a choice at first,” he answers. I pull up another chair and take a seat right in front of him, so close, our knees are almost touching.
“Explain.”
“I went to Vegas on vacation several months ago.” Rand looks over his shoulder at Evan, who is directing the woman from the blood bank to a chair across the room. “I got cornered in an alley not far from the strip. There were too many of them for me to fight, and they didn’t want a fight anyway. They wanted my cooperation.”
“You expect us to believe they singled you out, knew you worked here, and forced you to give kids laced drugs?” Evan stares at Rand as if he’s not worth the air he’s breathing.
“At first, they just wanted me to listen.” Rand shrugs. “I thought they were there to kill me, and they just wanted to talk. I was a little shocked. I didn’t even believe them at first, but then I started to really listen to them and the shit they were saying made sense.” The vampire’s brows are pulled down, making him look serious, not to mention, it almost sounds like he’s going to try to sell us the same bullshit.
“Let me guess, they don’t hate supernaturals. They just think we would both be better if we didn’t intermingle our lives,” Evan mocks.
“There are reasons why it makes sense,” Rand defends.
Evan shuts down his bullshit right away, thank fuck. “None that I’m willing to hear. Did they feed you the idea about the drugs?”
“Yeah. They give me the idea and the dope, and I supply the blood.”
“Why were you using my blood?”
“I wasn’t until recently. I actually got the idea from her.” Rand tilts his head toward the woman. “She was my connection at the blood bank. I got to our scheduled meeting a little earlier than expected. She was just finishing up her deal with the crazy woman. I overheard enough to know she was buying your blood. I told her I wanted it too.”
Evan turns to look at the woman, who’s full-on sobbing. The guilt wafting off her tells us everything we need to know. “And the money we found, that came from this organization?”
“Yeah, they gave me cash so I would be set once the school was shut down.” Rand isn’t even trying to cover his ass. He knows it’s a lost cause at this point.
“We know you were using Michelle as a go-between with the kids. Were you working with anyone else?”
“No, but I’m not the only one who thinks training supernaturals to live in the human world is fucked up.”
“We aren’t training them to live in the human world, you fucking idiot, we’re offering them something more, a chance to make their own decisions. It isn’t them or us,” Evan snarls.
“Who else?” I urge, ignoring Rand’s tirade. It’s not the first time I’ve heard something similar. I’ve been around a long time.
“Work out everyone who didn’t want the human coming here, and then you might have an idea.”
Evan grabs the vampire by his shirt and hauls him right out of his chair and into the air. “You don’t even get to think about her.”
“It was never about her, not for me. I was pissed at Michelle when I found out what she did. I’m just saying we all don’t feel the same.” Rand barely even fights Evan’s hold.
It’s truly surprising he’s the one who is about to rip the vampire’s head off and not me. The violence sends the woman into another fit of cries.
“Silence,” I bark.
She pulls in her bottom lip and stifles her tears.
“Who is the crazy woman?” I have my suspicions, but I’d rather hear it from her.
The woman points to her chest, asking for permission to speak, even though I’m looking right at her. I narrow my eyes, and she whimpers out, “Millie.”
