Page 122 of The Shade of Things
Zev replaced the orb in the pouch. “Ms. Feldman was under the impression that the Ascendant was either too weak to effectively work or that the Consortium hadn’t used it properly.” He raised his eyebrows at Tatiana.
I gripped the arm of the sofa. “Did neither of you hear me? I won’t do this!”
Tatiana’s lips were clamped shut, but the answer burst out of her despite her best efforts otherwise. “The BS that opened it for the Consortium was half-Sapien.”
I flinched at the use of the slur against my kind.
“And?” Zev said.
“The Consortium didn’t know that until after I’d stolen it from them.” The words were dragged out of her. “The user’s half-Sapien ancestry diluted the Ascendant’s ability to perform properly.”
“Wonderful. That was all I needed, thank you.” Zev stood up and held out a hand to me. “Come. We have an old friend of mine whom it’s time to pay our respects to.”
“Forget it,” I said. “I won’t risk damnation for that.”
Zev blurred away, his hand closing around Tatiana’s throat. “What about for this?”
The noise of distress she made shattered me, but I kept my gaze steady. “You’re bluffing. You can’t hurt her. You said it yourself.”
He tightened his hold, blood welling up under the press of his nails. The skin on her neck was papery thin. “How far do you want to test me?”
Tatiana clawed at her throat, whimpering.
I despised him. Despised them both. But I despised myself most for still caring. Still, I wasn’t going to pay the price for the vampire’s desires. “I’m not prioritizing anyone’s life over mine.”
“Not even Sadie’s?” Zev met my gaze calmly like he was inquiring about the weather, his hand still wrapped around Tatiana’s throat. “Need I remind you of my open invitation into your home?”
His misbuttoned shirt and red-rimmed, sleepless eyes were a warning sign that any other promises he’d ever made would be forfeit if I didn’t acquiesce.
“You win,” I said bitterly.
There was no triumph in Zev’s gaze. He released Tatiana, studying his hands before clasping them behind his back. “Anything else I should know?”
“Isn’t that enough?” Tatiana said bitterly.
“You’d better hope it is.” With that, he stalked toward the front door, my arm gripped in his hand.
The scent of Tatiana’s perfume grew stronger. “I won’t hurt Sadie,” she said from behind once Rodrigo, Zev, and I were outside. “But I never want to see you again.” She shut her door, the dead bolt sliding into place with a ka-thunk.
I wasn’t sure which of us she spoke to, and it hardly mattered since I wouldn’t be back.
Zev’s nails dug into my biceps, but he didn’t stop walking. He shoved me into the back of the limo and we drove to Blood Alley.
“At least give me a phone to say goodbye to everyone.” My eyes had welled with tears from sorrow, yes, but also because I was furious.
Zev didn’t answer me, staring out the window and drumming his fingers on his bouncing leg.
I scrubbed a hand over my face. “Will you at least tell everyone what happened to me?”
“I’m sure Tatiana will let them know.” You bastard.
My chest tight, I stared out the window gathering every good memory of my loved ones close to sustain me, but they were fuzzy and distant like an underdeveloped photograph.
Rodrigo didn’t park outside the gates. He drove into a parking garage a few blocks away, went down a level, and through a hidden space entrance, coming out in another garage in the vamp’s territory.
A short elevator ride solved the mystery of where we were: underneath the club, Rome. It made sense that there’d be a way for them to get supplies in and out without garnering attention, but this new fact didn’t mean much in the face of my impending doom.
My positive thinking that maybe the angels wouldn’t notice one little estrie being coaxed out of hiding was squelched under the fear that estries hadn’t been seen in hundreds of years and I had no faith in this cockamamie device to bring a specific one back, even if I was a full Banim Shovavim.
