Page 72 of Stalk the Dark
Huh?
“So soon?” Laudon sighed. “I should have gotten here earlier. I heard there was some drama.”
Ezekiel’s smile was tight. He looked…off.
“I’ll tell you all about it when you come to supper.” He broke away from the group, taking me with him, and began weaving his way through the crowd, his grip on me tighter than ever.
Something was wrong.
We were almost at the door when two vampires blocked our path—unfamiliar faces moving in with pretty words, eager to speak to their king.
“Move!” Ezekiel barked.
They staggered out of the way as he practically dragged me through the doors and into the foyer.
“Ezekiel, what is it? What’s wrong?” Ordell demanded.
“Get the carriage. Now,” Ezekiel ordered.
Hemlock rushed into the night, and Ordell stepped forward to flank Ezekiel as we hurried after him.
Ezekiel buckled as we went down the steps, and Ordell cursed. “The wine?”
“Yes,” Ezekiel said.
What the… “What about the wine?”
“Poison,” Ordell said.
“But he can’t be killed.”
“There are worse things than death, little silver,” Ezekiel said.
The clatter of hooves signaled the arrival of our carriage, and Ordell and I helped Ezekiel inside just as three vampires I hadn’t seen in the ballroom ran out into the night, rushing toward us.
Yah!Hemlock cried, and we were off.
Ezekiel groaned in pain and clutched his abdomen. His skin was bloodless, lips white as paper, and dark circles had formed beneath his eyes.
Shit, shit, shit. “What’s happening to him?”
“They call it half-life. A cycle of desiccation and pain. They must have added dead man’s blood to the wine.” Ordell pinched Ezekiel’s jaw and studied his face. “He doesn’t have long before he’s trapped like this. He needs human blood.”
“How long will he be trapped?”
“Months. The whole year probably and then…the rest…”
“Why? Why would anyone do this?” But the memory of the dagger eyes, of Albert and his pain, of the hatred beating off the fledglings, swirled in my mind. “Dumb question.”
“Yes. There are plenty of vampires who might want him out of the picture,” Ordell said. “And after what happened tonight, there are plenty of vampires who this could be pinned on. The king has power over all business and enterprise, and someone obviously doesn’t want him interfering.”
Ezekiel’s breath came in shallow gasps. “I’ll kill them,” he groaned. “When I find who…” He snarled, feral and desperate—a sound that made my hackles rise.
We were running out of time. “We’ll get him human blood.”
“In the next ten minutes?” Ordell shook his head. “It’ll take half an hour to get to town and forty minutes to the castle. It’ll be too late.” He watched me, expectant.
Hell no. “Youfeed him.”
