Page 107 of House of Crimson Hearts
“I’m really not that bad,” I say. Then I lean down and give his bopped nose a kiss.
His bronze cheeks flush and he flutters his lashes at me as the door swings open. The walls pulse where our blood races through the mansion’s veins.
Doors swing open as we pass as if they’re grateful for the additional drops we gave, and I wonder whether part of the problem with the citizens has been me rather than them all along.
But I don’t think I can accept that. I’ve faced too much abuse. I don’t want to be lured into thinking that after a thousand years everyone will suddenly accept me and let everything be bygones. No, the goyle was a one-off.
“Octavia?” Red says, catching my arm.
“Yes?”
“Can you call me Red? Like in front of everyone else? I know you know my name, but no one else does. I’d like to keep it that way.”
I’m about to protest but I figure that’s the least I can do given she singlehandedly turned a goyle around for me.
“Of course.”
“Thank you,” she smiles, and we make our way through the library’s maze of hallways. We traipse down corridor after corridor, past rooms and rooms of books and archives. Some filled with records, others with books, others still with maps and scrolls.
“Gods, how does Gabriel find his way around here?” I mumble.
But as I start to complain, we approach the heart of the building and a central foyer. Off to one side is the grand library and there, when the doors swing open for us, are the other four teams.
The grand library is positively mesmerising. A huge chandelier the size of a carriage hangs from the ceiling. Little book-shaped crystals dangle from the structure alongside candles, sparkling and glimmering in the low light.
Around the edges of the room are towering shelves that reach so high I have to crane my neck to see the top. Along the walls are row after row of mahogany shelving units, each one with their own ladder. It’s spectacular. At the head of the room in the centre of the library is a circular reception desk, I suspect where you order books and deposit loaned ones.
The air is rich with the scent of old leather, musty paper and the tang of spilled ink. I smile to myself; I’ve always taken the piss out of Gabriel for his incessant love of books and history, but standing in here immersed in his world, I can see why he loves it.
“Lincoln, SHIT. Are you okay?” Red sprints across the grand library entrance towards him. I catch up and realise the problem.
His face is smashed to pieces. He has a black eye and split lip. As I look around the rest of the hunters, none of them look much better.
Fenella has stitches through one of her eyebrows and bruises to match Lincoln’s. Her red hair is matted and clotted with crusted blood.
Keir’s hand is bandaged. Only Talulla doesn’t look too worse for wear. I suspect Xavier either fed her blood or forced another vampire to give her some to keep his partner beautiful.
“Were your partners attacked?” Sadie signs.
“Yes,” Dahlia says as she saunters in behind me. “All of them were last night.”
“And we’re doing what about this?” I ask.
“Nothing,” Xavier says.
“Nothing?” Mother says as her and the Chief stride into the library. Mother looks furious, the Chief looks practically apoplectic.
“This is a travesty. I will not allow you to be under threat.”
“We’re all under threat?” Red asks.
Mother’s lips thin. “Maybe not immediately, but as word spreads, those on the side of anti-cure will likely have a problem with what we’re doing. I suspect that’s who attacked you all last night.”
“But those who are pro-cure will be out to support us,” Lincoln shrugs.
Gabriel’s fingers toy with the spine of a book. “If we succeed, we’re going to change the course of our city. We’re going to divide opinion even further than it already is. This is going to create anarchy.”
Next to him, Keir shakes his head. “Even if we don’t do this, we’ve already been attacked. Enough people know what’s in that boundary, enough know that there’s a prophecy about the cure… Chaos is coming, so no matter what, we can’t back out now. Because if we don’t find it… someone else will. We’re all targets. Even you vampires.”
