Page 32 of House of Crimson Hearts
“You know there is…”
“Out with it,” she says and lays her hands on the desk.
I lean forward, searching for the right words. The right phrases to not sound totally insubordinate questioning her decisions. “I… er. It’s about last night.”
She huffs, her lips scrunching together. “I assumed it would be.”
I decide to be strategic about this, I don’t want to question her so much as the security issue… which is legitimately my job to do. “Well, from a strictly safety perspective, this is an unmitigated disaster.”
“I disagree. There’s only five of you that will have to partner with the drainers, and all of you are senior and highly qualified, highly trained hunters.”
“Yes, and we’re going to have to be left with five of the most dangerous vampires in the city. We barely get through the annual peace talks without someone getting staked or a hunter being drained. How do you expect us to partner with them?”
“I expect you to do your job. Think of it as undercover work. Get close, find out everything you can and report back.”
“So you do think it’s a ploy to get inside our ranks? You don’t think the door is real?”
This makes the Chief scoff. “Oh, the door is real. I heard of its appearance shortly after the boundary was created. I’m certain that it’s a ploy of some kind. Cordelia wouldn’t just ‘retire.’ She’s been head of the vampires for a thousand years. People like that don’t just retire. They get power, they covet it, crave it and hoard it.”
“And when they can’t get any more?” I ask.
“What does any leader do on their way out…? Burn it all to the ground.”
That makes both of us pause.
“Shit.”
The Chief nods. “But if we know that she either has no intention of retiring, or has an alternative plan, then maybe we can use this situation to our advantage. How many hunters have we lost over the years trying to penetrate through to the inner layers of Cordelia’s house?”
“Too many.”
“Exactly. But now we have a chance for our hunters, senior ones no less, to be inside her inner circle.”
I don’t like this. I run my hand through my hair. “We’re not trained for undercover operations. We’re trained for close combat and defence. What if they take the cure from the grimoire and leave us for dead?”
“Then we get to it first.”
This time, I’m the one who scoffs. The Chief leans forward over her desk.
“Not only are we getting to that cure first, we’re going to secure it and find a way to replicate it en masse. We could cure anyone, everyone. We could wipe vampires off the face of the city. Hell, Red, you could cure your sister.”
I open my mouth. I shut it again. Of course I told the Chief the day it happened. She consoled me, let me cry it out and then took me to the gym and sparred with me until I passed out.
My sister? Fuck. I could really get her back.
“Isn’t that what you want? To be able to cure her? Turn her back? Give Amelia her humanity again?”
That’s the only thing I want. It’s my fault she was turned. I didn’t get there fast enough. Couldn’t save her. Just like I couldn’t save my mother from the drainers and couldn’t convince my father to stay with us.
Maybe I can do this one thing. Maybe I can enter, accept the challenge and for once, actually save someone I care about.
“I’ll have to work with the drainers, though.”
The Chief nods, her face severe. “I know. There’s nothing we can do about that. But perhaps we can see it as an undercover operation of sorts. You can report back anything you discover. We can make the most of this situation and gain as much intel on Cordelia’s enterprise as possible.”
I nod, sitting up in my chair, finally feeling more enthusiastic about it.
“Just don’t partner me with Octavia.”
