Page 109 of House of Crimson Kisses
There’s muffled talking. A piece of furniture scrapes along the floor. I jerk back, leaning against the wall, trying to control my breathing so I don’t give myself away to Cordelia’s vampire hearing. When I calm down, I chance another listen.
“Perhaps who we were wasn’t so bad,” Cordelia says.
“Oh, get real… we were dreaming. We hated each other then, and we hate each other now,” the Chief says.
“Didn’t stop you fucking me a thousand years ago… did it,Eleanor?”
My blood runs cold. There it is. Everything in my vision matches.
The Chief is Eleanor. The Chief is… was? The love of Cordelia’s life. She’s a thousand fucking years old. Pins and needles trickle into my fingers, my nostrils flare as I try to breathe deep enough not to pass out.
How could she keep that from us?
“Yes, well, we all make mistakes we regret, don’t we…” the Chief says, and that hangs in the air for longer than I’m comfortable with. Long enough, I consider running out of the corridor and away in case one or both of them are about to exit the office room.
But they continue talking. I miss the first few words, but I strain my hearing until I latch onto what they’re saying again.
It’s the Chief talking, but I only catch the end of her sentence. “…someone else will.”
“Mother of Blood, Eleanor, I don’t see you bringing in any information on our mutual enemy.”
“Fuck you. Even working with you is enough of a risk to threaten my entire academy. We’re both losing control of our people. And if someone else gets to?—”
“Hush,” Cordelia hisses. “Come on, be reasonable. We’re two of the most powerful women in the city. We can defend ourselves against anything.”
“You’re not worried, then?”
Something slams down.
“Of course I am. You need to control the dhampir. That was your job. Your end of this fucking bargain.”
“I get that. She’s almost there. She needs a little push, and we’ll have her,” the Chief says.
If I thought my blood had turned cold, it freezes in my veins. I can’t breathe.
It’s Cordelia who speaks this time. “We need to step up the trials. We need to get her to…”
I strain but I can’t make out the end of the sentence, dammit.
“No,” the Chief snaps. “I can do this. I just need to isolate her a little more. Get her to trust me and me alone. Maybe another riot, perhaps put her sister in harm’s way. If it weren’t for you matching her with Octavia, we might have already won her around. We need her in a position where I’m the only one she can trust. Then she’ll have no choice but to come to me and do as I say.”
My eyes sting, I suck my lip in and bite down trying to make the words go away. Praying I’m hallucinating and none of this is real.
“And if you’re wrong? What then?” Cordelia says.
“I’m not wrong.” Another object slams into something.
“But if you are? Then what?”
“I don’t know, MORE. We can incite more riots? The more danger her loved ones are in, the more chance we have of getting her to do what we want. She’s already told me she’s the dhampir. She may have already killed someone today and initiated the transition.”
“If you’re wrong about this, Eleanor.”
“Don’t fucking call me that. I’m the one putting my people in danger here.”
“You are? Do you have any fucking idea how many vampires have died patrolling that border? We don’t even know what’s out there for fuck’s sake. Sadie said the Mother of Blood showed her a vision of demons inside the boundary. We don’t have the weaponry to deal with that. What if?—”
But I’ve heard enough. I can’t, I don’t want to listen anymore. I’m running down the corridor, sprinting away as fast as I can.
