Page 123 of Cruelly Bitten
Regardless, I needed to be prepared for everything and anything. And whatever weapon Ismerelda kept thinking about inside her mind.
The weapon that had disabled me.Destroyedme. My mind. My love for her. My soul.
I’m going to fix this, my queen,I promised her as I stepped out into the night, my focus on the shadows of the stone-paved courtyard.
Nothing moved or breathed, including me. I didn’t trust the silence, not after all the details I’d discovered in the last few moments.
Michael had said this was a test—one I’d passed. But I hadn’t. As was substantiated by the unconscious woman in my arms. She still wore the blood of the vampires I’d killed, their essence sticky rather than dry.
Because only a handful of minutes had transpired since I’d found her.
Which meant Michael might be coming after us now.
Try it,I thought, my jaw flexing.
Except the unknown weapon chipped at my confidence. From what Ismerelda’s psyche told me, the device manipulated the section of the mind connected to a vampire’sErosita.
Ismerelda had suspected that might be the cause of my memory loss. It would make sense as to why every event tied to her no longer existed in my head, yet I could recall other things.
Such as this courtyard.
I’ve been here before.An obvious deduction, given that Ismerelda had shown me this in her mind, proving we’d been here together.
But I’d also been here without her, because there were details I recalled that I hadn’t picked up on from her thoughts.Like the courtyard’s only exit.
I phased over to the archway that led to an old side street, my senses sweeping up and down the cobblestone alley, searching for potential threats.
Nothing.
Because we were outside the Vatican City walls here.
And all the vampires were deep inside the bunker, protecting other immortal assets.
That part I knew was real—the lack of supernatural personnel on-site. Lilith hadn’t trusted many of our kind withour—no,her—secrets. Thus, the primary security I should face up here would be human Vigils.
At least until Michael deployed the others to come after us.
Assuming they’re even chasing me.
There wasn’t time to ponder Michael’s intentions or what-ifs; I needed to put distance between us and this place.And the weapon that rendered me useless.
I phased down the alleyway to another main street, my moves driven by ancient recollections of what Rome used to be.
Unfortunately, it was nothing like I remembered.
Quiet. Abandoned.Desolate.
The buildings weren’t crumbling or destroyed, justempty. Dust settled in the air around me, the small flecks disturbed by my teleporting down vacant streets.
I need a car,I decided, seeing none in sight.
But I knew from my trip to the airport the other week that there were several automobiles and bikes near the compound.
And even more near the city border—which we had crossed to reach the airfields.
Everything had been guarded by humans. No vampires or lycans.
That gave me an advantage.
