Page 11 of Blood Taken (Blood Mafia 2)
Quorana obviously doesn't like Hunters, and I'm not particularly in a hurry to make friends with her. Maria's barely out of the room when the door slams shut with Quorana's magic.
Maria grunts when it clips her back. "Fucking witch," she mutters.
"The Guild needs to do something about her before it gets out of hand," Nicole says to her before turning to me. She holds up the pendant. "Put it on."
I shake my head. "What is it?"
"This." She dangles it in front of my face. "Is how we keep Mateo away from you."
Maria takes the necklace and opens the fragile chain, bringing it around my neck to clasp it. "It's enchanted to obscure your aura. He can't find you if you keep it on."
The pendant is silver, a slim oval shape with several runes carved into it. The metal is delicate, thin enough I can bend it with my fingers if I push too hard.
"How do we know it's working?"
Nicole defers to Maria when I glance at her to answer the question.
"Mateo won't show up."
"That's not very reassuring," I mumble to myself.
"Let's get you set up in a room so you can rest," Nicole says.
They lead me to a stairwell and we traverse to the third floor. Every step makes me feel even more exhausted. When they take me down a hall and direct me to a small, dorm style room, I sigh in relief. I expected some tiny cot. This bed is a full size one, covered in a comfy looking white blanket and a half-dozen pillows.
"Rest," Nicole says, shooing Maria to the door. "We'll come get you for lunch, I'm sure you're tired enough to sleep in."
I nod, not caring when they come to get me so long as I can lie down and close my eyes.
* * *
I wakeup earlier than I want, but it's hard to rest easy when you're in an unknown place. Still, I take the time to snoop through the bedside table, dresser, and closet. To my surprise, there are fresh clothes and towels for the small bathroom attached to the bedroom. Since I have nothing but time until Nicole comes for me, I grab a pair of pants and a shirt and head to shower.
Thankfully, it isn't a shared bathroom. I stand under the scalding water, scrubbing myself more than clean and taking my sweet time getting out. When I'm done, I pull on the soft black cargo pants and dark green V-neck shirt. The bra I had on is a racerback, so it's peeking out, but I look a thousand times better than I did in my old gym clothes.
There's no brush, so I finger comb my hair and use the tie on my wrist to secure a French braid. I'm looking rather Tomb Raider if I do say so myself, but I like it.
The badass look gives me the boost of confidence I need to face whatever is planned for me today.
I'm lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling when someone knocks. I start to sit but stop when I hear Maria's voice.
"I'm here to take you to lunch."
As if on cue, my stomach grumbles. I chew on my lower lip. I'm not really in the mood to deal with Maria, especially while I'm starving.
"I know you're hungry. It's twelve-thirty."
I scowl at the door, but shove off the bed since she's right.
Hey, if she wants to risk being punched in the face because she's brave enough to come get me before food, that's on her.
She beams at me when I open the door. "There you are. I was starting to worry."
"Like you did for the other twenty-four years of my life?"
"I did worry." Her eyes soften and she lifts her eyebrows in a sad attempt to look remorseful.
Yeah, okay. And I'm a human.
