“Stay close to me,” I mouthed and she nodded, looking around in fear.
Blood wafted to my nostrils and I had to fight every instinct I had to not enjoy it. When we reached the nurses’ station, Amy jumped, but to her credit, did not scream. A nurse lay in a pool of her own blood behind the desk, her throat gouged out in true vampire fashion.
Isabelle.
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I knew that older vampires had more control over their transformation, but I didn’t think that they could do such a thing at 10 in the morning. So either Isabelle could and I had a lot to learn about vampires, or she was a cold-blooded killer when she was human as well.
Movement at the end of the hall alerted me, and I looked up to see Thomas De Ritter standing there, his eyes meeting mine, those same eyes that his daughter had often gazed at me with.
“Amy,” I mouthed, and she looked up to see him approach.
Out of respect for the head of the Shields, and because I didn’t want to start a war, I bowed my head. Thomas’s eyes darted around until they rested on Sarah’s hospital room. I nodded, and slowly, we approached.
Thomas was not as powerful as his daughter, but he was more powerful than Sarah, whose power I couldn’t even feel.
We crept up to the window, afraid of what we might find.
Isabelle was standing beside Sarah’s bed. Sarah, clearly alive, looked terrified by Isabelle’s words. I nodded to Thomas and held up three fingers.
He nodded back, and waited for my signal.
When the time was right, we both leapt in. Thomas grabbed Isabelle before she could get any closer to Sarah. I heard her shriek an ungodly shriek. Amy immediately ran to Sarah, making sure she was alright, while I faced Isabelle, who was struggling. Luckily, whatever superhuman strength she possessed was neutralized by Thomas.
“Isabelle,” I spoke carefully. “I can’t have you threatening my plan against Selene, which Sarah is instrumental in.”
“Whore!” Isabelle spat, suddenly speaking English and making Amy gasp.
I shook my head. “Not appropriate language for my students. Your participation in this plan is no more, Isabelle.”
“Connor will save me!” she cried, her voice heavily accented. “You will regret this!”
“Your husband handed you over,” I replied. “And now I see why. You’re a right bitch to deal with.”
“Liam,” Thomas said, his face neutral. “I will make sure to hand this one over to the proper authorities. After we are done with her.”
I bit my lip. Thomas was essentially asking for payment for his participation. To leave a vampire in the hands of the Shields was torture, excruciating pain, guaranteed.
But I knew that it was the right thing to do after looking at Amy and Sarah, both with tears running down her face.
“Fine.”
Thomas glanced to Sarah and then back at me. “A word, Liam, if you please,” he asked.
I nodded, my chest tightening at what he might say.
We went out into the hall, Isabelle struggling the whole way. The smell of blood was everywhere since Isabelle had slaughtered the whole staff. I knew I would have to sneak Amy out of here. I didn’t want her to see any more than she had to see.
“Yes?”
“Why did you call me to protect an O’Malley Shield?”
My jaw fell open. “The O’Malley bloodline is dead, at least 600 years. Porsche told me that after the whole clan betrayed the coven, they were… taken care of.”
The O’Malleys were one of the old Shield bloodlines that were since long gone. In their case, they had chosen, as Porsche did, to work in conjunction with vampires. The rest of the Shield families had made sure they did not live to see the dawn. It was a bloody massacre, and they were rarely talked about it.
I found it almost ironic how the Shields could call vampires monsters, and hold them so high and mighty, and yet have such a bloody history.
“And there were supposed to be no survivors. But there is always one or two that escape. What you have in there is a diluted O’Malley Shield. Did you know that?”
I almost blushed. “We knew… something, that she was something. But we traced family history and couldn’t find anything. We figured she was some diluted passive Shield.”
“She is diluted and passive. The O’Malley’s wouldn’t have active Shields anymore. But she is still a Shield, and she belongs with us. We will not lose another one to your cause.”
“I-I uh...” I was at a loss for words. “Sarah knows what she is, and she chooses to stay with us.”