Page 44 of A Steeping of Blood (Blood and Tea #2)

Good. The countdown had begun the moment they’d parted ways with Sora, and Arthie couldn’t glance at her pocket watch to keep track of the time with her hands cuffed behind her.

“Why do you think they’re in these canisters, Bloodworth?” Shaw asked.

“Because! The longer the better, you said during our meeting months ago. The stronger they’d be.”

“The longer they stay in the canisters, the slower the silver takes over. I’m not making monsters. I’m trying to stop them.”

Understanding settled in Bloodworth’s form.

Arthie saw how he almost relaxed with the information, as if he had long wanted, possibly even suspected, Shaw and Sora to be traitors.

He toyed with something beneath the folds of his overcoat, and Arthie caught the glint of a ring of keys before he straightened his coat.

“Is that so? Oh, Shaw, I do love a good tell-all moment when I know our audience won’t be able to tell anyone after,” Bloodworth drawled.

Arthie caught Jin’s eye, making sure he saw her unlatch her cuffs. She gestured to Matteo to do the same.

“Everyone, stop.”

Bloodworth pulled out a dart gun. The guards leaped to attention with weapons of their own. Matteo froze several feet to her left, Jin to her right, and before Bloodworth could decide where to aim, Arthie drew Calibore and leveled it at his head.

“Drop it,” she commanded.

“And why would I do that?” Bloodworth asked.

Arthie cocked her pistol, watching the guards out of the corner of her eye. “Because if you don’t, I will put a bullet through your brain.”

Bloodworth looked among them. There was a madness about him, something keen on suffering. She could tell from the loving way in which he’d regarded the vampire in the canister, from the glitter in his eyes and the vile words he’d spewed.

He would not lower his weapon, even if she threatened him. Even if she fired first. He would fire his weapon regardless.

Arthie intended to make the most of it. She took a step toward him. That took her closer to one of the canisters too.

“Stop moving,” one of the guards commanded, but that did the trick: Bloodworth’s aim was solidly on her now.

“Distract the guards,” she heard Shaw whisper to Matteo.

“He said stop moving,” the other guard shouted, aiming for Arthie.

“That’s enough out of you,” Matteo said, and lunged toward them. One of them fired at Arthie, but Matteo swerved, knocking him to the ground. The other pulled out a knife, slicing into Matteo’s arm.

Matteo scowled. “You ruined my shirt.”

The guard stumbled back to the door as Matteo stalked closer. And closer. He didn’t pull out his gun, no. He was the gun. The guard tried reaching for the handle, but Matteo didn’t let him. He ripped out his throat, drenching the floor in blood.

He—he killed him.

Matteo froze, staring at the guard’s prone body. His dead body. Then he glanced at Arthie, shame flooding his verdant gaze. Only the guard who had aimed at her was dead. Only he had seen Matteo’s wrath.

He had killed for her.

It took everything in Arthie’s power not to waver, to keep her aim steady. It wasn’t as though she hadn’t seen Matteo kill before, but never so quickly, so easily . The other guard screamed, Shaw froze in place, and Bloodworth looked ready to give in to his own panic.

Which wasn’t ideal when he was holding a gun.

Arthie didn’t wait; she spoke her next words on a low breath. “Jin, the master key.”

Shaw tossed him his umbrella, and Jin dropped his cuffs to the floor, diving for Bloodworth. The overseer fired, but Arthie was ready. She leaped out of the way. The tiny dart oozed out a greenish liquid when it hit the floor.

What she didn’t expect was how quickly the weapon could fire. Bloodworth squeezed out another shot just as Jin tackled him to the floorboards.

The dart soared. It hit the canister.

As Jin and Bloodworth battled on the floor, Matteo met Arthie’s eyes from across the room, and a fissure formed in the glass.

“No,” Shaw breathed, and Arthie refused to give in to the utter terror in his eyes.

“Shaw, listen to me,” she said. “Can we free the other six Ripper vampires?”

His gaze flew wider. “No! I put them in there to slow the process in the hopes that I might find a reversal to the silver; meanwhile I developed a fail-safe, a way to kill them if we could not find a solution, because once they’re out—”

A bell tolled loudly as the remaining guard rose behind Matteo and yanked on a cord.

“Guards!” Bloodworth shouted, the last of it uselessly muffled as Jin clamped a hand over his mouth with a grimace.

“They’re on their way!” the remaining guard shouted back, pulling out a short stake.

“Matteo!” Jin shouted.

In the same movement, Matteo turned and threw the guard against the wall. His stake clattered to the floor. He groaned one last time before he breathed his last.

Matteo wiped a smear of blood from his brow. “Much obliged, Jin.”

Arthie whirled back to Shaw.

“I can’t stop this one,” he said. “If oxygen enters that canister, our circumstances will worsen.”

“Too late for that now. Find Sora. We’ll meet you at the doors,” Arthie said.

“I’m not leaving you three,” Shaw said with a shake of his head.

Bloodworth yowled from the floor, pinned beneath Jin’s knees. Jin threw another punch and rose with the keys in his hand. Shouts echoed from afar.

“The moment the guards come in, Bloodworth will inform them that you’re not on their side anymore. We don’t have time.” And she didn’t need to worry about keeping Shaw safe too. “Leave. Now .”

With one last look at Jin, Shaw threw open the doors and disappeared down the hall.

Arthie turned back to find Jin rising with a bloody jaw, Matteo standing over his kill, and as Bloodworth groaned, the canister finally gave way. Glass and luminescent fluid crashed to the floor, the body of the altered vampire within slumping face-first with it.

For a moment, nothing happened. Shaw hadn’t told her what would happen if oxygen entered the canister, or in their case, if its contents met oxygen.

Jin stepped closer, hooking his umbrella around the Ripper vampire’s arm and rolling him onto his back with excessive effort.

“What have you done?” Bloodworth asked, horror in his voice. He scrambled to his feet and stumbled for the door. No one stopped him.

A harrowing feeling settled into Arthie’s bones.

And the vampire opened his eyes.