Page 199 of Cruelly Bitten

“I’m hoping he’ll wake up and tell us that,” I returned, slightly taken aback by her fury. If anyone had a right to be angry here, it was me. “I assume whoever bit him also took Ismerelda.”

Hazel took in the state of his neck, the wound already having begun to close as my vampiric essence worked magic through his veins. “A youngling. Someone who has never fed before.”

“Yes,” I agreed. “Or someone with very little experience.”

She released a sound that was part growl and part hum, her wrist still at Keys’s mouth. His throat seemed to be working much more vigorously now, his healing well on its way. But it clearly wasn’t good enough for Hazel.

She lifted him into her arms with the kind of care I would only bestow upon Ismerelda and carried him into a nearby lounge. The dark room boasted blackout curtains along the back wall and had a stage on the opposite end.

I didn’t ask what this space was used for, as it didn’t matter. “I need the security feeds,” I reiterated.

“I know. Cedric is on his way down with them.” She laid Keys on a couch and situated his head on a pillow before kneeling beside him. “You’re safe,” she told him softly. “You’re going to be all right.”

I was starting to question whom this human belonged to—me or Hazel.

“What the fuck happened?” a deep voice demanded, the accusation underscoring that tone the kind only a brother could deliver. “Why the hell was she even alone?” Damien walked right up into my space, his golden irises glittering like twin flames. “Not even three weeks in your care and?—”

“I have the feeds,” Cedric interjected from behind Damien, a small disk in his hand that he pointed at the stage.

Light bloomed beyond it as a giant screen flickered to life. An array of small images soon followed, essentially creating a makeshift security console. Only, rather than being in a handful of computers—the way I’d seen in the compound—this took up an entire wall.

Cedric climbed onto the stage and grabbed images with his hands to move them, the screen apparently manipulatable.

“There,” he said, bringing up the feed of me leaving Keys.

I left Damien to simmer in the entryway and weaved my way through the various couches and luxury chairs to follow Cedric.

By the time I reached the stairs leading to the stage, a hooded figure had appeared on the screen. He or she seemed to have come in from outside, their coat a typical accessory, which explained Keys not immediately identifying the person as a threat.

He bowed, though. So he’d clearly determined the culprit was a vampire.

Probably because he could see his or her face from his angle. However, the vampire kept tilting away from the camera, suggesting he or she knew about the surveillance feeds in the hallway.

I winced as the hooded being went for Keys’s neck, the brutal strike an unappealing visual.

Keys threw up his hands in a defensive maneuver, taking the culprit by surprise as he nearly toppled the offender. But hewasn’t fast enough to stop the vampire from attacking again, a gloved hand going over his mouth before he could scream.

They tussled, but he went down quickly and silently.

While it was fast, it certainly wasn’t painless.

The culprit lowered Keys to the floor, leaving him sprawled at an awkward angle as the being propped him up against the wall.

Keys grasped his neck, his mouth parting on a gasp—or maybe he was still trying to yell, perhaps to warn Ismerelda—but he soon lost consciousness due to the blood loss.

Then the figure moved farther down the hall to wait in a doorway.

“Given the stature, I’d say it was a woman.” Khalid’s voice came from behind me. “She was much smaller than Keys.”

Considering the human was taller than my six-foot-two height, it was rather easy for most people to be shorter than Keys.

But I agreed with Khalid’s assessment, primarily because the cloaked figure hadn’t seemed to reach Keys’s chin. She also appeared rather petite beneath the coat.

Still, I wouldn’t rule anyone out.

Ismerelda appeared next, her face taking my breath away. Because she was smiling. Determined. So fucking beautiful.

Only to turn concerned at the sight of Keys on the floor. She moved forward as though entranced, all the while giving the villain the opportunity to creep up behind her.