Page 44 of Taste of Forever (Vampires of Sanguine #3)

“Pretty bad.” Novak scanned the sheet in front of him, which I assumed was some kind of toxicology report.

“I don’t have a lot to compare to, but the concentration in his blood was the highest I’ve ever seen.

Three times higher than from the Marrower blood samples you sent me.

Which brings me to the relatively good news. ”

Novak set the paper on his desk and shoved his hands in the pockets in his slacks. “The draitrium molecules bonded to a foreign blood source in both Kalix’s and the Marrowers’ systems. So they most likely came from the same source. Or at least, were dispensed using the same process.”

“Carpe Noctem.” Cyan’s lip curled with a snarl. “It has to be. Kal is their prisoner, and they stood only to benefit by drugging those Marrowers.”

Novak lifted a brow. “When Baros was trying to ally with me, he made it seem like he had no idea who was behind the Marrower attack. Doesn’t surprise me if he was lying.”

“Sorry.” I raised my hand like I was in school. “By foreign blood source, you mean blood that was ingested, correct?” As the only non-blood drinker in the room, I had to make sure my facts were straight.

“Yes, that’s correct.” Novak nodded.

“What’s the blood source?” Des asked.

“That’s what I’m hoping Heather can help with.” Novak’s eyes shifted toward me. “Because I’ve never seen red blood cells like that in my life. They’re not human, vampire, or brusang.”

I perked up, intrigued. “Do you have slides I can look at?”

“I certainly do. Over here.” Novak showed me to a corner of his study that was sort of a tucked away cubicle with a large microscope. It was an older model, but had definitely been state of the art during its time.

“What are you thinking the blood is, some kind of animal?” I watched while he switched on and adjusted the machine.

“Possibly that, or one of the other sentient species of Shyftworld.” Novak frowned. “I did eliminate dragon shifter, but that leaves werewolves or angels, both of which are forbidden to feed from.”

“Why is that?”

Novak laughed awkwardly as he stepped back from the machine. “There’s a long, ugly history between them and us. We don’t exactly get along.”

“I see.” I stepped up to the machine and adjusted the focus and magnification. “It’s not that different in the human world. A lot of nations have been fighting each other for years and years.”

“It’s sad to hear that war isn’t unique to supernatural species,” Novak said.

“It is.” I peered through the microscope. “Okay. What am I looking at?”

“Kalix’s foreign blood source.”

“Huh. Those blood cells definitely aren’t human.” They did look familiar, though. I thought back to my undergrad days, all the way to freshman year where I had to identify dozens of different samples under a microscope.

“You don’t happen to have a Raman spectrometer, do you?”

Novak cocked his head. “I don’t. What is that?”

“Oh, it’s a great tool for identifying all kinds of substances. Most government labs have them now. They’re very pricey, but I highly recommend one if you’re going to be trying to ID blood samples of different species.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” Novak grinned, his eyes lighting up with the prospect of a new toy. “Do you need one for this sample?”

“I might be able to ID it by sight. Is that connected to the internet?” I nodded at the laptop on a small desk, the only other piece of equipment in this little cubicle.

“It is. Help yourself.”

“Thanks.”

I pulled up the best images of red blood cells I could find and started comparing, going back and forth from the computer to the microscope and mentally eliminating the ones that didn’t match.

Someone without a biology background but a keen sense for matching details could probably do a visual comparison successfully, but I wanted to be absolutely sure. I thought back to the thousands of blood samples I’d tested, all the identifying characteristics of cells unique to certain species.

I wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but a headache began to throb at my temples and my eyes felt strained from looking through the microscope over and over.

Black dots danced in my vision when I switched it off and turned around.

Laith had joined Novak waiting patiently outside the cubicle.

If the two of them had been talking, I’d been too focused on my task to hear them.

“Okay,” I said, rubbing my eyes. “From a visual comparison, the best I can tell you is the blood comes from some sort of canine. A dog or a wolf, most likely.”

Laith looked at Novak. “It’s gotta be a werewolf, then.”

The longer-haired vampire chewed his lip with a fang, brows knitting together. “So the werewolf blood bonds with the draitrium molecule and creates side effects of extreme strength and aggression. I wonder how they discovered that.”

“Someone who profits from draitrium probably also deals in illegal blood.” Thorne stood by a cracked window, exhaling red smoke to the outside air. “It’s not a huge stretch by any means.”

Rhain went to stand by the same window, lighting up his own cigarette. “They probably started mixing to dilute each product while keeping profit high. Once they saw what it did, I bet they started using it on their fighters to gain an edge.”

“The Marrower attack may have been a test,” Cyan suggested, wandering closer to join Laith and Novak. “To see what would happen if they started dealing this mixture to the public.”

“Wait, there was an attack?” My voice raised with alarm. “Where? When?”

Cyan turned toward me. “It was a few months ago. A group of Marrower vampires, high on draitrium, attacked Sapien, the all-human settlement.”

“It was how Amy became a brusang,” Novak added softly. “She lost her human life in the attack, but Cyan and Tavia managed to bring her back with his blood.”

Cyan waved off the heavy look of gratitude Novak leveled at him. “You must have missed it by a few days,” he said to me.

“Yeah, I definitely had no idea.” Now that I knew that my capture in Sapien had been for my own safety, from the citizens’ perspective, I felt a lot more sympathy for those people.

“Regardless, we are not letting another attack happen.” Red smoke curled around Thorne’s lips as he snarled.

“I mean, the damage has already begun.” Des shrugged at the glares everyone sent his way. “Those Marrowers hurt the human settlement and our credibility as the ruling clan who protects everyone. Carpe Noctem sees that as a win, I’m sure. What’s to stop them from doing it again?”

I lifted my hand as if I were in class. “Would someone mind giving me a brief rundown of what Carpe Noctem is?”

The vampires all exchanged a brief glance, and I got the sense that humans, blood mate or not, were not usually privy to these discussions.

“Carpe Noctem is one of the oldest, richest, and most powerful clans in Sanguine,” Laith explained.

No one tried to stop him from talking, so he continued.

“They’re extremely archaic in their views.

To them, humans, female vampires, and anyone below an aristocratic class are meant to be subservient.

Their few stints at being ruling clan in the past have been extremely oppressive.

They’ve been overthrown by a rebellion every single time, but their wealth and resources run deep.

And they’re obsessed with sitting at the top, no matter who they step on to get there. ”

“Blood til Dawn is a clan of working class vampires,” Rhain supplied. “We’ve always been mechanics and builders. So Carpe Noctem is especially pissed off that we’ve been the ruling clan, peacefully I might add, for the last fifteen years.”

“They’re also the ones who took Kalix prisoner,” Cyan added. “They were the ruling clan at the time, about five years before we took power.”

“Whoa,” I said when the guys fell silent. “Yeah, fuck those guys.”

A frustrated growl of agreement came from Thorne as he stabbed his cigarette out violently in an ashtray on the windowsill. “Carpe Noctem needs to be dismantled. They’ll destroy vampires as a whole and thousands of humans along the way if they’re not stopped.”

“Or,” Novak piped up. “We can try to make Inessa the head of Carpe Noctem. She’ll steer the ship in a much better direction.”

Thorne paused like he was considering that. “That’ll be difficult and dangerous in a whole host of ways. Carpe Noctem won’t support a woman as their head.”

“Not without reason. She’ll have to prove herself.”

The room fell into plans and discussion of vampire politics and things that went way over my head. My headache was increasing in intensity and I was becoming fatigued. I plopped down in a chair at the laptop desk, rubbing my temples.

Laith immediately came over and kneeled in front of me. “Are you okay?”

I offered him a smile. “Yeah, just a little tired and dealing with some eye strain.”

“Do you want to go home?” He squeezed my knee, concern and affection in his eyes.

“I can find a couch to lie on or something. It seems you guys have important things to discuss.”

“Go ahead, you two.” Thorne’s hearing was apparently sharp enough to hear our murmured conversation. “We’ll catch you up to speed, Laith.”

Laith rose to his feet and held out his hand. “You heard the boss.”

I glanced at Thorne. “Are you sure? If you need him to stay, I can just?—”

“Go.” Thorne made shooing motions with his hands. “Blood mates go apeshit if they’re separated and I don’t want to deal with his whining.”

Laith grinned. “Dad knows me so well.”

Thorne groaned and muttered under his breath, “For fuck’s sake, I’m not your fucking dad.”

After accepting his hand and letting him pull me to my feet, Laith led me toward the office door. At the threshold, I heard Thorne’s raspy voice once more. “Heather?”

I turned back. “Yes?”

The head of the ruling vampire clan dipped his chin in my direction. “Thank you for your help. Because of you, we’ll be able to move forward with a plan.”

My instinct was to deny and minimize what I’d done. I’d just compared images and tried to match them. Novak could have done it himself if he knew what to look for.

But he hadn’t. All the vampires in the room were looking in my direction now, giving nods and murmurs of thanks. And Laith was squeezing my hand. I could feel his gaze on my profile, feel the pride coming from him like the warmth of a banked fire.

I waited for the voice of my resentment demon to pop up with a disparaging little quip, but none came. I glanced at Laith and his genuine expression of adoration made my heart swell. What did he see in me to look at me like that?

He sees the real you. That wasn’t the resentment demon’s voice, but my own.

Of course. Because now that I’d found someone who didn’t see my personality, quirks, and accomplishments as a threat to his ego, my resentment had withered and died.

What replaced it was bright, shining, and warm.

A feeling I could wrap myself in like a blanket.

A feeling I could certainly get used to.

So I swallowed the impulse to reject the compliment and smiled at the room of vampires.

“You’re very welcome,” I said. “I’m happy I could help.”

With that, I followed Laith out of the study, and we took the stairs side by side. Our hands never disconnected and his gaze rarely left me. Once we left the house and spilled out into the street, he tucked me into his side. His arm went around my shoulders, our fingers still locked together.

A thought hit me as he kissed my temple.

Is this what it feels like when someone loves me?