Order Restored (Excerpt)

THREE

“Not much…” he said. “They dumped me here and pretty much forgot about me.”

Damn it, too slow. I let go of his hand. It fell by his knee on the floor and opened. A fang lay in his palm. I thought I recognized it, though all new breed fangs looked the same. Nature hadn’t been creative when designing them but focused on purpose. They worked well, I knew it firsthand. I winced at the memories of being bitten, and then I winced once more remembering how I took out my frustration on that poor girl while torturing her to get information out of her. I had kept her fangs as trophy after removing them and threw them at Jesse during a fight. That fang had to belong to Tawny. Where else would he get one?

Jesse’s fingers closed possessively around it, though not fast enough for me not to notice the scratch in his palm. Was he self-medicating? Most fangs still contained drops of venom so I hoped he was—anything to make himself more comfortable.

“One would expect a little more courtesy for the prince consort.” Jesse put on an ironic smirk. “I didn’t know I signed up for misery and dirt when I got into this,” he went on rambling. “I was expecting a five star hotel, but they might be saving it for you. They still call you Princess, you know?”

That was irrelevant at the moment. Someday, I would get to the bottom of this, but not today. I had more urgent issues to attend to. Like how to get out of here unnoticed.

“Is Spânu here? Have you seen him around?” The new breed turned pandur had kidnapped Jesse, but maybe, just maybe, the creature he had become hadn’t lost all trace of the fierce loyalty he’d once felt for our cause. Spânu was our only possible ally inside this blasted mountain.

“Oh, I’ve seen him all right…” Jesse rested his head back against the wall, his eyes threatening to close, but he forced them to stay open. “I see him every four hours.” His throat worked, making the sight of the blood on his neck more jarring.

“Four hours? Why would he—” I trailed off.

There was one reason why Spânu would visit him so often. Security wasn’t an issue and therefore he came to feed on Jesse. They were getting him addicted. The glassy, unfocused eyes told me that. He was craving his next fix already and hated himself for it. They were turning him into what he hated the most. His sister had died because of that. I wondered if they had any idea what they were doing to him.

“Is he coming alone?” I lowered my voice, considering my options.

“Yeah, usually… Why?” Jesse narrowed his eyes. “Don’t even think about it… He’s way faster than you.”

I knew that. I was no match for Spânu’s pandur and vampire skills, but I hadn’t been thinking about killing him, not yet. I intended to at least try to get him on our side first. For this to happen, I needed to be alone with him, without outside interferences.

“How is he?”

Jesse had to think about it before answering, “A quieter, grumpier version of himself…”

Spânu used to be on the quiet side when working, but I had often heard him joking and being friendly with Trotuş when they weren’t on the job. If he got quieter, he didn’t speak at all.

“He never hurt me…” Jesse murmured then rolled his eyes. “I mean other than feeding on me. He protected me.”

“Yeah, he’s been compelled to protect you,” I said, distracted by some other thoughts. “We figured out this much.”

“We…?” He arched an eyebrow. “Where are the others? Are you alone?”

“Yes, I’m alone.” I nodded, aware of how dumb that sounded. “It couldn’t be helped.”