Heaven Sent

Chapter Thirty-Three

"It's another donor, I think."

"Shit."

Adriana frowns. "This is really getting out of hand."

Once Erika's voice has lowered and she begins shooing everyone away, my sight into the room clears. As expected, a body lay strewn across the bed. A woman, dead, with a look of fright frozen on her feminine features, naked, vulnerable.

"Take him away," Erika growls, ordering the guards to direct the vampire Paulo to the cells for holding until they can decide on his punishment. As of late, as the tension in these halls have grown, a restlessness that Erika hasn't been able to quell, dead bodies of humans have been a daily occurrence.

"I didn't mean to go so far, Erika!" the vampire pleads, falling to his knees in front of her. He looks to Elijah, seeking his help, but Elijah's eyes remain on the wall.

"I said, take him," she reiterates frigidly as he begins to beg. It's futile. Within seconds, he's been dragged out by the use of silver and the room falls to forlorn silence.

"I don't know what's happening," Erika says.

"This is not usual," Elijah replies. Erika appears beside me, looking down on the blonde beauty.

"I don't know what I'm doing wrong."

"That's because it's probably not you."

We both turn back to him as he voices what none of us want to dare say.

With the deadline approaching, we know it's only a matter of time before Samael blindsides us. Perhaps this is his way of warning us of what's to come. I know neither of us are prepared for it.

"I think I should ban live donors for now. I should have listened to you, Elijah. Damn rookie mistake."

"I made plenty of those in my time," Elijah says, squeezing her shoulder on the way out of the room. "Banning it now will only cause an uproar..."

His instructions fade as they leave the murder scene with more important tasks at hand than cleaning up a massacred body. I regard the woman closely, remembering a time when I emboldened, slicing myself in front of a ravenous vampire. Elijah set on me like a stranger, and it was terrifying... the sheer strength of his species. This woman suffered the fate I would have, had Elijah not stopped himself.

Sent by Erika, the cleaning crew arrive after a few minutes to gather up the body, erase the crime from existence. This woman's murder will be forgotten in mere days. Vampires are not sentimental creatures... usually.

"Come for a walk with me."

I hadn't heard him return. Although I don't wear a watch, I hold up my wrist, smiling ruefully. "You were gone five minutes. Quite a record."

His eyes slant but he's clearly too mentally exhausted to banter along with me.

"Where are we going?" I ask, flinching as they roll the blonde's body off of the bed into a body bag. Her corpse makes a loud crunching sound in impact with the stony ground. The vampires carry on, clearing out before he has the chance to answer.

"Would it be strange if I said I wanted to watch you eat breakfast?"

I chuckle. "A little. Intrigued by my eating habits, are you?"

"No."

When it becomes apparent he doesn't want to clarify, I walk to him and take his hand, willing to do whatever he likes while we still have the chance.

                                               ***

"Happy now?"

I slip the piece of pear through my lips, smirking while I do it at the undead creature staring at me across the table. His remarkable mouth curves slightly on either end, a muted smile that holds the weight of the intense emotions I can feel are brewing within him.