Tainted Blood (36 page)

“Did he say anything to you?” Felix asked.

Carter dropped back onto the couch and rested his head in his hands. I imagined he was jonesin’ for a painkiller at that point. “Not much. I asked him if he knew where Laney was and he told me he didn’t, and then he called me a few choice words and downed several bottles of blood then took off. Why?” He looked up at us still standing just inside the doorway.

Felix and I scanned the area. There were about a half dozen of Oliver’s empty, stainless steel water bottles scattered around what we could see of the apartment.

“Something’s not right,” Felix murmured.

“Yah think?” I responded sarcastically.

He turned his attention to me. “I am being serious, Delaney. You are in danger.”

My stomach twisted. “From Oliver?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said in the most serious tone I’d ever heard. My whole body went cold again.

He headed for Oliver’s room and I followed with Carter on my heels. Felix slid open Oliver’s closet door. There was a pile of stainless steel water bottles mixed in with a pile of clothing. “This is very unlike Oliver,” Felix muttered. “Delaney,” he said my name so abruptly that I jumped. “Do you know the combination?”

“No.”

“What’s going on?” Carter asked quietly. Felix didn’t respond and I shrugged because I had no clue what Felix was thinking.

Felix wedged himself into the closet.
He tried a few combinations on the lock to Oliver’s hidden fridge.
“It’s not your birthday or his. It’s not the date I saved him, either…” He looked up at me. “Any ideas?”

I put some thought into it for a moment. “What about Olivia’s birthday?”

“Ah, of course!” He spun the dial and tried again, and this time it worked. “That boy may hide the pain he feels over losing his baby sister, but around this time of year, that pain rears its ugly head.” I felt guilty for not being more sensitive toward what Oliver must’ve been feeling as the anniversary of his sister’s death approached, but I truly did not believe that the loss of Olivia had anything to do with what was going on.

Felix pulled the panel free and then opened the fridge. There were still a few bottles of blood inside. He pulled one out and unscrewed the cap. Hesitantly he sniffed the contents. He turned away quickly, making a face. “It is as I’d feared,” Felix said as he screwed the cap back on the bottle. “Oliver’s brother would easily figure out that combination.” He shook his head and stood. “I can’t believe Oliver could let this slip past him. There must be another factor involved.”

“What are you talking about?” we both questioned.

He looked down at us, his crystal-clear, sky blue eyes sparkling as the sunlight streamed in through the bedroom window and hit them. “This blood,” he said, lifting the bottle still in his hand, “is tainted.”

“What does that mean?” I demanded. “What’s happening to Oliver?”

“Please, Delaney. Let me handle this.”

“What does that mean?” I shouted as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and began to make a call. I pushed his hand so that he couldn’t see his phone and his eyes focused on mine. “What’s happening to him?” Tears streaked my face. I needed to know what was happening to Oliver.

“I have the situation under control,” he said in a dry tone.

It set me off. I yelled at him. “You do not! You tell me what’s going on, now!”

Felix gave me a long, measured stare. His eyes narrowed on me, and he leaned down so that his face was very close to mine. In a terrifyingly stern voice, he reprimanded me. “Delaney Josephine Alexander, you will not speak to me in that tone. I am fully capable of doing my job, and I
do
have the situation under control.”

I blinked several times as he continued to stare me down, and
as he rose to his full, intimidating
height, I began to lose it. I was angry, confused, and scared, and Felix had just yelled at me. I felt like a child.

With his good arm, Carter pulled me against his chest, and I sobbed against my friend.

Felix stepped into the other room and made his call. I forced myself to calm down enough so that we could listen and I heard Felix tell whoever was on the other end to sound the alarm. “We are in a state of emergency,” he told them and ended the call.

A moment later Carter pulled away from me and covered his ears. “Ow! What is that?” he cried.

I could barely hear the alarm. It reminded me of tornado sirens I’d once heard in a movie. But poor Carter could hear it loud and clear. He crouched and covered his ears. I squatted beside him and held my hands over his to help block out the sound. I wondered if the were-bite was the reason it bothered him so much.

Felix stared down at us for a moment then told us he needed to go. “The siren will end shortly. I need to gather my troops and find out who is still unaffected.” He crouched down in front of me. “If either of you see Oliver or hear from him you need to inform me at once.” He grabbed my upper arms causing me to stop helping Carter cover his ears. “Delaney,” he said very seriously, his eyes suddenly full of misery. “I will do everything I can to protect you, even from Oliver. You know I will not let any harm come to him but you must also consider the possibility that it may be too late.” His deep voice softened, “
As should I
.” His eyes fell from mine and he stood.

From where I crouched, I just kind of plopped onto my butt, and with my tear-filled eyes I stared up at Felix. I wasn’t ready to give up on Oliver. I refused to believe that he was lost to me, but I also felt hopeless. “I will have security on you at all times,” Felix told me, his tone returning to normal. The siren ended and Carter sprawled out on the floor, breathing heavily.

“That sucked,” he groaned.

Felix made another call and a few moments later two vampires arrived. I was pretty sure they were the same two vampires who had taken Carter and me to the hospital.

Carter and I pulled ourselves up off the floor and Felix introduced us to Gwen and Vance. I definitely recognized Gwen by her jagged, red and black dyed hair and her dark painted lips. She was very pale with heavy, dark eye make-up around her medium brown eyes, and she had a small diamond nose ring. She added to her gothic flare with her black jeans, a fitted black, v-neck tee, and black combat boots. She was also wearing a studded black collar and matching bracelets.

Vance was average looking. Short brown hair, brown eyes, medium build, probably right around six–feet-tall, and he was nowhere near as pale as Gwen. Actually, his complexion wasn’t even as fair as most of the vampires I’d been around. They were both very polite, just as they had been when they’d rushed us to the hospital.

Felix explained that Vance and Gwen would be within earshot at all times and that I wouldn’t even notice they were there. I doubted that and when they left I protested to Felix. “I don’t want strangers following me everywhere I go.”

“Would you rather stay in the closet until we find him?” Felix replied and I shook my head adamantly. He smirked at me, and when his
normally cute dimple
appeared, it irritated me.

A moment later he paused and a flash of alarm crossed his face. “Hayden,” he breathed. He whipped his phone out of his front pocket again and quickly called her. I couldn’t imagine that Oliver would do anything to Hayden or her family any more than I could imagine him hurting me. But Felix had been serious and I knew, even though I didn’t want to believe it, I was in danger. If Oliver wasn’t himself and still had the same feelings for me… I hugged myself while Carter sat down on the couch as we waited to hear Hayden pick up the phone.

She answered moments later. She was fine, as were Isaac, Julz, and Lola. Felix told her to put the house into lockdown and not let Oliver anywhere near them. I could hear Hayden protesting over the phone, and Felix informed her that Oliver had been drugged, that his food source had been compromised, and he told her to check her mother’s blood supply. As she checked Julz’s supply, he told her that he had a different code for the alarm that she needed to enter. “Hayden, I am trusting you not to share this code. Your uncle does not have it nor does he know about it.” I assumed that she’d questioned him because he then said, “Well, for moments like this, that’s why.”

After Hayden claimed Julz’s blood had not been tainted, Felix said to her, “Hayden, do not let your uncle into that house until I tell you differently.” I could hear her voice, she sounded upset and Felix spoke to her very gently. “Hayden, your uncle is a danger to everyone at the moment, including himself.” There was a lot of emotion in her voice as she finally agreed.

Felix sighed to himself when he ended the call. “I will be in touch,” he said to us then left.

“Laney,” Carter said as I dropped down onto the couch. I rested my head against the back of the sofa and looked over at him on the other end. “What’s going on? What happened last night?”

I took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. I really didn’t want to relive the previous night, but I did. I told Carter everything, from beginning to end, and my heart ached.

“But I thought you left with Oliver so I didn’t think anything of it.”

“Nope, he left me in the parking lot and…” I couldn’t finish the sentence. I couldn’t say that he’d left me to be with Avery, I just couldn’t say it out loud. I stayed silent, because I didn’t have the energy to try to figure out what Carter was thinking. I stared up at the ceiling and wondered where my boyfriend was and if I would ever get him back. I didn’t think he’d truly left me for Avery. I was positive she’d done something or that she was in league with someone… Like a witch, or Oscar, or… I really didn’t have a clue. I just desperately wanted him to be okay.

“You okay?” Carter asked after a long period of silence. I shook my head. I was scared, terrified actually, of what was happening. Whatever that was.

“I won’t let him hurt you,” Carter said and I turned my head toward him, still resting it on the back of the couch.

“I’m not afraid of Oliver hurting me, I don’t think he will.” I swallowed hard and Carter took that chance to say, “Then what?” His bright blue eyes fixed on my teary ones.

“What if I can never get him back? What if he really is lost to me? Broken, like his brother.” I wiped the tears away as they fell and Carter scooted closer and held me so that my head was on his shoulder.

We sat there, in silence, for a long while, until Carter’s phone rang. He had dinner plans with Kiera, and she was calling to tell him that she was on her way. With Kiera moving back in with her parents, they weren’t getting to see as much of each other, so Kiera kept making plans for them to spend time together when Carter didn’t have to work. And when he did work she usually met him for his breaks. During the time they were separated Kiera was either studying or frantically planning her rapidly approaching wedding.

I jumped in the shower, and once I got out Kiera was there and she already had wedding magazines splayed across the table. She and Carter were at the dining table and she insisted I join them. I could see the sheer boredom Carter was experiencing and it was hard not to feel a similar pain as she questioned us on colors and center pieces, flowers, and blah, blah, blah.
Holy crap! How
can
she not see how incredibly bored we
are
?
That was Kiera for you, though. She was kind of oblivious to things outside of her own little world.

Eventually I just got up because I couldn’t take it anymore. There was a citywide manhunt for my boyfriend going on and Kiera wanted me to help her make a decision on what color the bridesmaids’ dresses should be.
I just couldn’t take any more
!

“What’s wrong, Laney?” she asked as I stood. She was so clueless. Her gold-flecked, blue eyes stared up at me in wonder.

I felt like I was going to blow. Carter, placing his unbandaged arm around the back of Kiera’s chair protectively, gave me a look that clearly said, “Tread carefully.”

What could I tell her? I couldn’t very well tell her the truth, not the entire truth, anyway. The load that I was carrying, everything I was keeping from her, was getting too heavy. I was going to slip soon, say something by accident, or just break down and spill. I sucked in a deep breath and Carter’s eyes narrowed as my lips parted. I exhaled and forced a smile. “Nothing, Kiera. I’m just tired.” That last part was the truth.

“Oh,” she replied quietly. I knew she was disappointed that I wasn’t interested in her wedding crap. Maybe, if she knew what I was going through, she’d be understanding. I wandered over to the couch with my phone and plopped down onto the cushions. I texted Oliver in the hopes that he would respond and I waited, staring at my phone as I listened to Carter and Kiera’s muffled voices in the background.

I lay down on the couch and sent Felix a message, asking him if there was any news.

Not yet. I will call you when I have information to share

Was his reply, and I felt my hope slipping.

Where could Oliver be?

Kiera popped over the back of the couch and I jumped. She was hanging over the couch, her baby-soft, blonde hair falling forward as she smiled down at me. “You wanna come bowling with us? We’re meeting Zoey and Rudy.”