41
Gasps and wails and a few harsh grunts consumed the amphitheater.
“Stop them!” Evangeline cried.
“None of them would be pleased if I did that,” Chaos said. “All the humans have been waiting for this night.”
“Why would anyone want this?” Evangeline watched helplessly as chains rattled and a number of human-size cages were lowered to the checked ground.
A girl about her age, with long spirals of red and copper hair, fought against the vampire who’d bit her as he shoved her in one of the cages and closed it with a heavy lock.
Everything was clattering metal and pained pleas as some people were dragged out of the amphitheater. Other humans filled the rest of the cages, which were then raised back toward the ceiling. And any lingering romantic notions of vampires that Evangeline had completely disappeared.
“Let them out,” she demanded. She might have done something terribly reckless then, like grab for anything with weapon potential and toss it toward the cages, but Jacks’s hand slid across the rail and twined his cold fingers with hers. He didn’t hold her back, he just held her hand, stunning her into silence.
“You don’t want any of them out of their cages,” Chaos said. He sounded faintly amused, but it was difficult to be sure when his bronze helm concealed most of his expression.
“This is the final phase of our initiation process to join the Order of Spies and Assassins. There are two different types of vampire bites. We can bite a human merely to feed from them. Or we can infect our bites with vampire venom to turn a human into a vampire. Every human on that floor received a bite infected with venom.”
“So they’re all turning into vampires now?” Evangeline hazarded a look toward the cages. The captives were rattling the bars and ripping at the locks, looking close to feral. Yet they also appeared more attractive than before. Their skin glowed. Their movements were knife-quick, and even matted with blood, their hair shone like curtains of silk.
“The venom has fixed their human imperfections, but they won’t become vampires unless they drink human blood before dawn,” Chaos said. “At sunrise, the vampire venom will dissipate. Until that happens, the changelings will fight with all their power to get out of their prisons and feed. The ones that succeed in breaking free of their cages and drinking human blood will become full-fledged vampires and members of our order.”
“What happens to the others?” Evangeline asked.
“You should be more concerned that you two are the closest things to humans here. So you might want to make the rest of this meeting quick. The urge to take that first bite is overwhelming. We call it hunger, but it’s really pain.” Chaos paused long enough for Evangeline to hear nothing, save for the rattle of cages.
Then she felt the surge of heart at her neck and chest, letting her know that Chaos’s gaze was on her. Hot and hungry and—
Jacks cleared his throat.
Chaos averted his eyes.
Evangeline breathed, but not too deeply.
“The changelings might not be at full vampire strength,” Chaos continued smoothly, “but the intense desire to feed and survive can sometimes make up for it. One or two of them always manage to escape.”
A spark of crimson flashed in Evangeline’s peripheral vision. The girl with the red and copper curls was in a cage not too far from the balcony, only now her hair looked like pure flames, and she appeared far from helpless as her fingers curled around the bars and her tongue darted out to lick her lips.
Evangeline found herself squeezing Jacks’s hand harder, feeling thankful he’d not let her go.
Chaos tilted his head, eyes landing on their intertwined hands. “Interesting.”
“This is getting tedious.” Jacks dropped Evangeline’s hand and sauntered back into the scholarly suite, where the rasp of vampire changelings and the rattle of cages weren’t so all consuming.
Chaos and Evangeline followed. The vampire took a seat in a large leather chair, the only one without shackles. He motioned toward the other seats, but Evangeline chose to stand. Knowing how quickly vampires could move, she didn’t want to sit in a chair where her wrists and ankles could be so easily imprisoned.
“We want to know who killed Apollo,” Jacks said.
Chaos looked up at Evangeline. “I heard you did it, while in bed, on your—”
“It wasn’t me,” she interrupted.
“That’s disappointing. I was going to offer you a job.”
“I’m not a killer,” Evangeline said. “Someone else poisoned my husband.”