Fractured (Deep In Your Veins, #5)(24)

Sam’s brow furrowed. “Why would you want their blood?”

“To use for my trials,” he replied. “Annalise and I were Turned without our consent. I have dedicated most of my vampiric life to finding a cure. Unfortunately, my attempts have so far been unsuccessful, but I have not lost hope.”

“Do you do these trials on yourself?” asked Jared.

“No. It is not difficult to find volunteers, despite that some of the serums we developed have proven fatal. Many are so miserable with this life that they would rather be dead than be a vampire. The majority of the time, the serums have no effect whatsoever, even with dragon shifter blood.”

I cocked my head. “Given how much they hate us, I’m surprised they’d sell their blood to you.”

Lazarus looked at me. “As I said, they have a weakness for gold and jewels and pretty things. They like to accumulate valuable possessions. They hire out their services in other ways, too. For instance, they’re often used as mercenary groups.”

I stilled. “Mercenary groups?”

“A single dragon can wipe out a small town in a matter of minutes. You can imagine what an entire drove could do.”

I exchanged looks with each of The Hollow’s vampires; by their grim expressions, they were all thinking the same as me: It was possible that someone intended to hire a drove of dragon shifters to destroy The Hollow.

Sam spoke to Lazarus. “You’re on good terms with the local drove?”

Lazarus hesitated. “‘Good terms’ is not the phrase that I would use. We have a treaty. The drove does not cross into our territory, and we do not cross into theirs.”

“We need to meet with the local drove,” Jared told him. “Can you set that up?”

“I very much doubt that they would agree to that.”

“It’s important,” said Jared.

Lazarus shook his head. “I’m sorry, they would do me no favours.”

Annalise pursed her lips. “They might agree if…”

“If, what?” prodded Sam.

“If Marco were to ask,” Annalise finished. “The Alpha is quite cordial with him. There is a mutual respect there.”

“After what he did to Imani, I won’t ask that prick for anything,” snarled Jared, taking the words right out of my mouth.

“I swear, I won’t see it as a betrayal if you ask for his assistance,” vowed Imani.

My jaw hardened. “Imani, he—”

“This is bigger than me, Butch,” she said. “He might not agree to help—he likes to play games too much. But there’s no harm in Sam and Jared asking him.”

The Grand High Pair fell silent, and I guessed they were discussing the matter telepathically. Their expressions gave nothing away.

Finally, Sam said to Lazarus, “Call Marco in here.” The Master Vampire nodded at Annalise, who then left the room.

I gave Sam a ‘You have to be f*cking kidding me’ look, at which point she studied Imani’s face carefully.

“You sure you’re okay with this?” Sam asked her.

“I’m sure.” She looked as positive as she sounded.

Minutes later, Marco entered the room. His eyes immediately sought out Imani, and his face softened. “Hello again, sweetheart.”

Fucker. I wanted to slide my arm around her shoulders and make a possessive statement that he couldn’t miss, but it would no doubt piss her off. So I did nothing; I kept my expression blank, unwilling to let Marco see just how much his very existence got to me.

“Marco,” began Lazarus, “the Grand High Pair needs to meet with the local dragon drove. Can you arrange that?”

“We don’t mean the shifters any harm,” Jared quickly added. “We just have some questions.” When Marco didn’t speak, Jared pushed, “Can you do it?”

“The drove tolerates me well enough,” said Marco. “But they would not be inclined to meet with you or your mate. You’re the most powerful vampires alive; they would feel threatened by your presence. You can’t really blame them for that. If the situation were reversed, you would be just as wary.”

“We’d be going there in peace,” Sam assured him, but Marco shook his head.

“They wouldn’t believe that. I can ask your questions for you.”

“I don’t trust you to tell us the truth.”

Marco smiled at Sam’s bluntness. “I can’t say I’m surprised.”

There was a long pause before Sam said, “We have reason to believe that dragons may attack The Hollow.”

Lazarus and Annalise gasped.

Shocked she’d told him, I spoke to Jared, What the f*ck?

Imani’s safety matters to him, Jared pointed out. If he thinks she is in danger, he might be more inclined to help.

“Attack?” echoed Marco, eyes flaring.

“You know how much destruction their kind can cause,” said Sam. “It’s imperative that we find a way to stop this from happening.”

Marco’s eyes slid briefly to Imani before he said to Sam, “The drove would not accept you on their territory.” His mouth twisted. “He might, however, allow one of your vampires to go there as a representative.”

Knowing exactly where he was going with this, I snapped, “No.”