A Turn of Tides (A Shade of Vampire #13)(11)

My last kill was still fresh in my memory, my stomach still filled.

I looked down at the phone again.

Perhaps I would have been better off joining Jeramiah.

At least I might not have to do the killing myself.

He said they had blood.

Perhaps that would give me the chance I needed to climb out of this pit.

Chapter 6: Ben

If I was going to seriously consider taking up Jeramiah’s offer, I needed to act quickly.

Before the next wave of hunger.

I’d just finished consuming three humans.

I doubted I could drink more blood now even if I tried, I was so filled to the brim.

I found myself flipping open the phone, my fingers hovering over the keypad.

Jeramiah had said I’d have to “half-turn” a human and bring them with me if I was to be accepted into their group.

That required self-control beyond measure.

Any normal vampire would have had trouble with that, let alone me—I could barely look at a human without salivating.

But I had to try.

I couldn’t keep living like this.

If I did, I’d never be able to return to The Shade.

I couldn’t imagine getting any worse than I already was, so I would have nothing to lose by joining Jeramiah’s clan… wherever that happened to be.

Navigating to a different shore than the last, I ventured back onto the beach.

It was night, making it easier for me to slip in and out of the crowds unnoticed.

This seemed to be a holiday resort.

The beaches were teeming with people, even at this time of night.

That was both advantageous and disadvantageous.

There were plenty of people to choose from, but most were tightly packed in groups.

I didn’t want to cause more commotion than I had to.

I walked past the beach and reached a highway.

I crossed to the other side, where there were lines of restaurants and shops.

I looked up and down the stretch of road, wondering which place was best to start.

Then something caught my eye.

A sign for a hospital.

Even in my current state, I wasn’t far gone enough for that to not mean something to me.

I was about to condemn someone to a lifetime of servitude to a group of bloodsuckers I knew nothing about.

I ought to at least try to put some thought into whom I chose.

A hospital, on the other hand, would have sick people.

Perhaps even terminally ill people.

People who would do anything to be given another chance at life.

I still didn’t know all the symptoms that would come with being a half-vampire.

But Jeramiah had said that their lives are preserved as vampires’ are.

Whether that life would be worth living was another matter entirely.

But I felt a strong sense of wanting to take someone who had already given up on life.

It would make the act I was about to commit feel at least a little less monstrous.

So I began heading in the direction the sign was pointing.

I sped up to a run, following sign after sign, until I eventually found myself standing at the foot of a tall, glass-windowed building.

This was it.

I was grateful that I’d had the presence of mind to change into clean clothes back in the submarine.

Going in covered in blood would have made me look more like a patient or a serial killer than a visitor.

Taking a deep breath, I strode through the doors.

Fluorescent lighting beat down on me as I walked up to the reception desk.

Two dark-skinned women sat behind it, filling out medical forms.

One of them looked up at me and spoke in Spanish.

“How can I help?” I felt grateful for the Spanish I’d been taught in school.

“May I have a floor plan, please?” She reached into a drawer and handed me one.

“Are you here to visit someone?” she asked.

I nodded, but didn’t give her a chance to ask me whom I was here for.

I stepped back and began to study the map.

My eyes settled on the plan of the top floor—for long-stay patients, according to a helpful note.

I didn’t have time to figure out how to get there legitimately.

My body was still an alien to me, and for all I knew it could suddenly decide that it was thirsting for blood again.

I had to make this quick.

I tucked the leaflet into my shirt pocket and walked back out of the exit.

Staring upward, I began to circle the building.

It was almost completely sheer except for narrow ledges sticking out beneath each row of windows.

I finished scoping the building and decided that climbing up the back would garner less attention.

Tightening my belt around my waist and pulling my hood over my head, I leapt up and began to climb.

I’d thought that even as a vampire it would be a challenge.

So I was shocked to leap from one ledge to the next as though I’d done it a thousand times before.

As I reached the top level, I dared look down for a second.

My stomach flipped.

I wasn’t sure that even I would survive that fall if I didn’t land just right.

I forced my focus back on the task at hand.

Since none of the windows were open, I climbed onto the roof.

Less attention would be drawn to a door being forced open right at the top of the building than a whole window smashing open.