A Wind of Change (A Shade of Vampire #17)(42)

There was no way that I was going to get into the same elevator with them, so I called two elevators to the ground floor simultaneously. I stepped into one of them while they bundled into the other. I instructed them which floor number to press, and then we ascended. We arrived on the right floor at the same time. The doors slid open. I rushed out before they could and, running up ahead of them, ordered them to follow me. Hassan picked up Lalia and carried her on his back as they raced after me, trying to keep up with my speed. Rushing to the door of my apartment, I opened it and then ran down the hallway. I waited in the doorway of my bedroom for them to arrive.

“Shut the door behind you,” I whispered as they entered.

Hassan did so. Then all three eyes fixed on me. Their faces were deathly pale and sweaty with fear.

“Now listen to me,” I said, looking at them sternly. “Take a left down the corridor, and at the very end you will see a sauna. Lock yourselves in there and don’t make a sound. Do you understand me?”

They all looked petrified, but nodded.

“Where’s my sister?” Lalia whispered, her eyes wide with fright.

“I’m going to get her.”

I waited until they hurried down the corridor and stepped into the sauna. When the door clicked shut, I approached it and, reaching into my pocket for the last of River’s blood, I poured it into my palm and then spread it up and down the wooden door, hoping it would help to mask the scent of hot human blood at least somewhat if a vampire passed by.

Then I washed my hands in the kitchen and ran back out the front door. I headed straight back to Jeramiah’s apartment. I was glad to see that the door was still ajar, as I’d left it. Pushing it open, I slid inside.

To my discomfort, River and Lucretia had left the sauna by now. I heard their voices coming from the living room. Creeping past, I was careful to hold the keys in such a way that they didn’t clink and made my way back to the storage room at the back of the apartment. I replaced the keys on the hook in the wall slowly, rearranging them against the wall to look how I remembered finding them.

Now I have to get out of here.

I was about to head back to the front door to leave when I heard a sound that chilled me to the bone.

The front door slamming.

And then Jeramiah’s voice emanating from the hallway.

Chapter 19: Ben

“Lucretia?” Jeramiah called through the apartment. “Why was the front door open?”

Footsteps sounded as Lucretia made her way along the corridor toward Jeramiah.

“It was open?” She sounded confused. “Oh, I’m sorry. River said she’d shut it.”

“River?”

“Yes. Joseph’s half-blood is here with me.”

More footsteps.

“Hi,” River said. I could detect the nervousness in her voice.

“Why are you two down here? Come up and enjoy the evening with everyone else.”

“We were cold,” Lucretia said. “We just had a session in the sauna and then we got to chatting in the living room.”

“Well you can continue talking upstairs,” Jeramiah said. “I’m just down to check on the new half-blood again, and then I’ll join you.”

No.

My eyes fixed on the keys dangling from the hook, then I looked around the storage room for somewhere to hide. It was small and although cabinets lined the walls, they weren’t large enough for me to hide inside.

“Okay, I’ll see you back up there,” Lucretia said, and footsteps moved toward the front door. Then more footsteps proceeded toward me.

I backed up into the furthermost corner of the room. If Jeramiah stepped inside, there was no way he wouldn’t spot me. He was a split second from entering as the door creaked. Then Lucretia’s voice sounded again.

“Jeramiah?”

The door stopped moving.

“What?” Jeramiah called.

“River’s just cut herself on the doorstep. Could you lend a bit of your blood?”

“All right.”

I thought for a moment that he was going to fall for the distraction and leave, but to my horror the door continued moving until it was wide open.

I was bracing myself to be seen when his arm shot into the room. He reached for the hook and grabbed the keys, then disappeared again, his footsteps fading down the corridor.

Once I sensed him move to another part of the apartment, I crept to the door and looked out. The corridor was empty, and I could hear voices coming from the living room. I could not have felt more grateful to River than I did at that moment. She must’ve moved herself in there on purpose, to grant me a clear exit through the front door. Without another moment’s hesitation, I hurried out of the storage room, silently racing toward the hallway. The door was ajar again—perhaps also River’s doing after she’d cut herself. I looked down at the step on my way out. The sharp marble ridge was lined with her bitter blood.

I launched into a sprint and didn’t let up until I arrived back outside my apartment. Breathing heavily, I leaned against the doorway and looked back across the atrium toward Jeramiah’s quarters. I wasn’t ready to enter my apartment yet—not with those three humans locked up in there. I had run out of River’s blood to distract myself.

I remained watching Jeramiah’s front door. After five minutes, he appeared, keys clasped in his right hand, and he made his way toward the elevators that would take him down to the ground floor. River and Lucretia exited the apartment soon after him. There was no sign of a limp from River—Jeramiah’s blood must have finished healing her.