With the syringe in hand, I tiptoed back to the door and pulled it open a crack. Jerrod’s back was to me as he stood at the end of the hallway. Apparently, he’d really planned on standing outside my bedroom all afternoon.
“Creeper,” I muttered.
Silently, I slipped into the hall and then picked up speed, using vampire quickness to reach him in less time than it took to draw a full breath. The needle jabbed the side of his next and I depressed the plunger. He made a startled grunt, but Holly’s potion was quick-acting and he sank to his knees before he could shout for help.
I smiled and watched the light fade from his eyes and then laid him back against the wall. “Night, night.”
Jerrod’s eyes slid closed and I sighed as I bent forward, grabbed him by the ankles, and tugged. Hard.
He didn’t budge.
“Great.” I frowned down at him. “Of course, you have to weigh more than a freakin’ silverback gorilla.”
No one was coming, but the mansion was always crawling with people. It wouldn’t be long before a servant stumbled upon the scene. And how the heck was I going to explain that?
One advantage to living in a house full of supernaturals was the skillset diversity. If Adam St. James, the dog-shifter had been around, he could have easily lifted the brute and stashed him in a closet. Come to think of it, Holly could probably have waved a hand and sent him away, magic-carpet style.
There was a carpet in the hall. I rolled him onto it and used it to drag him back to my bedroom. The whole thing was very “I am cavewoman, hear me roar” but I got him inside, bound his hands and ankles with nylons in case he got any bright ideas about running, and then went to mix up the next concoction.
When Holly had explained the dosage instructions of the potions, she’d told me to mix them into a beverage, but I’d always been the kind of girl who preferred a more direct route. So, I sucked the truth serum into a second syringe and dispersed the contents into the other side of Jerrod’s neck before he woke up.
It took a few minutes for him to come around. His body was still limp and lifeless, but his eyes opened and a blaze sparked in them as they fixated on me. “What did you do to me?” he demanded in a hoarse whisper.
I ignored him.
Time to see if this stuff works. Holly, don’t fail me now!
“Tell me about the turns,” I said, keeping my voice calm. “You said there are thousands of them. Where are they coming from? Who is making them? And why?”
Jerrod glared at me. I could see him struggling to resist the questions, but the truth serum was powerful and after a moment, he started talking. “The baron wants an army of turns. He’s been having us turn humans. Thirty each month. One a night. It’s been going on for a year now. We have thousands of them, in groups all over the haven. They meet up in the support groups and get their instructions and a stipend of money.”
“So, none of them wanted to be turned?” I asked.
“No.”
I swore under my breath. I’d always known my father was a ruthless man, but ordering thousands of innocent humans to be turned into monsters against their will? It was unfathomable.
My eyes flicked back to Jerrod. “What does he want with them?”
“He’s training them to fight. He wants to take over the North.”
“Stars.”
“The tournament and your wedding are supposed to keep the Court busy while he readies for the invasion.”
“The suitors from the other Courts are just distractions? As long as he’s included them, it makes it look like he’s looking for peaceful ways to merge powers and that he’s actively looking to prevent a power struggle.”
Jerrod didn’t say anything. Apparently if he wasn’t asked a direct question, he wasn’t very talkative.
It didn’t matter. I’d already unearthed way more rot than I’d expected to find. I wasn’t sure how much more I could handle. I started back to the dresser, to deliver the final potion, but stopped short and turned back to face Jerrod. “What do you know about Jupiter? Who killed Ivan?”
He stared at me blankly and then shook his head. “I don’t know who killed Ivan. Or, why.”
“And Jupiter?”
“I don’t know where she is.”
“Was she dating Ivan?”
“That’s what everyone says.”
“Is there anyone who might have been jealous of Ivan?”
He shook his head. “No one wanted Jupiter. She’s pretty, but she’d never be more than a maid.”
I soured. “I think that’s about enough.”
Jerrod blinked, his eyes going round.
“You’ve been very helpful.” I crossed back to the dresser, lifted a third vial, and refilled the syringe. “Now, this might pinch a little, but it will make sure you don’t remember this friendly little chat.”
“No! Lacey, don’t kill me! I won’t say—”
I jabbed him with the needle. The light faded from his eyes and his chin dropped to one side. He was back asleep, another dose of the relaxant. Holly told me it wouldn’t affect his memory—she refused to delve into mind magic—but between the two doses and the quickness of the conversation, I hoped he would chalk it up as a strange dream. Even if he didn’t, there was no way he’d go running to my father and confess he’d spilled his deep, dark secrets.
That would be suicide.
I heaved another sigh before grabbing the end of the carpet again. “Too bad I didn’t ask for a levitation potion,” I grumbled, tugging the carpet back out into the hallway. Once I’d deposited him at the end of the hall, I went back to my room and slammed the door.
Chapter 19
Jerrod’s information festered inside my head for the next two days. Most of which, I spent voluntarily locked away in my room, pacing back and forth, churning and stewing. Matthias and I spoke on the phone but I didn’t tell him what I’d found out. I couldn’t make myself say the words out loud. On top of that, I didn’t trust that I was truly alone, even in my chambers. As for Jerrod himself, I hadn’t seen him since our chat. Part of me wondered if the magic cocktail had indeed worked the way I hoped, but there wasn’t a clean way of finding out.
When Friday rolled around, my wait was over. Not only would I be forced to come face to face with Jerrod, but I would also be seeing Matthias again, too. Any time I thought about seeing him, it felt like a wild tiger was caged somewhere inside me, frantic and impatient. He’d face Leo Parrish in the second round of fighting and if he won, he’d move on to the death match. And if he lost … well, somewhere along the way, that possibility had become even more chilling.
If Matthias lost his match today, we would have to say goodbye and end things between us before we ever got to fully see what was even there.
Of course, my father wouldn’t care about any of this. All he cared about was that I stood beside him on the dais, dressed to kill, and ready to cheer on the suitors as they battled for my hand. I was beginning to think he’d binge-read every known piece of Arthurian literature in existence during my time away.
Couldn’t they just pull a sword out of a rock?
Guess that wasn’t as much of a spectator sport, and according to Jerrod, he needed all eyes shifted elsewhere while he flooded the haven with newly turned vampires.
Ugh. It was all such a mess, and I was paralyzed.
As the clock marched closer to midnight the more anxious I became. I nearly jumped out of my skin when a knock sounded on the door of my bedroom. I opened it, wondering if Aunt Gemma had returned to escort me to the second round, but instead found Marilyn. My hackles rose at her presence. I hadn’t forgiven her for the things she’d said about Jupiter, but I didn’t release my frustrations on her, instead choosing to follow her silently to the ballroom that had been staged for the second tournament.