Valkyrie

Chapter 14

I followed Alexi through the tunnels, Trey trailing silently behind us, his pissed off Alpha energy snapping against me like rubber bands. I guess I'd really stepped in it this time. I shook my head and kept walking while the wolf brooded. I was surprised that Alexi had let him in the tunnels at all. Not many people knew about them.

The scent of blood and funeral flowers was almost chokingly thick in the air, the scents of dry earth and stone layered underneath. Soft lights lined the hall at regular intervals, not too bright and not too dim. Just right for sensitive vampire eyes but too dim for weaker, human eyes. The ground was sound muffling carpet in a lovely shade of industrial gray. The walls were white painted concrete block. There was nothing fancy about this part of the tunnels or the rooms they housed. They served a purpose and that purpose wasn't to impress but to provide shelter.

"When did he wake up?" I asked Alexi's back. I'd borrowed a black, button up shirt from him and had my leather jacket slung over a shoulder, the cell phone I'd found in Mischa's apartment in the pocket. I was going to have to patch the leather because some fucker had shot me through it. I was more pissed about that then the actually getting shot part. I loved my jacket. I was already mostly healed with a brand-new scar to add to my collection and would be as good as new once I showered, ate, and rested. My jacket was not and wouldn't be until I fixed it.

"About a half hour before you did," Trey said. I glanced back at him and he gave me a hard smile. "Alexi asked me to check him out and make sure he was stable." I guess the boys had been bonding while I'd been passed out. Great.

"He Turned fast," I said as I turned back around.

"When you have the blood of a very ancient vampire inside of you, you should," Alexi said over his shoulder.

"Spike?" I guessed.

"Yes."

"Why not yours?" I asked.

"He was too damaged and needed stronger blood. I am but a babe compared to Sadao." And I had a feeling there was more to the ancient vampire than I knew. He was just too... other to merely be an old, old vamp. I don't think he had ever been human at any point before he was Turned. If he even was Turned. He could be one of the original vampires for all I knew. Or the original. No one really knows where vampires came from. Even the vampires themselves. There are a lot of theories but nothing concrete. Maybe Spike knew.

We came to a stop outside of a door that looked just like any door. White and plain with a brass knob. I could hear voices coming from inside. Alexi pushed it open and we went in, Trey behind me. What had he and Alexi been up to? He had to trust the werewolf to let him so close to Mischa. It was a complete 180 from how he'd behaved toward him when they'd met. What had been going on that I didn't know about? I didn't like being in the dark but that would have to wait.

"Han Solo," Mischa called as I followed Alexi in.

"Misch-ka-bob," I said, another knot in my belly loosening at the smile that lit up his beloved face. He was sitting up against the block wall at the head of a king-sized bed, a maroon-colored blanket over his legs. His long dark hair was pulled back into a tail at the base of his skull and draped over a slender shoulder. His sky-blue eyes were bright with laughter, cheeks up in a heartbreaking smile. He looked so much like his mother with his high cheekbones and full lips but his almond-shaped, blue eyes were all Alexi. A burst of anger flashed through me quick as a lightning bolt at the thought of someone hurting him. There was no trace of any damage left on his skin. No bruises or cuts or swelling. The miracle of the toxin carried in vampire blood at work. Someone was still going to pay for what had been done to him.