Tainted Love

Chapter 31

Abby's squeals echoed through the room, probably shattering window's throughout the entire Academy.

"Let me get this straight, you two said hello to some of the highest officials in the Vampire Domain, and now you're working for them?!" Abby exclaimed. Grace and I nodded simultaneously. We had already explained it to her three times, every single time leading to the same reaction. While Abby was happy for us, Rylee was a bit more skeptical.

"That can't be a coincidence! What did they want?" she asked, clearly wanting to know about the parts I had left out, such as what the heck I was doing for them.

"Well, I'm Sir Michaels newest secretary, and Rose is... what are you doing, Rose?" Grace asked. Damn it, Grace! I shrugged, but it felt way too obvious that I was lying. Two loud knocks pounded on our door. Abby sprang into action, jumping over the couch and racing to the door. "Sir Albert!" Saved by the bell.

Sir Albert looked like a mess. Unlike his normal clean and composed look, he wasn't wearing a tie or a tux for that matter. His blonde hair was sticking up in every direction as if had just got caught in a wind storm. Overall, he looked exhausted.

He saw me lingering behind Abby. "Rose, you have a meeting in ten minutes, and it's not a smart idea to be late," he announced. Abby failed at holding back a squeal before shoving me out the door, leaving the three of them to only wonder in the room what the heck I was doing.

The trip was completely silent until we reached Reynolds house- nope, not a house... unless you consider a massive building that looked like it swallowed three homes a house.

"I still have absolutely no idea how you managed to get involved in this," Sir Albert mumbled as we went through a gigantic iron gate that led to a field of a front yard. I snorted. "I was thinking the same thing," I said quietly. Lies.

I gasped as we walked inside. The foyer only confirmed my theory that this "house" had devoured three others. A grand marble staircase in the middle of the room spirals up to another floor, making me curious a to what was up there. My eyes were immediately drawn to the crystal chandelier and beautiful paintings, which decorated the walls and ceilings. The floor echoed with every step I took, making me realize how empty this place must feel.

"This way," Sir Albert said, gesturing to a hallway on the left. I left the gorgeous foyer, which my eyes replaced with an extraordinary hallway. While there weren't many decorations, the half a dozen rooms lined up down the hall guided my sight in every direction. A library. A dining room. A kitchen. A lounge area. You name it, there was a room for it.

Sir Albert stopped at the end of the hallway, where a massive painting of a tree in a field presented itself. I held my breath. It was our tree.

"He painted it himself," Sir Alert said, not fully understanding my awe. I stared at it for a moment. I saw the branch we sat on every time we climbed up to the top. The worn-out part of the trunk we used to tap, every time we raced there. Even the village could be seen in the distance. Everything was so clear, bringing me back to all the memories I'd try to forget. No matter what, I wanted those memories to still be a reality.

I nodded, wiping away my miserable face. It was gone. I just had to accept it.

Sir Albert looked down the hall before placing his hand on a random part of the wall. I tilted my head. What was he doing?

Suddenly, the painted began to split in half, sliding in opposite directions. It took me a moment to realize that the entire wall was doing the same thing. I back up, startled. Sir Albert chuckled and put his finger to his lips, letting me know this was a secret. I held my head high knowing that he trusted me with it.

Behind the wall was a ladder, which went down to what seemed like nothing. It was pitch black.

Sir Albert stepped on the ladder, grabbing the sides. "How long is it going to take to climb down that?" I asked. By the looks of it, going down that would take an eternity. He grinned. "Who said we were climbing?"

Without warning, he took his feet off rungs, only holding onto the side rail as he plummeted down. The walls began to close to their original state. Now or never.

I quickly squeezed through the shrinking opening in the wall and grabbed the side rails, immediately dropping. I yelped. If there was one thing I could be terrified of, it was falling.

Five seconds went by of absolute darkness. Should I slow down?

Too late. My legs were shocked at the impact, probably shattering bones. I grunted, so used to jumping off rooftops that this should have been nothing. But at least I knew when I was landing before this.

I curled up in a ball on the floor, clutching my legs in the still darkness. I heard something pop, making me yelp. Yup, quick healing hurt like hell.

A light turned on, startling my eyes that could finally see. I looked up. Four faces looked down at me. Three of them seemed concerned. One of them was smirking. I wasn't surprised that it was Reynold.

"So I don't get any warning at all as to when I'm going to land?" I ask sarcastically. Sir Albert shrugged. "I thought you'd chicken out and just climb down," he admitted. I groaned and stood up, the pain subsiding as I finished healing. Yet another one of my many mistakes. I'm supposed to be a young vampire who can't heal fast.

Reynold scooped me up bridal style. "That's not a great idea when you're still healing. It might screw it up and make it hurt even more."

I rolled my eyes, though I was grateful he was there to keep me out of trouble.

Michael grabbed a chair for me, placing it in the middle of the room. As awkward as the situation was, I thanked. They all were standing in a circle until Sir Albert noticed that I was literally staring up at them like a five-year-old, then he grabbed a chair. Michael and Reynold did the same. Sir Emerson, however, treated it like a chore as he dragged his chair over to the group.

"Okay, I guess I'll do the explaining," Reynold said. He looked to me. "I'm sure you're wondering why you're here." I nodded. More lies.

"For the past month, we've been over hearing rumors about an uprising. Last week, the rumors were confirmed to e true when Hunters discovered an extremely young vampire underneath this home, where he had planted a bomb in the center of the foundation. Luckily, he was caught, but after being interrogated we found he has little information on the uprising - just their name, and his job to blow my house to smithereens."

"So why would this be kept a secret?" I asked. Michael sighed. "We're worried that this may cause a panic, but we're also concerned that releasing this to the public may cause members of the uprising to act sooner than initially planned. We need all the time we can get to prepare."

"We have been led to believe that this uprising is led by the White Shadow, hence the uprising's name, the Shadows," Sire Emerson said. I stiffened. He couldn't be more wrong. I tried to veer the subject away from me.

"Um, how did he get underneath the house?" I asked, trying to think about what I did as a criminal investigator. I mean, I was one about seventy-five years ago, but even in that short period of time, the methods have changed.

"Dug a hole. I have no clue how no one noticed the gaping hole in the gardens, even the gardener claimed it wasn't there the night before," Emerson mumbled.

"Can I see it?" I said. Reynold shook his head. "The gardener's been filling it in since this morning."

Sir Albert tilted his head. "I thought he was doing that tomorrow, the hole's barely been touched."

I paused to think. Then the realization hit me like a truck. I shot out my chair, not caring about my whole healing lie. "We need to run!"

I booked it to the ladder. "Where are you going?" Emerson snapped.

I didn't look at them as I grabbed the first rung of the ladder. "There's a reason why the gardener hasn't made any progress!" I yelled back, climbing up at lighting speed. The sound of chairs suddenly flipping as the four of them stood up let me know they understood.

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I had way to much fun writing this chapter. It's nice putting all the pieces together. Next chapter will be out ASAP!