Hard Bitten - Chloe Neill [74]
I glanced over at Colin and held out a hand until he offered up the office keys. When I had them in hand, I headed back for the office. I unlocked it and moved immediately to the file cabinet. I could use a drink, and I didn’t think he’d mind if I sampled his flask. I popped open the top drawer, pulled out the flask, and gave the contents a warning sniff.
My nose wrinkled. Whatever was in his secret mix, it smelled pickled. I squeezed my eyes shut and took a sip.
It was . . . not that bad, actually. It wasn’t a taste I could easily describe—“pickled” came closest, but there were also the tang of blood and a sweet edge that balanced out the taste, not unlike raspberry vinaigrette. Of course, I didn’t want to drink down raspberry vinaigrette, so I put the cap back on and promised myself an extra Mallocake when I finally made it home.
I noticed her in the doorway just as I closed the file cabinet again. She was a vamp I’d seen around the House but didn’t really know, a cute brunette with long, wavy hair and a curvy figure.
She looked right and left down the hallway as if afraid she might be seen darkening the teacher’s door.
“You can shut the door if you want,” I told her.
She stepped inside and closed the door behind her. “I’m Adriana,” she said. “I’m on the third floor of the House.”
“Nice to meet you.”
She got right to the point. “I don’t like playing tattletale, but I’m loyal to my House, and I’m loyal to Ethan.” There was no doubting the ferociousness of that affection in her gaze. “And someone threatens that, or the House, it’s time to speak up.”
I nodded solemnly. “I’m listening.”
“I saw it the first time a few weeks ago. I was at a party—no humans—and a Grey House vamp was using it. He tried it, and twenty minutes later he was pounding someone he said had made a pass at his girl.”
Adriana paused, seemed to gather her courage, and then looked up at me again. “And then, tonight, I found this in the bathroom.” She held out a clenched fist, and then opened her fingers. In her palm sat a small white envelope with a V inscribed on the front. I didn’t need to look inside to know what it would hold.
I squeezed my eyes shut, irritated with my own stupidity. The drugs hadn’t been for the humans. They hadn’t been used to make humans more biddable; that was just good old-fashioned glamour.
They were for vampires. It wasn’t the spill of magic or a virus or some sort of mass hysteria that was making them aggressive—it was a drug they’d apparently been stupid enough to take. Maybe it weakened their inhibitions toward violence; maybe it increased their testosterone. Whatever the chemistry, this was the reason the vamps at the rave had been willing to fight over my stumbling, the reason the vamps at the bar were fighting over rainbow booze . . . and probably the reason why Mayor Tate thought three humans had been killed in West Town.
“Thanks,” I said, opening my eyes again and holding out my hand. She handed over the drugs.
“If it’s any consolation, immortality makes some of them bored,” Adriana said, “so they do things—they try things—that they wouldn’t ordinarily try. But now it’s making the rounds through Temple Bar, and I don’t want to see it infiltrate the House.”
“Excellent call. Did you ever meet the seller?” I asked.
She shook her head. “These things move from vamp to vamp. Unless you’re looking to score, which I’m not, you don’t even come in contact with the seller.”
Another miss, but at least I’d put some information together. Someone out there was selling V to Cadogan vampires. Another someone—maybe the same someone?—was soliciting humans for raves.
Whoever was orchestrating it, put the two together and you had an explosive situation.
“Thanks for letting me know. I’ll see to it Ethan finds out about the V so we can put a stop to it, but I won’t tell him who told me.”
I could see the relief in her face, but she quickly squared her