The Scarlet Dagger (The Red Sector Chronicles, #1) (10 page)

She seemed so genuinely happy to meet me that I didn’t have the heart to tell her I probably wouldn’t be joining them for lunch very often, not when I had a cozy cell waiting for me downstairs. Instead, I gave her a nod and a small smile back, shaking her hand. “Nice to meet you.”

Angel sat down and eagerly leaned forward on the table. “So what’s your specialty? Are you going to be a soldier? I just figured, you know, since Aden and Rook said you can fight well and all.”

“
All right then,” Aden said, sliding out of the booth and cutting Angel off. “Now that introductions are over with, we should really get something to eat. Sloane?”

“
Sure.” I gave Angel an apologetic smile. “Be right back,” I told her before standing and walking with Aden toward the lunch line.

I eyed Aden sidelong. “Smooth one. But for some reason, she doesn’t strike me as the type to back down. She’s going to demand some answers when we go back.”

Aden’s eyes were slightly squinted, like he was thinking through something. “Angel means well. Though she acts like a puppy sometimes, overzealous and eager to please. It also makes her really curious, and until I figure out what to do with you, I can’t have her asking too many questions.”

“
Why don’t you let me train?” I asked suddenly. “As one of your soldiers, that is.”

Aden snorted. “Yeah right. Ten days ago, you were trying to kill me. Now I’m supposed to believe you’ve suddenly had a change of heart and want to switch sides? It’d almost worry me if your loyalties turned that quickly.”

I chewed on my lip. Gaining his trust might prove to be harder than I originally thought.

“
Professor Knight!” someone called, and we both turned as a boy walked up to us, also dressed in black with a single gold chevron on his sleeve. I gave Aden a questioning look, but he was already deep in conversation with the boy. I leaned forward, but couldn’t catch what they were saying.

Aden’s expression turned grim. “Here,” he said, handing me a piece of blue paper. It resembled a dollar bill, only smaller, with the words
fifteen jaspers
and an emblem of a forget-me-not in the middle.

It has my birthmark on the crest. Then again, maybe it’s just a regular flower and I’m drawing my own connections.

“
Are you listening?”

My head snapped up at Aden’s impatient tone. “Yes,” I said a little quickly.

He sighed in exasperation. “You’re no better than my students,” he mumbled.

I was about to argue that point, but he cut me off. “That should be enough to cover your meal. I’ll be right back.” He said the last part a bit sharply, letting me know not to try anything. I rolled my eyes, taking the bill from him and stepping into line as he walked away with the student.

I had been waiting for a total of ten seconds before someone behind me said, “For a girl like you, you’re awfully chummy with Aden.”

I gritted my teeth and turned around to face Dezyre, who reeked of a strong, mango-scented perfume. I coughed, wafting it away. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Her lips curled up in a cat-like grin. “Just that you must be really pathetic at your job if he has to escort you around like a first-year. I mean –” her eyes fell over me, from head to toe, then back up again – “what other reason could he have for wanting to spend any length of time around you?”

“
That really gets under your skin, doesn’t it?”

“
No,” she said, though her eyes were practically green with envy. “It confuses me more than anything else. I mean, it’s
Aden Knight
.”

Who was this guy? Some kind of underground celebrity?

Big deal. And I’m Sloane McAllister
, I wanted to say.

I pulled my lips into a tight smile. “I don’t see him spending any time around you.”

Her eye twitched. “That’s because he knows I have important business to take care of. He doesn’t want to distract me.”

“
Or maybe he’s allergic to your toxic personality. And that God-awful perfume you’re wearing.”

I don’t really know what made me say that, other than I’d had about as much drama as I could handle in one week. My nerves and my brain felt fried from having relived my grief over losing my brother. Glamouring two people earlier today also took a lot out of me. I was starting to experience an adrenaline crash, my mind growing sluggish as it wore off and exhaustion crept in.

Dezyre’s face deepened to a dark red. I could practically see the fumes rising from her ears. “What did you just say to me?”

“
Now who’s deaf?” I asked, turning her earlier insult back around on her. I wished I had a camera; she looked ready to explode from rage.

I sighed. All this petty bickering was making my head hurt. “Look, I have better things to do than inflate your ego.” I turned around and stepped up to the clerk to pay for my meal, not caring I had completely blown-off Dezyre. I raised my right arm, handing him the odd-looking bill.

I heard Dezyre suck in a sharp breath. “Oh my God,” she whispered. “You’re one of them.”

Her voice was so soft, I would have missed it if I didn’t have vampire hearing.
What is she talking about?

I turned back toward her. Her face was completely drained of color, and she looked like she might pass out any minute. Her eyes were fixed on my right wrist. My tattoo barely showed above my sleeve, which had slipped down when I’d gone to pay.

Damn! That was careless!

The clerk, completely oblivious to the unfolding drama, handed me back some tiny silver coins with the forget-me-knot emblem stamped in the center. Whatever currency they used down here wasn’t anything I was familiar with.

I masked my alarm with boredom. “What, this?” I pointed to my wrist before casually pulling the sleeve back down, covering the tattoo. “It’s just some ink. No big deal.”

“
That’s the Black Cross.” Dezyre’s voice trembled slightly. “No wonder Aden’s keeping such a close watch on you. You’re a hunter, aren’t you?”

Forcing myself to stay calm, I didn’t let her comments show how close they had hit home. “First I’m incompetent, now I’m dangerous? Please. It’s just a stick-on tattoo that could mean a million different things.” I turned my back. “Maybe you shouldn’t spray so much of that perfume,” I called over my shoulder. “I think the fumes are going to your head.”

I walked off, hoping she wouldn’t report me.
I need to eat and get out of here before I’m the one getting staked by Scarlet Steel
.

I hurried through the buffet line, which actually had a nice assortment to choose from: two kinds of salad with an island of various dressings, entrées of fried chicken or steak, and a bar full of side items, like steamed veggies and fruit. The most surreal part – and the one that woke me up, reminding I wasn’t human anymore – was the ice box full of cartons of blood, all labeled by blood type. I guess O negative had a different taste from B positive or something. Shuddering, I meandered away from the ice box.

I’d have to be near death before I’d ever consider drinking blood.

Quickly, I filled up my tray and grabbed a bottle of water. I had started walking back to the booth when my leg caught on something and I lost my balance.

Everything moved in slow motion. Despite my best efforts, the tray went flying, and my plate shattered on the ground as I began to fall. A hand reached out and grabbed my right forearm, jerking it up high in the air. My elbow popped as it hyper extended and I swore. Razor sharp nails dug into my wrist, which was bare since my sleeve had gathered at the crook of my arm.

I looked up to see who had caught me.

Dezyre’s magenta lips were pulled into a vicious smile. And hovering just above her clasped hand was my cross tattoo, clearly exposed and held high for everyone to see.

“
You seem to like it in the spotlight,” she said. “That’s good, because you’re about to be a freaking celebrity.”

There was no time to react. By the time I realized what she was going to do, she had already inhaled a huge breath right before she screamed, “Vampire hunter!”

Chapter 7

Every head in the room swiveled toward us. Time froze as at least one hundred pairs of eyes locked on my wrist, absorbing what the tattoo meant.

Off in the corner, someone shrieked, and the room erupted into chaos.

People were screaming and tripping over themselves as they scrambled to get out the door. It wasn’t long before a siren went off, wailing through the air much like a fire alarm. Dezyre had vanished, dropping my wrist the moment the crowd began to panic.

“
Bitch,” I growled under my breath, scrambling to my feet. I looked around, debating on the best move.

Great. How on earth am I going to get out of this mess?

Some civilian girls were so wild with fear that they nearly knocked me over in their frenzy to get out the door. I searched the faces flying by me, hoping to see Aden or Rook, but recognized no one. Something slammed into my back, and I cried out as I was tackled to the ground. I caught myself right before I fell, but my face slammed into the tile anyway when two soldiers yanked my arms behind my back and cuffed them. Immediately, my wrists began to burn, like the cuffs had lain over fire. Excruciating pain spread through my arms, shooting arrows of white hot lightning straight to my heart. I screamed, trying to wriggle free, but the soldiers hauled me to my feet. “Scarlet Steel,” one hissed into my ear. “Doesn’t feel very good, does it,
hunter
?”

Part of me was still in shock; they had already dragged me out of the mess hall and across most of the main lobby before I could collect my thoughts. “Where are we going?” I demanded through gritted teeth, but neither responded. My question only made them quicken their already blistering pace.

Cacophony filled the air, the terrified screams of the crowd mingling with the sirens. In a way, it surprised me how out-of-control the civilians were. I supposed I expected them to be calmer somehow, seeing as they lived on a military base. Back home, my mother had a detailed plan for everything, which was to be followed in strict accordance. Anyone who acted out of line during an evacuation (as in “going completely crazy”) would have been shot by the Scarlet Guard without warning. It gave scary new meaning to the whole “no tolerance” policy.

Through the noise, a gunshot rang out. The guards threw me to the ground as everyone ducked, covering their heads while more shots fired, chipping away at the walls.

“
Hold your fire!” Aden screamed through the guards’ headsets, and the gunfire died away. The soldiers jerked me to my feet and we resumed our breakneck pace through the throng, pushing people aside if they didn’t move quickly enough.

In no time, we had cleared the main area and entered an elevator. They shoved me inside, taking up positions alongside me, and we began to move, though I couldn’t tell if it was up or down.

“
Where are you taking me?” I snapped, but they refused to answer. It took every ounce of strength I had left to form a coherent sentence, the pain was so intense.

The door chimed a few seconds later, and we stepped into a more secluded part of the base. I say “secluded” because there was no one in sight, and the corridor looked akin to a dungeon, with stone walls and a chill in the air that suggested few visitors. About fifty feet ahead was a single black door with a name plate I couldn’t read, and the closer we drew upon the door, the more cameras I counted. Wherever we were going must have been either top secret, or placed under additional security for a reason.

The diagram of the base – the one by the stairwell – came to mind.
This has to be the top floor, the only part that wasn’t labeled.

We paused while one of the guards punched in a security code. A door swung open and they ushered me inside. I felt like I’d stepped back into the 1800’s. Old Victorian furniture dotted the room, which had no windows. Rather, it was dimly lit by several gas lamps with stained glass shades. Red and gold striped wallpaper clung to the walls, and an old-fashioned record player – a phonograph, I think – sat in the corner, freshly polished as if it was still frequently used.