Dark Horizons (The Red Sector Chronicles) (4 page)

Once she had checked all of Aden’s vitals for at least the third time, Paris sighed and walked over to me. “His heart rate is still a bit fast, but overall he’s
stable
.” Her voice lifted on the end, as if she
were about to say “for now.”

I glanced at him nervously. He looked to be asleep, his chest rising and falling with a labored, wheezing sound. “Can’t we find a cure, now that we know exactly what
Orion
used to manufacture the disease?”

Paris was also an expert in hematology, or the study of blood. If anyone could find a cure, she could.

She sighed
. “It’s not that simple. I’d need a sample of Nero
’s, er, Orion’s blood –
as w
ell as a large dose of your own –
to work with.”

I rolled up the sleeve of my sweater. “Take as much as you need.” Though the thought of being pierced by a needle terrified me, the idea of losing Aden scared me far more.

Paris glanced at my arm
and then walked over to a cabinet, producing a
syringe
, a vial,
and an alcohol pad
. My stomach flipped at seeing the needle, which seemed to grow longer the closer she got, and I mentally braced myself as she
pulled on some gloves and
prepped my skin.

You’re
doing this for Aden. Be strong. H
e needs you.

Gritting my teeth, I forced myself to think about anything else as
she inserted the needle
with a
sharp prick at my elbow and drew out a sample. I felt my blood pressure drop as icy fear ran over me and my vision began to go black on the sides.

“There,” Paris said, pulling
out
the needle.
“I was trying to hurry, since it looked like you were on the verge of
blacking
out.” The tone of her voice shifted to delighted malice
. “And I wouldn’t have time to dig out the needle if it happened to snap off in your skin.”

I almost passed out then and there. Closing my eyes for a few seconds until the world stopped spinning,
I heaved a shaky sigh
and glanced up
as she injected
the syringe’s
contents into the vial, watching as my blood stained its insides red. “This should be more than enough to work with.”

“How long will it take?” I asked as she dropped the sample into her pocket and disposed of the
needle
. She pulled open a drawer and grabbed a Band-Aid, handing it to me.
Yanking off the protective wrappers, I slapped it on the
rising
welt
at my elbow and banished
the past few seconds to the back of my thoughts.

Paris hesitated, her eyes guarded. “That sort of thing could take years of testing to perfect –”

My jaw dropped
. “We don’t have years! Aden’s life
is at stake here
, not to mention anyone else
’s
who might have been exposed.
”

“Do you think I don’t know that?” Paris hissed, silencing me. She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, right below
the rim of her glasses
, and took a deep breath. I waited impatiently while she calmed down, eventually opening her eyes to give me her token glare. “Since Aden and I have been working on finding a
cure
for some time now – and since we’ll have sa
mples directly from the sources –
it might not take
as
long.
”

During my stay here, I remembered Aden disappearing for severa
l hours at a time, and when he
return
ed
,
he woul
d have
a row of
bandages on his arms. When I
asked him about it, he said he’
d been donating blood, which he had. Orion had turned Aden, so in theory, his blood was inside him. Apparently
,
it wasn’t enough to find a cure
though.

Along those lines, a thought occurred to me. “Why isn’t he immune, like me
? He’s had my blood and Orion’s, so shouldn’t that technically make him immune?
”

Paris almost rolled her eyes, as if this
were
the dumbest ques
tion in the world
.
I
fisted my hand, wanting
to punch her. “It’s not like
mixing drinks
, Sloane. While that may aid in his tissue not breaking down as quickly –” I winced at that “– it’s not the same as manufacturing a cure. Besides, he’s still Aden, full of blood that doesn’t belong to either of you.”

I glanced at Aden, who looked more peaceful, though I could hear the struggling thrum of his heart over the symphony of beeps and machines in the room. His breathing had also become more labored.

Everything inside of me turned to ice.
If he dies…
I immediately forced that thought away, refusing to think about the future because fear would only distract me, and right now
,
I needed to be on
high
alert if I was going to be of any use to Aden.

“How long does he have?” I asked, turning back to Paris.

Her eyes flicked to Aden, studying him. “I don’t know for certain.  Since Orion changed him, I think it will slow down the disease’s progress. It could be a few days or a few weeks.”

Those words slammed into me like a lead weight. “A few days,” I repeated woodenly.

Paris looked at me, her eyes softening. “We have Orion in custody, downstairs in the dungeons,” she
said.

The floor threatened to drop out from under me. “What?” Orion was alive? “How is that even possible? I shot him out of a
twenty
-stor
y
building – w
ith
Scarlet Steel
.”
Scarlet Steel was an acidic red metal that was lethal to vampires.

“I don’t know,” Paris said, sighing in irritation. “Apparently they had paramedics on the scene immediately, and when they dug the bullet out – which missed his heart, by the way, by about an inch – the hole closed up and they cuffed him and brought him here.”

I swore, fisting my hand and wanting to drive it through a wall. I missed. I f
reaking missed my homicidal brother’s heart.

And yet I couldn’t ignore the little dose of relief that gave me.

I closed my eyes, trying to reason with my heart.
Your brother’s as good as dead
. That man – that thing – is not Orion anymore.

“
Don’t worry,” Paris said, completely oblivious to my inner turmoil, since I had my back to her. “
As head doctor, I have top level security clearance. I’ll go down there and procure a fresh sample.”

Mutely, I nodded, the action feeling very tense and robotic because my mind was still wrapped around
finding out my brother was alive.

Even greater was
the prospect of not having Aden in my life by the end of the week.
Since when had I grown to care so much about him?

A man’s voice came on over the intercom, paging Paris. “I must go,” she said, casting one more worried glance at Aden before walking toward the door. “
Stay here and try not
to screw anything up,” she added wryly, though there wasn’t
as much venom behind it.

I blinked, giving her a small smile back. Ever since I met her, Paris and I hated each other
, and now
it was as if Aden’s endangered
health
had made
us
allies.
It was f
unny how a crisis had that effect on people.

Paris
was almost to the door
when
two lines of soldiers
march
ed in
.
With an indignant look on her face, s
he
was forced to step back or
be trampled as they
surrounded the room and
aimed their guns right at us.

I immediately crouched into a defensive position, ready to strike at the first available chance.

“What’s the meaning of this?”
Paris demanded.

Heavy footfalls approached, and we both looked up as Rook walked
in,
his expression hard as stone.

Rook had been friends with my brother and I
back in our “human” lives.
He was a tank, with dark skin, dreads, and rolling muscles. He
was also a complete teddy bear. A
t first
,
I tho
ught his stony expression was for show
until he said, “
As decreed by the s
upreme
chancellor
, General Frost,
you,
Dr. Paris De
L
ange, Sergeant McAllister
,
and Captain Knight
,
are under
arrest for treason against the e
mpire.”

CHAPTER 3

I blinked. “What?”

The soldiers shifted uneasily. Red laser beams crisscrossed the air as they honed in on me. I should have been worried about the increasing number of red dots on my chest, but all I could think of was that they wanted to take Aden away.

The calm façade never left Rook’s face. His eyes were perfectly emotionless as he addressed me. “You are to come with us immediately. The Council requests your presence.”

“Screw the Council,” I growled, feeling my fangs elongate at the prospect of bloodshed. I moved in front of the bed, blocking Aden from view. “You’re n
ot taking him anywhere.”

The soldiers glanced at each other; some of them were even growling, their fingers rattling against their triggers, itching to pull them.

“Stop it!” Paris screamed at me, her hands in the air. “You’re going to get us all killed!”

I saw my reflection in one of the men’s helmets. My eyes were glowing red. It felt like fire was running through my veins
, as if my anger and passion had become lava
. “
You will not take him,
”
I snarled, my voice morphing into something not quite animal or human.

“Sloane.”

My gaze jerked to the side, wild and feral, as Rook stepped forward. “We mean you no harm. But if you try to deter us, we will have no choice
but to fight back –
by any means necessary.”

It was there, in his eyes; a flicker of doubt and…

Fear
.

That sent me hurtling back into my human self. My fangs retracted and I let out a deep, shaky breath. A wave of cold dizziness washed through
me, but when I started to sway,
I gritted my teeth and grounded myself.
The last thing I needed to do was appear weak.

It was barely noticeable, but Rook’s shoulders slackened a fraction. He motioned with a jerk of his head, and the guards closed in on me, approaching with caution like they would a rabid dog.

Rei
ning in my instinct to fight back, I let them take me by the arms
,
and pull me forward
and
out the door. I glanced back over my shoulder, seeing them cuffing Aden as they yanked him out of bed. I growled. “Be careful with him!” I shouted as they shoved me out into the hallway, followed by a disgruntled Paris. Her beautiful eyes flared, and she looked even more pissed than
usual
.

The fighter in me screamed to take these guys down, grab Aden, and
bolt, but with so many of them
,
I knew we’d never make it to the exit. Rook would have us cornered before I had a chance to drag Aden very f
ar, not to mention in his state,
he would
only slow us down.

With no other options left
, I steeled my resolve and let them escort us away to face the Council.

***

Somehow,
I had forgotten how ominous the Council building looked.

It rose all the way to the domed ceiling, the largest structure in
the Syndicate’s
underground base. I swallowed hard, seeing my reflection in the black glass as the guards led me up to the doors, punched in some more codes, and
pushed me inside
once the door had slid open
.

T
he
interior
was arranged like a big maze, with doors and hallways
no one
would
even see until
they
were upon them. Black was kind of a theme with the Council; everything,
from the walls
to the ceiling and floors, was black. The
little white light
bulbs hanging from the ceiling provided the only contrast, barely providing
enough light to see. The place seemed to suck away all light – and hope – one might hav
e, which I had a feeling was the
desired effect.