Page 16 of Born Reckless

Almost instantly, some kind of cold flexible plastic is placed in my hand. When I open my eyes, I see a bag of blood in my hand. Exactly like the kind we use at a hospital.

The cold disgusts me. I feel my lip curl at it.

But looking up, something in my brain is still human enough to not want to take what I need from Mason.

I bite into the plastic and drink the blood like a Capri Sun.

"I took you to Las Vegas because there are lots of options when it comes to people who can disappear and not be missed. I know it's terrible, but to be honest, pretty much everyone drains their first feeding. I had meant to take you out as soon as you Resurrected, but that happened a little earlier than anticipated. It would have been a good place to lay low for a few weeks, but unfortunately, your first victim was the daughter of someone very important."

Dread drops into my stomach. I won't ever forget the look on his face when he came out of that room and saw his daughter lying at my feet. Or when he said that he would make me pay for what I had done.

"His name is Pablo Ramirez," Mason says. "Eventually, you will learn all about the political system that exists within the vampire world. And how we avoid it. What you do need to know for right now is that certain vampires are considered Royal. Those Royals govern the world through Houses. One of those exists in Las Vegas. Pablo Ramirez is not a Royal, but he is important in their circle."

"He told me that his daughter was about to become engaged to one of those Royals," Elena says. "This is important, because she was to become a vampire, but wasn't yet. She could have married that Royal and born him Royal children before she turned. Now…"

I cut that option off. The tie to a Royal family, whatever the hell that means. And the option for future heirs. If it's true that only male vampires can create more vampires with female humans, this means that there will not be the children that had been planned.

This all sounds so crazy.

"I never told Pablo who I was," Elena moves on. "Simply that I have an impressive portfolio, and that I'm looking for a new investment partner in Las Vegas. He wasn't a fan of all the secrecy, but I didn't give him much of an option. So, thank heavens, he doesn't know who I am. Though, if he digs too deep, it really won't be that hard to figure it out. So, we had to get out of Las Vegas. We need to lay low for a day or two before returning home."

Home. Oh shit. My brain starts running through how all of this is going to change my life. How am I ever supposed to walk back into a hospital when every person around me looks like a snack?

"When she says home, she doesn't mean New York," Mason says, his voice low. "You're coming back to Chicago with us."

“No, I’m not,” I automatically bark back.

"With the target on your back, there will be no safer place for you than Chicago," Elena says quietly. "That part is going to require a lot of explanation, but for now, can you please just trust me that I will keep you safe?"

Trust me. That’s not something I do. No one in my life has proved themselves worth trusting.

Except for this woman sitting across from me.

I'm reckless and sarcastic and bitter. I don't like to let my emotions show.

But right now, everything is so out of my control. I want to throw everything these two have said out the window without a parachute.

But I loved the taste of blood. I killed two people in less than two minutes. I jumped out of a building and didn’t get a scratch on me.

The world is not the world I thought it was. It is so much darker and so much more complex than I ever dared imagine.

My eyes rise back up to meet my best friend’s. And in them, I still see the woman who has made me smile more than any person in my life. I still see the person that I would do anything for.

So even though I'm terrified, I still answer honestly. "Okay."

Chapter Four

I've never beento St. Louis. Really, I've never been anywhere. Too bad this isn’t a tourism visit.

The plane touches down at the airport. The pilot rolls us to one corner of it and opens the stairs.

I don't have any luggage. I literally have nothing with me. While Mason and Elena grab their bags and walk down the stairs, I walk out empty-handed.

It's something I'm used to, but it’s becoming a happily more distant memory. I bounced from place to place for years, and half the time, I was taken out in such a hurry, that I wasn't able to grab any of my very few belongings. I am one of the few people in the world who is able to start from scratch, from absolutely nothing, and not fall apart over the fact.

Except that I’m twenty-eight years old now, and I’ve been working my ass off for the last ten years to change that.

There is another limo waiting for us at the airport. Wordlessly, the three of us climb inside. Elena hands me another blood bag and insists that I drink it down.