Chapter 4 SECRETS AND LIES

Sera woke to the sound of screaming.

For a disorienting moment, she thought she was thirteen again, hiding in the crawlspace while her mother's execution played out in the courtyard below. But then she registered the quality of the scream-male, not female-and the silver thread on her wrist pulsing urgently.

Something was wrong in the Tower.

She threw on clothes and yanked open her door to find chaos in the hallway. Guards running, shouting in clipped commands. Human staff pressed against walls, making themselves small and invisible the way prey did when predators were agitated.

Sera grabbed Mara as the girl rushed past. "What's happening?"

"Another death," Mara whispered, her eyes wide with terror. "Third one this week. They're saying it's a plague."

Ice flooded Sera's veins. "A plague? Vampires don't get sick."

"This one does." Mara pulled free and hurried away, clearly not wanting to be caught gossiping during a crisis.

Sera's instincts warred with each other. Stay in her room, stay safe, stay invisible-that was the smart choice. But the blood debt pulled at her, insistent, telling her Daemon needed her even if he didn't know it yet.

She followed the guards.

They led her down three floors to a residential wing she hadn't explored yet. The door to one of the apartments stood open, and the smell hit her before she saw anything-death and decay, impossibly strong for a vampire who should have been preserved by their own undead nature.

Sera pushed through the gathered crowd of guards and staff, using her small size to slip between bodies until she reached the doorway.

The scene inside was horrific.

A vampire lay on the floor, his body twisted in agony, skin grey and cracking like old parchment. His eyes were open and filmed over, mouth frozen in a silent scream. Blood-dark, almost black-had leaked from his eyes, nose, and mouth, staining the expensive carpet beneath him.

Daemon stood over the body, his expression carved from ice, while Lucian-a tall, silver-haired vampire with sharp features and sharper eyes-crouched beside the corpse, examining it with clinical detachment.

"How long?" Daemon asked, his voice deadly quiet.

"Judging by the rigor and decay, six hours. Maybe eight." Lucian straightened. "Same as the others. Fast-acting, painful, leaves the body in accelerated decomposition. This is the third death in five days, Daemon. We can't keep calling it isolated incidents."

"The Council will panic if we call it a plague."

"The Council will panic more when it's twenty dead instead of three." Lucian's silver eyes flicked to Sera standing in the doorway. "Your pet human shouldn't be here."

"She's not a pet," Daemon said absently, still studying the body. "Sera, what do you see?"

Everyone turned to look at her. Sera swallowed hard, forcing herself to analyze the scene with the detachment she'd learned as a courier navigating dangerous territories.

"The body is near the door," she said slowly. "Like he was trying to leave, trying to get help. The furniture isn't disturbed-he didn't fight anyone. This wasn't an attack." She moved closer, ignoring Lucian's warning growl. "His hands. The skin around his nails is darker, almost burnt looking."

Daemon knelt beside the corpse, examining the hands. "Chemical exposure?"

"Maybe. Or..." Sera hesitated. This was the moment. She could play dumb, stay invisible, or she could prove her value. "Or he ingested something. Vampires don't eat food, but you drink blood. What if the blood was contaminated?"

Lucian's expression shifted from hostile to considering. "The blood supply is carefully monitored. Every donation is tested, tracked, certified."

"The legal blood supply," Sera corrected. "But there's a black market. I know-I used to deliver to the edges of it. Illegal blood trades, untracked donors, no testing. If someone wanted to poison vampires, that's where they'd start."

Daemon stood, his ice-blue eyes intense. "You know about the black market?"

"Everyone in the courier business knows about it. We just don't talk about it." Sera met his gaze. "Human couriers see things. Hear things. We're invisible to most vampires, so they don't guard their words around us. I've been delivering blood for five years. I know which establishments cut corners, which ones ask no questions, which ones are fronts for illegal operations."

"Why didn't you report it?" Lucian demanded.

"To who? Vampire authorities?" Sera laughed without humor. "I'm human. We're not exactly encouraged to involve ourselves in vampire business. Besides, reporting it would've gotten me killed faster than ignoring it."

Daemon exchanged a look with Lucian that spoke of years of friendship and unspoken communication. "Check his finances. If he was buying from the black market, there'll be a trail."

"On it." Lucian pulled out his phone and started typing rapidly. "Sera's right about one thing-if this is contaminated blood, we have a serious problem. Vampires feed multiple times a week. If the black market supply is poisoned, the death toll could be catastrophic."

"Not just the death toll," Daemon said quietly. "If vampires are dying from human blood, what do you think the radical factions will do?"

The implications hung heavy in the air. Vampires dying from human blood would be seen as an attack. An act of war. The fragile peace would shatter, and humans would be slaughtered in retaliation.

"We need to contain this," Daemon said. "Now. Before word spreads. Lucian, secure the body. Run every test we have. I want to know exactly what killed him and where it came from."

"And the Council?" Lucian asked.

"I'll handle the Council." Daemon turned to the guards. "No one speaks about this outside this room. Anyone who does will answer to me directly. Understood?"

Murmured affirmations rippled through the gathered vampires.

"Sera, with me." Daemon strode from the room, and the blood debt pulled her along in his wake.

She followed him to his private study, a room she hadn't seen before. It was smaller than his living quarters, lined floor to ceiling with books, with a massive desk dominating one end. Papers and files covered every surface-research, reports, correspondence. This was where Daemon worked, where he planned, where the Ice Lord of the Northern Court did the unglamorous business of actually ruling.

He closed the door and turned to face her. "Tell me everything you know about the black market blood trade."

So she did. Sera had spent five years as a courier, and in that time, she'd learned to read the city's underbelly. She knew which blood bars served only certified blood and which ones asked no questions about sources. She knew the routes illegal couriers took, the drop points they used, the way money changed hands in dark alleys and abandoned buildings.

She knew because surviving as a dhampir meant understanding both worlds-the legal surface where humans and vampires coexisted under the Blood Accord, and the illegal depths where power and desperation met in dangerous transactions.

Daemon listened without interrupting, occasionally making notes on his tablet. When she finished, he was quiet for a long moment.

"You've been hiding in plain sight," he said finally. "A courier who knows too much but says too little. Smart. Survivors' instinct."

"It kept me alive."

"It did more than that. It gave you information that most vampires don't have access to." Daemon leaned against his desk. "The black market operates in human spaces, using human couriers, serving vampire clients who don't want their feeding habits scrutinized. It's the perfect blind spot."

"Are you saying someone is deliberately poisoning the black market blood supply?"

"I'm saying it's a possibility we need to investigate." Daemon pulled up something on his tablet and showed her. "These are the three victims. All male, all mid-level court vampires, all with gambling debts and expensive habits. The kind who might cut corners to save money."

Sera studied the photos. She didn't recognize any of them, but that wasn't surprising. Mid-level vampires didn't interact much with human couriers.

"If they were buying from the black market," she said slowly, "there'd be a common source. A supplier they all used."

"That's what I need you to find out." Daemon set down the tablet. "You have connections in the courier network. People who would talk to you but not to me. I need names, locations, transaction records-anything that can point us toward who's supplying poisoned blood and why."

"You want me to investigate?" Sera blinked. "I'm your attendant, not a detective."

"You're whatever I need you to be. That's how blood debts work." Daemon's expression was serious. "I could send Lucian and a team of guards, but they'd be spotted immediately. The black market would shut down, evidence would disappear, and we'd be back to square one. But you? You're a familiar face. You know the players. You can move through those spaces without raising alarms."

"You're asking me to risk my life."

"I'm asking you to help prevent a war." Daemon moved closer, his ice-blue eyes holding hers. "If vampires keep dying and we can't identify the source, the Council will declare it an act of human aggression. They'll suspend the Blood Accord. They'll authorize retaliation. Thousands of humans will die, Sera. Maybe tens of thousands."

Including Ivy. Including everyone she'd ever known in the human districts.

"What about me?" Sera asked. "If I get caught investigating, if the people behind this realize I'm onto them-"

"Then I'll protect you." Daemon's voice was absolute. "You're bound to me. That means you're under my protection, by vampire law. Anyone who harms you answers to me."

It should have been reassuring. Instead, it felt like another chain being wrapped around her.

But what choice did she have? She could refuse, stay in the Tower, let events unfold without her. But that felt like cowardice. Like hiding while the world burned.

Her mother had been an idealist who believed in change. Maybe Sera could be a realist who actually achieved it.

"I'll need resources," she said. "Money, a cover story, freedom to move around the city without guards following me."

"Done."

"And I need to contact someone. A friend in the human districts who might have information."

Daemon studied her. "The roommate? Ivy Chen?"

Of course he knew about Ivy. He probably knew everything about Sera's life before the blood debt.

"Yes. She works at the public records office. She has access to transaction data, business registrations, things that might help track the black market supply chain."

"Involving civilians is dangerous."

"She's already involved. She's human in a city where vampires are dying from human blood. Everyone is involved whether they want to be or not." Sera crossed her arms. "You want my help? This is how I work. I don't operate alone."

For a moment, she thought Daemon would refuse. But then he nodded. "Fine. But she stays out of direct danger. Research only. Agreed?"

"Agreed."

Daemon moved to his desk and pulled out a credit chip-the kind that held unlimited funds, backed by the Northern Court's considerable wealth. "For expenses. Don't be stupid with it, but don't be cheap either. Information costs money."

Sera took the chip, feeling its weight in her hand. This was more trust than she'd expected, more freedom than she'd thought he'd give.

"Why?" she asked. "Why trust me with this? You barely know me. For all you know, I could take your money and disappear."

"You can't disappear. The blood debt won't let you get far." Daemon's smile was slight. "But beyond that? Your mother spent years advocating for better human-vampire relations. She believed both species could coexist peacefully, that we were stronger together than apart. She died for that belief."

"And you think I share it?"

"I think you're here instead of in hiding, which suggests you care about more than just yourself." Daemon's expression grew somber. "I also think you understand what's at stake in a way most humans don't. You exist between both worlds. That makes you uniquely positioned to see the connections others miss."

He meant her dhampir nature, though he didn't say it aloud. He was right, though. Being half-vampire gave her perspectives and abilities that pure humans lacked.

"When do I start?" Sera asked.

"Tomorrow night. Today, you rest and plan. Tomorrow, you go back into the city and start asking questions." Daemon returned to his tablet. "For now, go. I have Council business to attend to, and you need to prepare for tonight's meeting."

"Tonight's-" Sera had forgotten. "The Council meeting. Right."

"Try to look appropriately intimidated. It'll make them underestimate you." Daemon's eyes glinted with dark humor. "And Sera? Be careful. Whoever is behind this is killing vampires. They won't hesitate to kill a human who gets too close to the truth."

Sera left the study with the credit chip burning in her pocket and a thousand questions spinning through her mind.

She made her way back to her quarters, avoiding the areas where guards were still processing the death scene. Once inside with the door locked, she pulled out her phone and called Ivy.

"Two calls in two days," Ivy answered. "Should I be worried?"

"Yes," Sera said bluntly. "I need your help with something, and it's dangerous, and you can absolutely say no."

"Well, that's not ominous at all." Sera heard rustling like Ivy was sitting up. "What's going on?"

Sera explained about the deaths, the suspected poisoned blood, the black market investigation. She left out the part about being a dhampir-that secret was still too dangerous to share even over a phone line she wasn't sure was secure.

When she finished, Ivy was quiet for a long moment.

"Three vampires dead in five days," Ivy said finally. "Sera, if this is what I think it is-if someone is deliberately poisoning vampires-this isn't just murder. This is terrorism. This is someone trying to start a war."

"I know. That's why I need to find out who's behind it before the Council declares open season on humans."

"What do you need from me?"

Sera felt a surge of affection for her friend. No hesitation, no self-preservation, just immediate willingness to help. That was Ivy-loyal to a fault.

"Business records," Sera said. "Specifically, any blood trade operations registered in the past year. Also financial transactions-large purchases of blood from illegal sources, unusual money movements, anything that might point to someone building a supply chain."

"That's going to take time. And it's technically illegal for me to access those records without authorization."

"I know. If you can't-"

"I didn't say I wouldn't do it," Ivy interrupted. "Just that it's complicated. Give me forty-eight hours. I'll pull what I can without setting off alarms."

"You're amazing."

"I know. Try not to die before I can collect on the favor you're going to owe me." Ivy's voice softened. "Seriously though, Sera. Be careful. If these people are poisoning vampires, they're not going to care about one human investigating them."

"Daemon says he'll protect me."

"The same Daemon who executed your mother?"

"It's complicated."

"It's always complicated with you." Sera heard Ivy sigh. "Just... come back to me in one piece, okay? I can't afford this apartment on my own, even with that insane transfer he sent."

Sera smiled despite everything. "I'll do my best."

After hanging up, Sera spent the rest of the day researching. Daemon had given her access to Northern Court files, and she dove into them with single-minded focus. Reports on the previous deaths, financial records of the victims, maps of the city's blood trade routes-she absorbed it all, building a mental picture of the pattern.

All three victims had been regular patrons of a blood bar called The Crimson Rose, located on the edge of the Grey District. It was a mid-tier establishment-not fancy enough to attract vampire nobility, not seedy enough to be obviously illegal. The perfect place to hide something in plain sight.

Sera made a note to visit it tomorrow night.

She also found something else in the files-references to a series of murders ten years ago, right before her mother's execution. Humans had been found drained completely of blood, in violation of the Blood Accord's strict feeding regulations. The murders had stopped after a massive crackdown on illegal feeding, but the perpetrators were never caught.

The timing was suspicious. Had those murders been the excuse to tighten enforcement, to make an example of her mother?

Sera was still reading when Mara knocked to announce dinner. This time, Sera ate alone in her quarters-Daemon was apparently in meetings all evening. The food was still excellent, but it tasted like ash in her mouth as she thought about what she was getting into.

By the time sunset arrived and Marcus came to escort her to the Council meeting, Sera had made peace with her decision. She was walking into danger, but she was doing it with her eyes open, with a purpose beyond simple survival.

Her mother had died for her ideals. Sera would live for hers.

Marcus led her through the Tower's labyrinthine corridors to a set of massive double doors guarded by four vampires in formal military dress. They nodded to Marcus and pushed the doors open, revealing a chamber that took Sera's breath away.

The Council room was circular, with a domed ceiling painted in a night sky mural so realistic Sera could almost see the stars moving. Twelve chairs arranged in a circle, each occupied by a vampire who radiated power like heat from a furnace. And in the center, standing rather than sitting, was Daemon.

Every eye turned to her as she entered. The weight of their attention was physical, pressing down on her like a hand on her throat.

"Lord Ashford," one of the vampires said-a woman with auburn hair and a voice like poisoned honey. "You bring a human to a Council meeting?"

"I bring my attendant, as is my right," Daemon replied coolly. "Sera, come here."

The blood debt pulled her forward until she stood beside Daemon in the center of the circle. She kept her eyes down, her posture submissive-not because she wanted to, but because Daemon had been right. Let them underestimate her.

"We have urgent business," Daemon continued. "Three vampires dead in five days, all showing signs of the same illness. This is no longer a series of isolated incidents. This is a pattern."

The room erupted into shouting.

"Impossible! Vampires don't get sick!"

"It must be poison!"

"Human treachery!"

"We should suspend the Blood Accord immediately!"

Daemon let them rage for a moment before speaking again, his voice cutting through the chaos like a blade. "Enough."

Silence fell.

"We don't know what's causing the deaths," Daemon said. "We don't know if it's deliberate or accidental. We don't know if it's even related to humans. What we do know is that panicking will solve nothing and starting a war will destroy everything we've built."

"Easy for you to say, Ashford," the auburn-haired woman said. "The Northern Court hasn't lost anyone. The Eastern Court has lost two."

"And I've lost one as of this morning," Daemon countered. "So we're all affected. Which means we need to work together to find the source and stop it before it spreads further."

"And how do you propose we do that?" another Council member asked-an older vampire with silver hair and calculating eyes.

"I've already begun investigating the possibility of contaminated blood supplies, specifically from black market sources." Daemon gestured to Sera. "My attendant has connections in the courier network and will be conducting discrete inquiries."

"You're using a human to investigate vampire deaths?" The auburn-haired woman's laugh was cruel. "Bold strategy, Ashford. Or suicidal. Hard to tell which."

"It's practical, Lady Vivienne," Daemon replied. "Humans can access spaces and people that vampires cannot. And in case you've forgotten, many of our blood suppliers are human-run businesses. If there's contamination in the supply chain, humans will know about it before we do."

Sera recognized the name Vivienne from Daemon's files. She was the Lady of the Eastern Court and one of the most vocal opponents of the Blood Accord. If anyone wanted war, it was her.

"I move that we suspend all blood trade until the source is identified," Vivienne said. "No vampire should feed from any source until we know it's safe."

"That's not feasible," another Council member objected. "We need to feed. Starvation makes us dangerous, unpredictable. You'd turn every vampire in the city into a time bomb."

The argument spiraled from there, voices rising, accusations flying. Sera watched it all from her position beside Daemon, keeping perfectly still, perfectly silent.

But she was listening. And she noticed things.

Vivienne kept glancing at a younger vampire seated two chairs away-a man with dark hair and a sharp suit. They weren't speaking, but there was communication happening. Glances, slight nods, coordinated timing of their arguments.

Allies. Or more than allies.

Sera also noticed that three Council members weren't participating in the debate at all. They sat quietly, watching, waiting. That was almost more interesting than the ones shouting. What were they waiting for?

The meeting dragged on for hours. By the time Daemon finally called for adjournment, Sera's feet ached from standing and her head pounded from the sheer weight of vampire politics.

But she'd learned something valuable: the Council was divided, fracturing along old alliance lines. Some wanted war, some wanted peace, and most just wanted to survive whatever was coming.

"You did well," Daemon murmured as they left the chamber, Marcus falling into step behind them. "Most humans would have fainted from the pressure in that room."

"Most humans aren't half-vampire," Sera muttered, too tired to guard her words.

Daemon's hand touched her shoulder briefly-a warning. Marcus was right behind them, could hear everything they said.

Right. The secret. She needed to be more careful.

Back in Daemon's quarters, he poured himself blood while Sera collapsed into a chair, not bothering with propriety.

"Vivienne is going to be a problem," Sera said.

"Vivienne is always a problem." Daemon sipped his blood, considering. "But she's not our immediate concern. The deaths are. What did you notice during the meeting?"

So he'd been testing her. Seeing if she could read the room.

"Vivienne has an ally in the younger vampire two seats down from her. Dark hair, expensive suit. They were coordinating their arguments." Sera closed her eyes, reconstructing the scene. "Three Council members didn't participate at all, which means they're either undecided or waiting to see which way the wind blows. And everyone's scared, even if they're trying to hide it."

"Excellent observations." Daemon set down his glass. "The younger vampire is Marcus Crane-no relation to my Marcus. He's been building influence in the Eastern Court, positioning himself as Vivienne's successor. They're more than allies. They're lovers."

Sera's eyes snapped open. "Are vampire politics always this incestuous?"

"Usually more so." Daemon's smile was brief. "Get some rest. Tomorrow night, you start your investigation. I'll have Marcus-my Marcus-accompany you as security."

"I thought the point was to avoid looking suspicious?"

"The point is to keep you alive while you're investigating. Marcus is discrete. He'll keep his distance." Daemon moved toward his study. "Oh, and Sera? Thank you. For earlier. Your theory about the contaminated blood was sound, and your knowledge of the black market is proving invaluable."

It was the first genuine thank you Sera had received from a vampire in her entire life. It should have felt hollow. Instead, it felt dangerous.

"Don't thank me yet," she said. "I haven't found anything."

"But you will." Daemon's ice-blue eyes held hers. "I have faith in you."

That was almost worse than gratitude.

Sera returned to her quarters, her mind churning with everything she'd learned, everything she'd observed, everything she was stepping into. She called Ivy one more time before sleeping.

"I'm in," she said when her friend answered.

"In what?" Ivy sounded groggy.

"In over my head. But committed anyway."

Ivy laughed softly. "That's the Sera I know. Go save the world. I'll handle the paperwork."

Sera hung up and lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, thinking about her mother who'd died for believing in peace, and Daemon who'd killed her but now sought the same goal, and herself-caught between two worlds, two species, two impossible choices.

Tomorrow she'd start hunting for whoever was poisoning vampires and threatening to destroy the fragile peace.

Tonight, she just tried to remember who she was before all this started.

A dhampir. A courier. A survivor.

And now, apparently, an investigator trying to prevent a war.

The silver thread on her wrist pulsed gently, connecting her to Daemon somewhere in the Tower, and Sera closed her eyes and tried to sleep despite knowing that tomorrow might be the day everything fell apart.

To be continued...