by Amber Riley
Francesca gasped and pushed Davis’s arm away. “What is that? A human girl? I heard you had given up fresh blood.”
Davis sighed. “It’s time to go.”
“She’s very pretty, Kaden.” Her eyes flitted back to me. A big smile spread across her face as she peeked back around my shoulder. “Do you intend to let her survive?”
“Leave her out of this.” I moved to my right to block Lyn from her line of sight. I had a promise to Tom to keep. Nothing was going to happen to Lyn, even if it killed me.
Francesca giggled and licked her lips. “If you don’t kill her, maybe I’ll have a taste another night.”
“Get her out of here,” I growled at Davis. “Now.”
Francesca tossed a lock of hair over her shoulder and spun around. “You never did share very well.” She sauntered away, swinging her hips.
“Sorry about this,” Davis said. “It’s too bad we’re on opposite sides now. We really will be seeing you soon. Think about it. She was serious when she said we came prepared for you to say no.”
I nodded. We had been on opposite sides for a while. The only difference was that we were just getting around to doing something about it. It wasn’t my choice. It wasn’t his choice. It was coming from above both of us. That very fact reminded me just how much I hadn’t missed my old life.
“You knew my answer before you asked it.” I sighed.
“Unfortunately.” He cracked his neck and took off to catch up with Francesca.
I stood there alone listening to the waves break in the distance before turning back to Lyn. It was too dark for her human eyes to have noticed the quick movement, but she could tell that someone was there one second and gone the next. Don’t ask questions, I thought. Just don’t ask questions.
As I plodded back through the sand to her, she cocked her head. She held her hair back into a ponytail with her hands, but the crisp ocean air was still blowing strands of it across her face. “What happened?”
“Nothing,” I lied. I wouldn’t have known where to begin even if I wanted to. And I definitely didn’t want to.
“It didn’t seem like nothing.” She hurried after me as I led the way back to the sidewalk. “Is everything okay?”
My head was spinning. I needed two minutes of silence to wrap my head around everything. I really had been convinced that I was seeing things the other night. It was what I wanted to believe, but I should have trusted my instincts. There was no denying it anymore.
“I’ll walk you home,” I told her. “Which way do you live?”
She narrowed her eyes suspiciously but didn’t comment. “This way.”
It was better that she didn’t know, even if she didn’t think so. I obviously couldn’t tell her the truth, and I didn’t want to create a believable lie. Lying wasn’t exactly something I enjoyed doing, and I didn’t want to lie to her specifically.
Ridiculous, but true. I glared down at her walking quietly on the sidewalk. I wondered what she had that was so appealing. It wasn’t that she was attractive or that she smelled wonderful. Those things just made me want to bite her; they had nothing to do with wanting to be closer to her. She seemed extremely fragile next to me, like she would break if I touched her. If I wasn’t gentle, she would. One wrong move of a finger, and her arm would snap like a twig.
The thought didn’t stop me from wanting to reach out and feel the heat from her skin, to move that little piece of hair from her face. Her cheeks were pink from the cold—small pools of blood lingering just beneath the skin. I was sure her blood would taste sweet.
My body jolted, and I forced my eyes away from her face. It wasn’t a good idea to think about it. She wasn’t going to make me ruin my long-standing diet. She wasn’t worth it, I reminded myself. I promised that I would never bite a human again, and I wouldn’t. But being near her, smelling her intoxicating smell, seeing her rosy complexion all made my jaw ache.
The silence became deafening. I should have been thinking about how to deal with Francesca, but instead all I could think about was the little insignificant person beside me. If I wasn’t going to think about the right things, then I wanted to talk. Talking would divert my attention to something other than that thick, rich liquid flowing beneath her skin.
Time dragged on and on, but she wasn’t going to be the first to say anything. Is she mad at me? I wondered. I hadn’t meant to come across as cold. I was just trying to protect her. I wanted to explain that more than I wanted to explain anything else.
Maybe I should just say something, I thought. No. She was being obstinate. It wasn’t like I had any obligation to explain myself to her. She had no right to demand any details of my private conversation with people unknown to her.
Fine, I decided. If she didn’t want to talk, we wouldn’t talk. I should have listened to Tom. He was right; it was a bad idea. Humans and vampires didn’t mix.
I had proved my point to him though. I could wash my hands of the entire situation and forget it ever happened. She could tell Diana that I was a complete jerk if she wanted to. The point was that she could tell them anything at all. Her throat hadn’t been ripped open by a savage, bloodthirsty vampire. At least it hadn’t been tonight. There was a strong possibility that Francesca would make good on her threat.
Wonderful. Just wonderful.
Lyn’s teeth chattered, and she flipped the collar of her peacoat up. She held her hands up in front of her face and breathed into them. Little clouds of air formed each time she exhaled.
“Are you cold?” I asked, realizing it was a stupid question.
“We’re almost there,” she replied, shoving her hands back into her pockets.
“If I knew it was this far, I would have suggested a cab.” I wasn’t sure how long we had been walking, but it wasn’t a short distance by any means. It was no wonder her aunt was worried about her.
The buildings were covered with graffiti, garbage littered the streets, and old clunker cars were parked on the side of the road. There were apartment buildings with groups of men sitting outside and trains running on a track above our heads.
She shivered again. I had the urge to put my arm around her, but I couldn’t offer her body heat I didn’t have. I clenched my hands into fists and held them at my sides.
What was the matter with me?
“This is it,” she said quietly, stopping in front of a two-story brick house.
There were a total of three houses on the road. There was a car garage on one corner and a strip club across the street, right next to a Chinese restaurant. One of the windows on the first floor was cracked with plastic stapled over it, the front porch was beginning to dip, and the roof needed to be reshingled. Overall, it was a piece of crap.
“I’m sorry,” I told her. My stomach flip-flopped. I hadn’t apologized in a very long time. “I didn’t mean to upset you back there.”
“Upset me?” She dug around in the bottom of her purse. “You didn’t upset me. It just looked like you had a lot to think about. When I have things on my mind, I hate having someone jabber away in my ear.”
It was definitely not the reaction I was expecting. Where was the cold shoulder? The short, one-word response?
She pulled out her keys with a few colorful key chains attached, and smiled. “Thanks again for humoring my aunt and everything tonight. I’ll tell her we went out to a late dinner if that’s okay with you.”
“Sure. That’s fine.”
“Great.” She headed up to her front door and stuck the key in the lock. “Maybe I’ll see you around.”
“Yeah, maybe.” But not likely, I thought.
She flashed me one last smile before disappearing into the house. My fingers uncurled stiffly. It was finally over. The air around me seemed so much clearer. I had acted like a complete fool. It served me right for being so proud. The next time someone doubted me I would let them. I knew the truth.
There was something more important to deal with anyway: my impending doom. Maybe that was a little me
lodramatic, but Phoenix would have sent enough muscle to drag me back half-dead if he really anticipated I would say no. I couldn’t take them all on my own. I sighed. There was a way to get out of it. There always was. I just didn’t know how yet.
Then the burning sensation hit like a Mack truck, almost bringing me to my knees right in front of her house. My veins were on fire, and every little movement sent a searing pain throughout my entire being, completely taking my breath away.
The stress from the walk on the beach had burned through nearly all the blood in my system. I had been so preoccupied with Lyn that I hadn’t realized I was running on empty. It seemed impossible not to notice this degree of pain for any reason.
I staggered on the sidewalk and grabbed a chain fence for support. This wasn’t good. In fact, this was very, very bad. The sooner I got home, the better. I filled my lungs with cold air and braced myself to run at full speed.
This was going to hurt.
Chapter 5
I stumbled across the threshold to my house and collapsed to my knees, still clutching the doorknob. It was hard to breathe, and my head was spinning, but I made it that far. I wasn’t going to give up a few hundred feet away.
The medallions on the wallpaper blurred into ugly blobs. I blinked hard until they had a vague shape again. The stairs looked so far away, but ascending them was my only choice. Every cell in my body was screaming in protest as I moved forward. I just had to make it up the stairs and down the hall.
I hoisted myself up, using the door for support, and staggered forward. My ears were buzzing. I latched onto the banister and slid against the smooth wood. My legs felt like they weighed a thousand pounds, and the muscles burned with each step.
I hit the first landing and stopped. I was halfway there. Whoever designed such an elaborate staircase needed to be shot. It didn’t have to form a zigzag pattern. The shortest distance from point A to point B was always a straight line. The person must have missed that day of school.
I let out a long breath and pulled myself up the last set of steps. With my bedroom door in sight, I felt a second wind. I lunged forward and shoved the door open. I sank to the floor in front of the black mini-fridge. My hands trembled as I grabbed a bag from inside.
The red liquid slid down the back of my throat in a cold stream. My veins convulsed with the sudden rush, and an icy tingle replaced the burning sensation. The room slowly stopped spinning, and I felt like I was on solid ground again.
I fell onto my back and took shallow breaths. The carpet was soft and plush. I could have fallen asleep right there. My eyelids were growing heavy. Just a quick nap, I thought.
There was no time to waste sleeping. I had to think of something to do before Francesca showed up again. I would start by telling Flo. Now that it was a sure thing, I was going to have to tell her. She was going to lose her cool, but the plus side to that was it would make me keep mine. One of us would need to keep a level head.
I focused my eyes on the swirled design in the ceiling and fished my cell phone from my pocket. After countless rings, music blasted through the receiver. I winced against the pain that shot through my head and held the phone away from my ear.
“What?” she shouted into the phone.
“Where are you?” I asked in a shaky voice.
“Out.” The music started to fade in the background. “I’m looking for dinner. Where are you? After storming out on me earlier—”
“I didn’t storm out on you,” I interrupted. I took a deep breath and decided to let it go. I would never win, and there wasn’t time. “Are you coming back here or not?”
“What happened?” she demanded.
“Why do you automatically assume something happened?” She stayed quiet on the other end. Of course she knew. She wasn’t an idiot. I never would have called if I hadn’t had a reason. The silence lingered on until I couldn’t take it anymore. “All right, I had a visit from a couple of old friends tonight.”
My stomach tightened up and my body twitched. I still didn’t have enough blood to get worked up again. Breathe in, breathe out, I told myself. Remain conscious. Stay calm.
“Friends?” she asked. “What friends?”
“Francesca and Davis.” I groaned in anticipation of the coming tirade.
The phone clicked in my ear, and she was gone. “Bye,” I said into the dead air before letting the phone fall from my hand to the floor. I hoisted myself into a sitting position and ripped off the end of another blood bag.
It was painstakingly slow getting downstairs. I felt like I had just finished running a marathon. Every muscle was sore, and even my bones seemed to ache. But I made it into one of the leather chairs just minutes before the front door slammed shut behind Flo. She stood there in her strangely fashionable silver sequined dress, tapping her heel against the tile. Her arms were already crossed before she uttered a single word.
It slowly came back to me why she was so exhausting to be around. Her temper tantrums and attitude problems could drain the energy out of the room in seconds. She didn’t know the meaning of tact, and listening to her was tiresome.
I raised my head off the headrest, but it took too much energy. My neck wasn’t ready to support the weight just yet. I let it fall back onto the cushion and shut my eyes. “Hi,” I managed to grunt.
“What the hell?” Her heels clicked all the way across the tile and then onto the hardwood in the living room. “You call me with news like that, and that’s all you can manage to say?”
“Do you have volume control?” I asked.
She was standing in front of me now, her foot still tapping away. She smelled like beer, cigarettes, and a hint of something sweet. “At least open your eyes and talk to me,” she growled.
“Stop yelling.” I opened one eye just enough to look at her. “There’s really not much to say about it. They’re here to take me back to Spain. I’m just giving you a heads-up.”
She inhaled sharply through her nose, and I shut my eye again. She started in on her lecture, and I tuned her out. There was mention of security and a lot of talk about danger. It all amounted to blah, blah, blah. Once she got it out of her system, we could hold a normal conversation. I was secretly hoping she wouldn’t let me deal with it alone, but I would never ask for her help.
“Kaden,” she yelled, “what are you going to do?”
I used the arms of the chair to push myself up into a straighter position. I looked right at her, with her heavily outlined blue eyes and bone-straight hair, and shrugged. “I’ll figure it out.”
“That’s it?” Her hands flailed around her. “That’s your plan?”
It was actually the lack of a plan, but I wasn’t stupid enough to tell her that in plain English. It had been only been a couple hours since Francesca met me on the beach. Before that, it had been just a gut feeling, one I was quick to deny at the slightest hint I was wrong. There hadn’t really been time to form a solid plan. There were two basic ways to go: seek and destroy or sit and wait.
To seek and destroy could mean creating more conflict than necessary. I didn’t want to have to fight them unless I had to. I had left that kind of life behind me. At least I was trying to, but waiting could be dangerous. They would have all the advantage because I wouldn’t know what was coming. I could get caught off guard and end up on the next plane to Europe.
“I’m still debating,” I told her.
I was leaning toward my second option. I was worried. It had taken a lot of time to get to where I was. If I entered into a world of violence again, I might enjoy it. Maybe there would be no going back a second time. I didn’t want to take that chance unless I had to. If I waited and won, great. If I waited and lost, it would be the same as attacking. They were odds I was willing to take. I didn’t want to stay here if I was ruined anyway.
Flo sat down on the edge of the coffee table and scowled at me. “You’re going to let them hunt you down and drag you back, aren’t you?”
“No,” I growled. “I’
m not going back there.”
“Well then …” She paused and ground her teeth. “We’d better tell the other two. Your wolves should know too. Phoenix is always looking to make his pack bigger, so they should be careful.”
“They’re not my wolves; they’re Sid’s wolves,” I said flatly.
“Stop trying to change the way things work.” She waved a manicured hand at me. “There is no utopia. New York is about as good as it gets with you in charge, but you can’t change the pecking order just like that. Sid’s already as independent as possible.”
If they depended on me at all, then they weren’t independent. Werewolves were bred for our protection. Vampires had used and abused them since the beginning of time. It wasn’t something I agreed with. The world was different now, and there was less need to have them around. It was about time they broke away from their chains.
“You can’t have everything,” she went on. “You can’t treat them the way you do and expect them to think things are any different than they used to be.”
I scowled at her. “I don’t treat them like slaves.”
“No, but you do tell them what to do sometimes.”
Of course I did. It had nothing to do with them being what they were. If I was stuck running the city, then it was going to be run the way I wanted. Vampire or werewolf, it made no difference to me. They were going to follow my rules and help me keep order, or they were going to live somewhere else.
“Fine,” I agreed. “I’ll let Sid know.”
“The vampires too,” she added.
Yes, I thought, them too.
It was late, or early, depending on how you looked at it, when Sid and Reece showed up. They didn’t need to come all the way out to Old Westbury. I definitely hadn’t expected them to show up on my doorstep an hour before dawn. There they were though, sitting on my couch, not saying a word.
Sid’s light brown curls were a mess, and there were still marks on his stubbly cheek from his pillow. I must have woken him up when I sent my message. At least he had bothered to change out of his pajamas. Reece was still in black running pants and a red zip-up sweater.
