“I guess,” I muttered. Henry cupped his hand over his ear and shrugged. He couldn’t hear a word I said.
“I’ll mingle,” I screeched over the deafening music.
And with that, Henry disappeared into the crowd.
Great. Now what?
I wasn’t having a good time at all. Henry was ready to abandon me to chat with all of his important friends, and I basically wanted to talk to...well, no one.
I headed into the kitchen. Not that I could take a bite of any of the food or a drink of liquid, but I had hoped it wouldn’t be a room that people were congregating in.
Luckily, I was right. I sank down into a chair around the large island.
There was a half empty bottle of wine right in front of me. I wonder if I could have a sip? What would happen?
The only other people in the room were a girl and a guy in the corner, but they were obviously only focused on each other and hadn’t even heard me come in. I grabbed the bottle of wine and poured a huge glass.
What’s the worst that can happen? Maybe I wouldn’t be physically able to swallow it – but hey, at least I’d know once and for all.
I had just raised the glass to my lips when I heard my name.
“Aurora!” the voice hissed.
The glass fell to the ground and broke, spewing the dark liquid all over the floor.
I spun around, searching for the person who had called my name.
And then I saw him. The kitchen door, which led out onto the patio, was open. And standing, huddled in the shadows, with the hood of his jacket pulled up over his head, was Lucas.
Chapter 33
“What are you doing here?” I yelled. The music was slightly less blaring in the kitchen, but still loud as hell.
Lucas motioned for me to come outside. I hopped up from the stool and stepped into the hot summer night.
“You didn’t answer your phone, so I had to come find you.” Lucas’ face was solemn.
“What? How is that possible?” I whipped my phone out of my pocket. I had been trying so hard to make sure I didn’t ignore anyone tonight. But sure enough, I had five missed calls from Lucas, and two missed calls from Emmett.
“I’m sorry,” I said sheepishly. Apparently, even when I tried I wasn’t capable of monitoring my phone properly.
“Why the fuck are you here?” I blurted out before I could stop myself. “You hate crowds! What’s so important that you came here? And how did you find out about this party?” I added as an afterthought.
“Emmett.” Lucas only answered my last question. “You have to come now,” he said frantically. “There’s a meeting – tonight.”
“You mean a Tobias meeting?” I hissed.
“That’s exactly what I mean,” Lucas replied.
“So am I about to have a blackout?” I asked shrilly.
“No.” Lucas pointed to his pocket. “I have the frequency device. It should help. But we have to go. Now.”
“Why?” I asked in confusion. “If you have the device to stop me from blacking out, what’s the problem?”
“We need to prep! There’s more to it than that,” Lucas said, obviously agitated. “Nicholas and Emmett are waiting for us. You have to go to that meeting and pretend you’re actually in a trance. Nicholas is going with you. He’ll protect you, and no one will recognize him.”
I was dumbfounded. Last I heard Nicholas was overseas, far from us and not coming back to the USA anytime soon.
“Why is he here?” I demanded. “What’s changed?”
“He’s here to help us! Please, Rory, we have to go now.” Lucas sounded desperate.
“But Henry!” I exclaimed. “I can’t disappear without telling him something.”
“Text him! I don’t care what you tell him, as long as it’s not the truth! We’re running out of time. Come on!” Lucas grabbed my hand forcefully and started walking.
It might take Henry awhile to figure out I was gone, but he would notice and was sure to panic. I couldn’t put him through that again. But what choice did I really have? This could be our only chance to find out what Tobias was trying to accomplish.
I looked back over my shoulder as Lucas dragged me away from the house. Please understand, Henry. But to my dismay, there was Henry, standing in the entrance of the kitchen, a look of shock on his face, watching Lucas pull me away to God-knows-what.
Forgive me. But Henry just looked hurt, confused. He didn’t try to come after us.
“Stop resisting. We have to go!” Lucas snapped. I hadn’t heard him this worked up in a long time.
I started jogging next to him. “Henry is never going to understand this,” I said morosely.
“The car is the next block over – hurry!” Lucas instructed.
In a daze, I followed his instructions. I had to go to this meeting, but it was such fucked up timing. Why couldn’t this have happened when I was safe and sound in my room, far away from Henry? Instead, he would think I was running off with Lucas right before his eyes.
I slid into the backseat of the car next to Emmett. He looked as worried as I felt.
“I’m Nicholas,” said a voice from the front seat. I couldn’t see his face. He and Lucas immediately started talking in low voices.
And with that, Lucas peeled off into the night.
Immortal After All (Vampire Hunter Book 3) Page 10
