Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 132437 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 662(@200wpm)___ 530(@250wpm)___ 441(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132437 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 662(@200wpm)___ 530(@250wpm)___ 441(@300wpm)
And had gotten them.
It said a lot about how much the Lessening Society knew of vampires that they’d navigated the opportunity with those males as they had. And the unmistakable conclusion was that if Allhan hadn’t been with Shuli and his friends at the club, the six of them would still be alive.
And his sister’s whereabouts in her glass house would still be unknown.
“So why aren’t you going over there,” the female next to him asked. “And taking her away?”
Breaking off from her, Allhan walked back through the trees, to the yellow tape that had been strung around the clearing. As he regarded the disturbed snow, the tire grabs, the bloodstains where the body had been, he had such an incredible pain behind his sternum, he wondered if he was having heart trouble.
“Why did you kill that human,” he asked, knowing she’d followed him.
She was not going to want to talk about her situation. Maybe invasive questions would get her to go.
“He was hurting a woman.”
Allhan twisted around and frowned. “What do you mean, ‘hurting.’ ”
“I shouldn’t have gotten involved.” She came closer, her boots crunching through the uneven ice pack. “It was just some customer at the place I work. I didn’t know her. But she needed my help, and after I went into her mind and saw what he did to her, there was no way I could let him live. Some things… just have to be handled.”
Abruptly, he thought of sterling silver candlesticks.
“I agree,” he heard himself say.
And then they just stayed where they were, their eyes meeting.
“Why did you come back here tonight?” he asked.
“I made a mistake.” A hint of a hard smile lifted her lips. “Not about security cameras. Those I did take care of.”
Allhan nodded. “You forgot to take the knife with you when you left. Don’t worry, I pulled it out of him and went to the bridge. It’s at the bottom of the river. No one is ever going to find your murder weapon.”
The exhale that left her was slow and surprised.
“Salvatore’s Restaurant. Right on the handle.” He turned back to the clearing. “But like I said, you don’t have to worry about it. There are bubblers around all the bridge supports to keep the ice away. I watched it sink with my own eyes.”
“Why did you do that… why did you help me?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I’ve got a soft spot for females in peril, too.”
“I was not in peril.”
Even with everything going on, he had to smile to himself. “If the humans had found that knife, they would have immediately gone back to the restaurant you work at, and who knows what would have happened. Have you told the owner that you’re a vampire or was that not something covered during your employment interview.”
“It didn’t come up,” she muttered dryly.
“Mmm. Best it stays that way.”
In the silence that followed, the wind moved around them, drawing the pine boughs in and out of position in waves, whiffling the snow that was still loose because the temperature remained so low. In a strange, profound way, her mere presence calmed him, helped him breathe.
Even though it didn’t change the mess he was in.
The deadly danger his sister was in.
Six months since their father had been in the grave, and he was was still screwing them both. Then again, nothing had worked out as he’d planned. Nothing.
“Well, fuck,” she said in a low voice. “Looks like I owe you.”
* * *
Denne turned back to the glass house. The female was no longer in sight, and she had a sudden, irrational fear that a slayer was inside and whoever Al was worried about was being killed right now.
Actually, it wasn’t irrational.
“Why aren’t you going over there?” she asked.
In her peripheral vision, he rubbed his temples like he was trying to rotate the tires on his brain. “I can’t. She… hates me, and she has good reason to.”
“Trouble with exes, huh.” Denne shrugged. “So I’ll go over.”
His eyes snapped toward her. “You cannot—”
“Sure I can. I’ll knock on the door, make sure she’s okay, and tell her she needs to find a safe house.”
Al shook his head like he was having a seizure. “That is her safe house. And it’s too dangerous—”
“I’m really good at taking care of myself. Besides, that’s not how I die.”
There was a shocked pause. “Excuse me?”
“Long story. But I do not die in a glass house on the shores of the Hudson River one night after my life is over.”
“I’m sorry—I’m totally not following.”
She smiled for half a second. “Like I said, it’s a long story. Looks like both of us had bad news last night.”
“You’re not going over there.”
As she stared at the house, she felt him focus on her, and as much as she tried to deny it, she liked the attention.