by Bella Jacobs
I was secretly hoping Rourke might decide to stay a while and see if kissing each other indoors is as amazing as making out by the garden gate, but wretched Sven is watching and I’m sure Rourke has things he needs to do to prepare for our prison break.
That’s what the castle feels like now. The magic has gone out of the Strife shiver’s headquarters, and I for one can’t wait to have its turrets in my rearview mirror.
After Rourke and Sven are gone, I dig around in the closet, finding a roomy designer shoulder bag with more than enough space for toiletries and a few changes of clothes. I pack quickly, take an even quicker shower—swiftly washing what’s left of my hair, grateful for the magical vampire salve Nan applied to my scalp to soothe away my minor burns—and find myself flopped on the chaise in the sitting area, already dressed and ready to ride with a good hour to kill.
I’ve been forbidden from sneaking across to Leerie’s room—Leo insisted we should pretend we’re settling into bed for the day along with the rest of the house—but he didn’t say anything about texting…
Grabbing my phone, I pull up my roomie thread, desperate to know how Leerie’s night went and if she’s wishing she’d never met my unlucky in love, DNA-scrambled, rhino-charging self.
Eliza: Hey babes, how are you? Hanging in there? I’m so sorry I put you in danger, and I’m so glad you weren’t hurt. I never would have forgiven myself if something had happened to you.
Leerie: Don’t be silly, honey. The attack wasn’t your fault. None of this is your fault. There’s clearly more afoot here than anyone realized.
Eliza: Yeah. I’m glad we’re leaving.
Leerie: Me too. I’m sure he’s very nice, but Jamal’s fiery eyeball gives me the heebie-jeebies.
Eliza: Really? I like Jamal. It’s Sven who drives me up the wall. He keeps acting like I stink like a homeless man’s ass.
Leerie: Oh, he’s just old and fussy. Don’t take it personally.
Eliza: So I don’t reek?
Leerie: Of course not, LOL! I would tell you if you stank, woman. I’m not about to let my girl go wandering around kissing handsome vampires while she smells like Eau de Hobo Bottom.
Eliza: Rourke told you?
Leerie: No, I saw you by the garden. I was on my way over to remind Rourke of his promise to keep his hands to himself when the wolves showed up.
Eliza: Right. Um. So…what if I’ve decided maybe I don’t want him to keep his hands to himself?
Leerie: Um, then you’re crazy? You really want two vampire boyfriends? Two vampire boyfriends who are going to want to be a lot more than your boyfriends before too long? They’re cursed, Eliza, and under the gun to lock down a mate. They don’t have the luxury of taking things slow, and the last time I checked, you were one of the most commitment-phobic people I’ve ever met.
Eliza: I know, I know. You’re right. It’s crazy, but…
Leerie: But what?
Eliza: It was the best kiss of my entire life. And if I’m honest, I never wanted to be “just friends” with either one of them, Leerie. We ended up friends because they were after you, but if we’d met under different circumstances…
Leerie: Under different circumstances, they would never have known you exist, Eliza. You don’t go to vampire clubs or hang out in supernatural circles. If you didn’t have the misfortune of being my roommate, Leo and Rourke wouldn’t even know your name, let alone have their fangs set on you. You’d be safe, and I wouldn’t feel like the worst friend in the entire world. Goddess, this is all my fault!
Eliza: Stop it! Nothing is your fault. You know better. You’re the one who’s always saying that the vagina wants what it wants, right? Attraction doesn’t always make sense or play by the rules, and it certainly isn’t anyone’s fault.
Leerie: But this isn’t harmless attraction, Eliza. This is the first step down a dangerous path. Get too far down that road and there will be no turning back. You can’t just break up with a vampire. It doesn’t work that way. There is no vamp divorce. Once you’re married, you’re married. FOR. EV. ER. No take-backsies.
Eliza: Easy there, no one’s talking about getting married. It was just a kiss and a few not-so-innocent thoughts about what it might be like to do more than kiss. That’s all.
Leerie: It wasn’t just a kiss. It was you staying to fight when you should have run for cover. It was you risking your life for Rourke and Leo’s.
Eliza: They’re my friends. I would have done the same for you.
Leerie: Because you love me.
Eliza: Well, yes, of course I do. But I don’t… At least I don’t think I…
Oh God, do I? Maybe?
Leerie: Love has a way of sneaking in when you’re not looking for it, pumpkin. Especially with sweet, smart, loyal, brave, drop-dead sexy men who are allegedly every bit as dangerous in the bedroom as they are on the battlefield.
Eliza: What are they going to do? Murder my vagina?
Leerie: Worse, they’ll murder your resistance and sense of self-preservation. Before you know it, they’ll have you begging to sign over your life to them like a good little vampire bride. The best thing you can do now is to remove yourself from temptation before the temptation becomes too great. We’ll stay with the boys until we’re sure they’re safe, but then you and I should get the hell out of Dodge. I’ve already booked tickets on a flight to Germany this afternoon. You can come home with me, meet my terrifying mother, realize your terrifying mother isn’t all that bad in the grand scheme of things, rest and recuperate and bang a few hot fairy men so gorgeous they’ll make you forget all about Rourke and Leo, and we’ll come back to Seattle when things have calmed down.
Eliza: And what if I go rhino on the plane?
Leerie: You won’t go rhino on the plane. You’ll have Pearl there to help you maintain control. Leo won’t mind if you borrow it.
Eliza: The airline isn’t going to let me carry a baseball bat onto a commercial flight, Leerie. And if I shift, I could kill everyone on board, send the plane crashing into the ocean, never to be seen again.
Leerie: Then we’ll charter a private plane where Pearl will be welcome. It might take a little more time, but I have money saved up for an emergency like this. I’ll make it work.
Eliza: No, mama. I can’t risk your safety like that. Pearl hasn’t been put to the test in a real-life fight-or-flight situation. I have no idea if she’ll keep me from shifting. Until I’m me again, I can’t risk getting too far off the ground. And I don’t want to leave Rourke and Leo. Someone tried to take them both out. They need our help.
Leerie: I know. Leo filled me in. I want to help them, too, but I also want to keep you from making a potentially life-ruining or even life-ending mistake. And I have to go to Germany, whether I like it or not. Right after you left my room this afternoon, I got a call from the high chancellor. My mother’s sick.
Eliza: Oh God… I’m so sorry, Leerie.
Leerie: Me too. I’m sure she’s going to be fine—she’s the strongest person I’ve ever met—but until she is, as her heir, I’m required to be in court. There’s no talking my way out of it this time. Either I take myself there of my own free will, or they’ll send someone to drag me there kicking and screaming.
Eliza: Of course you have to go! I know your mother can be a monster, but she’s still your mother. If she were to pass and you weren’t there to say goodbye…
Leerie: I’ve already said goodbye. The woman I thought I knew, the one I loved as a child, is dead. If Lenore was ever that person to begin with. If I had a choice, I’d stay here until I was sure you’re safe. You’re my only real family, Eliza. You and those stupid assholes who want to take you away from me. Even Leo is letting me down. He swore to me he’d never endanger a human woman again, but I’ve seen the way he looks at you.
Eliza: Really? I feel like he’s been mad at me since we left the house yesterday.
Leerie: He’s just worried. And scared. When nothing was ever going to come of it, it was okay for him to ha
ve a secret crush on you. But now that things have changed, he’s realizing how deeply he’s fucked up. Putting you on Gloria’s radar, getting you sucked into a world you aren’t even a little bit prepared to navigate without getting killed… He’s running scared, trying to stuff all the toothpaste back in the tube, but that’s not the way love works. Or toothpaste.
Eliza: Or string cheese. Did you ever eat that when you were a kid? That gross cheese that came in a can?
Leerie: God, no. My mother would have had a fit if I put anything that vile close to my mouth, let alone ingested it. I wasn’t even allowed to have refined sugar until I was nearly sixty.
Eliza: Fairy adolescence lasts way too long.
Leerie: You’re telling me. Back home, I’m still not considered completely grown up. Mark my words, my Aunt Sylphie will try to put me in the children’s wing, in one of the rooms with a night nanny outside the door, just in case.
Eliza: In case of what? LOL. In case you need your diaper changed?
Leerie: In case I get hungry in the night and want someone to bring me some porridge. Or my blankets are too warm and need to be swapped out for the summer linens. Or if I have a nightmare and need a cuddle and a night lamp lit.
Eliza: That actually sounds pretty nice. I’d like some porridge and a cuddle.
Leerie: If you come with me, I’ll share mine. Come on, Eliza. We can make the flight work, and once we touch down, you’ll be safe. No one fucks with my family on their home turf. No one even knows for sure where our home turf is. You won’t have to worry about Kin Born attacks or dangerously sexy vampires or betrayal by vagina, and I might even be able to fix the rhino thing. My magic is stronger inside Fairy, and I’ve always had an affinity for animals as well as plants.
Eliza: I have to go with Leo and Rourke, Leerie. They might not admit it, but they need me. They need someone to watch their back as much as I need someone to watch mine.
Leerie: Then you all better keep each other safe until I get back. Oh, and don’t tell the boys you’re dropping me off on the way to wherever we’re supposed to be going this morning. They’ll try to talk me out of it, and that would be a waste of everyone’s time. There are certain things you can’t say no to, and a summons from the Fey Court is one of them.
Eliza: Okay. But I want you to call me when you get home. As soon as you can. I want to know you made it safely and that everything’s all right, and to hear all about your nanny and what kind of porridge she’s whipped up for you.
Leerie: Will do. Looks like we’re only about ten minutes from go time. Are you packed?
Eliza: I am. Meet you at the end of the hall at five fifty sharp?
Leerie: See you there. And don’t forget Pearl.
Eliza: Oh, I won’t. Until all this madness is over, Pearl and I are going to be tight. Real tight.
Chapter 13
At ten ’til six on the dot, Leerie and I meet up in the soft gloom at the end of the hall. I jab a thumb toward the servant’s stairwell, and she nods, confirming my hunch that we should avoid the elevators. Rourke and Leo didn’t say how we should get down to the garage, just that we should get there, but the hum of the elevator moving from our floor down to the subbasement seems like the kind of thing that could attract the wrong kind of attention.
And running into one of the servants probably isn’t as big a deal as running into one of the shiver members. Though I’d be happy to avoid another run-in with Sven before I leave.
In fact, if I never see Sven again, that would be just fine with me.
“Someone should fire Sven,” I whisper as Leerie and I circle down, down, past floors of sleeping human guests to the ground floor and the secret reaches beyond. I’m not sure what’s between the ground floor and Subbasement Three, where the cars are parked, but it sure is quiet out there. And dark. If it weren’t for the soft blue lights set above the door on each floor, Leerie and I would be running blind.
“You can give him a firm talking to when you’re his prince’s mate,” Leerie hisses back.
I wrinkle my nose. “For someone who doesn’t want me to end up vampire-married, you sure do talk about it a lot.”
Leerie’s lips curve. “Reverse psychology. If I talk about it enough, you’ll decide doing it won’t be any fun. You know you hate being told what to do.”
“It’s not your favorite thing, either,” I remind her. “That’s the only reason you didn’t marry them yourself, right? Because too many people told you it would be a great idea.”
“No, I’m not married to them because I don’t care about Rourke or Leo in that way. And because I could tell that you did.”
The confession makes me stumble on the final step down to the bottom landing.
Leerie pauses with her hand on the door leading into to Subbasement Three to pin me with a sober look. “It’s all right if you can’t resist the pull, Eliza. There’s more than a whiff of destiny lingering around you three. Yes, if you choose a life with Leo and Rourke, I’ll be worried about you. But I’ll also be happy for you. As long as you’re happy, I’m happy. I want you to know that. Just in case we don’t see each other again.”
My heart skips a beat. “Why wouldn’t we see each other again, Leerie? What aren’t you telling me? Is your mom really dying? Are they going to hold you prisoner and force you to be the queen of the fairies? Do you need me to fly over and bust you out as soon as I’m human full time and can be trusted on a plane?”
Her lips curve in a sad smile. “I appreciate the offer, but no. If I stay, it will be my choice. For all my complaining and running away, I love my people. And if I don’t stay and foster order, someone else will sweep in and create chaos. I can’t let that happen, not when my parents worked so hard to make Fairy a place that decent creatures could be proud to call home again.”
I lean in, hugging her tight. “But we won’t say goodbye. We’ll see each other soon. I can feel it in my gut, and you know my gut never lies.”
Leerie folds me up in her much longer arms. “I hope you’re right. I’m not ready to let go of you yet, sister. I need more tea in the kitchen and all-night holiday parties and dancing naked under the full moon.”
“You naked weirdo,” I say, sniff-laughing. “We’re dancing in clothes next time. Swimsuits, at the very least.”
Someone clears his throat softly above us, and Leerie and I draw apart, turning to see Rourke and Leo on the landing, their own bags clutched in their hands.
“We should go,” Leo says. “Sunrise is in less than an hour. The human servants will be arriving for their shifts soon. Best for us if none of them see anything they’ll be able to report to the master when she wakes.”
I nod. “All right. We’re ready.”
Or as ready as we’ll ever be, anyway…
Chapter 14
Leerie throws open the door to the parking garage, and she and I both suck in a horrified breath.
“Oh, for goddess’s sake,” she hisses, bouncing from foot to foot with her arms hugged tight around herself.
I instantly begin to shiver hard enough to make my teeth clack together. “D-damn. What are you vampires doing down here? Farming icicles?”
“Storing cars,” Leo says, striding into the dimly lit concrete womb and turning right at what looks like a vintage Lamborghini. “Cars don’t feel the chill.”
“Neither do we,” Rourke says with a wink and a circle of his arm. “Come on, ladies. The cameras were off when I left the control room ten minutes ago, but I can’t promise how long they’ll stay that way.”
“Is that a Veneno Roadster?” I whisper to Leerie as we hurry after them, past more high-dollar and highly buffed cars than I’ve ever seen gathered in one place.
“I think so,” she says, eyes narrowing as she peeks down the next row. “And I think that’s a Ferrari Mondial. I wrecked one of those in 1984, the first time I tried to get my license.”
I blink up at her, stunned. I mean, I knew she was a terrible driver, but, “You’ve been trying and fai
ling to get your license for almost a hundred years?”
She shrugs. “Yeah. But the first time I tried it was in Mississippi. They have a really hard test.”
“In Mississippi,” I repeat dubiously.
“What?” Leerie bristles before succumbing to another shiver hard enough to make her curls tremble around her head. “Don’t hate on Mississippi. They can’t help it. They had that giant rise in population after Louisiana went under in the Meltdown, and they weren’t the most well-funded state as far as social programs went in the first place. They’re doing the best they can. And so am I. Driving is dumb, anyway.”