Harsh Light of Day
Page 55
CHAPTER 25
Lena Bailey was freaking brilliant. Will had no clue how she figured it all out.
He watched from the sidelines as Annabelle lay on the ground as bait. It was almost sunset and there wasn’t another human in sight. Lena picked the spot. They waited on a gravel road, near a run-down bridge. The road was blocked off because the bridge looked about ready to collapse, which was why there were no people around.
Lena came up with the idea, had a detailed plan laid out. She really seemed to know what she was doing.
And Will was in awe of her.
The only thing Lena hadn’t gotten right was that Quinn wasn’t a boy. She looked like a very young, very angelic girl. But from what Will learned about Lena’s vampire family, she wouldn’t expect females to be allowed to do anything at all, let alone roam the streets wherever she wished. Her wrong assumption didn’t make the demonstration of her brilliance any less incredible.
It didn’t take as long as he expected for something to happen. Even Will, with his unimpressive human eyesight saw the shifting of the bushes. Moments later, the nymph-like creature appeared over Annabelle.
Will knew it was a vampire, but the little creature pranced like a gazelle instead of stalked like a lion. He wasn’t sure if he wouldn’t be afraid of any vampires ever again, but he didn’t think he could possibly be scared of this one.
She looked like a little cherub, her milky skin soft and her cheeks rosy and round. The long, wavy locks of peach-blonde hair which fell to her hips bounced as she balanced on her toes.
When Lena explained her plan, Will only followed about half of it. He didn’t know when Lena learned all she knew about the other vampire family, but she seemed so sure they would accept her as one of them.
Neither Will nor Annabelle were so confident.
But now he saw the little girl and the sweetness of her expression as she leaned down to investigate what was wrong with Annabelle, Will realized Lena’s plan might work after all.
And then Lena appeared, and the scene changed.
The little cherub was a beast and jumped ten feet in the air, like a startled cat.
Before Will could move, before Annabelle was off the ground, the little beast connected feet first with Lena’s chest. The impact knocked Lena back into the bushes where she’d been hiding.
Even though he hadn’t seen her get up or move across the field, Will saw Annabelle grasp both of the little cherub’s arms behind her back, keeping her in place.
“Quinn,” Lena said through heavy, pained breathing, rubbing her sternum and desperately trying to scramble to her feet. “Just…look at me.”
The vampire didn’t.
“How do you know what I am called?” Her voice would have sounded like a strong wind blowing through leafy trees if it weren’t for the angry undertone of a growl.
“Charles told me.”
“The Vampire King?”
“Yes.”
“Told you? A mangy human?”
Lena staggered up to the two female vampires and squared her shoulders even though her face was red and it was obvious by the way she hunched that she was still in a lot of pain.
Will wondered if now she would let him take her to the hospital.
“Quinn, look at me.”
And this time, the vampire did. The understanding took awhile to cross her face, but no one moved, and eventually the cherub stopped squinting in confusion at the question but instead squinted in confusion at what she saw.
“What—” the vampire began.
And Lena took another bold step towards the vampires. She nodded to Annabelle, who obediently released Quinn’s arms, but didn’t move away. She would be able to grab the other vamp before she got to Lena again.
“You saw me before, right?” Lena asked, looking directly into the beast’s eyes.
“Did I?” the creature asked, then stubbornly concluded, “No.”
“Yes, you did.”
“It’s a trick. You’re a human. A mangy, insignificant human. Look at you!” the vampire sang with a giggle. “You can barely stay on your feet.”
Will ignored his own thoughts. He should have stayed far away, stayed on the hill as out of sight as he could be. But Lena needed his shoulder, and he didn’t hesitate to go to her.
They were at a stand-still, the cherub flippantly looking anywhere but at Lena, and Lena patiently staring.
The cherub moved again as if she was a frightened cat when she realized he was approaching the group, but Annabelle grabbed her arms before she could jump very far. Will took his place at Lena’s left side and offered his support, which she gratefully took with a fluttering grin of appreciation that made Will’s heart quicken.
As she placed her arm on his shoulder and let him put his arm around her waist, she returned her attention to the vampire.
“My Master will know where I am. He will come to claim me, and devour you when he sees what you have done.”
The little creature didn’t scare Will up close any more than she had from a distance. Though, he could tell by the strain in her voice she expected to come off as menacing. Will thought that was pretty cute.
“Good,” Lena said, straightening her shoulders again and lifting her head the best she could. “I’d like to meet Locklan.”
This got the cherub’s attention.
“How do you know what my Master is called?”
“Well,” Lena began, and Will was confused by her chuckles. “He’s kind of my brother-in-law.”
Lena laughed and Will watched as the vampires shared a puzzled look.
“Declan was your sire,” the cherub whispered, then shut her mouth comically.
“Ah ha!” Lena shouted, giddy with excitement. “So you did see me before then.”
The cherub clenched her jaw and pursed her lips.
“No,” she said in a pout.
Lena nodded to Annabelle and she released Quinn’s arms again which she immediately crossed over her chest in a huff.
“Charles sent you to follow Annabelle, to keep track of her and report anything out of the ordinary back to him. You saw Annabelle get mad at me, and saw Will pull me away from her, protecting me. It was suspicious to you that I could be near him, and he wasn’t afraid of me like he was of Annabelle.”
Lena glanced at Will, offering him another fluttering smile. “I was a vampire then.”
Though Will couldn’t read her expressions as well as he’d learned to read Annabelle’s, he suspected Quinn understood what happened now. At least, she believed Lena was the same person she saw before.
Reaching out her hand and placing it calmly on the cherub’s shoulder, Lena said, “We need your help.”
The cherub’s mouth was open in shock, but her fangs weren’t extended. She seemed as surprised as Will felt that she didn’t try to bite Lena right away.
“I will not help humans. I shouldn’t even be seen here.”
As Annabelle stepped to Lena’s other side, giving the cherub more space and Lena more support, Quinn seemed to grow interested in the mismatched group like she couldn’t help it.
She stared into Lena’s eyes for so long, Will was getting worried and uncomfortable. But Lena didn’t move, didn’t shift her weight, and didn’t look away. There was something she wanted the cherub to see.
Quinn leaned in finally. The sun was down now and Will could barely see her, but the little vampire said, “your eyes are like ours.”
“Yes,” Lena whispered.
“That was you before.”
“Yes.”
“But you are human…?”
Lena repeated, “Yes.”
“And you need my help?” Quinn asked, looking back and forth to Annabelle and Lena. She didn’t pay much, if any attention to Will, which was fine by him. She dismissed him almost the moment he was by Lena’s side.
Lena nodded her response to the little vampire’s question.
After several moments of s
ilence, Quinn abruptly leaned back and folded her arms again across her chest.
“No,” she said again firmly, making Lena laugh.
Will laughed along with her, not because he thought the cherub’s disinterest in cooperating was as funny as Lena found it, but because Lena looked so happy. He’d never seen her so relaxed, so good-humored and light.
Whatever was in store for them, whatever Lena had planned next, Will was game.
He’d follow her to the edge of the universe. All she had to do was ask.