**
I liked her stubbornness. It gave me hope that Locklan would be a reasonable creature. If a Master allowed his family to have such personality, if a Master sired a feisty vampire like Quinn, then surely the Master would be in every way unlike Colin.
Which was exactly what I was hoping to find when I met Locklan.
There were four of us crammed uncomfortably in the small hotel room. Will had one bed and I had the other. Quinn was tied up and locked in the bathroom, and Annabelle sat stiffly on a chair in front of the locked bathroom door, guarding it.
A pretty goofy situation to be in, to say the least.
Quinn had known I was telling the truth. It was written all over her face. Quinn couldn’t hide her emotions from me like she thought she could. I had too many years of practice in understanding vampire ways.
Even though I appreciated her spunky personality, it wasn’t going to be easy getting her to take our oddball group to her Master’s home. And time was definitely a factor.
Declan and Lennox were now prisoners for almost three days. I didn’t know how captives were treated in the vampire world.
Annabelle was worried about Lennox and Declan too, which told me she had no clue what to expect from Charles either. She didn’t offer any suggestions, didn’t give much encouragement. But she stayed.
Was she afraid Charles would kill her if she tried to go back? Did she fear for Lennox’s life if she tried to return? Or did she actually still feel that sisterly over-protection for me, even though I wasn’t like her anymore?
I wanted to believe there was something to that last part, but couldn’t know for sure. She wouldn’t talk to me much.
I had to be patient. All of this was hard for her too.
I admired how collected Annabelle still was, even now that we were kidnapping a vampire and holding her hostage in our hotel room until she agreed to help us.
“You will wear her down,” Annabelle said to me as she tied binds to the little creature’s arms and legs. I wasn’t sure what she meant, but I’d do my best.
That was all I had now.
I wished I could sense Declan like he’d been able to sense me. That connection came with time, with age. I wasn’t around long enough to develop the most basic abilities.
Even though I didn’t think he could sense me now, since he never could when I was human before, I tried to open my mind to him. It was the complete opposite of what I used to do when I tried to hide. Instead of focusing on staying hidden, on being invisible, I tried to open my thoughts up to being seen.
I thought about Declan, his cool, gentle hand tracing the length of my naked spine.
The way his kisses exploded on my skin like electric shocks.
The deep-in-his-throat sound of pleasure he made when I nuzzled his neck.
Nothing happened. And the memories were making my heart gallop and my face hot, so I gave up.
It was silly to think it would work. I wasn’t super strong or agile anymore. My eyesight, sense of smell and hearing were almost useless compared to how I’d been before. Why did I think abilities I never possessed would suddenly manifest? None of my actual vampire abilities remained.
Except the ability to sneak around undetected, something I inherited from my family, and from Declan. Right now, it was nonexistent. I wasn’t sure why, but I knew I would still be able to do it. I knew how it worked. With practice, I’d be able to do it again.
Because there was still some vampire left in me. The gold ring around my iris, the same one Quinn had, and my Declan had, assured me this was true.
So maybe, if I practiced, I could learn to sense Declan, to connect with him and communicate with him like I suspected Annabelle and Lennox could.
Right now though, all I had was myself. Slow, deaf and blind, human Lena.
And Annabelle.
And Will.
I looked over at Will, who was fast asleep and softly snoring. Our wounds would heal. We’d keep going.
As long as we were together, anything was possible.
Nothing was hopeless.
Harsh Light of Day Page 56