by Sarra Cannon
I nodded, knowing I had no choice but to trust her and follow her to this safe-house.
I wished I had time to call Katy and let her know I was okay and that I would be gone for a while, but my cell phone and purse were both still inside the club. God, I hope she wasn't in any danger. When I talked to Rend, I'd have to see if he could get someone to watch over her for me. Just in case.
“So, if there are all these doorways into the club from all these different cities, what city is the club itself actually in?” I asked.
Lyla twisted her mouth to the side. “Huh,” she said. “I have no idea.”
I didn’t have time to ask more questions because the train pulled up to the next station. We both got off and descended the stairs to the street below. Lyla hailed a cab and gave directions to one of the nearby suburbs.
Neither of us said a word the rest of the way to the safe-house, but we clasped tightly to each other's hands in the darkness.
Chapter 2
The Lore Of Vampires
The cab pulled up to a very normal-looking house in the middle of suburbia. The lights were all off and the lawn looked like it could use a good mowing, but there was nothing strange or unusual looking about the place. It wasn’t at all what I was expecting for a vampire’s chosen safe-house, but maybe that was exactly the point.
Lyla pulled a fifty out of her bra and told the driver to keep the change.
As we got out, she turned back to him and touched his hand. His expression went slack and he stared at her with empty eyes.
“You never saw us,” she said in an even tone. “You will drive back into the city and forget about this fare.”
The driver nodded, then blinked and smiled at her with a dazed expression on his face.
He drove away and I raised an eyebrow at Lyla.
“What just happened there?” I asked.
She winked at me, but didn’t elaborate. Once again, I was amazed at the possibilities that opened up when magic was involved.
Lyla took a good look around the neighborhood. It looked like the typical middle-class suburban street. Brick houses built close together. Basketball goals in the driveway. Shrubbery. Most of the lights in the nearby houses were off. A red tricycle sat in the driveway of the house next door. A dog barked in the distance.
“Notice anything out of the ordinary?” she asked. “Or did the effects of the Blue Frost wear off after the explosion?”
I looked around, trying to notice the kinds of tiny details I had noticed earlier. But the shot seemed to be out of my system. Maybe the shock of the explosion had sobered me up.
Nothing seemed strange or out of place about the area. There were no strange cars parked on the street. No one looking out of windows. No dark feeling. But without the shot, I knew I could be missing a hundred important details.
“I have no idea,” I said. “The shot is gone, but I don't see anything weird.”
“Okay, follow me.”
Lyla walked around to the back door of the house. I expected her to look around for a spare key, the way I’d done at my mom’s abandoned house. Instead, she placed her palm on a small clear stone embedded in the door frame.
The door popped open and she took one last look around before stepping inside.
The inside of the house smelled like dust and mildew. It was dark, and when she flipped the switch near the back door, nothing happened.
“Shit, the power's off,” she said.
“I’m guessing from the smell no one’s used this place in quite some time.”
She laughed. “Years, probably. At least four, I think.”
“So, you’ve been here before?” I closed the back door and carefully followed her into what seemed to be a living room. The light coming in from the street through the front windows illuminated the outline of a couch and recliner.
“It’s been a while, but yeah. I came here maybe seven years ago when I had a scare with an ex-boyfriend of mine who came after me. Rend put me up here for a little while to keep me safe until he could... deal with it.”
I shivered at the thought of what Rend’s version of dealing with a dangerous ex might be. Had he torn him apart?
“The power was on back then,” she said. She tripped over something on the floor and cursed.
“You okay?”
“I’m fine,” she said. “Do you know how to make an orb?”
“Definitely not,” I said. “You can just assume my answer is no when you ask if I can do anything magic-related.”
She giggled. “You seemed to create a small tornado just fine earlier.”
I groaned. “That was an accident.”
“Powerful accident,” she murmured.
Was it? I had no idea what power really meant anymore.
“Can you do it?” I asked. “Make an orb, I mean.”
“I’m not great at it,” she said. “It’s not one of my gifts. Plus, I don't want to waste any of my power in case we have to leave again. I think I know where some candles are, though. Wait here.”
She tripped over a few more things as she made her way into another room off the main hall. A few minutes later, she came back carrying a long white pillar candle. She held her hand over the small flame to keep it from going out as she walked.
“Success,” she said. “I’m much better with fire.”
I raised an eyebrow. “So it seems.”
“Come on, let’s go upstairs. I need to get out of these ridiculous clothes and into something more comfortable,” she said. “Tomorrow’s going to be hell with no air conditioning.”
I followed her up the stairs, noticing along the way that there were no pictures or decorations of any kind here. It felt very empty and hollow.
We made our way into a bedroom in the back of the house. It was sparsely furnished with nothing more than a basic queen bed and a side table. Lyla set the candle on the table and pulled open the sliding doors of the closet.
“Rend keeps a bunch of spare clothes here for anyone who might have to hide out for a while without more than a moment’s notice to gather our things,” she explained. “There should be some toothbrushes and shampoo and stuff in the bathroom, too. Oh god, what if there’s no water, either?”
“You said Rend might be here tomorrow,” I said. “We shouldn’t have to rough it for too long before someone shows up.”
“We could both use a shower, though,” she said. “We smell like smoke from the fire. Besides, we need to get that cut on your forehead cleaned up and see what kind of damage there is.”
I raised my hand to the sore spot above my eye and traced my fingers along a two-inch cut caked with blood. “Shit, no wonder people were staring at us. I probably look like I’ve been in a fight.”
“We’re both caked in ash, too,” she said.
She rummaged through the closet and came out with a pair of yoga pants and a tank top. “Here, these look about your size if you want to change.”
I took the clothes and waited for her to find something for herself before we both made our way into the master bathroom. She crossed her fingers, then turned the faucet. Water sputtered out, then flowed freely.
“Yay, thank you Jesus.”
I smiled. “That’s something at least,” I said. “You’d think if he was going to keep this as a permanent safe-house, he would have kept the power on, though. It's not like he's hurting for money. I mean, have you seen his house?”
I said it as an off-handed comment, not really thinking, but Lyla nearly dropped the candle.
“Um, excuse me? Are you saying you have?”
I cleared my throat. Shit. I really needed to watch my stupid mouth.
“You have,” she said, her eyes wide. “I’m going to clean that cut and get changed, and then you’re going to dish the good stuff. We might be here for days, but now at least I know we’ll have something fun to talk about.”
She seemed giddy at the thought of me knowing secrets about Rend, but it made my stomach hurt. I’m sure Rend did
n’t want me telling the rest of the staff what had been going on between us the past few days. Hell, I wasn’t even sure what was going on with us. I’d been hoping to get more clarity about our relationship after the club closed tonight, but now everything had changed.
“It’s not as juicy as you think,” I said.
I winced as she rubbed a cold washcloth on my forehead. Blood trickled down my cheek and she wiped it off.
“Hold still,” she said.
“I’m trying, but that stings.”
“Sorry, I’m just trying to get a better look at the damage. I don’t think the cut went too deep, so it should heal fine,” she said. “Let me see if I can find some bandages.”
She found a first-aid kit under the sink, rubbed ointment on the cut, and fixed a bandage over the top.
“Let’s get changed and see if there’s anything here to eat.”
“Are you serious? You said no one’s been here in four years. What could there possibly be to eat?” I asked.
She made a face. “Good point,” she said. “I would say let’s order pizza, but it's too risky at this point to let anyone know we're here. I’m starving, though.”
My stomach rumbled at the thought of food. “Me, too,” I said. “We’ll figure something out.”
We went back into the bedroom and changed out of our dirty clothes. I took my time, hoping by the time we got downstairs, Lyla would have forgotten what I'd said about Rend's house.
“Does this place have a phone? Or do you happen to have your cell on you?” I asked as we made our way back down to the kitchen.
“No,” she said. “But don’t worry, Rend will come for us. Everything's going to be okay.”
I nodded and followed her into the kitchen. I wished I could be so confident, but I didn't like the feeling of being so far away from him right now. And I really didn't like not knowing for sure that he was okay.
Lyla and I searched the cabinets, but there was nothing here other than a few packs of stale saltines and a very old can of baked beans.
“What if we ordered pizza and you did your little magical memory thing on the delivery guy?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know any place that’s going to deliver after two in the morning on a Sunday,” she said. “We’ll have to just wait until morning. We can walk down to the gas station around the corner when they open and grab something for breakfast. They should be open in about four hours or so.”
I groaned. I wished she had never mentioned food, because now I was starving, too.
“Do you want to try to get some rest?”
“I don’t think I could sleep right now even if I tried,” I said. I probably wouldn’t be able to sleep until I saw Rend walk through that door.
Lyla set the candle down on the coffee table in front of the couch and walked over to the large window in the living room. She reached over and pulled a thick, dusty curtain across the window, closing off nearly all the outside light.
“I don't want someone out there to notice the candle and call the police or anything,” she said, sitting down on the couch. She pulled her feet up and placed them under her, turning to me with a sparkle in her eyes. “I'm dying to know what's been going on, Franki. When did you see Rend’s house? What’s it like? And what did the two of you do there, exactly?”
I sighed. So much for hoping she'd forget. I had a feeling she wasn’t going to let it go until I gave her something.
“I don’t really know how much there is to tell,” I said, sitting across from her. “To be honest, I’m still confused about what’s going on between Rend and me. He's confusing.”
“Give me the basics and I’ll see if I can interpret,” she said with a giggle.
I sighed. Other than Katy, I'd never had true girlfriends to chat with and spill my secrets. Somehow, this terrible night had turned into a gossip session, and I was mega-uncomfortable.
“Let’s start with this,” she said. “Has he kissed you?”
I closed my eyes and tensed my lips.
“Oh, my God, he has,” she said. She grabbed my hand. “Franki, this is huge. I have known Rend for years, and he has never, and I mean ne-ver, gotten romantically involved with anyone in all the time I’ve known him.”
“Until right now, you didn’t know he was romantically involved with me, either,” I said, raising one eyebrow.
“True,” she said. “But I had my suspicions. I’ve never even almost suspected he was dating someone before this.”
“We're not dating.” I bit the inside of my lip and gave her a sideways look, my heart beating a little faster. “Not even Azure?”
I said it so quietly, it was almost a non-question. I was terrified the moment the words left my lips. I definitely had my suspicions about Azure’s feelings for Rend. What I didn’t know was how Rend felt about her.
“What? Are you serious? Never,” she said. She narrowed her eyes at me. “Why? Did she tell you there was something between them?”
I shrugged, wondering if I’d already said too much. “Not exactly,” I said. “She’s just been really hard on me from the moment I walked into Venom, and the closer I get to Rend, the more she treats me like shit. Then tonight...”
My voice trailed off. I had almost let myself forget the horrible things she’d said to me tonight, behind the bar. She’d called me currency. I hoped he thought of me as more than that, but what if this was all some game he was playing with me?
“What?” Lyla put her hand on my leg and leaned closer. “What did she do?”
“She said something awful to me tonight when we were working together behind the bar,” I said. “It made me wonder if there had ever been something more between them. Something romantic.”
“Not that I’ve ever known about,” she said. “Azure has been with him from the beginning, so she's known him a lot longer than I have. Still, I think everyone would know if there had ever been something between them.”
“He trusts her,” I said. “He’s apparently filled her in on all the things he found out about me, when he obviously didn’t tell everyone else.”
“Like what?”
“Like who my real family is,” I said. “When she was talking to me tonight, she mentioned it, so he had to have told her. How else would she have known?”
Lyla went back to chewing on her fingernail. “What if he didn’t tell her? What if she had some other way of finding out information about you?”
I shook my head. “Like what?”
“I don’t know,” she said, shaking her head. “Forget it. I’m just thinking out loud. What was it she said to you tonight that was so awful?”
I shrugged. I hated even to utter the words, because they had been so hurtful. Mainly because I was worried they were true. I wasn’t sure I wanted to lay my heart on the line in front of Lyla.
“You can tell me,” she said. “I’m not going to go blabbing back to the rest of the girls, if that’s what you’re afraid of.”
“I don’t know,” I said. I felt terrible talking about the people in the club when we didn't even know how they were doing or where they were right now. Were they really okay? “Don’t get me wrong, I think you’re awesome and you’ve made me feel welcome from the second I started working at Venom.”
“But?”
“I haven’t had a lot of people in my life that I’ve gotten close to,” I said. “When I was growing up my mother kept me very sheltered. We moved around a lot and I didn’t have many friends. She never really let me have girlfriends over or get too close to anyone. It’s hard for me to really open up sometimes.”
Lyla leaned over and put her arms around me. “I’m sorry,” she said. “You’ve been going through a lot the past week and here I am, forcing you to spill all your personal shit. I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable.”
I hugged her back, grateful she was at least willing to listen and empathize.
But the truth was, now that she’d basically given me a pass, I realized I wanted to te
ll her. I desperately wanted someone I could talk to about all this.
Talking to Katy was one thing. She was my dearest friend and I knew I could talk to her about anything. At the same time, she had no clue about how this new world worked. She didn’t know any of the players involved so she couldn’t completely understand what I was going through.
It would be nice to have someone, apart from Rend, to confide in and ask for advice.
I took a deep breath. “Do you know who Rend is?” I asked. “I mean, do you know what he is?”
Lyla leaned back against the arm of the couch. She opened her mouth in a moment of realization. “Ah, you mean the vampire thing? I wasn’t sure if you knew. He doesn’t keep it a secret, but he also doesn’t exactly advertise the fact.”
So she knew. That was a relief, because even if I decided to spill my own secrets, I wouldn’t feel right spilling his.
“I just found out last night,” I said, leaving out the details of how I’d found out. She didn’t need to know everything. “I almost didn’t come back to the club tonight, which is why you found me outside before we opened. I was trying to make up my mind about whether to even go inside.”
“He’s not like the rest of them,” she said. “Not all of them are like the Devil, you know. I mean, some of them are, but a lot of the vampires are really great.”
“They drink the blood of witches,” I said. “That’s hard to redeem.”
She shrugged. “Did Rend explain why they do it?”
I shook my head.
“Do you know where demons come from? Has anyone explained that to you, at least?”
I shook my head again, feeling for the millionth time like a clueless child.
“Okay, so I’ll give you the short version. Demons are not native to this world. Neither are witches. Demons come from another world called The Shadow World. They came here hundreds of years ago through a portal. The first demon was named Mythic and he fell in love with a human woman. They had a child together. The very first human with magical powers. The first witch. See, a witch is just a human woman with the blood of a demon running through her veins.”