Page 77 of Flock This

She’d looked surprised, sure, but that didn’t mean much. As far as I knew, she’d had no good reason to show up right then. She was a lower-level vampire who had no business with William as far as I knew.

None of it made any sense.

I rubbed my face, the hour having grown late and my body not having adjusted to this new schedule. Ursula stood inside, at one of the long tables, sorting through whatever she’d taken out of her box, giving me time to yawn and relax for a minute.

I sat in the car outside, waiting for her to finish. Thankfully, even though not many folks went into places like this at this time, the streets were far from empty. It was a Friday night, which further camouflaged my presence. Plenty of people hit up the nightclubs around here, especially with the Strip not too far off.

Eventually, Ursula finished and returned to her car—a fancy-looking sports car too nice for her station as I understood it. She started it up and pulled out of the driveway of the post office, allowing me to pull onto the road behind her after she passed.

We drove for about ten minutes, headed away from the Castle.

I swear, if she goes to some nightclub, I’m gonna be pissed. I lacked the patience to deal with that nonsense. Kids trying to rub up against each other in some weird mating ritual was so not my idea of a good time anymore.

Not that I wouldn’t go if I needed to. If it was between dying or having to let some drunk frat boy grind on me well—it was a surprisingly difficult choice.

Still, I was pretty sure I’d pick the frat boy at the end.

Probably.

Thankfully, she turned her car down a dark road that lacked anything but a single street sign—no lights or buildings.

Lots of streets like this existed, ones that stretched out into the open desert that sat on the edges of the city. They were holdovers from when people had bought up the property decades ago before the city had grown so much, when they’d planned to homestead but hadn’t realized how hard life out there could be. However, it meant at least she wasn’t going to a rave.

The road had less maintenance than others, with sand piled high on the edges. I imagined that when the wind kicked up, it would make it impossible to see and swallow the entire road up.

I flipped my headlights off, thankful that my eyes were more sensitive than most people’s, which meant I could negotiate the road even without them. I wouldn’t try to read a small-print book or anything, but I could manage to steer the car at least.

Ursula kept hers on, making it easy to follow as we went down the road, me giving her plenty of space to keep my position hidden.

Just what the fuck was out here in the middle of nowhere?

It reminded me of the little corners of the desert out here used for three things only—

1—tourists taking pictures for social media

2—teenagers having sex in their cars

3—drug deals.

I somehow doubted Ursula fit into any of those categories, which suggested something more nefarious.

Ahead, she pulled the car to the side of the road, the headlights spilling over the form of another car, a man I didn’t recognize standing out front of it.

I steered my own car into the soft sand at the side of the road, far enough away to stay unnoticed, then rolled the window down just enough for me to slide out of. The closing of a door echoed through the desert, and I was far too close to the other folks for me to risk drawing that sort of attention to myself.

The soft sand gave way beneath my feet as I crept closer, the voices carrying through the openness of the night. To the left sat the city, the lights bright and obscuring the stars despite the wide sky.

Ursula hadn’t turned off her engine, and the low roar of it helped to cover any sound I made. Her door remained open as she stood just before the man.

“You still haven’t caught her?” Ursula asked.

The man shook his head once, a quick jerk that implied he didn’t care to admit it. “It doesn’t matter.”

“What do you mean it doesn’t matter? Grey could cause serious problems for us.”

“How so? She’s on the run. The vampires are looking for her, anyone wanting to get in good with the vampires is looking for her, and if they aren’t already, the Justices will be looking for her soon enough.”

“And they haven’t found her yet,” Ursula all but snarled. She sure didn’t look like the same weak vampire she had when she’d screamed upon seeing William’s death. So much for buying her silly little act. “So if none of those people can track her down, if none of them can get her, doesn’t that prove she’s dangerous?”

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