Page 93 of A Bloom in Winter

The math continued. Each of the bedrooms down below had a sensor. And also the rooms upstairs that were unlikely to be slept in by vampires, even with all the daylight shutters in place. All the bathrooms. The kitchen, too. The whole house, wired for image and sound.

Like it wasn’t so much about security . . . but rather, eavesdropping.

And the back end was interesting, too. The feeds were consolidated and sent to three places—

“Hi.”

Mayhem jerked to attention. “Oh, hey. I didn’t see you.”

“Sorry,” Mahrci said softly.

Frowning, he glanced around. “You okay? Is there someone here?”

“Can I ask you something?” she continued at a whisper.

He nodded. “Sure.”

“I don’t mean to put you in an awkward position. But . . . Apex said we all had to leave because some kind of timeline has been moved up. Can you tell me what this is about?”

When he shook his head, he discovered that however frustrated he’d been by the blackout on information, he was now glad Apex hadn’t told him much—because it meant he could be honest, here and now.

“I don’t know anything.” He shrugged. “And I asked Apex a hundred times. I’m just supposed to sync up everything and supply the feeds to a couple of sources. That’s all he would say.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “Well, I’m packed up. Not that I brought much.”

Don’t come on too strong, he told himself.Be cool, be cool—

“You can leave with us, if you want. And if you need a place to stay, you can stay with me—or Apex would take you in, if you want—”

“No, I wouldn’t ask anybody to do that,” she murmured. “Especially Apex, given that he works for my father.”

“Well, I’m still an option. Just sayin’. No pressure.”

Mahrci’s flush lit her cheeks, in a way that made him realize how pale she’d gotten. “Oh, thank you, but I have somewhere to go. And no one will find me.”

So it’s like that, he thought with a pang in his chest.

As he locked his molars, he told himself he needed to put his zip code where his mouth was: He’d told her he was fine being used. He needed to back that shit up and not be a little bitch about being left behind—

“Are you safe?” she asked. “In your home?”

“It’ll do.” He didn’t bother to inform her he had more booby-traps in his one-bedroom apartment than there were snowbanks around them. “Don’t worry about me.”

When the laptop made a chirping noise, she said, “Are you finished?”

“No, not even close. I still have to do the upper and lower levels.” He looked around again—and saw nothing but her. “I’m making good progress, though.”

And what do you know, he decided to work even faster. If he could get this wrapped up soon enough, he might just ghost out before dawn and not have to stay over day.

Drawing out this goodbye with Mahrci seemed harder than getting it over with.

“You mind if I take care of your room now?” he asked. “I can get it done and then you’re free to—whatever.”

“Oh yes, of course.”

Together, they descended to the lower level. Her bedroom was the first on the left, and the door was partially open. He wondered if it was still from him dragging her ex out of there. Good times, good times.

Stepping aside, he waited for her to go in first—and, oh, man, she’d just had a shower. He could smell the shampoo and conditioner, the soap, too, and not just in the air, but on her.

---