Page 6 of The Vipers and Their Vendetta

We’ll take my SUV, Zane signs.

I nod, because it’s bigger than our sporty numbers and built for the backroads if we need it. We clamber into the Porche Cayenne, and he guns the engine before I’ve got the door fully shut. I’m in the back, Saint up front.

Zane tears off down the drive.

“Take it easy,” I say. “We don’t want anyone stopping us before we are even past the gates.”

Zane slows down and, when we reach the guard hut, he lowers his window.

“What the hell are all you students doing out at this time?” The guard shakes his head to himself. “First the girl, and now you guys.”

I lean forward, raising my voice to be heard from the back seat. “We need to find out where she went. Did she pass by here?”

“Dark haired girl? On a motorbike? Yeah, she did.”

“Why the fuck did you let her go?” Saint demands.

The guard scowls, and I read his nametag.Noel.

“Sorry about my brother, Noel. We’re just worried about her. Can you see on your screen where she went? Which direction? It would really help us, and it won’t reflect well on the college if she were to get into trouble out there.”

He looks at his screen and nods. “She went out the gate and turned north, but the cameras followed her a way, she turned off into the side roads up into the mountains.” He scratches his beard. “She seemed upset.”

Fucking great. She’s out there, upset and heading into the country roads.

“Which road was she last seen on?” Saint asks.

“Wait.” The guard pulls up a map of the local area on his phone and drops a pin onto it. “This is the route she took. I lose her on the cameras just after this point.” He pokes a stubby finger toward the end of a road where he dropped the pin.

I take out my phone and snap a picture of the map.

“Merci.” I nod at him. “That’s a help.”

Zane slides the window back up then pulls out of the grounds, slow and sedate. He turns north and fucking floors theSUV. The engine roars, and Saint grabs the oh-shit bar as Zane practically does a two wheel turn around a corner. He keeps glancing at the map which I have open and held over the console between him and Saint.

“Um, Saint, maybe tell him where to go so he can keep his eyes on the goddamn road,” I grouse.

Saint turns to me, eyes flaring. “If we had been stricter with her, less nice and coddling, this might not have happened. She’d have not left without our permission if we’d treated her the way I wanted.”

Is he insane? I grind my teeth and resist the urge to smash his face. “You’re deluded. She’s already pissed at us. She thinks we killed Reagan. You think going all caveman on her is the right way to go?Nom de Dieu, Saint. You’re not the Lord God Almighty of pussy, you know? You’re not one to be lecturing me on how to treat women, you asshole.”

The vehicle slams to a stop, throwing me forward until the seatbelt cinches hard across my chest. Zane is already out of the car and running forward. In the light thrown by his headlights, I see why.

My stomach lurches.Oh, fuck.

“Merde,” Saint curses. “Holy hell, no.”

He’s climbing out of the car as I fumble with my belt. I jump out, running to catch up with Zane.

Her bike is on its side. Skid marks behind it show she swerved and braked pretty damn hard. Her bike is here, dinged up, but there’s no Vani.

Where the hell is she?

“Vani!” I yell. “Shout if you can hear me.”

Two things occur to me almost simultaneously. The first is that she might not be capable of either shouting or hearing. The second is that if she knows it’s us, that might be enough of a reason for her to stay quiet.

Zane turns around and around, his hands locked in his hair, looking up as if he’ll see a light in the sky guiding us to her.

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