Page 27 of Crimson Storm

“You can, and you will. You have to. It’s the least I can do.”

Removing all the cash, he pressed it into my hand.

“It’s enough for some blood bags and an Uber out of town. Unfortunately not enough if you’re planning to go toofarout of town, but at least it’ll give you a head start.”

“Thank you,” I said again, my breath quickening and a lump growing in my throat. Suddenly I felt sad about the prospect of doing what I had to do. “Well, it certainly hasn’t been boring.”

“Definitely not. I’ll never forget you. And I’ll probably worry about you every day for forever. I wish I knew you were going to be okay.”

“We will be,” I blurted.

And pleasestop being so nice. This is hard enough as it is.

“We have friends in high places—well, one friend in high places. She’ll be able to help us.”

I wouldn’t tell him we were headed to Los Angeles. For all our sakes it was best for Shane to have no idea where we’d gone.

Even if hedidn’tintend to betray us—and I was pretty sure he didn’t—the police had ways of getting information out of people.

Just then Heather and Kelly emerged from the bathroom looking human, thanks to the contact lenses, andverysexy, thanks to Larkin’s work wardrobe.

They were both laughing.

“Can you imagine what Sadie’s gonna say when we show up looking like this?” Heather asked.

Kelly and I shushed her simultaneously, but from the look on Shane’s face it was too late. He’d heard her, and he knew who she was talking about.

“Sadie Aldritch? The Vampire-Human Coalition leader? Is that where you’re planning to go—to her?”

Great.Nice moment over. Now I definitely had no choice.

“I’m sorry about this.” Pushing Shane into the bathroom, I shut the door between us and bent the knob to one side so it could no longer be turned.

“Hey!” He jiggled it then banged on the door. “Abbi, what are you doing? Why did you do that?”

“I’m sorry, but like I said, we can’t take any chances. I’ll let someone know where to find you as soon as we’re safely away. You won’t be in there long.”

“Wait. There’s something you should know,” he yelled through the door. “There’s been a bombing. In Los Angeles. At the VHC headquarters. It happened last night. I saw it on my phone. The terrorists took out the whole building. A bunch of the vampires who worked there were killed. They said on the news that they’re trying to figure out if Sadie Aldritch was one of them.”

“Oh my God,” Heather said in a hushed voice.

“I can’t believe it.” Kelly turned to me, her eyes huge. “Do you think he’s telling the truth?”

I ran into the living room, grabbed the TV remote, and searched channels until I found a news station. There it was, a story about the bombing, complete with horrific live video coverage of smoldering rubble and gawking onlookers.

“Oh no,” I breathed.

“It’s true,” Kelly said with tears in her eyes.

Heather sounded choked up as well. “All those people. All our friends.” She stared at the screen with one hand covering her mouth.

“Maybe they got out,” I said, but the video of the scene looked like a war zone. I didn’t know how anyone—vampire or human—could have survived it.

“Do you think Sadie was there?” Kelly whispered.

A bolt of fear rocked my heart. “God, I hope not.”

Had Sadie been in her office when the bomb went off? There was a chance she hadn’t been.

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