Page 40 of Crimson Storm

After our “heartfelt” discussion this morning and all his declarations of wanting to help, Shane had ditched us.

Maybe I’d scared him off by talking about how thirsty we all were.

“How’d he even manage to do all that with the cuffs on?” Heather asked.

Wincing in shame, I lifted the restraining device with the edge of a blanket and held it up for her.

“I left them off. Because I decided to trust him. Like an idiot.”

“I can hardly point fingers,” she said. “I fell asleep on my watch. I just can’t believe we didn’t wake up when he got out.”

“We’re all low on blood,” I said. “Our senses are dulled, and it makes the exhaustion worse.”

“You can say that again. Maybe it’s a good thing for the human that hedidleave. I have to admit he was starting to look pretty tasty last night. He smells good too.”

“Yeah, he does,” I admitted. “Wake up Kelly. It’ll be dark any minute now. We need to get going as soon as possible in case Shane decided to report us.”

I feared it might already be too late. When the sun went down and we climbed into the front cab, there very well might be a squad of police cars surrounding the truck.

Just then the back door opened. Heather cringed back instinctively to avoid the light, but there was none. It was dusk.

Shane stood outside the truck, smiling up at us.

“Good evening, ladies.”

He came back.

I could hardly believe it. Why? Why hadn’t he run? Had he just gotten out to go to the bathroom? That possibility had never occurred to me when I’d learned he was missing. I was sure we’d seen the last of him.

Shane climbed into the back of the truck and shut the door behind him. Now that I was no longer in shock, I noticed he held a plastic shopping bag.

Reaching inside it, he withdrew a blood bag and then another and another. “Breakfast is served.”

My jaw dropped open, and not because I was about to bite him. “You went out to... buy blood?”

He chuckled. “I couldn’t sleep. You three were out cold, and I figured I could use a stretch of the legs, so I walked to the next exit—the one I saw on that billboard, remember? The truck stop there had a refrigerated case of blood bags. I figured it would save us time today—and also save my neck—if I got some ‘supplies’ for you.”

Heather grabbed at one of the bags with greedy hands, and Kelly, who’d awakened at hearing all the chatter, did the same. I took the third one from him more slowly, nearly catatonic with disbelief. And relief.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

He chuckled again. “Tell the truth. You thought I ran off, didn’t you?”

“Honestly? Yes. Why didn’t you?”

“Whyis it so hard to believe I legitimately want to help you?”

“Because itis,” I said. “I mean, we didn’t exactly get off to a great start, and I had you in handcuffs—until yesterday. You must have some ulterior motive for staying with us.”

Shane’s expression froze for a second. I’d offended him. It wasn’t like he was some sort of double agent trying to discover the location of the vampire resistance stronghold.

I was about to apologize when his usual sense of calm returned. “I guess I can’t blame you if your time in the Safety Center made you suspicious of humans. My Uncle Glenn was part of the reason, and I’m sorry for that. You know I feel bad about what he and Terry did to you, and I told you about my past connection to Marjorie. Just call me... an ally.”

I studied his face, looking for signs of duplicity. There were none. Just Shane’s sweet brown eyes looking back at me.

Suddenly I felt silly for thinking the worst of him. Even more than that, I was profoundly grateful to have something to drink. “Thank you for coming back. And for the blood bags.”

“You’re welcome. So... we should get going, huh?”

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