Page 43 of Crimson Bond

“We really do have a lot of catching up to do,” Larkin remarked.

“Well, we’ll have plenty of time to do it. It’s a twelve-hour drive to Northwestern Virginia. You feel okay to travel? Where are your bags?” Abbi asked.

She looked around, obviously planning to carry Larkin’s things to the car for her. There were no suitcases or even an overnight bag near the front door or anywhere else I could see.

“Are they in your room?” Abbi asked, standing and turning toward the doorway to the bedroom.

“No. I set them in the foyer so I’d be ready to walk out the door when you arrived. You don’t see them?”

Larkin joined me as I walked through the entire cottage, checking to see if she might have placed them somewhere different from where she remembered. There were no packed bags in sight. The house was not ransacked, and she said nothing else seemed to be missing.

“The intruder must have taken them. Wait...” She jogged back into the kitchen and looked around.

“I had a cooler on the island here. I’d just put some blood bags in it for the trip. It’s gone, too.”

“Your intruder must have come here looking for the cure. You did bring it home from the lab last night, right?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“I bet he assumed it was in one of your bags—or the cooler,” Abbi said. “So he grabbed them all and ran when he heard us coming.”

Larkin smiled. “Well the bad news is that scumbag made off with my Doc Martens and my favorite pair of jeans. The good news is I hadn’t packed the formula yet. I was waiting till the last minute to make sure it stayed cold enough.”

She opened the refrigerator door and squatted to reach into one of the drawers at the bottom. It was filled with blood bags. Moving them, she grasped something and stood up, turning around with a smile. In her hand were three capped hypodermic needles.

“Ta da!”

“Great. Now I have a little good-news-bad-news scenario foryou,” Abbi said. “Which do you want first?”

“The good news?” Larkin said.

Abbi grinned. “I have some clothes in my suitcase you can wear. I’mprettysure they’ll fit.”

“And the bad news?”

“They’reyourclothes—the ones from Fangers—and they’re really, really slutty.”

23

You Promised Me

Abbi

Larkin and I spent the drive reminiscing about Sadie, and Reece and I tried to prepare her for the Bastion, which she’d never visited.

When we arrived at the caverns, there was something... off. I felt it immediately.

First, the smell of human blood hung in the atmosphere like a heavy fog. And there had been a change in the mood of the place. It had never exactly been “the happiest place on earth,” but tonight there was a sinister feeling in the air, a dark, charging energy.

Which was odd considering we hadn’t seen anyone yet, apart from the guard at the entrance. He’d waved us through, and Larkin and I had followed Reece down the staircases to the cavern floor. Now we stood surveying the abandoned space.

“Where is everyone?” I asked in a hushed voice.

“I’m not sure. At this time of night, the place should be bustling,” Reece said.

A uniformed figure entered the torch-lit chamber from the far end, striding toward us. As he approached, he pushed back the hood of his black Bloodbound cloak, revealing a head of unmistakable long blond hair.

It was Kannon. He broke into a wide grin. “You’re back, brother. And I hear your mission was a huge success.”

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