Page 64 of Even Vampires Bleed
Maybe it’s just some twisted sign of fate.
No.
I can’t think like that.
I can’t start thinking about giving him another chance—a second chance he would have no clue about.
And something that could bite my ass again.
No.
I can’t.
But I can make sure his brain is never tampered with ever again.
And then…
Not going there now.
Now is not the right time. Now is when we need to get out, and fast.
“I thought you said you could open any lock?” Léandre asks me when he sees my resolve coming back full force.
“I could pick this one in my sleep,” I say cockily. “If I could access it.” I grumble in defeat.
He still hears me.
“Did they give you anti-shifting drugs?” Léandre asks.
I realize that would have been one of the first things one could think, now that we know about them. Humans used them to force shifters into their animal form after Notre Dame’s attack. Léandre doesn’t leave me enough time to explain before he grabs the bars to face me as he talks, though.
He jumps away from them as silently as he can while muttering curses I had no idea he knew under his breath.
“Electric field,” I tell him with a cocky smile. “Sorry you had to learn that the hard way.”
“You’re not even sorry,” he grumbles again. But this time there is a smile on his face, so I know he’s not mad.
He shakes himself and then looks at me.
“You’re gonna have to trust me to get you out, Little Firefly,” he tells me with a wicked smile.
Do I trust Léandre?
As long as it’s not with my heart… Yes, I do.
He shifts his hand into his bird’s claws and looks at me expectantly.
“I’ll be your hand. Be my ears and my brain,” he tells me and I understand what he wants to do.
Like I said when I woke up, this lockisrustic. It would only take me a second to open, but that also means it’s bigger.
Which, in turn, means Léandre can actually slip his claws inside of it. We might have a chance.
He raises his hand to the lock and we both hold our breath.
One of his claws enters the lock, and I listen to the sounds from inside.
After a few “to the right,” “left,” “push more,” and other orders from me, the lock finally deigns to open.
