Page 58 of Addicted in Blood
“I did.”
“I’m not sure this qualifies, but I don’t have anywhere else to turn.”
“I’ve been monitoring the situation with Devon and the House Trelane.Does this have something to do with that?Do you need shelter?”
“Not exactly.”When I hesitated, The Wolf remained silent, giving me the time to work up to my request.“If you know about Devon, then you probably know that even coming off the Poppy, he’s still in beast form.”
“I’m aware.”
“I know this is going to sound crazy, and I know you don’t have all the facts, but I believe I’m the only one that can put the beast to sleep.”
The silence lengthened, and I gave him the same courtesy he’d given me.I waited patiently, staring at the bathroom door, positive someone would guess my actions and break it down.
“What are you asking of me?”
“The cadre won’t listen to me and refuse to tell me where Devon is.They believe my plan is too risky.”
“You need his location?”
“Yes.”
Silence again, but only for a moment.“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”
“Yes.”No hesitation.He needed to believe like I did.
“Can you get out of the manor?”
“I have it all worked out.I just need a location.”
He chuckled.“It seems there’s no stopping Pandora when she’s on a mission.”
I snorted.“Yeah.So most of the rumors are true.”
“Do you know where the old paper mill is?”
I had to rack my brain before I remembered.“Yeah, down by Slawson Cove?”
“That’s the one.There’s an old service road.It can be difficult to find.”
“I know exactly where it is.”
“Meet me there at five am.Does that give you enough time.”
“My friend Ginger will call you if I don’t make it out of the manor.”
“You know the police are searching for you.”
“Just call me Miss Popular.”When he didn’t respond, I added, “They’ve been temporarily diverted away from my location.”
That warm chuckle again.“See you at five.”
Ginger left my room an hour before midnight.I watched the yard from my window until one a.m., counting and timing the guards movements around the perimeter.One stayed close to the weak point by the cliff that Ginger had mentioned.I assumed another would be across the yard at the other point where the wall ended.I could see a portion of the arbor and only saw one vamp walk along the stretch of wall every fifteen minutes.My guess was that they were sticking close to the front wall, the back, and around the manor.The guards at the manor worked a clockwise route every ten minutes.This would be the most difficult part of my plan, but if I was already outside with the window closed behind me, I would save time dropping and running toward the thicker landscaped part of the yard.The trellis on the far side of the window was a stretch to reach, but I clung to it while two guards walked by, stopping to check something on the ground before looking up.Their gazes were a few yards to the right of me, and I guessed they were looking at Lyra’s windows, where a soft glow emanated.A minute later, they’d moved far enough away for me to start my descent, jumping to the ground halfway down.
From there it was more a rush and wait as I raced from one spot to another on my way to the arbor.I climbed a nearby tree to reach the wall, and always wondered why they never trimmed the branches away from it, until I reached the top and peered over the side.The landscaping would make it almost impossible for anyone to breach the wall from there.Vamps could do it, but other spots along the wall would be easier targets.
Once on the wall, I only had to time my movements against the vamps rotations.After thirty minutes, I was jogging down the road and cutting down side streets until I spotted Harlow’s car.In our line of work, it wasn’t unusual to stake out a mark, and he came prepared.Once we’d parked on the service road, he pulled out a large thermos of Trudy’s wake-the-dead coffee and her sweet rolls.
“I hope you know what you’re doing.”He’d stuffed three sweet rolls down before I’d finished one.But I was ahead of him on cups of coffee.Between the caffeine and the sugar, my leg was bouncing to the steady beat of the ocean waves that could be heard through the slit of the open window.
