Page 97 of As Darkness Fall
“Be ready to shift,” I told them both. “If he’s going to betray us at any point, it’s now. I don’tthinkhe’s stupid enough to want to lose as many men as it would take to bring us down, but then again, he’s lost his mind, so who knows what he’ll do.
“Dani,” my father hissed, seemingly not hearing a word I’d said. “What are you doing? You can’t give him that.”
“Dad,” I said, meeting my father’s azure eyes calmly. “I know what I’m doing. I need you to trust me, okay?”
“But–”
“Trust me,” I repeated strongly.
My father looked ready to protest again, but my mother put a hand on his shoulder. “Thomas,” she said quietly. “Look at her. She’s gotten this far. We should trust her.”
“The Idol,” Lars said impatiently. “Put it down.”
“Yeah,” I said, setting it carefully on the ground.
As one, my entire group backed away, heading down the driveway toward the truck, my parents safely ensconced behind a wall of vampires armed with semi-automatic rifles. They weren’t getting any safer than that until we were gone from the manor.
Lars strode down the driveway, his circle of enforcers collapsing around him as he picked up the Idol.
“Be seeing you,” Lars chuckled wickedly as he bent down and picked up the golden statuette.
“I think not,” I said, smiling broadly as my parents were all but forced into the backseat of the truck.
“What have you done, Dani?” my father asked as he went in last, my mother already putting on her seatbelt, rolling her eyes.
“Relax,” I told my father, hopping into the cab and firing up the engine. “I’ve got a plan.”
“Your plan is to give him the Idol of Amunlea? Do you have any idea what it can do?”
“Yes,” Vir said from the front seat. “As a matter of a fact, I do.”
I snorted. “It’s fine, Dad. We’re on our way to get him now.”
“Get who?” my father asked as the truck rumbled down the driveway and onto the road, picking up speed despite the mass of people we were carrying.
I grinned at him through the rearview mirror.
“Our man on the inside.”
Chapter Forty-Seven
Iwas brimming with excitement at seeing my parents again, to the point I nearly missed the turn-off, so busy was I looking in the mirror, smiling from ear to ear.
“There’s so much we need to talk about,” I said, catching my dad’s eye. “But I promise, there will be time for a proper reunion soon. Just a few more things we have to take care of before we’re free and clear of this place.”
“Dani,” my father started to say.
“I found your journal,” I blurted out. “I followed it. Just like you wanted me to. I found Shuldar!”
“Focus, Dani,” Vir rumbled from the seat next to me. “We’re almost there.”
“Shit.” He was right. I killed the lights, and we turned off the road onto a dirt path that led up along the west side of Aldridge Manor.
“Is everything okay, Dani?”
“Yes, Mom,” I told her, the familiar parental worry for once appreciated and welcomed.
It was just so nice to have them back.
