Page 117 of Your Coffin or Mine
“Nuh-ah,” he says, moving it away from me as I reach for it. “Can’t have you contacting him.”
The car tires screech as it takes off. He sends a text to someone before going through my phone as we drive. I see him deleting all the photos I took of Vlad, the castle, and all the contacts I have, even from my cloud backup drives.
“Stop!” I plead, reaching for it, but he shoves me away.
Panic resurfaces when Frank then crushes my phone in his hand. Everything else I can get from the cloud, but I don’t know Vlad’s number off by heart! Frank is doing everything he can to separate us, and he gives my tears a disgusted look when he hands me the crumpled pieces.
He’s going to think I’ve run away.My heart breaks again with the knowledge, but there’s nothing I can do right now.Vlad. Where are you?How did my night and life go to shit so quickly?
Frank pulls out his own phone. “Where is it you live?”
“Atlanta,” I say quietly.
He rolls his eyes. “Such an American, only saying your city.”
He makes a call, and I overhear him telling someone to have his jet ready with Atlanta as the destination. He ends it quickly.
Shaking in my seat, trees pass in a blur as we speed down some kind of back road of the castle grounds. Frank is silent as I sob. The richest man in the world is a total dick. I don’t even know why he’s doing this, but to go so far as to threaten me and my family. . . I have no choice but to do what he says.
Even as we drive onto the tarmac of some small, rundown-looking private airport, I say nothing. We pull up right next to a private jet that says Talbot Global—Mr. Stein’s company.
My heart racing, I squeal when Frank leaves, only to come get me from the other side. He grabs my arm and drags me toward the plane.
“Make sure she gets home,” he demands as he shoves me toward the boarding stairs where two people stand at the bottom.
A man and a woman dressed as flight attendants bow toward him before regarding me. They’re gorgeous, both looking like supermodels. I scream and scramble back when they grin and feline fangs extend.
“Don’t mind the ghouls,” Frank says, laughing. “My minions only bite if I tell them to.”
He pushes me again, forcing me to go up the stairs. With no other choice, I climb them, and theghoulsfollow to block me from escaping.
“I just want to go home,” I mutter through tears.And for this night to be over.
How am I going to get back to Vlad?
Worst dayever.
Chapter 35
VLAD
“Where could she be?”I mutter under my breath, fidgeting with my black wool-lined cloak.
Aubrey’s scent is everywhere in the castle. Pleasant, light, intoxicating. It makes my skin prickle with unease. I have looked everywhere. I have checked the gallery where I left her, and every nook and cranny of the entire castle, and I cannot find her.
My pupils bleed to red.
Something is wrong. Alarm ripples across my skin and my hair stands on end.
The four of us in one place—what a terrible fucking idea.
Shrieks from guests near the front of the castle reach my ears on the second floor. I run to the high windows of the castle and see Jekyll holding the passenger door of a black car for Hilda. She climbs inside, and Jekyll manages to find me in the window, his grin large andinsane.Tires squeal, and a set of bright round headlights flash through the windows as the car peels around the drive.
I growl and run for the balcony doors, throwing them wide.I should have known he’d take her.I’d been a fool to think hewould just leave, but it does leave me wondering where the hell Doyle is.
“I’ll kill him for this.”
My vision morphs and changes when I shrink into a bat, my world becoming larger, and I growl at the screams from the guests that continue to fill the night.I don’t know how we will explain her to the humans. Perhaps an elaborate costume?Fucking Jekyll. He has no regards for the rules when it pleases him. Wings flapping in the moonlight, I dive toward the car barreling down the switchback of the mountain. Trees blur beneath me as I fly, my body tense with rage.Hilda.
