Page 120 of Your Coffin or Mine
I have been played for a fool in my own home, my mate torn from me by my very comrades. I stare down at my phone and look at the images of her smiling up at me, of how her nose crinkles in one photo, and her mouth is in a wide grin in the next. All I can focus on is how to get to her.
“You have no way to track her?” I ask, scrolling through what few photos I thought to take. I should have taken hundreds. Once she is in my arms again, I will take thousands.
He huffs in annoyance. “No internet means we have been put back into the stone age, Vlad. You might as well fly your bat self all the way to America. It’d only take you a few weeks . . . if you could withstand the sun.”
That’s too long. “They shouldn’t have even been here. And you let them waltz through the castle and fucking take her.”
A muscle ticks in his jaw, and his eyes light up a bright yellow. “I did notleteither of them do anything. None of this is my fault. Yours is not the only night that was ruined, you know. When I see Jekyll again, I am going to beat the shit out of him for whatever tranquilizer he hit me with,” he growls.
Speaking of... “There is also the little matter of Hilda.” I tell him, wondering how he will take the news.
He goes still but doesn’t look up from his stupid computer screen. “What about her?”
“She and Jekyll walked through the front door to leave.”
His gaze meets mine and color leaches from his face. “That’s what all the shouting was? Oh fuck. How bad was it?”
I fold my hands and peer at him across the table. “I didn’t stay to watch. I was a bit busy chasing down Jekyll’s car to save her, only to realize she wanted to leave withhim.”
“You can’t believe I would have a hand in that. I would never let him take her!” His expression turns from confused to horrified.
“Did you know Hilda was wearing Aubrey’s sweater? That she has been wearing her clothes?”
His head lifts and his gaze clashes with mine as he gets to his feet.He knew.
“Yes. I caught Hilda wearing it the day after Aubrey arrived.” His hands dive into his pockets. “I didn’t want to tell you because I thought there was no harm, but I didn’t say anything, and I wasn’t going to return it. Not after you went fullPretty Womanon Aubrey.”
“I went what?”
“I did try to tell you. Hilda hasn’t been happy for some time.”
Slamming my fist onto the table, I hold him with my stare. “You did this behind my back.”
He holds his hands in the air. “Like I said, I tried to tell you. She has been restless for the last month. I thought it was because of you.”
Dammit.
It doesn’t matter. Hilda is a grown woman and if she wants to babysit Jekyll, she can. I have to get to Aubrey. Every minute that passes pushes her further away from me.
“Where isAtlanta?” I ask, remembering she mentioned the city she is from.
He frowns. “It’s a city in part of the United States, Georgia, I think. Why?”
“Hello?” someone shouts from downstairs.
I shake my head, stabbing my finger in the direction of the door. “Go deal with that.”
Getting up and backing away toward the door, he pauses after opening it into the hallway, his expression serious. “I honestly didn’t know how to tell you. There is no good way forme to say your skeleton nanny is wearing your new girlfriend’s clothes.” He stomps from the room, only to come back a moment later, peaking his head in the door. “I am sorry about Aubrey. For what it’s worth, I was only trying to protect you.”
He is lucky I already know this. It’s the reason I haven’t attacked him for his hand in any of Frank and Jekyll’s obvious scheming. Jekyll saw an opportunity and took it. The truth is, if Doyle hadn’t decided to open the castle, I would have never met Aubrey.
“Give me a few days and I will find you a way to her, if you’re that sure. Frank wouldn’t leave us in the dark long. My guess is he just wants to put some distance between the both of you.”
None of them understand. It is easier for them to believe me so weakened after a century that I do not know my own mind. I look down at Aubrey’s smiling face again, wishing like hell I had never left her side. I toss the useless phone onto the table.
“Fine,” I tell him, wishing him to leave.
A door slams somewhere downstairs and I wait until his footsteps rush down the hall before getting to my feet.A few days, he says.I will be on a plane to Aubrey tonight, no matter if I have to coerce an entire fucking airport to do it.
