Page 75 of Love Heals
Chapter Twenty-Six
The sky was starting to light up by the time I made it to the west side of town. Instinct told me that I had about half an hour of night left before the sun would rise and begin to tear at my skin. That was plenty of time.
I knew from the messages I'd seen on my sire's tablet that my coven had sought refuge with the west-side coven, whose base was located in a morgue on the outskirts of town. My coven-mates had to be all out of options if they were going there. They’d often joked that operating from a morgue lacked all class.
Still better than the south-side coven, though. That one operated from the basement of a BDSM-club. My sire always claimed that the idea was abhorrent. But he sure went to visit them a lot for not being a fan.
Shoving those thoughts from my mind, I dipped a little lower in the sky to scan the buildings below me. I'd only been here once before, so I needed to pay attention if I didn't want to fly right past the morgue.
The first thing that caught my attention wasn't the morgue, though. There was a woman standing on top of a house with a flat roof, looking up at the sky. I wouldn't have thought much of it if I didn't recognize her. Not her face, she was still too far away for that, but her energy signature, her very own brand of magic.
Leandra.
My heart beat faster as my magic recognized hers. Leandra had always been kind to me. Thank God she had survived the fire! I should have known that she would make it. She wasn't a freshling, after all.
Without even thinking about it, I dove deeper and flew toward her. A sense of rightness settled over me. Finally, I was going back where I belonged. Finally, things would stop being complicated. A flash of guilt seared my guts when I thought back to Jared, when I thought back toDrizzit, but I swallowed it down. All of that was done now, past.
It didn't make me as happy as it should have.
I pasted a smile on my lips anyway, as I transformed back into my human form, landing in front of Leandra. I'd become very good at pretending to be happy even when I wasn't. If I faked it long enough, eventually I'd start to feel it.
Leandra's lips tugged up as well, but for a different reason. “You flew out here without clothes on?”
What? I looked down on myself. Shit. I’d hurried out of Jared’s room so quickly I hadn’t realized I was still naked. Leandra took off her black coat and threw it over me. Quickly, I wrapped it around myself. “Sorry,” I mumbled.
“Don’t worry about it. Have you been well?”
I nodded, studying her, checking for damage from the fire, but she looked just as she always had, her long black hair pulled into a tight ponytail, her eyes dark and questioning. "I thought you might come," she said.
"Why?" Even I hadn't known that I was coming until an hour ago.
"We were all wondering who was reading Nicolai's messages. I thought it might be you. You would have had his lock-code. Besides, I felt your energy approach."
I rubbed the back of my neck, feeling caught. "I didn't know you would see when messages are being read."
"No harm done," she said. Her voice was kind, but there was a tightness to her lips that made me nervous nonetheless. "Where have you been?"
I licked my lips, unsure what to say. If I told her about Jared and the others, she would want to know their location. She would want to go after them. I'd promised Jared that I wasn't going to tell anyone where the safe house was. I wasn't going to break that promise. Not even for Leandra. "Does it matter where I was? I just... I needed some time to process everything."
She reached out to rest a hand on my shoulder. "Nicolai's death must have been hard on you."
I gave a short nod, unable to meet her eyes. If she knew what else was troubling me... "Is everyone else okay?" I asked, trying to change the topic. "What about Teslo?"
"Teslo's fine." Leandra cast her gaze aside, her fist clenching. "We lost Soran and Rune, and some of the younger ones."
I swallowed hard, recognizing those names. They hadn't been my friends, not by any means, but I'd never wished for them to die, either. "May they rest in peace," I said softly.
"You think there's any heaven for vampires?"
"I don't know." As soon as I was done speaking, I pressed my lips together to keep myself from saying anything more. Like that I thought we probably all deserved to roast in hell. That our souls were beyond saving.
We spent a moment in silence before Leandra spoke again, giving me a measuring look. "There's been talk."
"Talk about what?" And why did I suddenly feel like I was laying on an exam table before her?
"Minsk is saying that you helped the mortals that burned down our base. That you were probably with them this whole time. Some are thinking that Crimson made you do it."
"I..." I paused, struggling for words because I hadn't expected her toknow.Now what was I supposed to do? Confess? Deny everything? "I didn't know they had a bomb."
