Page 33 of Our Sins in Blood (Coven of Sin 1)

Damn it.

After the meeting with the Elders, Sterling had shown me to my room. He was so eerily quiet, and not a word was spoken between us as I’d followed him up to the mansion’s third floor. Even though he was blind, he seemed to have everything memorized because he didn’t stumble once, nor did he stretch out his hands or use anything to find his way.

I’d ached to ask him the boatload of questions weighing on me, but I couldn’t bring myself to say anything. There was this kind of awkward tension between us I couldn’t explain.

Once I was inside the room, he told me he’d come for me at sundown. Then, with regret etched into the shadows of his face, he closed the door with a deafening click of the lock from the outside.

I thought an hour-long shower might do the trick to distract me, but I had only stewed in my anger.

How was I supposed to escape the coven when I couldn’t even get out of the room? I was on the third floor, too high to jump out the window. Besides, the house was built on the cliffside, and right below my window were ragged rocks and the ocean. Even if I did manage to jump and miss getting skewered on the rocks, I couldn’t swim.

I’d drown.

Wrapping the towel tighter around my body, I stuck my head out the window, watching the spew of white, foamy water every time a wave came crashing against the rocks.

Yeah, we’d have to call that Plan B.

I moved to the armoire and opened it to find an array of clothes inside.

They’d been expecting me alright. While Sharpe could have probably guessed my size from his many visits, he hadn’t exactly pegged my style. Not like he would care even if he had. Everything hanging was vintage, frilly, and black. Okay, so the color was right, but most of the garments were traditionally gothic dresses that smelled musty and maybe even a little moth-eaten.

Not exactly my vibe.

Unwrapping the towel from my body, I gave my red hair a quick rub down before pulling on my Ramones hoodie and flung myself into bed. It wasn’t my intention to fall asleep. I had to hatch an escape plan. But no sooner than my head hit the pillow, I was out.

Dreams filled with red eyes, sharp fangs and stolen kisses teased my mind when an obnoxious beep jolted me awake. Blinking back the fog of a restless sleep, I reached for the cellphone Corry had bought me on the nightstand.

Corry: Hey, Red. Thought I’d check on u. U ok?

I cursed when I saw the time. 8:35 PM. I had slept through the day. Everyone would be up now. Not that it mattered much. It’s not like I would have been able to make a getaway unless someone came to unlock the door.

As I re-read Corry’s text, an idea occurred to me. For a second, I wrestled with the implications of it. I didn’t really want to manipulate the one who’d been the nicest to me so far. But Corry was still a vampire. If I didn’t go through with this plan, I’d be forced to stay here, and that wasn’t in the cards for me.

“Sorry, Corry…” I mumbled to myself as I typed out my angle.

Ruby: Fine. So when u gonna take me on that bike ride you promised me?

My pulse began to climb, faster and faster with each second I waited for the youngblood’s response. A part of me worried he’d see right through my plan. I was so out of my element and if I panicked, he’d see right through my bullshit. There there was the added fact that wasn’t supposed to leave the ground without Vincent’s supervision, and I wasn’t allowed to leave at all.

But there was another part of me that knew he wanted to be the first to get in time with me, time alone so he could have a shot at being the one I “picked.”

I just hoped he liked me enough to overlook the possibility that it was some trick.

Because it definitely was.

But his dick would convince him otherwise. I was almost sure of it.

I nearly jumped when the phone buzzed with a new text notification.

Corry: Tonight?

A wild grin shot across my face, and the bloom of hope fluttering in my chest was enough to drown out the guilty sensation knotting my stomach.

Ruby: It’s a date.

Chapter eighteen

Bastards, Lies, and Green Eyes

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