Page 42 of Blood Illusions

Justice held up the bag. “Because the answers might be inside this bag.” He looked between us. “Be careful.” With that, he pushed his heels into Equinox’s side.

The brown-and-white pegasus arched its neck, stretched its wings covered in soft, downy feathers, and leaped into the air. With a powerful thrust of its wings, Equinox soared into the sky. Justice smiled as air rippled through his hair. The two of them together were a sight to behold, beautiful and full of courage.

Damon and I were mesmerized as the pegasus flew higher into the sky and slowly disappeared into the clouds.

Damon shook his head. “Another day in our strange lives. Next, we’ll be seeing unicorns.”

“True,” I mumbled. I stared at the brown bag, loathing that it was coming with us. I motioned toward it. “God, I hope that hand doesn’t move.”

Damon opened the door and tossed the two containers in the back seat. “Yeah, because the last thing we need is Thing from The Addams Family hitching a ride with us. I call shotgun if it starts playing spider.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Damon turned on the heater, and it didn’t take long for the Fairlane to heat up. For a fifty-year-old car, it worked remarkably well, but that was because Damon babied it. He was a really good mechanic, and he treated it like his masterpiece. The Fairlane was his first car, and he never wanted to buy another one.

The warmth of the humming car was like a lullaby. I leaned my head back on the seat and closed my eyes. I had finally stopped shaking and felt safe. For some reason, I always felt safe in this car. Maybe because it was Dad’s car before it was Damon’s. Sometimes, this car felt more like home than our house.

The haunting images of those vampires and the victims at the mine rolled over in my mind. I groaned, trying to think of something else, something to make me forget about the last forty-eight hours.

Justice’s handsome face flashed into my mind. His dark eyes drew me in like warm hot chocolate. My fingers ached to run through his hair to see if it was as silky as it looked. I hadn’t been with a man for a long time, and Justice overshadowed them like a movie star. Yet he was the enemy, not to be trusted.

Maybe I was wrong about him. Every time we needed him, he’d been there protecting me and Damon. Those new vampires we’d been hunting weren’t the only ones that were different. Justice was, too, and for me, he might be the most dangerous one of all.

The last thing I remembered thinking about before I dozed off was Justice standing over me in that garden, protecting me. Besides my brother, no other guy has ever risked his life for me. Was he the enemy?

Someone shook my shoulder gently. “Sawyer, wake up. We’re here.”

My eyes fluttered open. At first, I thought it was Justice, but I stared into blue eyes instead of warm, dark brown.

I scrubbed my face. “What?”

“Get up, Rip Van Winkle. We’re at The Grove. Time to go see Father Time.”

I dropped my arm and sighed. More cars were in the parking lot, and I recognized some of them as hunters. As always, Tim’s Thunderbird was here.

I climbed from the vehicle into the crisp morning sun and immediately wanted to stay in the safe, warm car.

I yawned. “Maybe someone’s heard from Dad.”

“Maybe.” Damon reached in and grabbed the containers. “But Dad’s not going to be found until he wants to be found.”

I nodded. “True.”

We headed toward the bar, and I opened the door for Damon. Inside, a few hunters I knew mingled with the regular patrons. They looked as weary as we felt.

Damon and I nodded to them as we hiked up the stairs to Tim’s office. I rapped on the door. “Tim, can we come in?”

“It’s open,” Tim replied in his gruff voice.

We walked into the room and found Tim sitting at his table. Books were spread out all over the place as if he was doing research.

He looked up at us and focused on the containers Damon held. “Show me what you’ve got.”

I sat opposite him.

Damon placed the containers in front of Tim. “Here’s the latest from our vampire roast party. Got some ashes and one freaky-deaky skeletal hand as party favors. Not quite the handshake I was expecting, but it’s always good to keep a souvenir.”

Tim picked up the one with ashes and examined it. “How did this happen?”

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