The Fiery Heart

CHAPTER 20 SYDNEY

I SAT BACK ON MY KNEES AND SURVEYED MY WORK. One gallon of the ink that could help free other Alchemists tired of being controlled by our superiors. It would change the way Marcus carried out his missions. It would change everything.

The power of that realization with Marcus was part of why I’d agreed to Neil’s madness. It was another chance for a monumental discovery. I’d followed up on the Los Angeles Strigoi in question with Alchemist reports and found that Neil’s assumptions were right. All signs indicated this Strigoi worked in a very specific territory and usually worked alone. The prevailing theory was that it must be a newly turned one. Although they weren’t the best at organization, experienced Strigoi knew the power they had in groups. If this one was a beginner, so much the better for us. I just hoped two dhampirs and a fire-wielding witch were enough to take this one out.

But I was fully aware that something could go wrong, and that was why I hadn’t told Adrian. I hated that. I knew relationships fell apart all the time because someone was stupid and withheld a vital piece of information. When I’d gotten involved with him, I’d sworn I’d never do that. And yet, I also knew a couple things would happen if Adrian knew our plans. One was that he’d want to come. The other was that if something went wrong, if one of us was hurt—or, God forbid, killed—he would never forgive himself for not being able to perform a healing. I’d seen it in his face, both before and after the pills. Maybe the rush of spirit had been addictive, but it was being powerless to help others that truly tormented him. I couldn’t let him face that.

My last reason for keeping him out of it was purely selfish: I couldn’t risk anything happening to him.

Things fall apart.

I knew Adrian’s words were just part of his contemplative, metaphysical moods. They haunted me nonetheless, maybe because I understood what he was saying. There was a perfection to what we had, even if it was all in stolen moments, and at times, it did seem as though we were dancing on a razor’s edge that we’d inevitably plummet over. As I contemplated my task with Neil and Eddie, I wondered bitterly if this would be what broke Adrian and me. We worried so much about getting caught by others. Maybe things would fall apart because I was running off on some foolish and noble task.

The center cannot hold.

I sighed and stood up. There was nothing to be done now. I was resolved to do this thing. Sydney Sage really was the reckless one.

Back in my dorm room, I found Zoe finishing up her homework. Things had eased up a little since our birthday fight last night, but tension still hung heavy between us. “Hey,” I said, taking off my coat.

“Hey,” she replied. “Finish your work for Ms. Terwilliger?”

I ignored the accusatory tone. “Yup. The big project’s pretty much wrapped up, so I should have some more time.” I thought that would please her, but she still looked sullen, so I tried another approach. “Want a cupcake?” I’d brought home leftovers and told her they were from Spencer’s, which kept a well-stocked pastry cabinet.

Zoe shook her head. “Too many calories. Besides, it’s almost dinnertime.”

“Are you going to eat with us?” I asked hopefully. Like me, she’d made some human friends and sometimes preferred them to the Moroi gang.

I saw her hesitate and then finally give me a tentative smile that filled me with hope. “Sure.” She wanted us to be sisters. But like me, she wasn’t sure how to make it work.

Someday, I thought. Someday I’ll fix everything. Adrian, Zoe. Life will be easy again.

She perked up a little when we went downstairs and I told her she could take the car out tonight to practice her turns. For the first time in a while, I was staying at school for the evening, so she might as well get her chance with the Mazda. Admittedly, it was a little hard to yield the car after what Adrian and I had done last night. The memories washed over me, and even now, my breath caught. The moonlight, his touch. I’d never look at that car the same way, but my sentimentality wasn’t enough to keep it from Zoe.

In the cafeteria, we found a weird atmosphere settling around my friends’ table. Jill was the only one semi-upbeat, largely because she’d found a date to the dance. A friend of her ex, Micah, was going to go with her. “It’s just platonic,” she said, giving Neil a meaningful gaze. “But it’ll be fun to have a chance to get out of the uniform for a change. And it’s here, so no real security problems.”

Neil nodded, but it was obvious to me that he hadn’t heard a word she’d said. Eddie also seemed checked out, which was surprising since even though he denied wanting Jill, he usually had some problem with the guys she went out with. Both he and Neil wore mirrored expressions of preoccupation now, and an alarm went off in my head that something had happened. When I’d seen them yesterday, both had certainly had our trip to LA on their minds, but they hadn’t looked this glum. I wondered if maybe some enterprising guardian had taken out our “easy” Strigoi.

The last piece of this drama was Angeline. She was making no effort to hide her suspicion. Adrian had told me how she’d come over to his place yesterday, and I watched as she leveled glares at me and the guys. As distracted as she got, I never would’ve guessed she’d be the one to pick up on subtle clues. Even now, despite her watchfulness, she’d occasionally oscillate between random topics, like how shepherd’s pie wasn’t a pie at all and why it was pointless to take a class in typing when technology would eventually develop robot companions to do it for us.

When she started going off on the cafeteria’s carrot cake and how cream-cheese frosting should be considered cheese spread instead of frosting, I couldn’t take it anymore. I took my empty tray and stood up to get a water refill. It wasn’t a surprise when Eddie joined me across the room.

“What happened?” I asked. “Is Angeline still critiquing the carrot cake?”

“No, she’s moved on to baking in general and whether it’s best to frost before or after something’s cool.” He sighed. “But I’m guessing you know there’s more than that going on.”

“Bring it.”

“We just saw some guardian reports about a Strigoi gang that’s been moving down the coast. Everyone’s pretty sure they’re going to end up in Los Angeles.”

I immediately picked up on the subtext. “And you’re worried they’ll join up with your guy.”

He nodded. “I mean, we don’t know for certain, but it’s a new variable to deal with. Part of what made this idea kind of not crazy was that other Strigoi activity had been low in the area.”

“So what are we going to do?” His dismay began to spread to me.

“Neil and I think we should go tomorrow. The other Strigoi shouldn’t be there yet, and it’s a Friday. We know this guy likes club goers.”

I groaned. “Zoe and I are supposed to celebrate my birthday. If I cancel . . . God, Eddie. It’s going to be ugly. Things are bad between us.”

His expression turned kind, but there was steel in his eyes. “This may be our only chance.”

Turning from him, I stared across the cafeteria. Neil had left, and Zoe was standing up, no doubt off to take the car out. Angeline was already eagerly leaning toward Jill, and I wondered if there’d be more talk of conspiracy theories. Or maybe cake. Or robot companions.

“Okay,” I told Eddie. “I’ll make it happen.”

I did, but as I’d warned him, it was ugly.

Zoe was in a bad mood when she got back from parking practice, and I prayed she hadn’t hit something. When school got out the next day, her mood was still in full effect, killing any fleeting chance that I might get away unscathed. There was nothing to do but push forward and give her the bad news that my birthday was being postponed again. She was nearly in tears by the end of our “discussion.”

“How can you keep doing this?” she yelled. “What’s wrong with you? I thought when I came here . . . I thought things would be great. I thought we’d be a team.”

“We are,” I said. “We’re getting so much done, and I thought . . . well, I thought you were making good progress in getting along with the Moroi and dhampirs.”

“Yes, but they’re not the ones I want to spend time with. You are, Sydney. My sister! Why is everything else more important than me?”

I walked over to put my arm around her, but she pushed me away. “Zoe, you are important. I love you. But there’s just a lot I have to deal with. It’s how our job works. Sometimes we get cut off from our families for a while.”

“We aren’t cut off! I’m right here.” She wiped furiously at her eyes. “You said that thing for Ms. Terwilliger was done!” Once again, I’d relied on my old excuse, simply because it was one of the few things she couldn’t fight against.

“It was supposed to be, but then we found out about a library in Pasadena that has something we need. Remember that crazy guy I told you she’s dating?” I managed a hollow laugh. “They’re going to a dog show during the day, so she isn’t free until tonight. Good thing the library’s open until—”

“I don’t care about your stupid library!” A coldness filled Zoe’s eyes as she stared at me. There was an almost tangible quality to it. “I want to know something, Sydney. And don’t lie or dodge the question. What are you going to say at the hearing?”

It hit me out of left field. A story was ready on my lips, but as I met the intensity of her gaze, I couldn’t bring myself to lie. “I’m going to tell the truth,” I said.

“What truth is that?”

“That both Mom and Dad have good things to offer. Mom’s not an evil person, Zoe. You know that.”

Zoe’s face was impassive. “And if they ask you who you think should have me, who will you say?”

I stared into her eyes, so like my own. “Mom.”

She sank back into her bed as though I’d punched her. “How could you do that to me?”

“Because Mom loves you,” I said simply. “And you should have a normal life before swearing to this one.”

“I’ve already sworn to this one,” she reminded me, touching the tattoo on her cheek.

“It’s not too late.” I wished I could tell her about the salt ink, but obviously, she wasn’t ready for that. “Zoe, since coming here, I’ve had the first chance in my life to do what other people do. To have normal relationships.”

“Yeah,” she said bitterly. “I know.”

“It’s not frivolous. It’s amazing. I love it. I want you to have that kind of life.”

“That doesn’t sound like any Alchemist belief I’ve ever heard.”

“It’s not—because I’m talking to you like a sister now, not just another Alchemist.”

“You sure do flip between those pretty randomly. How do you know which one to be at any given time?”

I shrugged. “It’s in my gut.”

Zoe stood up, her hard expression showing me she was unmoved. “I’m going out. See you for Clarence’s.”

Her words reminded me that it was a feeding night, and as I collapsed onto my own bed, dejected, I wished we were already at Clarence’s. I got out the Love Phone and texted Adrian. Can’t wait to see you tonight. I wish you were here. I need you right now. No immediate answer came, probably because he was working on something for class. I kept writing anyway because it felt good to vent. I love you. The center will hold, and someday, we’ll get away from all this.

When we picked him up for Clarence’s later, I had to fight the urge to get out of the car and run into his arms. Too much was weighing on me. Zoe. The trip to Los Angeles. I didn’t expect Adrian to fight my battles for me, but I just wished he could give me courage before them.

He did without even knowing it, when we got a brief moment alone later. I’d gone to put our leftovers away in the kitchen, and he followed me after a minute or so. “Hey,” I said. My hand twitched with the need to touch him.

“Everything okay?” he asked. I could see the same longing in him. “You didn’t look so great back there. I mean you always look great, but . . . you know what I mean.”

“I do. Big fight with Zoe. Details don’t matter. The short version is she hates me right now.” I shrugged. “Welcome to my life. Did you get the car back? Did you get my texts?”

“Ah.” He averted his eyes. “Yes to the first question. As for the second . . . I, uh, kind of lost the Love Phone.”

“What?” My whole world reeled. “Adrian! That phone’s a record of everything that’s gone on between us. Please tell me you’ve been deleting everything after it comes in.”

His guilty expression told me he hadn’t. “Relax. I didn’t lose it at Alchemist HQ or anything. I’m pretty sure I lost it at a coffee shop with Rowena yesterday. My name’s not on it or anything. Clarence is going to let me borrow his car, so I’ll go back and get it.”

I still couldn’t stop the sick feeling rising in my stomach. “This could be a disaster.”

“How? If anyone even finds it—and it’s not just sitting under a table right now—they’ll just have a good laugh at our sappy talk. No one’s going to be like, ‘Aha! Proof of an illicit human-and-vampire affair.’”

He made me smile, just like always, but I was still worried. Jill came into the kitchen just then and grinned when she saw us. She no longer had the inside track into our relationship, but I was pretty sure she knew it had hit the next level.

“Good news,” she said in a low voice. “You’ve probably thrown Angeline off your trail. She’s been trying to get me on board about you, Neil, and Eddie doing covert things. She probably thinks you’re dating one of them.”

I laughed at the joke, glad that Jill was thrown off the trail of our LA trip too. “Yeah, because that totally wouldn’t be a problem.”

Whatever else she was going to say was interrupted as more people came in to put away their dishes. It also ended any further conversation between Adrian and me, and the most I could do was exchange a long, meaningful look with him when I prepared to leave. I hoped I’d survive this night and see him again.

Eddie, Neil, and I took my car to Los Angeles. The only time anyone spoke on the two-hour drive was to go over the plan, which we did about a hundred times. Both of them were armed with silver stakes, and I’d practiced my fire spell as much as I could. Once I’d needed physical materials and a lot of concentration to do it. Now, I could practically do it in my sleep.

We can do this, I kept telling myself. It’s as good a plan as any.

We found the night club our Strigoi liked to frequent. Immediately, I understood its appeal. It was loud and crowded, and the bouncers didn’t do a good job checking IDs, meaning lots of young and naive people showed up. The club was surrounded by dark, winding alleys, mostly deserted except for drunken clubbers stumbling home. There were a lot of corners and shadows to hide in.

“Here,” said Eddie. We’d done a circuit of the club and found a blind alley beside a building in severe disrepair. Marcus would’ve felt right at home. A second-story window had been broken, and when Eddie climbed up to it via a dumpster, he found a trashed, empty apartment. “This is where we’ll wait.” He helped me get up there, and we took up a position that mostly hid us in darkness while giving us a vantage on the pavement below. Neil waited down there, hoping he could be the bait he’d proposed. He’d done a lot of vigorous exercise before we left, leaving him sweaty so that the Strigoi would have an easier time smelling him. Strigoi loved drinking from dhampirs more than humans, and they loved Moroi most of all—which was another reason I hadn’t wanted Adrian to know about this. If our guy caught Neil’s scent, it’d be an irresistible lure. Our assumption was that if the Strigoi smelled Eddie, he’d just blend in with Neil. I would blend with the other humans in the area.

After that, there was nothing to do but wait. Our Strigoi usually struck in a specific time frame, and we’d come in advance of it. I hoped that meant he hung out in his lair for a while and hadn’t already been on the scene while we set up. I also hoped he’d actually come out tonight, or we’d have wasted a trip.

When it happened, it was so fast I thought I’d imagined it. The Strigoi leapt off the building opposite the one Eddie and I were in, landing effortlessly on the ground and knocking Neil down in one fluid motion. I stifled a gasp. If the Strigoi had looked around a little, our window hideout would’ve been spotted. He must have been too worked up over finding a lone dhampir.

Neil was completely pinned down, no chance of getting his stake. As the Strigoi leaned in, Neil did have a chance to gasp out, “Wait—turn me—make me one of you—awaken me—”

The Strigoi paused and then laughed. “Awaken you? Do you know how long it’s been since I had a dhampir? I’m not wasting my own blood on you. I’m going to savor this.”

“I can help you. I can serve you.” I didn’t doubt the terror in Neil’s voice was real, and yet here he was, offering himself up for the greater good. I wanted to cry but had to stay strong and wait for my part. “I can help you find other dhampirs . . . and Moroi . . .”

As the Strigoi laughed again, Eddie leaned over to whisper in my ear, so close his lips nearly touched me. Strigoi had excellent hearing. “He’s a strong one,” Eddie breathed. “And old. Very old. We were wrong.”

Neil screamed as the Strigoi bit into his neck. Eddie tensed, and I grabbed his arm. “Wait. We have to know.”

I knew what agony Eddie had to be in because I shared it. We both wanted to help Neil. Doing nothing, even for a handful of seconds, went against every part of our beings. Neil’s cries faded to moans, and as the Strigoi continued drinking, I knew the awful truth. The tattoo was a failure, and we—

The Strigoi suddenly jerked back. “What’s wrong with you?” he snarled. “You taste . . . wrong!”

That was all Eddie needed to hear. In a flash, he was out the window, landing nearly—though not quite—as gracefully as the Strigoi. Eddie’s silver stake was already in motion as his feet hit, but the Strigoi, incredibly, anticipated it. Eddie had been right. Old and powerful. Maybe too old and powerful for us.

Eddie and the Strigoi engaged in a deadly dance, and I looked for an opportunity. It had been obvious to us that if we were fighting in cramped quarters, a fireball could incinerate all of us. My instructions had been blunt and simple. Use the fire only if the Strigoi killed or turned my friends. I was supposed to be the last resort, yet I hoped there was a way I could help Eddie before then because it was clear he had his work cut out for him. Neil, though alive, was down for the count.

For his part, Eddie was magnificent. It had been a while since I’d seen him fight, and I’d nearly forgotten that the adopted brother I joked and ate lunch with was a lethal warrior. He made the Strigoi work for his kill, slipping only once when a glancing blow knocked Eddie into the brick wall. He recovered instantly, but I could see the inevitable. A series of small hits, small injuries . . . they’d take their toll. Combined with the Strigoi’s superior strength and stamina, it would be only a matter of time.

I had to act. I couldn’t just stand by and let Eddie be annihilated, not if there was anything I could do. Maybe sending a fireball down was out of the question, but I was pretty sure I could provide a good distraction. I jumped down from the window to the dumpster, using it to get down to the ground. I was a disgrace after Eddie’s amazing exit earlier. My foot landed wrong, and I stumbled. I didn’t even need to create a magical distraction, because the Strigoi noticed me right away. He shoved Eddie back and shot toward me.

Fear filled every part of me as that deathly white face leered down. Somehow, in spite of the overwhelming urge to just scream and scream, I held up my hand and summoned a small ball of fire. My hope was that it might startle him back enough for Eddie to get in for the kill. To my astonishment, the fire didn’t scare the Strigoi. In fact, he grabbed my wrist and slammed me into the brick wall. The flame disappeared, and I let out a small scream.

“Don’t try that game with me, witch,” he growled. “I know your kind. I know your tricks. Maybe your blood is off-limits, but your neck snaps the same as anyone else’s.”

I could see my death in his eyes, and it wasn’t terror I felt so much as sorrow—a great and overwhelming sorrow for all the things I would never do. I would never see Adrian again, never create a life with him, never have those perfect children he’d joked about. Even small things took on a terrible sense of loss. I’d never have lunch with my friends again, never hear Angeline make one of her ludicrous comments. I’d never patch things up with Zoe.

It was amazing how so many things flew through my mind in a millisecond. And it was amazing how the smallest things in life became monumental when you were about to lose them.

Suddenly, the Strigoi spun around, anticipating an advance from Eddie. I was momentarily forgotten as the two engaged in battle again, and I wasted no time scurrying toward Neil’s fallen form. I was trying to drag him away when two dark figures came tearing down the alley. At first, I thought partyers had stumbled on us. Then, I recognized them.

Angeline and Trey.

“No way,” I said.

She was unarmed, but Trey carried a sword, the favorite weapon of the Warriors of Light. Their presence momentarily startled the Strigoi, enough for Eddie to slam into him and finally land a solid offensive blow. Trey approached from the other side, swinging the sword remarkably close to the Strigoi’s neck. Angeline helped me pull Neil out of danger and then knelt beside him. His eyelids fluttered, and his hand moved toward his pocket, where I could see a gleam of silver. Angeline took the stake from him, gripping it in her hands and watching the combat unfold before us.

The Strigoi was trapped between Eddie and Trey but seemed undaunted. He sized them both up, and I could guess his deliberation. Even armed and trained, a human like Trey was the easier target. Was it better to take him out immediately or deal with the bigger threat? The Strigoi opted for the former, lunging for Trey and simultaneously dodging an attack from Eddie. The impact knocked Trey to the ground, but it took enough of the Strigoi’s attention that he left an opening for Eddie, who scored a swipe with his stake.

The Strigoi hissed in pain but didn’t slow down. He managed both offense and defense with seemingly no effort. No one gained any ground, and my frustration grew. I felt helpless and began racking my brain for other spells I might use. I had a vast repertoire at my fingertips, but with the erratic way everyone was moving, I couldn’t be sure I wouldn’t hurt one of my friends.

Eddie made a desperate attack and actually knocked the Strigoi to the ground. Needing no communication, Trey advanced with the sword, going in for decapitation. But the Strigoi continued to thwart us. He sprang up, doing a spinning kick that knocked both guys away. Apparently deciding to change tactics, he went after Eddie this time, who even I could tell was getting up just a little too slowly.

That’s when the unthinkable happened. A thick white mist suddenly appeared and rose from the puddle-covered ground, momentarily enveloping and blinding the Strigoi. That’s when Angeline acted. Everyone had forgotten about her. Even I had. She leapt up from beside me, charging forward unhesitatingly as she plunged the silver stake into the Strigoi’s back. He screamed. It wasn’t enough to kill him, but it was enough for Eddie to recover and send his own stake through the creature’s chest and into the heart. The Strigoi flailed a little, one last attempt to save himself, and then he collapsed and went still. Silence fell as we all held a collective breath.

“What are you doing here?” demanded Eddie.

“Saving your ass,” said Angeline. “I knew there was something going on.”

“I’m not talking to you,” he snapped. He threw down the stake and strode past her, toward the entrance of the alley. I followed with my eyes and saw a tall, slim figure standing there, her hair glowing in the light of an overhead lamp. Jill. I remembered the water on the ground turning to mist, and it all made sense.

“You have no right being here!” exclaimed Eddie, coming to a halt in front of her. It was one of the few times I’d ever seen him angry. I’d certainly never seen him angry at her. He cast a glare back at Angeline before returning to Jill. “They shouldn’t have brought you.”

“I have every right to be here,” she retorted. “When Angeline finally convinced us, I knew we had to help. And we did.”

Eddie was undaunted. “I don’t care what they do. If they want to endanger their lives, so be it. But a princess of her people has no business putting herself in danger.”

“A princess of her people has no business sitting off to the side while said people are in danger,” Jill returned.

“Do you have any idea what could have happened if—”

“Oh, shut up,” she said, reaching for him. He flinched in surprise, but once she started kissing him, the tension left his body. I shook my head and looked away.

“Oh, man,” I said to no one in particular. “This night is just full of surprises.”

With the immediate danger gone, I was able to examine Neil more closely. He was weak and groggy from the blood loss and Strigoi endorphins, but he’d survive. “Hey,” I said, gently touching his face. He looked up at me in a daze, not seeming to know me. “You did it. You proved that the tattoo worked. We have a way to keep Strigoi from drinking from us.” Even if Olive’s blood couldn’t technically stop turning, it seemed pretty unlikely a Strigoi could stomach draining anyone in order to complete the process.

Neil gave me an addled smile and closed his eyes. “We need to get him fluids,” said Eddie. Jill was standing a couple feet from him now, but he had a dazed, starstruck quality to him. “Back to the car.”

As he and Trey helped Neil up, I took care of the Strigoi body, destroying it with Alchemist chemicals. As I watched that gruesome face dissolve into smoke, I had a surreal moment of clarity. I remembered those frantic seconds when I’d thought all I loved and knew, all that was Sydney Sage, would be lost from this world. My battered friends and I had just had a brush with death, dancing with this evil. We’d destroyed it, but it was terrifying how touch and go it all had been. At any moment, the Strigoi could have gained the advantage and killed one or all of us. Life and death were inextricably bound together, and we wavered between them. But we’d triumphed over death tonight. We were alive, and the world was beautiful. Life was beautiful, and I refused to waste mine.

As we returned to the cars, Angeline and Trey bragged how they’d been lying in wait to follow us. “I knew,” she said. She was holding Trey’s hand, which I didn’t have the mental energy to ponder right now. “I knew something was going down tonight.”

“You did good,” I told her. “Really good.” The widening of her eyes told me she’d been expecting a lecture. Maybe she deserved one, but I just didn’t feel it. We treated her like a joke, but she was a fighter against evil, every bit as tough as Eddie and Neil. Glancing over at Trey, who was trying to keep his sword obscured under a coat, I realized he was one of us too. Even Jill was.

“I actually didn’t believe it,” Jill said with a small smile. “When Angeline told me she was taking off, I went to your room to let you know. Zoe said you were out for the night, and that’s when I realized something might actually be happening, so I went and caught up.”

Angeline gaped. “You were going to tell on me?”

Jill shrugged. “It all worked out.”

“This time,” I said. I wasn’t up for any lectures, but one would be needed. Eddie was right. It was fine for the rest of us to do foolhardy things, but our sole purpose for being here in the first place was to protect Jill. If that Strigoi had broken loose . . .

At my car, we patched Neil’s wound and plied him with water and orange juice. He gradually shook off the endorphins and grinned as the impact of what we’d accomplished hit him. I don’t think he’d yet realized Jill was along, or he wouldn’t have been so giddy. “It really worked. We did it.” He gave a soft laugh, and I tried to remember if I’d ever heard him do it before. “We’re going to get yelled at when we report this.”

Eddie smiled back, and I saw genuine friendship between them. “I doubt it’ll last for long when they get the results.”

“What’s the plan now?” asked Trey. “We’re out way after curfew.”

“Did you sign out?” asked Eddie. They shook their heads. “Neither did we. The plan was to stay out all night and then slink back tomorrow when things are busy so that they hopefully won’t notice anything. None of our roommates is going to tell on us.”

“We could go to Clarence’s or Adrian’s,” said Angeline.

“I’m hungry,” muttered Neil.

“I know a great twenty-four-hour place,” said Trey. “We’ll have a victory meal of fried food.”

We made plans and headed back to Palm Springs in our respective cars. As soon as I was on the road with Eddie and Jill, I told them, “I need to see Adrian. Drop me off and take my car. He’ll give me a ride back.”

Eddie looked totally surprised by that. “Why do you need to see him?”

“I just do.” I didn’t feel like attempting an excuse, and Eddie wasn’t the type to badger me. The most I got was a curious look when we reached the apartment. His curiosity turned to panic when he realized I’d be leaving him alone with Jill.

“Good luck,” I said as I got out, not entirely sure who needed it the most. “Call me if anything goes wrong with Neil.” He’d ridden back with Trey and Angeline, and I didn’t expect him to have any issues. He’d been on his own two feet when we parted, and dhampirs were fast healers.

Eddie pulled away, and I strode up to Adrian’s building, my heart racing. I still hadn’t shaken that earlier exhilaration from having been so close to having my life snatched away.

I let myself into the apartment, which was dark and quiet. It was still amazing to me how well he slept. I crept to his bedroom and found him lying there in just boxers, the covers tangled up and one arm thrown over his head. A streetlight outside shone faintly on his face, illuminating a rare moment of peace. He was so breathtakingly gorgeous that I could almost buy into his earlier comments about us living in a dream.

But this was real. It was real, and we were alive. We were alive, and I desperately needed to be reminded of that. Without further hesitation, I stripped off my clothes and slid into bed with him.