Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 75539 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75539 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
But there wouldn’t be a second time.
“You wouldn’t do that,” she said. There was the smallest, nearly imperceptible tremor in her voice. Was she considering her options? Would she really tell me where their headquarters were located?
“I would. I would hand myself directly to the Carpenter. He’ll know you were the one who delivered me. Even after death.”
A laugh escaped her. “The Carpenter… oh, Simon… But you don’t know where to find him… I will miss him.”
Simon? Is that his real name?
Blake shifted on his feet. He looked ready to fight, even though that was the last thing I wanted him to do. I couldn’t turn back time anymore, not until I rested, so that meant there’d be no room for errors. “Tell us where he is,” Blake said.
“He isn’t far. In fact, it’s shocking how close you were at one point. But it doesn’t matter. He will find you, no matter where you think you hide. He has ways of knowing exactly where you are.”
“Then why hasn’t he come to take me?” I asked. “Why hasn’t he sent an army to capture me if he needs me that badly?”
“Because that would draw attention. It would risk his entire mission. No. He is wise. Wiser than any who walk this Earth. And he understands how time works, how to bide it, how to use it. He can wait until it’s right.”
“How is he tracking me?”
“He has eyes everywhere. He is as close to a god as we can get before the Crimson King reigns again.”
An odd expression crossed over Blake. His eyebrows jerked together, and his jaw tightened. He looked over his shoulder and shot a glance at Cassius. His best friend didn’t seem to notice, his attention down on the quiet human. Blood appeared to be pooling underneath him.
The vampire appeared to have decided she had enough. She swung a leg behind mine and went to knock me off-balance. I was quicker, though. She likely knew what was coming but didn’t feel any pain as I buried the dagger in her skull, using all my force to break through the hard bone and plunging it into the soft tissue underneath.
The vamp stilled. I let her go, and she collapsed to the ground. The onyx hilt stuck out the side of her head like an antenna belonging to some nightmarish insect. Her body gave a few twitches before her life snuffed out.
With one threat neutralized, I focused on the next. I stepped over the dead body and went to where Cassius stood. The human still wasn’t moving. I turned his body over and found that the dagger he’d been wielding had been wedged into his chest.
“Shit,” Cassius said. “He must have fallen on it when I took him down. I’m sorry.”
“For what?” Blake asked. “Saving our lives?”
“Now we can’t get any information from him.”
“It’s fine,” I said. “The vampire dropped a name. Simon. It’s little to go off of, but at least it’s something.” I examined both of the guys. Cassius’ face blanched. They were scratched up and bruised, but they were alive and breathing. “Are you two okay?”
Cassius nodded. His shoulders were stiff. He looked frightened, but why? The fighting was over.
Blake answered with a confident “Yeah, yeah, I’m good.”
“Then let’s go before Enforcers get here. I don’t have time for their questions.”
Blake nodded. His amber eyes were glittering gems set in a paper-pale face, pupils blown wide. His fear was palpable. And he didn’t even know how close he had come to his own death.
“I hope he’s with Rachel now,” Blake said with one last glance in Kalen’s direction.
“He is,” Cassius answered. He had a gentle hand on his friend’s arm, with fear still displayed clearly on his face.
“Come. Let’s get back to the castle. We can meet with the rest of the family there and discuss what happened.”
Chapter 19
Interview With A Dragon
Blake
My heart still hammered even as we sat around the long table in the castle’s main dining room. Night had fallen, the heavy scarlet-red drapes drawn across the windows. Pizza boxes were spread down the table. The smell of pepperoni and cheese filled the room. I couldn’t really eat, though, only munching on some garlic bread and drinking around three gallons of water.
Xavier sat next to me. He hadn’t left my side since we made it back to the castle. I wondered if he could tell how shaken I still was. Even when I took a moment by myself to shower and try to calm down, Xavier had waited for me outside the bathroom. Like a friendly cat not wanting to be far from their owner. It comforted me. Xavier, in general, comforted me. I didn’t think that came in the job responsibilities of a bodyguard, but the golden dragon was quickly proving to be much more than just a bodyguard. He was kind and funny and caring and had a magnetic pull about him that drew me in, closer and closer. My thoughts had wandered these past couple of weeks. They’d gone to territories I hadn’t thought about since my last boyfriend. There was an urge to reach out to him, to hold his hand. I thought back to that first day we met, when I’d stuck my foot directly into my mouth. I remembered how my hand felt in his. It had been an immediate sensation of warmth. And there was definitely a flirty kind of energy between us that only helped to enhance my feelings about him.