Reckoning

djamphir’s light tread.

A guard. Probably Benjamin, he kept muttering about not letting me out of his sight, dammit, in case I took it into my head to Do Something Else.

I swallowed, hard. “Sergej’s dead.” It didn’t sound real when I said it out loud. “Right?”

“The nosferat are still out there. They’re just confused and scattered.” Nat’s tone was sober. “There’s other things, too. I wouldn’t trust the Maharaj.”

Word. “Me neither. They don’t seem too warm and cuddly.”

She found this funny. At least, she snorted. “But as long as you don’t go running off again, things might possibly settle down. I could use some downtime. Haven’t been shopping in ages.”

I hate shopping. But going out with Nat seemed like a good idea. “That sounds good. We can start at one end of Fifth Avenue and go all the way through. When do you want to do it?”

“Holy shit!”

I actually jumped. But when I looked at her, she was grinning broadly.

“Who are you,” she continued, “and what have you done with Dru?” The flash of her white wulfen teeth in the faint dusky light should’ve scared me. It didn’t. She was just Nat.

Just my friend.

Oh, nothing. Just went on a several-state odyssey and almost got killed. “Grew her up a little, I hope. Seriously, Nat, when do you want to go shopping? I might even try on some shoes.”

“You’re a pod person,” she announced to the rest of my bedroom, as if there was an audience out there. “You’ve kidnapped my friend. Sucked her brain out! Not that she had much to begin with, but—”

“Bite me.” The laughter didn’t hurt, now. I didn’t even feel weird saying it. Bite me.

Pretty funny, for a part-vampire.

“Ha. You wish. Lesbo vamp girl.”

“Lesbo?”

“You love me.”

“We’d never work, Nat. You’re too high maintenance.”

We both cracked up, and right then, the darkness was kind.

She was right. Tomorrow was early enough to start worrying about everything else. So I let go of my knees, sat cross-legged like her, and together, Nat and I watched the night roll in.

finis

THE STRANGE ANGELS SERIES BY LILI ST. CROW

STRANGE ANGELS

BETRAYALS

JEALOUSY

DEFIANCE

RECKONING