While I... I would be gone. I wouldn’t have to run anymore. I wouldn’t have to feel this constant sensation of dread over what horrible thing was going to happen next in my life. I wouldn’t have to fight against my stupid emotions... my misplaced and pathetic feelings for someone who couldn’t possibly care for me the way I wanted him to.
I would give Rans the night to come up with a better plan, just as I’d agreed—even though I knew with utter certainty that all of his efforts would be in vain. And in the morning? Well... I now knew exactly what I needed to do to fix all of this.
* * *
I didn’t sleep again that night. As the hours passed, I listened to Rans’ voice filtering through to me intermittently, barely audible through the walls. I had to give credit where credit was due; he obviously hadn’t been putting me off with his promises to talk to anyone who might be able to help.
As the night wore on, though, the silences grew longer and the conversations shorter. He was running out of options, running out of ideas. As I’d known they would, all his efforts had come to nothing.
Some childish impulse had me pretending to sleep when his footsteps approached along the hall. I heard him pause outside of the bedroom we’d shared the previous night, standing still and silent for a long moment as though contemplating the empty bed. Then his tread approached the closed door of the master bedroom. Another pause, and he knocked lightly on the door before opening it.
The clock on the bedside table read a quarter to five in glowing red numbers.
“Zorah, wake up.”
I made a production of blinking awake and sitting upright, still not sure why I felt the need to act like I’d been sleeping. “Yeah?”
“I just wanted to update you.” His normally smooth voice sounded tired and a bit raspy from all the phone conversations. “No joy yet, but we’ll try again later in the morning. I’m... going to have a kip for a couple of hours, so I can take a fresh look at things after I’ve had some rest.”
I hesitated for a beat. “Okay.”
He remained motionless in the doorway for the space of several breaths before he stepped back, closing the door behind him with a soft click. His footsteps receded, heading for the guest bedroom before the sound faded, muted by the carpet.
I lay in Tom and Glynda’s bed, not moving, trying to decipher the small sounds coming from down the hall. I watched the clock, my mind a careful blank as the numbers changed in slow motion.
Dawn’s not a great time for vampires.
The words echoed in my memory as five o’clock rolled around... five-fifteen... five-thirty. As six a.m. approached, the house had been silent for some time. I carefully got out of bed. Dawn’s gray light was just beginning to illuminate the unfamiliar room. I snuck over to the dresser where I’d dumped my meager belongings and pulled on a pair of sneakers. Then I retrieved one of my burner phones from my bag, moving as silently as I could manage.
Phone in hand, I eased the bedroom door open an inch at a time. It hadn’t creaked when Rans had opened and closed it earlier, but I didn’t need any shrill squeaks giving me away. Tiptoeing along the hallway, I paused at the open door of the guest bedroom and looked inside. Rans was asleep on top of the duvet, his body displaying that same disconcerting stillness I’d noticed the previous morning.
I’d only intended to ensure that he wasn’t awake, but I ended up standing there for far longer than I should have, watching him. He’d understand why I had to do this, I thought. He’d know I was only acting to minimize the damage to those around me.
Wouldn’t he?
My heart was thumping against my chest as I looked at those finely sculpted features barely illuminated by the dawn light. It was that powerful thud-thud-thud against the cage of my ribs that finally unglued my feet and got me moving again. I was afraid he might be able to hear it. To sense the thrum of blood through my veins.
After a final lingering look, I crept downstairs and carefully unlocked the sliding door leading to the back yard. I winced a bit at the sound of the door sliding along the track, but I was committed at this point. I went outside into the muggy Chicago morning, the phone clutched in my hand.
The back yard was on the opposite side of the house from the guest bedroom, but I still moved as far away from the house as I could get. The fence around the yard was a bit of a hodgepodge—chain link on two sides and wooden privacy fence on the other two. I wedged myself in the corner of the privacy fence and powered up the phone.
Pulling up the contacts, I scrolled through the numbers I’d copied from Rans’ phone yesterday when I’d been waiting for him in the car, and selected the entry labeled ‘Tink.’ The cheap phone displayed a graphic of a bell ringing as the call connected. I held my breath, not sure in the least that the recipient of my early-morning call would even bother to pick up.
The line crackled, but the other end remained silent.
“Hello?” I asked, tentative. “Albigard?”
Another pause, just long enough to make me think I’d made a mistake. Then...
“Hello, demonkin.” Albigard’s voice made it sound like there were many other things he would rather be doing than speaking to me. “I had wondered if you might contact me today.”
NINE
“YOU... DID?” I ASKED. “Why? And how did you
