Page 24 of Peacemaker

The vampire I also hated.

“If you become close with one vampire, you’ll begin to care about all of them…”

I shivered as Clayton’s words came back to haunt me. I didn’t want to allow my feelings for Amias to change who I was. What I was.

But it had already happened.

A huge, dark shape detached from the shadows, and Leo spoke. “It’s only me, Trinity.”

I wanted to ask how long he’d been there, but I was afraid of his answer. “Why are you out here?”

His face was open, his eyes clear. “To watch your back.”

He’d likely been there the whole time—and I didn’t want to think about that. “It’s Willow-Wisp. I won’t need protection here.”

“If the vampire master harms you again, I will kill him.” He didn’t look at me when he said it, and the soft tone of his voice didn’t change.

My heart began to flutter, weak and fast, and I tried—and failed—to swallow the sudden dryness in my mouth. “Leo.”

He looked at me, impassive, then stared into the distance. “I enjoy Willow-Wisp. There is a peace here, isn’t there?”

“Sometimes,” I whispered, wincing at the soreness between my thighs. “But there’s violence here, as well.”

“This place belongs to the supernaturals. To us.”

“Yes.” Then I held up a hand. “Did you hear that?”

“What?” he murmured.

I peered into the darkness. “Sounded like cracking bones.”

He said nothing for a few seconds. “That’s a little bit sad.”

I frowned, confused. “What is?”

“I heard a stick snapping,” he said softly. “And you heard cracking bones.”

We stared at each other for a long, thick moment, and when I couldn’t think of a reply, I walked from the graveyard, leaving him there alone.

I wasn’t the strange one. He was.

The giant had lived in the Byrdcage.

How could he not hear cracking bones?