Page 68 of Bent Out of Shade
The design firms and microbreweries that populated this tiny neighborhood were closed for the night, which meant there was no one around to see us unload a body.
Laurent went to shift and dress, and I slowly opened the trunk in case the sedative had worn off and a very angry vampire lunged at me.
Emmett had opted to sit in the car.
Sabrina lay still, her eyes closed. Was this a fake out or was she still under the influence?
I ghosted a fingertip over her arm, but she didn’t move.
Damn, breathing was a handy checkpoint.
While I’d adopted Tatiana’s motto of “assume the worst, prepare for the worst” lately, Sabrina had to be alive. Undead alive. She hadn’t turned to ash, and that had to count for something.
Except, as I looked over her body in my trunk, it didn’t feel like much.
Sabrina had been a tireless fighter in life, a defender of justice. Where was the justice for her being tossed into this immortal nightmare? The careful decision-making that I’d sensed when I briefly met her likely extended to all areas of her life, so what a bitter irony that she’d ended up with no say in her eternity.
Bad enough she was a vampire, but with the Lonestars bent on protecting the prime directive and the vampires in an uproar, would she be tossed on Deadman’s Island? Was there such a thing as mitigating circumstances or was the worst outcome assured?
Sighing, I brushed a muddy strand of hair out of her face. She’d killed multiple times. I had my answer.
Vincenzo loved Sabrina enough to stay by her side, watching her age and die, honoring her choice to remain human. Now she’d been changed against her will, and Vincenzo was going to destroy whoever had done this.
I doubt he cared if he burned the world down in the process.
But his actions would spring the Lonestars and Zev’s crew into action. We had to keep her condition a secret until we made certain she wouldn’t end up on Deadman’s Island. However, this decision would put the entire team at risk and wasn’t mine to make alone
My hip buzzed. Coming home soon, Mom?
I snorted. Well, honey, I’ve got a vampire in my trunk, multiple murders I need to steer clear of, and an undead about to burn our city down.
Yeah, that wouldn’t fly. I simply replied that I was going to be a while longer. After a quick check-in with Eli, I sent another message to Sadie instructing her to stay with her dad because after what I’d just witnessed, I wanted them together.
I rested against the bumper, rolling my shoulders out to loosen some of my stiffness and fatigue.
A cloud passed by, allowing moonlight to filter down, and I blinked.
The exterior of Hotel Terminus, the small three-story hotel that Laurent had appropriated as his home, had been power washed. The black horizontal chevron pattern running between stories had been touched up and the rust removed from the wrought iron balcony railings.
Sure, the front entrance remained boarded up, but the sign with the hotel’s name in flaked-off letters was gone.
Warmth bloomed through my chest. My first impression of the ramshackle exterior was that it was a calculated look to make people undermine the shifter. The more I got to know Laurent, however, the more I worried that this was how he saw himself, rather than as a reflection of the main floor interior, which he’d so lovingly restored.
This transformation said more about the success of us being together than the most romantic night ever. I smiled.
Laurent took longer than I expected, returning in jeans and a sweater. His hair wasn’t wet, so he hadn’t stopped to shower, but he walked stiffly, cradling his right side.
I cupped a hand to his cheek. “Are you okay?”
He leaned into me, his shoulders dropping. A bruise bloomed along his jaw and tight exhaustion pulled at the corners of his eyes. “Our date is looking pretty good in comparison to tonight, so there’s that.”
“Look at you, becoming all Mr. Positive.”
“Wait, you mean that wasn’t part of my attraction before?” He staggered back with one hand on his heart, before his expression grew serious. “How are you?”
I mimed a bomb going off complete with a whistle and boom sound.
“I’m great, thanks,” Emmett said testily, getting out of the car.
I put my hand on the golem’s arm, but he shrugged it off and grabbed Sabrina’s ankles.
“Let’s get the vamp inside,” he said.
Laurent raised his eyebrows in question at me, but I shook my head and mouthed “Later.”
The two of them carried Sabrina into the hotel, but before I crossed the threshold my phone rang with a call from Vincenzo.
Great. Just what I needed to top off the night. But with no passing car I could fling myself in front of to avoid answering it, I hit the green button and accepted the call.
