Page 124 of Bent Out of Shade
Juliette stepped back, shaking out her hands. “It’s done.”
Vincenzo shot to his feet, pushing past the healer to be at Sabrina’s side and pull his fiancée into his arms.
Sabrina let out a sob. “It’s true, isn’t it? I hoped it was some nightmare but—” She took a shuddery breath and pressed her face against Vincenzo’s chest. He murmured into her hair, running a hand comfortingly along her back.
A crescent of light flared up beside Juliette and I cried out, Delilah flying across the room to save the young woman from the blind spot.
She didn’t make it in time.
But Sabrina did. She moved faster than I could track to knock Juliette to safety and the blind spot winked out without a victim. The vampire looked down at herself, her mouth open. She held out her hands, a look of wonder on her face.
Sabrina had lost her friends and her old life but in the first seconds after being healed, she’d saved Juliette. She was still a fighter. She’d survived the curveball of becoming a vampire under unimaginable circumstances, yet with her intelligence and experience, she could carve out a different yet equally impressive life for herself.
Just like so many of us women did.
“Is that going to happen to me?”
At my daughter’s bleak tone, I spun around. I’d promised not to lie to her, but now was not the time for her to process the danger of blind spots.
“Possibly. If you continue to use your magic,” Zev said. Great. Mr. Secrecy decided to be blunt now. “This one time, however, your mother is here and will protect you from any blind spot.”
Juliette brushed past me and I called her name, but she shook her head wearily. “Not today, Miriam.” She continued out the door. “We’ll speak later.”
Sadie tugged on my sleeve. “Who do I have to null?”
Did Zev know for sure that her magic worked on vampires? Was he going to make Sadie null Vincenzo’s powers for being part of Kian’s attack? Except anything Vincenzo had done, and I wasn’t even sure how large a role he’d played in things, had been in self-defense. Zev had struck first.
Yoshi entered the room and Zev’s features twisted. I did a double take because that was impossible. Zev would never betray his best friend. Then Yoshi stepped aside and a soft “oh” slipped from my lips.
“Celeste,” Zev said with a tenderness I’d never heard from him but knew well as a parent.
Sadie’s eyes widened. “But that’ll kill her, won’t it?” she squeaked. “Mom, please don’t make me.”
I thought the worst scenario would be Sadie facing off against some incredibly lethal foe who’d fight back with everything they had. Not someone, who until recently, had been a young woman not much older than my daughter, and who stood there, her body stooped in defeat.
Celeste wouldn’t fight Sadie.
I would rather have carved out my own heart and presented it, dripping, to Zev than make my baby go through with this, but I dug my nails into my palms, my stomach tied in knots. “You wanted to be treated like an adult,” I said softly. “You screwed up. That means accepting that your actions have consequences and doing stuff you don’t like in order to fix things.”
My daughter rounded on Zev. “Why don’t you kill her yourself? You don’t need me.”
Braced for the vamp to snap something about their deal, I put my arm around Sadie’s shoulder, but she shrugged it off and Zev heaved a sigh so full of sorrow that I shivered.
“He doesn’t want to hurt me,” Celeste said in a resigned voice. “But I betrayed him.” She cocked her head. “Give a condemned woman her last meal?” she said flippantly. “I still haven’t tried Banim Shovavim blood.”
Lost to my shock and despair, I could only gape at her.
She rolled her eyes and jerked her chin at Sadie. “Let’s get this over with.”
“Wait. You want to do this here? How about somewhere nicer like a mountaintop?” I said. Anything to postpone the moment marking the end of Sadie’s childhood, even if I was complicit in it.
“This is as good a place as any.” Celeste wiped the blood from her eyes and then licked her finger.
Sadie had bitten her lip so hard she left teeth marks, but she took a deep breath and pulled her spine straight. She nodded, a cold mask of determination falling over her young features, and something inside me broke, bleeding out.
I sat on the edge of a chair, breathing shallowly.
Zev moved to one side next to Yoshi but remained standing.
