Day Reaper. Melody Johnson

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СКАЧАТЬ nearly one with her?”

      My face flamed, and I squirmed more insistently. Dominic’s arms still did not budge, but my squirming was stronger than his stillness. I wiggled free, and Dominic transferred his glare from the door to me.

      Ronnie cleared her throat. I could feel the vibration of her embarrassment like a muscle spasm, visibly uncontrollable and painful to watch. “It got so quiet, I wanted to make sure you were both okay,” she said, her voice very small.

      Dominic growled. “We were not being quiet.”

      I pulled down my bra and twisted my shirt back into place, mortified. When had I become half dressed? When had I forgotten we weren’t alone in…well, wherever the hell we were?

      “You were, compared to how loud you were before,” Ronnie insisted, but even her insistence sounded like a question. The bird’s squawking bleats returned in full force.

      “I think what Ronnie is trying to ask—” Keagan began, and the confidence in voice was solid and sure. Despite the bleating bird, I could imagine him placing his arm around Ronnie’s shoulders to share in his strength and sureness. “—is if Cassidy is all right. We’re all worried, we’ve been worried for seven days, and we’re all on the edge of our seats, waiting on an update.”

      Keagan didn’t say it, but I could hear the implication all the same. They were worried, on the edge of their seats for an update, and here we were on the floor like animals, not even having made it to the bed.

      I looked over at Dominic. He met my gaze, and the heat in that one look incinerated my embarrassment. He brought out every base instinct inside me. We were on the floor like animals because together we were animals; I’d never felt anything more primal and passionate and confusing in my life.

      “Cassidy?” Keagan asked, pounding on the door again.

      I winced from the jackhammer. “I’m here,” I said, my voice clear. The glassful of blood had done the trick, and my voice, if not completely back to normal, wasn’t just a rattling growl. My voice was deeper than I remembered, but not in tone; it was deeper in depth, as if I had more vocal cords and although they were striking the same pitch they’d always played, the many tones that vibrated to create that pitch were richer and more alluring a sound any human throat could produce.

      “And are you okay?” Ronnie insisted, obviously not convinced.

      I stared at Dominic on the floor next to me. I was here, wherever “here” was, after having my throat ripped out, and after seven days, I’d survived. Seven days.

      “Patience, Ronnie,” Dominic answered for me. “We’ll be out in a moment.”

      Chapter 3

      The living room and kitchen outside the bedroom were as bare, neat, and utilitarian as the bedroom had been before being destroyed by my vampire-sized temper tantrum, but the many people and their suffocating emotions made the room feel infinitely more cramped. Logan and Theresa glared at me from the far corner of the room, their anger like rubber band snaps against my skin. Rafe and Neil stood beside me, their hovering proximity like flies swarming overripe fruit.

      Jeremy’s wary gaze looked back and forth between me, the bedroom, and Dominic as if he were trying to determine who had won, who he needed to guard against, and how much damage we were still capable of. The old me might have reassured him that my emotions were under control, that I’d obviously freaked, but I wouldn’t freak again, and the old me might not even be lying. The new me let Jeremy squirm, because the smell of his fear tasted like chai, just like Dominic had always described, and I liked the taste of chai more than I liked Jeremy.

      Ronnie, on the other hand, wasn’t looking at the wrecked bedroom at all. She didn’t waste one second looking at anything other than my face. Her fear was even more poignant than Jeremy’s—sweeter, spicier, and substantially more savory—but the taste of her fear wasn’t the least appealing because I almost liked Ronnie, and I still felt responsible for her. The old me definitely would have reassured her that I was fine, that we would both be fine, but even as a vampire, my guilt over her current circumstances was overwhelming. I was struggling now, but I’d adapt and eventually I’d survive. I honestly wasn’t sure about Ronnie.

      Her face was like looking into the mirror at myself that first time—her sallow cheeks, prominent features, and gray complexion like the reflection of living death—but she’d been a vampire for weeks now, almost three weeks to be exact. After only a fraction of that time and a glassful of tepid blood, I looked more alive now than she did.

      Keagan was the only person in the room I genuinely liked—my complicated addiction for Dominic excluded—especially now that the squawking bird of his annoyance had joined Ronnie in silence. I suspected that when I asked them to catch me up on the last seven days, the squawking would return and in full force, but I couldn’t help my reaction toward Keagan any more than he could help his reaction toward the whining, helpless grate of Ronnie’s voice.

      My relief at seeing him and the simple comfort of knowing I had a friend in the room vibrated from my pores like a gong.

      Ronnie cringed and covered her ears. Rafe and Neil tried to hide their laughter, but I could see the shake of their shoulders. Logan narrowed his eyes, knowing his son was the cause of that sound and not liking the strength of such a reaction, not one bit.

      Keagan smiled, and a twitter of chirps, pleasant and light, lit the air. I opened my mouth to ask him about his affinity toward bird sounds and hesitated. I didn’t have an affinity toward gongs; the sound had escaped from me before I’d barely even felt the emotion.

      I glanced at Dominic, wondering what he was feeling and why I couldn’t hear it on him like I could hear the minutiae of everyone else’s emotions.

      He shook his head. “We’ll work on that,” he said, which I suppose was answer enough.

      “Where are we? What are we doing here?” I asked, glancing at the group of vampires around me. Having all of them here in one room made the absence of one obvious. “Where’s Sevris?”

      No one moved or spoke or so much as blinked. In a roomful of people who didn’t even need to breathe, the silence could stretch further, deeper, and more damning than I’d ever imagined possible.

      Neil broke under the pressure. He cringed and stared determinedly at the nearest wall, as if the chipped paint might produce divine intervention from my questions.

      I narrowed my eyes on him. “Did something happen?”

      Rafe shook his head. “That’s just it. Nothing’s happened. Sevris disappeared the night he left to fetch you from your apartment, and we haven’t seen or heard from him since. None of us have.”

      I bit my lip. “Maybe he’s just gone to ground to wait out the Leveling like the rest of you. He’ll show up, I’m sure.”

      Suddenly, everyone found the walls just as fascinating as Neil had.

      Dominic squeezed my shoulder. “Perhaps we should start with the easier of your three questions.” He moved his hand in a flourish to indicate the room around us. “On such short notice, I constructed an underground safe house for vampires warded against the Damned. I knew we’d need it for the Leveling. Luckily, we had it for your transformation.”

      “Protection against the Damned sounds great, but what about the Day Reapers?” I asked. СКАЧАТЬ