Jerked out of her thoughts, she raised her head and found Raj looking at her for the first time since he'd shown up out of nowhere. She studied his ice-blue eyes and found not a trace of warmth for her anywhere in their cold depths. She swallowed around the tightness in her throat and nodded. “Yes. Thank you."
Raj held her gaze a moment longer. “You should call your neighbor and see if she wants to be rescued as well,” he said in a cool voice.
"Okay,” Sarah whispered. She rose quickly, grateful for the excuse to go upstairs and away from the speculative looks of Emelie and the other vampires. She had taken only one step when a thought occurred to her. She stopped and turned around to ask, “What about my car?” Raj just looked at her. “I'll need my car wherever we're going,” she insisted. She didn't know exactly what she'd do or where she'd go, but she definitely knew she didn't want to endure this frigidly polite Raj any longer than necessary.
He held her gaze a moment longer and then glanced at Emelie. “Give me your keys,” she said, addressing Sarah. “I'll have one of the guys bring it to the safe house later."
"Okay,” Sarah agreed. She went upstairs to call Mrs. M. and to grab the duffle bag she'd packed earlier, before the press had descended and thrown all of her plans into the dumper. She'd go along with Raj's escape plan for now. But at the first opportunity, she would be gone. If he didn't want anything to do with her, that was fine. She didn't need him to get away from this town. She'd orchestrated her first disappearance when was she eighteen years old and broke. She could sure as hell do it now. Raj wouldn't have to worry about her much longer.
Chapter Thirty-three
The maneuver went off like clockwork. Not that Sarah expected anything else. Emelie seemed to know what Raj wanted before he could ask for it, and there was no arguing once something was decided. His vampire guards paid almost fanatic attention to every word he said, but then, what he said seemed to make sense, so why not?
Mrs. M. had agreed to be evacuated and plans were quickly made to drop her at her son's. Raj said he would take care of her after everyone else was gone, and he and Scavetti had finished their discussion. And he hadn't said a single word to Sarah since asking her to call Mrs. M.
When the time came, every light in the house was doused, and Raj's team of black-clad vampires, with Angel tucked amongst them, stormed through the front door and into the yard as if the Dogs of Hell were on their heels. Before they were off the porch, Emelie was hustling Sarah out the back door and through the yard, where she almost tripped over someone's body. She stifled a shriek and grabbed Em, who laughed quietly.
"Don't worry. They're still alive."
"What happened to them?” Sarah whispered, maneuvering around what she now saw were several people, looking particularly ghostly in the bluish light of their Blackberries and cell phones.
"Raj happened to them,” Em said, with some satisfaction.
"What does that mean?” Sarah snapped irritably.
Em tsked, holding up a hand for quiet as they went through the gate and into the alley, where a boring white Taurus was parked behind Raj's sedan. There were tens of thousands of white American sedans just like this one all around Buffalo. They were as common as the wind, and Buffalo was a very windy city.
In minutes, they were out of the alley and onto the street. Emelie made one disparaging comment about the car's gutless engine, but she stayed within the speed limit as they headed toward the airport. She glanced at Sarah and said, “I'm taking you to the warehouse for now."
"Why didn't Raj leave with us?"
"Because anyone can drive this tedious little car, but only Raj can do what Raj does."
"What does that mean?” Sarah demanded again.
"Make all the reporters go away,” Emelie said in a spooky movie voice and laughed.
"Great,” Sarah muttered, not seeing the humor.
"Don't worry. He'll mess with their memories a bit, but they'll all be fine, even that nasty police detective—or at least as fine as he ever gets. Raj just doesn't want anyone to remember a bunch of vampires arriving en masse to save your cute little ass."
Sarah blushed. “I don't care what he does to them. I hate those people."
Emelie gave her a longer look. “Is there somewhere you'd rather go? Family maybe?"
Sarah stared out the window and shook her head. “No. No family."
"What about your parents, or your brothers?"
Sarah turned and gave Emelie a flat stare. “You checked me out."
Emelie nodded easily, no embarrassment, no apology. “It wasn't easy, if that's any consolation,” she offered.
Sarah took a deep breath and let it out. “It doesn't matter anymore, does it?” She jerked a thumb over her shoulder. “They all know who I am now. I'll have to start all over again."
"Raj could help you with that. The vampire community has resources."
Sarah laughed bitterly. “I don't think Raj would give me the time of day unless he had to."