“Any other option would have left a trail in money, paper, or blood.”
The hardness of the voice on the other end of the line fired his temper further. He was a Sentinel. The vampire on the other end of the line would do wel to remember that. “You didn’t seem concerned about those things when you talked about infecting entire neighborhoods with the pathogen.”
“Did you have a reason for cal ing me? Or did you just want to bitch?”
Gritting his teeth, he asked, “Any suggestions on where to hole up now?”
“The cabal in Anaheim has been eradicated. No one expects Torque to deal with it while both Syre and Vashti are in the field. You can have the entire compound to yourself. That’l put you close to Adrian, but you know how to stay out of sight. Your only concern now is to live the mortal life you’ve been coveting. Go get laid or kil something for the hel of it. I’l be in touch when it’s time for you to rise from the ashes.”
The line went dead. He crushed the burner phone to dust in his fist, his gaze trained on the lights blazing from Helena’s home across the street.
Perhaps it was time to build his own army.
As he lifted into the air and flew away, the thought twisted through his mind…and found fertile ground in which to take root.
The sky was an ebony blanket of stars as Elijah drove Lindsay back to Adrian. As crappy as he’d felt just hours ago, he felt like a mil ion dol ars now. Life was good at the moment. The cool desert night air was whipping through the lowered windows and beside him sat one of his dearest friends, a woman to whom he owed his life…yet again. Her Sentinel-laced blood was amazingly powerful, its regenerative properties astonishing.
“Hey, you okay?” he asked, noting her staring pensively out at the desert. “You’re not mad about the blindfold, are you? I went along with it only because it was safer for you. I trust you, you know. Always have.”
He’d only made her wear the damn thing until they were out of sight of the warehouse. Then he’d tugged it off her himself and thrown it out the window.
“I wanted to wear it. I thought the same thing—the less of a threat I am, the better.” She sighed. “I was thinking about my dad.”
Remembering her heartbroken sobbing when she’d heard the news of her father’s death, his chest ached with sympathy…and guilt. He’d handpicked the team of lycans tasked with watching over Eddie Gibson and keeping him safe. “Wanna talk about it?”
She twisted in her seat to look at him. “I want to talk to the lycans who were picked to guard him. I would’ve asked you back there, but I want to question them away from the vampires.”
“I’ve got questions, too, but they haven’t checked in since then.”
Lindsay stiffened. “They disappeared?”
“I wouldn’t put it like that. My guess? They’re working their way to the West Coast on foot, trying to stay under the radar. What do you want to know?”
“That they’re one hundred percent certain, without a shadow of a doubt, that his death was an accident.”
“And you’l believe them?”
“If you do, I wil .”
Nodding, he asked, “Why do you doubt it?”
“Cars were his life, El. He was pure poetry behind the wheel. Honestly, I’d be more likely to buy a random drive-by shooting than I am a single-car accident. I’ve been with him when creatures have wandered into the road. He avoided a buck, for chrissakes, on a two-lane highway with oncoming traffic and didn’t get a scratch on his car. It’s damned hard for me to believe he overcorrected for an unknown obstruction on an isolated rural lane.”
Hearing the pain and grief in Lindsay’s voice, he set his mind to doing whatever it took to help her put the past behind her. She’d lost both parents before their time and he knew she was haunted by their deaths. “I’l find Trent and Lucas and bring them to you.”
“Thank you.” She leaned her head back into the headrest. “You and Vashti…Correct me if I’m wrong, but there’s something there, right?”
A dry laugh escaped him. “Don’t ask me to explain.”
“She went to a lot of trouble to save you. I take it she doesn’t know you intend to avenge Micah?”
“She knows.” He stared straight ahead, his gaze looking beyond the swathe of the headlights into the darkness beyond.
“But she saved your ass anyway?”
“She needs my help.”
“Oh, El.” Lindsay shook her head. “I’m sorry.”