Blood Promise Page 0,61

Go back to the U.S. I'll give you what you need-money, first-class tickets, whatever."

I stepped out of his reach, backing carefully away. "I don't need your help or your money-God only knows where it comes from." A group of people turned the corner across the street, laughing and talking, and I stepped back further, certain Abe wouldn't start a scene with witnesses present. It made me feel braver, which was probably stupid on my part. "And I already told you: I'll go back whenever the hell I want."

Abe's eyes lifted to the other pedestrians, and he too retreated back with his guardians. That chilling smile was on his face. "And I told you. I can be a very good friend or a very bad enemy. Get out of Baia before you find out which."

He turned around and left, much to my relief. I didn't want him to see just how much fear his words had left on my face.

I went to bed early that night, suddenly feeling antisocial. I lay there for a while, flipping through another magazine I couldn't read, and amazingly found myself growing more and more tired. I think the encounters with Mark and Abe had exhausted me. Mark's words about staying had hit too close to home after my earlier conversation with Viktoria. Abe's thinly veiled threats had raised all my defenses, putting me on guard against whoever was working with him to make me leave Russia. At what point, I wondered, would he truly lose patience and stop trying to bargain?

I drifted off to sleep and the familiar sense of an Adrian-dream settled around me. It had been a long time since this had happened, and I'd actually thought he'd listened to me when I'd told him to stay away before. Of course, I always told him that. This had been the longest time span to go by without a visit, and as much as I hated to admit it, I'd kind of missed him.

The setting he'd chosen this time was a piece of the Academy's property, a woodsy area near a pond. Everything was green and in bloom, and sunlight shone down on us. I suspected Adrian's creation didn't match what Montana's weather was really like right now, but then, he was in control. He could do whatever he wanted.

"Little dhampir," he said, smiling. "Long time no see."

"I thought you were done with me," I said, sitting down on a large, smooth rock.

"Never done with you," he said, stuffing his hands in his pockets and strolling over to me. "Although... to tell the truth, I did intend to stay away this time. But, well, I had to make sure you were still alive."

"Alive and well."

He smiled down at me. The sun glinted off his brown hair, giving it golden-chestnut highlights. "Good. You seem very well, actually. Your aura's better than I've ever seen it." His eyes drifted from my face down to where my hands lay in my lap. Frowning, he knelt down and picked up my right hand. "What's this?"

Oksana's ring was on it. Despite the ring's lack of ornamentation, the metal gleamed brightly in the light. The dreams were so strange. Even though Adrian and I weren't together, exactly, the ring had followed me in and kept its power enough that he could sense it.

"A charm. It's infused with spirit."

Like me, this was apparently something he'd never considered. His expression grew eager. "And it heals, right? It's what's keeping some of the darkness from your aura."

"Some," I said, uneasy about his fixation on it. I took it off and slipped it into my pocket. "It's temporary. I met another spirit user-and a shadowkissed dhampir."

More surprise registered on his face. "What? Where?"

I bit my lip and shook my head.

"Damn it, Rose! This is big. You know how Lissa and I have been looking for other spirit users. Tell me where they are."

"No. Maybe later. I don't want you guys coming after me." For all I knew, they were already after me, using Abe as their agent.

His green eyes flashed angrily. "Look, pretend for a moment the world doesn't revolve around you, okay? This is about Lissa and me, about understanding this crazy magic inside of us. If you've got people who can help us, we need to know."

"Maybe later," I repeated stonily. "I'm moving on soon-then I'll tell you."

"Why are you always so difficult?"

"Because you like me that way."

"At the moment? Not so much."

It was the kind of joking comment Adrian usually made,