Delinquents Turned Fugitives - Ann Denton Page 0,99

them?

No one had ever been able to control vampires. At the lab, my dad’s scientists had tried. Amulets and spells didn’t work on them. That’s what had driven them to develop the serum …

Of course. The lab probably had additional vials of serum. In my idiocy, I hadn’t even thought to ask. But obviously, Callum had known where they were and had been able to dose at least a couple of the vamps he’d freed.

Here it was, proof before my very eyes.

The serum worked.

Z’s fingers dug into my shoulders and I could feel the energy of his magic dance along my skin. I reached up and gently set my hand over his. “It’s okay,” I told him.

I wasn’t certain that was entirely true, but I did think that if Callum had wanted to kill us, we would have been dead already.

I glanced at Callum’s companions once more. One girl had hair as black as midnight, a nose ring, septum, Madonna, Ashley, and labret piercings that glittered around her deep red lips. She and Tia would have immediately hit it off.

Twenty feet from her stood a tall man with sandy hair and a trench coat. His face was dipped in shadows and I left it that way.

Callum waited patiently for my eyes to drift back to his. I supposed he had all the time in the world, he was an immortal.

“How long did they have you down there?” I asked softly.

“Too long.” He tilted his head and studied my face. “What were you doing down there?”

“Robbing them.”

He laughed until he realized I was serious. Then a thoughtful look came over his face. “What did you take?”

“Stuff. What’d you take?” I challenged. There was no way I was risking Matthew’s cure. For all I knew, Callum would take it to use for a random vampire I didn’t know. And I’d be able to do very little to stop him.

“The news did say there was a big jewelry heist that night.”

I tipped my imaginary hat in his direction.

His smile widened with delight. He took a step forward, and I felt Zavier stiffen against my back as Callum leaned close to my ear and whispered, “Some Pinheads behind the scenes are also whispering that something very important was taken from the vault.”

I fought to keep my face neutral as I raised a brow and said, “Is that so?”

But Callum merely chuckled again, straightening before leaning once more on the carousel pole next to a leaping tiger.

He tapped his chest. “You know your heart rate gives you away.”

“Dammit. You can hear that?” Genuine curiosity filled me.

“It’s how we track … prey,” he seemed almost hesitant to use that last word.

“That’s a bit unfair. No one else stands a chance. You’re overpowered. Like Superman.”

“Except for the madness. Slight defect.”

“Very slight,” I agreed.

He grins. “I knew I liked you from the moment I saw you.”

Zavier’s grip on my shoulders tightened.

Callum’s eyes flicked over to his. “Oh relax. She’s practically a child.”

My shoulders shook with laughter. “Wow. Don’t spare my feelings.”

Callum shrugged. “I’m nearly ninety.”

“Old people do tend to lose their filters.”

“Old?” he countered.

“Child?” I shot back.

“Let’s call a truce on that matter and move onto other topics. You’ve discovered us. What do you plan to do about it?”

“Do?” I was just happy it looked like there was a chance my crew and I wouldn’t get eaten.

Callum lost a bit of his patience then. “Yes. If you want to live, I expect you to make a good argument for it.”

I straightened until my spine was as rigid as a soldier’s. I gently removed Z’s hands from my shoulders and then took a step closer to Callum. “You think I just want to live? No. I want to partner with you.”

33

“I still can’t believe you made a deal with the devil,” Evan said, stuffing his mouth with a bagel from Grayson’s shopping run as dawn peaked over the trees. We were under the picnic awning at the edge of the decaying dreamland, watching Andros at the grill as the smell of sausages and French toast filled the air.

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” I recited the age-old line as I slathered cream cheese onto a blueberry bagel for myself and grabbed an apple slice from Evan’s pile of fruit.

“Yeah, well other enemies can’t kill you with a single bite,” Evan said from where he stood, cutting oranges and apples to put in sack lunches like we were good little boys and girls trotting off to school. He