She pulled a small paper envelope, the kind that might hold a gift tag, from her pocket. It was white, and there was a V inscribed on the front. I stuffed it into my pocket for later. And then I asked a question that made me hate myself a little bit, but it had to be asked. The stakes were too high.
I had to know if she posed a risk to Cadogan.
"Sarah, are you thinking about going to the police?"
Her eyes widened. "Oh, God, no. I shouldn't have gone to the party, and if my parents found out, if my boyfriend found out, they would freak.
Besides," she shyly added, "if I called the cops, you'd get in trouble, too, right? You're a vampire, too, but you helped me."
I nodded, relief in my chest. "I am a vampire," I confirmed. "My name's Merit."
She smiled a little. "Merit. I like that. It kind of describes you. Like you were always meant to be good, you know?"
This time, I was the one sniffing back a sudden errant tear.
The clack of a car door opening pulled my gaze to the street. Jonah stood beside a black and white cab, door open. "Let's get you home."
Sarah nodded. She still wobbled on her feet, but we made it the dozen or so feet to the cab. At the door, she turned back and smiled at me.
"Will you be okay?" I asked.
She nodded. "I will. Thank you."
"You don't have to thank me. I'm sorry about what happened. I'm sorry they made you feel uncomfortable."
"It's forgotten. But I won't forget this," she said, "not what you did tonight."
When the door closed, we watched the cab pull away.
Jonah glanced back at me, and then at the eastern sky. "Dawn will be here soon," he said.
"We should get home." He gestured down the street. "I actually parked pretty close. You want a ride back to your car?"
"That would be great," I agreed, the adrenaline giving way to exhaustion.
We walked in silence a few blocks, then stopped at a hybrid sedan.
"Thinking about the environment?"
He smiled ruefully. "If the climate goes bad, we're going to be here for it. Might as well plan ahead."
When he unlocked the doors and we climbed inside, I gave him directions to my own parking spot, then closed my eyes and dropped my head back to the seat.
I was out in seconds.
Chapter Nine
BE IT EVER SO HUMBLE . . . UNLESS YOU'RE IMMORTAL AND UNDERSTAND COMPOUND INTEREST
I shuddered awake, blinking in the glow of unfamiliar lights. I was curled into a ball atop a giant sleigh bed that smelled like woodsy cologne and cinnamon. I sat up and took in unfamiliar surroundings. A massive bed, topped by a pile of taupe bedclothes. An equally large flat-screen television at the end on a facing bureau. And leaning against the bureau, arms crossed over his chest, was Jonah. He was dressed more casually today in a V-neck T-shirt, jeans, and sneakers.
"Good evening, Sentinel."
"Where are we?"
"Grey House. My room."
"Grey - ," I began to repeat, but the night began to replay. I fell asleep in his car, and he must have brought me here. No, not just brought me - carried me - into Grey House while I was out.
"I wasn't comfortable dropping you off at your car. You were completely out, and your being here was easier to explain than my showing up with you at Cadogan House. Dawn was moving in; I had to make a call."
That made sense, although I wasn't thrilled that I'd been carried around like a hapless girl in one of my favorite bodice rippers.
"Thanks. Did anyone else see me come in?" If so, since I'd spent the night in Jonah's room, I could imagine well enough myself what they'd been thinking. I felt the rising blush on my cheeks.
"Nope. Everyone else was bunked in by then."
I swung my feet over the bed and buried my toes in expensive, thickly piled carpet. "Where did you sleep?"
He hitched a thumb over his shoulder. "Sitting room. I'm a gentleman, and there's nothing about seducing an unconscious vampire that appeals to me." He shrugged. "Besides, the sun was nearly up. We were out. I could have slept right beside you, and no one would have been the wiser. We'd both have been angels."
I was on enough of a boy hiatus to agree, but appreciated that he'd given me space. It was a gentlemanly thing to do, and not something I'd take