He shook his head. “I’m leaving that up to you. There are bound to be tears and questions I don’t want to answer. You find out where they want to go, then make a list of who goes first, and I’ll see that they get there.”
“Why did you decide to do this?”
“Why the hell do you think?”
“I don’t know.”
“You had a hand in it, but so did Vaughan. He’s been stirring the vampires up for some kind of revolt. I don’t need that. They can take care of themselves. At least they think so, and I’m tired of babysitting the lot of them. And tired of this place. When everyone else is gone, we’re leaving. I need to feed,” he said abruptly, and vanished from her sight.
Kadie stared at the place where he had been standing. The vampires were gone. He was freeing Rosemary and Nancy and the others.
He was taking her to England.
It was a lot to think about. But the only thing on her mind now was Saintcrow.
He seemed different. Withdrawn. Almost angry. She wondered if he was hurt because the vampires had decided to leave. Even though he wouldn’t admit it in a million years, she knew he worried about them. Which seemed odd to her. They were vampires. At the top of the food chain, so to speak. Other than vampire hunters and sunlight, what did they have to fear?
She waited an hour for Saintcrow to come back, and when he didn’t, she drove to Rosemary’s. The drapes were open, the house ablaze with lights; she saw several of the women milling about in the living room. Jeremy and Claude were sitting on the front porch stairs, swilling beer from bottles.
Kadie parked the car in the driveway. “Looks like a heck of a party,” she remarked, making her way across the grass to the walkway.
“Darn right!” Jeremy said with a crooked smile. “The bloodsuckers are gone. The house on the hill is empty!”
Claude reached into the ice chest beside him and pulled out a bottle. “We’re celebrating.” It was obvious he’d had more than one beer. “Wanna drink?”
“No, thanks.”
There was a party atmosphere inside the house, too. Kadie had never seen the women looking so happy, so relaxed.
“Kadie!” Rosemary hurried toward her and gave her a hug. “I’m so glad you’re here! I guess you know the vampires are gone? We would have come to get you, but no one wanted to knock on Saintcrow’s door in case he was still there. Is he?”
“Yes. I’m glad you’re here. I need to talk to you. All of you.”
The smile died on Rosemary’s face. “I was right, wasn’t I? He’s going to kill us.”
“No. No, nothing like that. He wants me to find out where you want to go.”
“Go?” Rosemary took a step back and dropped onto a chair, one hand pressed to her heart. “He’s going to let us go?”
“Who’s going?” Donna asked, coming into the room.
“What?” Nancy hurried toward them, the wine in her glass sloshing over the rim onto her hand. “Kadie, are you leaving?”
“No.” She shook her head. “We’re all leaving.”
In minutes, everyone was gathered around her, all talking at once.
Kadie raised her hand for silence. “Please, quiet down and I’ll tell you what I know.”
In minutes, they were all looking at her expectantly. Jeremy and Claude stood shoulder-to-shoulder in the doorway, propping each other up. Frankie, always a loner, stood by herself, a bottle of diet soda in her hand.
“Saintcrow is leaving Morgan Creek,” Kadie said, glancing around the room. “He told me to get a list of where you all wanted to go, and he’d see that you get there.”
This announcement was met with another burst of excited chatter.
“What if we don’t want to go?” The question, though quietly spoken, brought all other conversation to a halt as everyone turned to look at Rosemary.
“You don’t want to leave?” Kadie stared at Rosemary, unable to believe what she’d heard. Rosemary had been here the longest and hated it the most.
Rosemary glanced at the others. “Where am I going to go? The world I knew is gone. My children are grown and probably have children of their own.”
“But, Rose, don’t you want to see them?” Shirley asked.
“They won’t know me. I won’t know them.” She shrugged. “This is my home now. With the vampires gone, it could be a nice place to live.”