didn’t start breathing evenly again until we were halfway back to the city. “Wow,” I said.
Teag had a white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel. “Yeah,” he replied. I was still in shock, and I figured he was, too. Things blow up in the movies all the time, but when your friend’s house explodes right in front of you, and you know there were people inside you couldn’t help, words just aren’t sufficient.
“Do you think he –” I started, but couldn’t finish.
Teag shrugged, with a pained look on his face. “No way to know,” he said. “He’s survived this long. It’s probably not the first time someone’s tried to burn him out.”
I would be thrilled if Sorren survived the attack, but that didn’t blunt the loss of his staff. They had been in the wrong place at the wrong time – as we nearly were – and whoever had caused the explosion didn’t care about civilian casualties. Sorren would be devastated. He chose his household staff very carefully, and many had been with him for years. A few, those trusted with his secret, had served him for decades. Losing them would be like losing family.
“Whoever did this isn’t just trying to destroy Sorren,” I said, feeling anger rush in to push grief aside. “Whoever’s doing these things wants to hurt as many of Sorren’s people as possible in the process. He’s right – someone’s got a vendetta against him.”
“After all the years Sorren has been with the Alliance, he’s probably made more than a few immortals angry,” Teag replied. “But why now? And who?” Sariel, I thought. But until we could prove it, we couldn’t fight anything, and I was ready to do some fighting.
Teag was careful to keep to the speed limit. We did not need to be pulled over anywhere close to the explosion. He chanced a look at me. “Do you have any contacts at the Alliance? Anyone you could connect with?” He didn’t have to finish the thought. In case Sorren is really gone.
I shook my head, and forced myself not to tear up, although it felt like I had a rock in my throat. “No. Sorren was my only direct contact. He said it was safer that way.”
“Daniel Hunter knows how to contact the Alliance.”
I glared at him. “Daniel Hunter might be involved in the explosion. I don’t like him and I don’t trust him.”
“I agree. But he is a link. Just something to keep in mind.”
I crossed my arms, still badly rattled by what had happened. Someone had tried to kill Sorren. Someone had almost killed us. And whoever it was had almost certainly killed whichever unlucky staff members had been in the house at the time of the blast. I didn’t want justice. I wanted revenge.
“Let’s go back to your place,” Teag suggested. “We can see what’s on the news, and I can do some digging online to see what the police and fire investigators found out.”
“What about Anthony?”
“He’s going to be working late again. Unless you’d rather come to our place. If it would make you feel better, you can even pick up Baxter and spend the night.”
Much as I appreciated the offer, I declined the invitation. When we got to my house, I checked to make sure Lucinda’s wardings were in place. Since I lived downtown, I was hopeful that whoever had dropped a helicopter on Sorren’s house wouldn’t do something quite so splashy in a more populated area, but I still resolved to talk to Lucinda about assuring I was protected from overhead threats the next time I saw her.
Teag seemed to be thinking the same thing. “I’ll check the wardings on our house when I get home,” he said. “Just in case.”
Baxter greeted both of us with furry frenzy, and I was particularly glad to cuddle with him as I switched on the TV. Teag poured us each a glass of wine. I had lasagna in the freezer that would make a good emergency dinner, and enough lettuce for a salad, so we were covered for supper. I put the lasagna in the oven and took a quick shower to get the smell of smoke and the light covering of soot off my skin and out of my hair, then I settled in on the couch to channel surf coverage of the explosion, while Teag got a shower and went in my office to work his magic on the web.
“Minute-by-minute coverage of the recent bombing –”
“We’ll give you the latest