Allegiance(60)

“Careful. Dead bait’s not useful.” I barely heard the man’s gruff warning over the ringing in my ears.

No sooner had the words left his mouth than tires squealed and an engine roared somewhere outside. The van came to a jarring stop, sending me flying forward, slamming into the back of the passenger seat.

“Holy s—!” the driver shouted, but his words were cut off by a smash of glass and a shriek of terror. My head flew up to see that he was gone, replaced by a smear of crimson on the steering wheel. Guns emerged while men shouted orders, preparing for the attack as the van rocked violently. Suddenly, the grating sound of metal on metal filled the air. Daylight and frigid winter air spilled in. Someone had ripped off the back doors! It had to be Amelie! Amelie promised to keep me safe and she would. She kept her promise. She would save me.

I allowed myself a second of relief in my tiny heap on the floor, despite my throbbing jaw and the shouts and screams and blaring car horns from outside.

Gunfire rang out, mixed with screams and shouts. I buried my head within my arms, face down, afraid of stray bullets. Luckily the gunfire stopped as abruptly as it began. Counting to five, I dared peek out from my cocoon.

“Amelie?” I winced with each syllable. I waited. No answer. “Amelie?” I called out a little louder.

“No.” A lone female figure with short black hair appeared within the doorframe.

Lilly.

Her small hand extended toward me, offering a gentle smile. “Come with me now.” In shock, I crawled to the edge of the van. When those fingers curled over mine, she pulled me out with surprising ease. She threw my arm over her shoulder as if expecting that I would need support, which I did. The ground was wobbly. That, or I was wobbly. Either way, I was thankful for the help.

I had left the danger of the van, and stepped into utter chaos on Paris’s city streets. A large crowd of horrified spectators stood at a distance, staring at the carnage laying before them—a mangled van and heaps of broken Sentinel bodies. From the looks of it, a few bystanders had been victims of the hail of bullets. Kait stood over two of the Sentinel bodies, her red leather outfit swapped for a black one. Her hands were covered in blood and she was grinning viciously, her eyes throbbing with crimson lines. A flash caught the corner of my eye. I turned in time to see a young man with a phone camera snapping a picture.

“In here,” Lilly commanded, leading me over to a white BMW Z4. Giving me a firm push into the passenger seat, she closed the door behind me. In the blink of an eye, she was beside me in the driver’s seat, fastening my seatbelt over me. I hadn’t yet uttered a single word. I couldn’t help but stare at her, such a tiny frame sitting in the driver’s seat, scarcely able to see over the steering wheel. She looked like a thirteen-year-old playing grown-up.

Lilly threw the car into gear and sped off past the crowds, sending several onlookers diving for safety. She weaved in and out of traffic, both moving and parked.

“We’ll be out of the city soon,” she explained. A truck suddenly pulled out in front of us. Lilly hit the brakes, sending the back end of the car sliding sideways. She spun the steering wheel to counter the direction. The wheels caught traction and we were back to speeding along the streets.

“I guess that’s why they say not to drive sports cars in the winter,” she kidded. When I didn’t respond, she asked, “Are you going to be okay?”

I paused, unsure of how to answer. I lifted my hand to run a finger along my now-swollen jaw. I wondered if it was broken. No, if it were, I wouldn’t be able to speak. Still, it may as well be for how much it hurt. Either way, that wasn’t my problem anymore. Now I had a new problem. Lilly had me and I still didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Turning to her, I asked pointedly, “Are you going to kill me?”

I caught the surprise flash across her face. “I haven’t decided yet.”

I’m not sure what answer I expected, but that wasn’t it. My lungs constricted, knowing I may have escaped death with the Sentinel to meet death with this diminutive hateful vampire. I considered jumping out of the car but then realized there was no point putting myself through that, given Lilly could catch me on the other side, put me back in, and continue driving without missing a beat.

“Aren’t you worried about what Sofie’s going to do when she finds you?”

“Nope.”




8. Mending Broken Things—Sofie



Bishop lay motionless on his back, one hand over his abdomen, the other splayed beside him, when Mage showed up in my parlor and announced, “We have a problem.”