“Right.” Earth is not Ratheus, I repeated mentally, the reminder helping calm my racing heart. A tiny shred of hope, but something I desperately needed. If Caden could just hang on until Sofie released them, they could go into hiding, somewhere away from the Sentinel. Even here. And if we could get Veronique out of their tomb, Viggo and Mortimer could leave New York, vanish from the radar. Then this Sentinel would have nothing to hunt. Or wouldn’t they? I recalled Leo’s words. “You said ninety-five percent of vampires. Not a hundred percent.”
Leo winked.
“Ugh! Leo, you said no more secrets. There are more? I thought those three were it! Where are the other vampires and why don’t they help?”
Leo tapped his finished pipe into an ashtray. “Viggo has made enemies. They won’t come within a thousand miles of him.”
“Surprise, surprise,” I muttered.
Leo barked a laugh. “That’s right. You’re not the only one Viggo has screwed over.”
“What’d he do?” Julian asked.
“Like I said before—Viggo was not the first vampire, but he’s now the oldest.”
“That means he killed off an older, more powerful vampire? Why?” Julian asked. “So he could be the oldest?” When Leo answered with a noncommittal shrug, Julian asked, “How?” Leo’s head was shaking before he answered, his eyes widening momentarily, as if strained. Our barrage of questions was starting to annoy him. “I haven’t the slightest clue. It took some extraordinary manipulation and acting on his part, I’m sure. But he is one devious creature.” Leo stood with an exaggerated stretch. “Let’s save the rest of this talk for another night. We’ll have many of them yet. Max, you’ll walk Evangeline upstairs?” Leo didn’t wait for an answer, of course. He shuffled by, lightly patting my head. “Get some rest, Evangeline.” He nodded once to Julian. “Night.”
Julian nodded back, and his eyes followed the old man all the way to the stairs. We sat in silence in the great room, brooding over the possible end of the world.
Suddenly feeling the cold, I tugged my blanket up to wrap it around myself. I burrowed into the corner of the sectional and pulled my feet up so I was curled into a tiny ball, even then wishing I could just disappear. Julian, who had moved to sit beside me while talking to Leo, leaned back until he was half lying, half sitting and threw his own blanket over himself, but he didn’t return to his corner of the couch. Yesterday’s awkwardness had completely vanished between us, leaving us comfortable with one another. I rested my cheek on the cushion behind me and quietly studied Julian’s profile as he stared ahead into the night, deep in thought. All traces of his scowl were gone. He was good-looking; really good-looking. And yet there were no sparks as I gazed at him now. Nor did I feel anything from him toward me, given his earlier proclamation that I wasn’t his “type.” Nothing hung between us and I was happy for that. I wonder what Amelie would think of him? I smiled to myself.
Julian turned to catch me smiling and frowned. “I didn’t expect smiles after that news.”
The reminder wiped any trace of happiness off my face. I shook my head. “I was just thinking about . . . something unimportant.”
“Well, what are we going to do?” Julian asked.
There was that word—we. Not “you,” but “we,” as if he were joining me in this struggle, sharing in my fears and pain so I didn’t need to bear them alone. I had another ally. “I don’t know. You heard Leo. We can’t do much here. We just have to hope the secrets remain hidden, that no one who could use this information against them finds out. And then when we get out of here, we find a new life. You’re welcome to come with us. Sofie made sure I had lots of money.” I wasn’t going to tell him how much. That would just sound like bragging.
“Right.” Julian snorted. “Live with a bunch of vampires? How exactly do you do that . . . ” His voice drifted off as understanding slackened his face. “You’re not going to . . . turn yourself into one of them? I mean, I guess that would make the most sense, but . . . ” His tone betrayed his disapproval.
I shrugged noncommittally, as Leo had earlier, averting my eyes. I knew the answer. So did Julian. He didn’t need me to say it.
He wouldn’t let it go, though. “How can you even think of doing that? Choose to kill humans, to drink blood!”
A tremor ran through my body. “I don’t want to think about any of that,” I muttered.
“Well, you need to! You need to think about what kind of life that is!” He was no longer talking quietly but almost yelling. Max’s head lifted, cobra-like, and he eyed a warning at Julian. “I’m sorry, Max,” Julian said, lowering his voice as he addressed the dog—a strange thing to watch from a different perspective, “but she needs to think about what she’s giving up before she goes and does something stupid!”