She ignores me, her attention solely focused on the Were seated next to her.
I stride toward the mansion, shaking my head in frustration. Damn, that woman is stubborn. How good is her control that she can continue what she’s doing and not attack the weres in hunger?
Rafe’s deep voice pulls me from my thoughts. “Did she finally kick you out?” He smiles. “You lasted in there a lot longer than I would have guessed.”
“Why? It’s not like she needed me. She just ignored me most of the time.”
He rubs a dusty hand over his hair, resting it on the back of his neck in exhaustion. “She doesn’t normally let people watch what she does.” He nods toward the building. “I wouldn’t doubt she’ll alter the alphas perception of exactly what they witnessed when she’s done. Not the kind of thing she likes to get out.”
“What kind of thing do you mean? That she helped people? Why would she want that to be a secret?”
He heads toward a nearby tree on the lawn and lowers himself to the ground, resting against the trunk. I follow, but remain standing, the energy coiling inside me from the vampire heart still fueling me, pushing me to act, urging me to do something.
“Vampire society is complicated, Jon. Her compassion could be viewed as a weakness and used against her by an enemy.”
“Man, that’s fucked up.”
He nods, his head drifting to the bark in exhaustion. “You have no idea.”
I look across the grass at the freed Weres wondering what will happen to them. “What’s next? What will we do after Dria finishes?”#p#分页标题#e#
“We see the wolves off safely. I called ahead and booked five more rooms at our hotel. They can drive the liberated vampire cars and any valuables they find to the hotel. After that, it’s up to them. Their alphas need to be the ones to direct their future, not us.”
His words make sense, but I still have this feeling of foreboding inside me. “What about the fire you plan to light? We don’t want it spreading to the woods.”
He raises his head, bright blue eyes locking on me. “I soaked the surrounding trees with water from a hose, and the lawn. The fire will be controlled and called in. We just want everyone out of here first.”
I pace, the uneasiness in me spreading. “Yeah, yeah, that all sounds good. But what about us? What happens with the three of us? Where do you two live? Do I move there with you?”
“Things will unfold as intended.” His gaze loses focus for a moment, like his mind is elsewhere, then sharpens when he glances toward me. “We’ll talk more. When she’s sleeping.”
“So she does sleep, eh? I wondered. What with the sun being out and she’s still wandering around.”
“I told you before. She’s very old. Doesn’t need much blood or much sleep. But the sun of high noon could still kill her if she sat in it long enough.” He pushes himself up, tiredness drawing down his large frame. “I know my wife. She’s going to need blood very soon, and her body will force a restorative sleep on her whether she wants it or not.”
“I offered her my blood. She refused.”
His spine straightens at my words. “Dammit. She refused you? I worried she’d get a pang of consciousness.”
“What does that mean?”
He shakes his head, refusing to elaborate more. “We’ll talk later—like I said, when she’s sleeping. Let’s get the wolves into the cars and out of here.”
By nine a.m. Dria is done. All the pack-owned vehicles, like Raine’s, and the visiting vampire’s luxury cars leave the property. The wolves will travel to the hotel where food and warm beds await them. One of them gathered as much of the special herbs as they could find, with plans of having everyone drink their fill of the healing concoction later.
Dria’s exhaustion is apparent to anyone paying attention. She walks a little slower and doesn’t glance our way as she staggers to the rented Benz. Without a word, she opens the back door and crawls inside, lying in the shadowed interior. Rafe and I check the accelerant placements carefully, making sure the headless vampire remains are well-covered for maximum temperature and destruction.
“Won’t the firemen find their decapitated skeletons when they send in a fire investigator?”
“Nope,” Rafe says. “Once the sun hits their bones, the remains will turn to dust.”
“Why not just drag their bodies out to burn and save the house?”
“Too much evil has been done in that house.”
A snort of disbelief comes from me. Does this guy really believe all that crap?
He looks at me sideways. “You think I’m joking. No amount of cleansing could save it and whoever lived in it afterwards would suffer.”