Refuge(130)

Peter picked up a napkin-wrapped bundle from the tray and looked inside. “A blueberry muffin? Strange thing to bring for dinner.”

My heart swelled at Jordan’s thoughtfulness. She acted the tough chick all the time, but she was a lot nicer than she let on. I took the muffin from Peter and broke it into three even pieces before I laid them on the floor beside my bed.

“What the – ?” Peter’s eyes grew wide when the first little fiend appeared and snatched up his prize before retreating beneath the bed again. “You have imps in a demon hunter home . . . and you’re feeding them?”

I watched the second piece of muffin disappear. “They came from home. They stowed away in my stuff.”

“And you let them stay in your room?”

“Why not? They practically lived in my room back home.”

Peter made a face. “Because they’re demons and they would steal the fillings out of your mouth.”

“They’re pretty quiet and they don’t mess with my things. Although, I don’t know how it’s going to work when Oscar comes to live – ” My breath caught. Nate was supposed to bring Oscar when he came for Thanksgiving. Nate, who had been in the middle of his transition when I last spoke to him on the phone, and who had walked around our apartment as a vampire and touched our things, defiling our home. Fresh pain stabbed my chest. A vampire would show no mercy to an animal, especially one I cared about.

“What is it?” Roland asked.

“Oscar and Daisy – he probably killed them,” I said in a cracked voice.

“You don’t know that. Animals sense evil, so they might have run away when Nate turned.”

When Nate turned. I had seen Nate as a vampire with my own eyes, but hearing it from Roland made it all suddenly, agonizingly real. Nate was gone, and my life would never be the same again.

I pushed away from the table and ran to the bathroom where I promptly threw up the little bit of food I’d eaten.

“Sara, you okay?” Roland called through the closed door.

“I just need a minute.” I splashed cold water on my face and stared at my pale reflection in the mirror. My lips were almost colorless, and the shadows around my eyes made my face look tired and sickly. But my haggard appearance was nothing compared to the damage inside me. If it wasn’t for the constant ache in my chest, I would have believed my heart was broken into pieces.

“I’m really an orphan now,” I whispered to the ashen face staring back at me.

I would give anything to bring Nate back. But there was no bad guy to barter with this time, no sacrificing myself to save Nate. The Master had seen to that. He didn’t take Nate to replace Eli. He took him to torture me and to show me that no one I loved was safe from him. How many more would he hurt to get to me? Would he go after Roland or Peter next, or maybe the kids at my old school?

I couldn’t live with that.

My hands gripped the edge of the sink until they turned white and I shook with helpless rage. Stop it. That is exactly how he wants you to feel. I was playing right into his hands, and if I didn’t do something about it, he would win. Anguish and fury built in me. I remembered my dad’s mutilated body and I imagined what Nate had gone through. Heat spread through me, and I watched my hair lift off my shoulders as tiny blue sparks skimmed across my skin.

Is this why he fears me? I could knock out a baby vampire and my power was getting stronger every day. Someday, I’d be able to take down an older vampire . . . maybe even one as old and strong as a Master. I needed no weapon because my touch was lethal to demons.

I was, in essence, the perfect demon slayer.

And I knew what I had to do.





Chapter 21





I DRIED MY face and opened the door to find Roland hovering outside.

“You look beat, Sara. You should try to get some sleep.”

“I am tired,” I lied. “I think I’ll lie down for a bit. You guys don’t have to stay with me, though.”

“Pete and I will go across the hall and watch TV for a while. I bet you guys have all the movie channels here. You come over when you finish your nap.”

“Okay,” I agreed, although sleep was the last thing on my mind.

I waited for several minutes after I heard Roland’s door close before I left my room and shut my door quietly behind me. Most people were at dinner so the hallways were almost empty as I made my way down to the lower level that housed the holding cells and interrogation rooms. Down here the walls were made of smooth stone and there were no windows that I could see. I shivered in my sweater, and I didn’t know if it was because of the cooler air or what I was about to do.