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They weren’t, so she crept into the hallway, moving as quickly and quietly as she could. When she reached the kitchen, she actually allowed herself a moment to pull in a deep, calming breath.
She’d just finally made love with the man she’d fantasized about for years, and it had surpassed every one of those fantasies. And now she was sneaking away, hoping to not see him again for a good, long while. That definitely was not how their lovemaking had ended in her fantasies.
She glanced over her shoulder, struggling with another wave of tears. She swiped at her eyes, irritated that she was being such a damned girl. She forced herself to stand tall, and suppress any more crying.
Go, she told herself. Just go.
The apartment door also cooperated, making no sound as she eased it open. She stepped through the door into the dingy, narrow stairwell, and was about to pull the door shut, when a loud caw echoed throughout the kitchen.
Startled, she looked around to see the parrot still perched on top of the refrigerator. The annoying creature cocked its head to the side as it watched her, its beady little eyes regarding her as if it realized she was trying to escape without notice. And it wasn’t going to let that happen.
“She’s gone, she’s gone,” the bird warbled in that eerie singsong way.
Katie glared at the animal. The darned thing was narcing on her. Was it really possible that a bird could be that smart? And that conniving?
“She’s gone, she’s gone,” it repeated, louder this time.
Katie put a finger to her lips to shush the bird, then realized what she was doing. Smart or not, she was still trying to reason with a darned parrot.
Okay, the bird might want to stay perched in the kitchen, but it was time for her to take flight. With a little more force than she intended, she pulled the door closed and turned to rush down the narrow wooden staircase.
Her heart pounded in her chest as she reached the street, or maybe it didn’t. Probably not, now that she came to think about it, since she was now undead. But she did feel panicked, which seemed silly, since she was pretty certain Cort wouldn’t follow her anyway.
Why would he? He’d made it pretty clear in his conversation with Drake that he didn’t want to be married to her. Sure, Cort was a nice guy and would have made the best of the situation, but he didn’t want her. And here she’d been so willing to fall into bed with him. And stay married, too, if she was being honest.
Talk about being pathetic. It was probably childish to run, but she was too embarrassed to face him, still wanting him, still being crazy about him.
So she wouldn’t face him. She looked toward Bourbon but immediately dismissed heading in that direction. It would be the easiest place to get lost, amongst the crowds, but it was too much of a sensory overload nightmare. She headed right instead, with no destination in mind. She just had to get as far away from Cort as she could.
* * *
“WHAT THE HELL ith that?” Drake said, then wiped his mouth. Clearly he wasn’t used to the new fang yet. Or Novocain really affected vampires. Cort didn’t know the answer to that, since he had his original fangs.
“That stupid parrot.”
Drake made a face. “It’s really off-key.”
“It’s a bird,” Cort pointed out, moving away from the window, looking down the hallway.
“I thought birds could sing.”
Cort shrugged, really not concerned with birds’ abilities to carry a tune. “Did you hear the door, too?”
“I don’t know.”
Cort frowned back at Drake, who had now gone from fiddling with his missing tooth to fiddling with his fixed one.
Cort shook his head and walked down the hall. Obviously Drake had spent too much time with Saxon.
When Cort entered the kitchen, the only one he found there was the parrot, which flapped down from the fridge and landed on his favorite perching spot, Cort’s left shoulder.
“She’s gone, she’s gone.”
Cort winced slightly at the loud, irritating sound of the bird so close to his ear, but then the parrot’s awfully sung words sank in.
Katie had left.
He spun and hurried to his bedroom. Sure enough, the room was empty and Katie’s clothes were gone.
Shit! Why would she leave? Had she heard they weren’t married and she figured she didn’t need to hang around any longer? Or had she regretted the fact that they’d made love? Was she ashamed and embarrassed of that, too?
No, he believed her reaction to him was real. She had been genuinely attracted and responsive. He believed that. He had to believe that. He couldn’t deal with the possibility that she hadn’t felt anything when he’d felt so much. So damned much. Enough that he’d wanted their marriage to be real.
Even now, he knew he had to find her and try to convince her they had to give being a couple a shot, marriage or no marriage.
Wow, that sounded weird, but oh well. He was determined to be with this woman. Forever.
“Drake, get off your ass,” he yelled. “We need to go find Katie.”
Drake appeared in the doorway of the living room. “You lost Katie?”
Cort sighed. Yeah, Drake had definitely spent too much time with Saxon, but at least his dentist-induced lisp was lessening. He hoped.
“Come on.”
Drake fell into step behind him. “Where are we going?”
Cort had no idea, but he had to find her. Not only because he needed to talk to her and see what she was thinking, but also because she was a new vampire, and that could be dangerous for herself and others if she got into a situation that she didn’t know how to handle.
“Just come on.”
* * *
AS KATIE MADE her escape, it didn’t take her long to realize something very important. It probably would have made a lot more sense to have spent the time alone in Cort’s bedroom looking for her purse rather than attempting to turn into a bat flying on the wings of happy thoughts.
She stopped on the corner of Dumaine and St. Peter, looking around, debating what to do. Her options were sort of limited since she didn’t have a wallet, or a phone, or the keys to her apartment. And it was way too late to wake up her curmudgeon of a neighbor, who’d had her spare key from when she’d watered Katie’s plants the last time she’d gone home to visit her parents. Katie was pretty sure her neighbor wouldn’t answer even if she knocked.
Yeah, this was definitely an unfortunate situation she was in.
She looked around her again. The streets were quieter down this way, nearly empty at this time of night. Even a little bit eerie, because they were so empty.
