“Morning,” the stranger said as he walked past Darian.
“Hey,” Darian replied, sounding distracted. The stranger made it several paces past him before Darian’s boots turned on the asphalt. “Excuse me. Did you see two women come out of the terminal just now?”
“Uh, yeah. Two minutes ago?”
“Right. Did you see where they went?”
“Got into a car. Went that way.”
Cally raised her eyebrows at Eve, who mirrored her. Silence was the only safe reply.
“Crap,” Darian said. “Guess I just missed them. Thanks, friend.”
“Sure thing.”
The black polished shoes headed toward the terminal, while Darian’s brown boots hesitated, scuffing on the asphalt as he turned. Then he sighed and headed off down Prescott Street toward the main road.
Cally released the breath she’d been holding and peered beneath the line of cars until she couldn’t see his boots anymore. “I think he’s gone. Let’s give him a few minutes.”
“The kindness of strangers,” Eve muttered. “I want to buy that guy a coffee.”
“We haven’t seen the last of Darian.” Cally sighed. “He knows where I live.”
“So stay with Antoine.”
The Order probably did know where Antoine lived. But if they’d connected them, would they have been so ‘friendly’?
“I don’t have any clothes there.”
“Buy some.”
“I suppose.” Cally looked at Eve in alarm. “Oh shit. They’ll discover where you live too, won’t they?”
“I figured they already had,” Eve said with resignation. “I planned on camping out with you.”
“What about your work?”
“Uh, take long-term leave of absence for ‘personal reasons’ and hope I still have a job to come back to when the dust settles?”
Cally scowled. “I’m screwing your life up.”
“I don’t think we’ll ever have our old lives back again, babe. Coz, y’know, vampires and magic are real? How can you go back to working in an office knowing that?” Eve shook her head. “I know I can’t.”
Cally squirmed her way from under the pickup and peered around the corner of the next vehicle. “I think he’s gone.”
“So what now?” Eve said as she crawled out. “Tell Gabe?”
“I did think of it,” Cally said, “but what would the vamps do if they knew the Order existed and was sniffing around?”
Eve winced. “Start a war.”
“Exactly.” They headed back toward the terminal building. “I don’t know Gabe well enough to trust him not to go medieval on them, especially if he knows Darian is following us.”
“What about Antoine?”
“Right now, knowing will only torment him,” Cally said thoughtfully. “But the idea of him taking them on? It scares me, Eve.”
“So you can’t tell Noah or Zoey, either.”
