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And as soon as I thought, I could envision the Phillies cap on his sandy hair. My face lit up in a smile. “Vic!”
Lucas called Vic and arranged for us to meet at one of the downtown diners for lunch. We walked there hand in hand, me in my new green sundress, holding Lucas’s hand. I imagined that people were looking at me differently—that somehow they knew—but I thought probably that was just me being silly. I felt exactly the same, only happier than I’d been in a long while. Lucas, too, seemed relaxed; I couldn’t remember another time I’d seen him completely at ease.
When we went inside, Vic was already sitting in a booth, Ranulf at his side. He raised one hand in a wave. “Guys! Man, is it good to see you.”
I hugged Vic tightly, then did the same for Ranulf. Although Ranulf remained rail thin, with his soft brown hair worn in a bowl cut, he was now wearing khakis and a Hawaiian shirt almost identical to the one Vic had on. I wondered if he’d borrowed it from Vic or whether he was simply buying whatever Vic bought, the better to fit in with the twenty-first century. Of course, dressing like Vic didn’t really mean fitting in, but Ranulf was still catching on to the modern world.
Once Vic was done hugging Lucas, he stepped back and said, “Lucas, this is Ranulf, my roommate after you up and ditched me. Ranulf, this is Lucas. I don’t know if you guys met at Evernight or what.”
“We spoke once,” Ranulf said helpfully, “in the library. I asked you who the saints were that some people spoke of in New Orleans, and you explained that they were not religious icons but a sporting team. It was very enlightening.”
“Yeah, no way I could forget that.” Lucas gave Ranulf a lopsided smile. Although he remained suspicious of most vampires, nobody could really be afraid of Ranulf.
“So what are you guys doing in Philly?” Vic said as we all took our seats in the booth. “Is this some big elopement drama? Do Ranulf and I have to be witnesses?”
“No,” I said. My cheeks felt warm, and I couldn’t tell if I was blushing at the whole idea of getting married or the fact that Lucas and I had sort of already had the honeymoon. “We’re just—well, we’re trying to get settled. And stay hidden.”
Vic looked unexpectedly stern. “Did you call your parents?”
“I e-mailed them,” I answered. “They know I’m all right.”
Lucas turned to me, suddenly tense. “You did? When?”
Oh, no. Too late I remembered what the consequences of that e-mail had been. I’d meant to tell Lucas the truth, but then Balthazar’s capture had distracted me. Although I hated doing this in front of our friends, I knew I couldn’t wait any longer to confess. “The first night we were out on patrol. Remember when I slipped away to get something to eat?”
“Bianca—” Lucas raked his hands through his hair, a gesture I’d learned meant he was trying hard to check his temper.
“You didn’t know the safeguards to take. Do you realize what happened because of that?”
Black Cross had been attacked, and Eduardo had been killed. In a small, miserable voice, I said, “I realize now. I’m so sorry, Lucas.”
Vic and Ranulf were both looking from me to Lucas to me during this, like spectators at a tennis match. “What happened?” Vic said. “You got spammed or something?”
“Spam is good with breakfast foods,” Ranulf said, proud to have remembered something about the current world. “I shall have Spam with my eggs.”
“Not Spam the meat, spam like the e-mail ads for Viagra,” Vic corrected him.
“We’ll talk about this later,” Lucas said shortly. His face was hard and tight as he stared out the window.
“Okay.” I hadn’t really come to terms with my responsibility for what had happened, and I knew I’d be dealing with that for a while. Obviously, Lucas was angry—and he had a right to be—but he didn’t want to hash it out in front of Vic and Ranulf. Nervous and newly guilty, I somehow managed to focus on the conversation at hand. “Vic, basically, we’re kind of on the run. Not from the law, but—nobody can find us. And, um, well, we need a place to stay and food, and it gets expensive….”
“My money is your money,” Vic said, like that was the most obvious thing in the world. “Name it, it’s yours.”
“Are you sure?” I knew that Vic came from an extremely wealthy family, but still, I hated asking for handouts. “We have a little already, and we’re going to get jobs.”
“Seriously, anything. And, oh, wait, hey, genius idea, inbound—” Vic snapped his fingers. “The wine cellar.”
“Wine cellar?” Lucas said, glancing away from that spot on the window he’d been glaring at ever since he’d found out that I’d betrayed the Black Cross cell. I wondered if he was thinking what I was thinking—that Vic was going to suggest we steal bottles for a party.
Vic drummed on the laminated menu. “We have this big wine cellar beneath the house. Enormous. It’s got climate control to keep it nice and cool in summer, and it’s not very crowded, because my dad doesn’t collect wine the way my grandpa did. There’s a bathroom on the basement level, too.”
Sleeping in a basement for the summer? On the other hand, it would be free.
“I swear, it’s nice down there,” Vic said. Ranulf nodded encouragingly. “I’d let you guys stay in the house, but my parents are going to put on the whole security system, with the lasers.” He interlaced his fingers to mimic the laser beams. “The wine cellar has a separate entrance and security system, but it’s just a simple four-digit code. I can give you the code, and you guys can stay there from the night of July fifth on. How does that sound?”
“That sounds—good.” Lucas nodded slowly. I could tell he was still tense and angry, but he was in control of himself. “Vic, you’re the best.”
“I’ve long suspected as much,” Vic said. “Glad to know the word’s getting out.”
