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After a while, the wind died down again and the night grew colder. Within minutes of that, it began to rain - not as hard as before, but rain was rain.
I shivered and rubbed my arms, torn between the need to charge into the alley and see what was taking so long and the desire to get into the limo and out of the weather. I'd just about decided on the former when Quinn walked out of the alley.
He was whole and unhurt, and relief swept through me But it only lasted a second, because his anger hit me, the force of it a tidal wave that crashed over my defenses and left me struggling for air.
"Quinn," I somehow managed to gasp.
The wave of emotion stopped immediately. "Sorry."
I took a deep breath, blew it out slowly. My limbs were shaking and weak, as if I'd been winded by several hard blows In many respects, that's exactly what had happened - only the blows were empathic rather than physical.
Odd that it only ever seemed to happen with this vampire.
"What happened?"
"Nothing much."
His voice was distant, his gaze, though it was on me, vacant - as if he wasn't actually seeing me or our surroundings, but something else altogether. Something internal.
"What do you mean, nothing much? Who was in the alley? What did he want?"
"Nothing that concerns you."
I crossed my arms and glared at him "So we're back to that old bullshit, are we?"
He blinked at that, and life came back into his dark gaze. "This is a different type of bullshit, believe me."
"I'd love to Quinn, but it seems that any time I ask a hard question - like, where were you born or what the hell was in that alley - you revert to the same old song. Well, it's not good enough. Not if you want to be something more than just another fuck."
His gaze hardened. "There are some things I cannot explain. And there are promises made long again that bind me - much as I might not want them to."
"Meaning?"
"I am forbidden to speak to you about who was in that alley, and what I now must do."
"Why? I thought the only people who could order you to do anything were vamps older than you. And whatever it was in that alley, it wasn't a vampire." Or anything else that I recognized.
"No." He hesitated, stepping forward and reaching for me with one hand.
I jerked away from his touch and stepped back. "I've only ever asked one thing of you - the truth. And it seems to me you are as unwilling as ever to give me that."
"This is not my story to tell." His soft voice was as angry as I'd ever heard it. "Nor have I the time to stand here and argue. I must go."
"Then let's go."
"Not you. Me. You can take the other car - "
"Like hell I will!"
He sighed. "Riley, please. I don't want to force you to do what is sensible."
"What is sensible is for you to explain what the hell is going on!"
He hesitated, then said, "Those things in the car were not human."
"Well, I gathered that. Humans don't up and disappear into thin air."
"They weren't nonhuman, either."
