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“Did Dren contact you?”
“Yes. To extort were-blood from me. ” That had better not have been part of the plan.
Anna made a growling sound. “He was supposed to ask you for help and offer you aid. ”
“You mean getting Winter’s blood was your idea?”
“No. His. But he did clear it through me. He didn’t say he’d threaten you for it, though. ”
I sighed. “I probably wouldn’t have helped him otherwise. Still, he could have mentioned you. ”
“I’m sorry he did not. I will speak with him as soon as I’m free. ”
“You’re trapped?”
“Being tested. ”
“Are you passing?”
“Of course. ” The sound of dripping in the background of wherever she was continued. “I can only assume the attacks on you are because of your association with me. But it’s unlike weres to work with vampires. Most of them hate us fiercely. ”
“Maybe some vampires are using the weres to cover their tracks?”
“Possibly. It does appear that some other Rose Throne Houses fear me. ”
“I can’t imagine why,” I said, as flatly as possible. Anna laughed. I’d only seen her slaughter a dozen members of her former Throne. She’d had every right to do it at the time, but some Rose Throne vampires were there, and all of them had long memories. “Hey,” I went on, “have you heard of a were called Viktor? Now that Deepest Snow’s leadership is changing, he’s angry. Another were I know thought my attackers might have been sent by him. ”
“No. I’ll look into it, though,” she said. “Do you have a were you can trust?”
“Depends. Why?”
“I need you to talk to the highest-ranking were you can find. Ask them for sanctuary. ”
“Sanctuary?”
“Sanctuary, on my behalf. Use my name. Do it in a public place, where there’s more than one of them. Sound as official as possible. They will not be able to refuse you. ”
“Why?”
“It’s an ancient pact from our persecuted days. If I make them responsible for your care, they have to protect you. ”
“From … themselves? Does it really work like that?”
“It’s supposed to. You know how long it’s been since there’s been a nochnaya?” she asked me, using her original people’s phrase for what she was, a living vampire. “The time in which anyone’s asked for sanctuary’s slightly longer than that. ”
“Longer … or are you all only counting the times it was successful?”
She snorted on the far end of the line. “Just do it, Edie. I’m not there, Dren can’t watch you during the day, and Sike won’t survive a fight with a were this close to the fu
ll moon. It’s supposed to be too humiliating for a vampire to have to ask for were-help for anyone to do it. One way in which my humanity helps me—I’m too emotionally wrapped up in your survival to care about my pride. ”
“I can’t decide if that’s comforting or not. ”
“I can’t tell you if it should be. ” Behind her, I heard the sucking sound of an emptying drain.
“Where the hell are you?” I asked her.
“In a charnel house. I’ve spent the last three nights hung suspended in blood. The first test is always hunger. ” She inhaled and exhaled deeply. “I have to sleep now, Edie. The dawn comes, and tomorrow promises to be just as long as today. ”
And what did someone say to a teenage vampire whose fate was intertwined with her own? I shrugged at Asher’s hallway wall. “Good luck, Anna. ”
“I hope not to need it. ”
The line went dead.
* * *
I pushed myself to standing again, stretched out my back’s kinks, and descended to the first floor. When I didn’t find Asher, I decided to give myself a tour.
It was weird to be at his home without him in it. First, because I expected him to spring out and catch me snooping, and second, because without him, it seemed as sterile as the bathroom had the night before. With the exception of the library below, his bedroom was plain: a huge closet full of clothing—mostly nice, but there were some strange costumey pieces, a few additional tragic holiday-themed sweaters—but no photos on the walls. His bathroom was dull too, all white tile, wood, and chrome. I even looked in his medicine cabinet, but it only had extra tubes of toothpaste, not unlabeled bottles of Ativan. As I went from room to room, it looked like an open-house home, ready for show. You could put yourself into this house pretty easily. Just like last night I’d tried to put myself into Asher, via mouth-to-mouth.
There was one locked door, but I was a little ashamed about looking through all his other things, so it didn’t bother me, much.
