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“You sleep in a queen-sized bed with Egyptian cotton sheets. What the fuck do you know about being in a coffin?”
His cheeky smile faltered. “I know what it’s like to wake up in one and claw your way out, not knowing where you are. ” His mouth formed a thin line, and he appeared paler than usual.
“Oh, Holden, I didn’t—”
“You couldn’t have known. ”
I was familiar with Holden’s sire, Rebecca. She seemed too evolved to bury her new vampire children in the ground, but what did I know? One of her spawn had turned into a psycho, though, so perhaps she needed to revisit her methods. A fifty-fifty ratio between functional and fucked up wasn’t the best track record.
“I’m sorry,” I said, feeling it was important for me to say, though I wasn’t sure if I was sorry for what I’d said or about what had happened to him.
“It’s fine. ”
“Excellent. Wonderful. Glad we’ve all shared this lovely, touching moment, but can you please get up there?” Ingrid grabbed me by the elbow and pulled me towards the ladder. She was surprisingly strong for a mere mortal thanks to the strength she borrowed from Sig.
“I—”
“If you think by my saying please I’m opening the floor to further discussion, you’re sorely mistaken. ”
“I’m not used to traveling in the same space as my luggage. ”
“Funny,” Holden said. “With someone who carries around as much baggage as you, I’d figure you’d be used to having it with you wherever you went. ”
“Ha-fucking-ha. ” But his rejoinder made any other arguments I had for Ingrid die on my lips. “I want to state, for the record, I don’t like this plan. ”
“You have. Many times. And there’s no record, just a very annoyed aid to the Tribunal leader. So get up there. ” She released my arm and tapped the ladder again.
“Okay. Fine. ”
Holden twisted backwards into the hold to make room for me, and once inside we were forced to crouch low in the narrow space with barely enough room for our bags, coffins and bodies. If we weren’t going into the metal boxes, it would be impossible to lie down.
“Why are you being so difficult about this?” he asked, once we were alone. “You’ve traveled in worse. ”
“Not willingly. ”
His strained expression softened, and he placed a cool hand under my chin, tilting my face up to better look at me. “You seem scared,” he whispered.
“I am scared,” I confessed, relieved to say the words out loud.
“What has the big bad vampire hunter spooked?” He shifted closer so his knees framed mine and he was able to take both my hands in his. “You can’t actually be afraid of being in there. ”
He raised both eyebrows when I swallowed hard. “Maybe. ”
Holden squeezed my hand but barely succeeded in suppressing a snort.
“It’s not funny. ” I swatted his hands away.
“What’s the big deal?”
I knocked on the top of the metal casket, and it bonged in response, the echo from within making the pit of nerves in my gut tighten like a fist. “It’s a six-hour flight from New York to Los Angeles. Do you remember what happened to me in an elevator? Holden, I can’t even take the subway. ”
His quiet snickering stopped. Vampires didn’t mind small spaces as a matter of survival. Most of them didn’t spend their daylight hours in a coffin. It was passé now, considering how many options there were to keep the sun out. But as part of the evolutionary process, they didn’t tend to be upset by cramped quarters.
Werewolves, on the other hand, weren’t so awesome with being cooped up. They liked to run and be out in the open. Being crammed into a tight metal box was not the same as being out in the open.
Holden’s grasp on my phobia took root, and he brushed a strand of hair behind my ear, guiding me gently toward the coffin until we were both sitting on it. We still had to hunch down because of the low ceiling, but at least we weren’t crouched on the floor anymore.
“Okay, I know you’re freaked out, but consider this—sunrise is in less than an hour. ”
