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Panic spikes as I reach for the door handle. “Let me off here,” I say, quickly pulling a fifty-dollar bill out of my bag.
She pulls over and hits the brakes as I toss the bill at her. “Wait—”
“Thanks,” I mutter, getting out of the car and slamming the door shut before I take off down the street.
My chest is tight as my heart pounds in time with my shoes hitting the pavement. My lungs sting from the exertion and the cold air, but I don’t stop. I clutch the phone in my hand, and before I’m even aware of what I’m doing, I’ve dialed Brighton’s number. I chew my lip as the line rings and rings… and rings. Finally, there’s a click, and my stomach sinks.
“Calla! Where the hell are you?” Brighton shouts, and I immediately pull the phone away from my ear. Music blares in the background, and I cringe.
I’ve stopped running so I’m not too out of breath to speak, but I’m still moving at a fast pace. I need to put as much distance between me and them as I can. “Brighton… can you hear me?”
“Hello?” She’s still shouting. “Hang on! I’m going outside!” A minute later, the music quiets and the line is silent. “Shit, okay. What’s up, lady?”
“I need a favor.” A car honks in the distance, and I jump, whipping my head around to find the street and sidewalk behind me empty. I start walking faster.
“At almost two in the morning?” she asks with a short laugh. “What are you up to? Oh god, please don’t tell me you went home to keep studying and you want me to bring you caffeine.”
“I need your credit card,” I blurt. If I use mine, I have to assume they’ll track it. But maybe if I go to a building filled with people, I can hide for a short time. It’s dangerous to stop, knowing they could come for me, but I need to rest, to come up with a better plan than just running until I can’t any longer. If things had gone the way I’d imagined when thinking of this awful moment, I would’ve killed those vampires before I had an opportunity to know their names. It was a naive thought, and I hate that it was my only real strategy, because now I’m pretty well screwed. “Actually, I need you to book me a room at the Four Seasons.”
“Uhhh.” Her voice cracks. “Calla—”
“Please, Bri. I can’t explain anything right now, but I need a place.”
“Why don’t you crash at mine? I’ll be home soon, and we can talk about what’s going on.”
“No,” I say quickly. I can’t lead them to her. I’m not about to put my best friend in the path of four vampires who are likely pretty pissed I gave them the slip in their own home. “Please just get me a room.”
There’s a short pause before Brighton says, “Calla, you know I’m here for you no matter what. If you’re in trouble—”
I cut her off, rushing to say, “I don’t have time to fill you in.” I’m not even sure what the hell I’d tell her, anyway.
She sighs. “Hang on.”
I stay on the line for a couple of minutes, nibbling on the pad of my thumb as I peek over my shoulder every ten seconds. Waiting for them to come after me, to find me.
“Calla?”
My pulse jackhammers momentarily. “Yeah, I’m here.”
“The suite is booked under my name for as long as you need. I sent the confirmation to your email. If there are any issues, call me.”
I let out a breath. “Thank you, Brighton. Seriously. I owe you.”
“Just… whatever is going on, please be careful. And promise you’ll fill me in as soon as you can?”
“I’ll talk to you soon,” I say, disconnecting before I tell her another lie. Honestly, I’m not sure when I’ll speak to her next. I just need to make it somewhere safe so I can figure out my next move.
Do Atlas, Kade, Gabriel, and Lex already know I’m gone? I think it’s safe to say yes. Can they track me to the hotel? There’s a good chance of that if my theory of hiding among a bunch of other people is wrong, which it very likely could be. But if I can barricade myself in a room just long enough to come up with a less awful plan than run and hide, then maybe—just maybe—I can get myself out of this.
* * *
The first thing I do when I get into the suite is lock the door and shove the heavy coffee table against it before checking the windows. I’m on the top floor, so it’s a little ridiculous, but I do it anyway. Anything to feel a semblance of safety—of control.
I kick off my shoes and pace the fancy room, my stocking feet padding soundlessly across the dark wood floor. I’m not sure what made Brighton spring for a suite with a full living room and dining area, but I’m not going to complain. Considering she knows as well as I do that it’d take me all semester to pay her back for this, and she did it without asking a million questions that I can’t answer right now. Though, knowing Brighton as well as I do, she didn’t think twice about dropping this kind of money. I suppose that comes with being as well-off as her family is.
I pull in slow, deep breaths, trying to wrack my brain for a plan that isn’t absolutely insane. I pull my phone out and scroll through my contacts. My finger hovers over my mom’s number, but I shake my head and sigh, tossing the phone onto the marble dining table. As sympathetic to my plight as she may be, there isn’t a thing she can do. And my dad… The man isn’t brave—or stupid—enough to go against the vampires his great-grandparents sealed my fate with.
I briefly consider what would happen if I went back to New York, but it’s pointless. Even if my parents wanted to protect me, two humans against four vampires wouldn’t stand a chance. And as much as I resent my family—my father mostly—for this life, I couldn’t do that to them.
