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“The vignettes are still murky, hard to see clearly. But I think she’ll be back in Nightfall soon. By summer, maybe.” Her gaze clears as it returns to mine. “I can teach you how to control the visions, by the way, so they don’t take you down so hard. It takes practice, but most wyverns learn how to control the flow by the time they’re seven or eight. Since you’re an adult, I’m sure you’ll learn even faster.” She reaches out, squeezing my hand again across the desk. “We’re sisters, Annie. I have a sister!”
“You have six,” I say, returning her smile, torn between being overjoyed that my mom is still with us and fear for Blaire, who is far from out of the woods yet. “And they’re all going to love you. You’ll be our lucky number seven.”
She cocks her head again, blinking fast. “There may be more, actually. Maybe eight…or nine? That isn’t clear yet, either, but I’ll let you know as soon as I see something solid. In the meantime, you should talk to Baron.” She glances behind me. “He looks…unwell.”
I glance over my shoulder to see the most solemn Blackmore brother standing on the other side of the office window, a haunted expression in his dark eyes and his wildly curly brown hair even more of a mess than usual.
Moving to the door, I open it and stick my head out. “Hey, Baron. Can I help you?”
He steps closer, his muscles vibrating with so much tension I swear I can feel it buzzing across my skin. “Give me something to do. The sun is down, so I can move. I need to move. I need to help find them before Janet does. She wants to kill Darcy. She told me as much the night of the three points ritual, but I thought she was just upset. Making idle threats.” He winces, cursing beneath his breath. “I should have known better. I should have remembered.”
Frowning I ask, “Remembered what?”
“How it feels to have your heart broken,” he says softly, his pained gaze locked on mine. “How it hurts so bad it makes you feel like you’re losing your mind, how you’ll do anything to make the pain stop. I’ve been where Janet is. I’ve done things. Unforgivable things…” His throat works as he fights for control. “Please. Tell me where to go, where to look. I have to stop her. I can’t bear another death on my hands.”
Stepping closer, I assure him, “It wouldn’t be on your hands. You aren’t responsible for Janet. You’re only responsible for yourself.” I fight the urge to cup his face in my hands and promise him everything is going to be okay.
His words should scare me, I suppose, but they only make me ache for this tortured man more than I did already. He’s so lonely, so lost, the only vampire who lives in isolation, away from the rest of the Blackmore clan and the only one who seems locked in perpetual darkness.
The others still have joy and levity in their lives, despite the fact that they can only walk freely at night and so many human pleasures have been lost to them.
But Baron…
He reminds me of the beast from the old fairy tale, massive, intimidating, and strong on the outside, but shattered on the inside. He needs love and kindness. He needs someone to gather him up in their arms and promise him that he can be a better man, a man he’s proud of, that it’s not too late. He needs to know that he’s still so worthy of love. Because he is. I feel it every time our eyes meet across a crowded room, the certainty that he’s a good man, even though this is the longest conversation we’ve ever had.
I reach for his arm, my lips parting on a promise to let him know where to find Darcy as soon as Sophie and I know more, but he flinches away with a shake of his head.
“Don’t,” he says in a low rumble. “Don’t touch me. Ever.”
“I’m s-sorry,” I stammer, heat flushing my cheeks. “I didn’t mean to—”
“I’m not what you think,” he says, his eyes burning into mine. “I’m not a puppy you can save. I’m a monster, Annie, and if you try to pull me out of this pit, I’ll only drag you down with me.” He steps closer, whispering inches from my face, “And a part of me will enjoy it. Breaking you. Owning you. I still crave that, angel. Every day. And you’re just the kind of perfect people like me love to spoil.”
Before I can so much as pull in another breath, he’s gone.
He simply…vanishes. I search the air around me, but there’s no sign of a bat or mist or any of the other things I know certain vampires can change into. And he didn’t run away, or I would have seen a streak in my peripheral vision the way I do when Colin zips off at top speed.
I have absolutely no idea where he went.
It’s disturbing, but not nearly as disturbing as the electricity tickling along my nerve endings. His words were clearly intended to frighten me.
And they did, but they also made me feel fizzy, aching feelings I’ve never felt before. They made me strangely…hungry.
“That looked awkward,” Sophie mutters as I wander numbly back to the other side of the desk. “What did he say?”
I shake my head. “Nothing.”
“It didn’t look like nothing.” She glances up at me as she lights white candles that sit at three points of the pentagram drawn in chalk on the desk. “Your face is bright red.”
“Is it?” I press my cool hands to my cheeks to find them burning, but thankfully Colin arrives before Sophie can press me for more details.
We sit, clasping hands across the table, eyes locked over the flickering candles and a pair of Blaire’s work gloves at the center of the chalk symbol. Less than a few minutes later, we emerge from a trance I hadn’t even realized we’d fallen into with twin gasps.
“Follow the yellow brick road,” I say, wrenching my gaze from Sophie’s face to Colin’s. “There’s a trail. Blaire’s leaving a trail.”
“A trail of coins or gold or something,” Sophie adds, excitement in her voice. “Some sort of metal. You should be able to smell it. Start behind the campground and head up toward the cliffs. You should catch the scent there. But hurry, Darcy’s injured. He won’t be able to fight Janet off for long.”
“Thank you,” Colin says, sparing a second to promise me, “I’ll find them Annie,” before he dashes away.
