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“Not quite.” She rubbed her lower back with a small wince before turning to the bed. “But nothing compared to poor Cassidy.”
“She is fine.”
Francesca’s mouth dropped open. “Quoi?”
“It’s true,” Cassidy confirmed, sitting up. Their conversation had left her a little dazed, and she was still digesting the news of her altered physical circumstances, but her injuries had stopped fizzing. Dominique’s blood had completed its work. She pushed her tangled hair off her face and flicked at the tubes and wires attached to her body. “Just need to get myself unhooked, and I’m ready to go.”
“How is this possible?” Francesca asked.
Dominique gave his mother a coy look. “I am magic,non?”
She studied him with fearsome wonder.
A small vibration in Dominique’s pocket made him pull his phone out and read the new text. “We should go.”
“Go? Go where?” Even as Cassidy asked, she tapped into the answers welling up from Dominique’s mind. A game of subterfuge was afoot. Two jets would leave Vancouver, one going to Calgary, the other to Florida. The former would carry seven vampires and two reformed vampire hunters. As for the latter—
She took a deep breath to launch into vehement protests when Dominique placed a finger on his lips.I know. Not here.
Cassidy snapped her mouth shut, her teeth clacking together with temper, and ripped at the monitor pads attached to her chest.No way in hell am I going back to Florida while you stay up here with your posse. That’s just not happening.
With a knowing smile, Dominique helped her pull the IV needles out of her arms and healed the punctures.Far be it for me to tell you otherwise.
Well, I’m glad we got that straight, your highness.
A pale, slender vampiress stepped into the room without a sound. She wore a short, belted raincoat and short, spiky hair. “The car is downstairs, my lord.” With a nod to Cassidy, she added, “My lady.”
“Makoto,” Cassidy acknowledged, recognizing her from Dominique’s memories. The vampiress was Isao’s devoted companion for over a century. She was also an avid student of the sword, and chances were good she carried a blade beneath that coat and could use it in less time than it took to blink. She had been their supernatural security detail here since right after sundown.
Not that Francesca had known this, judging by how she regarded Makoto now as though seeing a venomous spider slither out of her shoe. She blanched, half-crossed her arms, and plucked at the collar of her blouse. “You are one, too? A…vampire?”
“I am,” Makoto confirmed with a solemn nod.
While Francesca turned away, murmuring a prayer under her breath, Cassidy realized she had no clothes beyond the hospital gown and a pair of non-skid socks. Dominique’s grin widened at her dark scowl. “You wear it well.”Your luggage will be at the airport. You can change on the plane.He pulled a blanket off the bed and was about to wrap it around her shoulders when Makoto took off her coat and held it for Cassidy to slip into. Sure enough, there was a small sword slung across her back.
“Thank you. But are you sure?” Cassidy asked, eyeing the now-visible weapon.
“I am honored to assist.”
And, of course, Dominique made them all invisible as they walked out, Makoto in the lead. Dominique brought up the rear, herding his reticent mother.
At the entrance, Douglas, attired in his usual trench coat, waited with a spacious Cadillac. They climbed in, Cassidy in the rear seat between Makoto to one side and Francesca—wedged against the door and clutching her bag like a shield—to the other. Once they were on their way, Dominique—in the front seat, holding his swords—filled his mother in on the plan. “Your luggage is waiting for you at the airport,Maman. Which plane you get on is up to you.”
Her wide eyes flickered between the two vampires in the front. “I will go nowhere without my daughter.”
“This will mean spending time on a small plane with seven like me.”
Francesca looked like she was skirting a panic attack with only three in the car. “But you are theirpatron, their boss,non?”
“They are bound to me. They will protect, not hurt you.” Still more softly, he added, “But if you wish it, you do not even have to see them.”
It’s what he wanted, Cassidy sensed. More than just Francesca’s acceptance of what he had become by locking herself into a plane with seven vampires, this was a matter of security. Their foes had found both the house in Florida and the hotel in Vancouver. Calgary wasn’t on their radar yet, and hopefully wouldn’t be before Dominique had settled his differences with Adilla. It was the safest place to be.
Francesca’s reasoning was far simpler. Her shoulders squared with resolve. “I will not go home,” she said. “Not without my only living child.”
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