AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m thinking we’re in a lot of fucking trouble,” she said. “And we need to kill them before they kill us.”
Saber breathed out.
She wanted to talk to Ansel, to ask him what he thought, but she didn’t know how to get in touch with him. The thought of showing up at his house at night gave her a shudder ofembarrassment, thinking of the night she’d basically offered herself to him and he’d refused her.
“What do we do?” Saber asked, tapping her steering wheel. “What do we do, what do we do?”
“We get through the day,” Lozen said. “We try to spend the night with each other as much as possible. Tell your dad we’re studying together tonight. We’ll look for more clues about where these vampires live, and we’ll strike them before they strike us.”
“Look at you,” Saber said. “Lozen the vampire hunter.”
“Lozen the fuckingsurvivor.”
Saber laughed.
21
The thought of going to Ansel’s house stayed with Saber throughout the day. She’d thought it was against the rules somehow, to just show up there. She hated the idea of surprising him, of him refusing to see her, of something very awkward happening. But she wanted answers, and it didn’t seem fair that he was the one in control of when and if they saw each other.
Saber got through the school day and told Lozen she’d drive her home and pick her up later because she had to do something in the evening. She did some homework for a little while, had dinner with her dad, then said she was going to pick up Lozen, but drove to Ansel’s house instead. The entire drive over, her heart raced. She told herself that if he wasn’t there, or if he told her to leave it wasn’t a big deal, wasn’t the end of the world, that she had a right to ask, at least, how much he knew about the other vampires on the island.
She buzzed his house from the gate and Lia’s lyrical voice crackled through the system.
“James residence. How can I help you?”
“Hi, uh, Lia, it’s Saber Warren. I need to talk to Ansel about something.”
“Youneed to talk to Ansel?” Lia sounded incredulous.
“Yeah, tell him it’s about Derek.”
There was a long pause on the other end of the line.
“Ok, Saber, one minute.”
She waited. The local indie radio station was playing a cover of a song she couldn’t quite place.
The gate buzzed.
“Come on in,” Lia said, but her voice had lost its charm, and she seemed like a totally different person.
Saber pulled up to the beautiful house, looming in the woods, the half-moon hanging over it, the skyline of the city glittering in the distance. The serene perfection of it all was still surprising to her, even though she’d seen it several times now.
She parked and skipped, over-energized, up the steps to the house, and Lia let her in.
“I can take your coat, shoes off,” she said, but Saber noticed she wasn’t smiling warmly, didn’t offer her a drink, and there wasn’t that usual sweetness in her voice. “Ansel will be right down.”
Then she walked away, done with Saber.
Saber walked through the living room and almost sat down, but instead walked on, back toward the library where the Jenny Saville painting hung. She sat down on the couch nearby, looking out over the city. The room was cold, and she wished she still had her coat. She sat there for a while, waiting, gazing at the skyline.
“Saber.” Ansel’s voice was ghostly in the dark of the room, and she looked up to watch him cross and sit down opposite her.
“Hi,” she said, and her heart thumped as she looked at him. He wore black wool slacks and a crisp white button-down, unbuttoned at the throat. Was he always as beautiful as helooked right now, with his smooth, stone-white skin, full lips, and fire-bright eyes?
“You wanted to talk to me about something?”
“Yeah,” she said nodding. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to barge in or anything.”
