All Just Glass - Amelia Atwater-Rhodes [12]
Sarah had chosen to go to SingleEarth because she needed distance, so she could learn how to live this new life before she had to figure out what she wanted to do about the relationship she had never intended to die for. Now she could barely hear her own thoughts through his anxiety.
“Nissa told us there were hunters at SingleEarth.” That piece of information came from another voice, similar to the first but indefinably different. “We were concerned.”
Sarah pulled back, fighting the gentle insistence of Kristopher’s arms that encouraged her to stay close, when she heard Nikolas’s voice. Looking up, she saw that Christine had also joined them.
She had to get herself under control, not just because she still instinctively wanted to be strong in front of Nikolas, her recent enemy, but because Christine had gone through enough lately. She didn’t need to see Sarah panicked.
And maybe she could admit, if just to herself, that having someone else to be strong for helped. As a Vida, she had always existed for others. She had lived and died to fulfill vows written by ancestors thousands of years earlier. She had never hesitated to risk her life to protect the innocent. Her friendship with Nissa and Kristopher had been the first thing she had ever sought for herself.
Look where that had brought her.
“Hunters at SingleEarth?” she echoed. “They’re powerless there.” Might Adia have been looking for her? One reason Sarah had gone to SingleEarth was that it was owned by the Smoke witches, and they had treaties so even the Vida line was not obligated to hunt vampires within its walls. She hadn’t expected her family to want to see her, but she had wanted to give them an option that would free them from being bound by law to kill her.
Kristopher shook his head, his gaze now as dark as his brother’s. “They tried to take Nissa. They threatened to kill her if she didn’t cooperate.”
Sarah shook her head, horrified and amazed. What was going on?
All four of them tensed when another figure appeared in the room. Christine recoiled, her face going pale, and as Sarah moved to comfort her, Nikolas and Kristopher stepped protectively between the newcomer and Sarah and Christine. Did they think she needed to be protected, defended, coddled, as if she were helpless? Or was the position accidental, a result of her moving closer to Christine?
That didn’t matter right then. What mattered was that Kaleo Sonyar, the vampire who had just appeared among them, looked pissed. The oldest living direct fledgling of Kendra, Kaleo was an apt representation of his line: beautiful, an artist, absolutely mad and capable of undeniable cruelty. He had features like a Roman sculpture—quite literally, since rumors claimed he had modeled for some of those works—and golden blond hair that gave him an angelic cast. The looks were misleading, however. By killing Nissa’s father and threatening Nikolas, Kaleo had convinced Nissa to let him change her. More recently, he had bloodbonded Christine and tortured her for months, mainly to spite Nikolas.
Seeing the anger stark on his aristocratic features now gave Sarah the chills.
“What is going on?” Kaleo demanded.
“I think that’s our question for you,” Kristopher said. “What are you doing in our home?”
Kaleo spun to face Sarah, which made both boys take a protective step forward. “Your ‘family’ was in SingleEarth.”
“I know. They—”
He shook his head, silencing her explanation. “They took Heather. I demand you three get her back.”
“You demand?” Nikolas repeated incredulously. “Why would we possibly help you rescue one of your bonds? What exactly were you doing while she was fighting hunters, anyway?”
Though Sarah was also surprised that he would expect their