All Just Glass - Amelia Atwater-Rhodes [14]
“Focus, Vida,” Kaleo snapped. “What does this mean, right now, to us?”
Kristopher looked ready to murder him, but the sharp words brought Sarah back to herself. They reminded her of the many times she had reported to Dominique, ignoring fatigue or agony after a particularly grueling fight. She had to be practical and keep her mind on what needed to be done. She couldn’t dwell on the lump in her stomach when she wondered why now, of all times, Dominique had called upon this ancient law.
“It means that all witches who hunt will turn their full attention on the ones Dominique considers responsible for my murder. They will call on their allies. They will track down anyone they have ever known to have a connection to the killers, without worrying about messy treaties with SingleEarth or other normally respected neutral havens.”
“I don’t suppose they care that you are not, in fact, dead,” Nikolas said.
Sarah shook her head. “In their eyes, I am.”
“And we’re your killers,” Kristopher added. “That means we need to warn our people. Everyone who wears our marks, or is normally allied with us.”
“Is Nissa safe?” Kaleo asked.
“She already had her run-in with the hunters—”
“Yes, I’m aware of that,” the Roman interrupted. “I assume she came to you after. Is she safe?”
“Yes,” Nikolas replied. “We’re not stupid. We didn’t know about the Rights, but the hunters threatened to kill her. It wasn’t subtle. She’s gone to ground.”
Kaleo nodded and then looked back at Sarah. “What will these hunters do to a bloodbond who might have information?”
“Normally, most hunters won’t hurt humans, even bloodbonds, but all bets are off now. They’ll want information, and they won’t show a lot of mercy getting it. Thank goddess Nissa got away.”
“I, too, am relieved that Nissa is safe,” Kaleo said, “but Nissa got away because Heather threw herself at the hunters, probably assuming they wouldn’t bother with a bloodbond, and certainly knowing that I would expect her to protect Nissa in any way she could. If she is now in danger, it is your fault, and I expect your help to retrieve her.”
Sarah closed her eyes and let herself go completely still, visualizing calm and centered attention.
By the time she opened her eyes again, she had come to a decision. There was one difference between this and all the deaths before. As Nikolas had pointed out, even if Sarah was dead by Vida standards, she wasn’t dead. Her family would be horrified at the notion of a vampire—a monster—walking around in the skin of someone who had once been one of them. Vidas didn’t believe that vampires could ever be good. They would be thinking not about if Sarah went bad, but when, and would consider it a mark of respect for who she had been to destroy what she now was.
“It isn’t right of me to put you all in this much danger. Dominique called on the Rights, but what she really wants is me.” There was a feeling that was almost one of freedom, of relief, as she said, “If I turn myself in—”
Shouting from the two brothers interrupted her chilled determination, but Kaleo’s words were what cut through to her: “Don’t be absurd.”
“Once they have me, they’ll release Heather.”
“So?”
She had expected anything other than blunt indifference from Kaleo. He had seemed to want to rescue his bloodbond, but Sarah realized she had misjudged him.
“I’m sorry if you can’t understand this,” she snapped, “but even if her life doesn’t matter to you, it matters to me. I won’t let her be hurt, possibly even killed, on my behalf.”
“On the contrary, Heather means a great deal to me,” Kaleo argued, “and I have no intention of letting her be killed. But neither do I intend to let them have you.”
“Why do you care?” Christine interrupted, fury in her voice. “Or is it just that you don’t share your victims?”
Kaleo looked at her with a long, considering gaze before saying, “I think Sarah would