All Just Glass - Amelia Atwater-Rhodes [28]
“You don’t look happy at the idea of going home,” Jerome observed when Adia ended the call and tucked the phone into her pocket.
She hadn’t expected him not to notice her obvious reaction to the news, so she had an answer ready. “I have a difficult relationship with my family.”
“Don’t we all?” Jerome answered with a laugh. “If you end up wanting turkey without the complications, the Makeshift hosts Thanksgiving for anyone who wants to show up.” He went behind the counter for a few minutes, looked around and came back with a small flyer. “I just got these printed, and wasn’t planning to put them out until this weekend, but you’re welcome to one.”
Vampire Thanksgiving.
That was sure to be a hoot.
“Thanks,” she said. Strangely, her smile felt genuine. Thanksgiving at home normally meant pizza. Now, if she was looking for an easy kill and some pumpkin pie, she would have somewhere to go. “You know, I should get going, but how about you give me your number, and I’ll give you a call sometime?” she asked. If Sarah was turning herself in, they probably wouldn’t need the lead, but it would be stupid to break the connection before determining how useful it might be.
Jerome obliged, giving her a different number than the one that went directly to the shop. It looked like a cell phone exchange, but there were so many these days that it was always hard to tell.
“Call anytime,” he said. “I tend to stay up late.”
“Me too.”
She managed to keep her heartbeat from ringing in her ears until she made it back to her car. While she had been inside, dawn had transformed into full day—one of those bitter mornings when the sky was so perfectly blue it was hard to believe that the wind could have such a bite to it. At least that meant there wouldn’t be any morning joggers or bikers to get in her way as she pushed as much speed into the car as it could handle. She trusted her reflexes to keep her from a collision. Worst-case scenario, she could sweet-talk any cop, add a push of power and make a possible ticket disappear. There were more important things at stake.
Absently, she wondered why she felt such a need to hurry. Did she really want to get there in time? Was it selfish to hope in some ways that Zachary would do what she hadn’t been able to and end all this before she even stepped through the door?
CHAPTER 9
SATURDAY, 7:31 A.M.
SARAH STOOD ACROSS the street from where she had once lived, well aware that the witches inside the house would sense her, but trying to get her thoughts and the scraping of the vampiric hunger under control enough to make a plan. The early-morning sun was a worse slap in the face than the winter wind. It illuminated a peaceful neighborhood, where some houses still boasted decorations not yet taken in from Halloween, and some were already prepared for Thanksgiving. A few brightly colored leaves still fluttered on the trees.
It was a pretty day to die.
For a little while, she had been too dazed to think past Nikolas’s, Kristopher’s and Kaleo’s vehement responses to her statement that she had to turn herself in. She had let them wrap her up in their insistence that she had a right to go on, but she didn’t. As a hunter she had accepted the possibility of her own death. She had never wanted to wake as a vampire. She didn’t want to die, but she had no right to endanger so many others with her continued existence when her time had come and gone.
Her arrogance had almost gotten Christine hurt—or worse. She had to fix this mess before it was too late and she lost the will to do what needed to be done, and there was only one sure way to do that. Dominique had invoked the Rights of Kin because her daughter had been transformed into a vampire. She would declare satisfaction once she knew that her daughter was … at rest.
The only hitch was Heather. The bloodbond was already in Vida custody, and they were unlikely to give her up just because the Rights of Kin were dropped. However, Sarah was the more valuable target, which meant an exchange that would ensure Heather’s safety once this was