All Just Glass - Amelia Atwater-Rhodes [36]
Adianna prided herself on her control, with good reason, but she was still Dominique’s daughter; she couldn’t hide perfectly when she looked into her mother’s eyes. But though Dominique saw the plea, Adianna clearly already knew she wouldn’t respond. They couldn’t afford to be sentimental that day.
Dominique would watch her and make sure she didn’t balk, because forward was the only direction that would get them through this. She wouldn’t let Adianna become another Jacqueline, whose impulsiveness and doubts had destroyed her, along with most of her family.
“I’m going to see if Zachary and Michael need help,” Adianna said, looking away. “They’re pretty worn down. You check on Jay.”
Adianna turned away without waiting for acknowledgement, a gesture Dominique knew had been learned from her. It didn’t leave any space for an argument, had Dominique wanted to make one.
Jay had arrived with a backpack and a small tote bag that held all his weaponry. When Dominique reached him, he had finished packing but was struggling with the zipper because of his broken arm.
She reached down to help without asking, or even looking directly at the empath. Nevertheless, he responded as his line tended to, with no regard for her obvious signals that she had no desire to engage in conversation.
“It isn’t your fault,” he said.
“A hunter shouldn’t try to be a therapist,” she said, zipping the backpack and tossing it at him. He caught it one-handed without a problem.
“I just wanted to—”
“It isn’t my fault,” she interrupted. She knew too well the way Marinitch witches worked when they tried to get inside someone’s head. “If anything, it’s the fault of those damned fools at SingleEarth. If it weren’t for their insistence that we honor their alliances, my daughter never would have been put into a situation where she was forced to endure the company of a leech just because he was pretending to play nice.”
The Vida line had laws forbidding relationships with their prey—even friendly ones, much less romantic—for a reason. They could all pretend to be human for a while. They could pretend to be charming, even. She had seen it. Believing that they were, however, was a good way to get someone killed.
“You’ve never once had doubts?” Jay asked.
She answered him honestly, because that was the only way to deal with an empath. Lies only made them pry further.
“Everyone doubts at some point. If we’re lucky, we learn better. If we’re not, it gets us or someone else killed. If you want to second-guess this situation, do it in your own head. We need a hunter, not a shrink.”
She had checked on him. Now, as she returned to Adianna, Michael and Zachary, who were gathered in the living room, she said, “Jay will be right down. Adianna, let me give you the safe house address. I won’t be traveling or staying with you.”
She had put Adianna in charge but didn’t expect her to question the statement, and was not disappointed. This was Adianna’s hunt, and Dominique’s presence would only undermine her. More important, this was a crucial lesson for Adianna to learn—one Dominique had already studied once before, and felt no need to review.
She had turned to go before she heard Adianna say, “If you’re not coming with us, then you’re in charge of keeping an eye on Robert. He’s conflicted about the vampires, and he and his sister are both young and naïve. He might try to join her or he might try to rescue her, but either way, he could potentially lead us right to our targets.”
Dominique nodded. “I know a pair of local shapeshifters—birds—who wouldn’t be much use in a hunt but do good surveillance work.” If they weren’t being called upon to risk their pinfeathers, they would probably even return her call. “I’ll see if they can help.”
“Good,” Adianna said. “You tail the human. Michael, you and Sarah used to hunt in New York City. That area tends to be popular with Kendra’s line. Do you think Sarah might go back, if she’s looking for familiar territory to feed in?”
“She might go to feed, or she might go to get help from old contacts,” Michael