The Den of Shadows Quartet - Amelia Atwater-Rhodes [86]
She found Caryn near the door. The healer took one look at Sarah and led her to an empty room.
“Why the gloom?” Caryn asked gently, as Sarah collapsed onto the bed.
When Sarah did not answer, Caryn put a hand on her shoulder, friendly despite the fact that they had never been friends. The other witch’s aura was like a warm breeze, gentle and soothing as it brushed over Sarah’s skin.
“Sarah, what’s wrong?”
“Can I just stay here tonight? I can’t face my mother right now.” Sarah grimaced. “If I don’t come home tonight, she’s going to want to know where I’ve been. She’ll be upset if I miss the gathering, but it’s not against the law for me to be here.”
Caryn sat on the bed next to the flustered hunter. “So long as you’re here peacefully, you’re welcome to stay. But I would have thought you’d want to spend the New Year with your family.”
Sarah closed her eyes, trying to clear from her mind Christopher’s expression. “There are some things I need to think through before I see them again. And I don’t want to fight with Dominique on a holiday.”
Caryn patted her hand. “Stay as long as you like. If you’re feeling up to it, you should come downstairs, meet some of the others. Even a hunter needs peace in her life sometimes.”
“And how would SingleEarth react to a hunter in their midst?” Sarah asked dryly.
“If you walk in there, some vampires will be nervous, but they’ll give you a chance.” Sarah laughed, but Caryn went on, saying, “It’s the effort that matters. Every vampire, every witch, still has a human soul.”
Sarah hesitated, but spending the night alone in this little room, listening to the music from downstairs and staring out the window, was not how anyone would want to spend a holiday.
Caryn led her downstairs, where the SingleEarth party was bustling with activity Humans mingled with vampires and witches, laughing and joking together as if they were all the same kind.
Sarah rotated her shoulders, trying to work the tension from between her shoulder blades. No matter how light and happy the revelers were, she kept expecting to feel a knife in her back.
“Loosen up, Sarah,” Caryn encouraged her. “Introduce yourself to someone, and ask him to dance. Just have fun. SingleEarth is a safe, neutral place — no one’s going to bite.”
Despite Caryn’s urging, Sarah’s feeling of being misplaced refused to fade. She did not join the party, but watched from the edge, until at nearly two o’clock in the morning there was some excitement outside. Someone grabbed Caryn’s arm, pulling her toward the doorway.
Caryn paused when she saw whatever it was that stood beyond the door, but she quickly gathered herself and stepped outside, with Sarah hurrying after.
The yard was bright, and Sarah recognized the figure that was leading Caryn toward a dark corner. She trailed behind unobtrusively, not wanting to speak with Christopher if she could help it, but not willing to leave Caryn alone with any non-SingleEarth vampire, even one that she knew. Christopher had blood on his arm, and a small streak of it on his cheek as if he had brushed hair out of his face without realizing his hand was bloody.
Christopher had driven to the party, which was odd in itself, since he, like even the weakest of vampires, could have traveled more easily with his mind. He was driving a sleek white Le Sabre that Sarah had never seen before. She understood instantly though, when he opened the door to the backseat to reveal an injured human.
Sarah relaxed a bit when she realized Christopher was here to help a human friend, but then her suspicions rose. How had the girl been injured in the first place?
Caryn slipped into the car, ignoring the blood, while Christopher knelt beside the open door.
“Apparently she was at a bash, and she got into a fight,” he explained quickly. “One of the vampires there asked me to get her help.”
“Why didn’t he bring her himself?” Caryn asked, her voice faint, as most of her concentration went to examining the human.
“Just help her,” was all Christopher said in answer.
A second later, Sarah heard Caryn’s breath