The Den of Shadows Quartet - Amelia Atwater-Rhodes [87]
Curious, Sarah stepped forward to look into the car.
The girl’s naturally smooth, dark skin was marred by bruises and shallow wounds, and Sarah could tell that the unconscious victim’s jaw was probably broken. She was bleeding in several places, and her breathing was quick and shallow.
Sarah could only see the girl’s right arm, but that was enough. Faded scars marked her skin — a rose on her right shoulder and a strand of ivy on her wrist. This girl was one of Nikolas’s victims. Had Nikolas beaten her, or had some other vampire caused this more recent injury?
And what was Christopher doing with Nikolas?
“Sarah, Christopher, give me some room,” Caryn ordered. Her voice was soft, but the authority was unmistakable. Sarah could feel the gentle pulse of magic emanating from the healer — a warm, peaceful glow, so different from the painful Vida magic.
Sarah could see tension in Christopher’s movements as he slipped past her without a word, and moved further away from the light.
“Who is she?”
Christopher paused. “Her name is Marguerite,” he answered cautiously “They asked me to take her, because no one in that group is allowed within a hundred yards of SingleEarth.”
“Why you?”
“Probably because they could find me.” His voice was growing cooler. “Blood calls to blood — a lot of the people in my line are in that circuit.” The words seemed a challenge, as he flaunted his connection to the killers.
She glanced at the car, where Caryn was still working. “What happened to her?”
Christopher shook his head. “I didn’t see it. All I know is that another vampire insulted Nikolas, and Marguerite took a swing at him. She nearly got herself killed before someone dragged the two of them apart.”
So Nikolas wasn’t the one who hurt her, Sarah thought, almost disappointed. If Nikolas had caused this, Sarah could probably have gotten some information from the girl, but if she had attacked a vampire in defense of Nikolas, then Marguerite was not likely to tell much of anything to a hunter.
“You know Nikolas, then?” she asked aloud.
“Don’t, Sarah.” Christopher’s voice was sure, and made it very clear that he had no intention of telling her anything.
“Were you at the bash?”
“Do you think I’m the one who hit her?” Christopher asked, his voice quiet, but taut with anger.
No, she did not think Christopher would ever hurt a human. But if he was hanging out around Nikolas and other killers, then she would have to start wondering if her impressions were correct. “Did you?”
“I didn’t hurt her,” he said, turning away. “I wasn’t at the bash. I don’t follow that circuit.” He sounded hurt.
“I had to ask.” But that was a lie. She could read his aura, and more than that, she knew Christopher. He wasn’t a killer.
Sarah had nothing more to say to him. Dominique or Adianna would have had a knife to his throat immediately demanding information on Nikolas and his group. Had he been speaking to any Daughter of Vida but Sarah, Christopher would not have lived through the next five minutes.
The tense silence lasted for several moments, until Caryn called for Christopher to take the girl home. Marguerite needed rest, but she would be fine.
Sarah didn’t know what bothered her more — that Christopher had been so frosty, or that she was watching two people who could have given her information on Nikolas drive away from her.
CHAPTER 12
CHRISTOPHER WAS NOT IN CLASS on Monday. The seat next to Sarah in history was painfully empty. No new poems showed up in her locker or in her backpack.
In sculpture class, she avoided Nissa. She knew that if she allowed herself to maintain even a casual in-school relationship with the vampires, she would never be able to keep the necessary distance that Vida law demanded.
By lunch she was surprised to realize she already missed them fiercely. She didn’t even go into the cafeteria, but brought her sandwich out to the courtyard and ate on the grass, alone.
In calculus, she began to worry about Christopher. Again he wasn’t in class. Vampires did not get sick, and it took a lot to even injure