Page 176 of Envious Of Fire
Kyle peers back down at his brother.
The way he almost looks like he’s sleeping. The gauze, the bandages, they’re just bed sheets over his face, one eye peeping out, peaceful. His breathing, the pattern of it, the rhythm and cadence, even that’s the same as it used to be.
Kyle doesn’t want to think about ulterior purposes. Doesn’t want to think about other horrors Tristan has done, nor what his brother went through over the years. He just wants to bask in this inexplicably warm and comforting feeling right now.
This feeling that no matter where he is, as long as Kaleb is by his side, Kyle feels at home.
A feeling Kyle hasn’t known in decades, since the night his family was lost, that night when his life was turned into a living nightmare of blood, fire, and running away.
With Kaleb in his arms again, there is no more running.
His family is back.
Then: boom.
The bus lurches, swerves. Elias grips the wheel, corrects it. “What the fuck was that—?” he starts.
Another loud boom, a heavy thump, overhead.
Kyle looks up, gripping his brother tighter. His Reach casts out automatically, senses nothing.
Nothing …
“Vampires,” murmurs Kyle, realizing. “They followed us.”
“You kidding me?” blurts Elias from the front. “You sure I didn’t just hit something on the road?”
Raya rises, stares upward, perhaps picking up on something of her own. “Only one,” she reports, eyes fixed to the ceiling. “Ican hear them. Their heart is like a … a flutteringbug.”
“Wait, what?” exclaims one of the mortals, shaking. “They found us?” 4 clutches the seat in front of her, eyes wide. “Fuck no,” whimpers one of the teenage boys. “No, no, no,” moans the other teenager, his eyes welling up with tears.
Another loud slam against the ceiling.
The humans shout out, flinching away from the noise.
The whole bus veers right, then left, until Elias straightens it out again. “How the fuck are they doing that??” he shouts.
“Secure the windows!” cries the freckly one. “And doors!”
“It won’t make a difference,” says Raya calmly, staring up at the ceiling, as if seeing something no one else can. “The Feral can enter the bus whenever they please. They choose not to.”
“Why?” asks 4.
“Playing with their food?” suggests Raya too flippantly.
Kyle peers down at his brother, astonished he’s still asleep through all of this. The medication must be keeping him deeply sedated. If he was awake, how would he be reacting right now? Would he be strong? Unafraid? Even trapped in a cage with a lion, Kaleb’s first instinct was to approach it. He is brave. He is a new man born out of the timid boy Kyle once knew.
It wasn’t enough to break Kaleb free from the House of Vegasyn. Kyle has to see it through to the end, to ensure Kaleb stays alive, gets healthy, and becomes himself again. This long and trying night can’t be for nothing.
Another slam, from ahead.
Everyone turns forward, breathless.
On the windshield is the unmistakable figure of a vampire in a raspberry catsuit—La-La—his giddy eyes and grin in the center of a wind-tousled explosion of long white hair. One arm clings effortlessly to the glass somehow. The other is extended with his katana blade shimmering in the starlight.
Even with his hair flying in all directions, La-La’s beauty ismesmerizing, his face like the finely-sculpted work of a revered artist, impossibly smooth, unblemished, a perfect balance of features that draw the eye and inspire boundless intrigue.
But none of that beauty distracts from how dangerous Kyle knows La-La to be.
