Page 44 of The Predator
My curiosity peaked. “Do tell, fuckwad.” The hate I had for Noah before multiplied tenfold.
“She loves the bloodsuckers, like you. You both need to suffer,” Noah said, as confident and sure as the rain battering against the windshield.
The driver’s side door opened, and Conrad climbed in.
I raised my finger to my lips.
“Tell me where you are, Rianne,” I demanded.
“You’ll figure it out,” she said before she hung up.
I was tempted to throw my phone through the windshield. Instead, I screamed at the top of my lungs.
Conrad winced.
When I was done releasing all my pent-up anger, I searched his car. “Do you have any weapons in here?”
He scrubbed a hand down his face, wiping the water from it. “Of course. But tell me what’s going on.”
“Head back toward the ranch, and I’ll fill you in.”
Maybe Abbey’s premonition about Rianne killing me was about to come true. But not before I put up a good fucking fight.
16
LAYLA
The rain pounded down, each drop pinging off the metal of Conrad’s vehicle. I felt as though I was standing under one of the waterfalls at Niagara Falls.
Conrad parked about half a mile from the abandoned farm where I knew Rianne and Noah had Sam and Jordyn. The same place with the firepit, where we tortured vampires.
I couldn’t believe I was about to face off with my sister. My fucking sister. I had no idea how her attitude had changed so quickly, how I had missed something so important in the time I was laid up with the flu.
“Stay here,” I said to Conrad. “I want to scope out the situation first.”
He swung out his arm. “Not so fast. You’re not going in alone. Sam would gut me.”
Lightning streaked across the sky, followed by a peal of thunder. The windshield wipers swished back and forth quickly. My heart wentboom, boom, boom. The damn thing slammed into my rib cage, sounding louder than the force of nature outside.
Conrad glanced out. “Not sure you want to be out there.”
I wanted to be miles up in the sky and on my way to see Dr. Vieira because since slurping Sam’s blood earlier, I was thirsty for more. But I wasn’t about to dissect the reasons or speculate. I was done with that.
I grabbed the door handle. “We can’t wait for the weather to let up. If I know my cousin Noah, he’ll burn Sam before we can blink.”
“I’m not suggesting we wait for the rain to stop. But before we go in, I need to call Webb,” Conrad said. “We need someone to know what’s going on.”
I let out a nervous laugh. “You mean someone needs to know where to find our bodies.” I was half teasing.
A wild laugh broke out in my head as that premonition Abbey had of Rianne killing me brightened like a neon sign in the dead of night. I clutched my chest to will my heart to slow the fuck down.
Conrad lifted his phone off the console between us, found Webb’s number, and tapped on it. Then he put the call on speaker.
The line rang once before Webb’s deep voice came through. “Conrad? What’s wrong?”
Freaking vampires had that sixth sense even through the phone.
“Hi, Webb. It’s Layla. You’re on speaker, and Conrad is sitting next to me.” My hands trembled. “Sam has been kidnapped by Rianne and one of my cousins.” I swallowed the pail of sand in my throat. “I talked to Rianne. So I know Sam isn’t dead yet.”
