Page 107 of Love Bleeds
"You remembered all that..." Crimson had to give him props for that.
"They might have changed the combination for the lock on the other side, but at least she'd be away from the blast by that point," Luke said.
"There's one problem with your plan, though," Crimson pointed out. "You can't stay here either."
Luke met his gaze, his determination clear in his eyes. "I don't plan on dying here, but don't get me wrong. I don't plan onyoudying here either. I've realized, we can't stop the bomb. Not while it's in a room full of vampires."
"What are you saying?"
"That maybe our plan shouldn't be to stop it. Let's let it blow Nicolai up. He definitely deserves it." Luke's chin jutted.
Savannah stared at Luke with an expression of mystification that Crimson felt in his bones. He'd never thought he'd ever hear Luke talk about blowing people up, yet here they were.
"As much as I want to give Nicolai a bomb for his birthday, Christmas and Easter, I don't want you caught in the blast," he said.
"I can protect us," Luke said, eyes blazing. "If there's only two of us, I think my magic might be enough. We'll withstand the blast, then make our way out in the ensuing confusion."
"Magic?" Savannah asked.
Crimson paid her no mind. "You think itmightwork?" he asked instead, eyes trained on Luke.
"Do you have anything better?" Luke shot back. "Look, if I had a couple of hours to come up with a better plan, I might, but we don't have that."
He had a point there.
"You should never have come here."
"And then you'd both blow up. No way. This is my mess. I'm fixing it." Luke crossed his arms in front of his chest and took a stance. Crimson found it hard to tear his eyes away from him. He'd never seen Lukestep uplike that. Under different circumstances, he might have teased him about it, if only to hide the effect Luke's display of confidence had on him.
But he couldn't waste any thoughts onthatnow.
"So this place is going to blow up?" Savannah asked, bringing him back on track.
"I don't think the bomb is strong enough to take down the whole place," Luke said. "But honestly, I'm not really sure. First bomb. Well, firstrealbomb, and I was in a bit of a hurry, so... I was generous with the ammonium nitrate to make sure Nicolai wouldn't survive the blast. Vampires are vulnerable to fire." He deflated a little as he talked, his newfound confidence leaving him as quickly as he'd gained it. It was a sad sight to see, so Crimson decided to bolster him up again.
"It was a good plan."
"Yeah, until it went sideways." Luke rubbed the back of his neck, then he gestured at the door. "Are we doing this? I don't know if I can protectthreepeople."
"Right. We need a distraction to get her out."
Crimson put a hand on the door, thinking. He hadn't meant to listen for any signs from the building, but with his vampire senses being what they were, he heard the commotion going on outside anyway. Something was happening.
He swallowed.
It would be too much to hope that the universe would provide a distraction before they could come up with one themselves, right?
But a group of vampires was marching toward the elevator, heading out of the base.
Wait, had they found the bomb? Were they evacuating?
No, that wasn't what was going on.
Crimson heard a voice, above the ruckus, as someone passed the door. "Can't believe we're finally getting to kill those dirty traitors."
Those dirty traitors... They had to be talking about Talon and Aldrich.
Were they causing a commotion outside? Trying to help them in some way?
