Page 23 of From the Shadows
That familiar ache coursed through Diego once again. “I got my mind back after that night, and remembered the pain and anguish I’d inflicted and the utter shame I felt. I think it kept me focused on what needed to be done.”
“Well, I for one am proud of you,” Shay said, as he returned. He filled a few coffee cups, then grabbed some kind of vegan rabbit food and took a seat. “Jeremy is devouring an entire pie, so we have a bit of time to talk now.”
“And he will be hyped up on sugar for the rest of the day. His snaky metabolism means that stuff will sit in his system until tomorrow. Good luck with that.”
“I’ll deal,” Shay assured Borne. “As for you, even though you were starved, you still protected people from the things that go bump in the night, and yourself. I can’t think of anyone who can make that claim.”
Why was Shay being so… nice? Diego had been awful to him. Had treated him like dirt stuck to the bottom of his shoe.
“Shay, I?—”
A hand went up. “No. Stop. I don’t want or need to hear another apology. I understand why you pushed me away. It wasn’t to hurt me, but protect me from you. I don’t think that’s something you need to feel bad for, and I promise you I’m all over being angry about it.”
The room was silent, save for the sipping of coffee and the clunk of the mugs being put back on the table. Why had Diego not told these people? Didn’t they have a right to know? Why had he pushed everyone away for centuries?
“I know that look,” Borne said. “There’s another apology coming.”
“Let him get it out of his system,” Ranna replied. “It’s got to be scary and lonely to keep such a tight rein on everything all the time.”
Wasn’t that the truth? Diego would be the first to admit it had taken a toll on him. How many nights had he hidden away in his room after a mission, while everyone else was in the great room laughing and having a good time unwinding? Even if he couldn’t drink from them, if hehadgone feral, he could have done them serious injury, if not killed them outright.
“To tell the truth,” Gabe said, “it’s us who owes you an apology. We’re your teammates. Your friends. Your family. We should have known you were hurting and come to you to offer help. For that, I am sorry.”
Diego stood. “This is on me,” he insisted. “I should have trusted you all, and?—”
“Okay, you can stop now!” Shay snapped. “There’s enough blame to go around for everyone involved. All you need to do is say you’re sorry, then move on. The lot of you are rehashing and trying to take all the responsibility for something that not one of you has done anything to feel bad about. Now, together, on three, everyone will say they’re sorry, and that’s the last I want to hear about this. One. Two. Three.”
Voices rang out as everyone joined in a group apology, and oddly, Diego felt better afterward.
“Thank you, Shay. Everyone. Now?—”
Diego?
Hey, Empatia. What’s up?
You sound much more relaxed.
I am. Thank you for helping Shay procure the blood. It really did help.
If you had told me before, I could have?—
We’re done with apologies. It’s time to move forward.
Excellent. I agree. And we have a new mission for you all.
For the first time since he’d been part of the group, Diego was actually looking forward to getting out there with his… friends.
Chapter 7
“Isthis going to be a problem for you, Diego?”
He looked down again at the photographs of the massacre. Men, women, children. All of them dead. Their faces a ghastly white, their eyes open wide in a death mask of terror. Their throats had been ripped out, and it appeared that each of them had been drained of blood.
“No, it won’t,” Diego vowed, crumpling one of the sheets in an iron fist. “Do we know who did this?”
“As of yet, no.”
Diego closed his eyes and the scene played out in his mind. He could almost smell the fear of the people who’d gathered for a night of fun. How quickly it changed as they slumped down into their chairs or simply fell to the floor. Around them there was panic, until one by one, they all succumbed to whatever had happened. “It wasn’t one person, but a coven,” he said aloud. “They descended on a birthday party and…. Well, you see what the results were.”
