Page 41 of Rebel Fae
Becca squealed, jumping to her feet. “Mac and cheese. My favorite!” She ran toward the food, forgetting all about the mess we were in.
I went toward a table, but couldn’t enjoy the bounty. Tomorrow morning we set out to find Antonio, the very person who’d tried to murder me.
Chapter Sixteen
In the morning,our situation didn’t look any better, but at least the beast hadn’t tried to attack us in the night. Even though there was no sign of him, that didn’t stop us from keeping watch at the cave entrance and jumping at every sound all night long. Vaughn, Bael, and I took turns with the night’s watch, but I didn’t sleep well even when it was my turn to curl up against the cave wall, my waist pack crunched under my head for a pillow, my wings aligned with the cold stone.
Ronnie had slept fitfully, moaning and crying softly, and Regina didn’t seem to sleep at all, but I wasn’t sure if vampires needed rest as humans did. Only Becca managed a solid night’s sleep though she complained as if she hadn’t.
“How are we going to find him?” she whined as we sat around the fire Bael was stoking back into existence. “Why don’t they give us clues? They’re as bad as my mom with her vague hints. ‘Don’t you want to learn to drive, Bec? Are you ever going to take responsibility for your actions, Bec? Are you ever going to date someone who has more than two brain cells, Bec?’” She mocked her mother’s voice, putting her hands on her hips and tilting her head from side to side.
I didn’t have the energy to tell Becca that those sounded more like serious issues and less like vague hints. Instead, I glanced around the campfire at the tired faces who stared back at me.
“Dr. Watts said that we were Supernaturals, and we can use those powers to figure out where Antonio is, so I need everyone to think about what their powers could do to help us search.”
“Well, I’m no help,” Ronnie held up his bandaged hands. He was still looking pale and sad. Without magic, he really seemed lost.
“I’m no help, either,” Becca added, taking a stick and poking it aimlessly into the fire.
Bael glared at her as she knocked one of his carefully stacked logs over. “I’m a warrior,” he added. “So unless you need someone vanquished, there is little I can do.”
I scrubbed my hands over my face as my frustration grew. “Okay, Regina. What can you do?”
She shrugged looking up from her rocky perch, which was carefully positioned to avoid any morning sunlight that might peek through the jungle foliage. “Need anyone’s veins opened? I’m your gal.”
Beside me, Vaughn growled, seeming to grow as frustrated as I was. “None of this is helping. You aren’t thinking hard enough.”
“Whatever, Mr. Grumpy Pants,” Becca said. “What canyoudo?”
He nodded, looking serious. “I have wolf senses, I can shift, run long distances, but I’m not sure I’m allowed to help you.”
“Wolf senses might be useful,” I added. “Plus, they didn’t say you couldn’t help.”
Regina had been staring at me for a while and now she spoke. “But you can fly Tally. That has to be something.”
I thought this over. “I could go up and scout. Maybe that’s what Dr. Watts was talking about.”
“Sure,” Regina said, folding her arms across her chest. “And find us some blankets and pillows while you’re up there, too. Oh, and blood.”
I ignored her comment, focusing on the idea of a possible flight and where to search for Antonio. I was still having mixed feelings about seeing him again, but I knew we had to find him or risk more harm to our campmates. I was sure Ronnie’s hands were the work of Crescent punishing us for something. We couldn’t afford more of that.
Determined to start right away, I got up, grabbed my pack, and strapped it on.
Vaughn stood beside me. “Tally, a word?”
“Ahh,” Becca said. “Don’t start K-I-S-S-I-N-G-ing again.”
“The ING is already in the word,” Ronnie added, rolling his eyes at her.
Vaughn and I ignored her childishness and walked away from the group, continuing until we were out of earshot.
“Please be careful out there,” he said, stepping close, though he didn’t touch me. There were too many eyes on us for that.
“I will. Keep them safe.” I stared into his eyes, wanting desperately to run my hands down his arms and pull him to me. Just thinking about our time in the room sparked a fiery desire I wasn’t used to feeling.
“They’ll have Antonio somewhere we can get to him,” Vaughn added. “They want to challenge us, but they don’t want to make it impossible.”
“I’ll do my best.” I squeezed his hand and took off.
