Page 100 of Fanged Embrace
The contradiction pinned me.
When I looked one way, I saw River’s hand reaching out for me. All I had to do was take it.
When I looked the other way, I found myself staring down the barrel of a gun. All I had to do was pull the trigger.
Two potential futures, splitting me down the middle. Both enticing for entirely different reasons.
I wasn’t sure which one would win.
I spent the first hour of River’s absence pacing the hallways, tempted to nap but terrified that closing my eyes without her around would summon another nightmare. Instead, I reorganized her tea cupboard by caffeine level and alphabetized the content of her cabinets. Anything to drown the quiet and lull the turbulence in my head.
It was mundane work but it kept me distracted. It kept me sane when I would have been going crazy before, so far removed from the action. But still, the unease seethed. Maybe it was the silence, or the way my footsteps echoed in the halls. I tried to tell myself there was nothing to worry about. There were guards outside and River would be back soon.
I hadn’t realized how much I relied on the comfort her presence offered until she wasn’t there. At some point she’dbecome my shield, and now that she was gone, my old habits were resurfacing with a vengeance. I wanted to booby-trap the hallways, hide out in the tunnels that veined throughout the house. I wanted to triple-check the locks.
But that was stupid. I was safe. I could handle the stillness a while longer?—
Then the doorbell chimed.
A single, crispding-dong.
I paused in the middle of stacking ceramic side dishes, and every hair on my arms lifted. River wouldn’t ring. She had keys and a talent for dramatic entrances. The guards outside would announce themselves through brash knocks.
I set the plate down and told myself that maybe the recon wrapped up early, maybe someone forgot their phone. But dread slithered up my spine. Whoever pressed that button had slipped past the Leyore security or, worse, knew how to avoid it.
With my heart in my throat, I edged toward the foyer, grabbing the chef’s knife I’d abandoned beside the cutting board—because a blade was better than bare hands, even if both would be pointless against vampires. The koi pond’s gurgle sounded suddenly loud in my ears, like it was trying to mask more insidious noises. My footsteps were hushed on the polished wood; the doorbell didn’t ring again.
At the threshold I pressed my back to the wall, forced my breathing silent, then twisted and peered through the peephole.
Nothing. Just the quiet street, late-morning sun warming the sidewalk. I fiddled with the lock and eased the door open an inch. Still empty. Except… there—on the welcome mat—was an envelope. Cream colored and perfectly mundane.
It had my name on it, inked out in neat block letters.
My pulse thrummed like a trapped bird but I swallowed the rising panic. A piece of paper couldn’t bite. I knelt, keeping oneeye on the street, retrieved the envelope, and shut the door fast, bolting every lock behind me.
My hands shook as I examined the mystery letter, turning the thin parcel over in my hands. I slit it open with the kitchen knife, and a single card slid out:
Ms. Montgomery,
You are hereby instructed to report back to your designated facility. Compliance within forty-eight (48) hours will guarantee the continued safety of the Leyore coven and its associates.
Failure to comply will initiate immediate corrective action.
My pulse crashed and roared in my ears and the words swam wild and warped before my eyes. I almost didn’t notice the hand-written scrawl at the bottom—the text that sent my stomach plummeting worse than the initial warning:
Lorelai, please. Come home. We’ve missed you.
I dropped the letter like it burned and staggered backward. My back hit the door and sent it rattling on its hinges.
They’d found me. They’d foundus.
I pressed my hands over my mouth, stifling the delayed scream that streaked up my throat.
They’d found River’s address, bypassed the guards, and rang the bell like polite neighbors. They could have strolled inside if they’d wanted to. They could have taken me by force, but they didn’t. They wanted me to come back willingly. It was all perfectly orchestrated to prove that they were always one step ahead. They would always have the upper hand.
I slid to the floor, hunching over myself as the implications of that letter turned my blood to ice.
They wanted me back. They had never stopped searching.
