Page 34 of Night of the Vampire
"And if you forget?"
I gave him a look that would whither a lesser man on the spot. "Shite, man. I won't forget."
"Just like you didn't forget to erase mine, huh?"
I turned around and leaned back against the sink. Mimicking his pose and crossing my ankles, I stared him down—my first friend who was now my sworn enemy because he was never going to forgive me for what I had done to him. Eventually, he lowered his eyes in deference to me. I hated making him do it, but the survival of our coven depended on a hierarchy, and he needed to remember who was at the top.
With a sigh, I dropped my arms and pushed away from the sink, rubbing the old wound on my thigh unconsciously. "I don't have time for this right now, Jamal," I told him as I pushed past him.
"Of course you don't." He dismissed me with a wave of his hand and disappeared into his room.
I'd completely forgotten he wasn't going into the club tonight. After ghosting us for two days, Brogan had reappeared last night with four full bags of new Hawaiian shirts—his apparel of choice—and a cocky grin splitting his face. He'd told Jamal he'd cover for him to give him a break and sent him home early. AKA, he needed to feed. I wasn't sure what was going on with that one, but at least he'd found his way home.
I supposed I would have to have a talk with him about his habit of running off without so much as leaving a proper note, but like everything else in my life right now, it was going to have to wait.
Checking in on Kenya before I left, I found her sleeping restlessly in sweat-soaked sheets, her expression tightened with pain. We were running out of time. If Lizzy tried to back out on me tonight...
But that wasn't going to happen. Because I was done giving her a choice. I'd already wasted too many days doing as Kenya wished, being the nice guy so as not to upset the witches who would surely be angered if I harmed one of their own in any way, whether she was ready to join them or not.
I shut the door quietly behind me. The sun had barely sank beneath the horizon, but it was safe enough for me to be out. Still, I wasted no time getting into the car to drive to the Quarter.
When I got to Lizzy's, she was waiting for me outside in the courtyard while Wiggles did his business before we left. I took her in, hearing her heart beat steadily in her chest and breathing in her scent. "Is he going to be all right here by himself?" I asked her.
"He'll be fine," she told me, "as long as I'm home in a few hours."
Though she was concentrating very hard on watching her dog sniff around a patch of grass, I caught the undercurrent in her tone. She was basically telling me I had to bring her back or the dog would suffer.
Lizzy was catching on to my weaknesses way too easily.
I waited outside while she took the dog into the house and made sure he was settled. When we left the side gate, she stopped and looked around.
"My car is down at Crescent Park," I explained. "It's better than wasting time circling around the block looking for a spot."
"That's what I like about living in here, there's no need for a car unless I want to leave the city. Which I rarely do."
I grunted my agreement.
"You're quiet," she told me a few minutes later as we walked.
I purposely avoided the busiest streets, wanting her all to myself. Or, as much as I could.
I glanced over at her. Her long hair was pulled back in a low ponytail tonight, and she was dressed in what appeared to be new clothes. They were casual attire—jeans and sneakers with a heavy green sweater—and remembering the reason why she'd had to purchase them, I was suddenly infuriated. "Have you heard anything about your apartment? Do they know how the fire started?" I knew how. I'd felt the magic creeping along my skin. But I wanted to see what she would say.
She shook her head. "No. They have no idea. But the police officer who called said I could go back there tomorrow to salvage what I can."
"I don't think it would be wise for you to go there alone."
She was quiet for a long time. "I think it was me." The words were no more than a whisper amongst the chatter of the other pedestrians and wailing of jazz horns, yet she might as well have screamed them in my ear.
"You?"
She glanced over at me in surprise, then quickly stared straight ahead again. Obviously, she hadn't meant for me to hear.
"It wasn't you, Lizzy."
"How do you know that? I showed you...last night...maybe I was dreaming or something."
I grabbed her arm and pulled her to a stop, forcing her to look up at me. "It wasn't you." A few people looked over at us as they passed, concern marring their features, and I released her arm.
