Page 57 of Night of the Vampire
"I gotchu." With a wave of his hand, he was gone.
Locking the door, I took my pizza to the loveseat and turned on the television. But I couldn't have told anyone what I was watching. My head was too full of everything Jamal must have gone through to make him risk his life to run.
And a small, innocent Irish boy who risked his life to help people, only to turn around and steal those lives as a man.
Chapter 20
Killian
Something was wrong. I knew it before I’d even gotten to the back door and saw the plastic bag hanging from the knob. Looking inside, I saw it was full of Kenya's clothes. The ones I'd given to Lizzy to wear.
I dropped it and tried the knob but it was locked. "Lizzy?" I called.
There was no movement inside. No lights were on, either.
Backing away from the door, I looked up to the second floor to see if she was possibly up there. It was completely dark. I didn't know why I bothered. I knew she wasn't here. But what really worried me was neither was Wiggles. I didn't feel either of them.
Hands on my hips, I tried not to give in to the panic rising up inside of me. Maybe she just went to see her family. It wasn't an ideal situation right now, but at least I knew she'd be safe with them.
So, then, why had she left the bag?
My eyes landed on the mat in front of the door. It had been there so long it had left a dark outline on the brick of the courtyard. Part of that outline was visible, which meant the mat had been moved.
Squatting down, I picked up one corner and found the key to the house I'd given Lizzy. I picked it up, turning it over in my fingers, my mind racing.
She'd left me. There was no other reason for her to have left the key.
But where could she have gone? She had no car, no home of her own right now. There was no way she'd rented a new place this fast.
Or had she?
Fear shot through me as soon as I realized I had no idea where she was or how to get ahold of her, and I had to talk myself down. She still had her voodoo store. Maybe she'd made up with her aunt and had gone to stay with her.
Unlocking the door, I went inside. My note was where I'd left it on the kitchen table, but the money was gone. I picked up the piece of paper to see if maybe she'd done me the same courtesy, but there was only what I'd written.
I crumpled it up and threw it into the trash. In the bedroom, everything was neat and clean. The extra toothbrush I'd found for her was in the trash.
It was almost as though she'd never even been there.
Standing in the middle of the bedroom, I tried to figure out what the hell she was thinking to just take off the way she had, but I didn't have the slightest clue. When I'd left her early this morning she'd been sleeping contentedly in my arms. What could possibly have happened between then and now? What the fuck had possessed her to leave the way she had? Without a by your leave? I didn't care that she'd taken the money. She was more than welcome to it. The gods knew I had more than enough. And I had no idea what kind of access she had to her own since the fire.
Maybe I should've asked.
My thigh began to ache and I rubbed the old wound absent-mindedly while I tried to figure out what my next move would be. I couldn't just let her disappear from my life. Not now. It was much too late for that. Our lives, such as they were, were now entwined. Because what she didn't know, at least not yet, was that I would die without her. Literally.
And I wasn't finished with this life.
I went back to my car and got inside, but that's as far as I got. What I was thinking was dangerous. However, Lizzy wasn't giving me any other choice.
Starting the car, I drove to the Garden District, telling myself I just wanted to make sure she was safe. It wasn't the smartest move, coming here. This part of New Orleans was home to the witches. Vampires were strictly forbidden. If I was seen, I could very well end up in the same situation as Kenya, or worse. Our agreement with the high priestess would be considered broken, and the lives of my entire coven would be in danger. The witches were already angry at us about something. What was happening with Kenya was a warning. To rile them up even more was the epitome of stupidity.
I knew this, but I couldn't get myself to leave without seeing her. I just wanted to make sure she was here and she was okay. Once I knew that, I would leave her be and let her get this little act of rebellion out of her system.
She would come back to me.
Pulling up about a half a block from Judy's home, I parked the car and turned off the engine. Hours passed, and still there was no sign of Lizzy or her aunt. I stayed in my car, ducked down low in my seat, keeping one eye on her house and one on the occasional passing pedestrian. If a witch walked by, I was completely fucked. There was no way around it. They would know I was here as soon as they got within twenty feet of me. If they drove past, I might have a chance of escaping their notice.
I was about to give up when a car coming from the opposite direction slowed down and pulled into Judy Moss's drive along the far side of her house. I lost sight of it when she got past the house, and watched anxiously for lights to come on inside.
