Page 67 of Fire in My Blood
The thought of what David will suffer if I don’t show up helps me regain my focus. I have to get out of here immediately, and that hole in the fence straight ahead is my best chance.
Moving as silently as I possibly can, I resume my crawl toward the hole. My hands are already sore with a lot of small cuts from roots and twigs, and my knees are going numb from crawling for longer than I have since I was a kid. But I keep going while praying I can still make it to the park on time.
I feel my backpack catch on something, and there’s a sharp crack as a twig breaks. I freeze and squeeze my eyes closed, mentally preparing myself to make a run for it if I have to.
Footfalls move in my direction, and I hold my breath.
Suddenly, there’s screaming and laughing coming from the opposite side of my apartment building, and the person heading toward me turns and starts running in the opposite direction.
Unable to believe my luck, I quickly crawl to the hole in the fence and wriggle through the opening. I have no time to lose, and immediately get to my feet and run flat out across the neighboring property.
The gate to the street is open, and I sprint through it and down the street toward the park. To save time I turn down a side street and cut through a few properties. Thank God I’m running most days of the week and know the area well.
When I reach the southeastern corner of the park, I see a Mustang parked by the gate up ahead. After sprinting over to it, I yank open the passenger door and throw my body into the seat. “I’m here.”
The man in the driver’s seat gives me a nasty grin. “So you are. Didn’t leave much time to spare, did you?” He raises an eyebrow at me and folds his arms over his chest.
“Tell him I made it! If he’s going to hurt my brother anyway there’s no reason for me to go with you.” I swing my legs out of the car and am already halfway out of the vehicle when his fist closes around my wrist.
“I’ll make the call. Just get in the car.” He lets go of my wrist and pulls out a cell phone.
After placing the call, he puts the phone to his ear and narrows his eyes at me.
Someone picks up, but I can’t hear what they say.
“She’s here. We’re on our way.”
I sit back in the passenger seat, close the door, and put my seatbelt on. The guy next to me shoves the phone into his pocket and starts the engine. My body is pushed back into the seat when we take off down the street.
Chapter 41
Lucas
I watch the five youths walk down the street laughing, screaming, and acting like morons, but then that’s not unusual for boys that age.
When I first heard the commotion on the other side of the building, I thought it had something to do with the vampire we’re after. But I soon realized it didn’t.
It’s already close to midnight, and we haven’t seen any sign of him. And now, after rushing in to see what the noise was, we have revealed ourselves to anyone keeping an eye on the building.
I saw Erica as she entered the building earlier, but before I could step out of the shadows and go to her, Markus stopped me. A nagging worry has settled between my shoulder blades, since she’s here and not back at the mansion where she would be safe.
And the awareness that she’s so close is distracting, since all I want to do is go to her and take her into my arms, kiss her, make love to her, and…No.I wince at the stabbing pain in my chest. She doesn’t want that.
One of us has to check on her soon, though, just to make sure she’s all right. Being alone in her apartment where she was attacked only days ago must be terrifying, but I don’t think Markus and Lyn considered that when they brought her with them.
Fisting my hands at my sides in an effort to keep my temper in check, I approach Markus. When they arrived almost an hour ago, he tried to talk to me, but I was too pissed off thatthey had brought Erica with them to listen to anything he had to say.
I give him a nod. “I’m sorry I was angry, but I still don’t think bringing her here was a good idea.”
Markus’s expression doesn’t reveal his thoughts when he looks at me. “You weren’t there to give your opinion.”
I throw my hands in the air in frustration. “Fuck, that’s not the point. She would be safer back at the mansion.”
“Go to her, Lucas. Talk to her.”
“And say what, that I didn’t mean it?” Shaking my head, I drop my gaze to the ground. All my anger drains out of me, and I feel tired. So tired.
The only thing I want is for her to be happy. But I ruined that by trapping her forever. The pain I felt from her before I shut down the connection between us was devastating.