“Are you injured?” he asked again, sharper.
I shook my head. “No. Not injured.”
He pulled me to his chest, and I wrapped my arms around him, his warmth taking my chill away for the moment. He didn’t say anything else.
“Barkley had to do his business,” I murmured against him. “I’m just lucky, I guess.” I laughed suddenly,
and it came out sounding pinched and slightly hysterical. Then I took a deep breath of the cold morning air and looked up at him.
Thierry’s expression relaxed a little, though his jaw remained tight. “I shouldn’t have let you leave the club without me.”
I totally lost it. I started sobbing against him for a good five minutes while he held me. He kept talking,
but I couldn’t hear him. So much for staying all strong and sarcastic.
Everything was gone. Everything. All of my worldly possessions, all of my shoes and clothes and makeup and shampoo and my bed and my TV. My entire life had just been destroyed right before my eyes.
Except for my ratty bathrobe and fuzzy pink slippers. And my new red blanket that they’d have to pry out of my cold, dead hands to get back.My blanket. My new favorite possession in the world.
After I’d pulled it together enough to stop wailing, Thierry stroked the hair back off my face and looked down at me. “I need to get you out of here. There could still be hunters around, watching.”
I leaned back to look up at him. “So you think this was definitely them?”
“Of course.” He nodded grimly. “They will be disappointed to learn you were not in your apartment.”
“Guess I showed them.”
“Indeed.” He gently moved his thumb across my cheek to wipe away the tears.
“If I knew you were coming by I might have rescued a nicer bathrobe. But seeing that this is now the full extent of my wardrobe . . . ” I sighed, glad I no longer had a reflection to show me exactly how hellish I looked at the moment.
I suddenly had a thought.
Out of everything I’d just lost—so much that I didn’t even know where to start—there was one thing that was up there I wouldn’t be able to replace. I felt the thick lump in my throat move down to become an ache in my chest.
“My shard,” I said quietly. “It’s gone.”
It was a gift Thierry had given to me when I’d first lost my reflection. Usually it takes years for a new vampire to lose his or her reflection, but since Thierry had used his superstrength master vampire blood to help me not die after my sire bit the biscuit, the process had been sped up for lucky ol’ me.
A shard was a special mirror vampires could see themselves in. It was also, allegedly, ridiculously expensive, and mine was my most prized possession, both for its practical use and because of the sentimental value. I took it everywhere with me, but not to take Barkley out for a quick walk, of course.
And now it was gone forever.
“Sarah,” Thierry spoke as I began to cry again. He held me tightly against him and stroked my messy hair off my face. “Everything will be fine. I promise you.”
I continued to cry. The well was not yet dry. It would make my face all red and puffy and majorly unattractive to match my new eternal nightwear from hell, but at least I wouldn’t have to look at myself.
Ever again.
“How is everything going to be fine?” I managed after a moment.
He held my face in his hands and gazed down at me with his captivating silver eyes. “I know somewhere you can stay. Somewhere you’ll be protected by someone who cares very deeply for you.”
My breath caught a little in my chest at his words. I swallowed and looked up at him while I ran the back of my hand over my face to dry it up a bit. “Is that right?”
Was this the catalyst? Was this the event that was going to make Thierry realize he wanted to be with me? That he was madly in love with me? Because if so, then this was totally worth it.
You know, in a majorly messed-up way.
“Yes,” Thierry leaned forward to kiss me lightly on my lips. “George has an extra bedroom he is willing to share for as long as necessary. I have already spoken to him on the way over.”
Going into shock again.
The tears started to pick up where they left off.
“It’s going to be fine,” Thierry assured me as he hunted in his jacket pocket for a handkerchief, which he handed to me. He patted me on my back as I blew my nose. “A few days and all will be taken care of.”
Fine, I thought.
That’s a nice little four-letter word that begins with an F.
Let’s think of another one, shall we?
“Sarah!” George exclaimed as he opened the door to his small rented house. “My little charred vampiress! Come in, come in!”
George lived three blocks away from Haven. I figure that’s why Thierry thought that it was the perfect place for me to shack up. You know, other than with him.
But beggars couldn’t be choosers. And this beggar chose to stagger into George’s place without saying a word.
Barkley padded in after me.
“I don’t remember saying anything about a dog.” George looked down at the mutt with disdain. “I don’t like dogs. Or cats. I’m a ‘none of the above’ person.”
I slumped down on the first available seat, in this case, a rather stiff, red vinyl sofa. I’d never been there before. It was small for a house. Kind of like my dearly departed apartment only with a couple of extra rooms. George had recently moved there after getting evicted from his last place. No idea why he’d been evicted. He didn’t tell me. I didn’t ask. The house was littered with moving boxes and bubble wrap as it slowly made its way into being a livable space.
“He’s not a dog. He’s a werewolf.”
“And that makes it better?”
Barkley turned around three times and flopped in a gangly pile in the corner, next to a pile of Styrofoam packing popcorn.
“It is only for a short time.” Thierry closed George’s front door behind him. “We’d appreciate if you made an exception.”
George sighed. “I have allergies. It’s not going to work.”
I burst into tears. Pretty much anything was setting the waterworks off now.