I gently pushed his head back from the slumped-on-his-chest position it was in. I ran my fingers through his dark hair.
Nothing.
Then I slapped him hard against the side of his face.
“Sorry! But wake the hell up!”
His chest rose and fell as he took a deep breath and slowly opened his eyes, staring at me for a moment before confusion set in.
“Sarah? What’s going on?”
I felt a wave of relief and I kissed him hard on his lips, holding his face between my hands. He blinked at me with surprise.
“I’m rescuing you.”
“Rescuing me?” He looked around the stage. “Where are we?”
“Let me nutshell it for you. Janie, one of the bodyguards you so kindly hired to keep an eye on me? Is
Peter’s sister.”
“What?” He looked so shocked by this I knew without a doubt he’d had no idea.
I nodded. “She wants revenge on me and she grabbed you coming out of the club. Must have shot you with a garlic dart to . . . incapacitate you or something. If I’d known that’s all it took, I might have invested in a few myself.” I tried to smile as I stroked his face. “Are you okay?”
He looked around the stage, taking it all in for a moment, then looked at me, a frown creasing his forehead into deep lines. “You shouldn’t have come. It isn’t safe.”
“No, it sure the hell isn’t. But she was planning on killing you if I didn’t come.”
“Then you should have let her. Sarah, you must leave immediately.” He shifted in his seat and tensed up as he felt the silver bite into his wrists.
I ignored him and fiddled again with the handcuffs. They weren’t going to open without the keys. Or a locksmith. Were there vampire locksmiths? I’d have to consult the Yellow Pages.
“I got Quinn and George to come with me.”
“They have restrained Janie, have they?”
“Actually no. She shot them with those garlic darts. You know, I had garlic bread at my cousin’s wedding rehearsal. I couldn’t keep it down but if I had, would I have passed out?”
“Sarah, please. Please. You need to leave me here.”
“Don’t make me smack you again.”
“Sarah—”
I frowned at him. “I’m not leaving you here. Get it through your head right now so we can move on.”
“You’re in danger.”
I stood straight up and looked down at him. Even after everything that had been said and done between the two of us, all I wanted to do was to hug him. Or throttle him. One or the other. “Thierry, I’m always in danger. Even when I was a human I was in danger, I just didn’t know it. From a mugger, from a speeding bus, from anything. Life isn’t safe. It’s never been safe.”
He shook his head. “This is a little different than that. You can choose to be safe.”
“I can choose to gag you in a minute if you don’t stop arguing with me.”
He frowned at me. “With what will you gag me?”
“I’ll find something.”
“You’re rescuing me.” He said it like he didn’t believe it.
“Yes I am. Well, trying to, anyhow.”
He stared into my eyes for a moment. “Even though you must hate me for how we left things earlier, you would risk your life to help me?”
“I don’t hate you.”
“You should.”
“I don’t. Now shut up, okay? I have no idea where Janie went and I have to figure out how to get these handcuffs off you fast.”
“Oh,” Janie said from stage right. “You would use this.”
I glanced over at her. She held up a tiny silver key that shone under the spotlight. She grinned.
I got a sinking feeling. Which, considering my stomach had already dropped through the floor, was difficult but not impossible. This was a setup—and not just Janie’s doing. I hadn’t known why, or who,
but now I had a pretty good idea.
“You’re working for Gideon Chase, aren’t you?” I said.
“He would pay really good. The man has bucks.” She smirked at me. “But it’s not him. My real boss wanted me to get you here.” She looked around the stage. “I feel like singing something fromSpamalot . Is that wrong?”
I felt so tense I thought I might shatter. “So what now?”
“Before or after my encore?”
“This isn’t funny, Janie.”
Her eyes narrowed and her smile dropped away. “Oh, I know that. Believe me, I’d rather have you all to myself, but the boss has other plans. And he does pay well. Not as well as Gideon would, but still.
Not too shabby.”
“And what boss would that be?”
“That would be me.”