“Didn’t you tell him?” George asked. “Yeah, Sarah and I went to see this wizard kid a couple of days ago. He could remove her curse, but it would also have made her human again and wiped six months of memories out of her pretty little head.”
My face felt frozen. “Did I neglect to mention that?”
“It didn’t come up.” Thierry’s voice was cold. “But perhaps you discussed it with Gideon instead.”
I glared at him. “I don’t need this right now.”
“What?”
“This jealousy bullshit. I don’t feel anything toward Gideon. Just let it go once and for all, would you?”
He nodded and stood up. The warmth I had seen in his eyes when he looked at me before had been replaced by something frostier. “I think I’m going to go now before I say something I might regret. There are things I need to take care of.”
“In case I need to remind you,” I looked up at him, “you haven’t exactly been around lately. Who was I supposed to share my problems with? The Red Devil?”
Thierry’s eyes narrowed at the mention of his alter ego.
“I will see you tomorrow, Sarah.” He didn’t give me another look as he left the house.
George also stood up and went into the kitchen where he fixed two quadruple martinis made from his dwindling supply of moonshine—a mysterious liquid that helped to inebriate even those unfortunate creatures, like vampires, whom regular alcohol no longer affected. He downed one glass in a long gulp and handed me the other. I tossed it back.
“That’s a start,” I wheezed.
“Please tell me that you’re not in love with Gideon Chase,” George said. “I don’t have enough moonshine to get me through that revelation.”
“I’m not.” I hissed out a long, frustrated breath. “I love Thierry, even though I want to punch him sometimes. But—”
“But what?”
“I can’t help that there’s a part of me that cares what happens to Gideon even after everything he’s done. I’m supposed to sire him at midnight tomorrow. And yes, he’s used his charm as well as a whole bunch of threats to get me to agree to what he wants. But—”
“But what?” he persisted.
I shook my head. “I don’t know.”
“That’s not very helpful.”
I sighed heavily. “Tell me about it.”
I slept. Dreamlessly, except for a nightmare about Thierry trying to stake me before I staked him first. Pretty standard stuff, lately. Terrifying and disturbing, but totally standard.
I remembered when I used to dream about shoes. Like, literally, trying them on to find that they all fit me perfectly. I think Prince Charming was in those dreams as well. And, possibly, a chorus line of cute, singing mice.
The unfortunate reality was that the shoe didn’t always fit no matter how perfect it looked on the shelf. I could squeeze my foot into it and wear it, but it would be uncomfortable and binding.
Hard to run for your life when your feet hurt. Even vampires got blisters.
I woke to a strange sensation—a buzzing by my cheek. It took me a while to figure out what it was and in my half-conscious state I thought I had a pillow full of friendly bees.
But it was Gideon’s BlackBerry. I’d taken it to bed with me for safekeeping like a cold black teddy bear.
I eyed the screen.
UNKNOWN NUMBER
After a few more moments it went silent. I sat up quickly. Who would be calling Gideon?
Thierry had seemed convinced now that he didn’t actually have any assassins on speed dial. I knew it wouldn’t be George—not if he knew what was good for him.
And it definitely wasn’t me.
When it buzzed again, I moistened my dry lips with the tip of my tongue and pressed the answer button. I held it to my ear with a trembling hand.
There was silence on the other end. And then, “Sarah? Are you there?”
The chipper female voice was immediately recognizable. “Amy?”
“Yup. It’s me.”
“Where are you?”
“No idea whatsoever, actually. I’m supposed to talk to you for a moment. How’s it going?”
I felt incredibly confused. “Why are you calling me at this number?”
“It’s the number Gideon gave me.” There was a pause. “You know, after everything I’d heard about him I was expecting something totally different. But he’s actually super nice, isn’t he?”
My throat closed and I found it difficult to breathe. “Gideon has you?”
“He picked me up yesterday when I took a break from work. I was a bit surprised at first.
I may have screamed a little bit when he grabbed me, but then he gave me something to relax me.”
I had a death grip on the phone. “He drugged you?”
“Dunno what it was, but I’m all mellow and groovy now. Totally chilling. Tell Barry I’m okay, okay? I know he worries.”
There was a shuffling sound. I waited, my hand twisting into the bedsheets until my knuckles were as white as the linen.
“Sarah—” Gideon’s deep voice greeted me. “How are you this morning after our exciting evening?”
“What are you doing? You grabbed Amy yesterday morning? That was way before what happened last night.”
“I like to cover my bases just in case. As you can hear, she’s perfectly fine.”
“Only because she’s drugged.” I struggled to breathe normally. “Let her go.”