“Fabulous,” I gasped. “Never better. Thanks so much for asking.”
My hair was slicked to my forehead with the perspiration that poured out of me in buckets. I reached up to touch my eyebrows to make sure they hadn’t been singed off because that would really suck. They were still there. For now, anyhow. I stood in place, my back against the wall of the station until I came back down to room temperature like a sweaty soufflé that had been removed from the oven.
Veronique was with Gideon. The thought swirled continuously through my head.
I seriously couldn’t believe it. Sure, I knew she was selfish and self-involved, but was this what being a survivor really meant to her?
She was so getting voted off the island, as far as I was concerned.
And the worst thing was she hadn’t seemed to realize what she was doing was wrong.
Well, okay. It wasn’t the worst thing.
If I had to find one good thing about the whole situation, it was that her blood had given me some temporary control over my curse. Normally, at this point of being without my gold chain, I’d be wandering around sniffing the neck of any human that passed me trying to figure out who’d be the tastiest.
But I wasn’t sniffing anyone. I could smell them, sure—dozens of humans brushing past me on their way to catch the subway. And it wasn’t only the disturbing scent of food they gave off. It was deeper that than. The smells helped me pinpoint their mood—if they were stressed out or scared or angry.
It smelled… delicious.
But my fangs didn’t lengthen at the moment. After all, I’d just had a very satisfying meal.
God, what had happened to my life?
Before the curse I had resented being a vampire. I always fought against the label of being a “monster.” I thought being turned into a vampire would change me, but it didn’t. I felt the same as I always had; that’s why it was so hard to understand why all of a sudden hunters wanted to kill me just because of what I was.
But now I understood. Hunters would have been very necessary back when nightwalkers roamed the earth. This was the kind of vampire that people should be afraid of—what I was right now. Hiding from the sun, coming out at night when they were very hungry. Not being able to stop. Not wanting to stop.
I was now the kind of vampire that deserved to be staked. An out-of-control bloodthirsty monster.
I swallowed hard. I was in such deep shit.
Deep.
But it was good that I was still thinking straight. The gold chain had been great—a miracle, really—but it was gone now. Losing the chain had always been a possibility. It sucked. Hard. But it was gone and I had to make do without it.
I could stay in control. I could.
Dammit. Who was I trying to kid? Let’s stick with the “I’m in deep shit” direction of thinking.
I needed to find Thierry.
Thierry. His difficult-to-pronounce French name alone gave me courage—a teensy bit.
I pulled my cell phone out of my purse and speed-dialed his number. It went directly to voice mail. Dammit. I shoved it back in my bag. I’d cooled off, both literally and figuratively, enough to start walking. One foot in front of the other. I got on a subway and took it to Union Station.
Once I got back to George’s I’d deal with everything else. I wasn’t sure how I’d get all the way there, but I’d figure out a way. Without setting foot outside again. Sure.
I’d channel the little vampire engine that could. I could do this. One thing at a time.
I think I can, I think I can.
I forced myself to find something good in this situation. It was hard, but I actually came up with something. Now that I’d reached Union Station, I’d entered the PATH system of downtown Toronto—sixteen miles of underground passageways that connected the transit system and a whole bunch of the buildings in the business district. It was possible to never have to go up to the surface level. Like, ever. There were shopping, theaters, and restaurants galore all below street level.
A total nightwalker’s paradise.
Still, the thought wasn’t much comfort. While the PATH was great to have in case of shopping and commuting emergency, it didn’t make potentially never seeing the sun again a pleasant prospect.
I knew the PATH. I used to take it daily when I worked for an honest living. But now… everything started to look the same. My head felt foggy. I put one foot in front of the other and headed north, glancing at some people as I walked past them. They all gave me strange stares in return.
Maybe I looked like hell. I felt like it so why shouldn’t I look like it, too?
“Excuse me,” I asked a blond lady with a kid who looked around three years old. “Can you help me with some directions?”
Her eyes widened and she took a step back from me. “Uh… I don’t know.”
I looked down at the kid and smiled at him.
The kid started to cry.
I slapped a hand over my mouth. I’d probably just flashed him my fangs, which were longer—not to mention sharper—than normal.
Sarah Dearly’s my name. Scaring innocent children’s my game.
“Are you… are you wearing funny contact lenses?” the woman asked shakily.
“Contact lenses?”
Oh, shit. My eyes were still black. And my fangs were sharp. And I was a sweaty, skanky, runny mess. I glanced around to see that I now had the attention of several people, who looked at me like I was about to whip off my jacket and reveal a braful of dynamite.
Then I glanced over to the wall next to us to see that it was mirrored. It reflected everyone in the vicinity of the donut store I stood in front of.
Everyone except yours truly.
The woman also noted this, and she began to shriek and point at me, while her kid started to howl even louder.
I started walking again. Faster. I didn’t really care what direction I was headed in anymore as long as it was away from screaming peanut-butter-scented people. A glance over my shoulder showed that a few were tentatively following me, but I wasn’t sure if they were hunters who’d been alerted to the lost vampire or if they were simply curious onlookers. I couldn’t think straight so I couldn’t figure it out. The best thing to do was to run, which is exactly what I did.
I turned a corner and found there was suddenly a solid figure in front of me. Tall, dark, and blurry. But familiar. And he held me in place by my shoulders, looked down at me, and stroked the stringy hair off my face.
“Sarah,” Thierry said with concern. “Please, try to calm down.”
I had to admit, it did take a moment.
He pulled me into an embrace and held me there in the middle of the PATH while I slowly got hold of myself.
“H-how did you find me?” I managed after a moment.