I grabbed Sam’s hand. “Come on, vampire. Rianne must be awake. Time for some answers. Then I’m all yours.”
31
LAYLA
Iwas a ball of nerves as Stan escorted me down into the basement. The farther I followed him, the more sweat beaded on my skin. When we reached the bottom, I was breathing heavily, and my insides were churning. For fuck’s sake. Rianne was my sister. The woman I’d loved since we were practically walking. Yet my heart was shattering, knowing she would never be human again. The pretty brunette with big brown eyes, long hair, and a laugh that was contagious. The sister who’d climbed trees, rode horses, and ogled boys in high school with Jordyn and me.
There wasn’t any question that I was livid with her, despised what she’d become, hurt that she’d chosen my grandmother, and confused at her extreme hatred for Sam. Above all else, she had broken the bond of sisterhood. As much as it pained me to say this, I hoped she survived. I hoped she was truly immortal—could shift from monster to human and back at her will—and not feral like Noah, whose time on earth was probably limited.
The basement was clean and not the musty and dirty kind that gave me the creeps and nightmares about creatures lurking in the dark.
Bright lights turned on overhead automatically when we walked by a wall monitor with a keyboard on a desk below it.
Stan came to an abrupt halt, spun around, and regarded me with stern brown eyes. “Layla, here’s what will happen. When I give the order, Rianne’s cell door will slide open. There will be two-foot-thick bulletproof glass separating you from your sister. Behind that glass is steel bars as an added layer of protection, which means she won’t be able to get out. There are cameras in her cell and on the ceilings in the hallway. There’s also a speaker on the wall adjacent to her cell door. I’ll be at this desk, watching you from this screen. Any questions?”
I shook my head. “Sam is watching, right?”
I didn’t want him to join me, only because Rianne would focus on him, and I might not get the answers I was looking for. Still, knowing he was observing from afar made me feel as if he was protecting me. I also knew he would be down in a flash if anything happened. But from the security measures Stan had just described, I doubted I would need saving.
“If you don’t want him to, I can shut off the cameras upstairs.”
I swished saliva around in my mouth to erase the dryness. “It’s okay. I just don’t want Rianne to know he’s here. She might not talk.”
“He won’t be able to respond to what he hears. He doesn’t have access to a microphone.” He flipped a switch on the wall just inside the block of cells.
I followed him, and with each step I took, I felt as though I was a dead man walking.Thump, thump, thumpwent my heart while theclick, click, clickof my shoes echoed as we passed three jail cells. Since I’d had blood on my clothes from the fight, I’d changed out of my skinny jeans and into a simple sundress I wore with mesh tan flats.
Stan got on the radio tacked to his shoulder. “Mike, open four, please.”
As the thick metal door slid open, my thoughts scrambled over where to begin, if I could even speak. The convo between Jordyn and me before I’d left for the sheriff’s station played out on repeat.
“You won’t get answers,” Jordyn said with her hands on her hips and a scowl on her face. “You know she’s stubborn. She probably hates who she is now but will never admit it.”
“You’re right,” I replied. “But we have to try. She’s here for more than her five minutes of fame on TV. Or to change us into freaks. Come with me.”
Jordyn’s face turned red. “No. She made her bed. She can croak for all I care.”
My emotions had been up and down—hatred, love, frustration, fury, sorrow, pity, and many more since Rianne had broken our sisterly bond. None of that had changed. I still had a strong urge to somehow save her from herself. Yet I couldn’t. Not anymore.
Stan placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. “Good luck.”
Stepping in front of the glass, I inhaled and exhaled a quiet breath. My heart was beating like rapid fire on a battlefield. I suddenly wanted Sam by my side, to hold my hand and to tell me how fearless I was. Because at the moment, I didn’t feel brave. I wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was her creature-like features that messed with my psyche. Or maybe it was the close call when she’d stuck the needle in my leg. I’d gotten lucky twice after the first time she’d tried to change me at Intech when she hooked me up to an IV bag full of the serum. Thank God not enough of it had gone into my system before I’d woken up and yanked out the needle, although I had no idea what had been in the IV bag until Carly had told me after the fact. Nevertheless, Rianne was persistent, and if she got out of here, she would continue to come at me to try to change me. Deep down, the old cliché that three times was a charm had me on edge.
Rianne was sitting on the floor, leaning against the back wall with her legs stretched out, canines gleaming, bloodred eyes glaring, and she was picking at a claw, an actual two-inch talon, as though she was bored and waiting on something.
I folded my arms over my chest. “Can’t you—” The first word came out, but the second sounded garbled. I cleared my throat and tried again. “Can’t you change?”
“I like the way I am,” she said in a casual tone.
Growing up, she’d been unassuming, not the type to worry about her appearance except when she’d gone to parties in high school. Before she left the house, she’d always made sure her makeup had been done to perfection. Though Jordyn, Rianne, and I didn’t wear makeup that often. The vampires we hunted didn’t give a shit about how we looked. Most of the time, we’d worn face paint to camouflage ourselves while hunting.
“Bullshit,” I said. “You can’t tell me you like your forehead protruding outward or those long nails or your canines. Aren’t you supposed to shift like vampires and wolves?”
If she followed the same trajectory as Noah, she would grow hair on her face. I shivered at the thought that my sister’s features could be permanent.
“Stop caring about me, Layla,” she said, not looking at me. “And if you’re here to knock some sense into me like you always do, that ship has sailed.”
I snorted. “You’re right. Been there, done that, and got the goddamn T-shirt.” My tone dropped an octave. “I’ll cut to the chase. How did you know where I was?”
