“See him?” I asked, out of breath.
“Footprints,” he said. “Get up. He’ll be heading where there isn’t any snow.”
“This wasn’t in the brochure.” When I stood up, I wiped my mouth, which was still wet from my nosebleed. The bones in my nose were probably shattered, and the last drop of light from the sun, which I could have used for healing, was now gone.
Once again, destiny screws me over.
Because of the lampposts, Christian wasn’t able to shadow walk. I had to hand it to the Mage—he was smart. He could have run off into the darkness, but his tracks were right beneath the light, which would slow Christian down and keep him off his tail. I’d used up too much of my core light with not enough in reserve to continue flashing.
I straightened my nose and winced from the sharp pain. “Who bombs their own apartment?”
“Someone who’s hiding something,” he said, not out of breath in the least. Christian strode forward, his eyes alert. “If you’re going to blow up your house to ’80s music, at least pick a song like “Burning Down the House” to put on your playlist.”
“Maybe that would have been too obvious.”
“The shitebag who broke in was his partner, to be sure. And you can saunter on for giving me a scrubbing brush as a weapon.”
I laughed and weaved around a park bench. “It was either that or a spoon.”
Christian leapt onto the wall that served as the entrance to the park. He turned in a circle, his eyes narrowing as he cocked his head to the side.
I remained absolutely still so as not to make a sound, though my beating heart was probably a marching band in his ears.
Christian finally sat down on the highest part of the wall. “He’s long gone.”
I scaled the short part of the wall and up to where he was sitting. “What makes you say that?”
“Tracks disappear by the main road, and we wouldn’t be able to differentiate his from the others. The clubs are in full swing, so better we stay away from the night crowd.”
“Why? Don’t I blend in now?”
He glared up at me. “You look like a bloodsicle. I’m sure every Vampire would line up for a lick.”
I kicked the snow off the ledge and sat beside him, our feet dangling ten feet off the ground. “Viktor’s going to kill me.”
“Why’s that?”
“My phone’s in my coat pocket.”
He looked down at me. “Where’s your coat?”
“In the apartment. I liked that coat too.”
He sighed. “You won’t be alone in the flogging. My phone fell out of my pocket during the scuffle.”
I swept back my tangled hair. When I noticed the bloodstains on my fingertips, I wiped my hands on my jeans. “Now what?”
Christian leapt off the wall and looked up at me. “We find a place to lie low for the night.”
“My vote is for calling a cab.”
He laughed darkly and turned in a circle, arms wide. “Do you really think cabs come out to the Bricks at night? If you want to stay alive, we need to find shelter.”
I scooted off the ledge, and he caught me, lowering me to the ground. “Let’s go back to the subway.”
“We weren’t alone in those tunnels.”
Nowtherewas a creepy thought.
