I was strong, and Lula, beingthrawan, was surprisingly light. I moved as quickly as I could and as quietly, stepping over broken vines and shouldering sideways through the long, sharp thorns.
If Hatcher was telling the truth, there were more vamps around here. Without the magic string, I didn’t know where Abbi was or if she was still looking for the token.
“Can you sense Abbi?” I asked.
Lu lifted her head. “I can’t hear her. I can’t feel her. Rhianna?”
“Hatcher took her to the car. I tied the string to Rhianna. Maybe Abbi followed it and is already with them.”
“I can walk,” she said.
“Once we’re out of the house. Watch my back.”
Lula stared over my shoulder as I stepped out of the room.
The hall was empty, the proportions of the building out of whack, the hallway stretching out endlessly.
Adrenalin was a firehose in my veins. I wanted out of here. I wanted out now. If I could have snapped my fingers and called a god to transport us to the car, I would have done it, no matter the price to pay.
I was trying not to run. I couldn’t be so pushed by fear that I missed a possible danger.
The place might be filled with vampires. Every corner, every door, every room.
Sweat ran down my back. I shifted my grip on Lula. There were no vamps in front of us. There were no vamps behind us.
I paused outside the sitting room.It looked exactly the same as when we’d come through what felt like hours ago. Country music murmured from the speakers, a song about love being a butterfly.
No vamps in sight.
I strode across the room and into the mud room. No one there either.
“Put me down,” Lula said. She held on with her good arm, and I released her legs. She stood, most of her weight on one foot.
“Ready?” I asked, my hand on her hip steadying her.
She nodded, her knife low.
I opened the door. Warm night air peppered with juniper brushed my skin. Still no vampires.
I knew our luck wouldn’t hold. We needed to move fast. I bent to pick her up again.
“Brogan, you don’t have to—”
“I carry you, or you ride on my back. You can’t run, Lula. Not on that foot.”
She scowled, but pointed at my shoulder, then sheathed her knife. “Your back. Your hands will be free.”
I turned and crouched.
She gripped my shoulder and hopped up. She wrapped her legs around my hips, her left arm tucked between us, her right holding on tight.
“Good?” I asked.
“Good.”
I straightened and walked into the night.
The moon hung high and full, silver light shellacking the land around us and washing out all but the strongest of stars.
