If Elijah wasn’t mistaken, she sounded impressed.
“Thank you?” his dad said dryly.
Elijah’s lips twitched as he and his dad shared an amused look.
“The point is, we can skip all the ‘I can’t believe there are vampires and werewolves and fae, oh my’ hysterics and focus on what matters. Elijah is in deep shit. Therefore, you are too.”
Any amusement he’d felt died. “A little compassion and diplomacy wouldn’t go amiss, Echo.”
“Echo. What an unusual name.” His mum stood up to study his companion. “And you’re a vampire. What’s that like?”
“You’re not like other people, are you?” Echo murmured, her expression curious.
“I like to think not.”
The vampire nodded. “Yes, my name is unusual. And yes, I’m a vampire. It sucks, literally and figuratively.”
A wave of grief rolled off her, and Elijah’s brows knitted together. He’d never met a vampire who hated being a vampire. The ones he’d met had all turned willingly. Not that he’d met many. Had the “gift” been forced upon Echo? The thought made him furious.
She flicked him a look of surprise but then masked the emotion just as quickly. “The point is, I’m afraid your lives are no longer your own. Elijah has already been attacked twice. Once by a group who wants to kill him to stop the gate from opening, and another time by a large coven who will kill others to get to Elijah to use him to open the gate. They’ve already killed people—at his concert last night in Antwerp.”
“Bloody hell, speaking of …” He reached for his parents’ laptop that sat on the coffee table. A quick Google search made him bite out a curse.
“What is it?” His dad rounded the table to peer over his son’s shoulder. “Oh my God,” he whispered hoarsely as he read the news.
“What’s going on?” his mum asked, concerned.
Elijah handed the laptop to his dad and slumped back on the couch. He looked at Echo, the weight of all those deaths lying heavily on his shoulders. “Over a hundred dead. They’ve covered it up as a gas leak in the building. And I’m missing. The boys must be losing their minds. I need to tell them I’m all right.”
“No.” Echo shook her head. “Youwantto tell them you’re all right. What they need is to be oblivious to this world and to what you are.”
“I should have told them about me. They all thought the vamps we met were just role-playing. I should have told them it was real. I’ve put them in danger. They’re probably worried sick.”
“Let them worry. You saved their lives by not telling them about you, Elijah. Don’t screw up now. The less they know, the less danger they’re in. They’re too visible for either side to take them out without consequences. As long as everyone believes the boys know nothing about you or your whereabouts, they won’t be targets.”
Realizing she was right, he scrubbed his palms over his face and growled in agitation.
His dad rested a hand on his shoulder. “None of this is your fault, son.”
“Isn’t it?”
“No, it’s not.”
He met his dad’s stoic gaze and a little of his calm filtered into him. He patted his father’s hand in thanks.
“So, what do we do?” Elijah’s mum looked up from reading the news article on the laptop.
“As soon as the sun sets, we’re leaving,” Echo said.
“Going where?” his dad asked.
“I have a place,” Elijah answered. “No one knows about it. No paper trail, nothing. It’s off-grid. Filled with supplies.”
“You have a doomsday place?” His mum raised an eyebrow.
“Maybe I knew a day like this might come.” He shrugged. “Anyway, it’s deep in the French countryside, so we’ll need to get you to Calais.”
“Getusto Calais? You’re not coming with us?”
