However, she was their only lead to Niamh Farren. Echo had to believe that Thea could lead Elijah to Niamh. That they could all help her bring down William and The Garm.
“Is it safe to drive there? Will Echo be safe?” She heard Nancy ask with genuine concern.
She couldn’t remember the last time anyone had ever showed any kind of real parental concern for her. Perhaps William did when she was a child, but those memories were shadowed now by his lies.
“We’ll make it to Calais just before sunrise. We’ll find somewhere there to hunker down until the sun sets again. With the long days, we’ll only make it to Yorkshire before we need to stop. Then we’ll drive through the next night and stop in Stirling. The days get longer the farther north we drive. It’ll take us at least three nights to get there. If it were winter, we’d get there faster.”
That was the plan. Of course, if she hadn’t allowed her psycho adoptive father to turn her into a vampire six years ago, they could have made it there in less than twenty-four hours.
“You’ll keep her safe, won’t you?” She heard Odette ask quietly. “She’s the only family I have left.”
Echo squeezed her eyes closed. Because that wasn’t true. And there was a real possibility that if Odette decided to return to her parents, Echo might never see her again. It would be for Odette’s safety. To give her a normal existence.
“I promise I will guard her with my life,” Elijah vowed.
A different kind of ache warmed her chest just as the tingling all over her body told her the sun had set.
It was time to go.
They’d both remained silent as they’d trudged through the dark woods back to the SUV. Odette’s quiet sobs still rang in Echo’s mind and heart. She had a feeling Elijah knew she needed time to process leaving her little sister behind and that’s why he didn’t speak until they reached the vehicle.
“They’re all safe here. No one knows about this place. I bought it under a pseudonym with cash. Even the guy who got all the supplies together doesn’t know my real name.”
Echo nodded. “I know. I just wish I knew for certain I’d be back for her.”
“Don’t talk like that again.”
Againreferred to the fact that she’d brought up her possible death to the Webbs while Odette was in the bathroom. Echo had done it so she could give them the name and address of Odette’s real parents in case she didn’t come back from this fight to deliver Odette to them herself. Bill had paled at the request, his gaze flickering worriedly to his son. Echo wished she could promise them Elijah would make it out of this fight alive too. But all she could promise was that she’d die protecting him, just as he’d promised the same to her little sister.
What a funny team they’d turned out to be.
Nancy had vowed to take Odette to her parents if it came to it.
“But it won’t,” she’d insisted sternly. “And you have to believe that too.”
“I’m just being realistic,” Echo said now.
“You’re just getting on my nerves with the fatalistic bullshit, that’s what you’re doing,” Elijah grumbled as he climbed into the SUV.
Echo smirked and followed him inside.
To keep him awake on their long drive north, Echo asked him questions about his life in the band, about their music. The conversation flowed as they chatted about music they both liked, movies, travel … Echo even told him more about her life with William.
“There was always a wall up between us. He professed to love me, but it was from a distance.”
“And you loved him.”
Echo wasn’t sure it was a question. “It’s funny how quickly love can turn to hate when the person you love betrays you.”
“Do you hate him? Really?”
“Why would you ask that?”
“Because if it comes to it, could you kill the man you thought of as a father?”
“Elijah … Ineedto kill him. Don’t you see that? Odette will never be safe while he’s alive. You will never be safe while he’s alive.” Rage simmered quietly in her gut. “He deserves to die for the untold pain he’s caused over the centuries, not just for the pain he’s caused me and Odette.”
“I’m sorry I asked.”
