She’s welcome to come up here,I mindlink Jax.
“No, he’s not. Would you like to go look?”
“You want to share your house with me?”
“We aren’t hiding anything.”
“I’d love a look.”
“Let’s go. We don’t have time to find them. Samara’s on her way up.”
“Where the fuck am I going to go, Callum?” she whisper-yells at me.
My fingers slide over the bindings of the books until I find the right one.The Cask of Amontillado.I pull it out, revealing a small button inset on the shelf. When I press it, the click of the lock releases.
“A hidden room?” Everlee asks, eyes wide with excitement.
“Not your tomb.”
Her brows furrow for a second before she looks at the book in my hand.
A cool gust of wind hits us in the face as the seal for the door is broken and the entire bookcase swings out.
“She’s on her way. Hurry down the stairs. We will get you when it’s safe.”
She ducks behind the wall and looks at me, giving me a quick kiss on the lips, and my stomach tightens. When she pulls away, I watch her descend the dark stairway before voices down the hall spring me to life.
Quickly moving, I close the bookshelf door, move my seat back under my desk, and pick up as many things as I can off the floor. In the heat of the moment, clearing the contents of my desk seemed very much needed and romantic, but the aftermath… Papers litter the floor. Mostly, my research around true fae and their powers. It’s been so long since I’ve been around them that I’ve forgotten so much.
Forgotten?
Made myself forget.
After I buried Aleida at the Cliffs of Morgai that one night, I waited. I waited for weeks, months, years and nothing. Thoughts of failure slowly seeped in and I blamed myself for the death of the entire species. I wasn’t the one moving through the towns and torching their places, but I should have been more proactive. I should have been watching and following the patterns of the Hunters. Seen their growing numbers and anger. Stopped the dark fae who were twisting the minds of these feeble mundanes, putting fear and hate in their heart. No. I was too concerned with other things and I let my people down. My family. The ones who took me in and saved my life.
“Hello?” Samara says, poking her head in, looking around the room.
“Over here,” I say, crouching on the floor by my desk.
“What happened in here?” she laughs, and again my body cringes in pain.
“Frustration.”
Sexual frustration, maybe,Jax pokes through the mindlink.
“So you haven’t found her yet?” Samara asks thoughtfully.
There’s only one group of vampires that know we have her, and I don’t know if they’ve said anything.
EVERLEE - MAKING A DEAL WITH A RIPPER
It’sdark.
Too dark.
I can’t see my hand in front of my face.
Did he forget I can’t see in the dark? Is that something I’m supposed to get? I should know, but I haven’t gotten to that part in the book yet.
