“Ster … it’s not like that.”
He waved me off. “Just go. Get a burner phone, call me every day, and we’ll meet at Riverfront Park to exchange any information I find in two days’ time.”
Liv stepped forward and we pulled her into a group hug, holding each other tightly. The entire world that we belonged to had just cracked at its foundation, but we still had each other.
When we pulled back, I glanced at Sterling’s face to see the shock starting to settle into him as well.
“There are some really bad vampires in this world. I’ve seen them destroy people, suck them dry. We … we are still doing good by taking them out,” Sterling said almost to himself.
Liv and I exchanged a look. He didn’t see the app, didn’t see how other vampires chose us to kill their enemies.
“There are bad humans in this world too, Sterling.” I gave him a side hug. “I’ll see you in two days. We will lay low until then.”
Liv and I shoved everything we could into our hunting duffle bags, but left our smartphones and laptops on the table. Sterling wiped them of all information with a few keystrokes and then left to go back to the gym. With our katanas on our backs and the keys to my Volkswagen Beetle in hand, Liv and I walked the halls of the House of Rose for the last time.
If anyone saw us, it would look like we were going hunting. I just prayed we didn’t run into Maz on our way out, because if we did I was going to rip her head off.
We passed Kenz and my heart pinched. Was he in on it? He was old, he’d been here forever. He was dusting the entryway table as we passed and looked up, giving us a warm smile.
“Happy Hunting,” he said, and my stomach filled with bile.
That sentence no longer carried any weight.
We were murderers; we’d become the very things we despised. With a curt nod, I didn’t trust myself to speak, we exited the entryway doors, waved to Finn, and then left the society the same way we entered it—two orphans lost and alone in this world.
Chapter Fourteen
I knockedon Luka’s door, clutching my duffle bag as Liv stood next to me, tears silently sliding down her face. When he pulled it open, he took one look at the both of us and ushered us inside.
“I… we…” My voice cracked. “…need a place to stay for a bit.”
He nodded. “You can stay as long as you like. Bennet and Izzy can bunk together and you can have Izzy’s room,” Luka said.
“The hell they can,” Izzy growled from behind me.
Luka shot his cousin a glare and she grumbled. “Fine. For a few days. Then they need to figure something else out.”
I nodded. Everything felt so… dark and heavy. The realization that we’d been lied to our entire life pressed in on me until I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Luka crossed the hall and opened the door to Izzy’s room. Isabelle slipped inside and grabbed a few things. “New sheets are in the hall closet,” she said with what little excitement was possible as she left the room.
Liv tore the old sheets from the bed as I stared awkwardly at Luka, who stood in the doorway.
“I… need to talk to you about something, but it can wait.” He rubbed the back of his neck and I nodded as Liv slipped between us and came back with a stack of clean sheets from the hall closet.
“Thanks for letting us stay. It’s just until we can figure out…”
Our lives? Our jobs? Our entire reality? Did we seriously just leave the society? My chest felt tight suddenly as I forced myself to try to take deep breaths. I was on the verge of a panic attack.
Was I living with a vampire now? How the hell had this happened?
Luka swallowed hard.‘Are you okay?’His mental voice caressed my thoughts and I settled a little.
‘No, everything I was taught was a lie,’I answered truthfully.
Luka frowned, nodding. “Goodnight, Aspen.”
“Good morning actually,” I said, knowing this was his awake time. Sunset was when vampires had the most energy.
He grinned, and holy hell my knees nearly gave way. I wished he wasn’t so good looking, I wished right then that I’d been bound to a big ugly fat vampire. One I hadn’t almost kissed.
