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“All right. I don’t get it, but fine.” Julian shot me a probing look in the dim light, then picked up the lantern and entered the building.

45

JULIAN

Iwas the last to emerge, the child in my arms. Her dark curls rested against my shoulder, and her small arms wrapped around my neck. I pushed through the huddled group and went over to Vincent.

“Where are we going to take them?” I asked. “None of them know where we are or have anyone waiting for them.”

He tilted his head toward the child. “We’ll take them to her people.”

“Anna said she K-I-L-L-E-D the ones she was with,” I spelled out over the little girl’s head.

“I’d be surprised. She probably just got lucky. There will be more of her kind, and they’ll be searching for her. We’ll take her back and see if there’s a place for the others—at least somewhere they can recover and decide what to do next.”

“You know where they are?” I asked.

Vincent nodded. “It’s the same place I planned to take you.”

The reminder that Vincent had intended to leave me made me shudder. But that was behind us now, I reassured myself. We would be together. I rubbed the little girl’s back, more to comfort myself than her.

“We can make it before dawn if we leave soon. I’ll go check the vehicles while you talk to the humans,” he finished.

I went back and talked to the others. With no better options, they all readily agreed. However, there were details to manage first, which meant going back into the house. Vincent went ahead and covered the bodies of the dead, tidying up as much as possible. When the others asked how I’d managed my escape and where Vincent had come from, I said only that he’d been looking for me after the crash and that the two of us had been lucky. It was all true.

With everyone’s help, we found the car keys, gathered food and water, and loaded everything into the vehicles in less than an hour. Vincent drove the lead car while I rode in the passenger seat beside him. The little girl stayed firmly attached to my side and refused to be set down, so she rode in my arms, falling asleep almost as soon as we were on our way. The other five people chose to ride together in the second car. They had all known each other longer and didn’t fully trust Vincent and me. I didn’t blame them, and it allowed us to talk freely.

The drive took several hours. Vincent knew the general direction, but we couldn’t travel straight across. We had to find passable roads, and Vincent couldn’t push cars out of the way without giving himself away.

“Why does it matter if they know what you are?” I asked as we drove off the road and into a field to avoid another obstacle.

“I don’t want to scare them off before we can get them to safety. They’re unlikely to trust one of my kind after everything they’ve been through. Plus, I’m not sure how many more of my kind are lurking around here. I would hate for these people to flee and end up in the same situation or worse.”

His explanation made sense, but I still felt he was holding something back. Vincent had become much more like himself since we’d reunited. He was no longer cold and curt, keeping me at arm’s length as he had been. I was relieved, but I still felt vulnerable and a bit raw after our argument and everything that had happened. As the hours passed, though, I relaxed and let myself enjoy the moment. We were together. We were both okay. We had found others and were helping them get somewhere safe.

It was near dawn when the two cars crested a hill not far from where Vincent and I had stopped the night before. In the distance, there were clusters of houses and buildings. The neighborhood was small, like all the others surrounding the nearby city. This one, however, had lights shining from the windows of several homes, and fires burned in outdoor pits.

Vincent stopped the car.

“I need to get underground soon,” he said.

“Okay, we can give this little one to the others and find somewhere to sleep,” I said, nodding to the still-sleeping child in my lap.

“Julian,” Vincent said, turning to me. “I need you to take her to her people, but I can’t go down there.”

“What? No. You promised we’d be together.” My unease grew as we spoke. This wasn’t the plan.

“We will. I promise. But first, there’s something I need to take care of.”

“I’ll go with you. Whatever it is, we can do it together,” I insisted.

“No, I need to move quickly. I want to secure the area and ensure the other vampires are gone.”

“And you want me to stay here so these people can keep me safe?” I asked.

“It’s not that. I know you can keep yourself safe, but I want you to help keep all these people safe. They can’t be safe with other vampires out there.”

I clutched the child tighter, trying to smother the dread rising inside me. “Why do I feel like you’re saying goodbye?”