"Lyss, you have to get out of this toxic town. It's one hotshot immortal after another gunning for you now. Just find a hotel until you find a new home. I'll pay."
As if having Gage breathing down my throat to get out wasn't bad enough. I hate, hate,hateour world.
"I've got plenty of money. I'm just sick of having to haul ass out of a town because of an immortal with a grudge. My whole life has been like that. I swore I wouldn't do that once I started living my own life. I'm not suicidal. I will move, but I won't run. I'll find a place that I intend to live in and stay in. Hell, I'm already using the trust my father gave me that I promised myself I'dneveruse, simply because the fucking crazy life I have refuses to let me keep a job."
Frankie leans over, not really giving a damn about anything coming out of my mouth right now.
"I don't like this, Alyssa. I wish you'd just go right now. It's not running - it's surviving, sweet girl. Sometimes, that's how our life is. There are good days and bad days. This just happens to be one of those bad days."
It's all a bad day lately.
"I plan on moving, Frankie. I don't have a death wish."
Frankie rubs his temples as if I'm giving him a migraine.
"I'll get her out of here if trouble arises. I can swear that to you. I've already got a few friends keeping an eye out for Castine. If she makes a move, I'll know about it," Gage interjects, seeming calmer now.
Frankie looks back up to him and narrows his eyes while bringing his finger to point at him very deliberately. "If you doanythingto her, I swear I'll unleash hell's wrath. I may not be overly fond of her father, but I can swear to you he'll not let his daughter's death go without being avenged, and I'll be by his side."
Gage walks back over to the couch, sitting down on the arm of it as he relaxes a little.
"I know perfectly well what Drackus would do to me. That alone should give you peace of mind."
Frankie's eyes widen as his gaze falls on me. "Alyssa, you can't tell people who your fucking father is!"
"And you can't use him to threaten people if you don't want them to figure it out on their own. Just go, Frankie. See the light council and let me know what's going on."
He scowls at me, but he finally vaporizes to start his journey. He leaves behind the echo of ranted curses.
"Sheesh. I thought he'd be gone by now," Gage grumbles as he drops off the arm of my couch and makes himself comfortable once more on the cushion.
"Maybe you should try knocking every once in a while."
I cross my arms, staring at him very sternly, but he simply brushes off my words as though they don't hold any value. I suppose they don't.
"My council called," he says, not acknowledging my sardonic remark. "The gang of night stalkers we both had an issue with has gone into hiding."
Relief fills me. Kane and his crew is enough of a threat. The fewer night stalkers I have on my ass, the better.
"Why?"
He looks up, smirking. "Because my council threatened a war. They've been shredding our kind. They want something, but no one knows what. Now the night stalkers who are in charge are scrambling to locate these rogue killers and bring them to justice before they have to get their hands dirty. If the bloodsuckers' council can't clean this up, they can be tried by the fey community."
"That's the best news I've heard all week," I say through a relieved sigh. Then inspiration strikes. "Can't you do that weird window thingy to find them?"
He laughs, seeming too amused by my poorly worded question.Jackass.
"Weird mirror thingy? You mean the viewing portal mydark, scarymagic opened?" he asks, obviously being a jerk.
I roll my eyes before narrowing them at him, visually chastising him. "Yes. Thatthingy," I snark.
"No," he chuckles out. "My window thingy only shows events from the past - events seen by a dredger usually. The dredger finds the memories in the minds of the living or the dead, and then they share them with us. In this case, the guy was dead. You saw a memory, not a current event."
I grumble under my breath, ignoring his mocking laughter. I stare idly out the window, wondering how I ever ended up in such a screwed-up place. A dark user is on my couch, a night stalker took my innocence, and a changer is my best friend.
I've lost my mind. That's it. I need therapy... or a spell to make me forget the last few months of my life.
"So, I did a little recon on the rest of Kane's crew." He says his name so casually, breaking me out of my silent reverie, and I cringe upon the very mention of the blood-drinker I loved. It's still so new, so fresh. "You're right about Sierra. She's lycan. Apparently, Amy is new to their pack. She's also new to her change. She was bitten in Moscow while on a backpacking adventure. The lycan that turned her was a vicious brute looking for a bride. Fortunately for her, lycans aren't bound to their sires the way night stalkers are to theirs.
