Natalya could summon fear and convince Evie to be truthful, but she was already so consumed by the feeling. Natalya didn’t want to add to it. Besides, it had been taxing forcing emotion on her before, more akin to affecting a supernatural being than a human. Manipulating her emotions would leave Natalya even more drained of energy than she already was.
She tried a different tactic.
“I know what you’re thinking, Evie. That even if we make it out, Varro will find you again. That you won’t be able to make it far enough where he can’t catch you, and when he does, he’ll punish you for defying him.”
Evie looked at her, eyes wide, surprised, and so, so frightened. There was more. The part she feared the most.
“You’re afraid we’re working with Varro and that this is a test,” Natalya said, and when Evie let out a shuddering breath, Natalya knew she’d gotten it right. She took Evie’s hand, purposefully keeping herself from lighting up her senses.
“I can get you away from this place. You never have to see him again. As long as you’re with me, no vampire or any other creature will ever touch you. You saw me in the parlor, so you know I can overpower them. But you have to trust me. You have to help us get out of here.”
Evie stared at her, shaking all over, and Natalya couldn’t help but wonder how much of the real Evie was left. How alive had this woman been before the Court of Night procured her? What were her dreams and her interests? Her favorite color? Big and small aspects of personality Evie had no room for anymore. All she knew was survival and terror, and everything she did was done to ensure the first and combat the other.
Natalya was asking her to hope, and that was the most dangerous emotion of all.
“You promise?” Evie whispered, and the question nearly broke Natalya’s heart.
“I promise.”
Evie stood up a millimeter straighter. “I got turned around. The garage is this way.”
“Are there more guards?” Flea twirled the stolen gun on his finger. “I’m getting bored.”
“Why did you bring him?” Cassius asked gruffly.
Squeezing Evie’s hand and then letting her go to lead once again, Natalya sighed. “I don’t fucking know.”
Evie’s directions were sounder now, leading them toward the main entrance of the estate. There were minimal guards, all of whom were subdued before they could sound the alarm. Though they were leaving a trail of unconscious bodies behind them.
They made it to the garage before an alarm went off. Blaring and wailing, it was loud enough to wake the dead. It probably did.
The garage had several vehicles, the most notable being a limousine and a hearse. The latter Flea immediately rushed toward before Natalya ordered him to watch the door instead. They went for the black SUV with tinted windows they had arrived in rather than any of Varro’s personal vehicles. Diana got behind the wheel at the same time as Cassius opened the garage door.
As he did, a strew of gunfire sparked off the concrete floor as someone started shooting into the garage from the hallway they had just entered through.
Evie screamed, and Natalya leaned over her, covering her with her body. A bullet sang through the room, hitting Cassius in the leg and knocking him to the floor. By how he started shaking, the bullet had been silver.
“They’re here!” Flea grinned madly as a cascade of red spilled from his head down over his shoulder. He’d been grazed in the temple. The wound was already closing. Silver wasn’t a weakness to fae or fiends.
“Cassius!” Diana pulled her brother to safety and then into the passenger seat of the SUV. Natalya got herself and Evie into the back as Diana returned to the driver’s side. “Flea, get the fuck over here!”
From the door, Flea fired a blind shot into the house before running for the car and then past it. There was a series of sharp pops from the other end of the garage.
“I’ll leave you, you pixie!” Diana got behind the wheel, looking at Cassius worriedly. The bleeding was dying down. The wound wouldn’t kill him, but it was painful.
Impatient, she started rolling the car forward. She made it a few feet before Flea returned and clambered in next to Natalya.
“What the hell, Flea?” Cassius groaned as Diana drove out of the garage. A pop-pop of bullets striking the back of the vehicle made them all duck. “That was reckless, even for you.”
Flea just smiled, his pretty features locked in a goofy grin as they sped down the driveway, out of range of the handguns.
“They’re not following us,” Evie said. She was looking out the back window at the estate growing smaller in the distance. It was brightly lit by a glowing, late morning sun. No cars followed. They weren’t being pursued.
Natalya turned to Flea, almost too shocked to speak. “You shot out the tires.”
Flea punched the roof of the car and hooted. “Even the hearse. Though I would have loved to take that for a spin. I’ve always wondered if vamps can get carsick.”
“You’re a fucking maniac,” Diana said, laughing. Cassius reached back and ruffled up Flea’s hair.
