Sacrifice Me: The Complete Season One (29 page)

“If the Devil is after you, you must be
extremely valuable to him for some reason,” Lyla said. She
chewed on the fingernail on her thumb for a moment. “Something
beyond the average witch. Do you have any idea what it could be?”

I bit the inside of my lip. How much could I
really trust Lyla? Rend obviously trusted her or he wouldn’t
have her working at Venom. On the other hand, I barely knew anything
about her. I was still getting used to the idea that I was a
descendant of the Mother Crow. Did I want to confide in her about it?

I looked around at the other people on the train.
This late at night, there weren’t many people on board, but I
didn’t want to take any chances that someone could be listening
in on our conversation.

“Rend and I figured out something about my
family that makes me unique.” I knew I was being vague, but
vague was my only option right now. “I’ll tell you more
about it when we get to the safe place, but for now, can we just
leave it at that?”

Lyla nodded and sat back in her seat. “Good
idea,” she said. “We’re going to have to get off
the train at the next stop anyway. Then we’ll get a cab and go
the rest of the way. We'll get to the safe-house in half an hour or
so, and we should be able to relax until Rend can get word to us.”

“He’ll be expecting us to go there?”
I asked.

“Yeah, he’ll know that's where I’ll
go if I'm still alive,” she said. “He’ll definitely
come looking for us, but I have no idea how long it will take him to
find a way here. New York is the closest doorway, and then he’ll
have to catch a flight from there. We probably won’t hear from
him until tomorrow at the earliest.”

I nodded, knowing I had no choice but to trust her
and follow her to this safe-house.

I wished I had time to call Katy and let her know
I was okay and that I would be gone for a while, but my cell phone
and purse were both still inside the club. God, I hope she wasn't in
any danger. When I talked to Rend, I'd have to see if he could get
someone to watch over her for me. Just in case.

“So, if there are all these doorways into
the club from all these different cities, what city is the club
itself actually in?” I asked.

Lyla twisted her mouth to the side. “Huh,”
she said. “I have no idea.”

I didn’t have time to ask more questions
because the train pulled up to the next station. We both got off and
descended the stairs to the street below. Lyla hailed a cab and gave
directions to one of the nearby suburbs.

Neither of us said a word the rest of the way to
the safe-house, but we clasped tightly to each other's hands in the
darkness.

The cab pulled up to a very normal-looking house
in the middle of suburbia. The lights were all off and the lawn
looked like it could use a good mowing, but there was nothing strange
or unusual looking about the place. It wasn’t at all what I was
expecting for a vampire’s chosen safe-house, but maybe that was
exactly the point.

Lyla pulled a fifty out of her bra and told the
driver to keep the change.

As we got out, she turned back to him and touched
his hand. His expression went slack and he stared at her with empty
eyes.

“You never saw us,” she said in an
even tone. “You will drive back into the city and forget about
this fare.”

The driver nodded, then blinked and smiled at her
with a dazed expression on his face.

He drove away and I raised an eyebrow at Lyla.

“What just happened there?” I asked.

She winked at me, but didn’t elaborate. Once
again, I was amazed at the possibilities that opened up when magic
was involved.

Lyla took a good look around the neighborhood. It
looked like the typical middle-class suburban street. Brick houses
built close together. Basketball goals in the driveway. Shrubbery.
Most of the lights in the nearby houses were off. A red tricycle sat
in the driveway of the house next door. A dog barked in the distance.

“Notice anything out of the ordinary?”
she asked. “Or did the effects of the Blue Frost wear off after
the explosion?”

I looked around, trying to notice the kinds of
tiny details I had noticed earlier. But the shot seemed to be out of
my system. Maybe the shock of the explosion had sobered me up.

Nothing seemed strange or out of place about the
area. There were no strange cars parked on the street. No one looking
out of windows. No dark feeling. But without the shot, I knew I could
be missing a hundred important details.

“I have no idea,” I said. “The
shot is gone, but I don't see anything weird.”

“Okay, follow me.”

Lyla walked around to the back door of the house.
I expected her to look around for a spare key, the way I’d done
at my mom’s abandoned house. Instead, she placed her palm on a
small clear stone embedded in the door frame.

The door popped open and she took one last look
around before stepping inside.

The inside of the house smelled like dust and
mildew. It was dark, and when she flipped the switch near the back
door, nothing happened.

“Shit, the power's off,” she said.

“I’m guessing from the smell no one’s
used this place in quite some time.”

She laughed. “Years, probably. At least
four, I think.”

“So, you’ve been here before?” I
closed the back door and carefully followed her into what seemed to
be a living room. The light coming in from the street through the
front windows illuminated the outline of a couch and recliner.

“It’s been a while, but yeah. I came
here maybe seven years ago when I had a scare with an ex-boyfriend of
mine who came after me. Rend put me up here for a little while to
keep me safe until he could... deal with it.”

I shivered at the thought of what Rend’s
version of dealing with a dangerous ex might be. Had he torn him
apart?

“The power was on back then,” she
said. She tripped over something on the floor and cursed.

“You okay?”

“I’m fine,” she said. “Do
you know how to make an orb?”

“Definitely not,” I said. “You
can just assume my answer is no when you ask if I can do anything
magic-related.”

She giggled. “You seemed to create a small
tornado just fine earlier.”

I groaned. “That was an accident.”

“Powerful accident,” she murmured.

Was it? I had no idea what power really meant
anymore.

“Can you do it?” I asked. “Make
an orb, I mean.”

“I’m not great at it,” she said.
“It’s not one of my gifts. Plus, I don't want to waste
any of my power in case we have to leave again. I think I know where
some candles are, though. Wait here.”

She tripped over a few more things as she made her
way into another room off the main hall. A few minutes later, she
came back carrying a long white pillar candle. She held her hand over
the small flame to keep it from going out as she walked.

“Success,” she said. “I’m
much better with fire.”

I raised an eyebrow. “So it seems.”

“Come on, let’s go upstairs. I need to
get out of these ridiculous clothes and into something more
comfortable,” she said. “Tomorrow’s going to be
hell with no air conditioning.”

I followed her up the stairs, noticing along the
way that there were no pictures or decorations of any kind here. It
felt very empty and hollow.

We made our way into a bedroom in the back of the
house. It was sparsely furnished with nothing more than a basic queen
bed and a side table. Lyla set the candle on the table and pulled
open the sliding doors of the closet.

“Rend keeps a bunch of spare clothes here
for anyone who might have to hide out for a while without more than a
moment’s notice to gather our things,” she explained.
“There should be some toothbrushes and shampoo and stuff in the
bathroom, too. Oh god, what if there’s no water, either?”

“You said Rend might be here tomorrow,”
I said. “We shouldn’t have to rough it for too long
before someone shows up.”

“We could both use a shower, though,”
she said. “We smell like smoke from the fire. Besides, we need
to get that cut on your forehead cleaned up and see what kind of
damage there is.”

I raised my hand to the sore spot above my eye and
traced my fingers along a two-inch cut caked with blood. “Shit,
no wonder people were staring at us. I probably look like I’ve
been in a fight.”

“We’re both caked in ash, too,”
she said.

She rummaged through the closet and came out with
a pair of yoga pants and a tank top. “Here, these look about
your size if you want to change.”

I took the clothes and waited for her to find
something for herself before we both made our way into the master
bathroom. She crossed her fingers, then turned the faucet. Water
sputtered out, then flowed freely.

“Yay, thank you Jesus.”

I smiled. “That’s something at least,”
I said. “You’d think if he was going to keep this as a
permanent safe-house, he would have kept the power on, though. It's
not like he's hurting for money. I mean, have you seen his house?”

I said it as an off-handed comment, not really
thinking, but Lyla nearly dropped the candle.

“Um, excuse me? Are you saying you have?”

I cleared my throat. Shit. I really needed to
watch my stupid mouth.

“You have,” she said, her eyes wide.
“I’m going to clean that cut and get changed, and then
you’re going to dish the good stuff. We might be here for days,
but now at least I know we’ll have something fun to talk
about.”

She seemed giddy at the thought of me knowing
secrets about Rend, but it made my stomach hurt. I’m sure Rend
didn’t want me telling the rest of the staff what had been
going on between us the past few days. Hell, I wasn’t even sure
what was going on with us. I’d been hoping to get more clarity
about our relationship after the club closed tonight, but now
everything had changed.

“It’s not as juicy as you think,”
I said.

I winced as she rubbed a cold washcloth on my
forehead. Blood trickled down my cheek and she wiped it off.

“Hold still,” she said.

“I’m trying, but that stings.”

“Sorry, I’m just trying to get a
better look at the damage. I don’t think the cut went too deep,
so it should heal fine,” she said. “Let me see if I can
find some bandages.”

She found a first-aid kit under the sink, rubbed
ointment on the cut, and fixed a bandage over the top.

“Let’s get changed and see if there’s
anything here to eat.”

“Are you serious? You said no one’s
been here in four years. What could there possibly be to eat?”
I asked.

She made a face. “Good point,” she
said. “I would say let’s order pizza, but it's too risky
at this point to let anyone know we're here. I’m starving,
though.”

My stomach rumbled at the thought of food. “Me,
too,” I said. “We’ll figure something out.”

We went back into the bedroom and changed out of
our dirty clothes. I took my time, hoping by the time we got
downstairs, Lyla would have forgotten what I'd said about Rend's
house.

“Does this place have a phone? Or do you
happen to have your cell on you?” I asked as we made our way
back down to the kitchen.

“No,” she said. “But don’t
worry, Rend will come for us. Everything's going to be okay.”

I nodded and followed her into the kitchen. I
wished I could be so confident, but I didn't like the feeling of
being so far away from him right now. And I really didn't like not
knowing for sure that he was okay.

Lyla and I searched the cabinets, but there was
nothing here other than a few packs of stale saltines and a very old
can of baked beans.

“What if we ordered pizza and you did your
little magical memory thing on the delivery guy?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know any
place that’s going to deliver after two in the morning on a
Sunday,” she said. “We’ll have to just wait until
morning. We can walk down to the gas station around the corner when
they open and grab something for breakfast. They should be open in
about four hours or so.”

I groaned. I wished she had never mentioned food,
because now I was starving, too.

“Do you want to try to get some rest?”

“I don’t think I could sleep right now
even if I tried,” I said. I probably wouldn’t be able to
sleep until I saw Rend walk through that door.

Lyla set the candle down on the coffee table in
front of the couch and walked over to the large window in the living
room. She reached over and pulled a thick, dusty curtain across the
window, closing off nearly all the outside light.

“I don't want someone out there to notice
the candle and call the police or anything,” she said, sitting
down on the couch. She pulled her feet up and placed them under her,
turning to me with a sparkle in her eyes. “I'm dying to know
what's been going on, Franki. When did you see Rend’s house?
What’s it like? And what did the two of you do there, exactly?”

I sighed. So much for hoping she'd forget. I had a
feeling she wasn’t going to let it go until I gave her
something.

“I don’t really know how much there is
to tell,” I said, sitting across from her. “To be honest,
I’m still confused about what’s going on between Rend and
me. He's confusing.”

“Give me the basics and I’ll see if I
can interpret,” she said with a giggle.

I sighed. Other than Katy, I'd never had true
girlfriends to chat with and spill my secrets. Somehow, this terrible
night had turned into a gossip session, and I was mega-uncomfortable.

“Let’s start with this,” she
said. “Has he kissed you?”

I closed my eyes and tensed my lips.

“Oh, my God, he has,” she said. She
grabbed my hand. “Franki, this is huge. I have known Rend for
years, and he has never, and I mean ne-ver, gotten romantically
involved with anyone in all the time I’ve known him.”