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.she would have been home, waiting for him, when they came for her.She might even have opened the door thinking he was behind it.There was no way she could have escaped.A small human woman couldn’t stand up to three vampires, not without months of fight training and a miracle.She had been strong, but not that strong, not yet.No.No.no.Desperate, he sought out with his power, trying to find the connection they’d had only days ago.He’d let it fade so that she could go back to normal for a little while longer, thinking it was the right thing to do, that she should have more time to think.But she had already known what she wanted.He was the one who was afraid.And now.He searched for her with his mind, but when he found what was left of the link and tried to follow it, he met only cold darkness where her loving warmth should be.Even after a week there should have been a faint trace of it left.He didn’t know how long he knelt there, staring at the fire, before a voice said, “Excuse me, sir, but I’ve been asked to show you this.”David rose, absently dusting off his knees and straightening his coat, and faced the paramedic.The young woman was sweaty and dirty, and he could see that she was a seasoned professional who wouldn’t let herself feel the loss of life until after she had saved as many as she could.He nodded, and she led him around the fire truck, past several humans in various degrees of jeopardy with other EMTs fixing oxygen masks on their faces.Nearby, there were already three bodies covered in sheets, awaiting transport to the morgue.The Elite patrol leader he’d spoken to before was standing at the edge of the triage area.He was staring down at something.David had never wanted to run away from anything so badly in his life.He forced himself to walk up to the man’s side, stand between him and the EMT, and look down.He was expecting a body.What he saw was a guitar.“The fire started in unit two twenty-one,” the EMT was saying.“One of the first responders tripped over this and ended up dragging it out with him.The strings got wrapped around his foot.As I understand it, you know the resident here?”David stared at the remains of the beautiful instrument.There was little more than a scrap of neck and string left, the body so charred it had fallen apart.He remembered the first time he’d seen her play, that night at the club, when he had no idea how she would throw his world into such welcome turmoil.Then, that night at the Haven, when he’d watched her from the door, his heart so full of love for her that only a liter of Jack could silence it.He saw her slender hands dancing over the strings, the way they had danced over his skin, and her soft mouth forming words, that same mouth that had closed over his.She was gone.He couldn’t feel her anymore.Ariana had gotten to her before the Elite could reach her.He’d been too late to save her.Jonathan’s vision had come true, and he had been too blind to heed the warning.She was gone.He responded numbly to the EMT’s questions, and when she finally left, he turned to the Elite.“You will stay here until we have a body,” he informed the patrol leader.“Have Lindsay’s body sent back for a memorial and comb the area for any further evidence.I want this Blackthorn bitch brought to me.” He looked back up at the smoking remains of the apartment building, where everything that mattered had gone to ash.“I’m going home.”Faith was waiting outside the front doors of the Haven when the car pulled up.She’d been standing there for nearly half an hour.She’d tried to contact him over the coms, but he wasn’t answering; the patrol unit at the scene had no news, only that the building was a total loss and no body had been found.But if anyone would know, David would know.The connection between him and Miranda would surely still be active, and even if it wasn’t he was strong enough to find its echo.She had to be alive.There was simply no other possibility.After everything that had happened, everything Miranda had been through, it couldn’t end so suddenly.They would find her, and she would be fine, and she would come home.Harlan got out and held open the car door, and after a moment, David emerged, his face smudged with soot.When she saw the expression on his face, Faith shook her head violently.“No,” she charged up to him, standing in front of him, fighting the urge to shake him.“Tell me you found her, Sire.Tell me she’s okay.”In the decades she’d known him she had seen him angry, seen him hate; she had seen him mourn.But she had never seen what she saw in his eyes at that moment.complete desolation.Faith fell back, her hand to her mouth against the sobs that were trying to batter their way past her rapidly fracturing calm.The Prime lowered his eyes and walked past her into the Haven, silent, head bowed.Faith followed, struggling to regain control of herself, but she saw tears on the faces of the servants and Elite that she passed.When they reached the Prime’s wing, and he went quietly into the suite and shut the door without admitting her, Samuel took her arm.“What’s happening?” he asked.“I just got on duty and everyone’s saying.God, Faith, is it true?”She made herself sound professional even if her heart was screaming.“We don’t have confirmation yet.As soon as there’s news I’ll make sure you know.”“What are we going to do?” he asked.She started back down the hall.“We’re going to find Ariana Blackthorn and kill her.And we’re going to kill all of her friends.And anyone else who might need it.But first.first we’re going to find Miranda and bring her back here, where she belongs.”EighteenThe first breath she took was nothing but water.She screamed, but no sound would come.It was cold.so cold.and she couldn’t see.Blackness surrounded her, pulled her feet, dragging her downward.and she was so weak, she could barely even move, let alone struggle.So cold.This was where she had always been headed.It was the nightmare made real.The darkness had closed around her and there was no escape.Images floated past her mind as she hung suspended between life and death.She saw her childhood, her mother, back when things were good.She saw Marianne back when she could smile.She saw her mother’s vacant face and lifeless eyes.her lonely grave in Austin, unattended for ten years until her prodigal daughter offered her rosemary.There was an empty plot next to her, just the right size for one more grave.She heard music, her own voice singing.Piano, deep and rich.She felt keys beneath her fingers, then strings, then muscles.She tasted blood.Faces came to her, some with names, some without.Kat.Faith.Sophie.Terrence.Helen.David.Samuel.Ariana.Traitors.The full moon.Memory struck, and from somewhere deep within her that was almost dead, she summoned all her strength and fought.She burst through the surface of the water, flailing on all sides, her lungs burning from lack of oxygen.Her hands were nearly unresponsive, but she splashed out until she found something to grab on to and pulled herself sideways.She crawled onto the bank, vomiting huge gushes of stinking lake water, then sucking in an enormous breath that made her dizzy.She collapsed into the mud, coughing and gasping and sobbing.Her chest hurt.She put her hands to her heart, felt it beating.It was beating.She was alive.As soon as her lungs were empty and her nose was no longer full of the stench of pollution and dirt, she smelled something else.something crisp and light.something terrifying.Morning.Morning was coming.She had to get inside.The sky was starting to lighten in the east.Inch by inch, she pulled herself all the way out of the water and got to her hands and knees, then her feet [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]