A Break of Day (A Shade of Vampire #7)(34)

She broke down into tears again as she took the keys from my hand and stared at them. “He sacrificed himself for me… for us… to have a future together.”

I allowed her a few minutes before I had no choice but to interrupt. “We need to get a move on, my love.” She wiped the tears from her eyes and nodded. “Let’s get dressed properly and then once Gavin has returned with Liana and Yuri, we must leave this place immediately.”

I found a fresh pair of jeans and a new shirt and pulled them on. Then I grabbed a small bag in which I placed the keys, the business card and my phone, and fastened it to my belt. Sofia looked around the room with a bewildered expression on her face. I realized we had nothing that she could wear. None of my clothes fit her, and I didn’t want to waste time having Zinnia return to her chambers for some spare clothes, so she had to make do with her dressing gown.

There was another knock at the door. On seeing our two vampire friends enter the room with Gavin, Sofia leapt into their arms, kissing their cheeks and embracing them.

“Thank heavens you got out,” she said.

Once I’d called Craig and Zinnia back, we were ready to head off. We made our way down to the kitchens, which were empty at this late hour. We exited through the back door and walked toward a collection of motor buggies near the entrance of the main building. We all bundled into two of them, Zinnia driving one and Gavin driving the other. Zinnia made sure to keep Craig sandwiched between Yuri and Liana. We drove until we reached the main electronic gates, where two guards were waiting to inspect us.

“We’re on orders from Arron to transport these vampires out to sea along with the others,” Zinnia said. “Ain’t that right, Craig?”

Craig grunted, but this seemed to pacify the guards, for they let us go.

We sped through the gates and hit the winding dirt road. After about forty minutes of driving, I began to catch the scent of salt in the air. We drove onto a sandy beach, where we parked, got out of the vehicles and made our way toward the silhouette of several boats stationed in a small private harbor.

There, we were met with another hunter whose job it clearly was to guard the vessels. When the man asked for explanation for our visit, Zinnia didn’t say a word. She pulled out a little gun from her pocket and shot a dart into his neck.

“Just a tranquilizer,” she muttered when he collapsed to the floor unconscious. “He’ll be all right by the morning.” She leaned over and grabbed a set of keys from behind his desk.

As we walked over to a speedboat, Sofia asked the question that had been nagging at the back of my mind ever since I’d reunited with Zinnia.

“Why are you doing this, Zinnia? I thought you hated us.”

Zinnia paused. “It’s a good question. It’s one I’ve asked of myself many, many times recently. Maybe it’s got something to do with hanging around with this guy.” She flicked a finger in the direction of Gavin, who was walking alongside her. “He seems to like and respect you two. So maybe it rubbed off on me a bit. Or maybe, just maybe, it runs a little deeper than that.”

Gavin looked mortally offended. “And there I was thinking that you were just blinded by my shocking good looks.”

Zinnia jabbed him in the ribs. “Despite what you might think, Sofia, I’ve always been one to follow rather than lead. I like to have a strong leader I can place my faith in. Aiden was that for me, until his visit to The Shade… and then he changed. It unsettled me at first, but after a while I realized that he was right. You know what he told me? He said, ‘Revenge is not a cause, it’s a controlling obsession’. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I wanted to distance myself from the hunters’ cause, which of course we now know was only ever the Guardians’ cause.” She opened up the door to the speedboat and let us all in. “And, as I said, I like having a leader. I have a feeling in my bones for what makes a good one. I’ve come to like and respect you both, Derek and Sofia. I saw what you managed to accomplish at The Shade and I believe in what you’re fighting for. My bones approve of you.”

With that, she inserted the key into the ignition and started up the engine.

“Craig!” Zinnia sounded like a nagging housewife as she called him over. “Come here and navigate this thing.” Craig shuffled over and took hold of the controls. “And if you want to return to shore with your balls still attached, don’t even think about getting us lost.”

I took a seat next to Sofia on the long bench as the boat lurched forward. I worried that Craig would get lost unintentionally, since it was so dark, and the strong gusts of wind that had just started up didn’t make our path through the waves any easier.

“Did you leave any hunters on the ship with them?” I asked Craig nervously.

“Yep, at least half a dozen. And they’ll be armed, of course,” he said. “I’d like to see how you manage to talk yourself out of that one, missy,” he added to Zinnia.

The others seated on the bench looked as concerned as I felt. Damn. How could I not have considered that possibility before we set off? It seemed blindingly obvious to me now that Arron wouldn’t have left the ship unguarded.

“Zinnia and I did consider that possibility, actually.” Gavin whisked out four handguns from beneath his overcoat.

“And if I’m not mistaken,” Zinnia said, “they normally keep at least a few backup weapons on these boats.” She opened a small wooden cupboard beneath one of the benches. “Aha. There are two more guns here. And plenty of bullets too.”