A Kiss of Blood (Vamp City #2)(94)

Reaching for the Bic, she lit the lamp, then dressed quickly, needing to see Zack. Arturo’s accusation that she thought of no one but Zack had cut too close to the bone. In some ways, he was probably right. Maybe in all ways. She’d never let anyone get close enough to see what she was, knowing they’d run.

But everyone here knew exactly what she was. And none of them had fled. Arturo, in fact, just kept coming back for more. He’d held her close most of the time she’d slept. Every time she’d awakened, he’d kissed her temple and told her to go back to sleep. Vampires needed no sleep. Yet he’d stayed with her, cradling her close, making her feel . . . cared for. It was a feeling, a softness, she couldn’t afford. Certainly not from a vampire.

As she stepped toward the lamp, to douse it, she spied a wooden stake on the floor, which must have fallen out of her jacket. With a small smile, she lifted her hand and called it to her. It rose suddenly, wavered a moment in the air, then zinged straight to her hand. The practicing she’d done while Arturo visited Cristoff had paid off.

Slipping the stake into the breast pocket of her jacket, she went to search for Zack. She found him doing pull-ups on a bar hanging from the ceiling of the gym, his shirt off, the muscles of his chest gleaming with a fine sheen of perspiration. Muscles. Real, honest-to-goodness muscles. If it hadn’t been for the bright red appearance of his usually pale skin, she’d have thought he looked wonderful.

He grinned when he saw her. “Hey, Quinn,” he gasped between reps.

“That’s twenty-five,” Jason said, amazement in his tone. “Twenty-six,” he added as Zack kept going. “Twenty-seven. Twenty-eight.” At thirty-four, Zack finally dropped to the floor, barely winded.

Quinn stared at him. A Levenach sorcerer. Her little brother.

Jason tossed him a towel.

Zack took it, wiping the sweat from his face. “I heard the ritual was a bust.”

“The curse is still holding back my magic. But I guess you heard that, too.”

“Arturo told me.”

“Is that all he said?”

The joy she’d seen in his eyes as he’d discovered what his body could do died a swift death. “He said they haven’t found Lily.” His mouth turned harder than she’d ever seen it. “I’m going to find her.”

All he could think about was saving Lily, just as all she could think about was saving him. Stubborn, one-track minds apparently ran in the Lennox family.

“When you’re ready,” Jason said evenly, “we’ll go out together and hunt for them both—my wife and your Lily.”

Zack met the Marine’s gaze with a certainty she could hardly credit, and nodded. He was changing before her eyes. In more ways than one.

She thought about telling him about the Levenach-Lennox tie, knowing how much that would probably delight him. But other than bulking up at a surprising rate, he’d never shown any sign of magic or power. And it worried her that knowing he had sorcerer’s blood might send his confidence even higher. Maybe too high, making him reckless. The fewer people who knew Zack was a sorcerer, himself included, the safer he’d be.

She headed back into the main room to find Arturo and found the doctor instead. Arturo’s words came back to her, that she could make friends if she wanted to.

“Amanda.”

The woman turned, a professional smile on her face that turned serious an instant later. “Zack’s holding his own, Quinn. That’s all I can tell you.”

Quinn hesitated. She briefly considered confiding in her about the Levenach blood, then pulled the secret close again. “I guess the magic sickness works differently in everyone.”

Amanda nodded thoughtfully. “I suppose it does.”

Quinn opened her mouth, looking for something friendly to say. When nothing came out, she shut it again. Now probably wasn’t the time anyway. “Have you seen Arturo?”

“He’s upstairs.”

“Thanks.”

She took the stairs two at a time and found the door partly open, the sign that it was safe to be on the main level. Slipping through, she followed the sound of raised male voices. Kassius’s, if she wasn’t mistaken. And Arturo’s.

“You must,” Kassius said.

“Never.”

As she stepped into the kitchen, Arturo looked up. Kassius turned away, his mouth hard with frustration.

“Want to fill me in?” she said, her tone letting them know they weren’t being given an option.

Suddenly, the house began to shake. A shout went up outside. Micah darted in through the back, slamming the door shut. Silence settled like a musty blanket as the world stood still. But Quinn saw no light filtering from beneath the edges of the room-darkening curtains that covered every window.

“Take a look, cara,” Arturo requested. “Carefully, please.”

Quinn crossed to the window and pulled back the drape only an inch. The sunbeams visible were faint and distant. “Nothing close.”

Arturo joined her, pulling the thick drape aside, and together they looked out.

Neo’s house sat in the middle of thick dead woods, but the sunbeams were easy to spy through them, and she counted no fewer than eleven in the distance.

“It’s getting worse,” Arturo murmured. If a sunbeam broke through in Neo’s yard, the vampires would be taking their lives in their hands every time they walked outside.