The entire town had crumbled like some post-apocalyptic nightmare without enough people to keep things running. But Sydney still had the vaguest memory of her father’s penthouse at the Cary Town Luxury Apartments, before he’d relocated them permanently to the compound.
“Whatcha thinking about, Syd?” Jacob asked. His hand drifted to her knee, and she shifted closer to the window.
She was now keenly aware of the danger Jacob posed. Sure, they’d slept together before, and deep down she knew he hadn’t had much of a choice in the matter. He’d been their blood slave, and neither she nor Elise had been particularly shy about utilizing his other charms.
But Sydney had never tried to force herself on him. She couldn’t have anyway, but maybe, with her father being who he was, the threat had been implied if the princess was made unhappy. That thought horrified her. She hoped Jacob hadn’t seen it that way, but now wasn’t the best time to bring the conversation up. Not when they were on a deserted road, and he was the most powerful being within screaming distance.
“Nothing,” she replied.
“Come on, that isn’t the face of somebody thinking about nothing.”
“I was just thinking about how everything has changed so much.” They’d been driving for hours, and she’d fought not to think much about her parents or how they would feel about all this. But she’d been suffocating there. They had to understand. Weren’t they suffocating, too?
But her parents had seemed happy. Instead of hating the confinement, her dad especially had seemed sedate most of the time. The pressures of being king had faded once he lost control of everything. It was as if he’d found some zen place now that he couldn’t micromanage the entire world.
He’d been content to micromanage Sydney instead. It was an uncharitable thing to think about her father. He worried about her.
As long as he knew his mate and daughter were safe, he seemed happy. He was very different from the Anthony Burgess she’d heard stories about. It made her wonder if they were even all true.
“Maybe we should go back,” Sydney said, already regretting her decision. She could negotiate something less restrictive with her father. He loved her. Maybe he could be reasoned with. Though, by the time she got back, her dad would be so livid she might be confined to not just the compound, but her room as well, under guard until he calmed down. And with a vampire, that could be months.
He wasn’t known to let go of grudges. He’d been obsessed for years with finding out where the Cary Town pack’s den was. When he’d finally discovered the den, it didn’t matter anymore. Things had spiraled well past the point where he could control anything. Sydney used to play with the alpha wolf’s pup.
Noah hadn’t shifted to human for the first time until he was five, and it was so weird for her that Sydney didn’t see him for a few weeks after that because she couldn’t understand why he had turned into a boy. After he disappeared a few years later, she’d become despondent, and her father had gotten even crazier about the wards and protections and never letting her out of his sight.
Jacob drove faster. Not exactly the response she was expecting to “Maybe we should go back.” His face was tense.
“Syd… we’re not going back.”
“But…” Maybe he was right. Maybe she should keep going. But wasn’t that supposed to be her decision? She’d let him tag along and now he was acting like he was the one in charge.
“I’m sorry, Syd. I need to go back to my family.”
“Okay, so go, but take me home, first.”
“I wish it were that simple. I don’t know where they are. But I know someone who does. We’ve orchestrated a trade.” It was clear from the expression on his face that she was the trade.
“What? How? You live with vampires!” Sydney didn’t understand how Jacob could possibly be some kind of double agent. Wouldn’t a vamp have seen inside his head? The others couldn’t read him with Elise’s claim on him. But Elise could. Then again, the vampiress had harbored a strong grudge against Sydney for a while now. It wouldn’t have been hard to get her cooperation.
“I met some magic users from the Hub City.”
It used to be known as Las Vegas a long time ago, but when it was taken over by magic users, it had become the central point of organization in this country.
“And?” She kept hoping for a punchline. She was afraid she might be the punchline.
“And, they know where my parents are. They shielded my mind so when I killed Elise, none of the other vamps would have a chance to read me and know what was happening. I’m sorry. They said they want to study you. They’re fascinated by what you are.”
And here she’d been worried about his safety. What completely wasted angst.
Sydney wiped away a stray tear. It was bad enough to be so physically weak, but she couldn’t let him see her cry on top of everything else. “I thought you loved me.”
“I find you attractive, and you aren’t unlikeable. It wasn’t hard to pretend what I wanted you to see. But you had to know I wouldn’t be happy after being taken from my family like that. The other humans at the compound are different. They fell for the vampires who claimed them because they were thrown out of the cities to the monsters, and those monsters have treated them well in the end. It’s a little harder for me to romanticize it.”
She was glad she’d never fallen for him. It was bad enough to be betrayed by someone she’d thought was a friend. If she’d thought of him as more it would have been crushing. At least she didn’t have to be the foolish girl who fell in love with him.
“I’m going to start looking for a resting place for you for the day. I’ll figure out what I’m going to eat when you’re asleep.”
Once the sun came up, she’d sleep like the dead, literally. She wouldn’t rise until after sunset. And Sydney rose later than many other vampires, anyway. There were so many stupid ways in which she was different, weaker, and not any kind of respectable vampire at all.
“What am I going to eat?” she asked.
“Me, like always,” he said with a smirk that left her disgusted. Before, it had been bearable. Now, the idea of drinking his blood when he intended to give her to the humans made her want to vomit.
The feeling of revulsion didn’t last. Something predatory came over her, and she was filled with calm. Perhaps there was some remnant buried deep inside her of what she was meant to be as a vampire. She wasn’t sure what this feeling that had bubbled up meant, but she was going to drain every last drop of blood out of him. And then she was going home.
“I didn’t want you to find out like this,” he said, not having noticed the change in her demeanor.
“No, because this makes it awkward. You might have to feel guilty. It would have been so much easier if little Sydney hadn’t asked any questions until the transaction started. Do I have it about right?”
Jacob turned red, and Sydney thought she could convince him not to do it. But the things she’d end up doing with him in order to have the smallest chance, turned her stomach. No, she was killing the shithead. She’d worry about what she’d eat on the way home.
He was quiet for a long time, only the sound of the old truck piercing the silence. What else was left to say? The rest of the drive, Sydney spent fantasizing about what would have happened if she’d gotten away on her own—if she hadn’t confided in the human.