Adele

A rough shake of the shoulder woke me. "Adele. Wake up."

I bolted upright, battling with the covers that had somehow wrapped around my hands. My heart fluttered like a bird trying to out-fly a tornado. Once I caught sight of Davian, I relaxed.

"Oh. Hi."

"Hey." He pointed to a large paper bag on the table. "I have food."

My stomach yowled, louder than a starving pup. I made my way over to the table, fighting not to drool at the smell of fried food hitting my nose. Digging through the bag, I laid out everything, my hands shaking with hunger.

"Are you all right?" he asked, catching a Styrofoam takeout container before I dropped it.

I nodded. "It's not that shifters want to eat a lot, we need to eat a lot. We need calories."

"I know. Here. Start with this." He pulled a foil wrapped packet from a plain brown bag and handed it to me.

I unwrapped it, pleased to find it was pizza topped with ham, bacon and sausage. In two big bites, I shoved it into my mouth, barely chewing before I swallowed. Then I attacked the various takeout boxes Davian laid out on the table for me. I picked one and ripped it open, happy to see chicken with broccoli from a Chinese restaurant. I dumped the food down my throat while I surveyed what remained, debating what to eat next. There were barbecue wings, teriyaki wings and ghost pepper wings. On top of that, I spotted a gyro, chili cheese fries, chocolate cake, cheesecake and a banana split.

I smiled at Davian and went for the gyro. "You remembered all my favorites."

"I guess I did." He laughed. "You ordered a lot of takeout when we first met. Eating it didn't go so well, though."

"Yeah. I remember." I grimaced, recalling the mess I'd made. "That was rough. Sorry. Thanks for giving me another chance." Finishing the gyro, I went for the fries. I was so hungry, everything disappeared in two bites.

"It was either feed you or listen to your stomach growl. I assume last time wasn't the norm."

"No. I'm good this time. Promise." I slurped down a large soda, doing my best to discreetly burp behind my hand when I finished. "Tell me what's new. Anything on Zion?" I sniffed the wings, deciding I would go for the ghost pepper ones first. I liked how the spices made my nose tingle.

"He's looking for us, but that's about it."

I blinked back tears from the ghost pepper's heat. "Are you sure we're safe here?"

"Yes. I'm sure. No one has ever found me here. As much as vampires like the dark, they hate caves. They don't think anyone goes this deep in the City Oscura."

"But you do."

"I've had to. The work I do sometimes puts me in the middle of some dangerous politics."

"Why do you do it then?"

He shrugged. "If you leave vampires alone long enough, they start to think they can get away with anything. I exist to remind them immortality isn't a free pass. They don't, in fact, get to do whatever they want."

"Like Zion." Done with the wings for the moment, I dabbed my face with the wet naps that had come with the wings, eyeing the cake as I did so. Gooey chocolate icing sat an inch high on top of the cake. Whoever had made it had a werewolf's understanding of the proper cake-to-icing ratio.

"Yes. Like Zion."

"Why did he lock you up? He should have turned you over to the Vampire Council."

A pained expression crossed Davian's face. "We're going to have to do something about the things Zion has told you to believe, but to answer your question, I think he was hoping if I disappeared the Vampire Council would lose interest in the whole thing and move on."

"Would they?"

"Lose interest?" At my nod, he said, "Sure. Eventually."

"What's eventually in vampire years?" Finishing the cake, I went for the cheesecake next. A strawberry swirl ran through it. Perfection.

"Around a century."

I paused, fork halfway to my mouth. "He would've left you there for a hundred years?"

"He would've left me there as long as he needed to. Two, three or five centuries. What does he care so long as he gets what he wants?"

"Whoa," I said quietly, setting down my fork. Maybe I knew Davian, but I didn't know jack about vampires. Their darkness was bottomless. "Why aren't you like Zion and the other vampires? What makes you hide in a cave and police them?"

"I just do," he said, his voice growing cold and remote.

"There's more to it than that," I said. "I can hear it in your voice."

"Don't assume you know anything about me, Adele. I'm a vampire, and at the end of the day, that is all I will ever be, fangs and all."

"You're nothing like Zion, or the rest of them, for that matter. You're way more than just a vampire," I said with a stubborn jut of my chin. "And for the record, I'm a werewolf and that's all I will ever be, too. Fangs, fur and all. What makes you think your fangs are worse than mine?"

"Because."

"Because, as in because I said so?" I rolled my eyes. "You sound like my mother."

He cleared the table of empty takeout containers. "Believe me, the thoughts I have about you are nothing your mother would approve of."

A triumphant smile curved my lips. Something inside me steadied itself like a turtle finally flipping from its back to its feet. I'd doubted myself when Davian left me, blamed it all on my addiction, but my instincts had run true. We had a connection. I wasn't just craving him like any other junkie. I could believe in myself again. "Thank you."

He gave me a wary look, his dark eyes foreboding. "For what?"

"Being honest."

"Yeah. Well, here's some more truth for you. We don't have a lot of time."

"What are we going to do?"

"Flush Zion out and expose him for the liar he is." He settled into the chair opposite mine and watched me dive into the banana split. My stomach hadn't growled in the last five minutes. I was almost full.

"What do you need me to do?" I asked.

"I'm going to auction you off."

"What?" My gut clenched and I stopped eating. "I don't want to be a blood slave again, not even to take out Zion."

"Don't worry. No one is going to touch you. It's just for show. We need to draw Zion out, and if he thinks I'm selling you and pocketing his profit, that will goad him into being stupid."

"Are you sure he'll come? Wouldn't it be easier to just walk away until the Vampire Council doesn't care anymore?"

"Once we're out of here, he'll be able to track you by your blood. There's no way he's going to leave you loose to sneak up on him. He knows you'll want revenge, and he hasn't given up pinning everything on me, not yet."

I giggled. The reaction was inappropriate. My life was in danger, but the stress demanded a way out.

Davian frowned. "What's so funny?"

"Blood is a vampire's GPS. Did you ever think about that?"

Davian gave me a blank look. "What's GPS?"

"How long have you been dead again?"

"Long enough to wonder if it was worth it."

I swatted him on the shoulder. "Of course, it was worth it. You met me."

He smiled at that.

"GPS is a technology that you can use to get somewhere."

"Like a map?" he asked.

"Yeah, but with satellites and stuff. It does more than a map." I frowned at him. "You have to know what it is. I've seen you use a cell phone."

"Finding directions on my phone I can do. I didn't know it was GPS." He gave a sheepish smile. "Sometimes the modern world moves too fast for even an immortal to keep up."

"Okay, so..." I took a deep breath, reining myself in."Where's the auction going to be? In the City Oscura?"

"No. It's not safe here. I have to get Zion out of his element. Someplace he doesn't know."

"Which is?"

"I was wondering if you would call your pack and see if they can help."

"I guess. Which pack, though? My home pack or Huntsville?" Neither would be thrilled to see me, but I kept that to myself.

"Huntsville. They'll want their pound of flesh, right?"

"Definitely."

"We'll pick a spot around Huntsville. You running back there will make sense to Zion."

"Are you sure?" I asked."He seemed to believe he'd ruined my reputation."

"Even if he thinks that, he'll follow your blood."

"And then?"

"We lure him in and kill him."

We both smiled at the same time.

"Sounds good to me. You got a phone I can borrow?"