I ALMOST CHANGED MY MIND. Frozen to the spot, I turned that information over and over in my mind. He is going to make Clair a vampire. To do that, he has to kill her.
But he hadn’t lied to me. If he said she had asked, then it was what she wanted. It didn’t make any sense, but I supposed it really was none of my business, after all.
I headed back to my room for what I hoped would be the last time, opened the closet and grabbed the bag I’d packed during the early hours of the morning when sleep had deserted me. I went back to the kitchen, dropped the bag in front of the fridge, and loaded my three measly bags of blood into it. An overnight stop was probably out of the question then, if I only had this much blood.
My breath caught in my throat as I sensed someone else in the room. I turned around and let out a relieved breath. It wasn’t Ryan.
“You’re leaving?” Sam asked, gesturing to my bag.
I debated whether or not to lie. “You can’t stop me,” I said finally.
“Who said anything about stopping you?” Sam replied. “I’m surprised you stayed this long.”
“Don’t tell the others,” I said. “Please?”
“Okay,” he said. “I’m sure they’ll figure it out, though. Ryan is a very good tracker. He can find anyone.”
I sighed. “I know,” I said. “I’m just hoping that once I’m home, he won’t try to make me come back.”
“So when are we leaving?” Sam asked.
I raised my eyebrows. “We? There is no we.”
Sam crossed his arms and leaned against the bench. “I notice you have my keys,” he said casually.
I looked down at the keys in my hand. “It’s the only other car here,” I said, a note of desperation entering my voice. “I can’t take my car. It’s too obvious.”
“I’m coming with you,” Sam announced. Before I could argue, he uncrossed his arms, plucked the set of keys out of my hand and casually made his way down the hall. “Five minutes,” he called. “I’ll just pack a few things.”
I stood on nervous feet, hopping from side to side, trying to decide what to do. To trust that Sam, a vampire I’d only known for a short time, would deliver me home safely and without an agenda of his own? Strangely, I found myself looking forward to the idea of being alone with him on a cross–country road trip.
Don’t get carried away, I thought to myself. You’re never going to see him again.
And for some silly reason, the thought of never seeing him again hurt. More than I could have imagined. I could kind of see why. Whereas Ryan was the source of all my troubles, and Ivy was cold and aloof, if it hadn’t been for Sam’s gentle guidance and ability to listen to me freak the fuck out on a regular basis, I would have gone insane the first night I landed in that house. I suddenly understood why the thought of losing him hurt so much. It was because, in my new life, he was the only real friend that I had.
You’re going home. You need to forget about him.
Somehow that didn’t seem so easy.
I stormed out to the car, irritated that my plan had been sprung before I’d even left the house. I was so terribly bad at anything that required stealth or cunning. I threw my bag in the backseat of Sam’s SUV, a sleek black BMW with leather seats and chrome wheels. It looked like a car that Ivy would choose, not Sam. I imagined if he had the choice, he would pick something as ordinary as a second–hand pickup.
“Nice car,” I murmured as he entered the garage carrying a duffel bag and a small ice cooler. He must have seen my eyes light up, because he nodded and handed the box to me. “You didn’t think three little bags would get you there, did you?”
I shrugged. “I would have had more if Ryan hadn’t sniped it all.”
Sam’s face fell. “That’s where it all went?” he asked.
“Well, yeah,” I said. “He took a big cooler full of blood bags with him. He’s going to Turn Clair in Barbados.”
I placed the cooler on the floor behind the passenger seat and closed the door. “I don’t know why he has to go all the way to Barbados to do that. It’s hardly a time to be getting a tan when she’ll be all albino girl.”
“Barbados is a hospital,” Sam said as he shut the tailgate. “It’s in Malibu. It looks like a regular hospital, but it treats anything that falls out of the human category.”
“Clair is still human, though,” I said. “And how come you’re not surprised? Did you know he was going to Turn her?”
I really hoped he didn’t know.
“Nothing he does surprises me, Mia. He’s done far, far worse than that.”
“Oh.” I swallowed uncomfortably and hopped into the car, throwing my handbag at my feet. A wave of nausea hit me and I clamped my mouth shut and counted to ten in my head.
You don’t need blood yet. You just had some.
“Are you alright?” I opened my eyes to find Sam in the driver’s seat, peering at me with concerned eyes. “You’re as white as a ghost.”
“I’ll be fine,” I said quietly. I reached down and grabbed a bottle of water from my bag, cracked it open and drank the whole thing in one go.
Stop thinking about feeling sick and you’ll stop feeling sick. It’s all in your head.
I felt bile rush up my throat and I bolted from the car, barely making it to the garden bed on the side of the driveway before the entire contents of my stomach projectiled out of my mouth and onto a pretty rose bush. Thank goodness the garage door had been open or I would have chundered all over the car bonnet. I felt a warm hand on my back and my cheeks started to burn. Great, he just saw me throw up. Classy.
“Here.” A fresh water bottle was placed in my grasp. I opened it and took a small sip, swirled the water around my mouth and spat it out.
“Sorry,” I said, shaking my head and taking a deep breath. “Let’s get out of here.”