Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 105144 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105144 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
Something tells me that once Xavier makes up his mind, there’s no getting him to change. “Okay,” I just say and let my eyes fall shut. My mind is too chaotic right now to get a good read on what I’m feeling, but the more I think about Maria Elena’s the more I feel a desperation to sit down in my favorite booth, feeling the worn and cracked pleather cushions on the seats beneath me. I can almost smell it now, and my stomach grumbles at the thought of a vegetarian fajita with a heaping side of coconut rice.
“I need weapons,” I say.
“You have me,” he replies and for a second, I think he’s serious. He takes my hand and begins walking toward the house.
“You better hope we don’t run into a Wampus cat.”
“Pray tell what that is.”
“Nothing we actually have to worry about. That one is just a legend. But Wendegos…that’s another story. Though, um, speaking of demons, I have a question.”
“Go ahead and ask,” he says and go down the cobblestone path.
“When I was out running, I overheard someone talking about how a lot of homeless people have died suspiciously lately.”
“And you think it was because of demons?”
“Yeah. It would be really helpful to get the full M.E. reports.”
Xavier slowly inhales, not because he needs the air, but for the dramatics. “I know there is more to this, but this once, I won’t dig. If you want those reports, we should go now.”
“Really?”
“Really,” he says. “I find you interesting, Wren. It’s not every day I find someone other than myself worthy of giving attention to.”
“There might have been a compliment in there hidden beneath the barf-worthy self praise,” I chide, raising an eyebrow. Xavier is confident, but his confidence is earned. He’s poised, controlled, successful in more ways than one.
And an apex predator.
Why deny any of that? Why walk around meek and humble? Are we actually better people if we downplay our strengths? I really don’t know, and I suppose as we’re not going around trying to make others feel bad or less than, it probably is a good thing to know what you have going on and use it.
I get my phone and a sweater for later and then go through the house, meeting Xavier in the garage. He opens the door to the G-Wagon for me and I climb in, pulling my seatbelt down and clicking it into place.
I mess with the radio, flipping through channels as I sigh. “I had some really great Spotify playlists on my phone.” Slightly turning my head, I glance at him. “And it’s not like I can’t figure out how to contact my family with a new phone, you know.”
“I do know.”
“I want my old phone back.”
“I figured you might.” He reaches into his suit pocket and pulls it out. “I’ll be the judge of how great your playlists are.”
Smiling, I eagerly take my phone and immediately go to my texts, certain I had a bunch of missed messages and calls from my family.
I don’t.
It’s gut-wrenching and I don’t understand. I have just a few texts from Antonio the day I was taken, and one from Leo. There’s one standard text from the Order, which is sent out to everyone.
But then nothing after that. Swallowing hard, I open the texts from Antonio.
I’m going to get this figured out. Don’t worry.
Stay safe and stay strong. Leo and I are going to go to HQ tomorrow. Are you okay?
Wren??
I open the text from Leo, debating if I should reply.
Hi, Wren, it’s G. No one will tell me what’s going on. You’re the only one who didn’t lie to me. I miss you.
I go onto Find My Friends and see that everyone stopped sharing their locations with me as well. We always had that enabled for safety reasons. Letting out a breath, I blink away tears and feel rage start to burn deep inside me. The betrayal cuts deep and I’m so fucking pissed.
“Something wrong?” Xavier’s hand lands on my thigh.
“Out of sight, out of mind,” I say quietly and then shake my head. “I’m fine.” I can feel his gaze lingering on mine and I let my eyes fall shut for a minute while I focus on my breathing, trying to clear my head. After a minute or so, I plug in my phone and pull up my favorite K-pop playlist.
“This is what you listen to?” Xavier tips his head at me.
“What? It’s catchy and most of these songs are good to workout to.”
“If you say so.” His lips pull into a smirk. “Music has gone downhill in my opinion.”
“Since when, the 1800s?”
He chuckles. “Add a century and about twenty or so years.”
“You do have this whole 1920s gangster thing going for you.”
His smirk grows. “That was a good time to be a vampire. Granted, there was no bad time to be a vampire.”