Anger permeated the
entire enclave. That a vicious, brutal feral with a
taste for rape and murder was so close–or at least
had been so close, and they hadn’t realized it until
now, it weighed on the lot of them.
But it was crushing
Kel. Destroying what little soul he had left. “Phoebe
ran because of me.”
“She ran because of
her,” Sheila countered. “I know you, Kel. You wouldn’t
have led her to believe in any way that you might love
her. Women...” she shrugged, a bitter smile on her lips.
“We can usually tell when somebody loves us or not. Too
often, even when we suspect the answer is not, we
don’t want to accept that. You can’t fault yourself for
not loving her, any more than you can fault her for
falling in love with you...or at least fooling herself
into it. Phoebe was a big girl, Kel. She’d made it in
this world before Rafe set up territory here. She knew
there were risks and predators–and she made the choice
to leave. Nobody forced it on her.”
Neither of them heard
the footsteps. Until Rafe’s voice cut through the
tension in the air, they hadn’t even realized he was
there. But as they turned to look at the Master, both of
them felt something change...a subtle shift in the air.
Subtle–but it came
with something icy and ugly. Something that filled Kel
with dread.
“Don’t tell me he’s
killed again,” he rasped. Disgusted and furious, his
hands closed into fists and the refrain started to
circle through his mind once more.
Helpless. Useless.
Worthless.
The feral’s words
whispered through his mind.
“I’m going to rip
your heart out of your chest and smash it. You will die
this time.”
Kel’s own respondse...“Promise?”
Better off if the
feral had killed him. Kel could be replaced. Rafe
could get somebody besides Kel’s sorry ass in here,
somebody who actually understood the purpose, somebody
who cared.
“No, Kel. He hasn’t
killed anybody yet that we know about.” Rafe glanced at
his wife.
The look that passed
between them didn’t do a damn thing to make Kel feel
better.
Neither did the
appearance of Dominic and Toronto emerging from the
hallway to flank Rafe. Toronto wouldn’t have finished
checking things out in Tupelo already—which meant he was
back because Rafe had sent for him.
Dominic’s brown eyes
weren’t quite as blank as Toronto’s or Rafe’s. Dominic
wasn’t that much older than Kel, in both human and
vampire terms, and he hadn’t yet learned the fine art of
hiding every single emotion.
The look in Dom’s
eyes was one of worry, one of caution–and it had to do
with Kel. He could feel it.
In a hoarse voice,
Kel asked, “What’s going on, Rafe?”
Rafe, his voice
impassive, said, “It has to do with what you left
behind.”
Startled, Kel
blinked. “What I left...” Understanding came fast and
hard.
Home.
...Angel...
She was the only one he’d left behind that could still
matter.
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