CHAPTER THIRTY || ELI
“Idon’t understand what’s happening,” Sam said quietly, sitting down across from me on a couch with fabric that felt like an expensive cashmere sweater.
The hotel was beyond fancy and outrageously expensive.
The whole room reeked of money. She let out a long, shaky breath. “None of this makes any sense.”
I rubbed my temples. How was I going to explain any of this?
“I know,” I said at last.
“Now we’re in a hotel neither one of us can afford.”
“Nicolas is paying for it,” I replied with a wince.
Her eyes narrowed. “He bought the house next door, too.”
“I know,” I said again. I felt like I was just repeating myself—because I was.
Sam stared at me, clearly waiting for me to explain. But what, exactly, could I tell her? If I told her the truth, it would completely destroy her entire worldview. But from the outside, this situation must have looked completely insane.
“We can’t go home right now,” I told her.
I glanced over at Harris for support—perhaps a mistake—because Sam followed my gaze to the detective seated near the entrance, his gun in his lap, and her expression darkened.
“Cole is some sort of criminal, isn’t he? That’s what this is.” Her tone sharpened, and she glared at Harris. “And you’re—what? His henchman?”
The detective snorted. “I’m his friend. Sort of. And the guy keeping you and your brother safe.”
“From what? A rival cartel? A drug deal gone bad?” Sam demanded, her voice rising. “What the hell is even happening right now?”
The door to the hotel room opened, and in strode Sadie—the blonde vampire dressed all in leather. She crossed her arms over her chest and fixed me with a judgmental glare. “If you won’t tell her, I will.”
“Who the hell are you?” Sam demanded, launching to her feet.
Harris also rose, holding his gun in one hand. “Christ! You’re supposed to be watching the elevator!”
“Poppy and Simone are more than capable of guarding the floor to prevent unwelcome company,” Sadie shot back, glaring at him. “And I can hear this poor woman from down the hall. She is in danger. The very least you can do is be honest with her.”
“How could you hear me? I wasn’t even yelling. Also, who the hell are you, and why do you have a key to our hotel room?” Sam sounded more bewildered than angry. Then she looked at Sadie properly, and recognition flooded her expression. “Wait, I know you from somewhere.”
Sadie met Sam’s gaze and froze, her eyes widening and lips parting with surprise. “We’ve never met,” she breathed, her expression softening at once as she studied Sam. “But yes, I believe I may know precisely what you mean.”
“But you seem so familiar,” Sam insisted, her eyebrows drawing together in confusion. Her outrage seemed to have been forgotten. “Are you sure we haven’t met somewhere? Maybe in a meeting or something?”
“A meeting?” Sadie asked, sounding baffled.
“Um, yeah. AA.” Her gaze drifted to the floor and her cheeks went red. “I started going a little while ago.”
“I see,” Sadie breathed, staring at her. She took a step closer to my sister, her expression going very soft. “You need not feel ashamed. You are attempting to confront a problem and improve your relationship with yourself. That is something to be celebrated.”
Sam’s gaze snapped to Sadie’s. “Really?”
Sadie smiled, her eyes crinkling with affection. “Yes, my darling.”
“Wait just a damn minute. Did I miss something?” Harris asked, staring at them like they had both sprouted wings.
I understood his reaction exactly, but this all seemed eerily familiar. They had immediately recognized each other, just as Nicolas and I had. But that didn’t make any sense. Did it?
“You’re joking,” I said, feeling dismayed and disbelieving. “You can’t be serious.”
“No one said anything funny,” Sam said, without taking her eyes off Sadie. “Um… so, not to be an asshole or whatever, but who are you and why are you here in our hotel room?”
“My name is Sadie. I am here as a favor to Nicolas’s brother, Thierry. I am tasked with protecting you.”
“Oh,” Sam said. She cocked her head to the side. “But you don’t have a weapon?”
“I am the weapon, darling.”
“Right,” Sam said, frowning. But some of the tension seemed to go out of her, and she settled onto the couch, tucking her feet under her. “Huh. Weirdly, that makes me feel better.”
“I will be right outside the door,” Sadie assured her. She hesitated, her gaze searching Sam’s. “Nothing will harm you. You have my word.”
“Yeah, I think I believe that,” Sam replied, sounding almost baffled at her own words. Then her gaze slid to Harris and me. “Um… do you guys smell hot cocoa? Like really good hot chocolate? Like what we used to have on Christmas Eve?”
I shook my head.
Harris was still staring at them in total disbelief. “Is this a mind-control thing?” he asked in a stage whisper.
Sadie’s gaze snapped to him sharply. “I would never.”
Harris took a step back, his eyebrows shooting up. “Okay, lady. Whatever. Didn’t mean to insult you, I guess.”
The vampire arched a brow at him, gave him a once-over, and then seemed to dismiss him. She turned back to Sam. “I imagine the scent reminds you of home,” Sadie said quietly, her whole demeanor softening again. “Of belonging.”
My sister’s eyes snapped back to her, startled. “Wait—yeah. That’s it exactly.”
“Do you still wish to know the truth?” Sadie asked, seeming a bit more hesitant now.
“I will deny you nothing. But I also have no wish to upset you. And the truth of this situation may be hard for you to accept at this moment. I would rather explain everything to you when the stakes are lower, and I can offer you my undivided attention. May I have the opportunity to do that?”
“Okay,” Sam said, shrugging. “Like, maybe we could have dinner or something and you could explain it then?” Then she paused, biting her lower lip. “Wait, is that weird? That’s weird.”
“Dinner would be lovely,” Sadie replied. “And it is not weird at all.”
“But you guys aren’t criminals?” Sam asked. “Do you promise?”
Sadie’s lips twitched with obvious amusement. “No, dear one. We are not criminals. You have my word. But there is danger, and you must stay here for the night in order to remain safe.”
“Okay,” Sam said again, nodding. “I believe you. And yeah, I can totally hang out here. But you’ll be right outside?”
Sadie nodded back at her. “No force on earth could make me leave until your safety is assured.”
Then, with one last, lingering look, she turned and swept out of the room.
“So that was a thing that just happened,” Harris said once the door closed with a soft click behind the vampire. He was still staring at Sam like she was an alien. “And you’re, what? You’re cool now? Just like that?”
Sam shrugged. “She said she’d explain the situation later. And… um… I trust her. It’s kind of weird, but I guess I do.”
I let out a long breath. It was hardly like I could judge. I was in love with a vampire, too. “It’s not so weird.”
“It’s not?” Harris demanded incredulously. “Can someone explain to me in small, clear words how it’s not weird?”
“It’s kind of like love at first sight,” I offered. “Sometimes you meet someone, and you just know that you can trust them.”
“Sounds kind of awful,” Harris said, grimacing. “I’d prefer to have my free will remain intact, thanks.”
Then my phone rang. I pulled it out of my pocket and looked down at the screen. It was Nicolas. Relief surged through me.
“Is it over?” I asked, answering on the first ring.
“Eli, you and your sister must leave the hotel. Now.”
“Wait—what do you mean?” I asked, a chill flooding through me.
Before he could explain, there was a massive thud from the ceiling directly overhead—hard enough to crack the plaster.
Sam jumped to her feet, eyes wide.
“What the hell?” I said, stepping back.
Harris stepped in front of us, leveling his gun at the crack in the ceiling. “Stay behind me.”
Another deafening thud followed, accompanied by the sound of splintering wood. The crack widened, crumbling at the edges as bits of plaster and debris rained down.
“Nicolas, there’s someone above us—they’re trying to break through the ceiling,” I said into the phone, my voice tight with fear.
“Get out now!” Nicolas hissed. “Eli, go! Now! I’m on my way.”
Another impact, and the hole above us widened until it was the size of a beach ball. Several pale faces appeared through it, grinning down at us with malevolent delight. I caught a flash of fangs.
That galvanized me into action. I shoved the phone into my pocket, grabbed Sam’s hand, and fled, pulling her along behind me.
I wrenched open the door to the hotel room just as the windows on either end of the hall exploded—figures swarming through, at least a half dozen on each side. They moved with inhuman speed.
Sadie flew forward and kicked open the door across from us, hard enough to splinter it into pieces. The room beyond was vacant, identical to ours.
“Get inside!” she hissed, pointing toward it.
Sam and I darted through the doorway, and Sadie immediately positioned herself between us and the door.
Then another loud thud shook the floor, followed by cracking wood from the hotel room we’d just fled. It was punctuated by several heavy, body-sized thumps—vampires dropping through the ceiling.
A split second later came the ear-splitting pop-pop-pop of gunfire.
Between the vampires swarming from above and those flooding the hall at either end, we were penned in. This had been a trap after all—just not the one Nicolas expected.
It was a trap for us.