Chapter 18
Devon threw her suitcase on the bed and started yanking open drawers and stuffing things into it. She had no idea what. She could barely see through the damn tears. She didn’t waste time changing out of her pajamas. She’d do that when the sun rose and she could stop somewhere and catch her breath.
It took her a few seconds to realize the incessant pounding she heard wasn’t her throbbing head, but the front door.
“Dev? Open up! It’s me.”
With a sob, Devon kept packing. She couldn’t talk to Frank right now. She didn’t know why Kohl was so upset with her, but it was obviously some kind of mistake. However, she wouldn’t be able to fix it if she was dead.
“Devon, what the hell are you doing? Didn’t you hear me knocking?”
She slammed her suitcase shut and zipped it closed. Running to her closet, she got her coat. “How the hell did you get in here, Frank?”
“I used my emergency key.”
“That’s for emergencies only.”
“Well, right now my best friend is running around her room packing every piece of clothing she owns except for essentials—like underwear—and sobbing like someone just died. I’d say that constitutes an emergency.”
“I can’t right now, Frank. I have to go.” Sliding her suitcase off the bed, she pulled up the handle. It took her three tries to get it rolling correctly.
Frank let her pass, following her into the other room and watching her while she found her purse.
“When you didn’t come get me after I heard your vampire leave, I thought I’d better come check on you.
Hey.” He grabbed her arm as she passed on her way to the front door. “You don’t have any shoes on.”
Devon looked down at her bare feet. “Shit.” Dropping her stuff on the floor, she ran back into her room. When she came out, sneakers on her feet, Frank was holding her coat and purse. She tried to grab them from him. “I have to go, Frank.”
He held it up out of her reach. “And where the hell are you going, Devon? Were you seriously just gonna take off and not say a word to me? What’s going on?”
That’s exactly what she’d planned to do, because this was too damn hard. Then it hit her. She grabbed his shoulders. “Come with me. You have to come with me.”
He raised one eyebrow. “Where, darlin’? Jesus, Dev, you’re a mess. You look like you’re running from the mob.”
“Not the mob. Worse. Vampires.”
He dropped his arms back down to his sides. Her purse fell to the floor. “Oh, shit. He knows.”
“Knows what?” She could barely concentrate on what he was saying. Her brain was trying to pound its way out of her skull.
“He knows you sent Parasupe after them, Dev. What the hell else would it be?”
Devon stilled. “What did you say?”
But Frank was pacing now, back and forth, back and forth in front of her. “I told you it was a shitty idea.”
“Frank. What the hell are you talking about? I didn’t send anyone after Kohl or his friends!”
He stopped and looked at her with a worried expression. “Dev, we went to the library. You hacked into their system. You as good as gave them directions to the coven.” Suddenly, his face cleared. “Fuck me. You don’t remember. You don’t remember any of this, do you?”
Devon felt like his fist was wrapped around her heart, squeezing. He was telling the truth. She knew Frank. They trusted each other with their secrets. He’d never lied to her. “Tell me again,” she ordered. “Tell me exactly what happened. What was said. Everything.”
He did. Every detail. And with every word, she felt like someone was cracking open her skull with a pickaxe.
When he was finished, she sank down onto the arm of her sofa, leaned over, and put her head in her hands and rocked back and forth. “Oh my God.”
“You wanna tell me what happened now?”
“Parasupe raided Kohl’s coven tonight.”
“That would explain the blood.”
“And it was my fault.”
“Yes, it was.”
She looked up at her only friend. “What the hell did I do? He’s so angry with me.”
One hand on his hip, Frank rubbed away the lines of stress on his forehead. “And you’re running because you think he’s going to come back and hurt you?”
“No.” She shook her head. “Not Kohl. The rest of his coven. They know it was me.”
Frank threw his hands in the air. “Dev, what did you think was gonna happen?”
She laughed, but the sound was ugly. “I don’t even remember doing it.
” And now, she not only may have lost any chance at being with Kohl again, but she may have caused his death, along with everyone he cared about.
Or worse, Parasupe would find out what he is, and take him back to their labs.
And she couldn’t even take the time to process how she felt about that, because if Parasupe didn’t get to them first, she was about to have a coven of pissed off vampires on her ass.
The chances of surviving their wrath was pretty much zero, but she had to try.
Waving her hands back and forth as she tried to breathe, she said, “Someone must have gotten in here.” She twisted her fingers together in her lap. “I never should have sent you home to sleep. God, I’m so stupid.”
She felt Frank’s hand on her hair. “Awe, honey. You’re far from stupid. You’re just in love.”
“I’m not in love. Lust, maybe,” she admitted.
“Same thing.”
Wiping her eyes, she stood. “I have to go.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to wait until you hear something?”
She shook her head. She was in some serious shit. “Kohl told me to leave. Right now.” She picked up her coat and her purse.
“I’ll get my stuff,” he said. “Give me one minute.”
But she stopped him. “No, Frank. You should stay here. That was just me panicking before. I just…I really don’t want to be alone. But you should stay. It’s safer here than with me. If the vampires find me they won’t stop to ask questions.”
“Dev, I really think you should stay here. They can’t get in, right? Not without an invitation?”
“No, but—”
“Then I don’t understand why you’re leaving right now. It’s safer here.”
“Kohl told me to leave the city. And despite everything, I trust him, Frank.” She gave him a quick hug. “I’ll call you in the morning when I stop somewhere.”
He followed her to the door. “Devon.”
“I’ll call you.” Blowing him a kiss, she checked the hall. As her heart ripped into a million pieces and tears poured down her face, she ran down to her car, suitcase bumping along the stairwell.