Fox’s silence wasn’t required for stealth now that they were in the dead world, but Winter definitely appreciated the lack of distractions from the man. So far, only a little “eep” had slipped out of him, but one look at the man saw it was an excited eep rather than a terrified one.
Chapter 6
Fox chewed on his bottom lip, trying to not let panic overtake him. Had he made his situation better or worse? He’d just run off with a random vampire. Was this a rescue or another fucking kidnapping?
Well, it was feeling a little better so far. The vampire hadn’t knocked him out, beat him up, or even restrained him. Damon’s goons had enjoyed roughing him up every chance they got. And that was when they weren’t threatening his life if he even thought of stepping out of line. For two days, he’d been living like a tightly coiled spring, tension and fear vibrating through his body as he waited for Damon to discover the truth.
Fox Turner was a goddamn fraud. A complete phony. A worthless fake.
Sure, he was a witch in the sense that he had the capacity to do magic. He’d just never learned how.
And all these vampires now thought he was somehow linked to a prophecy. Fox would laugh his fucking ass off if he wasn’t sure he would be killed the second they learned the truth of his “uselessness.”
The fates were making fun of him. Snickering at him like it was all some great, big joke. He couldn’t do magic. He was the world’s worst witch, and yet he was embroiled in some twisted vampire politics because some other witch claimed he could take out a vampire clan. It was cruel.
Old bitterness and anger rose up in Fox’s throat, threatening to choke him, but he shoved it down in favor of focusing on his more urgent problem. How did he get away from this new “captor”?
Not that he was even sure this guy was kidnapping him. Maybe this was an unexpected rescue, and he’d be set free once they got to a safe location.
Fox wasn’t getting his hopes up. He certainly hadn’t hoped for a rescue while stuck in Damon’s clutches. He was alone in the world, with just a few acquaintances that he hung out with on occasion. Only his boss was likely to be pissed when he didn’t show up for work, but he doubted the man would call the cops to report him missing. Just fire him and hire someone else to fill his spot.
His eyes slid over to his new companion for what felt like the hundredth time. The vampire had made getting out of the mansion a fucking breeze. Chaos was happening all around them, and this guy just had them weaving calmly through it all like it was a dance. One he was very familiar with.
They remained in the world of the dead, giving Fox a good look at the hordes of ghosts that surrounded the mansion. Ghosts! Freaking white, transparent figures just wandering around Damon’s place like it was the most natural thing in the world.
His mother had said ghosts were real, but he had never seen any evidence to say it was true. But there was no missing them as his would-be knight whisked him through the insanity. Part of him had longed to stay and watch them, maybe even try to talk to one of them. Hell, he thought a female ghost had been cheering them on as they ran from the house.
But there was no stopping. There was no time. The vampire kept them moving at a brisk pace until they reached his SUV several blocks away. Only then did he open a little door and pull them both back into the world of the living, and all the ghosts were gone.
To Fox’s complete shock, they got away from his captors without suffering a single scratch. His heart thudded like a thing gone mad in his chest and he held his breath, waiting for them to be discovered. To hear shouts and gunshots following after them. Neither happened.
Fox reluctantly tore his eyes from the vampire driving to his window again at the passing scenery, which was mostly dark shapes and quick flashes of streetlights. The only bonus in all this mess was that his new rescuer-slash-kidnapper was fucking hot. Like hot with a capital “Holy shit, let me lick you!” He had a crazy rock-star vibe with all this black hair hanging down his back and pale electric blue eyes, but it was mated with this action-star vibe, thanks to his hard jaw and snarky smirk. If he hadn’t been worried about dying, Fox would definitely have been interested in climbing the man like a goddamn jungle gym.
And the icing on the cake was, the man seemed completely oblivious to his sex appeal. Fox had called him sexy once, and he’d looked absolutely flabbergasted. Fox had half expected the vampire to look behind him to make sure Fox wasn’t talking to someone else.