There was no humor left in his expression. He now looked as serious as I felt. “On one condition,” he repeated.
Red-hot rage boiled over me, and my skin prickled with the electric sensation of it. “I saved your life. You owe me everything. I am your Tribunal leader. ” The last words came out in a snarl.
Around us the wind picked up and debris skittered down the sidewalk, scraping over the concrete with an eerie chittering sound. Holden’s frown deepened, but he dug his hands into his pockets and looked resolved to not move from the spot. I could claim that I’d call down the retribution of the Tribunal on him and hold him treasonous for not helping me on my command, but we both knew I wouldn’t. What I was doing had nothing to do with the council.
After a silence stretched between us for miles, I set my katana down and leaned against it. With the blade sheathed I wasn’t worried about dulling the edges, but I might scuff the ebony case. So be it, the sword had been through worse. I sighed. “Name your condition. ”
“I want you to acknowledge there’s something going on here. ” He motioned between us.
“Holden…” Suddenly my feet were the most interesting thing on the cold sidewalk.
“No, listen to me. ” The sharp edge to his tone caused me to look up, and I found his penetrating gaze locked on me with such longing it made an icy pit swell inside my throat. I nodded and licked my lips, but they still felt dry. He continued, “I will help you, because I would follow you to hell and back. But when this is over I need your word that you will stop ignoring this. ”
“I don’t know what you want. ”
“I want you. ”
My hand clenched on the sword and the pit dropped from my throat to my stomach. “I can’t promise you that. ”
“Just tell me you’ll give it a night. Not now, not even soon. I want one night to see what this is, without all the rest of the bullshit. No fights, no council, no werewolves. ”
Without having sensed him move, he now stood in front of me with his hands hovering a hairsbreadth from touching my arms. A shudder wracked my body, because I wanted him to close the small gap between us but I fought against my better judgment to let him. The memory of what had happened between us in a dream mingled with the visceral knowledge of what his real-world kisses did to my senses.
I took a step backwards out of his reach and picked
up my weapon.
“I can’t promise you when,” I confessed.
“Say yes. ”
“One night?”
He nodded.
I looked out into the street as cars whisked by, kicking up debris that caught in the breeze. An old newspaper tumbled down the sidewalk where it battered against my anchored feet. “Okay. ”
Holden didn’t question my acceptance, but I did. Instead, he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his coat and offered me a small, apologetic smile. “What do you need me to do?”
“Find me old blood. Lots of it. ”
Sure, I was part vampire. And of course my sense of smell was better than a human’s and as good as the average supernatural. I could track a rabbit from a mile away thanks to my werewolf DNA, and I could smell fresh blood from the smallest cut. But old blood was tricky. Old blood lost most of its potency after a week as the coppery promise of sweet plasma faded.
Older vampires could still smell it, though.
Desmond and Dominick would try to find Penny using her unique scent, which would lead them all over Sunnyside since it was her territory. They’d follow her smell to the places she most commonly ventured and would waste a lot of time eliminating obvious locations.
Instead of looking for the girl, I was going to look for her abductor. I hoped I hadn’t totally misinterpreted the wordless clue given to me by the ghost of Ashley Parsons. She’d only pointed, but I wanted to believe that meant the killer was hiding in the Queen’s part of Long Island. If I was right, he wouldn’t have taken Penny far. I would use Holden like a bloodhound and track the fae directly to his lair.
I had faith in the plan working. Whether I’d get there in time was less certain. We hadn’t found any bodies of the missing youths yet, and I had to believe we might still find them alive.
I’d left my bag in Holden’s car, along with Brigit’s sweater. If we were going up against a tidal fae that lived somewhere dank and nasty, I didn’t want to explain to my protégée why her pretty white sweater was destroyed. I had tied my new blade to my thigh and liked the feel of the extra weight and the protection it signified.
In my black leather corset and pants, carrying a sheathed sword, I looked like a dominatrix trailing behind Holden in his business-casual attire. This late on Christmas Eve, the stores and eateries of Sunnyside had long since closed for the evening. The community was predominantly Catholic, judging by the rosaries dangling in car windows and the crucifixes displayed through open windows. Most of the neighborhood would be attending a Christmas Eve mass at one of the multitude of churches nearby.
I didn’t put much stock in there being a heaven, but maybe there was someone up there, because it was a Godsend that we made it through the bulk of the city without anyone seeing us. I kept a step or two behind the vampire, not wanting to interrupt his focus. We’d gone a few aimless blocks from Queen’s Boulevard with nothing of note, but then he’d caught whiff of something dark and we’d been following it ever since.
“We’re getting closer,” he said to ease my unvoiced concerns.