“I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. Mia, get inside.” Felix managed to get the door open. He looked back but the hallway seemed empty. The door closed and we were alone again.
“Who saved her?” Evan asked. “Was it one of the academics? Why didn’t they come here and talk to Sarah? They could have gotten the Days out of the building.”
I stared down the hall. Whoever had sent that sphere had likely stood where the hallway turned toward the outer stairs. They’d popped out and then run. They hadn’t wanted to be seen.
She hadn’t wanted anyone to know that she was helping.
“You can go look,” the angel offered. “She might still be trying to get to the stairs.”
Tears flooded my eyes. “Why would she save them?”
“Liv?” Evan started for the end of the hall.
I didn’t have to. The actual embodiment of faith stood staring up at me with his kind eyes. Whatever else he’d wanted me to see, he’d also wanted me to see this. To know it in my soul.
Liv was redeemable.
“She hadn’t lost that piece of her soul yet,” he said. “This is who she is with her whole soul intact. She was scared and got caught up in something terrible and couldn’t find a way out. You are her only hope. I want you to understand that it is not your responsibility to save her.”
“Like fuck it isn’t,” I said through my tears.
“There’s my Hunter,” he said with a fierce smile. “You’re mine, you know. You were Jude’s and now you’re mine, and I won’t let you down. Not ever, lass.”
Evan jogged back, a shocked expression on her face. “That was Liv. Liv saved Sarah. Why would she do that?”
That was a complex question. Liv had been filled with fear. I needed to view it that way because it’s easy to forget that almost all bad behavior has its roots in fear. She’d lost her power. She’d loved the life she’d led, and that life was impossible without her magic. It was too dangerous to keep her on the team, and she feared she would lose not only the ability to protect herself and her friends, but she could lose those friends altogether.
She’d been afraid, and it led her down this path.
Could I lead her back?
I did what I should have done in the beginning. I gave the angelic gnome the respect he deserved. I got to one knee so I could look him in the eyes. “Is that all you want us to see, Faith? I will follow you if I need to see more.”
“Only one more thing.” He snapped his fingers and we were suddenly inside the Days’ apartment.
Everything looked perfectly normal. I could even smell coffee and caught a glimpse of the table laid out with pancakes. It looked like the Days had been enjoying a breakfast for two before the attack had occurred. They had likely sent their daughter off to school and wanted to enjoy a quiet morning before Felix’s appointments began.
It was nice and normal. Except now it was all ruined.
Sarah lay on the couch, her skin pale. Felix held her hand, smoothing back her hair.
“I love you.” Tears streaked down his face. “I love you so much.”
“You have to get Mia out of here,” Sarah whispered.
Mia’s head shook. “No. I’m not leaving Momma.”
“We’re safe here,” Felix insisted. “No one can get in. Zoey will come for us. I know we’re not sure where she is, but I have faith that she’s alive and she’ll come to help us. We just have to stay alive. I can get to the clinic.”
Felix’s voice was as hoarse as his wife’s. I knew what he would want from the clinic. What we would need. Vampire blood. Daniel’s blood was kept in the clinic for emergencies.
Sarah’s normally perfect hair was matted with blood on one side, the muddy color contrasting with the seafoam green of the rest of her long bob. She grimaced as she forced herself to sit up. “No. You can’t leave this apartment. He’s already outside the door. I can feel him trying to find a way in.”
Sure enough, I heard whisperings behind the door.
“We can’t stay inside here forever,” Felix whispered as though he didn’t want Mia to hear.
She did, of course. “Lee’s mom and dads won’t leave us here. They won’t.”