hand. She finally pulled herself out of her shock and nodded, wrapping her arms around herself. She tried to get Lucas’s attention, but there was no breaking him out of his trance. Finally, she gave up and followed us down the ladder and back out onto the street.
Dead and unconscious human bodies filled the pathways. The five of us walked close together, dodging the bowing vamps. We sped up to a slow jog, needing to get as far away as possible before Cristescu called them to action. Delilah might be his sister, but he was no fan of the rest of us—me especially. Who knew what kind of plans he might be concocting with his newfound power.
The city was a wasteland. I suspected lots of people were hiding behind locked doors and windows, too frightened to venture outside.
Once we were clear of the vamps, I let out a long breath. We were close to the more residential areas now, which looked completely untouched by the chaos. The quiet, peaceful streets felt almost unreal after the madness we’d just been through.
Gabriel pulled Alvie close to him, his arm tight around his narrow shoulders. Ira rubbed his snout against Delilah’s hip, and she let her hand drift through his thick fur. All of a sudden, I felt decidedly alone. No one cared about comforting me.
Oh well, fuck that shit. I’d been alone since my mother and sister died. Some things never changed. A brief image of sleeping in the same bed as Tegan flashed in my head, along with the feeling of companionship and warmth it had given me. I missed that fleeting period, where I thought something more might develop between us, but it wasn’t to be.
Okay, I needed to stop feeling sorry for myself. Yeah, I fancied her, perhaps even had a few mushy sentiments towards her. But it wasn’t like she was the only woman in the world.
Once we reached the outskirts of the city, I decided to start looking for some form of transportation. Walking wasn’t going to get us very far. A few minutes later, I spied an abandoned minivan by the side of the road. The doors were open, and the keys were dangling from the ignition. Too good to be true, right?
Wrong.
There were several dead bodies littered on the ground outside of it. By the looks of things, they were driven mad by the chaos mist and killed each other. I stood over a bloated middle-aged bloke with shaggy red hair, his lifeless head hanging to one side. With the toe of my boot, I nudged his shirt collar down, checking his neck for fang marks. None.
My suspicions were right. These poor sods killed each other.
“Looks like we’ve found a ride,” I told Gabriel with a morbid grin.
He scratched his head, not looking too thrilled about the prospect of taking some dead people’s car. All the same, he came and helped me lift the body out of the driver’s seat. The vehicle reeked of blood, but in my line of work, I was used to it.
Checking the dash, I saw that the tank was three-quarters full. Handy. I slid in and turned the key in the ignition, the engine roaring to life. Sticking my head out the window, I called, “Hop in boys and girls, we’re off for a picnic.”
Delilah gave me an irritable look. “You always have to be such a fucking piss taker,” she muttered, slipping into one of the back seats with Ira. “Now’s really not the time.”
“I won’t let your brother take the shine outta my sun,” I shot back.
She huffed, narrowed her green eyes to slits, and turned her head away, ignoring me.
“All aboard?” I shouted jovially, letting my arm hang out of the open window and banging hard against the metal door. Nobody answered. Guess my attempt to lighten the mood had failed. I pulled away from the side of the road.
We were only driving for about five minutes when all of a sudden a white stretch limousine appeared out of nowhere. There were tendrils of pearly, effervescent light shining from the windows as it sped by and overtook the minivan. With my driver’s side window open, I heard a sharp female cry for help erupt from inside the limo.
What the fuck?
“Oh, my goodness,” Alvie gasped.
“Where is all that light coming from?” Delilah questioned.
“Looks like magic,” Gabriel said.
On instinct, I increased my speed, following the limo. The door flew open a second later, and a woman dressed in a