Jeremy eyed them all very steadily. “Who is next?”
“Look, this is our…retreat. While we are here, we cannot allow you to search because if that got back to Allora, we would be as good as dead.”
“Then leave,” I said.
The vamp hissed at me and he clawed the air. “As much as we would like to tear you apart, we will allow you to leave with your damnable lives.”
“Not leaving without at least trying…” I told Jeremy.
He looked irritated. I didn’t blame him.
The vampires started to circle us, so we went back to back. I raised my hand and with a thought, all the drapes that kept us in the dark hall were down and rays of light blissfully entered through the windows, lighting up our surroundings.
The vamps hid behind their arms and retreated, screeching vengeance at us.
“Well done, but you know what, Bobbie—I think we’ll put this search off for another day.”
He didn’t give me a choice as he shifted us out of the manor and part of the way down the long drive.
It was still light out, though the sun was on its way down, so I took his hand and poofed us the rest of the way to the road. We ran from there to our waiting vehicle and jumped inside.
I grinned at him. It was good to feel safely out of that hellhole, but that sense of victory was short-lived as Jeremy decided to add a lecture to his compliment.
“This was bad, Bobbie. Now they know we wanted something inside of Brently. They will contact Allora and let her know what happened. Devin was right. This was a bad idea. We didn’t think it through.”
“Yeah, this is on me,” I said, with a hand to my forehead.
“And me for agreeing,” he answered.
“Yeah, you could have tried to stop me, but in fairness to you, I would have found a way to go on my own, and I would probably be dead right now,” I said.
“Exactly. You are far too headstrong. It is one thing to be independent, quite another to be stupid,” he said.
“Hey,” I objected, but sunk into myself. He was, after all, definitely right. I had been stupid. Stupid and cocky me.
“I suppose, in a way, you saved my life,” I told him.
He said, “In a way? I damned well saved your life…a couple of times!”
I laughed. “Yeah, I guess you did. What do we do now?”
“We wait on Allora,” he answered grimly.
“And in the meantime, the Dark Warlock, Beyland, expects me to give him the notes he wants…”
“First things first, Bobbie,” Jeremy said calmly, though I could see he was concerned. “We were here too long and right now, the sky is overcast. Vampires can travel in dim light and rain, and from the drops on the windshield…we are about to get both.”
“Oh,” I said as I realized he was right. “Will they follow us, do you think?”
“They may. We killed quite a few of their friends,” he said, and stepped on the gas and peeled off down the road.
~ Seven ~
WELL DAMN, WE JUST COULDN’T catch a break. The bloodsuckers followed us.
I was both horrified and angry with myself, not to mention guilt-ridden for having put Jeremy in this situation. However, at that moment, Jeremy laughed as though he were engaged in an adventure in the Harry Potter World, and stuck his arm out of the window to give the four vampires chasing us the finger.
This so infuriated the already angry vamp in the lead that he lunged and threw himself on the roof of our vehicle.