with him when he left town is because it was too dangerous. I was always questioning his explanations, wondering if he was telling me the entire truth, unsure of what he really thought of me.
I had to clear my head. Lucas was talking again.
“I may stay there one more day, if Audrey doesn’t mind,” Lucas said.
“She won’t,” I quickly replied. And I won’t mind having you so close to me.
Lucas nodded. “Thanks, that gives me another day.”
“For what?” I questioned.
“To go apartment hunting. I want something close by, in a popular area with lots of people.” Lucas visibly shuddered.
“I know this sucks,” I muttered, “but maybe we could trap the twins and turn the tables. And then you could – you know – kill them.” I gulped.
“I don’t want to involve you,” Lucas said immediately. “I couldn’t live with myself if I put you in harm’s way.”
“But it doesn’t seem like anyone knows how to kill me – not right now at least. Why don’t we strike while the iron is hot? We may not get another opportunity to take those guys out,” I argued.
“I’ll think about it,” Lucas replied in a tone that suggested he’d already made up his mind.
But I wasn’t ready to drop it yet. “If you’re worried I’m not strong enough, you could get Henry in on the plan. You saw how he attacked them when we were captured. He wasn’t playing around and he didn’t back down.”
“So now you’re suggesting we put not only you , which as you’ve pointed out, should be safe in theory -” he started.
“Right,” I cut in. “They don’t know how to kill me.”
“ For now . That could change at any moment, without any warning.”
“But you don’t really want to involve Henry again, do you?” Lucas continued. “He’s mortal. If they turned a stake on him he’d be dead. Or what if they shot him? Or even just beat the shit out of him. And you want to know the worst-case scenario? If we hatch some elaborate plan and it backfires, one of those monsters could turn Henry. I told you before there’s a connection between two vampires when one has turned the other. They are deeply protective of each other. When a male vampire turns a male human, they become blood brothers; the loyalty runs deeper than you could understand.”
“Okay, you’ve convinced me that involving Henry isn’t a good idea.” It was true; I couldn’t put Henry in that kind of danger. “But what about Nicholas? If he’s as strong as you, it would be two against two. And I could still help out, from the sidelines.”
“Yes, Nicholas and I have talked about it,” Lucas admitted.
“Will he help you?” I demanded.
“Yes.”
“How can you be so sure it won’t be a trap? Even people, the most loyal people in the world, sometimes screw you over. Why would vampires have some higher moral code than actual human beings?”
“I’ve never told anyone this before,” Lucas said quietly. He sounded so serious.
I stopped walking and turned to him, putting my hand on his arm protectively. It was one of those rare moments where I’d seen him actually look vulnerable .
“What is it?” I whispered.
“You keep asking why I trust Nicholas so much. Why I was so certain that it wasn’t a trap when I thought Nicholas called me and it was really the twins.” Lucas paused.
I nodded for him to go on.
“I’ve known Nicholas forever – since before either of us were vampires.”
“Wow,” I said in surprise. He’d alluded to going ‘way back’ with Nicholas, but I couldn’t picture a time when he wasn’t already a vampire.
“We were best friends in school – normal teenagers. And then something changed – Nicholas changed. I couldn’t figure it out. He stopped coming to school abruptly. His family hadn’t seen him in weeks. No one had.”
“Everyone thought he must have been kidnapped,” Lucas continued, “but then Nicholas sent a note to me with a location to meet him. I was a stupid kid and