“Looks like you’re not rid of me yet.” He squeezed her tightly.
“Man, it’s good to have you back,” said Ambrose, clapping him on the shoulder before turning to greet Papy and Bran. He scanned the doors behind us. “Where’s Jules?”
“He decided to stay in New York for a while. Said he could use a change of scenery,” Vincent said, throwing me a warning glance as he gave his kindred the same story he told Bran and Papy on the plane.
“He ditches now? When Violette’s plotting Paris domination?” Ambrose asked, looking confused. When Vincent nodded, the big revenant just shrugged. “Jules in New York? Man, he is going to have himself a ball.” He shook his head at the thought. “Here, let me take those,” he said, picking up a couple of suitcases.
“Did you have a good time?” Charlotte asked, joining me as we headed toward an enormous SUV. “I mean, did you get to do anything else besides re-embody Vincent?”
I smiled. “Yes, actually. I went to see my old friends.”
She grabbed my arm and started jumping up and down. “Hurray! That’s fabulous news, Kate! One step back into the world of the living,” she cheered, and then quickly added, “I mean . . . not that you absolutely have to include humans in your social circle. But it made me sad that you had cut ties with everyone from your former life.”
“I know,” I said. “I actually feel like a huge weight has been lifted.”
“Well, you’re glowing,” she said. “It looks like the trip back home was good for you.”
I grinned and hugged her tight.
Once we were on the road, Ambrose and Charlotte caught Vincent up on news. We had been gone for three days, but it felt like weeks.
Although Vincent told his kindred all about Theodore Gold and our experience in the Met’s crypt, he didn’t bring up the subject of JB. So I had to wait until we were alone, saying good-bye at my front door, to ask about it.
“What are you going to do?”
“Talk to JB on my own,” he said with an uncomfortable shrug. “See what he has to say.”
“Good luck,” I said, and leaned up on my tiptoes to kiss him.
“I hope you’re not too lonely tonight,” he whispered, and gave me a wink that made a whole swarm of bees start buzzing in my belly. I closed the door behind me, and heard him say through the glass, “Bonne nuit, ma belle,” before turning and disappearing from view.
During the night everything changed.
I was awakened by the repeated ringing of my phone. Finally I picked it up and saw that Georgia had called four times. I dialed her back.
“What is important enough to wake me in the middle of the night?”
“It’s ten a.m., Katie-Bean.”
“Not in New York it’s not.”
“Listen. I’m over at La Morgue. You have to get over here. Now.” My sister sounded breathless.
“What’s going on?”
“When I got here for my fight training, Gaspard was gone. He and Jean-Baptiste took off. As in left town. For good!”
“No!” I gasped, sitting straight up in the bed.
“Yes.”
“I’ll be right there,” I said. Jumping out of bed, I dialed Vincent’s number as I threw some clothes on.
“Mon ange. You’re up.” He sounded so calm, I wondered if my sister had been mistaken.
“I just got this freaked-out phone call from Georgia, who claimed that JB and Gaspard have left.”
“Yes, I was going to tell you myself, but I thought you’d want to sleep in. Clearly Georgia didn’t agree.”
“Well, here I am, wide-awake. You can tell me now,” I said, wedging the phone between my shoulder and ear while I pulled my jeans on.
“Trust me—it’s not an over-the-phone kind of conversation,” he replied. “I’ll send Ambrose over to get you.”
I left a note for Papy and Mamie telling them where I was going, and raced down the stairs. Ambrose was already there, standing outside my door discussing something serious with Geneviève when I emerged. “You’ve got to tell me what happened!” I said as they fell into place on either side of me.
“No can do, Katie-Lou,” Ambrose said, scanning the streets for signs of numa as we made our way to La Maison. “With news this big, Vincent’s going to want to tell you himself.”
I wanted to push him for info, but didn’t know how much Vincent had revealed to his kindred. Would he try to cover for JB? Or had he told the bardia about their leader’s betrayal?
We arrived to find a house full of revenants. It felt like a flashback to one week ago, when Paris’s kindred had assembled to await news of where Violette had taken Vincent. But instead of the grave atmosphere of the previous gathering, a feeling of shock hung heavy in the air. Some faces showed disbelief and others bitter disappointment, and people were talking in whispers.
Ambrose led me upstairs to the library, where Vincent waited. As soon as the door shut, Vincent’s stiff pose relaxed. Shoulders slumping, he wrapped his arms around me and buried his face in my hair.