Magic Burns

Page 101

 

 

 

“Look,” Derek said, “all I’m saying is it would’ve been helpful to have all relevant information before we walked in there.”

 

“I didn’t have all the relevant information. Had I known he would be on the roof dancing in the snow, I wouldn’t have gone up there.”

 

“I can’t effectively help or protect you…” Derek said.

 

I turned in my saddle. “Derek, I didn’t ask you to protect me. I didn’t ask you to come with me. If I had realized that you would be imitating Curran the entire time, I would’ve thought twice about letting you tag along.”

 

Derek clamped his mouth shut.

 

Ahead of us the vamp turned to the left, loping onto Centennial Drive.

 

That wasn’t a good thing to say. I halted my horse. Derek stopped, too.

 

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap.”

 

“Who should I imitate, Kate?” he asked softly.

 

I didn’t have an answer.

 

“Or are you going to give me a load of bullshit about being myself? Who would that be, Kate? A son of a loup and a murderer, who couldn’t save his sisters from being raped and then eaten alive by their father. Why would I want to be that?”

 

I leaned back in my saddle, wishing I could exhale all of the weight that had settled on my shoulders. “I apologize. I was wrong.”

 

He sat still for a long minute and nodded to me. The vamp halted in the street, waiting for us.

 

“I shouldn’t have nagged,” he said. “I get like that sometimes.”

 

“It’s okay.” I sent my horse forward. I knew why he got like that. I’ve seen him meticulously fold his clothes. His shave was perfect, his hair cut short, his nails clean and trimmed. I bet his room didn’t have a single item out of place. When you live in chaos as a child, you strive to impose order over the world.

 

Unfortunately, the world refuses to comply, so you have to settle for trying to control yourself, your habitat, and your friends.

 

“I’m just worried about a lot of things,” I said.

 

“Julie?” he guessed.

 

“Yes.”

 

I wished I could have called in to check on them, but I had no clue where I could find a working phone line and with the preflare magic, the phone probably wouldn’t work anyway. Andrea had promised to stay with her. Barred from the field or not, Andrea could shoot a squirrel in the eye from across the