“Where’s Jane?” I demanded, refusing to answer his questions until he told me what was going on. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jack getting dressed. I’m not sure if he could overhear the conversation, or if he just saw my panic.
“If you want to see her again, I suggest you come and get her,” the voice said. There was something sinisterly playful in his voice, and I heard Jane crying in the background. “Where are we? You need to tell us if you want your friend to come rescue you.”
“You son of a bitch!” I growled. “Leave her alone! When we find you, we’ll kill you!”
“We?” He chuckled. “Even better.” Jane screamed behind him.
“Loring Park!” Jane sobbed in the background. “We’re at Loring Park! But Alice! Don’t come! They’re going to-” She screamed again, cutting off the rest of her sentence.
“As you can tell, we’re in a hurry, so act accordingly,” he said, then the phone went silent.
- 32 -
Immediately after the phone hung up, I tried calling back, but it went straight to voicemail. Jack had already pulled on shorts and a tee shirt, and he was struggling to put on his Converse. My stomach lurched, and panic and hunger were mixing together, making me feel volatile and frail.
“Alice?” Jack asked. “Where is she?”
“Loring Park,” I told him numbly. “I don’t know who has her, but I think they’re going to kill her. And they want me to come. She’s bait for me.” He pursed his lips and looked at me thoughtfully for a moment.
“You stay here. I’ll go get her,” Jack decided and made a step for the door.
“No!” I jumped up, holding the blanket around me. “If this is about me, there’s no way you’re going without me.”
“Alice, it isn’t safe.”
“Exactly!” I ran to the closet to put on clothes before he left. I don’t think I’d ever gotten dressed so quickly in my life. “I’m a vampire now. I can take care of myself.” This I said while struggling to put on a pair of jeans and nearly falling over. “I beat up Jane’s boyfriend or whatever before. If you can handle it, I can handle it.”
“No. I’m much more skilled than you are, and you just lost blood.” He crossed his arms over his chest and tried to look resolute.
“I don’t care.” I slipped on my shoes and walked up to him. “We’re together now, forever. That means if you’re in danger, I’m in danger. Jane needs help, and we’re going together.”
“I don’t like it,” Jack relented.
“I don’t care.” I pushed past him, knowing that we had to hurry to save her, and I had to hurry before he changed his mind. He couldn’t stop me from going, but he could slow us down with unnecessary arguing.
“Alice?” Milo opened my bedroom door before I could even get to it. He had a bewildered, frantic look on his face. “Is everything okay?” He pushed the door open wider and stepped inside. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing. Why? What’s going on with you?” I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Nothing! I just… I thought something was wrong,” Milo floundered.
I realized what had happened. Just like I was tuned into his heart, he was tuned into mine. It had been beating in a panic for the last few minutes, so Milo was concerned. He probably would’ve come in right away, but he misread it at first as being part of me and Jack fooling around.
“Jane’s in trouble.” I chewed my lip, looking at him, and Jack gave me a weird look. Milo was my little brother, and I’d do almost anything to protect him. But he was a vampire, more powerful than me, and from the sounds of it, Jane had more than one attacker. We needed all the help we could get. “She’s in the park. I don’t know who has her, but I think they want to kill her, and they want us to hurry.”
“What are you talking about?” Milo tensed up, and I could see his muscles flexing under his shirt. Someday, he’d probably even be more powerful than Jack, especially since he had so much control.
“I don’t know. And I don’t have time to explain. If you want to come with, we have to go now.” I looked insistently at him, and I knew my invitation surprised Jack. He’d expected me to demand Milo stay here, and maybe I should’ve. But Jane might die. I didn’t think I had much of a choice.
“I’m in,” Milo nodded once. “Let’s go.”
We’d barely made it out the bedroom door when we ran into another snag. Bobby was in the process of pulling a sweater on over his head when he came out of his room. He saw us in a hurry, so he caught up with us.
“What’s going on?” Bobby asked.
“Nothing. Go back to the room.” Milo tried to make it down the stairs, but Bobby wouldn’t stop following him. Jack and I paused at the bottom, but I wouldn’t be able to wait long for either of them.
“Where are you going? Why do you all look so freaked?” Bobby’s hair had been mussed when he pulled on the sweater, and he tried to smooth it out while keeping his eyes fixed on Milo. “What happened?”
“Look, just go back upstairs,” Milo said. “You can’t come with!”