“What was in there?” Chris asked as he jumped down from the doorway of the cabin, followed by Dani and Melissa.
“Enough supplies to keep him alive in there for a while, portable toilet, family photos and some medals from Vietnam; they were his father’s. From what I’ve glimpsed, he kept most of those things stored in there and must have been in the process of retrieving them when we arrived. All documents involving The Commission are elsewhere. We have to go.” Julian clasped hold of Quinn’s hand and pulled her away from the wall of the cabin.
“Where elsewhere?” she asked as they ran across the clearing with the others flanking them. They reached the woods, and the group gathered there.
“Where the rest of The Commission can be found,” Julian replied. Quinn’s hand squeezed his as all the others exchanged looks.
“Do you know where that is?” Devon asked.
“I do, and I have somewhat of an idea on how to get there. We can discuss it later, but we have to get to safety before the sun rises, and to Maine to meet with the others. We’ll talk more there. You have my new number?” he asked Vern.
“Yes. We’ll be staying at the motel in town for the day. I’ll let you know when we’re on the move again and on our way to Maine.”
“Good.”
No one said another word as they raced down the road to the waiting vehicles. The first rays of the sun broke over the horizon as Julian opened the door of the RV and stepped aside to usher Quinn into it. The others all scurried into their vehicles as they sought protection from the sun behind their tinted windows. Julian’s gaze remained on the vamps piling into the van until it took off down the road and back to the town where they’d eaten dinner last night.
Devon pulled his Challenger up behind the RV as Julian climbed inside and shut the door. He took hold of Quinn’s hand and tugged her toward the back room without another glance at the others. Pulling her inside the room, he closed the sliding door.
“Julian—”
She didn’t get a chance to ask how he was before he turned to her, grabbed her waist, and drew her against him. She jerked as the intimate feel of his fangs sinking into her flesh, and her blood being pulled from her caused her body to turn into liquid heat.
Turning her head, she kissed the tender hollow of the exposed flesh above his jacket. Her lips skimmed back until her fangs scraped over his skin. His fingers dug into her hips as he pressed her closer. Sinking her fangs into his flesh, she moaned when his blood pooled into her mouth in a rich, intoxicating way.
His exhaustion beat against her while she drank. She caught a brief flash of the images he’d received from Herb’s cabin before he abruptly shut them off. He released his bite on her neck and slid his tongue over her flesh to lick away the last of her blood.
“Too much. I saw too much from his things,” he whispered hoarsely.
Retracting her fangs, she leaned back to peer up at him. Shadows marred his eyes; lines that normally weren’t there etched the corners of his mouth. “You shouldn’t have pushed yourself,” she said.
“The Commission must be stopped, and we are so close to doing so.”
“But not at the cost of you.”
He didn’t reply as he bent and swept her into his arms. His mouth fell upon hers in a claiming kiss filled with a hunger she could never deny. Every time his lips touched hers, she felt an electric thrill of need. She kept expecting the sensation to fade away, but it only increased until there were times when she wasn’t certain where he ended and she began.
He laid her on the bed before lowering himself over the top of her.
CHAPTER 18
Julian gazed at the sea of faces before him. All of them were vampires, many of them looked a little uncertain about what he’d just laid out to them. There were more vamps here than there had been at the meeting in Arizona. Word had gotten out about what they were trying to do, and it had been confirmed that safe passage was guaranteed for all. Julian had a feeling they wouldn’t have any vamps splitting off from here at the end, like they had in Arizona. Those who were going to continue to kill wouldn’t come, even with safe passage. They wouldn’t want anyone to know who they were.