Sylvia Day - A Touch of Crimson

Silence descended. Surprisingly, it was Elijah who finally broke it. “Why do you hunt?”

Lindsay thought about her answer for a moment. It was a topic she never discussed, because talking about her mother’s death meant reliving the memories of it. But Adrian knew now, and in this new world she was living in, her past was relevant to understanding her. That was something she didn’t take lightly. She had never been fully understood before and hadn’t realized how much she craved acceptance until she’d found it in Adrian. Taking a deep breath, she answered, “I was a victim of a vampire attack.”

“Not you directly, or you’d be dead.”

“A family member.”

Elijah nodded. “Me, too.”

“Is that why you’re fighting the good fight?”

His dark brow arched. “As if I had a choice. But yes, that motivates me.”

“Yeah.” Lindsay sighed. “I don’t have a choice, either. I thought I did, but I was deluding myself.”

“What are you?”

“Huh?”

“How did you know that was a demon last night?”

“Oh.” She winced. “I’m a human- mortal -with bad luck, I guess you could say.” She used to wonder what it would be like to be blissfully ignorant like other mortals were, but it’d been a long time since she had entertained such thoughts. It was pointless, like wondering what her life would be like if she were a cat.

“What is it you see?”

“I don’t see anything. I feel things. Like a ghost walking over my grave, if you’re familiar with that saying.”

“You went straight to Adrian the moment you saw him. Is that why?”

“No. I picked him up because he’s hot.” She embellished the half-truth with a smile, keeping her sense of the weather and its connection to Adrian close to the chest. “I’m a woman, too, you know. Heterosexual. Good-looking guys attract my attention.”

“You don’t find it coincidental that you happened to pick out the one angel in the terminal?”

“Absolutely. I said the same thing to Adrian last night, but he had some six-degrees-of-separation explanation.”

“Hmm…”

“Pretty much my reaction, too, but what do I know? I’m not religious.”

“So says the woman who now lives with angels.”

“No shit.” Lindsay grinned. “Did you see Adrian’s face when the dragon went down?”

Elijah’s eyes lit with amusement. “Yeah.”

The plane began to descend. She rubbed her hands together. “I hope we find whoever it is we’re looking for.”

“We will.” His face hardened, taking on the fierce cast of a predator.

“You like hunting, don’t you?”

“Yes. This time especially.” His irises took on a preternatural glow. “In addition to Adrian’s lieutenant, this vamp is responsible for the death of two lycans.”

“Friends?”

“Something like that.”

Lindsay wondered how many people Elijah called friends and suspected it was a small, elite group. She rolled her shoulders back and exhaled audibly.

“You all right?” he asked, blanching as the plane dropped swiftly.

“I will be.”

For the first time, she was actually looking forward to killing something. And she didn’t feel nearly as bad about that as she thought she should.

Lindsay stepped out of the plane, slipped on her sunglasses, and looked around. “Holy shit.”

A warm hand settled in the small of her back, followed by Adrian’s murmur. “What?”

She turned all the way around, slowly, until she faced him directly. “Where is the ground ?”

The runway ended… in midair.

“We’re on a mesa.”

“No way.”

“Yes way.”

“Who’s crazy enough to build a landing strip on a mesa? If the pilot overshoots, you’re toast.”

His mouth twitched, making her long to see him smile again. “Come on.”

He led her to the airport’s small parking lot, where two sleek dark town cars awaited them. Jason and Damien climbed into the back of the first vehicle, while Elijah slid into the front passenger seat of the second one.

“Saint George, huh ?” she said as Adrian opened the door for her. “I’ve never been to Utah before.”

“It’s a beautiful state.” He took the seat beside her and shut the door. The cars rolled into motion. “The southern half has some gorgeous red rock formations.”

“Where are we headed?”

“Not far. A little town called Her-ah-kun.”

Lindsay frowned. “Her-ah-kun? Weird name.”

Again, he almost smiled. “It’s spelled like ‘hurricane.’ ”

A storm. Oh man…

Resolve strengthened her.The city’s moniker couldn’t be a coincidence, not on top of everything else that had happened to her since she’d left Raleigh.

As they descended into the city, Adrian grew still and silent, but she felt his volatility gathering force with every mile that passed. His best friend was dead. As stoic as Adrian appeared, it was clearly a loss he felt deeply. His pain humanized him, made him more man than angel. It also made her wonder where he sought comfort when he needed it, or if he internalized everything. Surrounded by angels who would die for him, he still seemed so alone.

She set a hand on the seat between them and surreptitiously linked her pinky finger with his. Although he gave no outward sign of it, Lindsay felt the surprise that jolted him. He caught her hand in a fierce grip, his gaze trained out his window. She draped the top of her canvas messenger bag over their joined hands, shielding the contact from the rearview mirror’s reflection. He gave a quick squeeze of gratitude.

Oddly moved by being a source of comfort to him, Lindsay contemplated the closeness that had developed between them already. They were opening up to each other in ways they didn’t with others they’d known longer. Why? Why had Adrian planned on taking her to his home last night? A restaurant would have been the wisest choice to prevent her from discovering his secrets. And why was he so intimate with her? So tender…

Why did she let him? Why wasn’t she more guarded with him, as she was with everyone else whose path she crossed?

She stared sightlessly at the passing vista, wondering why she seemed to attract the strange and weird. Why did she move so fast when she was only human? Her dad had taken her to the doctor for every runny nose and minor rash. She’d had her share of dental and bone X-rays, routine blood work, and even a CAT scan when she’d gotten a concussion from falling off a friend’s backyard playground. There was no medical explanation for her abilities. But she was undeniably different, and her anomalies were fostering an affinity between her and Adrian. She couldn’t decide if that was a blessing or not.

They pulled off the road and into the parking lot of a small country hardware store. As the car slid smoothly into a marked space next to the vehicle carrying Jason and Damien, Lindsay looked around to gain her bearings.

“We’re here,” Adrian said, before exiting the vehicle.

Her door opened, and Elijah stood there, tall and impressively intimidating. Although he was a muscular man with broad shoulders, he wasn’t oversized, yet his presence made him seem so. Like Adrian, he clearly was someone you wouldn’t want to piss off.

Stepping out, Lindsay took a deep breath and scanned her surroundings. Hurricane seemed to be a small, one-main-street sort of town. In addition to the hardware store, there were a couple fast-food establishments, one chain grocery store, and a couple mom-and-pop shops.

The wind whipped through her hair, screaming. She gasped and took a step back from its vehemence. Elijah caught her arm to steady her.