Take Courage, My Heart

Chapter Thirty-Three

Leander didn't make any stops other than to fill up the car tank. We went straight back to Wisconsin, the drive fast and passing quickly. Frankie was also not making any stops. We had talked twice since we left New York. Apparently, Kevin had fallen asleep in the backseat about an hour after she put him in the car, the exhaustion and drugs overtaking him, and he had slept for the majority of the drive. He had woken up a few hours away from the cabin, throwing up and shaking in cold sweat. Whatever he had been drugged with must have been heavy– as even after so many hours he still appeared to be in a state of dissociation.

I had asked if maybe the right thing would be taking him to a hospital. Medical professionals were definitely more equipped to help him, but that help would come with questions we didn't know how to answer without putting ourselves in trouble. And considering how Kevin had ended up getting taken by the auction organizers, considering his family had signed him in the Νew Horizons Academy I didn't even know if he would be safe if he was taken to a hospital where his family could reach him. Eventually, Leander contacted some old friends of his, vampires who had studied medicine and would be able to help.

When we reached the cabin, Frankie had already arrived, and Kevin was already being taken care of. We entered the cabin, Leander and I helping Annerose by holding onto her on either sides. Keisuke exhaled in surprise at the sight, immediately opening the door more for us to maneuver inside. We brought Annerose to the large couch and set her down, explaining to Keisuke everything that had happened. We had talked on the phone on the ride back but hadn't gotten into too much detail.

"And you are sure Vincent was there?" Kei asked at last, stopping short in his pacing and looking at me with a frown.

I nodded and brought my feet up on the couch in order to hug my legs. "I don't think he saw me, but it was him. He was there," I said, biting the inner corner of my lip and ripping some of the top skin layer.

Kei's expression did something. An emotion, unsure and hesitant flitting over his face. He wasn't a hard person to read, always expressive, so I could immediately tell there was something he was keeping to himself. We all could tell he wasn't telling us something.

"Ezra called," he revealed. I straightened up, suddenly both alarmed and terrified. "He is on his way back. With your family."

"He's... bringing them here?" Leander asked and dread overtook me. I shot up to my feet.

"I don't know what happened. But yes, he is bringing them here," I heard Kei answer Leander, but I was already on the move, going to the car, where I had left my phone.

I opened it and searched for anything, a call, text, or some sign, that any member of my family had tried contacting me. It was weird and worrisome, that somehow Ezra had convinced them to come all the way here to where I was when none of my family members tried even reaching out to me. They had no reason to trust Ezra, so something must have happened.

And you are sure Vincent was there? Kei's question rang in my mind, and I stopped my pacing. I was sure. He had been there. Unless he had spotted me and immediately gone for my family, he couldn't have been the one to get them. But maybe he had told someone to. Maybe Ezra had spotted a vampire approaching my family and had interfered. My family was on the way here!

"Hey, hey, calm down..." Leander told me, coming out of the house and stepping down to the stone pathway I was currently pacing.

"If he saw me there– saw us there and that set him off–"

"We knew this could be a problem. It's why Ezra was there with them. He's probably bringing them here to be safer. We won't know until..." his voice faded to a stop, as lights flashed from behind me, the rumbling of an approaching car loud in the night.