Finding Fire

Chapter 21

Anna's eyes didn't want to open. They felt as if they weighed a hundred pounds. Her head actually hurt so bad she imagined a little person was living inside her and beating her skull for all he was worth.

Her arm came up as she brought her hands to her face to rub her eyes. That caused another ache in her shoulder to make itself known. Anna groaned in pain and frustration as she tried to clear her mind enough to remember what had happened.

Nicolas had snuck into her mind and then run off to lead the vampires away from her. She'd found Aleksander, but he hadn't killed her. Something had knocked her into a wall. And...had Evie been there?

At the memory of Evie, Anna's eyes shot open. As bright lights shone into her eyes, more pain racked her head. Both of her hands shot up again to hide her eyes. "Son of a bitch," she cursed under her breath.

"Bellie," said a soft voice. "Are you okay?" A female voice. One that sounded a lot like someone who had gone missing fifteen years ago.

Much slower than before, Anna creaked open her eyes. Evie had a chair pulled up next to the bed Anna was on. "Evie?" The room seemed to spin around Anna. Was she imagining this? "I don't understand."

Evie leaned closer to Anna. "You were knocked up pretty bad last night."

Anna didn't even hear what she said. She was too busy staring at this woman in front of her who used to be her best friend.

She was just as beautiful as ever. Her hair was loose around her shoulders, and her delicate features were perfectly framed, even though Anna had a feeling her hair naturally fell that way.

Her brows furrowed over bright green eyes framed by thick lashes that even the most expensive mascaras couldn't imitate. "Bellie?"

"What?" Was she supposed to be saying something? "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

The worried look intensified on her face. "I asked if you were okay."

"Okay? Um, yeah, I'm— No. No. I'm not doing too good right now. What the hell are you doing here?"

"I should ask you the same question. Do you have a death wish? You could've died last night!"

"I could've died?" Anna asked as loud as she could without aggravating her headache any more than it already was. "Fifteen years! I thought you were dead! No word in all that time just to let me know you were alive?

"And by the way, those fifteen years seem to have been pretty good to you. In fact, I don't think you've aged a day," Anna said accusingly.

Apparently she hit her mark, because Evie looked away, guiltily.

Anna looked around the room she was in. It wasn't quite as lavish as the rest of this building was. It had nice but modest furniture. The colors were calming blues and purples. She wondered whether it was a coincidence she was in this room or whether Evie had known she wouldn't feel as comfortable in one of the more lavish rooms she'd seen previously.

However, that didn't mean anything in the room was cheap. She was fairly certain the sheets she was on probably cost more than one month's rent on her small apartment.

"So you really did it? You really ran off with Aleksander?"

Evie nodded. "It wasn't a simple thing to do. You have to understand that a lot of things happened that night."

"I have to understand? I think I have a pretty good idea. I saw Ray die. Your boy toy bit him, and I'm fairly certain he enjoyed it."

Evie pursed her lips and looked down again.