Page 70 of Even Vampires Bleed (Even Ever After #2)

Léandre

I end up being forced to wear a ring and to get my ear pierced, but I guess that could have been worse.

I could have gotten a pierced dick and to be honest, I don’t think I’m cut out for that kind of jewelry.

That shit is bound to hurt.

I’m glad there was another solution for me.

So now I have a small chip on the side of my left foot, right under my ankle—I didn’t even feel it when she slipped it under my skin—and an earring on the same side as the chip of doom.

The ring on my finger is just a simple band, but it feels weird because the only finger it fits on my hands is my ring finger. I keep turning it around my finger with the uncomfortable feeling that this feels wrong.

But at the same time, I’m ecstatic to finally be able to go back to the normal world.

It was good here while Cassiopé was with me, but I won’t hide the fact that it felt like hell when she left.

Now, I’m just torn between running right for her—not knowing where she is exactly—or giving her space.

Because I know she asked Miss F to get my chip problem sorted, but does that mean she will give me a chance now that my brain isn’t about to melt on itself?

Or is it like a parting gift?

I’m silent in the jet on our way back to Notre Dame, but my mind is buzzing, and I can’t help but wonder if Cassiopé will have just disappeared from Paris.

Except, when we arrive in Paris, nothing is like I left it.

Inside of Notre Dame, Elhyor is organizing all his warriors for an impending battle that I had no idea about.

Yes, sure, I knew the situation when we left wasn’t the best, and the fact I left my holo with my clothes in Versailles’ dungeon might not have helped, but I saw fires burning everywhere in Paris, birds patrolling the sky and people being forcefully shoved inside buildings.

This is so far from the situation a couple of weeks ago.

I try to read Angélique’s face to see if I’m the only one surprised, but I don’t think anyone could read anything on her face.

And I can’t count on Miss F to help me understand because she rushed out of the jet as soon as we landed, telling something along the lines of “I need to find my sisters,” and disappeared as fast as she could.

So now I’m just following Angélique like a lost puppy because I know she’s going to find her husband, and that means I might have a chance to understand what’s going on.

“Take the back. I’ll take care of the front,” Elhyor tells Angélique as we reach him.

Angélique doesn’t question him, she leaves me there and goes inside his office. I see her getting out just a few seconds later, and this time she has two daggers at her hips and two others at her ankles.

“What is happening?” I ask Elhyor when there’s a lull in him giving orders to the men around him.

“Someone killed Michael, again, and severely wounded Gabrielle. She’s in a coma and all the birds think it means war now.

They’re targeting humans first because they know about Libération .

They also know that we’ve aligned with them, so I have a feeling we might have some visitors very soon.

So far, no one has dared set a foot inside the cathedral.

Yet. But we won’t get caught unprepared. ”

He pauses to look at me and then adds, “You’re all good now? Any chance you’re fit to help?”

It didn’t even hit me that they could need some help. Or that Elhyor would think about me, for that matter.

I didn’t spar while in the forest, but I did use my muscles to cut wood. A lot of wood.

Thank you pent-up energy that I could release only once a day in the shower.

“I’m ready,” I answer him.

I wish I could go find Cassiopé, but she’s savvy and I trust that she found a safe place to stay.

I hope so.

“Rooftop position then,” he answers the question I didn’t ask.

I’m about to go, but I stop in my tracks.

“Has Cassiopé come back to Notre Dame since she left the forest?”

Elhyor seems to size me up.

“A couple hours ago. She was in bat form and flew directly to her room.”

I don’t even ask him—or myself—how he knows that it was Cassiopé that he saw and not any other bat, since they almost all live inside of Notre Dame.

I’ve seen her size. I think she’s the smallest bat I’ve ever seen, and I don’t think her size is particularly common, so I’m just trusting Elhyor’s words or I’m going to go mad quickly.

I make my way to the top of Notre Dame’s stairs and join the team up there.

Of course, it has to be that asshole Pierre who is leading the team, but I’ll keep my mouth shut because this isn’t the right time to complain.

This isn’t the right time to do anything else than comply and follow orders.

“Elhyor sent me. Where do I go?” I ask him in the most matter-of-factory way.

Pierre sizes me up, and unlike Elhyor, seems to find something lacking because there’s a small sneer that appears just a second before he schools his face.

“With Marcus and Anna, on the rue du clo?tre side.”

He turns and walks in another direction before he even finishes to say those words.

I don’t know how that man managed to be in the position he is from the way he talks to people.

It’s an aberration to me.

Or maybe he’s just like this with me.

Maybe past me peed in his cereals. I don’t know.

And probably never will.

I make my way to Marcus and Anna, and I realize quite fast that they don’t need me.

They’re more than teammates, they’re lovers, and it seems that they work best in tandem.

They try to include me in the conversation as we watch over the street on our side of the cathedral, but it’s all the little looks exchanged between the two of them that make me feel like I stick out like a sore thumb.

And it makes me long for Cassiopé’s company.

I still stay at my post and it’s only when Marcus shakes my shoulder that I realize my body was indeed on watch, but my mind wasn’t here anymore.

“You should go to sleep kiddo,” he tells me, and I want to argue but he adds, “It’s been hours, the birds won’t show up, and there is going to be a new team coming in forty-five minutes. We’re going to be okay watching just the two of us. ”

How did he know about the new team? I see him turn his wrist and his holo glints under the light of the moon.

Oh, thanks to his holo.

I’ve been without one for only two weeks, and I didn’t even seem to realize that I would need one again now that I’m back.

“You’re sure?” I ask. At the same time, I release a big yawn.

We’ve been here for five to six hours. The sun set more than three hours ago, and I’ve been struggling with watching efficiently.

Those damn bats all have better night vision than I, and maybe someone should have made me stop a while ago.

I see Anna looking over her shoulder at the other side of the rooftop—where Pierre has his back to us.

From the way she’s looking at him like she could burn holes in his back with her eyes, Anna definitely thinks Pierre should have sent me back earlier.

“Yes. Go.”

It’s Anna who answers, but Marcus nods in agreement.

I yawn again, and that helps decide.

I need to sleep, and tomorrow, I’ll find Cassiopé.