Page 91 of Love Bleeds

Chapter Thirty-Two

Iworked like a mad man to complete the bomb. I didn't stop to eat or to drink. When someone knocked on my door, I ignored them until they either went away or stepped into my room uninvited. Elena did that once, watching me build for a while.

"Jared told us about your plan," she'd said. "You really think that's going to work?"

I didn't bother responding to her. What she thought of my plan was irrelevant. What anyone thought of my plan was irrelevant. I knew it was going to work.

It had to.

"I know how to do this," I told Elena when she wouldn't stop pestering me. I was almost done, too. I only needed to connect the electronics now. If she would just let me work in peace.

"And then what?" she asked. "You're going to have that strange vampire place it in the vampire headquarters? You really think that's what he's going to do with that bomb?"

"What else would he do with it?" I nearly snapped at her, even without looking up. God, I didn't need her to put those questions in my mind. Truth was, they were already there. I was just ignoring them because there was no point in stressing about any of this when I didn't have another choice.

If I couldn't trust Vlad--which I probably couldn't--then what?

How was I going to kill Nicolai and break Crimson free?

"If you have a better plan I'm willing to listen," I said to my sister without looking up from the wires I needed to fuse. "Until then, this is our best shot."

"Why does that vampire want to help us anyway?" she asked.

"I don't know," I said, then remembered that this wasn't true. "He said something about a gem, and that Nicolai's coven isn't his coven, so he has no reason to be loyal to them."

"What sort of gem?"

I shrugged.

Elena watched me for a while longer, then left the room. To report to the rest of the family, no doubt.

I didn't worry about the rest of the family. At least not until my bomb was complete. Once it was, I stepped back and studied it, carefully, from all angles. It didn’t look like much, from the outside. Like a rusty tin someone had taped a pre-modern era cell-phone to. With duct tape. It looked like a crappy movie prop, but I'd focused all my attention on this project. I'd made sure that it would go off once the timer had run down,andI'd made sure that it packed enough fire power to kill a vampire. It was going to work.

I swallowed, considering that.

This bomb was my creation, and if it worked the way I'd intended, it was going to kill someone. Maybe several someone’s.

Something I'd pushed out of my mind while I was working, but now, it was all I could think about.

It was such a small thing, barely larger than my foot. But I knew enough about chemistry and physics to know that explosives didn't have to be big to cause major damage.

I didn't think that it was going to go off randomly, but still, I put some distance between myself and the thing I'd made. The faster I could hand it over to Vlad, the better.

Honestly? I didn’t like the thought of giving this much fire power to someone I barely knew. It made my stomach ache, but that was nothing compared to the crippling sense of despair that threatened to overwhelm me when I thought of Crimson fighting starvation by himself somewhere while I stood by and did nothing.

I grabbed my phone and fired a text off to Vlad.

It's done.

His reply came within seconds.Meet me at the same location as last time.

Pocketing my phone again, I stepped out of the room. Same location as last time. Easy enough. I turned to go knock on Jared's door again, but before I could, Talon's voice stopped me in my tracks.

"Are you done with your bomb?" He was leaning against the wall, watching me. Obviously, he'd been waiting for me to come out of my room.

"I am."

"And you're going to give it to Vlad?"