Page 92 of Love Bleeds

"Yes." I tried to stand as straight as I could. My brother's vampire-boyfriend wasn't going to make me change my mind.

"Very well." Talon pushed himself off the wall. "I'll accompany you."

"I don't need--" I started, then stopped. Talon's compliance surprised me so much that for a second, I didn't know what to say. "You're not trying to stop me?"

"Collin has informed me that he'd like to lock you in your room until you come to your senses, but we've managed to convince him that that's unlikely to work. Since we can't restrain you, the next best thing is to ensure your safety while you carry out your plan."

My mouth fell open an inch and wouldn't close again for a few seconds. "You're actually going to let me do it?"

Talon gave me a small smile. "I have to say, I wouldn't mind seeing that law firm go up in smoke."

I grinned. For the first time in days, I felt a spark of optimism light up in my chest. Sure, I'd been telling myself that this was going to work, because Ineededit to, but I hadn't believed it. Not really. Now that I had someone else on my side, though... "Okay," I said. "Let's go."

* * *

Vlad was just as reliable the second time as he had been during our first meeting. He was already waiting for us in front of the restaurant when we showed up. He quietly eyed Talon up and down as we arrived, but said nothing to acknowledge the other vampire's presence.

"You have the bomb?" he addressed me.

I handed my backpack to him. "In here."

Vlad smiled. "Very good. There's going to be a meeting tonight, at headquarters. Nicolai won't be able to leave."

"Really?"

Vlad nodded. "The timing for this couldn't be more perfect. How do I activate the bomb?"

"You push these keys in combination.” I opened the backpack and showed him on the phone, without actually pressing the keys.

"Perfect."

"Once it's activated, you have two hours until it goes off. So you can place it somewhere, push the buttons, and then get out."

Vlad rubbed his chin. "That gives me a bit of time to get it into position before the meeting. Very well. I will place it in the meeting room. Might take out more high-ranking vampires than just Nicolai."

I nodded, even as knots tightened in my stomach. What waswrongwith me? Iwantedto take out Nicolai. Getting rid of even more of our enemies in the process was agoodthing. So why was I getting so sweaty?

"I'll text you when I've pushed the buttons," Vlad said, and then he turned to leave.

I stood still, watching him go. Part of me wanted to call after him, but I didn't know what.

"I have never seen that vampire before," Talon said, pulling me out of my thoughts and making me jump a little. I'd almost forgotten he was there.

"Why do I feel like I just made a huge mistake?"

"You might have," Talon said, unhelpfully. "We won't know until later."

I exhaled, trying to get a grip on myself. "I don't want to go straight home," I announced.

"Oh?"

"You know where Aldrich lives, don't you?"

Talon studied me silently for a moment. "I do," he said eventually. "But I wouldn't advise you to go there."

"Why not?" I demanded. "It's not any more dangerous to go there than it was to come here, and you didn't have a problem with taking me here," I argued, because I needed to see Crimson. If there was anyone that could quiet my nerves, it would be him. I knew that I shouldn't rely on him, especially not now, while he was fighting his own battles, but I'd just built a bomb and given it to a vampire and I just... I couldn't go home to my family and field their questions. I needed to see Crimson because he would understand.

Because it had been too long since I'd last seen him and I missed him more than I could stand.