Page 82 of White Raven (Nevermore Duet #2)

Ryan slipped the battery into her regular phone, and frantically called Leigh. By the grace of whatever God was listening, she answered on the second ring.

“Ryan?”

“Leigh…where are you? You’ve gotta hide.”

“What? Hide? Why?”

“Look, you’re not safe. It’s my fault, and I’m really sorry. I need you to get in touch with a woman named Rhaena Northwood. She—”

“Ryan wait…stop,” Leigh said hurriedly, “I know who Rhaena Northwood is. I’m with her. They thought you might come looking for me and wanted me to be the bait to draw you out.”

Ryan nearly shook with relief. “You’re with her?”

“What’s going on? Where are you?”

“Let me talk to her. Hurry.”

“Ryan, I—”

“Leigh! Please, ” she bit down on her lip, and she swore she felt her eyes stinging with something like… tears . “I need you to put her on. Please, just trust me.”

The phone shuffled, and Rhaena answered…

“Sykes?” Northwood sounded anything but thrilled, but it was undoubtedly her voice.

“Northwood…look, I—I know you’re out for blood. I know what you think about me right now, and…and I’ll accept that. But I need you to listen to me.”

“I know more than you think I do. If you’re in Boston, turn yourself in. To me. I don’t know what kinda trouble you’re in—”

“No, please . The Black Bird coven…if you know what I think you know, you have to protect Leigh. They’re coming for her. They’re coming for her, and they’re gonna kill our family , Rhaena!” There was only silence on the other end. “Are you listening to me?!”

“By family, you mean my mother? I can protect her, Ryan…but don’t ask me to care about what happens to Ashina Northwood. She’s no mother to me.”

“You don’t know what you’re dealing with! It’s not just your mother. It’s my mother! My father ! Our entire pack! Can you put your tough cop bullshit aside, and just this once , let me have my fucking dignity?!”

There was a blistering pause, until she finally asked, “What’s your plan?”

Ryan turned and glanced up at the flights on the marquee. “I can’t save them both, Rhaena. Please don’t make me choose.”

“Nobody knows she’s here.”

“They do! They’re watching her! I’m telling you…you don’t know what you’re up against. I’ve worked with these vampires. They work for John Allan.”

“Don’t you mean Edgar Allan Poe?” Her tone was choppy and cynical. “Don’t you see where your fucked up loyalty landed innocent people, Ryan? You better go to them. And you better hope I never find you.”

Ryan could hear Leigh pleading in the background.

“The heart ,” she croaked, making her way to her terminal on the other side of the airport.

“When they find you…go for the heart. If I were with you, I could take them down with my bite. Their venom is lethal to humans. Mine is lethal to vampires. But…they can’t live without a heart. Even if it doesn’t beat.”

She hung up, squeezing her eyes shut at the sound of Leigh’s voice, and rushing into a jog.

Breaking into the small church required little, and if he was being honest…

the place could use a little renovating, but Tony got them into the back door.

He snicked it shut and locked everyone in, opting out of flipping on the lights to the small hallway that they crept down, in search of a bathroom.

Athan held tight to Sarah, who stumbled here and there.

She was still a bit weak from all he’d taken from her, but her blood…

God it did amazing things. Even a small amount seemed to rejuvenate the bleakest of situations regarding one’s health—mortal or otherwise.

“Found it,” Tony announced, flipping a switch and holding the door open.

Sarah found a spot on the floor to rest up, and he handed Athan a duffle they’d carried with them with a change of clothes and some necessities to clean up with.

She’d thought of everything…everything except a shovel.

Athan bent down to check Sarah over, kissing the top of her head before he stood, and then turned to face Tony.

“You helped her…helped me , when you didn’t have to.” He pulled the dirty shirt over his head and tossed it in a nearby trash bin. “I don’t have the words to thank you, Tony. You were out. Free . Last I heard, you left for Scotland. What made you come back?”

Tony glanced at Sarah, who softly nodded as she leaned back against the wall and pulled her knees to her chest. “I think we should start with everything else first, Athan,” she said, her voice heavy with exhaustion.

Athan sighed heavily and ran the water in the sink.

He started washing up, and watched her in the mirror.

“I don’t remember much,” he said, scrubbing his face, and splashing water on his body. “I know it was Sykes that took me. I remembered hearing her voice before my neck snapped. And—” he jerked toward her. “Nell. Nell gave me an envelope. She knows who John Allan is.”

Tony had no idea who Nell was, but he remembered Sarah mentioning it to Sykes when they spoke on the phone. It was clear to him then, by the look on Sarah’s face, that Athan didn’t know about the circumstances yet.

“I know who he is. Athan…Nell is—Nell’s dead.”

She must have meant a lot to him. His body sagged, and Kane’s stare was hollow…void. He leaned against the sink. “How?” he asked, hoarsely.

“Coroner said a heart attack. Sykes had been there. She had orders to take Poe’s shit out of the shop.

Nell was startled. She swears she stayed by her side until she took her last breath, but…

whatever was in the envelope was enough to scare John Allan into covering his tracks.

He wanted all traces of his work out of that shop. ”

Athan lowered his brows. “His work? ”

Sarah picked herself up from the floor and took a deep breath as she approached him. “Yeah…his pieces were the only things missing from the shop.”

“You said Poe’s shit…she had orders to—wait…” Athan cocked his head. His face looked gray…nauseated. He focused on Tony next. Tony felt compelled to nod.

“It’s why I came back. I checked with the school John Allan attended when we were in Scotland…

only it wasn’t a John Allan that attended.

John Allan was his guardian .” To Kane’s credit, he didn’t balk, but he seemed like he was becoming more pale…

if that was even possible. Tony continued, “I came back to tell you both. I went to Virginia to double check everything before sounding completely mad, but…Sarah was already there…looking for you . We pieced it all together, and she looked up a portrait of Edgar Allan Poe as a child…”

Kane glanced at Sarah, who nodded in confirmation.

“It’s the same boy,” she said. “John— Poe , texted part of a poem to your phone for me to find. It led me to the museum in Virginia, and I thought that’s where he was keeping you…

but I remembered what we talked about that night at home.

How nobody knew if his body was really in the grave in Baltimore.

Sykes left us confirmation of that on some sick version of a prize wheel.

She basically told me where she was ordered to leave you.

I don’t think he wanted her to tell me. She seemed overly cautious. I think she’s in some kind of trouble.”

“I’ll fucking kill her,” Athan growled, gripping the edge of the sink.

“If I’m right, then I think you’re gonna have to get in line.

” Sarah took his bare hip bones—hip bones that were still protruding a little too much, even with the gift of Sarah’s strange blood.

“Besides, I’m more interested in getting my hands on my father.

Preferably around his fucking neck. I left Sykes to Rhaena and Brandon. ” Kane’s head shot up.

“Rhaena…the baby …”

Baby? What in the name of…

Tony kept silent, listening…as he did best. Sarah only shook her head slowly, reaching for a wad of cheap paper towels, and wetting them before gently cleaning his inked chest. “She wasn’t pregnant.

It was something else. Something I made worse by accident.

” Kane said nothing, but his jaw clenched tight, and she continued to clean him, holding one of his hands between them and wiping the dried blood from his knuckles.

“My blood didn’t last. Brent was the one who realized something wasn’t right at the apartment, and he called us over. ”

“Stratford? Why?” Kane asked, watching her work.

Sarah glanced up at him, and then back down, taking his other hand and doing the same to that one.

“He went to find you. So you wouldn’t be alone.

You know…fucking bro-code , and all that.

He was at Wren’s when I got there, and we talked.

He didn’t want you sulking by yourself, and I imagine it’s because I gifted him his own ass one too many times.

Must have known how you were feeling. Anyways, we got to the apartment…

and you had—” Sarah shook her head again, fighting off emotion.

“We all panicked. Rhaena lost her temper, and all of a sudden…she just started to change. It wasn’t a full moon.

I think she was hitting some emotional limit, and it triggered her.

Kinda like Foley. Wren and Brent were there, and she told us to run.

I couldn’t think of anything else to do, so I—I injected her with more of my blood and now… she’s…”

“She’s both?” Kane asked, shocked. Sarah nodded.

“We think that was the reason she thought she might be knocked up. Her body was adjusting to a different kind of cycle for her transition. But then…that happened. She was out for days. I reined in Nick Specter and had him give me blood bags that we’d had left over from before I turned.

They worked. Rhaena’s fine, she’s just…different now. ”

This was a lot to take in all by itself. Tony couldn’t imagine how Kane was feeling as he processed every word.

“I’ve missed so much. I should have been there with you…when you found out about…him.”

“Stop,” Sarah warned, tilting his chin up and looking him in the eye. It was strange to see Athan Kane so…smitten. The look in their eyes was explosive. “Don’t fucking do that. You spent days in a black box of torture. And when I find this son of a bitch…”

“Do we kill him?” Kane asked. “Do we kill Edgar Allan fucking Poe? ”

“Not until we get answers,” she replied…and she meant it. Her face was pure determination, and vengeance.

“Where would he be?” Tony finally cut in. “And what about your bird?”

Kane stuck his head beneath the faucet, and Sarah started globbing shampoo into his hair, scrubbing through his scalp with her fingernails. “Jesus, Sarah…too much! My eyes are on fucking fire! ”

“Oh, shut the hell up. You reek . Deal with it.”

Tony chuckled through his nose as Kane turned his face under the water, squinting. “You try taking a little holiday in a fucking ancient grave and tell me how you smell!”

Sarah tried to stifle her laugh, and continued to wreak havoc on his head, rinsing it as he squirmed over the sink.

“I thought I’d find him at that museum…but that wasn’t his actual house.

His house is here in Baltimore. I think that’s where he is.

I think he’s waiting on us. As for Poe, the bird …

we know he’s smart. Smarter than anybody ever gave him credit for.

He might have sent him on some mission, but it’s obvious now where his allegiance lies.

I’ll be surprised if we don’t find him waiting right where we left him outside. ”

Kane shook out his hair and combed it back with his fingers. “He’s not fucking leaving us again. I don’t care if I have to nail his scrawny-ass feet to the perch stand.”

Sarah knelt down, and pulled out Athan’s spare clothes, and Tony saw that as his cue to leave. “I’ll let you finish up. I’m gonna go see if the bird’s still outside.”

Kane nodded, and Sarah smiled. “Thank you, Tony…for everything. I don’t know if I could have done it without you.”

He returned her gesture, dipping his chin. “No worries, mate.”

“If she’s right about where Poe is…it’s only about a ten-minute walk from here. Hope you brought decent shoes,” Athan smirked.

“It’s not the walk I’m worried about,” Tony admitted. “It’s the execution we’re about to carry out.”