I thought about that long after Fang and I said our goodbyes.
Then grabbed my car keys and hit the road.
Chapter Thirty-three
“Never thought I would come back here,” said Kingsley.
“That makes two of us,” I said.
“Three of us,” said Allison.
“Well, I didn’t invite either of you,” I said.
Allison snorted. “Like we would let you come here alone, Sam!”
“Like totally,” said Kingsley.
“Oh, brother,” I said.
We were standing outside the familiar pile of rocks that led to the secret cavern entrance under the L.A. River. It was also the middle of the night, a good time for a vampire, a witch and a werewolf to go grave-robbing. Anyway, from all indications, the rocks hadn’t been touched or moved since we had been here last, three months ago.
Now, with a cool wind blowing and the sounds of smaller animals moving in the thick underbrush nearby, Allison’s words appeared in my mind: Are we sure we want to do this, Sam?
I caught the image in her mind...and it was of Danny’s grave, which I had helped dig with my own hands, also located here in this strangest of tombs, in the woods not far from downtown Los Angeles, along the east side of Griffith Park. If anything, we were closest to the L.A. Zoo, which just so happened to be the setting to a zombie series Tammy was reading, written by a guy who wrote his own vampire series starring an undead mama not too dissimilar from me. Maybe I should sue the bastard.
Or feast on him.
Anyway, L.A. wasn’t all stars, glitz and freeways. This park was proof. It was a park that housed not only the zoo, but the Griffith Park Observatory, the Hollywood Sign, and the Greek Theater. Most of which had found their ways into the movies. No surprise there, since they were just a hop, skip and a jump from Hollywood.
“I’m fine,” I said aloud. “Really.”
Kingsley snapped his big head around in my direction. “What? Never mind. You two are doing your telepathy thing again.”
“You can’t read minds?”
“No, Sam. At least, I don’t think so.”
“If you want,” said Allison, “you can practice with me. I’m really, really good at mind reading.”
Kingsley raised his eyebrows. “Er, thanks, Allie. I’ll keep that in mind.”
It was no secret that my new best friend had the hots for my old boyfriend. What my new best friend didn’t know—and I’d been doing my damned best to shield these thoughts from her—was that I had been thinking a lot about Kingsley these days.
Perhaps too much.
Definitely more than I should have.
Allison had every right to flirt with Kingsley, although I had made it known that it was technically still weird for me. Still, she had been polite about it, never too overt, and so far, Kingsley hadn’t seemed very interested.
I suspected I knew why.
He’s still in love with me, I thought, making sure my mind was sealed nice and tight. I had no reason to keep these thoughts from Allison, other than I just wanted to analyze them without prejudice or judgment or outside interference. Mostly, I wanted to understand them...and be sure of how I felt.
I looked again at the hulking man standing beside me. He had one giant boot up on a boulder. The boot wasn’t a cowboy boot. It looked Italian, and expensive. It also looked good on him. He was waiting for me. They both were.
Now, of course, was not the time to analyze my feelings about Kingsley.
I nodded. “Let’s do this.”
Kingsley grinned, reached down with one hand, and ripped free a boulder that was much heavier than he made it look. It crashed to the ground below, making an ungodly loud thud.
He pulled free another, then another, removing them with frightening ease and speed. I almost jumped in to help, but Kingsley needed no help.
In a matter of minutes, there appeared a dark hole.
“Ladies first,” he said, and stepped aside.
“Gee, thanks,” I said, and led the way down.
Chapter Thirty-four
The tunnel was longer than I remembered it.
I didn’t need light, nor did Kingsley, but Allison wasn’t so lucky. She was also more than capable of creating her own light, which she did by creating a liquid ball of glowing plasma between her palms. At least, that was what it looked like to my eyes. I watched it grow bigger and bigger, marveling at my friend’s newfound witchy talents. Then she released it into the air above us, and it followed ahead of us, a hovering, glowing, seemingly sentient ball of weirdness.
Although not necessary, the light was welcoming. As we walked, I used a trick of my own, and focused my inner eye on our immediate surroundings; in particular, what was waiting ahead of us.
It wasn’t much, and the macabre scene was exactly as we’d left it.
“It seems we’re alone in here,” said Kingsley, and I wondered if he had somehow known I had just mentally scouted ahead.
I nodded. “From what I can see, yes.”
He pointed to his ears. “From what I can hear, too.”
Ah, yes. Kingsley, of course, had a skill set of his own.
Shortly, we stepped into the first of two massive, underground caverns.
* * *
That such a rock formation existed under L.A. was enough for me to question my sanity all over again.
But here it was.
As we stood in it, the memories began flooding back. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one. We had all had a traumatic experience in here a few months ago, from my ex-husband Danny being stabbed, to Kingsley in the fight of his life, to Allison keeping two crossbow-wielding guards at bay using more of her considerable magic.
Three freaks, I thought, and strode out into the center of the first of the two caverns.
There, in the far corner, was a pile of withering bones poking through darker robes and nicer shoes. That his head was nowhere near his body was a testament to Kingsley’s ferocity.
The death of that vampire had freed Fang from his own compulsion. Fang had immediately acted to stop Hanner, by plunging a silver dagger deep into her heart.
Except, of course, I hadn’t been aware that she was wearing the diamond medallion at the time.
“So, what does that mean, exactly?” asked Allison, mostly following my train of thoughts.
“Means she might be alive.”
“Alive how?”
“I don’t know.”
“It’s always fun,” said Kingsley, striding into the next room, “to catch only half of your conversations.”
I didn’t immediately follow him through stone archway and into the second cavern; instead, I paused and took a deep breath and prepared myself for what I expected to see.