Part 5 (2/2)

I obediently shushed, then followed her down the hall to the main staircase and down again to the first floor.

At this time of night, the main floor was all but empty of vampires. One or two sat around in conversation or with a book in hand, but the House was beginning to quiet as vampires settled in for sunrise.

We walked through the main hallway to the cafeteria, where a handful of Novitiates carried trays through a U-shaped line around gla.s.s-s.h.i.+elded, stainless-steel bulwarks of food. We joined the end of the line, grabbed our own trays, and began to follow the route.

The food was largely breakfasty-sweet rolls and bacon and eggs. It didn't seem like a typical dinner spread; on the other hand, it was nearly five o'clock in the morning.

I plucked a box of organic chocolate milk from an array of drinks, then s.n.a.t.c.hed a cherry Danish and a pile of bacon. I probably didn't need a heavy pre-sleep breakfast, but I figured the protein would do me good. And, seriously, when you wave a plate of bacon at a vampire, is she really gonna say no?

My tray full, I sidled behind Lindsey, waiting for her and the vamps in front of us to make their selections.

She squeezed honey from a plastic bear onto a bowl of oatmeal, then lifted her tray and walked toward an empty table. I followed, taking the seat across from hers.

”Do I want to ask what's going on downstairs?”

I glanced up at her. ”Downstairs?”

She dipped her spoon into her oatmeal, then nibbled a bit off the end. ”Again,” she said, ”I'm psychic.There are vampires wigging out all across Cadogan House tonight. There's a kind of nervous energy.

Preparations, maybe?”

There was little doubt that Lindsey, as a guard, wouldn't ultimately hear about Celina. ”Celina's been released,” I whispered, tearing a corner from my cherry Danish.

”Oh, s.h.i.+t,” she said, surprise and worry in her voice. ”That explains why your energy's all over the place.”

When I glanced up at her, her head was tilted to the side, an expression of curiosity on her face. ”And there's something else there, too. A different kind of energy.” After a pause, she grinned. ”Ooooh,” she said. ”I got it now.”

I lifted a brow. ”Got what?”

”Nope,” she said, shaking her head. ”If you don't want to talk about Celina, I'm not going to talk about why you're all hot and bothered.” She closed her eyes and put her fingertips against her temples.

”Although I'm seeing someone-yep, definitely someone there. Someone with blond hair. Green eyes.”

She dropped her hands and gave me a flat stare.

”Shut it,” I warned her with a pointed finger, a little embarra.s.sed that she knew Ethan was the one who'd gotten me ”all hot and bothered,” but glad she thought it was l.u.s.t-related-and not because I might have been biologically amiss. Well, vampiri cally amiss, anyway.

I glanced around, noting the curious looks of the vamps who sat at the wooden tables around us. They sipped at mugs and forked through bowls of fruit, their eyes on me.

They didn't look too impressed with their Sentinel.

I leaned toward Lindsey. ”Have you noticed that everyone is staring at me?”

”You're a novelty,” she said. ”You challenged their Master before you even took the oaths, you were named Sentinel, you threw down at the Commendation ceremony, and our beloved leader still covered for your skinny a.s.s.”

That made me smile sheepishly. ”I got thrown down. Not exactly the same thing.”

”Did you know that I've been in this House one hundred and fifteen years? In all that time, Ethan's only nominated one other Master.”

I tore at a corner of my pastry, popped it into my mouth. ”I'm not a Master.”

”Yet,”she said, pointing at me with her spoon. ”But that's only an issue of time. Of course, you could have inherent magic, be able to work some of that Mallory Carmichael juju-she's going to be good, you know-and you still wouldn't measure up to the Golden Child.”

”I know she's going to be good,” I agreed. ”It scares me on a daily basis. Who's the Golden Child?”

”Lacey Sheridan.”

I'd heard that name but couldn't place it. ”Who's Lacey Sheridan?”

”The Master Ethan nominated. Master of Sheridan House.”

”Ah,” I said, understanding dawning. I remembered seeing the House name in theCanon . There were twelve vampire Houses in the United States. Sheridan was the newest.

”Lacey was in Cadogan for twenty-five years before Ethan nominated her for Testing. She pa.s.sed, and Ethan Apprenticed her before she took the Rites. Then she moved to San Diego, opened Sheridan House. They were close, he and Lacey.”

”Business partner close or . . . ?”

”Touchy-feely close,” Lindsey said. ”And that was unfortunate.”

I didn't disagree. Something twinged in my chest at the thought of Ethan being touchy-feely with anyone, and that was despite the fact that I'd been a firsthand witness to the act. Nevertheless, I asked, ”Why unfortunate?”

Linds frowned, seemed to consider the question as she stirred her oatmeal.

”Because Lacey Sheridan was picture-perfect,” she finally said. ”Tall, thin, blond hair, blue eyes. Always respectful, always acquiescent. 'Yes, Liege,' 'No, Liege.' She always wore the right thing, looked like she'd stepped out of an Ann Taylor catalog. Always said the right thing. It was unnatural. She was probably barely human even when she was one.”

”Ethan must have been crazy about her,” I said, thinking she was the kind of woman he'd prefer toprefer. Elegant. Cla.s.sy. And, I thought, as I nipped the end of a strip of bacon, acquiescent.

Lindsey nodded. ” 'Crazy' is the word for it. He loved her, I think. In his way.”

I looked up at her, bacon halfway toward its vampiric end. ”You're serious?”

I couldn't imagine Ethan in love, Ethan letting his guard down. I wouldn't have figured him capable of trusting someone enough to let the man inside him peek through.

Well, except for those weird few moments with me, and he never seemed happy about those.

”Aspen-stake serious,” Lindsey said. ”When he realized how strong she was-she's rated a Very Strong Psych-he took her under his wing. After that, they were constantly together.” She ate another spoonful of oatmeal. ”They were like . . . arctic bookends, like some Nordic fairy couple. They were beautiful together, but”-Lindsey shook her head-”she was all wrong for him.”

”Why's that?”

”Ethan needs someone different than that. He needs a girl who'll stand up to him, who'll challenge him.

Someone to make him better, more. Not someone who'll kiss his a.s.s twenty-four/seven and bow to every little suggestion he makes.”

She eyed me speculatively.

I caught the glimmer in her eyes, shook my head. ”Don't even think it. He hates me, I hate him, and acknowledging that's the only way we stand to work together.”

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