A Dark-Adapted Eye by Heather Crews Page B

for three years, and you should have talked to us when you had the chance. We’re not interested in a reunion.”
    He lowered his head and nodded in understanding. “Well. I’m staying down at the Value Suites if you change your minds. Room two-six-two. Okay?”
    “Yeah,” I said. “Great.”
    I turned my back as Les slammed the door and locked it. We’d changed the locks long ago, so there were no worries my dad still had a key. I felt as secure as I ever did, but seeing him had upset me more than I cared to show. There was suddenly just too much to deal with. Dad’s return, Ivory’s abduction, and my vampire, always my vampire. How had life become so complicated?
    “Ash?” Les prompted.
    “What? I’m fine.”
    He eyed me for a second. “Okay,” he said at last, though he sounded reluctant.
    “Let’s get back on topic. How are we going to find Ivory?”
    “I don’t know,” Les admitted. With a sigh, he turned to Aleskie. “I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
    Her mouth dropped open. “Leave?”
    “Yes. I just don’t feel safe having you continue to stay here now. I can’t protect Asha and keep an eye on you at the same time.”
    “You don’t have to keep an eye on me! I’m not a child!”
    “Get out of here now,” Les said in a low voice, “before I make you.”
    The shocked look on her face transformed into a stubborn, icy one. “Fine,” she said curtly. “Thanks for helping me.” With that, she glided past us and out the front door. Les locked it again.
    Silence fell between us. He walked slowly away from the door, rubbing his face with one hand. The slope of his shoulders conveyed exhaustion and defeat. I studied him ruefully, hating the incident that had brought out this uncharacteristic vulnerability in him. I was so used to him as a reticent, almost cold presence, but now I wanted more than ever to go to him and wrap my arms around his chest.
    I remained on the couch, though, too cowardly to let him know how I felt. The timing was much too wrong anyway.
    Les dropped his hand and let out a sound somewhere between a sigh and a groan. “I think we should stay in the same room tonight,” he said.
    Something fluttered in my chest and I stifled a nervous, inappropriate giggle. “Um. Okay.”
    “I’ll sleep on the floor in your room.”
    “Oh. Yeah. That’s fine.”
    He grabbed his jacket and the gun, looking beaten and weary. Ivory was my brother, but he was Les’s best friend. They’d been close for ten years. Whatever I felt about Ivory’s absence, Les was feeling something similar.
    It was impossible to think my tall, blond, handsome brother was gone. But he was. And we would need our strength and wits in the coming days to figure out how to get him back.
    Fatigue was dragging us both down quickly. I headed to my room, Les following behind me. There was about four feet of space on either side of my bed, and I arranged some blankets and a pillow for him on the side beneath the window. He would be just a few feet from me, close enough to touch if we both put our arms out, and I was acutely aware of the distance. I’d never thought something so terrible would bring us this close together.
    In my room, in the dark, I lay shivering beneath the covers. Though my eyelids were heavy, I was finding it difficult to get to sleep. Over and over I replayed every word we had said to one another that night. If I was quiet enough, if I held my breath, I could hear him breathing. The distance between us was nothing, yet it was everything.
     
    ~
     
    He had left my room by the time I woke up in the morning. For a moment I stared at the rumpled space where he’d lain on the dark brown carpet, then popped out of bed. As soon as I’d gotten dressed, I sat in front of the closet mirror to fix my hair and called Criseyde.
    “Can you come over today?” I asked eagerly. “Something happened.”
    “Sure,” she replied in a bright voice, the unfriendly exchange we’d last shared