Dare You to Run by Dawn Ryder Page A

sagging jaw. “I mean, don’t worry about the gas. My parents support me. They claim it’s so I make sure to put them in a nice convalescence home once they’re old.”
    He pointed at a decade-old car. It had a Tardis decal on the rear window and a bobblehead Darth Vader on the dashboard.
    He slid the key into the ignition and turned the motor over. “Where to?”
    *   *   *
    â€œAre you sure?”
    Damascus nodded as she got out of the car. She leaned over and let her driver get a good look down her cleavage, small enough payment for using the guy.
    â€œI’m good. Thanks a million.” She straightened up.
    â€œSee you in class tonight?” he asked.
    Damascus didn’t answer. She crossed the street and started walking down an alleyway. No, she was going to miss class tonight, but it was the only way she was going to get the opportunity to sneak out. Advance bacteria classes were held in a secure laboratory, which meant her sire’s security had to stay outside the building. They wouldn’t know she was off-campus until at least midnight because the classes often went long and there was nothing to do but wait until she emerged.
    It was the chance she needed and likely the only one she was going to get. She looked at the landmarks, her memory offering up the information she needed. Five more blocks and she turned east, making her way through a residential neighborhood as the sun set. Someone was walking his dog, and a pair of boys rode by on bikes. She ducked across streets and through alleyways, often looking behind her to make sure no one was following.
    Her belly was in a knot when she first spied Vitus’s house. Tall shrubs obscured the windows. Not that she made the mistake of thinking Vitus couldn’t see out. No, he was a master of disguise. The overgrown look of the place was just a clever duck blind.
    Well, she wasn’t going to be shy. She walked up to the door and rang the bell. Behind the door, she heard it echoing in the hallway. Seconds crawled by like hours as she waited. She felt exposed with the street behind her, as if at any moment Trenton or Tyler was going to skid to a halt in one of the unmarked, black, tinted-window sedans and haul her off the porch.
    Well, she wasn’t going to have it. She went around the side of the house. He used it more than the front door because the garage was set in the back. She didn’t knock on the door but swept aside part of a shrub and pressed her hand against a section of the window.
    She remembered like it was yesterday, the way Vitus had shown her how to unlock the door with her palm print. There was the small flash of infrared as her hand was scanned. Her breath was frozen in her chest as she waited to see if her print was still on file. There was a series of clicks as the door unlocked.
    Her mouth was dry as she walked into the house, through the laundry room, and into the kitchen. The scent of coffee lingered, but there was only a single mug sitting upside down on a folded dishtowel. The rest of the counter was spotless—even the mug looked clean.
    A ripple of relief went through her.
    But that made her stiffen. She wasn’t there to have Vitus rescue her. It was her turn to return the favor. She moved past the round wooden table that was in the dining room and came upon a huge, man-sized sofa that sat facing an equally man-sized plasma flat screen. There wasn’t a coffee table. Instead, either side of the sofa had a footrest that came out to become a recliner.
    She sat down, jealous of being able to have furniture designed for comfort instead of fashion. The leather of the sofa was scuffed and the floor had a few scrapes in it, but she found it more pleasing than the perfectly polished marble floor of her sire’s entryway.
    This was a home, and yet there were some things that were similar. The lack of personal items struck her as sad. There wasn’t a single family