Immortal Devices by Kailin Gow Page A

furious expressions, pushing their way through the crowd of women. Why did they look so angry? Was it because Scarlett did not love them? Could they not simply be happy for her? No, judging by the speed with which they were coming forward, it seemed that they could not.
                “Hold tight, Scarlett,” Rothschild murmured, and Scarlett was only too happy to comply, looping her arms around him so that she could feel the muscles of his torso shifting beneath his clothes.
                “What now?” she asked.
                Rothschild kissed her briefly. “Now, we leave.”
                The vampire lifted his hand, the ring on it plainly visible. He manipulated it the way Cruces had earlier, and for the second time that day, the world shifted around Scarlett.

 
Chapter 12
     
    S carlett clung to Rothschild as they traveled, partly to be as close to the man she loved as possible, and partly because the sheer speed of their travel made the thought of losing her grip a frightening one. While they were between worlds, it was like being inside a tornado, and the forces there threatened to tear Scarlett from him.
                “Where are we going?” Scarlett asked.
                Rothschild kissed the top of her head gently. “Somewhere we can be alone, but first…”
                They appeared briefly in a meadow, and Scarlett wondered why Rothschild would have brought her there. Not that she minded. She would have gone anywhere with the vampire. It simply seemed like a strange choice. She only understood when Cruces and Tavian appeared a hundred or so yards away. They began to sprint towards where Scarlett and Rothschild stood.
                “They’re following us somehow,” Scarlett guessed.
                “In the seconds after a ring is used, it isn’t hard to trace the ripples it leaves in the space between worlds. It is like following in a boat’s wake.”
                With that, he manipulated the ring again, and they were flying between planes of existence once more. Rothschild made jumps in quick succession, so that for a second or two, he and Scarlett touched down on the top of a mountain, on a tiny sandbank in the middle of an estuary, and in the middle of a formal rose garden. Each time, they flashed away almost as soon as they landed, like a gazelle zigzagging to avoid a lion.
                Even so, Scarlett guessed that Rothschild must have some final destination in mind, so she pressed the vampire again, trying to determine where that might be.
                “Are you taking us to where Cecilia is?”
                It seemed like a logical conclusion, given that the two had last been seen together, but it seemed to be one that annoyed Rothschild. The vampire’s eyes narrowed.
                “Why did you have to bring her up?” the vampire asked. “Surely you don’t care about what happens to her after all she did to betray you?”
                “She’s Tavian’s sister, and I still care for him as a friend. I don’t know why… when I’m completely in love with you,” Scarlett said. “I’m sorry. I know you should be enough for me. I think it’s because I gave my word I would help. That I would find Cecilia.”
                Rothschild kissed her forehead this time. Oh, how Scarlett wished it were her lips. How had she spent so much of the last few days seeing him as evil when he made her feel like this?
    “My sweet kind-hearted Scarlett,” Rothschild murmured, as he jumped them to yet another world. “How innocent you are, even though you can lay claim to a knowledge of so much of the world.”
    “What does that mean?” Scarlett asked, as they paused briefly at the top of what appeared to be a stone tower, with other towers around it. “Is Cecilia…”
    “Cecilia is no longer a concern,” Rothschild said.