Consecrated Ground by Virginia Black

Author:Virginia Black [Black, Virginia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bywater Books
Published: 2022-12-16T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 11

Maybe the difficult conversation had taken its toll, or maybe it was only the lateness of the hour, but Leigh had curled into the arm of the couch and fallen asleep. How she had survived and escaped was unfathomable. She’d never been a fighter, though Joan had never thought her weak, but to have been through all that madness and remained the gentle soul she was—Joan couldn’t help admiring Leigh for her resilience.

Leigh was tougher than she’d ever thought.

Joan herself was still antsy, still processing all Leigh had shared as well as her earlier confrontation with the vampire. Nathaniel had claimed a cease-fire, but that didn’t mean she believed him.

The kitchen was dark, but she didn’t bother turning on the light. Though it was half past midnight, Joan called Dayton to apologize for being a dick earlier. He answered on the first ring.

Guess he couldn’t relax either.

“Did you tell anyone outside the watch about the meeting?” Joan asked once the apology was out of the way.

Dayton scoffed. “No, but I’m not sure how long it’ll stay quiet.”

She kept her voice low, hoping not to wake Leigh. “If we don’t say anything, the mole will still know something happened and they’ll ask about it.” She tumbled the puzzle pieces in her mind, trying to get any kind of picture about what was happening. Nathaniel wanted Leigh, but that seemed separate from Victor’s aims—and Victor was the one who’d blocked the roads.

Wait.

The blockade against Calvert wasn’t about supplies or forcing a donor arrangement. They could just attack the town until Calvert gave in. Victor wanted to limit the flow of information.

“What about the person he said he was looking for?” Dayton asked.

She didn’t want to lie, but she didn’t want to tell him, either. “I think it’s a distraction. We need to focus on keeping the boundary line protected, and then get someone through.”

“Huh.”

His disbelieving grunt and the headache that had expanded to the base of her skull fed her irritation.

“Look, Dayton, I’m not trying to tell you how to do your job, but if they’re successful at blocking us in, secure in the knowledge that we can’t notify the High Coven in Portland or the Black Rose City guild that they’re coloring outside the lines, we’re fucked.”

“Understood,” Dayton said after a long pause, though he sounded wary. Joan signed off.

Back in the living room, Leigh wasn’t relaxed even in sleep, her tense shoulders hunched in. Joan tried to reconcile all she thought she’d understood about Leigh with everything she now knew. Leigh, the kindest person she’d ever known, a strung-out donor in a vampire dungeon.

The woman would get a crick in her neck trying to sleep hunched over like that. Joan decided to wake Leigh before turning in herself.

When Joan sat on the couch and touched Leigh’s arm, though, Leigh bolted upright, eyes wide with fear.

Joan pulled her hand away, held up to show she meant no harm.

“Sorry,” Leigh said with a barely covered-up yawn, and looked away in embarrassment. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you.

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