* * *
Okay, so when Bast asked her about flying, she’d flashed back to old Bela Lugosi movies, where Dracula poofed into a vampire bat. It seemed a reasonable enough conclusion to reach. Getting into the Benz an hour later baffled her as to the mechanics of it all, but she sat back and enjoyed the ride.
More of the rich classical music serenaded them, keeping a comfortable silence at the level of companionable. The city was beautiful this evening, the moon providing an ethereal patina to the cars and the dark buildings they passed. She almost wished it would rain, just to add sparkling, like diamonds, to everything. It was a city she didn’t recognize, not when she usually spent the time looking for hidey holes to sleep or looking over her shoulder to make sure Richard’s cronies weren’t looking for him. Or worse, her.
She’d been living a rough life, and it would only get rougher. If she hadn’t learned the usefulness of a five-finger discount from Richard though, she couldn’t imagine how bad it could really get.
“You’re awfully quiet over there,” Bast said. He handled the car like a dream, turning onto a road blazing with lights, despite the desolation of the area.
“Just thinking about things that I can’t control.”
“So then think about the things you can.”
Alice liked that about him. So practical. “That’s a pretty short list.”
“What would you add to it?” The hum of the window’s motor filled the air as the glass slowly descended. He waved a card beneath a scanner, a curious piece of electronics standing sentry before a tall chain-linked fence. Despite the brilliance of lights running parallel to the road, she couldn’t imagine what could be at the end of the gravel driveway they traveled.
Bast pulled forward, and Alice kept watch of their surroundings. She’d begun to start to trust him, but as isolated as the area kept proving to be, he could do some serious harm and no one else would be the wiser. She’d kept the letter opener as her only weapon, but maybe she’d be able to wield it well enough to defend herself if it came to that. Her trust only went so far.
“I don’t need what you have,” she said after a minute. “I’d just like to know where my next meal was coming from and have a safe place to sleep at night.”
“Will you tell me about it? Your situation.”
She sighed. “There’s not much to tell. Our parents are dead, and it’s just me and Richard. To make ends meet, he started dealing.” Her throat tightened as she remembered the early days, when she’d been waiting tables and he’d panhandle. They’d pool their meager earnings, prioritizing which bills would be paid and which would be studiously ignored. “But the number one rule of dealing is never become a user. My brother apparently didn’t know that. Things went down quickly from there.”
It hurt to think about. The way their lives had down-spiraled into such destruction.
“What about you, Bast? With all that you have, is there anything you’d add to your life?”
He didn’t hesitate. “Respect.”
An answer she didn’t anticipate. “Will you tell me about it?”
“Another time, perhaps. Time to board.”
The car pulled to a stop and as he turned off the engine, Alice’s mouth fell open. A plane. They were going to fly on one of those private jets, the kind that billionaires owned. He’d stopped right next to it, so there could be no doubt. “This is what you’d meant by flying?”
“Of course.” He sounded genuinely baffled. “What did you think I meant?”
“I—never mind. Wow.” Heat licked her cheeks as she once again thought of vampire bats before pushing the image aside.
Bast crooked a finger at an elegantly dressed, but outrageously thin man standing near the open door of the plane. Dressed in a black suit, including a black worker cap and starched white shirt, she figured him for the pilot. Pale, with bright blue eyes, he slanted a quick smile in her direction before hustling to the rear of the car.
As Alice exited, she realized he unloaded the bags of clothing Bast had been generous to purchase. Everything inside them was functional the way she needed, thank you Target. He’d wanted to go to some place with a name she couldn’t pronounce, much less find anything worth a damn. That just wasn’t the way she rolled, even with Sebastian.