Riley

The screen of my burner phone was the only bright light left in the dark motel room as I waited for the call to connect, and my fingers were tapping a nervous beat against the cheap wood of the nightstand because the guy I was dialing was a half-blood vampire named Julian who used to manage our campus intramural leagues and now worked the late-night monitoring desk at the Blackwood Vaults.

Fantine was sitting just two inches away from me on the edge of the mattress, her shoulder pressed right against mine as she tried to catch every sound from the speaker, and the scent of her skin mixed...