Chapter 198The Last Message

Both of them stood so close against me I felt their warmth against my body. The fresh blood was coursing through them still and their heartbeats were strong, their eyes bright. It felt good to have them next to me, holding them against me and lifting them up.

I'd flown with one person before but that wasn't a vampire. Somehow it felt heavier holding them. Of course there were two of them this time. Khuna held the bag with everything in it close to herself, the weight of it hardly important. But after a moment I got grip on the feelings swirling around and lifted myself from the ground. Holding them close.

My friends.

Khuna and Valerie both looked around in wonder, as I did when I first took flight and secretly still do. We rose and rose, above the mansion, the wind in our hair, the dark skies above.

It was going to rain, I didn't mind.

In fact, I looked forward to it. The rain would wash away a lot of the troubles of tonight.

We left the mansion behind us, with some people still combing the grounds, looking for me or, more likely, smoking somewhere secretly to be away from Jason. They were well hiding, at least I didn't see them. Now that we were higher up in the sky I slowed down and stopped in mid-air.

Khuna looked at me with a smile. "This is amazing, I wish I could do it myself."

I giggled. "It probably comes with time."

Valerie spoke softly, sounding more in awe than I had ever felt from her. "I could get used to this."

I took a breath. "Where should we go?"

Khuna shrugged. "No idea."

Valerie smiled. "The safe house, go that way."

She pointed into the distance and, after turning, headed there at an easy pace. The rooftops glided by silently below us, sounds of the streets flowing up, telling different stories. Though it felt slow, I knew we were going as fast as a decent car. Up here, speed felt optional.

Their safe house was one I hadn't seen before, but it wasn't different from the few we had in the city. Of course the heavy curtains and generally uninteresting looking outside gave away some of the story for me. Valerie opened the door for us and headed in.

A note on the table caused me to ask a question I should have done before. I wondered why it slipped my mind and a more paranoid thought wondered if someone pushed it from my mind.

'Tell him he DID know me.'

Where was Kai?

Valerie gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and quickly went upstairs, probably to get her stuff. Khuna gave me back the bag and went up the stairs after Valerie, for her own stuff and mine... The book. But this was more important for now. I went upstairs as well and into the room where both of them were silently packing. They turned as they heard me come in.

"Where is Kai?"

They both looked a bit surprised, a thought they hadn't pondered on for a while either. Did they feel guilty?

Khuna replied first. "There was a note of him needing to do something when we left, but we didn't hear from him since. Of course were were a little tied up."

Valerie nodded. "He acted a little bit weird the last time we saw him though, he didn't like us looking for the..."

Khuna poked her in her side. "That's not important right now." Giving Valerie a meaningful look, what was going on? "Pity we can't really look for him and I don't want to stay here."

I hoped Hitori would forgive me for this. "We could try Hitori's place."

Valerie giggled. "Oooh, so that's where you've been."

I blushed, it wasn't fair of her to say that. "Yes."

Khuna giggled as well. They finished packing their stuff, the few clothes they had, into convenient backpacks. Most of the stuff was left here as it was not easy to carry, plus Kai had quite a few things as well. We left a note for him, but we couldn't be too clear. No one else was supposed to get it. Valerie took the heavy job on her as she knew Kai the best.

We've gone to a friend. Will come by. Come find us. VKA

"Think that will be enough?"

Valerie smiled. "Yeah, Kai is smart, he's very good at finding people, he'll know I've written this."

I frowned. "And the letters?"

Valerie giggled. "Valerie, Khuna and Amy."

Facepalming myself, I smiled. "Of course."

Khuna handed the book to me with an air of seriousness to her. I guess, from what the headmaster Marcus told me, it had been the origin of the problems they'd been in. I was glad to have it back, but it was nothing compared to the friends at my side.

We decided to walk to Hitori instead of fly this time, the added luggage playing a part in this. Valerie locked the door behind us, giving a farewell to the house. It was odd, having the feeling I left it behind while I didn't really spend any time in it. But perhaps this was the end of another large moment in time.

I hoped Hitori was alright though.