"Can we talk?"

Carson pushed himself up just enough to look over the back of the couch and at Priya shuffling her feet by the doorway. He huffed and flopped back onto the cushions, resting his arm across his face.

"I'm not in the mood for a lecture," he said. "The silent treatment suits me just fine."

"You really think I'd be the best person to administer a lecture?"

Carson lifted his arm from his face to peek out from under it. His eyes narrowed as he considered her.

"Out of the current options?" he asked. "Possibly. A lecture from Kaleb would probably turn into a shouting match, and Jem... she'd jump straight to beating me senseless if given the chance."

Priya leaned on the doorframe.

"Do you blame them?"

Huffing again, he let his arm fall back onto his face, blocking out the offending light, and the sight of her staring down at him. He sighed.

"No," he said.

"Well, there, lecture done. Can we talk now?"

"Fine, talk."

"Not here. Come for a walk with me?"

Carson sat up slowly, his eyes narrowed and lips pursed. She was still shuffling her feet, picking at bits of thread from the cuffs of her blouse. She checked the hallway behind her three times just as he was looking at her. Whatever it was she wanted to talk to him about, it was not something to be overheard.

"Don't tell me you're running off to join the vampires proper," he grumbled, getting to his feet.

Priya rolled her eyes at him and led him out into the kitchen. They pulled boots on, Carson didn't bother to tie his laces, instead shoving them down under the tongue of each boot, and set off across the courtyard.

"What's going on?"

She glanced at him, the tiniest shake of her head, and kept walking. Climbing over the fence into the field on the far side of the courtyard, she stood on the other side, waiting. Carson vaulted it, and when his boot almost went flying, he still didn't do the laces, just wriggled his foot to get it back in position.

The soil was hard and dry beneath the cut stalks and growing grass, easy enough to walk over. Deep ruts ran in lines, a set of ocean waves frozen in motion. Carson stepped only on the raised humps of ground, sometimes taking little leaps to miss one altogether. As a child, it had been a game to be played at all times in the field. Never step in the rivers. Now it was more habit than anything.

"Are you taking me far enough from the house that no one will see you finally ravish me?" Carson asked, chuckling.

Priya spun to face him. She was standing in one of the soil rivers, making her a few inches shorter against him than usual. He had to admit he was surprised she wasn't mid-eye-roll. In fact, from the way she stared past him at the house, she barely seemed to have heard him.

"I spoke to Vince," she said in a quick quiet voice.

"What?"

"I spoke to Vince on the phone a couple of days ago."

Carson blinked and glanced over his shoulder.

"Where is he?"

"I don't know."

"Okay, is he coming back?"

"I don't know."

He took a deep breath, his head whirring a mile a minute.

"Well, how did you get in contact with him? Did he call you?"

"No," she said. Was it just Carson, or was she blushing. "I phoned him. I... I guess I just caught him at the right time. He answered."

He peered at her. He didn't believe her for a second. Something was going on. It was why she was staring past him instead of meeting his eye.

"Why haven't you told Jem or Kaleb?"

Priya chewed on her lip for a moment before turning away from him, setting off again over the waves of soil and grass.

"I didn't talk to him for long," she said. "He hung up quickly. I can't tell them, not when I can't give him back to them."

"Letting them know he's alive might help."

"I know, I know, but I... I promised I wouldn't."

Carson hurried to catch up with her. His boot slid down a small hill of earth into one of the rivers. Even though he didn't even look down, wobbling to get his footing again, only one thought ran through his head. 'Dead. Sonny's dead.'

"You promised you wouldn't what? Tell them?"

"I asked Vince to meet with me. It was after Thomas told us about the transfusion, and I told him that we might have an idea. He thought I was lying, that I'd bring Kaleb with me, so I promised it was just us. If he'd meet me, he'd be safe."

Carson grabbed her arm, pulling her to a stop. They were nearing the other end of the field, it wasn't like there was a risk of anyone overhearing them, they'd gone more than far enough. Though, he wondered if perhaps he should have stopped her where they couldn't be seen. Where someone wouldn't watch, wondering what they were talking about in the middle of an empty field.

"So why tell me?" he asked.

She finally looked up at him. Shuffling her feet again, she kicked up small clouds of dust and cracked the soil beneath her boots.

"I don't know where he is, but if he agrees to meet..."

"Why would he? He has everything he wants there, right? If Spencer is still planning to turn him..."

"But I don't think he wants that, do you? Out of the choice, you think he'd choose vampire?"

Carson shrugged.

"Six months ago, I would have said you were nuts for even suggesting it," he grumbled.

"Exactly."

He scratched his arm and frowned.

"That doesn't answer the question, though. Why tell me?"

"You met the girl, Edeline, right? She knows you."

"Enough to hate me," Carson said quietly.

"Enough to recognise you're not a new vampire or wolf come to drink from her," Priya replied.

"Your point?"

Priya took another few steps towards the fence to the next field. Carson followed her. When they reached it, Priya climbed up to sit on the top bar. Carson stood on the middle rung, gazing around in each direction before he took a seat beside her, hooking his feet behind one of the strips of wood.

"If I can convince him to meet me, he won't want to go far from where they're staying, right? Spencer and Edeline will be close by, and I was thinking that you could sniff them out, get Edeline, and give Vince no reason to stay."

Carson laughed, bitter and cold.

"I don't know if you remember, Priya, but the last time I went up against that drugged vampire, he knocked me out cold."

"We do it in the daytime," she said. "The moment you get in there, open curtains so there's too much light for Spencer to fight back."

The sun was setting behind the horizon, the house silhouetted on the other side of the field. Carson rubbed his hands over his face. This might be their only chance, but it depended on too many things. He'd helped get them into this mess by keeping secrets and shot-in-the-dark plans. Maybe it would be best if they told Kaleb. Even if they kept him from Vince, having more people search for Edeline and the vampire had to be a good thing.

But before he could suggest any of this, or bring up a hundred other problems he could see happening, Priya jumped so hard she almost toppled off the fence. Carson placed a hand at the small of her back as she dug into her pocket and pulled out her phone. The ringtone called like echoes as she stared at it.

Carson leaned in to look. Three question marks flashed up on the screen.

"It's him," Priya said. "Carson, it's Vince!"

He would have liked more time, more information, especially as to why Vince's name was replaced with three question marks on her phone, but instead he nodded and shuffled closer.

"Answer it," he said. "If he agrees to meet, I'm in."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Always the perfect timing, huh? Ha ha!
I'm pretty pleased this week, because I've finally finished plotting the rest of this story, bringing the series to its conclusion. I won't say too much, since it would give away a lot of the coming plot, but I'm very happy with how much drama we have coming.

Happy weekend, Wattpadiwans, and remember to vote and comment.

Chele