Perfect Pet

Ch. 42: Doing Fine

"I could feel her out there," one of the Masters was saying into a microphone. "But it was like the signal was fuzzy. I couldn't trace where it was coming from like I should have been able to."

"It was the same for me," another added, his golden eyes anguished as he stared out into the crowd. "One minute everything felt normal and the next, I could barely sense her. Our connection only returned to normal right... right before she died. Like they wanted me to feel her suffer."

A muted bond? Frowning, I leaned back in my seat as I contemplated what had the power to do such a thing. The bond between a Master and his Pet tied them together mind and body. Even when I wasn't with him, there was always an awareness of Malik in the back of my mind, a soothing hum that told me I was never alone.

Disrupting such a tight connection had to be almost impossible.

The third Master, who had been standing back as the others spoke, suddenly charged forward and grabbed one of the mikes. "Whoever you are, I don't care how long it takes. I will find you and I will kill you," he snarled as if tired of holding his anger in. "I know you're watching. My Pet didn't deserve to die that way and I will avenge her. Even if it kills me. It's the least I can do after failing her like this."

There was nothing but stunned silence as the reporters standing around tried to absorb the absolute violence he had displayed. In the background, I could see him being yanked off the stage as a young woman frantically rushed to his abandoned mike, smoothing out her sleek skirt as she started asking if there were any more questions.

Suddenly someone was shaking my shoulder, causing me to jump and almost knock my drink over when I dropped my phone. "Jesus Christ!" I clutched at my chest where I could feel my heart pounding as I turned to see who it was.

"Sorry. You didn't hear me calling you?" A familiar feminine voice asked as a body dropped into the seat across from me.

"Claire?" I said when I was able to process who was in front of me. Her long hair had been cut into a short pixie cut that emphasized the angles of her face and suited her sharp, edgy personality. She looked so different but recognizable at the same time.

For starters, she looked thinner. Not gaunt, like she didn't have access to regular meals but it was obvious she didn't have the same food options as to when she'd been at Rigryce. That coupled with her new haircut gave the impression of someone that had been living it rough. The biggest change, however, was in her eyes. They held an exhausted edge to them, the flecks of gold dull and lifeless as if she hadn't gotten a decent sleep in God knows how long.

There was no telling what she had been through after being expelled from the school. The last time I had physically seen her had been when Caleb was dragging her from the room by her arm, Madame Moreau following behind as they got ready to interrogate her further. I hadn't dared to ask what happened over email, wanting to see her face to face first.

She gave me an all too familiar dry look. "Were you expecting someone else?"

"No, but you are late. I was worried you wouldn't show up." I didn't want to admit that what I'd just been watching had me on edge. It felt too close to home for comfort.

"My bad. It was harder getting here than I thought. Wasn't expecting the checkpoint at the entrance. It's like trying to travel to a different country."

I snorted. "Basically. It's how they keep their cities so safe. You know how it is." I didn't ask how she had managed to pass the checkpoint since, after her encounter with the Coalition, the odds of her being banned from vampire territories was high. I didn't want to know.

"Yeah. Still creepy as hell, though." She glanced around the coffee shop, taking it all in. It was much emptier than when I came in, the two Pets and their Masters gone. How long had I been absorbed in that video? "Look at you, living the high life."