Free The Bonding Ritual (Girls Wearing Black: Book Four) by Spencer Baum

forever. Already wishing she didn’t have to go, now Nicky had to face the prospect of leaving Frankie without even saying goodbye.
    “For as long as I can remember, it’s been about my dad and Frankie,” Nicky said. “Before…all this, I went across the country, Gia was with me, we were looking for them. I couldn’t bring myself to stop looking for them.”
    “It’s time to rest, Nicky. Your work is complete.”
    “No, I don’t think it is,” she said quietly.
    Gordon patted her on the knee. “You’re a hero, Nicky Bloom,” he said. Standing up from the couch, he stretched out his arms and yawned. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been up this late. I feel like I’m a little old to be playing this game with the rest of you.”
    “Thank you for all you’ve done, Gordon.”
    “Believe me. It’s my pleasure. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a long drive tomorrow, and just a few hours before Eve gets here to take Frankie away.”
    “Yes, of course. I’ll speak with you later, Gordon.”
    “Good night, Nicky.”
     
    *****
     
    Nicky fell asleep an hour later and dreamed about her mother.
    She wanted the dream to be about the human version of her mother, but it wasn’t. In the dream, her mother was gray-faced and misshapen, with long, yellow claws, and a mouth full of crooked fangs.
    An animal. Her mother had given up her human form and become an animal. She did it to save her children.
    “It wasn’t just us you saved Mom,” Nicky said. “Falkon was close to doing something terrible, but thanks to you, we stopped him.”
    They were in Falkon’s lab. It was empty. All the other feral vampires had escaped into the woods.
    “We could have done it all,” Nicky said. “We erased Falkon’s data, we sent him running into the woods, we destroyed his lab, we killed Renata, we emptied her mansion and burned it down. The only thing we didn’t do is kill Sergio.”
    Nicky walked over to the space in the lab where Sergio had been sprawled out on his back. His blood was still on the floor, smeared into the shape of his body.
    “I was right here, Mom. I had a weapon in my hand s. He was weak. I guess I was too. Why couldn’t I do it?”
    When her mother spoke, it wasn’t with sounds, but in thoughts that rang in Nicky’s mind.
    “I couldn’t kill Falkon either,” her mother said. “I was weak, just like you.”
    “No, this is different,” Nicky said. “I had a chance to do it. My weakness was in my mind.”
    “Weakness is weakness,” her mother said, “and as humans, we weren’t strong enough to fight these vampires.”
    Behind Nicky’s mother was a bank of computers. Nicky pointed at them.
    “That’s where we did it, Mom,” she said. “I finished what you started.”
    One of the computer screens came to life. The screen went from black to bright white. Brighter still. Blinding now. The computer was glowing with blinding white light.
    She woke up. She was in the safe house. The light wasn’t coming from a computer screen, but from the window of the bedroom where she slept. Headlights were shining in the window. There was a car outside.
    Nicky crawled out of bed and went to the window. Was Frankie’s ride here?
    Staying to one side of the window, Nicky pulled back the blinds and looked outside. If she wasn’t allowed to say goodbye to Frankie, she’d at least watch him go.
    The headlights turned off and someone came out of the car. It took a second for Nicky’s eyes to adjust, but once they did, she saw that this wasn’t Eve Kendrick here to take Frankie away.
    It was Jill.
    Nicky ran to the living room and greeted Jill at the front door.
    “Nicky, hi, how are--”
    Nicky threw her arms around Jill and squeezed her tight. “I’m so glad to see you,” she said.
    “Me too,” said Jill, hugging her back. “Is everything okay? I thought you’d be asleep.”
    Nicky stepped back and allowed Jill to come inside.
    “I haven’t really wanted to sleep tonight,” Nicky