“Wow. That must’ve been crazy, seeing your first Vampire in the forest like that,” I said, to Dax, shaking my head. “But the girl you came across in the woods was okay?” I thought I’d heard that from my sister or Elliott or someone.
“Yeah, she was okay, but her dad wasn’t so lucky. Her name is Delilah. She was just shaking the whole time she was in my truck. I took her to the police before we went out to look for her dad. He… looked a lot like the folks we ran into tonight.”
I understood what he meant. Throat ripped out. “How terrible. What did the police think?”
“They thought it must be a wild animal of some sort. I told them what I’d seen, and they decided it had to be unrelated, that Delilah was attacked by a criminal of some sort while her dad was being killed by a bear or whatever. I knew what I’d seen, though, and my grandma helped me get ahold of Daniel.”
“Gee, Cass, I’m so sorry to hear that Tara is doing so poorly,” Emma said, and I could tell she really must’ve meant it because Emma O’Sullivan doesn’t say she’s sorry for you if she doesn’t really mean it.“And Brandon’s AWOL?” Lucy asked.“Yeah, he came by a few hours ago, but I was taking a short nap.”“Do you think he thinks there’s something going on between you and Dax?” she asked.“I think he does.”“Is there?” Emma asked, and I wished I could see her so I could give her the snake eye.“No! We are just friends.”“Just checking,” she said, and I could hear her shrugging.I heard the front door down the hall open and couldn’t help but smile when I saw it was Elliott. “Girls, I’ve gotta go in a second. Elliott just walked in.”“Oh, put him on!&rd
Around 3:00, Dax’s stomach started to growl. “Do you know if there’s a vending machine or anything around here?”“I don’t know,” I said, thinking I hadn’t noticed one on the tour of this building I’d done at the beginning of my training. “You could go ask Christian.”“Is he the tech guy?” Dax asked, making a face. “I think I’ll just look around.” I snickered and watched him walk to the door. He stopped short of the exit and asked, “Do you want anything?”“No thanks,” I answered quickly. “I’m not hungry.” I’d had my fill of doughnuts and sandwiches for a while, I thought.“Drink?”“Uh, yeah. A Dr.. Pepper would be great if you see one.”He smiled and gave me a little nod before disappearing down the hall.Once he was gone, I was sort of glad to have the room to myself fo
I was out of my chair and leaping completely over Dax before he even knew what was happening. “Brandon!” I shouted, wondering how he had just happened to pick the one second out of the last fifteen hours that looked even marginally like I was interested in Dax as more than just a friend.In the hallway, Brandon was trudging to the front door, his footsteps quick and even, but he wasn’t running. “Brandon, wait!” I shouted as I sprinted toward him. I was within a few feet of him when he reached the door. But he didn’t go out. Instead, he rested his hand on the handle and dropped his head so that he was staring at his Converse. He took a deep breath, and I braced myself, waiting to see if he would believe my explanation. There was nothing between Dax and I except for some camaraderie around a horrible experience. Staring at the back of my boyfriend’s head, I had no doubt in my mind who I wanted to be with.His voice was quaking a
I could see my explanation as to why I was so upset at him was making sense to Brandon. He took it all in and processed for a few seconds before he reached up and caressed my cheek with his thumb. “I’m sorry, Cass. I had no idea you felt that way. If I had….”“No, it’s okay,” I interrupted, taking his other hand in mine so I had both of them. His green eyes were glistening slightly, as if his emotions were starting to get the better of him, too. I didn’t want him to feel that way. “It isn’t your fault. I realize now, obviously, that all of them needed to be destroyed.” I thought about Bonnie and how she had been so small and frail and then turned into a savage that ripped out my friends’ throats. I was sure he could see the guilt on my face; there was no reason to explain to him now how I was feeling about her. “I just needed to remember that, as much as they can suck me in and make me feel like I&
The sound of the heart monitor buzzing in one even pitch was haunting as I flew into the operating room and over to where Tara lay perfectly still on the bed. Even with the volume almost completely down, it filled my head from the inside. I pressed my ear to her chest, willing there to be some sort of sign that she either wasn’t dead or that this wouldn’t last, but I heard nothing but my own static breath.Brandon entered the room, followed by Christian, and I vaguely remembered having heard Brandon knock on his office door while I was rushing back to Tara’s side. I prayed Christian would be able to do something, anything to help, but he wasn’t a doctor, and Jamie was out of it. Maybe Cale was available. Maybe I should call him. I moved out of Christian’s way and let him do his own examination.After he turned the volume completely down on the heart rate monitor, he pushed me further aside, pressed his head to Tara’s chest, felt for
Cadence handed me a plastic bag full of snacks and said, “Thought you might be hungry.”I noticed she was looking at Brandon like she thought he might eat all of the chips and other snacks she’d thrown together, and he said, “Don’t worry. I had a large pizza for lunch.” My eyebrows shot up, though I’m not sure why it was a surprise to me. I’ve seen the boy eat. “I’m a stress eater,” he added, and I chuckled. He’s an any time eater.“Dax, how are you doing?” Cadence asked, and I was happy she’d remembered his name, though I guessed she could’ve cheated and used her IAC. My sister is so bad at remembering names, how people are related, where people are from, all those little details that I always know. I think it drives her a little crazy that she’s so awful at it, but there’s a lot on her mind.Dax sighed and somehow produced a smile. “I’m okay.
Cale was still looking from one of us to the next, trying to figure out what was happening. He finally returned his attention to Cadence. “What did you do?”She folded her arms and let out a deep breath. “Transformation serum.”His blue eyes widened. “Cadence!”“Hey, I didn’t do it on my own this time,” she reasoned. “It was a team effort.”He didn’t seem to care. “Yeah, and I’m sure the one person who was not chosen to play by the team captain was the guy who can fire me or send me to Siberia.”“If it’s any consolation, I hear it’s lovely this time of year,” Elliott joked.Cale wasn’t amused. Neither was Cadence. She looked at Elliott hard but then returned her attention to the doctor. “You aren’t doing anything. You’re just here to… keep an eye on her while Jamie’s out. That’s all.&rdq
Once Cadence and Elliott were gone, the four of us were thrust back into silence. I could see how hard Jamie was fighting to wake up and thought it must be so odd to be lying there fully conscious but unable to do anything. At least he knew his sister was safe.“So… how long has she been…?” Cale finally asked, looking at me, though I think anyone could’ve answered.“Not long,” I told him. “Just a few minutes before you guys came in.”“Okay. Well, there’s no point in me standing here and watching her. I mean... you guys can. She’s your friend. I get that. But….” He looked around again and then walked across the room. I had no idea what he might be doing, but it was obvious he didn’t want to have anything to do with this situation, so he may as well go do something else if he could.“Who is that guy?” Dax whispered, and I got the impression he was tired