All of that information would be lovely to have before letting him go to face the monster, but with Daunator, it didn’t come easy. I figured what I was about to say would be disappointing to him, but unlike some people, I didn’t feel comfortable sending him off into battle without all of the information. “For the most part, he hasn’t been doing the turning himself, I don’t think. When I jump into one of these newborns’ heads, I see one of a few other Vampires as their parents, not Daunator himself. I think he has minions, bloodsuckers he sends out to do his dirty work.” That’s about all I could gather from what he’d mentioned, and it wouldn’t be much to go on. I would try again, though, especially now that I thought it might be a purposeful endeavor.
“That’s good to know,” Christian said, which surprised me. I thought he’d be disappointed I didn’t have more answers. “Do you think i
I spent the next couple of days trying to find the answers to Christian’s questions. It wasn’t easy, and some of them were basically impossible to find because I just didn’t have access to the sources I needed. A lot of the people who were missing were not accessible, which seemed so odd to me. Normally, if I have a name, I can eventually find someone. Having a name, a face, and a location make it easier. Even with all of that, the struggle was real.But I was able to get a lot of data that should, theoretically, help him, including the names of several Vampires that had been turning the people I could locate, or were just active in the area. The info I had on them was sketchy, and I needed to sit down with Christian and go over it, but I couldn’t bring myself to contact him. I figured he’d have to come back to me eventually if he was serious about this endeavor. Unless he was waiting for me to reach out to him, which I hadn’t been comforta
I was done and ready to go, but Brandon’s hand pulled me back to the couch as I started to stand up.I wanted to yank away from him, but I calmed slightly when he said, “Okay, okay, okay. I’m sorry. If that’s what you’ve been working on, I can see why that would take a lot of attention.” I figured he was honing in on the army part now since he had to have known I’d been focused on Daunator, unless he also doesn’t listen when people talk to him—like me that night. “I didn’t mean to be rude. I was just, like I said before, worried about you.”For someone who didn’t mean to be rude, his tone hadn’t quite returned to its normal level yet, but I decided if he could apologize, I could calm down. “Don’t be. I’m fine.”He wasn’t buying it. He was reading my face and knew that I wasn’t okay. And that had more to do with Guardians than Vampires. But I wa
I stood outside for a few seconds, drawing in deep breaths, trying not to dwell on the conversation—the fight—I’d just had with Brandon. They seemed to be happening more and more, and it made me uncomfortable. Why couldn’t I just remember how devastated I’d been when he was gone and focus on that?Christian’s voice jarred me back to reality as I tried to remember I’d just invited this weirdo into my head. “I’m in the lab, finishing up a few things. Why do you ask? What’s up? You thirsty for blood?”I let a giggle escape before I remembered I don’t like him. I hoped he hadn’t noticed, but I got the feeling he did. It’s hard to hide anything from the IAC. “You wanna meet me at the coffee shop? I’ve got some information for you.”“Sure,” he replied pretty quickly. “Isn’t it almost your curfew?”
My pondering was interrupted when Christian plunked his coffee down on the table and slid into the booth across from me. He’d ordered the smaller size. Peewee or something? As tired as he looked, I thought maybe he should’ve gone with Largo. “Rough night?” he asked, and I wondered if maybe I also looked like I could’ve used a Largo.“You could say that.” I definitely wasn’t about to go over my argument with Brandon with this guy. I ran my hands through my hair, wanting to get on with it but not knowing where to start.“Man, who would’ve ever thought even a week ago you’d be sneaking out in the middle of the night to see me, huh?”I didn’t like the implications of his comment and swallowed hard before I said, “You don’t have to make it sound like that.” Like we were on a date or something. Barf.“Like what?”As if he didn’t know. I rolle
I cocked my head to the side and looked at him for a moment. I don’t know why I hadn’t considered that before. Maybe it had crossed my mind, and I’d just assumed whatever had come through with that other Guardian had been killed a long time ago. I’d always just thought the first one must’ve come back centuries ago. I followed his line of reasoning, though. “Because Dracula came through with Alex, and Holland came through with Elliott....”“And Carter came through when our grandma went the other direction. So who came through with that third Guardian?”I didn’t have to think about the answer to that one because I had absolutely no idea. “Good question. It would also be nice to know who the third Guardian is. He had to be before Alex, right? Because Aaron Burr went looking for someone to help him and found an ancient Guardian who knew about the portal. So he must be the one who came through it.” This
“And what do you need that I haven’t given you?” I asked Christian. I wanted to be sure we were on the same page. If I was going to be involved in this, it needed to have at least a small chance of working or else I was going to bow out before I got too involved..“Can you get me the names and visuals for those Vampires you said were turning the others? Last known locations, etc.”That was easy enough. “I already have that.” I searched through the data I’d compiled and pulled up the spreadsheet he’d just described. While I was working, I was staring at the table, but for a moment, I had the odd sensation that someone was looking at me. I glanced up, but Christian was concentrating on his coffee. My eyes went around the room. I didn’t see anyone. It was odd, but I shook it off and sent him the spreadsheet, pulling my focus back to what we were discussing. “That’s the best I could do using what littl
Christian got in touch with me a couple of times the next day to ask questions about specific Vampires that weren’t in the spreadsheet, stuff I hadn’t considered until he asked. So I spent a lot of time in and out of their heads, trying to answer his questions. I knew he was going, so it didn’t surprise me a couple of days after our meeting at the coffee house when he popped into my head to tell me he’d gotten Hannah’s permission to take a trip to Hawaii. He didn’t tell me more. I had no idea when he was leaving, whether he was flying on an airline or private, or when he’d touch down. I just assumed he’d let me know when he needed me, if he needed me, and if he didn’t, well, I prayed he’d be okay. Because even though I am not a fan of Christian Henry’s, there was something more to the man than what I’d originally noticed. I wanted to dig around in his brain and try to figure out what it was that made him the way
With a sigh, I concentrated harder on Christian himself, hoping I could pick up on his thoughts without actually leaping into his head. It was difficult at first. Like trying to tune a television using those big rabbit ear antennas. I had to keep searching around for a signal. Eventually, I found it, though, and tuned it in enough that I could get a picture of Christian driving an SUV through the mountains. He was getting close to the point where he’d leave the vehicle and get out and search on foot. Satisfied that I had a decent idea of what was going on, I shifted.It was not my intention to try to leap into Daunator’s head. Doing so would be hazardous. I could tip him off that Christian was on the way. I could let him know we’d been discussing coming over there but had decided not to, which would be an indicator that what he was doing was working and he should keep at it. No, I wasn’t going to try to get into Daunator’s thoughts, but I did wan