Chapter 194
“As soon as we got off of the train, I ran to the bathroom. I felt like my bladder was going to burst.” We were sitting in my bedroom, Lucy and Emma on the bed, me in the chair from my desk turned to face them. I’d gotten them up to speed on everything that had happened in Kansas City and told them about how I talked Brandon into going with me to Philadelphia. Lucy thought he was my hero for going along to protect me while Emma said he was “an idiot” for letting me talk him into it.
I had to take a deep breath before I continued, because even both of them were hanging on every word, like I was retelling a movie, it was all very fresh and personal still. “Once I was done, the stall door burst open, and Zabrina was standing there.”
“Shut up!” Luce exclaimed, grabbing a pillow and squeezing it in front of herself. “Thank goodness you’d just peed or you probably would’ve wet your pants for sure.”
“Sounds terrifying,” Emma concurred, pushing her glasses up.
“It was. I’ve never been so scared in my life. I tried to fight her, but she was so incredibly strong, I can’t even describe it. She dragged me out of the bathroom, and that’s when she scratched me.”
“Just like Holland scratched Jack!” Lucy exclaimed.
“Oh, no. Did you think you were going to die?” Emma asked.
“I thought I was going to turn into a Vampire,” I replied, nodding. “Which might be worse.” I was wondering why neither one of them assumed I was now a Vampire since we know that’s what happened to Jack.
“But… she would’ve had to infect you with her DNA, so if it was just a scratch, well, that doesn’t necessarily mean….” Emma thought out loud. “You must’ve figured that out eventually, since you are clearly not a Vampire.”
I raised my eyebrows at her. “Hold that thought.” They both stared back at me, wide eyed. “So… Brandon ran to catch up with us when this other Vampire, a friend of Giovani’s named Robert, I found out later, attacked him from behind. I didn’t really see everything that happened, but he defeated him. And Zabrina continued to drag me to meet with Giovani on this pedestrian bridge where everything, including the whole ceiling, was made of glass.”
“Wait—what do you mean ‘hold that thought’?” Lucy asked. “You’re not a Vampire, are you, Cass?”
“I’m getting there.”
“Cassidy—if you’re a Vampire, we deserve to know,” Emma objected. “You could snap at any second and kill us.”
I rolled my eyes. “If I wanted to kill you, I could’ve done it by now.”
“Wait—so you are a Vampire?” Lucy asked, scooting back away from me about three feet, which was great for my self-esteem.
“Will you please just let me finish? We have to leave in less than an hour for the football game.”
“Fine,” she said, but she didn’t scoot any closer.
“Once I was on the bridge, Brandon demanded they let me go, but of course they wouldn’t. Zabrina pulled my head up so her fangs were right in my face. That was awful. And then Eliza showed up and threatened to shoot them, even with me there.”
“Eliza?” Lucy asked, a look of disgust on her face. “Why was she there?”
“I guess because she was helping track Giovani in Europe.”
“Yeah, but we found him,” Emma reminded me.
“I know. But she was there…. Aaron ordered her to point her gun away from us, and Giovani was about to take me and leave when my sister showed up. He wanted her, not me, so she took my place.”
“That’s so nice of her,” Lucy gushed.
“Yeah. It was crazy what Giovani did to get her out of there. He tossed me to Brandon, and I was freaking out because I knew it was too late for me anyhow, and I thought Cadence could get hurt or killed. Especially since Giovani had to be taking her to Gibbon. He tied her wrists together and this hook came through the glass ceiling, shattering it, and he attached her to it, and she was whisked away by a helicopter.”
“That’s crazy!” Lucy exclaimed, shaking her head. “Was she terrified?”
“No, not that I could tell. But I was. Cadence played it really cool, but Brandon had to hold me back. And then, everyone opened fire as Giovani and Zabrina also went up on the hook to the helicopter, leaving their military Vampires behind. And Brandon threw himself in front of me. Once LIGHTS cleared the Vampires out, I was just lying there on the bridge in total shock. I was shaking and freezing cold, even though sweat was pouring down my back.”
“Wow, that had to be so scary. Was Jamie there?” Emma asked.
“He was. He came over and examined my arm.”
“And told you you were going to be okay?” Lucy’s question was valid and hopeful. I almost didn’t want to tell her what happened next.
But I had to. I shook my head. “No, he said I was infected.”
“By a Vampire?” Emma looked just as stunned as Lucy for a change. Rarely does anything ever surprise her, at least not to the degree that she shows it on her face.
My head bobbed up and down. “The only thing he could think of to keep me from Resurrecting was to administer the Transformation serum. So Brandon helped him, and Jamie gave me the first shot.”
Both of my best friends were staring at me in stunned silence. I was sure they didn’t know what to say, and I couldn’t blame them. I wouldn’t have either. I wanted to be careful what I told them because both of them would have the opportunity to Transform one day, if they wanted to, and I didn’t to scare them. But I also wanted to be real. In the end—real won out.
