Chapter 297
My sister pulled herself up on unsteady feet and crossed to where the newbie was standing, putting a hand on Dax’s arm. “Dax, you have had one heck of a first day. I promise you, most days here are nothing like this.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not sure I wanna stick around to find out.” He shook his head and pulled away from her, dropping his eyes to the ground as he muttered, “Crazy kid Vampires ripping people’s throats out, people talking to each other through their eyes, doctors who fall asleep on the job, weird winking guys who appear and drug people while they’re passed out. I’m not really sure this is all for me.” He met her gaze again with that last sentence, and I felt like I might lose yet another person I cared about.
My sister seemed to think his outburst was slightly humorous, though, as she stifled a laugh. “Well, when you put it like that…. Look, I think the excitement is done for now. Why don’t you head back to your apartment, take a shower, get some sleep, and we’ll see you sometime tomorrow. As late in the day as you want.”
I knew before he even spoke that wouldn’t fly with Dax. He looked over at Tara who was finally starting to still. Every once in a while, she’d give a violent shudder, but for the most part she was calm. “She was my friend, if only for a few hours. I don’t want to abandon her. You guys said something about her dying.”
Cadence looked at Tara and inhaled deeply before she said, “Look, Jamie didn’t know what else he could do to save her, so he asked Christian,” she gestured at the Guardian she was referring to, “to administer some Transformation serum to see if that might save her. We’ve never really done that before, not under these circumstances anyway, so we don’t know if it will work or not. The only other time something remotely like this has happened to any of us was last year when something happened with Aaron, and I gave him another dose of the serum. He.. died… for a little while. Obviously, he’s alive now.”
Inserting himself into the conversation, Christian said, “And he has superpowers even above ours.”
Cadence didn’t seem to want his help as she glared at him and then turned back to Dax. I could tell she was choosing her words carefully. “We did this to try to save her, but not everyone might think it was a good idea.” I assumed she was talking about Aaron. It made sense he wouldn’t want the Transformation serum used that way. “So… we’d appreciate it if you don’t mention it to anyone else, okay?”
“Okay,” Dax said nodding. “But are you saying she might die and then come back to life?” It was obvious he couldn’t believe the words coming out of his own mouth.
“I honestly don’t have any idea what might happen to her,” Cadence admitted, looking back at Tara. “But Jamie wouldn’t have done this unless he knew it was her only chance. Jamie is an exceptional Healer, maybe the most powerful one who’s ever lived. If he couldn’t put her back together, it couldn’t be done. He knows what he is doing.”
Though Dax’s head rocked back and forth, he was still very confused and overwhelmed, and I didn’t blame him one bit.
Cadence turned to Christian and asked, “Did you drive over here.”
“I did.”
“Okay. Why don’t you grab Doc, and Dax and I will carefully carry out Tara, and we’ll move them to your office building?”
“I can help,” I said, not wanting to be left out even though I am the smallest of the four.
Once again, my sister inhaled deeply. This time she was agitated at me, not Christian, but she said, “Okay, you and I will move Tara. Dax, if you’ll take Jamie’s medical bag to the car, that would be most helpful.”
Christian slung Jamie over his shoulder like he weighed nothing, and Dax grabbed the bag before Cadence moved around to the side of Tara and carefully picked up her top half, leaving me to grab her legs. As strong as we are, it was no problem carrying her out, but I was so concerned we would hurt her, we took it slow.
I could tell my sister looked worried as we walked out. I wondered if she was blaming herself the way that I was. I had been the one to bring Bonnie here, to let the enemy infiltrate our headquarters, but knowing my sister, she was thinking she was the one who opened the portal, making this all possible in the first place. I thought it was silly for Cadence to worry about that anymore. What was done was done, and I was still of the opinion that having Elliott back made it worth it, though I hadn’t just had my throat ripped open because of it. If Aaron had been anti-portal before, I supposed tonight hadn’t changed his mind any. I wondered if he’d have a scar from where Bonnie had sunk her claws into his neck.
It was late, and the night air was crisp and cold. It was refreshing, even if temperatures don’t affect me the same way they used to. Dax opened the back seat of the SUV for us, and we carefully slid Tara inside. I caught a whiff of Ashley’s perfume and thought I would have to ask her what in the world had led her to go on a date with Christian, but not now. Once Tara was inside, and Jamie was strapped into the front seat, his bag at his feet, Cadence said to Christian, “Drive carefully. You don’t need to give Jamie a concussion.”
The twinkle of mischief in Christian’s eyes made me want to smack him or bare my fangs at him again, but I didn’t. He hopped into the driver’s seat, and the three of us took off on foot for the building across campus, watching Christian’s taillights fade into the night, a night that had seemed to last forever but wasn’t anywhere near over yet.
