Chapter 299
The apartment was dead silent when I walked inside. I didn’t know if my sister was there or not, but I decided to be extra quiet as I went about taking a shower and shoving a bite of food in my mouth. It had taken me a long time to get all of the blood out of my hair, and I thought we should invent some sort of blood removing shampoo for nights like this. Most of the time, it was ash I was struggling with. None of it was ever easy to remove, but I would’ve rather been scrubbing Vampire residue than Faye and Tara’s life fluid out of my hair.
It was less than an hour later when I reentered the office building, two cups of coffee in my hands. I immediately stopped by Christian’s office and saw the lights were off, and he was gone. I hoped that meant he was in the operating room, but I wasn’t shocked when I walked in, and he wasn’t there either. Dax was pacing, and Jamie had moved again. I thought he had to be close to waking up but imagined there was still work to do on Tara’s neck that would wipe him out again.
I handed the cup of coffee I hadn’t been sipping to Dax. “I don’t know how you take it, but it’s mostly cream and sugar,” I said, handing it over.
He took a slurp and made a face. “Yeah, it is.”
Laughing, I explained, “I’ve never cared much for the stuff but needed something to keep myself awake.”
“I’m really not that tired,” he admitted, though he seemed surprised.
“Most Guardians don’t sleep a lot.” I wondered if anyone had ever told him that. His eyes flickered to Jamie. “I said most,” I laughed. “Jamie has to replenish his Healing powers so he sleeps for a long time after he heals someone.
“I see.” He looked back at Tara, and I walked over to touch her. I knew her heart monitor was still beeping, but I needed to make sure she was alive. “Some guy came in looking for you.”
For a moment, I was hopeful he was talking about Brandon, but then I remembered he knew his name. “Elliott?” I asked.
“Maybe. Big guy. Looks a lot like your boyfriend except taller and louder.”
I giggled. “Yeah. That’s his dad.”
“Oh, okay.” That seemed to make sense to him. “He said he just wanted to see if you were okay and was glad when I told him you went home for a little while.”
I wondered why he hadn’t just tried my IAC, but I imagined he was afraid he’d disturb me if I was sleeping. “Thanks.”
“Aaron came by, too, and your sister. But not at the same time. I got the impression they were all still running around trying to figure things out.”
“I don’t doubt it.”
“Your sister said Cale or someone was on their way here, and Aaron said the Guardians from the tagging center are all stabilized now. He said he’s put the rest of the Hunters on lockdown for a few more hours, so you need to be careful if you leave here. I don’t understand why he thinks you’re any safer here, but that’s what he said.”
“Probably because you’re with me,” I replied.
“Right,” he said, feeling for the Glock he still had in his waistband. I didn’t even think about having a weapon on me anymore, I was so used to it, but I imagined it had to be a little odd for him. I didn’t think park rangers were usually packing.
“Thanks, Dax,” I said, crossing back to him. “Why don’t you go take a shower, and I’ll wait here. I think Jamie will be up soon. You can take a few hours if you need to.”
“I’ll run and take a quick shower, but I’ll be right back.” His voice told me there was no sense in trying to dissuade him, so I just nodded. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders loosely before he headed out the door, and I thought for a minute maybe I should remind him where to go. We wouldn’t have ever started talking in the first place if he hadn’t been lost on his way to the gym. But something told me he would find his apartment since he would be able to see the building from the sidewalk.
I stood by Tara’s bed for a few minutes and then pulled out my cell phone. It was so late, I was certain both Emma and Lucy would be asleep, but I really wanted to talk to each of them. I wished they were there with me. Emma would’ve been so helpful with the computer, and Lucy would’ve known exactly what to say when I needed encouragement. I sent them both a text asking them to call me when they got a chance, that I was fine but some crazy stuff had gone down, and then put my phone away.
Jamie stirred again, and I turned to check on him. He opened one eye. “She still okay?” he whispered.
“Still alive,” I assured him. He nodded and closed his eye. “Do you need anything? Are you warm enough?”
“Fine. Thanks. Be up soon.”
I leaned down and rested my head on his shoulder for a second, hoping he knew how much I appreciated him. Maybe I just needed human contact, but it was nice to know I had a friend nearby, even if he couldn’t move. I hadn’t done much of this on my own. Brandon was with me almost constantly, and now that he wasn’t here, everything seemed empty.
The chair squeaked slightly on the linoleum as I pulled it out away from the bed a few inches and sat down, my head in my hands. I was surprised Brandon hadn’t checked on me. I knew he was mad, or sad, or disappointed, or something. But I hadn’t expected him to react like this. I decided to give him some time to straighten out his thoughts before I tried to talk to him. Now I knew what it had been like for him the day before, when I’d been the one giving the cold shoulder, and I didn’t like it at all.
