Chapter 497
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 he was, but I hadn’t gone there yet. Jumping into people’s minds without their permission is a task I try to leave for the enemy whenever possible, not my teammates, no matter how tempting.
Brandon and I hadn’t really talked much in the few days since I’d stormed out of his apartment only to find myself in the coffee house with Christian. My boyfriend and I needed to sit down and have a heart-to-heart chat. I needed to tell him what I was working on, and I needed to tell him what Alex’s note had said and how I felt about it. All of those conversations would be hard, though, so it was easier to immerse myself in this project with Christian than it was to face them. So I stayed in my apartment for the most part, though I did help out at training. That was where I was when I found out Christian had left.
Aurora wasn’t even talking to me. She was chatting with Shane, the other trainer, a Guardian I do not like in the least, and she said she couldn’t believe Christian had actually decided to take a trip to Hawaii. “Maybe he won’t come back,” Shane had joked.
“Maybe you won’t come back,” I muttered under my breath several feet away, far enough he didn’t hear me. I wasn’t even sure what that meant since Shane wasn’t going anywhere. Nor did I understand why I suddenly felt compelled to stand up for Christian. Maybe it was the fact that we were working on something together, something no one else knew about, that made me want to protect him.
I hadn’t said much to anyone after that. I was so lost in my thoughts, trying to calculate when Christian might get there, which was hard because I didn’t know when he’d left or what kind of a plane he was on. There was no reason for me to assume he’d reach out to me, either. I could try to get him through his IAC, but I was pretty sure he’d disabled that already. I could always use my telepathy, but I’d wait a while on that one. I doubted he’d even landed yet, and if he had, he wouldn’t have made it out to the mountains where Daunator was known to reside.
On my way home from the gym, Hannah reached out to me. “Cassidy, all of this data is very impressive, and it looks like it could be problematic. I’m in close contact with Mila, the Guardian Leader in Budapest, and we are monitoring the situation closely. If you can continue to keep us abreast of what you discover, that will be very useful when Aaron and Cadence get back.”
So we weren’t going. I knew that already, of course. It had been obvious that Hannah wasn’t taking my findings seriously and the only reason she’d offered to look the data over was to get me to sit down and shut up. I was disappointed, despite the fact that I saw it coming. It did help that I was aware Christian was already on his way to do what he could. We could’ve done a lot more if we’d gone together, as a team, with or without my sister and Aaron.
Saying all of that to Hannah would be a waste of breath. So I said, “Okay, I will. Thanks,” and ended it that way as I walked into my apartment. It really seemed like we were failing a whole lot of people by continuing to ignore the situation, but I’d said everything I could think of to try to convince the ones in charge of that. Short of seeking my sister out on her honeymoon, there wasn’t really anything else I could do, and while that wasn’t completely off the table, I’d decided I’d let Christian see what he could accomplish first. If he actually could take Daunator out by himself, there wouldn’t be any reason for us to go. I didn’t think that would happen, but who was I to question what one determined person could do on his own?
By that evening, I still hadn’t heard from Christian, and I was starting to get a little worried. I’d asked Jamie earlier if he happened to know when Christian left, trying to sound completely casual, like I just couldn’t believe the loser had actually left for a while, and Jamie said he’d been gone since late the night before. So... he should be there. But where, exactly, I wasn’t sure. Was he driving through the mountains? Had he taken to the trails? The only way I’d know for sure was to find him and jump into his mind.
I went into my room and closed the blinds, trying to block out as much of the light as I could, and sat down on my bed, reaching out into the Czech Republic, not necessarily trying to find Christian, but just listening to the world, gathering clues and information. Sometimes, I’d get lucky in a quest like this, and I’d pick up on enough pointers from the thoughts of others I could figure out the answer to my question without being completely invasive. I wasn’t having a lot of luck, though.
