Chapter 510
Heather responded fairly promptly after her training was over. She said she was starving and asked me to meet her at the sandwich shop in the trainee building. I was hesitant for a couple of reasons. First of all, I hadn’t left my apartment since Brandon broke up with me. I was afraid I might run into him, or even Elliott, and not know what to say to either one of them. But I’d have to go out into the world again at some point, right? The other thing was, I wasn’t hungry at all. And Heather eats like she’s been trapped in a portal for a century with no food. It’s impressive but also indigestion inducing.
I got there first and ordered a sandwich from the counter and found a booth knowing they’d bring out my hot ham and cheese when it was ready. Sipping my Dr. Pepper, I looked around at the other people. I knew most of them, one way or another. It was lunchtime, so it was busy and getting busier. A lot of the new trainees were coming in on their way back from the gym. Others were Roatan Guardians who hadn’t gotten their freeing serum yet. Most of them nodded or waved at me, but no one came over, and I was glad because I didn’t want to chat. It was bad enough that I had IAC messages from Lucy and Tara now asking if I was okay. I prayed my sarcastic, “Never better,” would be good enough for now. I couldn’t focus on finding out what these black creatures were if I was also worried about the situation with Brandon.
When Heather comes into a room, everyone knows it. Not in that “gorgeous blonde sweeps in on the breeze” sort of way, although she is gorgeous and blonde, but because she’s like a freight train pulling into the station. Loud, a bit out of control, powerful, and without a care in the world. It’s amazing and I am often envious of the way she can essentially tell the rest of the world where they can stuff it without even opening her mouth.
She gave me the sort of wave you’d expect from a kindergartner on stage during a choir concert spotting their parents in the audience and then bounded up to the counter. It took her forever to order. She pored over every line of the menu above the older woman waiting patiently behind the counter as the line behind her grew. There was another cash register open, though, which I’m sure inspired Heather to continue to take her time. Finally, she put in her order, grabbed her drink, and headed my way.
“Hey there, Cass! You doin’ okay?” She slid into the booth fast enough to create a little breeze and careened with the wall. She still hadn’t figured out her own speed. I stifled a laugh.
“I’m fine. How are you?” I didn’t dissect her tone to try to figure out if she knew something because I didn’t want to know.
“Good, thanks. That Roar sure knows how to push us, though. Kinda ain’t fair some of us are twice as fast now with our procedures bein’ done.”
“Yeah.” I could’ve said more. I didn’t. Only Heather and Tara were still in training after having their second round of serum. It hadn’t made much of a difference with Tara, who was still struggling. She’d be a good Hunter eventually, but she needed more work. Heather probably didn’t need to be there, but Aaron has always been a stickler for protocol. I was sure she’d be out as soon as she was able to go to the required number of Hunts, if we ever started going on those again.
“So... what did you wanna talk to me about? You said you wanted to show me something from a hunt?”
“Yeah,” I said again. “These weird looking creatures attacked our team in Budapest last night. No one has any clue what they are. I’m not officially working on this, but I wanted to get your take one what they might be.”
“Weird looking creatures?” she repeated in her heavy Southern accent. “Hmmm. Why are you workin’ on it if you ain’t workin’ on it?”
It was a good question. I had an answer prepared. “Well, a friend of a friend asked me to help her find the Vampire they were hunting last night, sort of last second. I’d rather not go into it all, if you don’t mind. I don’t want her to get in trouble, and I don’t want to get in trouble.”
“Got it,” Heather said with a wink. I’m not sure if she thought we were being sneakier than we were or what, but as long as she let it go with that, I was good. I couldn’t imagine she’d tell anyone, especially with Aaron out of town. Heather still doesn’t have a lot of friends on the team, except for my own friends, and it was fine if they knew. They wouldn’t go to Hannah or Aurora.
Our food arrived and Heather thanked the server with a huge smile. I did the same, though I couldn’t pull off that massive grin, and she dug in. I stared at my food wondering how I was going to get any of it down. My stomach protested, but not with hunger pangs.
When Heather eats, it is an event. I took a small bite of mostly crust and watched as she rejoiced over the cheeseburger she had ordered. I was glad for a bit of amusement, but I honestly don’t know how anyone can worship their food the way this girl does. It doesn’t matter that she’d been out of the portal for a few weeks at this point; it was always the same.
After she finished chewing, she said, “All righty now, tell me again. What the heck did them things look like?” She took another bite of her burger, a huge one, and I knew I’d have to talk for a while now because her mouth was full.
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