Chapter 48

The bed next to her was empty when Jo woke up the next morning. She shouldn’t have been surprised; as much as she’d wanted to jump Zane the second they’d walked into the room, to take the passion he’d displayed when he’d kissed her in the Jeep to the next level and let all of her emotions out in one fast, furious fuck, she’d realized that it would be a mistake. He didn’t deserve to be objectified in that way, even if she was beginning to realize her feelings for him were still alive, just buried deep, and he wouldn’t have minded the abuse--on the surface. Eventually, when he saw that it hadn’t meant the same thing to her, he’d begin to regret it, and she didn’t want there to be anything else between them, not if she ever planned on attempting to salvage this relationship. For the first time in months, she was beginning to realize she wanted to.
She looked around the room and saw that she was alone, so she headed to the restroom to take a shower, checking her IAC as she went. Messages from her Aunt Cass, from Emma, who was in Moscow working on the scandium bullet problem, her Uncle Elliott who was on his way from Africa to meet them, all registered vaguely without being read as she looked to see if she had anything from Zane or Eliza.
Zane had sent her a message a couple of hours earlier that said he was downstairs and to let him know when she was awake. It was hard to tell tone from what she’d read, but she had to wonder if he wasn’t still a little annoyed with her after their discussion the night before. As she turned the shower on to let it warm up, she considered what they’d both shouted at each other in the Jeep on the way back from Eliza and Lucas’s house. Was it an argument? No, not really. But it had been a soul searching type of conversation, the sort that would stick with her for a while.
Jo went about her business, taking a quick shower and getting dressed in her favorite pair of jeans and a black T-shirt. She worked her wet hair into a French braid and headed out to sit on the edge of the bed to put on her socks and boots. Then, when she was basically ready to go, she sent a message to Zane. Hoping he’d bring her breakfast, she made sure everything was packed up, not that they had anywhere to go. Unless and until Eliza and Lucas got back to them, they were stuck.
So… she decided to look at those other messages as Zane let her know he was on his way back to the room. Cass was just checking in. Jo responded that there was no news yet. Elliott just let her know he was having to go around a large swath of Central Europe because of the unrest. Thus his arrival would be delayed. And then there was that message from Emma O’Sullivan that had her stomach tying into a knot.
“Hey, Jo. I just wanted to tell you, I’ve examined the scandium bullet. I can’t tell why it’s able to allow Vampires to kill Guardians, but it is a softer amalgamate they are using than I had expected, so I think we can come up with some sort of shield. It might take a while to perfect it, though. It’s too bad Christian isn’t around to help. Let me know if you want me to stay here and work on it. I’m thinking maybe a helmet and chest plate? Also, as soon as we got into town, Ryker took off on his own. We let him go. If you want us to try and track him down, we will, with Cassidy’s help, but for now, we were thinking perhaps it’s for the best. Mikali doesn’t think it’s a good idea to have a frail human in our care while we look for Holland. Let me know how to proceed.”
It wasn’t the part about the scandium bullets that made her nauseated--she’d been expecting that. In fact, it was almost good news that she thought it might be possible to come up with something to block it. No, it was that last part that had Jo’s attention.
Ryker had left.
She wasn’t surprised, not really. He had made it abundantly clear that he didn’t want to have anything to do with any of them. Why she had ever considered the possibilities of him sticking around was beyond her. But she had. Now, he was out there on his own again, potential Vampire bait. Well, she couldn’t really worry about him. He would get what he deserved for striking out without her team who had volunteered to protect him.
Except she was worried about him. And she didn’t even know why. There was nothing appealing about the man. His personality was appalling. He was uncouth and unkempt. He was rude and so rough around the edges his countenance resembled his shaggy fur coat. No, on the surface there was absolutely nothing at all that should’ve made her give a single fuck where he was or what he was doing.
And yet, she did. At some level, deep down inside, she’d felt a connection with him she’d never quite put her finger on, she wouldn’t have admitted to anyone, probably not even herself, if she didn’t feel the urge to run into the bathroom and throw up. Maybe it was a good thing she hadn’t eaten any breakfast yet.
The sound of the door opening brought her out of her thoughts. Zane came in carrying a paper cup that had to be coffee and something else wrapped in a napkin. “How did you sleep?” he asked, setting both items in front of her on the coffee table.
“Shitty,” she said, even though that wasn’t quite true. She’d slept better than she had in a long time, which wasn’t actually saying much considering how hard it had been to sleep in the disgusting hotels they’d been staying in recently, not for lack of looking for better ones. Their current establishment was better by strides, but it was still only a three star at best by US standards from before the Revelation. Still, she hadn’t been worried about bed bugs all night, so it had been easier to close her eyes.
Jo unwrapped the item he’d placed in front of her and found it to be some Russian version of a donut or pastry. “Thanks,” she said, not sure what to make of the beige lump with sugary glaze.
“I thought you might be hungry, but there wasn’t much to choose from downstairs. And heaven forbid anyone use a bag.” He sat down on the sofa but left a good two feet between them.
Jo took a sip of the coffee. It wasn’t as awful as she expected, but it reminded her of the gas station variety one might find now. Average coffee beans weren’t too hard to come by these days, despite the apocalypse, but any kind of gourmet roast was going to cost a pretty penny, and it was clear the Russians weren’t willing or able to make that sort of expenditure.
She choked it down and took a pinch off of the pastry, popping it into her mouth. Again, it wasn’t terrible, but it sort of reminded her of a biscuit dipped in sugar. She’d eat as much of it as she could because she was hungry. Now that Zane was back in the room, her stomach had settled down a little bit, and she was back to the belief that Ryker could go fuck himself. At least on the surface.
Zane tapped his foot restlessly on the semi-clean brown carpet, his hands folded between his knees. “Anything from Eliza yet?”
Taking a moment to swallow what was in her mouth, Jo shook her head. “No, not yet. I got a couple of other updates, though.”
“Yeah, I talked to Brandon when I was downstairs. He told me what Emma said about the scandium. And Cassidy said she has a good read on the next X she thinks we need to concentrate on. Some of the other teams have checked in as well.”
Jo nodded. She’d left it to Cassidy to determine where they should head next, after more scouting of the various locations. Unless Lucas came in and gave them some insight that was different from what her aunt suggested they should do, Jo was ready to move in whatever direction the Hybrid recommended. “Do you think we should just hang out here until Eliza and Lucas get back to us? Or should I try and contact them?”
Zane tipped his head to the side, thoughtful, for a moment. “I don’t know. We don’t want to be pushy, but then, we also need an answer sooner rather than later.”
“Right,” she agreed. Jo sighed and leaned back on the couch, wondering what her dad would do. Something told her he wouldn’t have ever been in this situation to begin with. If he’d asked for help from anyone, they would’ve been happy to be of assistance. Clearly, she was not her dad, but then, that had been established well before she’d started this mission.
They sat there in silence for a long time, Jo contemplating the situation, Zane shifting restlessly from time to time. Eventually, after she’d looked at him for the third or fourth time, he asked, “Have you spoken to Emma?”
“Yeah,” she said, assuming he’d established that earlier when she hadn’t questioned his comment about the scandium. “I hope she can come up with something. It totally throws everything off if there’s a chance Guardians can get killed--”
“I know,” he interrupted. “I meant, did she tell you they lost track of Ryker?”
“Oh, that.” She couldn’t fight her eyebrows as they grew together. “She mentioned it.”
“Aren’t you worried?” he asked.
She shook her head. “No, I think if he was going to sell us out, he would’ve done it already.”
“Not about that. About him. Getting himself killed or Resurrected or something.”
“Oh.” She studied his face for a moment, trying to get a read on the purpose behind the question. “Why do you ask?”
Zane shrugged uneasily and shifted slightly so that he was turned closer to her. “It seemed like maybe the two of you were getting along okay, there for a while. I just thought….”
“I don’t know what you thought you saw,” she said as his voice trailed off. “But Ryker is a fucking asshole. Anything that befalls him is absolutely deserved.”
“Jo, that seems a little harsh. Even for you.”
She arched an eyebrow at him. Was she usually so cold blooded? Maybe she was. “Well, I’ve done everything I can to try and keep that ass safe, and he insisted on going out on his own, so screw him.”
“All right,” Zane said, shrugging yet once more. “I just hope we don’t end up facing Vampire Ryker because I’m pretty sure he’s got a couple of bullets with each of our names on them.”
“Probably so,” Jo replied. “Probably so.” Slapping her hands down on her legs, she found herself standing for no particular reason.
“Where are you going?” Zane asked as she started walking toward the door.
“Out,” she said. “I don’t know where, but I’m not gonna sit here any longer.”
“Want some company--or not?”
As tempted as she was to say no, she’d rather be alone, Jo found herself saying, “Sure.” She stopped to grab her jacket off of the hook by the door, even though it would still look really odd that someone would be walking around with a light leather jacket on when it was so cold outside, but she didn’t care. If people assumed she was a Vampire Hunter, maybe they’d leave her the hell alone.
Zane got up and walked out with her, and Jo’s feet started moving down the hallway, having absolutely no idea where she was going but knowing she needed to stay on the move. Sitting on her ass wasn’t going to get her any closer to finding Holland. Maybe walking around the streets of Magadan wouldn’t either, but it beat the hell out of the alternative.