When he still didn"t stop, I knew I had to take action, but it scared the h.e.l.l out of me. Tentatively, and really almost gently, I slapped him on the shoulder. I felt like I was tapping in a wolf in the middle of eating, and I figured that like a wolf, Milo would most likely turn to snap at me and take my entire hand off. He didn"t seem to notice though, so I slapped him again, harder this time. And again and again, until finally, he dropped Jane and collapsed back into the front seat.
Jane fell heavily onto the seat, hitting her head against the door, and she moaned softly, so at least I knew she was still alive. Milo had his eyes closed and he looked like somebody that was incredibly, wonderfully high. Absently, he wiped at the blood on his chin with back of his hand, and he mumbled something incoherent. All his features had softened, and he looked younger than he had in years. Resting his head on the driver"s seat, he faced my direction, but he was barely conscious himself.
"Jane?" I leaned over her and lightly slapped her cheek, trying to wake her up. The bite on her neck was already pink and raised, beginning the first steps in healing. Tears were threatening my eyes, and I felt like sobbing. I slapped her face again, but she just turned her head away from me but didn"t wake up. "Jane? Are you okay? Can you hear me? Jane?" Weakly, she slapped at my hand, trying to push it away.
I collapsed back on the seat, pressing my pack against the cold window, and that"s when I finally started to cry. A pair of vampires had very nearly killed me tonight, and both Jane and I had the scratch marks on our backs and our legs to prove how close Violet had come to hauling us off into the night. I survived all that to have my brother consider killing both of us, but he just ended up feeding on her. Then they both promptly pa.s.sed out, leaving me the only one awake in a locked car sitting in the dark behind a gas station in the middle of the night. Meanwhile, we had no idea what happened to the vampires chasing us.
"Alice, Alice," Milo mumbled without opening his eyes. "Don"t cry. We"re..." He trailed off and reached out for me, but before his hand get anywhere near me, he let it drop.
"Oh, h.e.l.l." I ran a hand through my tangles of hair, trying to figure out what I should do. Was I just supposed to sit here until one of them woke up? Should I kick Milo out of the driver"s seat and try to drive us home, even though I couldn"t drive?
132.
When my phone started vibrating in my bra, I was sobbing. Both Milo and Jane were too out to even notice. The car was still running, blasting me with freezing cold air, and the bottom half of my dress was really in tatters. I had lost some blood, and I was terribly thirsty, so I had a feeling that I was going into shock. I barely even noticed the phone vibration over my own shaking, but when I did, I answered it quickly.
"h.e.l.lo?" I answered, doing my best not to sound like I had been crying or that I was probably borderline hysterical.
"Alice?" Jack said, sounding rather frantic himself. There was a lot of background noise behind, people talking and what sounded like a radio announcer talking. "Are you okay? What"s going on?
What happened?"
"I"m okay," I sniffled and wiped at the tears on my cheeks. "Are you coming home?"
"Yeah, yeah, I"m at the airport now." That explained all the sounds around him, and I heard Ezra asking him something, but I couldn"t make out what it was. "What happened? Is everyone okay?
Ezra tried Mae, and she said Milo was at your house. Is he okay? Did he do something?"
"No, he"s okay." I swallowed hard to keep from crying again. Jack sounded nervous enough without me adding to it by sobbing unnecessarily on the phone. "Milo came over, and he said I had to get out of the house, and then Jane texted me-"
"Jane?" Jack scoffed incredulously. "I should"ve known she"d have something to do with this."
"She saved my life tonight, Jack!" I insisted defensively. In all honesty, I had never felt closer to her than I did right now. Looking at her pa.s.sed out on the seat with faded red marks on her neck, I knew that she actually cared about me. She risked her life for me, and I had never thought she"d be the kind of person that did that.
"She did what?" His voice dropped to a panicked growl. "What the h.e.l.l happened tonight, Alice?"
"We went to a club, just a regular gay club," I explained quickly, hoping to ease his disapproval as soon as possible. "And we were dancing and it was fine, but then the vampires from the other club a Violet and Lucian a they were there, and Lucian was..." I didn"t know what exactly he was trying to do, but I knew it wasn"t good. "They started chasing us, and Milo fought them in the parking lot, and then we all got in the car and we"d been driving around all night."
"Wait, wait. They chased you?"
"Yeah. I don"t know when they stopped, though. Maybe after Milo fought with them." I looked around, suddenly afraid that they were lurking around in the darkness, but the sky was definitely starting to lighten now, and I couldn"t see anything. "Milo got hurt, though. And lost some blood."
"He didn"t bite you, did he?" Jack sound sick and afraid, and I heard Ezra booming in the background, "What is going on there?" But Jack didn"t answer him. He was too worried to stop talking to me, even for a second.
"No, no. He didn"t." Fresh tears sprung in my eyes, and I tried to erase the image of my brother gnawing on Jane like a wild dog. "He bit Jane, though."
"Oh." He exhaled hesitantly. "Is she... okay?"
"Yeah. They"re both fine. They"re just pa.s.sed out in the car." Roughly, I wiped at my tears with the 133 palms of my hand and wished this didn"t bother me so much. I had spent all this time with vampires and I wanted to be one, so it shouldn"t bother me. Not like this.
"You"re still in the car?" Jack asked dubiously. "It"s almost.... It is after five there. You need to wake Milo up and get him home before the sun comes up. He"ll be too tired to do anything then."
"They won"t wake up!" I cried. Jane stirred a little bit, but she was still out.
"Wake them up! Hit Milo if you have to! You guys need to get home!" Jack sighed. "If there"s people out there after you, you can"t just sit in a car waiting for them to find you. Get Milo up and get home!"
"Okay, okay." Looking at Milo"s sleeping face, his puffy cheeks, and the trailed of red-tinted drool coming out of his mouth, I figured that was probably easier said then done.
"The plane is about to start boarding. I"ll be home as soon as I can. You just get home, and stay put. Mae can take care of everything until I get there," Jack said firmly. "And take Jane home."
"What about all this stuff?" I stammered. "The vampires and... and her being bit."
"She"ll be tired when she wakes up, but fine. And they"re not after her, okay? She"s safer not with you. So just take her home, and you can call her tomorrow and tell her whatever the h.e.l.l you want to tell her. Okay?"
"Okay," I sniffled. I felt like a scared, confused child, and it felt really good having someone tell me what I should do and that everything would be okay. "I"m gonna try and wake up Milo now."
"Alright. Call me or Mae if you need anything. Or even 911. They"re better than nothing." He sounded reluctant to get off the phone. "Alice? Just... take care of yourself, okay? Just run.
Okay? Always run."
"Okay," I nodded.
Sadly, I hung up the phone and went about trying to wake Milo up. I don"t think I"d ever seen him so deeply asleep before, not even when he was little. Carefully, I reached over and started shaking him, but he swatted at me, like Jane did, but with more force because he was stronger.
"Milo?" I said loudly, and Jane moaned next to me. "Milo?"
"Wha..." Milo moved his head but didn"t open his eyes.
"Milo, you"ve got to get up!" I shouted, and with lightening speed, I reached over and slapped his face.
"What?" Milo snapped his head up, glaring at me with startled, bloodshot eyes.
"You have to wake up and take us home! The sun"s gonna start coming up!" The tears on my cheeks were drying, but the more alert he got, the more he was able to register how distressed I was.
"Are you okay?" he asked me gently.
"Yes. We just have to go. And we have to take Jane home first," I commanded.
He looked back at her, watching her breathe for a minute, then turned back to me. His was fully awake now, his eyes bright with their usual Milo-ness, and they weren"t even bloodshot anymore.
He was looking me over, studying me to see how I was responding to him.
134.
"I freaked you out," Milo said evenly, without letting on how that fact made him feel.
"Can we talk about it later? I just want to go home," I asked plaintively, and he nodded.
He sped out of the parking lot, and he raced across town to Jane"s apartment. She had left her car downtown, but we thought it would be better to take her home instead of leaving her in a car to bake in the sun all day. When we got to her place, she was still almost completely pa.s.sed out, but this wasn"t an unusual way for her to come home. Milo got up and helped her to the lobby, skillfully pretending like it was harder carrying around her deadweight than it actually was, and the doorman took her the rest of the way up. Again, this wasn"t the first time he"d done it, so Milo felt secure leaving him with her.
Neither of us said anything the entire car ride home. I just rested my head against the cold gla.s.s, noticing how cloud-covered the sky was as the sun started to rise. I thought about telling Milo about my phone call to Jack, but I didn"t want to talk about anything that happened. I wanted to put everything that happened behind me as quickly as possible.
It wasn"t until we walked inside Jack"s house that I realized what it was that I was desperate for.
The instant Mae saw me, her eyes filled with worried tears, and she rushed towards me, throwing her arms tightly me around. I had never wanted a hug so badly as I did then, and it felt wonderful having her safe, strong arms wrapped around me.
"Oh, love, it"s okay." Mae stroked my hair as my sobbed into her shoulder. "Everything"s going to be okay. You"re safe, love." She turned away from me just enough to address Milo, who had followed me sheepishly into the house. "Are you alright?"
"I"ve been better," Milo replied quietly.
"You"ll be okay, too, love," Mae promised him and reached out to touch him gently.
"I need to go take a shower." He pulled away from her touch and walked off.
"Let me have a look at you." Once he had left the room, Mae held me out at arms length so she could look me over. She slowly turned me around, taking inventory of all my wounds. "We better get you cleaned up before Jack sees this, or he"s going to kill your brother."
"It wasn"t Milo"s fault!" I insisted through my tears.
"No, I know that, love," Mae looked at me warmly and wiped the tears from my face. "You"ll probably feel better when you get cleaned up anyway."
I nodded in agreement, since I was crying too hard to talk. She filled her Jacuzzi tub with lilac bubble bath, and I soaked inside for so long I almost fell asleep. She stayed in with me for awhile, and explained that Ezra had called her and told her everything. He and Jack should be back in a couple hours, but until then, I was perfectly safe and I should take the time recuperate.
When I got out of the tub, I took moment to admire the scratches I had sustained. There were several nasty claw marks on my back and my ankles. On my arm, I had a large purplish bruise forming from when Milo had grabbed my arm, but I couldn"t fault him for that. He had done it to save my life, after all. My whole body ached, though. I had been thrown around a bit, and the adrenaline residue had left me incredibly sore.
I pulled on clean panties and the soft plush robe that Mae had left out for me. I dried my hair until it was damp, and reluctantly, I left the warmth of the bathroom for the cold of the rest of the house. Mae was in the kitchen making me hot soup and tea, which she claimed could cure 135 anything. She eventually confided in me that Milo had made the soup, but he retreated upstairs when he heard me coming out of the bathroom because he was still too embarra.s.sed to see me.
Dutifully, I sat at the kitchen island, slowly eating the soup and drinking the tea. Mae watched me with almost a disturbing level of fascination, but I tried to ignore it. Even though I wasn"t really hungry, I had to admit that the heat of the food warmed me up and relaxed me a bit. The night felt agonizingly long and I was looking forward to just curling up and falling asleep.
Yawning, I stood up to do just that, when Jack burst in through the door. His hair was messy and not in the purposeful way it normal was. He was wearing brown drawstring sweats, a tan tee shirt, and a pin-striped blazer, an outfit that I didn"t entirely understand. But I barely had to time to register the confusion over what he was wearing. Just seeing him, the fear and relief in his soft blue eyes and the wonderful warmth that came off of him, stopped everything else around me. He reached me within seconds, wrapping his arms around me and lifting me off the ground.
"Thank G.o.d you"re okay," he murmured into my damp hair, and I knew that I was only feeling an edge of the panic he had felt. It was mostly relief washing over me anyway, and I had never felt safer.
Almost reluctantly, he set me back on the ground. Holding my face in his hands, he searched my eyes, looking for any signs of trauma, and then looked me over as best as the robe would allow.
He saw the cuts on my legs and the sc.r.a.pe on my knee, and his eyes hardened briefly at that, but then they looked softly back at me.
"Are you okay?" he asked, gently pushing a wet strand of hair from my forehead.
"Yeah," I nodded. "Yeah. I am. I"m just really glad you"re home."
"That d.a.m.n plane couldn"t fly fast enough," Jack smiled tiredly and ran a hand through his hair.
"I thought he was going to overtake the pilot and fly himself," Ezra added, trying to lighten the mood.
When I looked over at him, he smiled at me and I could see the relief in his eyes too. "I"m glad to see you"re alright, Alice."
"Thank you," I replied meekly.
"I should go check on Milo, though. Where is he?" Ezra looked to Mae for help, and she nodded upstairs.
"He"s been in his room since they got home." She exchanged a look with Ezra, letting him know that Milo hadn"t taken the night so well either.
Jack, meanwhile, didn"t take his eyes off me. It was as if he expected me to disappear if he did. I tried to meet his eyes, but I could only blush and lowered my gaze. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ezra walk out of the room, and Mae busied herself with cleaning up the dishes so she wasn"t just staring at us.
"Why are you wearing sweatpants with a blazer?" I asked when it seemed that Jack would just go on staring at me forever. I touched the pocket of his blazer, and he laughed softly.
"Um, we were sleeping when you texted me," Jack answered with a cautious grin. "We had early meetings today, and then I got your text message. We were calling and canceling things and rearranging flights, and I just never changed out the pajamas. And I put on the blazer because it was cold and raining there and it was something to put on. It"s my business suit. Do you like it?"
136.
"Yeah." I rubbed one of his platinum b.u.t.tons, and there was something very dashing about it. "I was wondering what you wore to work."
"This is it. Well, with matching pants." His eyes were lightening, and he was starting to settle into the fact that I really was okay. "You look tired."
"So do you," I countered. It was after eight in the morning, and that wasn"t the right time for either of us to be up.
"Wanna go to bed?" He took my hand in his, preparing to lead me out of the kitchen.
"Jack," Mae admonished him. She was standing at the kitchen sink, and she turned give him a hard look.
"If you think that I"m letting her out of my sight, then you"re crazy," Jack retorted evenly.
"It"s her funeral, you know?" Mae pointed at me while she glared at him, but she wasn"t going to stop us.
"Thanks for the heads up," he muttered dryly.
Still holding my hand, he led me upstairs. He walked very slowly and kept looking back at me, to make sure I was still there. I was a little surprised he didn"t try to carry me, but he probably thought that I"d protest, and it didn"t really seem worth it. When we reached his room, he turned on the light and shut the door behind us. Letting go of my hand for the first time, he slipped off his blazer and tossed it aside, then turned to look at me.
"I, um, I don"t have any pajamas," I explained awkwardly.
All I was wearing was the soft robe and a pair of cotton panties, because after the bath, that was all that had sounded comfortable against my skin. With Jack standing in front of me, I could think of a few other things that felt good, but I didn"t suggest them.
"That"s okay," he smiled, but it wasn"t one of his naughty, mischievous smiles. He was still just so grateful that I was here with him, and not dead somewhere else.
He stepped towards me, and very slowly, he untied the belt of my robe. He looked up at me to make sure it was okay, and part of me wanted to stop him. Not because I didn"t want him to do it, but because I was about to be exposed completely and the lights were still on. My skin flushed red, and that only made him smile wider. He slipped hands inside the open robe, resting them gently on my sides just above my hips, and I felt how unnaturally warm his hands felt against my trembling skin.
Gingerly, he lifted me up and placed me on his bed. I laid on my back, and while I was still wearing the robe, it had fallen open, so my entire body lay open and naked before him. I swallowed hard, praying I didn"t look as terrible as I imagined I did, as he looked me over. His fingers softly touched one of my scratches, and his expression was momentarily angry, but he shook it off.
He lowered his head and kissed the soft spot between my b.r.e.a.s.t.s, then turned and rested his ear on my chest, above my heart. His skin was pressed against mine and I could feel his hand gently holding my sides as he listened to my heartbeat. It was the way people listened to a pregnant woman"s belly to hear the baby. There was something strangely sweet and intimate about that, and I ran my fingers through his hair.
137.
When he lifted his head again, he looked me directly in my eyes, his blue eyes going translucent.
He pushed the hair back from my forehead, and his skin was already burning against me.
"Do you have any idea how beautiful your heartbeat sounds?" Jack asked me quietly, and I shook my head. "You have no idea how beautiful and amazing any part of you is." There was an oddly conflicted expression on his face, but he dismissed it quickly.
Finally, he bent down and pressed his lips against mine. He was still fully clothed, but I could feel the heat of his body smoldering through his shirt and the weight of his body pressing tentatively against mine. Instinctively, my body pushed against his, and I tightened my fingers in his hair, pushing his lips harder to mine.