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booksabakingIsha walked on shaking legs, Rahul's hidden hands on her shoulders. Rapid puffs of air stirred the hairs on the back of her neck in a panicked beat. Her breathing wasn't any steadier, even though he'd made the dash back and forth to the lab on his own before joining her. She only had nerves to blame.
She pricked her left thumb, her right already wrapped with a plaster. A pearl of blood formed on her skin. She drew it across her wrist, a thin trail of sticky discomfort. Giving her thumb a squeeze, she encouraged it to continue leaking, needing more to paint her throat with.
That should be enough. It supposedly wasn't the amount of blood that mattered when you dealt with vampires, just the scent of it in the right places.
Trial by fire for which of Woxell's teachings were lies and which weren't.
Behind her, at the foot of the basement stairs, Jayla and Vivian were shoving their faces full of donuts. Isha couldn't look at them while they ate. She knew she'd break down laughing despite the hair-raising dialog spilling out from the corridor on the left. Vivian muttering about empty calories wasn't helping.
"The cult leader is on her own," Rahul reminded her, or psyched himself up, voice barely above a whisper. "She's got the shapeshifter and the pack vampire in capture circles on the left side of the door, up against the wall. She broke the door when she heard me, so the way in is free-ish. Do you want me to-"
Isha shook her head in a curt no. His hands got warmer and heavier on her shoulders, fading in from the ghostly brushes they should be while under full magical protection. They needed the element of surprise and that meant moving now.
"-so talk!" the cult leader's screams echoed down the hall. Isha's pulse hammering in her ears kept her from knowing if the shapeshifter or pack vampire said anything in reply. She put a hand on Rahul's and squeezed, praying he'd be able to fulfill his part of their less than solid plan.
"It can't have gone far!" came as Isha took a tentative step forward. Rahul's hands stayed on her shoulders, kept the snake illusion circling the both of them. Down the hall to the left, the cult leader's voice said, "You give it to me and you get to live."
Now or never. Isha set a brisk pace, knives out.
"I've never killed any of my children but you're trying my patience." The voice had a tremble to it. Isha prayed the source of that strain was the blood decorating her wrists and throat. "Don't you dare ignore me!"
Isha spared a glance at the open door on her right; the pack vampire's room. Empty, as Rahul had said. She took a steadying breath before entering the hallway on her left.
"He'll pass out if you keep choking him." The shapeshifter, far quieter than the cult leader. His words struggled to form, as if he were recovering from a long time of illness, or had survived strangulation. "If you don't let go soon, you'll kill him. That would be stupid if you want to get out of here alive."
The new hallway had two doors, opposite one another; the choice between them made easy by one of them hanging from broken hinges.
"I won't take false advice from you, little viper."
Isha gave Rahul's hand a final tap and left the serpent's embrace. As she stepped through the door the cult leader dove to the side, jaws open horrifically wide, fangs nightmarishly long.
Rather than being the cause of it, the scream of pain Isha braced for tore from the cult leader's mouth.
Isha faltered, heart in her throat, brain trying to process the scene before her. The pack vampire's fangs were buried in the cult leader's hand, his eyes gone distant and focused all at once. They held the black kind of rage Isha had seen in hunters who'd lost someone in the field and were aiming for revenge. The crunch of breaking bone set her stomach churning.
The cult leader shrieked and clawed at the pack vampire's face. She had nails to rival knives that shredding nose and cheeks and lips. The pack vampire unclenched his bloodied jaw to scream in his turn, letting the cult leader pull free.
One arm hanging useless and baring more teeth than should be possible in a human mouth, the cult leader turned to face the doorway. Isha tightened her grip on her knives.
"You! You're the one spreading the sweet smell of fresh blood! I'll drink you dry for interfering, little hunter."
Isha bit back a sigh of relief and darted into the room.
The cult leader hissed at her like a giant snake, but backed off into the center of the room as Vivian and Jayla burst in, close on Isha's heels. Their running steps should cover for Rahul's.
Jayla slammed the door shut behind her, as planned, while Vivian darted past Isha to the opposite end of the room, dodging an experimental swipe from the cult leader. Isha did her best to clear her mind and be in the moment. She had to trust that Rahul could make his way around them whatever else happened. Being too careful with where she stepped would only risk revealing his presence to the enemy.
"Three against one," the cult leader said, spreading her arms to gesture at all of them. It would have looked casual if her left hand hadn't been hanging from its wrist by tendons and scraps of skin. "That's hardly fair, is it?"
Isha inched forward along the counter tops that lined the wall. She didn't dare look away from the cult leader long enough to figure out what the bits and bobs strewn about the lab were or did. Best avoid touching anything that wasn't the floor or her own weapons.
Waiting for a plan to come together had always been the worst part for her, even back when she'd been relegated to the sidelines. It gave far too much time for thought. For example: How the hell had an unwelcome vampire passed through the mansion's wards undetected? Was one of the pack a traitor? Did the cult leader have back-up?
"Not so talkative today?" The cult leader ducked her head, searching, and Isha quickly closed her eyes.
This only made the soft, meaty noises of the vampire's hand repairing itself louder. Glamour took effort. Healing took effort. But assuming one would fully cancel out the other was foolish. The safest option was to simply not look her in the eye.
Fighting a vampire blind. Not ideal, but better than fighting one brainwashed.
"Jesse! Are you okay?"
"Art, can you hear me?"
Isha cracked one eye open and dared a glance at the capture circles. The shapeshifter gave a weak thumbs up, curled in on himself in the middle of his invisible cage, blood dried on his throat. The pack vampire staggered to his feet, letting his hands fall away from his healing face. The capture circle's barrier hissed as he threw himself against it. The scent of burning skin wafted out over the room in nauseating waves.
"The fuck did you do to him?" Vivian's teeth turned alarmingly sharp as she advanced on the cult leader. Too close. Isha sent her a look, hoping that would be enough to remind her of the plan.
"He's thirsty. Like me." The cult leader grinned and licked her lips with a corpse-dark tongue. Isha carefully didn't let her eyes wander higher than that. "I didn't have time to stop for breakfast on my way here."
"Hey, creep!" the shapeshifter called, more a loud whisper than a shout. "I've got plenty of blood over here if you need it."
Good. Splitting attention was good.
The pack vampire snarled. Vivian began shouting threats in a language Isha guessed to be Mandarin - she couldn't understand the words but the intent behind them came through loud and clear - and Jayla looked caught between staying by the door and going to work on the capture circles. Isha held her breath and very deliberately didn't look at the floor.
The cult leader began to edge toward Jayla. Isha braced herself and struck.
"Oh. How daring of you."
Brief numbness seeped into pain. Isha gritted her teeth and cradled her right hand close to her chest, her brain playing catch-up with her nerves. The cult leader clearly had less speed and strength than she'd mustered the night before. Good thing, since she still needed that hand.
"She's got some nerve, trying to stab me. Why are you two dogs cowering in your corners while this little human spoils for a fight? Want me to get distracted ripping her apart while you sneak up on me?"
Impressively coherent still. However much of her own blood the cult leader had used to make the capture circles, not to mention the blood loss her torn up arm must have led to, it hadn't tipped her over into going feral. Looking into her eyes would thus likely be a death sentences. On the bright side, rational thinking allowed for caution, which lessened the likelihood of her going berserk and tearing them to ribbons. She had to know they were planning something.
Isha unclenched her hand from around her arm. No major bleeding, just the sting of five paper-cut thin wounds, left like a warning shot. The cult leader hadn't tried to duck down and catch anyone's eyes either. They were being toyed with.
Hopefully they were playing different games.
"Who wants to confess where the wand disappeared to?" The cult leader gestured at a table in the middle of the room, conspicuously empty next to the other tables and shelves, overflowing with trinkets and gadgets. "You, runt? No, I don't think you've seen more than one moon, if that. You know nothing. The hunter won't have been given that secret either this early in an alliance. Which leaves you."
Vivian bared her teeth, the expression caught between grin and grimace. "Don't look at me, lady. I don't understand half the stuff that goes on in this room on a normal day. Whatever you did to make the wand leave, I can't help you with it."
"So you're saying you're all useless to me? Well, you mutts more so than the human. At least I can eat her."
"Did you take villain monologue tips from a top ten grimdarkest video games list?" Jayla shifted her weight from foot to foot, making ready to sprint.
The cult leader drifted a step or two closer to her, closer to the center of the room.
"You look like something my cat dragged out from under the sink. You sure you want to risk hand-to-hand when we have you outnumbered?"
"Don't flatter yourself, pup. I could take the three of you with a broken spine. Don't think I haven't noticed you're too shy to meet my gaze. Couldn't charm glamour protection off the shifter? Or is that witch of yours only interested in helping the bitch she's fucking?"
"Classy as hell and about as original. What's next? You gonna threaten to cut our hearts out with a spoon?"
Jayla pushed off the door and took up position with equal distance from it and the cult leader. Isha bit back a protest. She had told them they'd likely need to improvise. Jayla was just following the plan. By taking risks. Worrying for her is foolish. She's a werewolf, she can heal far better than you. You should let her take the heat. Sadly, something being the best option and feeling like the best option were two very different things.
To distract herself, Isha made another prick in her thumb.
"I have far better control of myself than you give me credit for." The cult leader chuckled and leaned against the empty table where the wand apparently should have been. "You can stop with the self-mutilation, little hunter. I'll take my lunch break in my own time."
Despite her words, Isha caught the brush of glamour against her skin. The kind that called for attention. She bit the inside of her cheek and forced herself not to look up. Unfortunately she bit hard enough to taste blood and that drew even more of the cult leader's focus. One of Isha's legs took a step closer to the monster of its own accord.
"Have you been studying to be this evil or were you born an asshole?"
Jayla. Far too close to the cult leader. Defending her. Isha's heart picked up speed, for both the right and wrong reasons.
"At least you're an amusing waste of space, dog. Tell me, did you enjoy our last encounter? Wouldn't it be easier if you let go and allowed me to take the lead? Things would be much simpler." The cult leader crept ever closer to Jayla.
"Wow, does asking that actually work? Like, on anyone?"
Isha gritted her teeth. Something was wrong. "Jayla, she's not-"
The cult leader twisted around quick as a cornered snake. Isha jumped back, but fingers with skin-cutting nails wrapped around her leg and pulled. The wind got knocked out of her as she hit the floor. Gasping like a stranded fish it took her far too many moments to realize where she'd ended up.
"Thought it'd be that simple, did you?"
Nails pricked the skin under her chin. Fingers rested against her throat, a hair's breadth from choking her. An arm clamped around her waist with force enough to make her ribs creak.
At least she had her back to the monster. Literally.
"Did you think I forgot to get a head count before revealing myself? I got a good look at your filthy pack last night and heard who left this morning. We are currently short one witch."
The fingers around her throat tightened. The edges of her vision began to dim, dark spots dancing in front of her eyes.
"I've got your sister, little tealeaf poker. Come out, come out, wherever you-"
"Rahul, plan B!"
The stabbing burn as the fox and snake broke free from her skin had Isha choking back bile. The cult leader's shriek of pain echoed as if from far away, even though it had come from right next to her ear. Isha stumbled forward, vision gone, throat burning.
She fell. Her knives went flying. Something had her ankle again, though she was too numb to tell if she was being held or attacked. She began to crawl, vision returning to reveal a line of fresh blood in front of her. If she could see it, then-
"Get back here, you filthy little mongoose!"
What a strange insult, brushed through Isha's mind as she was dragged backward across the floor. Her whole body had lost sensation, her mind as sluggish as her movements. She tried to pull herself forward, ended up army crawling in place.
"Move one inch and I'll stamp out your sister's heart." Seeing as she didn't have a sister it took Isha a second to process the threat. She kept up her struggle, fixated on the blurry line of red she needed to cross.
Vibrations hit her from two directions. Growls building. People where shouting. She thought she heard Rahul's voice somewhere in there, but she couldn't make out words, only panic. She needed to get free or he'd go off-script. She needed to keep going. If she got lucky, her foot would come off and she could get out of the circle.
Failing that, she should try and close it the hard way. The cult leader couldn't use a corpse as hostage.
"Oh no, you don't!" Another pull at her leg and she was hanging upside down, staring at the cult leader's ripped and mud-stained jeans. Blood rushing to her head, Isha did her best to look up at the creature holding her, to meet her gaze. She'd make a useless thrall now but an excellent distraction for their side.
"I'll drink you dry if your ridiculous pack as much as breathe on me. If they behave, I might leave you alive once I'm free of this place."
Isha's hearing began to fade, along with her vision. Before her sight went, she caught the cult leader smiling at the others. No bite on the glamour opportunity then. Not great, but that let Isha focus the energy she had left on trying to get at her extra knives.
Few things feel as satisfying as stabbing an evil cult leader in the leg.
Unfortunately, this triumph was followed by a horrific cracking noise and a bolt of pain from her own leg, as if in sympathy with the weapon she'd left in the thigh before her.
"You filth! I'll eat your heart straight out of your chest!"
Isha had a vague impression of the cult leader's wrathful expression as it bore down on her, the vampire's body bent at an inhuman angle to put them face to face with her still upside down. "I'll kill you slowly and enjoy every second of it!"
A glass jug full of water crashed against the cult leader's head. As the creature bellowed in pain and rage, someone tackled Isha. They hit the ground together, forcing the air out of Isha's lungs once more. The room began to grow colder. The voices kept on screaming.
Isha passed out to the sound of enraged shrieks and Vivian shouting, "Close it! Rahul, close it!"
Jayla's teeth shrunk back to their normal size at uneven pace. It set her jaw at an odd angle for a moment, likely giving her a goofy expression. What a silly thing to focus on. A surprisingly coherent thought among the panic and adrenaline.
"I'll rip your lungs out through your nostrils! I’ll tear out your toe nails and feed them to you! I'll-"
"I can help! Get me out of this circle, I can help!"
The shouting dimmed to only mildly deafening as her hearing adjusted back to what now passed for normal. Had her ears been fuzzy?
"Jayla, is it okay if I get closer?"
Vivian. How long had she been kneeling there? What was-
Jayla immediately regretted looking down.
"Oh no!" slipped out of her mouth before she could stop it and then kept on coming. "No, no, no, someone help her!"
The weight of an ever colder body in her arms began to register as she took in the sight of Isha; eyes closed, lips blue, the stench of blood and burnt flesh reeking from her. They were braced against a wall, its steady support the only thing keeping Jayla from toppling over. She'd been pressing herself so hard against it that she'd have bruises in the morning. Well, would have had, if she hadn't been a werewolf.
She'd heal quick. Unlike Isha.
"Hey, it'll be all right." Vivian put a hand on top of Jayla's, which had a white-knuckled grip on Isha's shirt. "We've got an expert in first aid here. Can you stand up?"
"S-should we move her?" Jayla couldn't make herself look at Isha's leg. She vaguely recalled that you shouldn't move injured people before the ambulance arrived. Did that matter if you weren't calling 911? Were they not calling 911?
"Don't you dare ignore me!"
"Watch us." Jesse sounded far livelier and closer than the last time she'd heard him speak. "Better not let Arturo out yet, he doesn't look himself. And don't worry about your sister, I've got her. We're good."
A gentle hand on her cheek managed to pull Jayla's attention away from the color draining out of Isha's face.
"Let's stand up on three, okay?" Vivian's soft smile reached her eyes, which was the only thing that got Jayla up off the floor.
"You don't have to let go of her, we just need to get her to another room. Wouldn't want her to wake up in here with that scarecrow wailing and frothing at the mouth."
Jayla wanted to reply 'good plan' but only managed a nod. Her vision blacked out the second she stood up, then gradually returned in fuzzy bits and pieces.
"We'll go to Lisa's bedroom, it's across the hall. You still with me?"
"I think I'm going to be sick." As heroic one-liners went, not her best. The voices around her blurred together bit by bit, forming a cloud of noise that washed over her as she took step after stumbling step toward the door.
"You're doing great. Beyond great, you're doing amazing! Just put one foot in front of the other."
"I'll tear you limb from limb! I'll rip out your throats while you sleep and feast on your tongues!"
"Don't worry, he'll be far better off in there than out here. We'll need more people to help calm him down safely."
"Yeah, he'll never forgive us if he ends up hurting anyone. Ah, here we are!"
"When my children get free, they'll burn your den to the ground and salt the earth around it! Even if you kill me, they'll find my first child and show him the true path of vampires, and he'll lead their revenge against you!"
The door slammed shut behind them, cutting off Evil Stepaunt's angry ramblings.
"Much better. Jayla, there's a bed in front of you. Can you let me take Isha and lay down on it?"
Jayla's arms didn't want to uncurl from around Isha, but she made them, wordlessly allowing Vivian to take the dead weight from her. She didn't want to think about the pool of blood Isha had lost. Didn't want to remember the sickening crack as Evil Stepaunt broke her ankle or the smell of burning flesh from the ghostly fox and snake bursting out of her skin to attack the vampire. That was about as easy as lying down on the bed without face-planting.
"I think I'll need help," she said to whoever would listen, feeling small and scared and foolish.
"There you go." Jesse, hands the warmest they'd ever been, steadied her as she collapsed onto soft cotton. "You good?"
Jayla attempted a nod. "Aren't you going to take care of Isha?"
Jesse's overheated hand brushed against her temple. "I am. I definitely am. But Vivian needs to clean the wound first and you just saw something utterly fucking awful happen, so you need taking care of too. Are you cold?"
Her teeth began to chatter as if on cue. She wasn't actually freezing but she couldn’t stop herself from shaking.
"Gonna get you a blanket." The pat he gave her shoulder barely registered. "Vivian, how's it going with the wound?"
"I've done as much as I can handle," Vivian said through gritted teeth. "The smell's getting to me and I'll be no help if I grow claws. Can you do the rest on your own?"
"Yes, no worries." Soft warmth landed on Jayla along with gentle pressure. Her body did its best to both stop shaking and up the ante on the adrenaline. "Take Rahul to the kitchen with you - he looks like he could use a stiff drink."
"I don't drink."
"Then I'll get you a soda." Vivian's voice had moved farther away. A door creaked open. "I'll down a gallon of milk and make myself a sandwich, then get back down here. Call if you need help before that."
"Will do."
The door creaked but didn't click shut. Rahul's voice, quiet but stern: "Are you sure it's a good idea to leave my sister in bed with a traumatized werewolf?"
Jayla found herself scowling. The weight of Jesse next to her on the bed and the shallow breaths and slow heartbeat of Isha kept her from trying to get up. That, and the fact that her limbs had been remade out of led, as had her eyelids.
"She's no threat to your sister," Vivian said with what Jayla interpreted (maybe wishfully) as affection and amusement. "Anyone threatening your sister, on the other hand…"
"Hangry werewolves aren't a problem if there's no full moon and the werewolf really likes you." Jesse's weight shifted on the bed, making it creak to compete with the door. The pack should consider a trip to IKEA - or whatever expensive furniture store you shopped at if you could afford a mansion. "Everyone in here are safe as houses. Go get your soda, I'll heal up your sister."
"What does he mean by that?"
Jayla would have liked to echo that question, but despite no urge to bite either Isha or Jesse while her stomach growled in hunger, poking at that fact felt like playing with fire. Better to just accept it for now.
A comforting hand landed on her shoulder. "You're going to smell blood in a sec," Jesse said, calm as you please. "Don't worry about it and don't open your eyes. No one should have to see more wounds today if they're not actively helping to fix them."
What. "What?"
"Is he serious?" Rahul, shuffling back into the room, steps unsteady "When he said he could help, I assumed he had a talisman for healing, n-not this."
The coppery scent of blood, already settled in a rich cover over the room, got stronger and a tad sweeter.
"Are you doing what I think you're doing?"
"Yes, I'm afraid I am." Jesse's voice came from overhead, as if he'd knelt down when first speaking and now stood hovering above her. "Don't worry, we'll both be fine. The bonus of shapeshifter blood isn't only that I'm a universal donor, I can also make neat skin grafts and organ repairs without risk of the body rejecting the new tissue. It'll keep things nice and whole until Isha's leg recovers on its own. Which, if she eats and drinks enough, should be in about an hour or two."
"Wow. That's crazy useful." Awe-inspiring rather but Jayla couldn't summon the energy for that level of emotion.
"And another reason scum try to kidnap people like Jesse," Vivian said. "Not to rush you, 'cause you clearly know what you’re doing, but I think Isha's waking up."
"Weren't you going to get food and stay away from blood?"
"Urgh, yes, fair point. Rahul, please drag me out of here before I do something stupid."
It took the door closing for Jayla to realize she'd been growling. The muscles in her shoulders, tense as piano wires, relaxed as if they'd been cut. Her stomach kept signaling for food but her brain's demands for rest rang louder. Her mind was wrapped in cotton.
A soft, brotherly kiss brushed against Jayla's hairline. "You can relax now, hero. Try and sleep for a bit."
She didn't mean to, but she did end up doing exactly that.
She started awake when the front door slammed open and panicked shouts of "Where are you?" and "Who's hurt?" carried downstairs for her keen werewolf hearing to pick up.
"Could you turn down the volume on that?" she mumbled into the pillow she'd buried her face in. She groped for a radio she knew she wouldn't find but her reflexes insisted she search for.
"Glad to have you back with us."
Jayla sensed a warm body on her left and an even warmer but farther away one on her right, so she picked right. Jesse sat in a chair next to the bed. He had dark circles under his eyes that weren't only from his eyeliner running wild. He looked beat, in an exhausted kind of way not a violent one - shapeshifters definitely healed fast - but there was something missing.
It took her a second to realize the missing thing was tension. It had come across loud and clear early on that Jesse was good at faking a relaxed pose, but this one looked genuine; like he'd finally allowed himself to feel as tired as he really was.
"Are you-"
Jesse nodded. "I'm okay. Everyone is okay. Vivian has gone to greet the incoming cavalry. How are you?"
"No one broke my foot or cut my throat today."
"That's not what I'm asking."
Jayla let herself sink a little deeper into the bed - an impressive feat since she'd almost embedded herself in it already. Lisa had a ridiculously soft bed.
"I actually think I'm okay."
Kinda okay, at least. She felt floaty, as if she was still half-asleep. She managed to free her face from its pillow-y hiding place and turn to fully look at Jesse. Smiling at him turned out to be easier than it probably should have been after the day they'd had. Everything had an odd but welcome softness to it.
"You know what?" she said, lips slow to form the words. "This could be the long adrenaline-crash talking but I feel perfectly fine." She frowned, pushing against the cobwebs trying to draw her back down to sleep. "I'm not going to pretend the bad parts of this haven't been extremely bad. I've seen more blood this week than in my whole life. Probably. Don't quote me on any exact numbers here."
"I'd be a terrible friend if I forced you to do math outside of rolling dice."
Jayla chuckled. "Very reassuring."
She'd started to regain full sensation down to her shoulders and her neck turned out to be hurting. Definitely a too soft bed.
"What I'm trying to get to is: it's been a long time since I had someone looking out for me outside of my family. My last 'friend group' wouldn't even back me up when the staff at Walmart accused me of shoplifting. That's waaaay lower stakes than a hostage situation. I mean, did you see Isha today?" As awful as watching her ankle get broken had been it didn't negate how much of a damn hero she'd been. "Or Vivian? Or how everyone last night trusted me and Arturo to get to you while they did some seriously dangerous distracting?"
Her eyes had gotten suspiciously wet, but so had Jesse's, and they were both smiling. "Getting to help stop serial killer cultists? That's pretty damn awesome."
"I can't but agree."
"I'm still up for leaving though," she said. Whining about other people letting her down and then immediately doing exactly that to someone else would be the height of shittiness. Even if Vivian had promised things were cool between the pack and Jesse it was only decent to double-check. "If they kick you out, I'm going too, don't you worry."
"Then I bring you good tidings." Jesse sagged further down in his chair, practically melting into it. "The vampire and I have officially kissed and made up, minus the kissing. He's agreed to me staying as long as I'm not a danger to anyone which I'm very much planning not to be."
"Can we get his seal of approval in writing? I feel that could be helpful to have documented." Jayla struggled up on her elbows, still careful not to look at the person on her left. That's when she noticed she had her fingers curled around said other person's hand.
Face burning with embarrassment Jayla pulled her hand away from Isha's. She couldn't help looking now. Relief punched her in the gut when Isha turned out to be deep asleep and very not dead. Her legs looked to have been elevated with a pillow, though it was hard to tell for sure with the covers in the way. Her face had lost its recent deathly paleness.
"We thought about moving you," Jesse said, sounding both sorry and a little amused, "in case you got the munchies in your sleep, but you wouldn't let go of her."
Jayla gagged. "Never use the word 'munchies' when you're implying cannibalism ever again."
"Duly noted."
The squeak of him shifting in his chair reminded Jayla that she probably shouldn't stare at Isha too long. He might get the wrong idea of what she was thinking. Or the right one.
All floating sensations had been well and truly banished. Her face burned. Small mercy no one but her would know. Unless shapeshifters had the ability to sense heat.
"Hey." Suddenly Jesse was very close, next to the bed, kneeling. "That was a tasteless joke, you're not about to eat anyone. Are you sure you're okay? I hate to nag, but I'm pretty shaken up myself and I'm as used to this shit as anyone can get."
Jayla pulled him into a hug. The burning in her cheeks relocated back to her eyes, leaving her blinking back more tears. "I'm definitely going to need a lot of hugs and chill hangout evenings. You up for that?"
He squeezed her tight, the hug a little awkward with him on the floor and her on the bed. "Absolutely. I wasn't kidding when I said I stuck around you because I like you. Always a bonus when my evil machinations net me a cool friend."
The combination of his playful tone and his shoulders sagging in apparent relief had Jayla chuckle along with him rather than needle him about self-deprecation.
Her stomach took that opportunity to growl worse than she ever had managed as a wolf.
"Am I really safe to be around right now? Should I lock myself in the bathroom?"
Jesse snickered and pulled back; a gentle untangling of limbs, not a fearful bolt away. "I was only teasing. There's no full moon, no blood, no life-threatening danger, and you're among friends. You'll be fine. But I'll get you some food because you sure as hell deserve some. Any cravings?"
Jayla took the question seriously. Who knew what a werewolf body could be signaling through cravings? No point giving yourself brain damage simply to avoid coming off as picky. "Uhm, something with lots of salt, I think?"
"Salt it is." Jesse leaned forward and bumped their foreheads in gentle, cat-like affection. This almost tore a giggle out of her since he followed it with, "Melissa is keeping your cat company, by the way. We'll let him back in here as soon as you're fully recovered. Cats are good at stressing out when their humans are upset and him yelling and climbing all over you might bother your bed companion. We gave her plenty of painkillers but they don't dull your hearing."
Jayla watched Jesse go to keep from staring at Isha. Waking up to someone staring at you wasn't a pleasant experience. Having that someone be a werewolf had to count as extra bad, especially if you'd been bleeding a lot before you passed out. Doubly so if you'd been raised to be hunters. Had they removed Isha’s knives before they put her to bed?
"Is he gone?"
Electricity bolted through Jayla's limbs and set her heart racing. At least she managed to hide her surprised yelp with a, "Y-yeah."
She still didn't look at Isha. Not yet. It felt wrong somehow, too intimate. As if being in bed together isn't intimate enough. "How are you doing?"
"I seem to have all my limbs which is more than I expected when I blacked out." There was a soft shifting of covers. "Thank you. You keep proving my first impression of you right."
"Which was?"
An awkward beat of silence followed, then, "Rather, my second impression." Isha cleared her throat, twice. "Could you please pretend you didn't hear that? Any of that. Did they give me something? I feel…not myself."
Her words slipped out uneven and mumbled.
"Painkillers and shapeshifter blood. I don't know what kind of meds or what the blood does though, other than fixes you up. I can go ask if you want?" Jayla said to the sheets, caught between wanting to hide and wanting to laugh. "Sorry, I've been out of it too. This week has been a lot. Not feeling loopy though so I've no excuses for whatever comes out of my mouth. Which is business as usual, really."
A chuckle escaped Isha, which twisted into a gasp. "My brother!"
"Is fine." The words came automatic before Jayla could think them through, wanting to sooth Isha's gut-wrenching panic. Jesse had said everyone was fine but it'd be fairer to Isha to actually check.
Jayla took a second to listen to the sounds of the mansion, her whole body relaxing inch by inch as her hearing-based headcount came back with the correct number of voices; worried ones over all, yes, but that was miles better than silence.
Jayla let her gaze drift around the room and found a wall clock by the door she guessed led to a bathroom. Every bedroom seemed to have an adjacent bathroom. Like living in a hotel. Focus on the clock. Her sense of time had always been a mess. A clock telling her she'd only lost an hour of the day helped ground her.
"How bad was it?"
"How does it feel now?" Jayla hadn't meant to dodge the question, but the second she let her attention stray toward that, the memory of Isha's foot - bent at an angle no foot should be at, white bone poking through her skin for a breath of fresh air - got very vivid.
The bed sheet rustled as Isha shifted. Jayla kept her eyes on the wall clock.
"It feels and looks way better than I thought it would. Guess vampires aren't as powerful as I'd been told?"
"Eh, let's just say shapeshifter blood is super handy and I learned today that I made the right decision to not become a nurse."
"That bad, huh?"
"I managed to carry you here without vomiting and I'm proud of that."
Isha chuckled, this time without any interruptions for horrified gasps. "Very considerate of you. I am ever so grateful."
The clock ticked away another minute.
"I'm not used to waking up in bed with…" Isha trailed off to a thoughtful pause, like someone fighting to remember what they'd done last night after one drink too many. "I can't really call us strangers, can I? Also, I am not aware of how often you've woken up next to a stranger in bed, and I don't want to insult or make you uncom-, unfom-, uncomfortable. Also, also, I feel floaty. Am I supposed to feel floaty?"
A giggle escape Jayla. The house had a tense air to it still, but it was the kind of wind-down tension you got during cleanup after a big storm, not the anticipatory tension of waiting for a tree to blow down on your house. She considered getting up to let the others know they were both awake, but with the number of werewolves in the house and Jesse on the move, them being up and about was probably no secret. Well, up and chatting. Stilted, awkward chatting.
"I'll admit to also not being super used to waking up next to someone I'm not dating." It had only been that one time and the hangover had really ruined the afterglow. That, and finding out the jackass had a girlfriend but not an open relationship.
Better get that line of though derailed a-sap. "Are you hungry?"
"No, too nauseous." You could have driven a truck through the pause that followed. "...you?"
"I'll be fine until Jesse gets back."
"I'm not worried you'll eat me, you idiot. Sorry. I mean. Are you recovered?"
"Recovered?"
"You pulled me away from an enraged vampire who's likely had decades to grow her power. We should both be ribbons of gore." Isha gave something between a laugh and a sob. "If anything I know about vampires is true. Which is a foolish thing to say, I know, because clearly some of it's inaccurate and... I'm trying to avoid talking about how hot I think you are."
Jayla's eyes did a quick jump from the wall clock to Isha's now blushing face in time to catch her lips move to form a soft: "Fuck."
It was impossible not to grin. "You think I'm hot?"
"Please, please shut me up. I will not haunt you if you smother me to death with a pillow. Save what dignity I have left. It will be a mercy killing. My brother will understand."
Mutually assured embarrassment was clearly the only way forward. "If it's any consolation, I think you're hot too."
A lot of rapid blinking and a sudden yet hesitant inhale followed. "Are you saying that to make me feel better? Because that's incredibly kind of you, but please don't lie to me."
"Have you seen yourself? Do hunters have a rule against mirrors or something?"
"What in the world could be hot about me?" Based on words alone a blatant fishing for compliments, but Isha honestly sounded utterly baffled and confused.
Adorable, surreal and a little tragic.
"Are you laughing at me?"
"Nope! Never." Jayla did her best to bite back a second giggle without being too obvious about it. She definitely didn't want to stray into 'you're beautiful because you don't know you're beautiful'-territory, because yuck. "I'm just amazed by your humility."
"No, that's..." Isha closed her eyes and brought a hand up to rub at them, as if she could force herself to think straight by putting enough pressure on her skull. "You're easily the kindest and bravest person I've ever met. I know that's not much coming from me, but you must see how superior you are to me."
Superior? Really? "Wow. Are you, Miss Self-Sacrifice, honestly trying to tell me I'm out of your league because I'm nice?" Of all the reasons. "They must have given you the good stuff."
A burst of laughter tore from Isha that had the edge of hysteria you got from extreme emotions and lowered inhibitions. Which reminded Jayla she was talking to a person likely riding a very confusing high. Not the greatest setup for flirting.
"Hey," and wasn't that the comeback line of the year, ho-darn-rrah. "After you've gotten your legs back under you and you're no longer high as a kite on painkillers, would you mind if I asked you on a date?"
"I've never been on a date."
Jayla put on her brightest of smiles. "Is that a yes?"
"Yes?"
"I'm going to ignore how much that sounded like a question and ask you out. Tomorrow."
"As in, the date will be tomorrow?"
"No silly, I'll ask tomorrow. I prefer people to remember my dating proposals."
"I think my hearing is wonky. Did you just say you're going to propose to me? Is marrying on the first date a werewolf thing?"
"What? No!" Though with how fuzzy her head felt at this point she might as well have slipped up and proposed. "I mean, I actually don't have a clue what's a werewolf thing or not, but I'm suggesting coffee and maybe catching a movie."
Isha looked her in the eye at last. Barely. She had that rapid blinking maneuver going that little kids started up when you told them to go to bed. The one where the kids swore they weren't tired while slowly but surely passing out.
"That," Isha managed to mumble as her eyelids slid shut, "that sounds really nice actually. I'd like that."
Jayla watched her drift off. Staring at hot people when they sleep can't become a habit. Werewolves had a bad enough reputation without her adding fuel to the fire. But it couldn't hurt to look a little.
She gave herself to the count of ten, then turned her attention to the door to the hallway.
"How long were you standing out there eavesdropping?"
Jesse shouldered the door open without making it creak, brandishing a peace offering in the form of a bag with a pleasantly familiar logo. "I heard nothing you didn't want me to hear. Chips?"
"Ooooh, gimme!"
Questions could be asked after she'd gotten herself a full stomach.
Everything stank of dried and drying blood; his clothes, the floor, the walls. It reeked and he wanted to tear the lot of it to shreds. His mouth tasted of copper and death and he couldn't stop screaming.
"I regret the day I took your breath and gave you mine!" a loathsome creature hissed at him, pacing back and forth like a caged lion before the tunnel of his vision. "Traitor! Traitor!"
He answered her with wordless shouts. He wanted to get at her, but burning air and bloodied floor separated them. He clawed at the unseen barrier between them, finger tips burning, mouth dry from heat and throat sore from screaming. He wanted that beast in pieces. He had her blood in his mouth. He wanted her silent and gone and dead. He wanted more of her blood. He wanted answers but he'd forgotten the questions. He screamed and he screamed and he screamed.
To his right a door slammed open.
"Artie!"
He cut off mid-scream. He knew that voice.
"Oh my god!" A woman stood next to him, eyes wide behind her glasses, gaping at him in horror. "Art, can you hear me? Are you hurt?"
Another woman stepped in behind her and sniffed the air. "Jesse wasn't kidding about the blood. Do you need to get out of here?"
The first woman - Lisa! How could he not recognized Lisa? - whirled to stare at the second while gesturing at him. "No, what I need is to get Arturo to safety and for you to deal with that." The last she spat at the other creature caught in the room. Then she covered her face with her hands and groaned. "I'm sorry Ava, I didn't mean to yell at you."
"Apology accepted. Take care of your vampire and I'll deal with this one."
"Thank you."
The heat around him faded with the abrupt, stinging change of exiting a sauna. When had he been in a sauna? Hadn't he gone on a dare, with someone, maybe two years ago? Awareness began to bleed in, but not in a helpful manner. Memory and the present got tangled up together in a painful mess. He was in a club, drunk, a woman moving closer to him with a predator's glint in her eyes. He was in a familiar laboratory with the same woman screaming at him, scratching at an invisible wall between them.
Strong arms grabbed him in a tight hug. He didn't fight them, too focused on the hateful woman in the circle and the stench of blood.
He ended up in a room he recognized, with the arms still around him. The smell of blood stayed with him, though the shouting from the hateful woman had turned to distant cursing and screaming. Hunger clawed at his insides, sudden and extreme.
He began to struggle. This got him pushed against a wall, gently but firmly.
"Artie, you're going to need blood."
Words that had been escaping him found their way from thought to sound in the nick of time. "No."
"Artie."
"Not when I'm like this. Please." The urge to bite down on the arm pressing him to the wall wouldn't go away. "Please let me calm down first." Had he actually managed to say all that? Lisa didn't look to have heard him.
"I know you hate this," Lisa said, expression worried and tense, "but you need blood. Can I trust you not to hurt yourself until I get back from the hospital?"
Arturo squeezed his eyes shut and banged his head back against the wall. Lisa cursed. He made sure to speak before she could, forcing himself to form each word with careful exaggeration.
"Not the hospital."
A noise of pure distress escaped Lisa. "Art, you can't-"
"Ask Jesse."
In the stunned silence that followed Arturo almost managed to get his breathing under control. He couldn't give in to the urge to bite, not even his own tongue, or he'd lose it again. A clear head wasn't in the cards, but he still needed to struggle toward that state of mind, to convince Lisa she was talking to him and not a mind-controlled husk.
"For a donation. I-I can't," he swallowed, voice cracking and breaking from the strain he'd put it under for Lord knows how long. "I can't be alone with anyone who's not wolf. Don't let him in this room. Just...just ask? Please ask."
His memories remained an unruly mess, but one thing had come back bright and clear with Lisa's presence: the wards.
"Arturo, are you sure?"
He opened his eyes. She had to see his eyes for this. That was important, though he couldn't quite recall why. "You need to warn Ava. The cult leader can break any ward that allows my blood."
"We assumed that when Ava got the wand." So that's where the damned thing ended up. "It'll be safe with her. She knows what she's doing." Almost no tremor there. That was a relief. "Don't try to distract me. Are you absolutely sure? Nothing would make me happier than you finally taking care of yourself, but-"
"I'm under a lot of strain, yes." No use denying it. "I'm not," pause for breath, not too deep, can't smell, only through the mouth, "I'm not saying I'm fine with this. But if I have to pick," another inhale, oh fuck, no, no, keep calm, "pick between a fresh donation or going back to that", clawing, screaming, biting, tearing, "there's no choice. And most of all, we need safe wards. Please, Lisa. Please, ask him."
Lisa gave his shoulder a squeeze. "I hate this."
Arturo managed a chuckle, half-choked on worn vocal cords. "Please." Then he held his breath.
Taking the cue, Lisa let go with one hand and got her phone out. "Vivian, can you get down here? Bring Dorothy."
"Why are you calling when-, oh fuck, it's still that bad?"
"He merely needs a little help staying calm while I go get him food." Lisa kept eye-contact with Arturo and nodded as she spoke, as if to convince him and herself along with Vivian. "Keep him company until I'm back, okay?"
"Be right there."
With utmost care, Lisa hung up and put her phone back in her pocket, then placed both her hands on his shoulders. His whole body shook as though coming down from the worst of caffeine highs. He could hear his teeth grinding against each other but couldn't feel it happening. He'd gotten to that point where his body didn't feel like his own, both hovering outside it and trapped inside his own head. Disorienting.
"She sure did a number on you."
That wasn't Lisa. It wasn't Lisa's hands holding him and he wasn't up against the wall any more. When had they put him on the bed?
"Hey, it's okay, Art, you're okay." Vivian, putting a cold cloth on his forehead. He knew he was baring his fangs at her but he couldn't make himself stop. Thankfully he was too weak to do more than lie there, mouth half-open, a whiny child with a fever. No real threat other than possibly to himself.
Pathetic.
"I don't like the way he's laughing at nothing. Should we get Ava?"
"No, we'll wait until Lisa comes back." Dorothy had that tone she used when they needed to stay calm under pressure. Melissa called it the 'good mom voice'. "Why don't you run upstairs and get us both a cup of tea?"
He lost another minute, or hour, or second. In the midst of this uncertainty something entered the room that was impossible to ignore.
The smell had been bad enough while trapped in a capture circle. Those were built to lessen the effect of the blood you made them out of, to avoid making the person you needed to secure inside them - for example a blood-crazed vampire or ravenous werewolf - even more frenzied. Scents from the outside of the circle affected you, yes, but the magical barrier between you and the rest of the world dampened scents and sounds. Despite knowing he no longer had that protection Arturo had expected himself to be too weak to do more than grasp at the empty air and groan once his 'meal' arrived. That was before the coppery tang of fresh blood came waltzing into the room, body-warm and mouth-watering.
It was a good thing Dorothy had thought to hold him down.
He wished he'd been less clearheaded through it. This wasn't quite the same as being sick, not anymore. The first part had felt almost like a bad fever with strange side-effects. But this…
He could hear every word, ever breath, but all he could do was stare at the mug in Lisa's hands and struggled against Dorothy's grip. He couldn't speak, only let out an enraged hiss, on par with an angry snake.
"I hate this."
"It's for the best. Don't feel guilty for helping him."
"Easier said than done."
"I know. But we're both doing this. You don't need to take sole responsibility."
The words were there yet meant very little because the rim of the mug was against his lips and-
It's strange how a moment in your life can both be under- and overwhelming. He'd expected the rush of satisfaction, familiar from previous times he'd had to feed. The catharsis of it was enhanced because fresh food did make a difference, but he had expected it to be worse. Mind-twisting. It just tasted... good. Like drinking water after going for a long run combined with eating a slice of Dorothy's chocolate cake. Delicious, but not life-altering.
It was that shocking anticlimax that let him slip away into a state between unconsciousness and sleep.
"You're crushing my ribs."
"Shut up and let me hug you."
Isha did, wrapping her free arm around her brother. Her other was still pleasantly trapped by Jayla holding her hand. She'd passed back out after consuming three bags of chips.
"Does it hurt?"
Isha let herself focus on the limb in question before she answered. Her leg had a stiffness to it still and it ached, but nowhere near how a broken bone should hurt a mere two hours after shattering.
"It's fine." She briefly tightened her arm around Rahul and bumped their foreheads together. "Shapeshifter blood works as advertised."
"I wouldn't go bleeding on people if it didn't help. I'm up for weird fun but that's not my particular brand of it."
Isha strained to look over Rahul's shoulder, trying to get a good view of the shapeshifter's face. She caught a glimpse of Vivian instead, looking both exhausted and relieved.
"Everyone in this house is pretty fucking grateful you're willing to go bleed for the people who need it."
That made Isha suspect she hadn't been the only one to receive emergency blood. With how out of it the pack vampire had been last she'd seen him, it took little effort to figure out who besides her had gotten 'help'. Knowing the urgent problems had been dealt with let the final tension seep out of her.
"They're letting us stay," Rahul whispered, face buried in the pillow her head rested on. "Long as we want. We're getting our own room on the top floor."
A number of emotions tangled together in a nest of confusion, kneading her insides. "Is that what you want us to do?"
"Where else would we go?" Rahul's words held a fragile mixture of longing and worry that she wanted to ease. Where else could they go indeed? She had no answer, but desperately wanted to find one for him.
That's when Jayla's hand tore out of hers. Before Isha could react, Jayla sat bolt upright in bed and opened her mouth to scream.
Jayla woke disoriented, heart hammering a mile a minute. Immediately a hand grabbed for hers, giving a light, comforting squeeze.
"I'm here. You're fine. I'm here."
She choked back a noise but couldn't tell if she'd meant to laugh or sob. The dream, full of its mundane horrors, faded piece by piece to the rhythm of Isha's soothing words.
She had more eyes on her than she'd hoped after that overly dramatic wake-up.
"Sorry. That was embarrassing."
"No apologizing for nightmares. Didn't I tell you that?"
Jesse, next to the bed again, along with Vivian, Rahul and Isha. Quite the audience, likely with the completely wrong idea of what she'd been dreaming about. They didn't need to know they were wrong. She could let them go on believing whatever they believed. She didn't have to reveal how strange she was. She could pretend to be traumatized by battles with vampires, worry over intruders and broken bones.
She should forget the false experience of lying in a hospice bed, alone except for her crying mother. Ignore how much relief reality gave her.
"I really need to call my mom." The words came out normal and calm but her guts were trying to tie themselves into a knot. "Jesse, could you go get my phone? And Ginger."
"Phone and cat, coming right up!"
Rahul joined Jesse in his fetch quest, leaving Jayla to awkwardly stare at the wall while Vivian and Isha avoided asking her questions. Kind of them, but it didn't help with the embarrassment. When Jesse returned he did so without Rahul (who'd apparently ended up in the kitchen helping Dorothy out) but with Ginger and the phone.
Phone finally in hand, Jayla froze.
"When was the last time you called her?" Jesse asked, putting Ginger in her lap.
"Too long." Way too long. "We've been texting in the family group chat, but..."
Vivian made a noise of sympathy and understanding. "Would it help if someone made that call for you and pretended you were in hospital?"
Jayla bit back a snort of surprise at how quickly and earnestly that offer come up. "Nah, then we'd have my mom rushing to get here and I really don't want to waste her money on top of being terrible at communication."
"Fair."
"Want us to leave?"
She should want privacy for this, shouldn't she? But her answer ended up being, "No."
To her surprise, and seemingly the rest of the room's, Isha was the next person to speak up. "Do you want to talk about why it's hard for you to call your mom?"
Armor piercing question, no matter how generic. Strangely it brought on more relief rather than a sense of being attacked. The silence around her had turned patient and expectant.
When was the last time she'd felt this... safe?
She had people around her ready to listen to her. She'd very recently come through the most dangerous situations she'd ever faced in her life and, arguably, come out of top. She had Ginger, purring in her lap.
If I'm ever going to spill my guts, this is the moment.
"I didn't move to Merrihollow because my ex was an ass to me." It was the least painful point to start from. "I'm not going to pretend it wasn't impulsive as all hell to up and move without a place to move to, but it wasn't about trying to outdo him." Brandon's smug face came to mind and she winced. "Well, not only about that."
The words clumped up in her throat like a poorly chewed piece of meat. But Ginger kept purring and no one commented, so she choked down a deep breath and continued:
"I'd been avoiding going to the doctor." Her talking gained speed, going from a slow brain-to-mouth drip to an almost casual pace. "My mom noticed I'd rescheduled appointments for no apparent reason three weeks in a row and she got on my case about it." The shame flashed through her as always, remembering her mother's anger thinly papered over genuine fear. She couldn't stay on that memory. "The next day, Brandon broke up with me, and I didn't take it in the most mature way."
Jesse scooted closer. He paused, waiting for permission, and she gratefully let him pull her into a hug. Her eyes had already gotten to work on tearing up. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had people sit around and listen to her without it feeling like she'd been called on for an unprepared oral exam.
"My mom had a younger sister." Had. Had, had, had. "Auntie Miriam. My one and only aunt in a long lineup of uncles and the only relative that moved with us to the US."
The usual memory of the sad little room with the dirty window and the closed-in smell hit her. She'd never been allowed to stay inside it for long. Dad had taken her and Thato for ice cream when mom gave him the signal.
Jesse gave her shoulder a soft squeeze. "How did you lose her?"
"Early onset Alzheimer's." The word had its usual aftertaste of dread and frustration.
"I'm sorry for your loss." Isha said the words as if on reflex, but there was genuine emotion there too.
"Yeah, losing family like that is beyond awful."
Jayla managed a smile, her skin prickling from a hundred imaginary needle stings.
"Thanks, but I barely got to know her. Her memory started to go when she was in her 30s. By the time I was old enough to remember her, she was really ill."
That room again, with the narrow bed full of tempting buttons her dad really didn't want her to touch. The old lady - because all adults are old when you're eight - tended to be in it when they got there, even in the middle of the day. She'd let Jayla play with the backrest controls and tried to sneak her candy when mom wasn't looking. Jayla had rarely dared to accept the candy. Strange how that shame stayed with her still, and the gut-rooted, stupid fear she'd had of a confused person struggling with losing her own reality.
"She'd recognize mom on a good day, but mostly thought she was grandma. That's when she talked at all." She was going off track and getting the tears flowing again. Not the plan! "Mom's always said I look just like her."
Jesse hummed. "I see."
Vivian and Isha both frowned, seeming to also put two and two together.
Jayla soldiered on, wobbling lower lip and strangled voice be damned. "I was fourteen when my aunt passed. My mom kept up a brave face, but I had good ears even before the whole werewolf thing. She cried herself to sleep for a year."
This memory hurt far worse than the previous ones. Hearing an adult cry is terrible enough when you're a fellow adult.
"I've always been scatterbrained. Had a hard time remembering instructions as a kid and got yelled at by teachers a lot for not sitting still." Funny how the boys tended to get yelled at and helped while she'd only gotten the yelling. "Stopped doing that after a while, but then I started drifting off into my own head at the drop of a hat."
Her parents had countless of fights over that. She'd been too old not to understand when they fought about money, about how to find people they could both afford and trust to take a look at her, who'd actually help instead of label her stupid and useless.
"Mom literally thanked God when I got my ADHD diagnosis."
Vivian hissed out a long, sympathetic breath of air. "But I'm guessing she's never stopped worrying?"
You could say that again. Years of 'Are you sure you're just distracted?', 'Have you taken your medicine?', and most recently, 'Are you sure you should move out?'.
"I get why. I do." Jayla's hands found their way into Ginger's fur, much to his delight. His purring washed through her, untangling the knots in her stomach. "It's silly to complain about your mom wanting you to be safe and healthy. But teen me was kinda rebellious. Then again, my mom is an infamous rebel herself, so I guess it runs in the family."
"Mothers can go overboard when they want to keep their children safe."
"Yeah, and kids can overreact."
Isha, Jesse and Vivian slipped back into supportive silence as Jayla gathered her thoughts; as easy as herding cats.
"I think I could have dealt with it, if my mom was the only one worried about me. She's got every right to fret with what she's been through." The soft sobbing through floorboards crawled up from her memory again. She flinched away from it. "But everyone else I've known have sort of followed along. My dad, my brother, my friends. Everyone knows everyone where I'm from. Tricky to blend in with the crowd when all the people you run into have known you since kindergarten."
"So everyone you knew, or could get to know, already had mental notes on your medical history?" Jesse asked.
"Pretty much." Looks, whispers; the regular background radiation of going to any local house party. "And who I'm related to, and that I didn't finish high school, etc., etc. To be fair, I also know a lot about them. I might suck at remembering names, but I'm pretty good with faces. Anybody's business is everybody's business back home. You gotta live with that or get out."
"And you chose to get out?"
"I didn't actually want to. Not for a long time. But..." How was she supposed to sum up Everything into a handful of words? She'd already ranted for far too long. "When people worry about you constantly, you kinda end up never asking for help with schedules or homework, because you don't want them to think you're losing your mind. When you finally get a word for what's happening to your memory and you're attention, you're stuck! People already assume you don't want help and that you don't give a shit about school or your friends or anything!"
You get labels like 'flighty' and 'goofball' that snowball into 'lazy', 'good-for-nothing' and 'aspiring welfare queen' before you know it.
"I really love my family. Both of my parents are great and my brother would do anything for me. But I woke up one day last month and couldn't take living there anymore. I wanted to be somewhere where people had no idea who I was. I guess Brandon gave me the perfect excuse with his whole thing about Merrihollow."
"Brandon?"
"Another long story short. He's the ex."
"Ah."
Jayla sent a glance toward the door to the hallway. Had she heard another door creak open? She licked her dry lips and drew in a deep breath, trying to calm her overly ambitious lungs in their attempt at mimicking a marathon runner.
"I don't know how to talk to my mom now. Not like I knew how before, but I have even less of a clue when I'm talking to her over the phone. Or how to talk with my old friends. But I'm in a new town, starting a new life, and I'm so fucking happy when I should be worried and scared! I've been so relieved this whole time, while you all have been so worried about me, and that makes me feel stupidly guilty." She drew in a desperate breath of air. "I can talk to you guys because we're face-to-face and you're in the know about the supernatural. You know I can't get Alzheimer's. But my family? I can tell them I got a job and that I've got room mates, but..."
"But they'll still worry," Jesse said, which was exactly it.
"It's not just that I'm a gal with ADHD out in the world on my own. Mom," she gulped down her first phrasing of it, tried again, "she's still worried I'll end up losing myself. I've never had any testing done, but even if I had it wouldn't help. There's no way to for sure tell you don't have Alzheimer's coming for you. Even if I faked a test or a new discovery or something, my mom's too sharp to fall for that. I know I'll be fine, and you know, but everyone else will always be waiting for that other shoes to drop. It'll be so weird to talk to her without us both sharing that worry. I don't know how to be relieved and happy but not able to let my mom know one of her worst nightmares won't happen. How the hell do I do that?"
Saying it out loud left a thick lump in her throat.
"Do you want advice or would you prefer a group hug?"
"Can I have both?"
Vivian scooted her chair over and threw an arm over Jayla's shoulder to join Jesse's, poking Isha to join in. Isha, who Jayla doubted had had physical affection on her daily activity roster before this, did join the hug from her side of the bed and also kept hold of Jayla's hand. It was anything but graceful, especially with Ginger smack dab in the middle, but it was warm and genuine and that made the clumsiness comforting.
"Telling your family werewolves are real likely won't help calm anyone, and they wouldn't be able to remember it anyways, but staying in touch with family you care for is important." Vivian squeezed Jayla tight and didn't let go. Jayla meant to ask for her to explain that, but was distracted by: "What if your mom and friends thought you were getting regular tests for Alzheimer's?"
"I can't afford that." She wouldn't ask for that much charity.
"Since we both know you'll never be able to get it, I'm not suggesting actual test. That'd be a waste of time for everyone involved. What I'm getting at is that our resident 'computer genius' could help you with making your family believe you're getting tested."
The weight on Jayla shoulders began to wobble.
"You sure he could do that?"
Vivian snorted. "Arturo is good at what he does. If he didn't know what he was doing, half of us would have been arrested for identity fraud a long time ago."
The weight crashed to the floor. "Would that be okay?"
"After what he did to you the other week, it's about time he starts making up for it."
"What do you mean?"
The change that came over Vivian took Jayla by surprise. Her smile froze, her shoulders squared, her eyes narrowed. "He hasn't told you yet."
Before Jayla could even begin a "Told me what?", Vivian was on her feet.
"Jesse, Isha, you're in charge of being the emotional support team. I'll be right back - I need to go yell at Art until he gets his act together."
A brief, awkward silence followed her exit. Jesse broke it.
"Seeing as we have a skilled hacker to come to our aid, may I make a suggestion for what to say to your mother?"
Jayla nodded. Jesse suggested. Jesse was fucking brilliant.
With a little bit of prep, phoning her mother became a less impossible course of action. Jayla found the courage to go into her contact list. She pressed the call button. Five rings later, there was a click. She forgot to breathe. Then:
"Jayla?"
"Hi mom." She soldiered on before she lost her nerve. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry I haven't called, I'm sorry I just up and left, I'm sorry I've been super inactive in the wedding planner group, and I-"
"Jayla, breathe."
She did as instructed. Been doing so much deep breathing I might guided meditation.
"Okay, so, I didn't want to call until I knew this was going to be a sure thing, didn't want to get your hopes up." She glanced at Jesse and Isha, who gave her a thumbs up and a curt nod each. "But the actual reason I moved out here to Merrihollow was to apply to a research program."
Stunned silence on the other end of the line. Then, "Jayla, what are you talking about?" in a tone that definitely spelled trouble if her mother sensed the tiniest waft of bullshit.
Luckily, Jesse had written down notes for her.
"It was a long shot, since Auntie Miriam wasn't my parent, which is why I didn't want to say anything until I knew they'd even consider me for this, but I'm in!"
"Start from the beginning. You're in where?"
"Merrihollow University Alzheimer's Project." Lying would have felt shitty if it hadn't been the best way to let her mother know she'd be fine. Still felt surreal, but she kept on talking. "Some rich guy passed and donated his fortune to Alzheimer's research at the university here, so they're starting up all kinds of research programs. I got into one where they'll do that whole genetic counseling thing and then follow up with me for years, for free!"
"That's...that's wonderful news." Still some disbelief there, but if Arturo could make nice official-looking pamphlets and a website for it they'd be home free. Jesse had said they could fake a whole ass university department if needed.
"Sorry I didn't tell you right away. I was having...a really bad time when I decided to move. Didn't mean to take it out on y'all."
"I'm not going to lie," her mom said after a paused that had Jayla's lungs seizing up. "I was very upset with you. Angry. Then, I had a talk with your cousin."
Jayla had thirteen cousins. She didn't need to guess which one her mom meant.
"Is everything okay with Amanda?"
"She's fine. She only called to tell me 'I told you so'."
"Uhm, what? Why?"
Her mother heaved a sigh worthy of the description exasperated. "She called about you."
"You've been talking about me?" Amanda, being her elder by close to 10 years, had always been one of the 'adults' whenever they had a family get-together. They barely knew each other. This made no sense.
"Yes. We have. Because she's been worried about you."
Not this again! "Mom, I'm fine. I've actually got a test thing set up for next week. Got a job too and a great place to live with super sweet room mates."
"That's great. But that's not what Amanda has been worried about."
Her mom hesitated. Real hesitation. Rarely had brief silence ever been so terrifying and that was counting the moment of quiet before Jesse had turned back from music box to human. The brain sure was funny with how it prioritized its terrors.
"Amanda," her mother continued, "has been worried because I've been treating you like her dad has been treating her."
"Uncle David?"
"We need to have a long talk. Not on the phone, not on video, but a real, eye-to-eye talk."
"Mom."
"I'm not asking you move back home. You're a grown ass woman, as you've repeatedly pointed out. But we need to... talk through things."
Ginger merped and rolled over on his back, demanding belly rubs as he always seemed to do when she was stressed. Jayla automatically began to pet him while she struggled to find words for what she should - wanted - to say in reply.
"I'm feeling kinda overwhelmed right now. I've got a new job and-"
"I'm not asking you to get on a plane today, Jayla. I get that you need space. Deserve it. But I can't ignore this. We can't ignore this or it'll get worse."
Jayla grabbed for words to build into an answer, but she had far too many emotions pulling her thoughts in different directions to force them into coherent sentences.
"Like I said, we shouldn't do this over the phone. Can you... call me Saturday, okay? We'll talk about when you can visit then. And I'll pay for the plane tickets, don't worry about that." A pause. Jayla strained to hear if her mother was gulping back emotions or gritting her teeth or what, which left her temporarily deafened by how loud the world actually was. Humans were not meant to hear electricity!
"Promise you'll call."
It took Jayla a second to recover but she did managed to catch and parse what her mother had said. "Promise," she hurried to reply. "I'll ask Jesse to remind me."
Jesse mimed taking a note on an invisible notepad.
Another pause from her mother. This one took no effort to read. She'd heard her mother gear up to give her a lecture more times than she could count.
"Jayla, if you've run off with a new boyfriend-"
"No!" Seriously? "No mom, the project is a real thing and I'm not seeing anyone." Yet. "Jesse's a friend." Her mom even imagining that as a possibility got her words flowing again. "I didn't run away to marry someone or join a cult or whatever it is you're picturing. I want to try being a new me. Be somewhere where I'm not just 'Alzheimer Girl', y'know?"
"Who's been calling you that?"
As if she was still a kid, fighting off playground bullies. Sweet but oh so frustrating. "I have."
The stunned silence from her mother hurt, both out of guilt for causing it and because this shouldn't be a surprise. She'd always imagined herself so close to her mother. That they knew everything about each other. If her mom had this huge a blind spot when it came to her, what might she have missed about her mom?
They really needed to talk IRL for this to work. This could be made so much worse if she kept pushing.
Scooping Ginger up over her shoulder, Jayla made big eyes at her two silent observers, all but blinking SOS in Morse code. She really needed to learn Morse code.
"Mom, I'm not mad at you either and you don't have to worry about me. I'm doing really great. Got a fun job," hopefully "and great room mates. I feel like I'm finally allowed to be myself. So, uhm, I'll call you Saturday and we'll talk more."
"Jayla."
"I've gotta go now, someone's coming." Lying to her mother now suddenly made her cringe in a way the Alzheimer's project hadn't. "I think it might be time for dinner.”
"Dinner?"
"Yeah, we do dinner together. It's pretty cozy here."
To her slight surprise, the door to the hallway opened before either Isha or Jesse could speak, and Vivian poked her head inside.
"Sorry to interrupt, but Dorothy has the table set for us," Vivian said, loud enough Jayla's mother surely could hear her - which was Vivian's usual conversational tone, so she thankfully sound normal and genuine instead of theatrical. "You coming?"
"I'll call you back this weekend, okay?" Jayla said to her mother, mouthing 'Thank you' at her rescuer.
"All right." A little resigned, but not upset. Likely the best possible outcome here. "Do you want me to text you a reminder for that?"
"Yes please. Love you, mom. Talk to you Saturday!"
She hung up before she could change her mind and start another apologetic rant.
"How did it go?" Jesse asked when she'd pocked her phone. "Scale 1 to 10."
"8. Yeah, let's go with 8." Far better than expected. "Thank you for the project idea, Jesse, it was a life safer. Is there actual dinner?"
"Yes, with dessert on the way!"
Vivian took the lead toward the dining room, looping arms with Jayla; Jesse and Isha right behind them.
"I gave Art until the end of the month to talk to you," Vivian said as they crossed the final threshold they needed to pass "If he hasn't done so before the Halloween party happens, let me know and I'll kick his ass for you, okay?"
Jayla gave a mute nod and slung an arm around Jesse. Should she try to get in contact with Amanda? Or Uncle David? She'd barely known him before he got the status as 'Auntie Miriam's widower'. And what in the world could Arturo have done that had Vivian so hellbent on him talking to her? She was honestly too tired to imagine what could have happened. Asking for an explanation also felt like too much effort.
She'd deal with that mess later. Much later, if she was lucky.
(Chapter 11) - (Chapter 13)
