His planning allowed me to get an extra hour and a half of sleep, and coffee allowed me to focus on my patients instead of myself. He might be pissed, but he was taking care of me so I knew we’d get beyond it.
I took the bandages off between appointments, and while my arm still looked bad, it was a thousand times better than the night before. Skin had formed over the wound, though the muscles hadn’t completely filled back in underneath. I could also use it a little, where I hadn’t been able to even control my hand this morning. It was still pretty tender, even with Abbott’s mind trick, and my range of motion sucked.
The wound last night had taken out a good part of my upper bicep, tricep, and deltoid muscles. Only the fact it was a glancing blow had kept it from taking my arm completely off. It was impossible for the skin and muscles to have healed even this much, and I wondered, again, what Aaron had given me.
I put my suit jacket back on before my next patient arrived, and looked over my notes.
At lunch, Aaron made me drink more of the noxious stuff and once again gave me a shot of Jack Daniels to chase it.
The stronger I grew, the more distant Aaron became, and I realized just how angry he was. I tried to start a few conversations, but he only looked at me and didn’t speak.
Frustrated, I asked, “You talked to me this morning? Why not now?”
Again, he merely took a bite and looked at me, and I answered for him. “I was still in pretty bad shape this morning. Now I’m better and it’s easier to be mad at me.”
As we finished our meal, I told him, “Okay, so you’re pissed, but the fact remains that I killed him when no one else could. I’m grateful ya’ll came to my rescue, but I’m still a little pissed at you, too, for keeping me away when I might’ve made a difference the night before. It would’ve been
immensely
better for me to face him with backup, instead of being forced to do it alone.”
He sat in my lobby the rest of the day, and then silently walked me to his car to take me home after my last patient.
“Can you take me to see Abbott?” I asked. I didn’t tell him why, but I needed to talk to someone who might have some answers for me.
Aaron finally spoke, but each word was clipped and I was reminded of a conversation from a few years ago, when he’d told me he’d been born a dragon, and had pecked his way out of an egg. The wolf shifters talked about controlling their wolf, but Aaron was a dragon who could take human form. There was no controlling the dragon, because his dragon wasn’t a second soul residing in him. He
was
the dragon, he just happened to be in human form most of the time.
“You will not be able to go see Abbott for a while. If you must see him, you should invite him to your house, which is where I am taking you.”
Temper or not, dragon or not, this was the last straw and I practically exploded at him. “Who the hell do you think you are? You can’t tell me where I can go! The last time I checked, I’m an adult and you don’t have the authority to ground me like a teenager! I’m sorry you’re pissed at me, but something had to be done so I did it. I
knew
I could if ya’ll would just get the fuck out of my way and
let
me!”
He didn’t react to my anger, and I had the feeling he was already so pissed, nothing I could say had the capability of making him any more angry with me.
He very quietly told me, “Call him yourself, if you don’t believe me.”
Something about the way he said it made my heart hurt. Aaron wasn’t just pissed at me, he was hurt, and worried. I started to tell him if he kept things from me I couldn’t make informed decisions, but I needed to know if he was right about Abbott, so I reached for my phone.
Abbott answered with, “Hello, darling. How are you feeling?”
My heart went into my stomach and I felt a little sick. I hadn’t liked it when he’d called me ‘my darling’, but I
knew
something was wrong now, without a doubt. Still, masochist that I am, I had to keep talking.
“I’m much better today, though I’m unclear how it’s possible. Thanks for coming to my rescue and getting to me so fast.”
“Not a problem, but you have to know how idiotic it was for you to go after…him.”
I mostly held my temper this time — I still said what was on my mind, but managed to say it in a normal voice. “Perhaps if the men in my life weren’t male chauvinist pigs I’d be able to fight without having to sneak off.”
The air pressure in the SUV was growing heavier and heavier, and I knew I was pushing Aaron’s temper, but my own temper was at a boiling point and I didn’t especially care about anyone else’s in that moment.
I ignored Aaron and asked Abbott, “Would it be okay for Aaron to drop me off by your house? Can you take me home later?”
“I’m at my home on the mountain, and it’s important you don’t go by the coterie house until I tell you it’s okay to do so. If you want me to come see you, though, I can come to you this evening. I can be there about an hour after sunset, as I’ll need to drive.”
My stomach in my throat, I quickly told him, “No, that’s okay. I just thought I’d stop in and see you real quick, no need for you to drive all the way down the mountain and across town. Let me see how the rest of my week shapes up and maybe we can figure something out for later this week.”
I hung up without waiting for him to respond, and glared at Aaron. Something wasn’t right and it was pissing me off no one would tell me anything.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The next morning Cora followed me out of the driveway, but she went home as I went to work.
No one took the day shift. I was apparently back on my own.
My left arm was almost perfectly healed, though I didn’t think life was back to normal. I still hadn’t heard from Nathan or Mordecai, and Aaron would only tell me they were going to be okay.
Had Nathan been hurt worse than me? The lion I saw on the video feed was walking around, so it didn’t make sense.
I dropped Lauren off at school and drove to work with Xiaolan, as usual. Still not back to one hundred percent, I took the elevator instead of the stairs, but only told Xiaolan I hadn’t slept well.
I went into my office and prepared for my first appointment — a new patient scheduled for nine o’clock. Alexander Jones. No information about why he was here, which might mean he’s just shy, but could also mean it’s another patient who’s part of the lifestyle. I moved the chairs around so we would be comfortably seated across from each other over the coffee table, and then went over paperwork at my desk as I awaited his arrival.
Eileen announced him, and I stood to walk to the seating area, and went dead still as I saw my friend Alex.
My mind froze as well, but only for a half-second, and then it went into overdrive even though my body was still immobile. The man I’d seen looking at me last week from across the street
had
been Alex. I wasn’t imagining things. I also hadn’t imagined him not aging — he should look thirty-nine but still looked to be college aged. It was a little cloudy out, but still full daylight so he couldn’t be a vampire. I sensed his energy and didn’t pick up shapeshifter.
I’d always thought Alex to be beautiful. Not effeminate in any way, he was just a gorgeous, manly man. Dark hair, perfect features, and the body of someone who builds houses for a living — big enough without being too bulky, not an ounce of flab anywhere, and lean muscles rippling everywhere you look. Just his hand on the back of the doorknob had the muscles moving against each other on his forearm.
He paused inside the door, took me in, and shut the door behind him. I was still frozen in place as he walked around my desk and stood looking down at me.
I finally managed to move, and as I stepped towards him he drew me into his arms and hugged me. My arms automatically went around him, and it felt a lot like coming home, but I knew something wasn’t right and I couldn’t trust the feeling.
“Let me go, please.”
He held me a little less firm, but didn’t completely let me go as he said, “It’s good to see you, too, Kirsten. I’m relieved to see you’re okay.”
“How did you go from Alex Howard to Alexander Jones. And why have you not aged?”
“When I lived in Knoxville I was Alex Howard. When too many people started noticing I was holding up well, I moved to Portland as I said I would. When it was time to leave Portland, I came here, to Chattanooga, and became Alexander Jones.”
I finally pushed him away a little, and he let me out of his embrace. I looked up to ask, “How is it that you’re holding up so well?”
He gave me the half-smile I remembered so well. “Can we catch up with each other before we get to that, please?’
My returned smile was more habit than what I was actually feeling. His half-smile had brought so much back of what we could’ve been. “Will we get to it in the next hour and a half?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, then we can catch up a bit first, but I’ve had a rough couple of days and I don’t have a lot of patience with secrets right now. Fair warning.”
He brushed my hair away from my face and let his hand drop. “I always had an attraction for you, but because of what I am, I don’t allow myself relationships with humans. I wished we could be more than friends, but was grateful for what we had.” He closed his eyes, breathed in as one would upon entering a pastry shop, and added, “I’ve missed you.”
I steered him around the chairs and towards a sofa. “And you couldn’t tell me what you were, or you’d have to kill me?”
He shook his head. “I don’t have any such rules on me, though if someone I tell blabs then they must die, and if word gets out then I can get in a good deal of trouble.” He sighed as he took a seat on the sofa and pulled me down beside him. “I’ve just found it easier not to tell, but in hindsight, perhaps I should’ve told you. You have many friends who aren’t human, other monsters, and apparently you’re dealing with it fairly well.”
“How much do you know about me? And who do you know I’m friends with?”
“Aaron Drake, for starters, but I’ve seen you with several other non-humans and I assume you know what they are. I’m also aware you’re called in to help fight when Aaron needs your particular skillset, and I know you killed someone who was once considered either a giant of old, or a god, depending on who you talk to.”
“You know who I killed? Do you know his name?”
His head tilted sideways and I realized he found it odd I didn’t know. His eyebrows drew together as he said, “He goes by Stuart Sutherland now, but he was once known as Surtr.”
“I was right! I guessed that once and no one told me I was right.
Damn
them.” They hadn’t told me I was wrong, either, but had successfully deflected me to another subject.
“Don’t be so hard on them, they’re bound to not give away the secrets, but I’m not. And when I say bound, I mean metaphysically bound. If they were to tell then it would be known right away and it would be
very
bad.”
“Are you and Aaron friends?”
“We’ve met, and we aren’t enemies, but we haven’t spent enough time together to be friends. I’m quite young, barely over one hundred, so I don’t have the history with him some of the old ones have.”
“Does he know you know me, that I’m from your past?”
“No.”
I started to pull in my energies. Alex had been a very good friend, but there was something he wasn’t telling me and I’d feel better if I was armed, so to speak.
“Why don’t you tell me what you are and why you’re here now, please, Alex.”
“I can smell your fear. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m here as your friend, and I’m excited we can be friends again because I have reason to believe you can accept me for what I am. You appear to have accepted other monsters into your life without being horrified, maybe you can accept me, too.”
“I’m not afraid of you, but I’m concerned you don’t seem to want to tell me what’s going on. I’m not doing so well with secrets right now, so tell me, what are you?”
“I’m a vampire.”
My temper wasn’t far under the surface, but I managed to keep my voice even. “Sitting in my office at nine thirty in the morning? Try again.”
The look on his face made me pause. He was afraid, and I hadn’t noticed. I suddenly felt terrible. He’d made an appointment, come to my office, and I’d made this about me instead of him.
I was about to apologize and begin asking questions so I could figure out what was going on with him, when he opened his mouth and let me watch his teeth grow from normal canines to long, scary looking fangs, and then back to human sized canines.
I didn’t say anything as I tried to make this work with what I knew of vampires.
Alex broke the silence. “There’s more than one race of vampire; we don’t all have the same rules.”
“You can walk in the sun?”
“I can walk in the shade, and I can walk about on a cloudy day. Unfiltered sunlight is painful, but I can still go out if I’m not in it long, though I’ll usually have on a cap, dark sunglasses, pants, and a long sleeve shirt. I use heavy-duty sunscreen on the exposed skin, but still keep my hands in my pockets and try my best to keep my face shaded.”
“You don’t collapse at dawn?”
“I’m most comfortable sleeping in the day and being up at night, but nothing says I have to. Just as you prefer to sleep at night, but if you want to stay up all night, you can.”
Two races of vampires? What was I being thrown into? I needed to have a serious talk with Aaron about what other beings were out there that I didn’t know about yet. It was way past time for me to stop being surprised, I needed to know this stuff up front.
I took a breath and composed my thoughts. While I had Alex here and he seemed to be forthcoming, I’d see what I could find out.
I started asking questions, and he gave me answers.
Alex usually drinks bagged blood, though he isn’t averse to drinking from humans. It’s more pleasant to drink from a bite, but he doesn’t get anything extra from it. His bite has something in it that makes it pleasurable to humans, unless he’s ticked off and then something else gets secreted and it’s incredibly painful. Either way, there’s a paralysis agent so the human can’t move around much once bitten.