“Thank you,” I said, handing my sister her phone. I took three calming breaths before I turned to Jamie. “What am I?”
He cleared his throat and sat down next to me on the edge of the bed, Brandon scooting his chair out of the way. “I’m not sure. But… I would guess we were able to stop the Resurrection process in time to prevent you from becoming a full-fledged Vampire. I would say… some sort of hybrid.”
“A Hunter, Vampire hybrid?” I questioned.
“That is my best guess,” the doctor nodded.
“Have you ever…?” I couldn’t finish the question.
“No,” Jamie said, clearly reading my mind. “I’ve never seen anything like it. So, we won’t know what you’ll be able to do until we give it some time.”
“Do you feel any burning in your throat?” Aaron asked, still the calmest of all, though Jamie didn’t seem as twitchy as he had a moment ago.
“No,” I assured him. It was true. There was no burning sensation. The thought of drinking blood made my stomach churn.
“Would you mind opening your mouth really wide for me?” Jamie asked.
Brandon got up at that point, and Cadence scooted backward a good five feet. I saw Aaron put his hand on her shoulder as I complied.
Jamie had somehow produced one of those little mirror things that dentists used. I didn’t realize his medical bag had been sitting on the floor next to him until the tool was in my mouth. He did a little poking around in the top of my mouth, behind my teeth. “Okay,” he finally said. “You can close.” He let out a deep breath.
“Well?” I asked, inhaling and holding it.
“They’re there,” he said quietly. “Pretty high right now. But they’re up there.”
I felt around with my tongue again and then looked at my sister. Her face was paler now than it had been right before Giovani put that bag over her head. “I have… fangs.”
“Yes,” Jamie confirmed.
“But… I don’t feel anything,” Cadence said. “I mean, maybe a slight vibration, but not like I usually do.”
“Me neither,” the other two Guardians agreed.
“Honestly,” Jamie said, looking to each of them and then back at me. “I have no idea. Like I said, as far as I know, this has never happened before. But let’s concentrate on the positive. You’re not a Vampire. You didn’t die. And… it seems like the Serum took, so you have Transformed. So… it could’ve been a lot worse.”
I knew he was right. I nodded, thinking I would try to find a way to concentrate on that. “Thank you, for saving me,” I said to him.
“Oh, I didn’t do much,” he said, shrugging.
“Yes, you did,” I said reaching forward and resting my hand on top of his. “You got pulled out of the hunt because of me.” I realized then that all of this was my fault. I looked at my sister, Aaron, Brandon, and then back to Cadence. “I am so sorry….”
“We know,” Aaron said. “And… you should know everything is okay. Obviously, we got Cadence back.”
I looked at my sister and saw there were tears in her eyes, but she was smiling at me.
“Why don’t we leave and let the two of them talk for a while?” Aaron suggested, looking at Jamie and Brandon.
Jamie hopped up immediately, clearly thinking that was a good idea, but Brandon’s hand didn’t leave my arm. I turned to look at him and could see in his eyes he didn’t agree. Smiling, I said, “It’s okay. I’m fine.”
“Cass,” Brandon said slowly, “you have no idea….” He looked around and stopped himself, and I thought I saw tears in his eyes again.
“You’re right. I don’t,” I agreed. I had no idea what he’d been through, trying to save me, watching me almost die, looking at me now, not knowing what I am. “I’m okay,” I assured him. “Thank you for coming after me.”
Brandon nodded, and I knew he wanted to say more, but not in front of everyone else. He gently squeezed my arm and pried himself out of the chair. Jamie rested his hand on his shoulder and walked with him toward the door.
Once they were gone, I turned to face Cadence. “So… you’re alive. That’s good.”
She laughed. “Yeah, just barely, I think.”
“What happened?” I asked. “How did you get away.”
“Oh, it’s a long story,” she said, letting out a loud sigh.
“That’s okay. I’ve got nothing but time,” I assured her, settling back against the headboard.
She scooted her chair back up closer to where it had been before Jamie started poking around in my mouth. “Well, as you know, Giovani sucked me up into a helicopter. Then, he and Zabrina followed. They took me down inside of this tunnel system where they had Gibbon caged. He was… awful. Just… a huge brute, an animal. They put me in a cage with him, wanting us to fight.”
“That sounds terrifying,” I said. “Did you have to fight him?”
“I did,” she nodded. “But Gibbon just wanted out. The detective, the one Giovani had kidnapped from the hospital?” I nodded that I knew who she was talking about. “He was there, lying on the ground, and I thought he was dead. But… he helped me. Zabrina had the keys, and when she got close enough to the cage, the detective tripped her. I grabbed her, and managed to decapitate her.” I smiled. I couldn’t help it. “So the keys were on the ground. When I had another chance, I picked up some of Zabrina’s ashes and tossed them in Gibbon’s face, which gave me a chance to get the keys. Once I had the cage open, Gibbon tossed me out.”
“He threw you?”
“Yeah. Hurt like….” She stopped herself. “It hurt really bad. He broke my knee again, too,” she admitted, looking down at it. “I promised Jamie he could fix it for real this time.”
“Good,” I said. “So what happened to Giovani?”
“Well, when I killed Zabrina, he started crying like a little baby. Then, when the cage was opened, he sort of cowered in the corner. Gibbon ran off down the tunnels, and that’s when Giovani decided he could take me. I was almost unconscious, hanging over the side of the hospital bed they’d brought Gibbon in on. Shane was about to beat down the door. So, Giovani wasn’t sure what to do, and I capitalized on that. I jumped on his back, wrapped that cord that he had tied around my wrists around his neck, and got rid of him.”
A flood of relief washed over me, hearing that Giovani was also gone. “Did someone get Gibbon?” I asked.
Cadence slowly shook her head. “He made it out of the tunnel, after beating the crap out of Christian. Aaron trailed him, but he disappeared in the river. Cale’s choppers couldn’t track him either.”
“So he’s still out there.” Chills went down my spine. Gibbon was one bad dude.