Hunter's Trail

“Hi,” I said back. We just stood there for a second.

I could feel Molly looking back and forth between the two of us. “Aren’t you guys happy to see each other,” she observed, her tone amused. “Say, I think I’ll go clean up the kitchen.” I heard her walk away, but my eyes seemed to be stuck on Jesse. Then I remembered what I’d been doing and looked down at my clothes. Rice was stuck all over my shirt, and there were a few drops of soy sauce on my jeans. “Sorry, I wasn’t really expecting you.” I looked back up, puzzled. “Wait, you were at Dashiell’s?”

“Yeah, they summoned me after work,” he replied.

“They?”

“Dashiell, Beatrice, and Will. We should talk.”

“Right.” I looked around helplessly. We couldn’t talk near Molly—if Dashiell really had told Jesse what was going on, then he knew more than she did. And I’d promised Will I wouldn’t tell anyone else about changing Eli. “Um, we better go up to my room.”

“Can you make it up there?” Jesse said dubiously. I followed his gaze down to the cane in my hand. I had forgotten about it while I was staring at him like an idiot.

“Oh. Yeah. It just takes a while.”

I gestured for Jesse to go up the stairs first. It would have been smarter to go in front of him so he could catch me if I fell, but baggy jeans or not, I vainly didn’t want him staring at my swollen leg as I limped up the stairs in front of him. I trailed him into my bedroom, where he doubled back to shut the door behind me. That put our faces about six inches apart and suddenly my small bedroom seemed even smaller than usual. He grinned at me again, white teeth flashing as his eyes crinkled. “I’m going to hug you now,” he announced.

I laughed in surprise as he swept me into his arms. I hugged him back enjoying his familiar scent of Armani cologne and oranges. “I was worried,” he said simply. “I’m glad you’re okay.” He leaned back to study my face, and I thought for a second that he might kiss me. And it shamed me, because I wanted him to.

“I’m sorry,” I blurted out instead.

“For what?” he asked, puzzled.

“I didn’t know that they pressed you. I wasn’t a part of that decision.”

He sighed and released me, taking a step back. “I know. You were unconscious.”

Oh. “They told you about that, huh?” So they had told him about Eli. Awkward.

He nodded. “And, although I don’t like it, with everything else that’s going on right now I think the fact that vampires pressed me last week is the least of our concerns.”

I was starting to list back and forth, so I stumped over to the bed and sat down, shoving pillows under my right knee. Jesse had that look on his face, like he wanted to help me, but he also knew me well enough by now not to ask. I pointed to the folding chair leaning against the wall by the door and said, “You’d better fill me in on what you know.”

His smile faded and then disappeared entirely. It was as though he was going from being just Jesse to being a cop by increments. “So you don’t accidentally give me more information than I’m supposed to have?”

Ouch. “I guess I deserved that,” I said, trying to keep my voice level.

Jesse’s jaw stayed clenched for another second, and then he shrugged. “Sorry, that was an overreaction. Being around those guys just makes me suspect every word I hear.”

“Welcome to my world,” I said without thinking, and for a brief moment we shared a rueful smile. He was definitely in my world now, though I hadn’t exactly welcomed him at first.

Then Jesse’s face hardened. “Well, I know you changed Eli back to a human, permanently. And Ariadne, last fall.” There was a note of professional coolness in his voice and I winced. I had been under orders to keep Ariadne’s status to myself. But if I was being honest, I’d also preferred to keep it a secret. It had been easier to just not think about it, especially after Olivia surfaced.

“What was it like?” Jesse asked, softening a little. “Making someone human again?”

“The first time, it was awful,” I admitted, remembering the sensation. “It was like . . . I don’t know, weight lifting without a spotter. But the second time, with Eli . . .” I closed my eyes, struggling for words. “It was like I held the edges of my radius with one part of me, and with another part, I called his magic.” I opened my eyes. “I collected it to me, and then I let the magic go.” My knee throbbed suddenly, like it wanted to remind me that nothing came for free, especially magical cures.

“Wow,” Jesse said, in a tone that suggested he had no idea how else to respond.

“Yeah.”

“Could you do it again?” he asked.

“I have no idea. Not for a while, probably. Will got me a doctor, and she doesn’t know if the seizure I had was because of the drug, or the stress, or the coma, or changing Eli. If I try again, I might have another seizure, or . . . you know, die.” I shrugged. “Or I could be completely fine.”

Jesse had a very thoughtful look on his face, but he didn’t say anything else. I couldn’t get a handle on his mood and it was starting to make me nervous, so I changed the subject, asking him to fill me in on his evening.

He walked me through his solo visit to Dashiell’s house, from when Hayne picked him up to when Hayne drove him back. My mouth dropped open when he got to the part about Dashiell flattening him. The thing is, when someone from the Old World gets in my radius, I get a sense of how much power they have, and Dashiell had always felt strong—but for obvious reasons I hadn’t ever seen him actually throw his power around. I’d always thought of Dashiell the way cashiers probably picture a really controlling bank president. The fact that he could do that to someone wasn’t really surprising, but it was scary as hell.