“Thanks,” I said and walked a little faster—my silent indication for her not to follow. She dropped back, obviously ‘sensing’ it, and by the time I stepped onto the landing of the second floor, she was completely gone. The only other people around were Ryder, quietly taking over from Quaid’s shift, a maid cleaning the windows with lemon-scented Windex, and Nathan, charging toward me at full human speed.
He nearly bowled me over, glancing back as he passed. “Ara! D’you hear?”
“Hear what?”
“Jason’s alive,” he called over his shoulder.
“Yeah.” I smiled to myself. “I heard.”
I followed Nathan down the softly-lit corridor, him running, me walking gracefully, all the way to the room at the very end, and stopped beside him with my arms around my waist.
“I just can’t believe it,” he said, then rapped on the door four or five times. When it opened, he laughed, charging Jason. “Knight!”
“Nate!”
There was a moment of back patting and jumping around, before the boys stood back from each other, smiling.
“What’s the deal, man?” Nathan said. “Are you a zombie or something—coming back from the dead?”
Jason laughed, slipping his shirt over his head, pulling it down past his golden abs. “I'm not back from the dead, Nate.”
“Yeah, so what’s the deal? Why’d you stage your death?”
“King was after me.”
“Dude. Not cool. Wah’d ya do?”
Jason looked at me and smiled. “I’ve got some mad skills and a blood oath issue that would’ve made me his super slave if he knew I was alive.”
Nathan rocked back, running a hand over his shaved head. “Well, I'm glad you’re alive. How ya been?”
“Uh, okay, I suppose.” I could tell it was a lie.
“So, your bro wouldn’t happen to be alive, too, would he?”
“Nah, man. He’s six feet under.”
“Drat.”
“Why?”
“Miss him.” Nathan wandered over and sat himself down on Jason’s bed.
“We all miss him,” I said and stood with my arms folded, leaning on the wall by the open door. This room was exactly the same as Arthur’s, but smaller, with only one window. I could see why it was the last room left.
“Yeah, it’s just…I haven't seen him since he dug me up,” Nate said. “I never really got to thank him.”
“Dug you up?” I asked.
Nathan looked back at me then at Jason.
“What’d you mean, Nathe?” Jason said.
“This is spoken under the brotherhood code, right?”
Jason nodded, sitting next to Nathan; he had a real human look to him when he smirked that way, as if he already knew what Nathan was going to say. “Yeah. No probs, Nathe. Ara won't say anything, either.”
“’Kay. Well, I got sick, right—doc told me I had cancer. ‘Cept, we didn’t wanna tell anyone, you know. Didn't want the pity.”
“Sorry to hear that,” Jason said.
“Yeah, it was all cool. They gave me six months to live. So, David comes to me, right, tells me he’s a vampire—says he thinks he figured out how to turn a human. He said he wanted to turn his girlfriend but wasn't sure if it’d work—said if it didn't, she’d die.”
Jason nodded. “Yeah, that’s true. So, what, he wanted to test on you?”
“Since I was dying anyway, we figured it was a good way to go.” He laid back on his elbow, smiling. “We got some beers, got wasted, and he did his thing. Next thing I know, I'm being hauled away in some pine box.”
I covered my mouth. “So you got buried?”
He looked back at me. “Yeah. But David warned me I would. Said he’d come for me before my phone battery ran out.”
“So, he knew you were alive? That whole time—even at your funeral?”
“Yeah.” Nate laughed. “When they closed the casket, he walked up and made some smart-ass joke—had me pissing myself laughing. I couldn’t hold it.” He looked at Jason. “I had to lay in my own waste for about ten hours—playin’ Tetris.”
Jason covered his mouth with a tight fist, laughing. “Good thing you didn't get your mouth sewn up by the mortician.”
“Nah, David said he took care of all that—said I went into a coma for a bit first, so he had a doctor diagnose me with some rare virus, then forged himself a degree and was the ‘on-call’ guy for the funeral home the day I ‘died’.”
“What about your mum?” I stomped my foot down. “She cried for you!”
Nathan stood and faced me. “I know. But…I was dying. There was nothing we could do about that, and I couldn’t stay—how would I justify my sudden cure and lack of heartbeat?”
“Not to mention, the Set wouldn’t allow it,” Jason added.
I knew that—I knew all of it, but somehow it just didn't make it okay.
“David left her some money,” Nathan said. “I didn't have none to give, so he paid all the expenses, you know, made an anonymous donation at that benefit concert.” He shoved his hands in his jeans pockets. “I miss her, Ara, you know. I didn't wanna leave her, but I check in on her all the time.”
I nodded. “I know. I'm sorry, Nathan. Of course you didn't want this. I just…I'm just still struggling to deal with all this, too.”
He appeared beside me at vamp speed and touched my shoulder. “I know how you feel.”
I smiled at him.
“Hey, Nate.” Jason stood. “Can you give us a minute?”
“Yeah.” He dropped his hand from my arm and shook Jason's. “Good to see you again, man.”
“You too, bro.” Jason gave a one-armed hug and walked him to the door, closing it behind him.
“I didn't know you knew Nathan.” I dropped my hands to my hips.
“Yeah. He’s the only one of Em’s friends I ever met. They hung out quite a bit.”
“Cool.” I nodded. “So, David turned him. Did you know that?”
He shook his head, coming to stand right in front of me. “Nah. But I kinda suspected it.”
“But…he told me it wasn't him.”
“Actually, I said I didn't kill Nathan.”
I looked up to the new voice in the room. “David!”
“Whoa, that’s happiness to see me,” he said, wrapping his arms around my head and shoulders as I launched into his loving embrace.