Chapter Twenty-Seven
Silas was safe, that was all that mattered. Not the hole in his memories and not the sense of loss that he couldn't quite pinpoint. He helped Silas out of the building and into the back of Collin's car, which he'd borrowed for its tinted windows.
Remy sat in the driver's seat, waiting. Jared nodded at him as he took his seat next to Silas in the back. Without Remy's help, he'd likely never have been able to open the door to the building. In any case, it would have taken him a lot more time. Time that he evidently hadn't had.
Once they were both settled, Remy started the car. "I'm glad you're safe," he said. His face had gone oddly pale, almost as if he were about to turn into a vampire himself.
"I didn't think I was going to be," Silas admitted.
Jared's stomach clenched. He'd come so close to losing Silas. Too close. The image of him on the ground with a stake in his chest would haunt him forever. Those horrible seconds when he'd thought he'd been too late, that Silas was already dead.
When he didn’t know if he could save him.
Silas's fingers stroked down his arm, as if he knew exactly what was going on inside of Jared. "I'm sorry for scaring you," he murmured, softly, as if he didn't want Remy to hear.
Jared shook his head. "It's fine now." He only needed to remind himself of that. The worst hadn't happened, and he was never going to let it happen.
"Thank you for... for saving me."
"Any time." Jared grasped Silas's hand and intertwined their fingers. He wasn't going to let go again any time soon. Maybe Silas could sense that too, because he smiled.
"What happened in there?" Remy asked, even though he kept his eyes on the road.
"I got into an argument with another vampire," Silas said. Evidently, he didn't want Remy to know how close he'd come to dying. Or what he'd been trying to do. Go back to his coven... The whole idea was ridiculous in Jared's eyes. Silas didn't need a coven. Jared would give him everything he needed.
"We need to get back home," Jared said before Remy could ask any more questions. "See about that prophecy."
"You know where we need to go for that?" Remy's eyes darted to Jared's reflection in the window.
"The gem told me."
"What did you sacrifice for that?" Remy asked, and Jared felt Silas tense next to him as well.
"I told you, I don't know."
Silas chewed his lower lip, deep in thought. "You still remember me, and you still remember Remy, so you must remember your family..."
"Of course I remember my family. Remy, Elena, Collin, Luke..." How could he ever forget his siblings?
Silas looked at him with uncertainty in his eyes. "What about your other family?"
"What other family?"
Silas's face fell. Jared's first indication that something was wrong.
"What are you talking about?" he asked, squeezing Silas's hand.
"You forgot your birth family?" Remy asked, a hint of tension in his voice.
"My birth family?" Jared wanted to say more, but stopped himself. Before he could continue, he needed to search his memory. He knew that he was adopted, so in some regards, what Silas and Remy were implying made sense. That he'd had another family before his adoptive siblings became his family. The idea didn't ring true, though. If he'd had another family, wouldn't he remembersomething?
How could he forget something so monumental?
"When we get home, there's a picture of them on your bedside table." Silas's voice had become small. "Maybe if you look at it you can remember something. You care about them a lot. Every year you write them a letter and you put it in a bottle with a ship... We went to the beach, do you remember that?"
They had gone to the beach, hadn't they? He'd wanted Silas to write a letter to his sire. For some reason, he'd thought that would be a good idea. Because it was what he used to do?
"You really don't remember..." Silas dropped his gaze to his lap.
