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Simon smiled, looking inappropriately happy considering the mess we were in. "It's gone, Caitlin. When I came to, I could feel that it was gone. I could always feel the other presence inside of me, yet when I became conscious there was nothing. Just me."
Hope flooded inside of me. Maybe somehow when I had vanquished the two vardogers, I had gotten rid of Simon's vardoger as well. The force of my energy had never felt as strong as it did then. It didn't make sense, but I didn't care at this point. All that mattered was that Simon was now free.
I smiled at Simon, feeling genuine happiness. Although Simon's actions and attitude about Claudia had frightened me, I knew he had done it to protect me, to save me. Simon leaned over me, kissing me gently. When he pulled back, he was gazing at me lovingly.
"We're going to tell the police that Claudia was jealous, that she wanted to be with me. You came here looking for your aunt, and she followed you. She was enraged when she found us together and knocked me unconscious." Simon frowned. "They'll have to believe she was strong enough to do that. I'll say she caught me off guard. She tried to stab you, bashing your head in the process, and you two struggled. You were trying to grab the knife away and it slipped, stabbing her in the chest. You'll have to say she fell on the knife to explain how there was enough force for it to go into her chest."
I felt overwhelmed by Simon's story, but I nodded. The sirens got much louder and I heard a commotion outside. I told myself to keep the facts of the story straight, convincing myself that Simon knew best.
Chapter Thirteen
The aftermath was dizzying. I was rushed to the hospital where I was poked and prodded by various doctors. After a CT scan, I was diagnosed with a concussion and was required to stay overnight for observation. That didn't stop the police from questioning me at length, and I repeated the same story over and over again. I was frantic to see Simon, but he was being questioned separately.
I insisted that the police do something about my aunt's disappearance. She had been missing for four days and they assured me that they would file a missing person's report, although they still seemed skeptical when I insisted foul play was involved. I told them about Lenore's disappearance too, mentioning Marie and Cecelia as well, but I wasn't sure if they were actually missing. I was hard-pressed to explain the circumstances of Lenore's disappearance since I couldn't tell them it was Claudia because it didn't fit into the story Simon and I had devised. So I simply told them that when Lenore and I went back to my aunt's house, an intruder knocked her unconscious while I was upstairs. When I heard the commotion and ran downstairs, I found her on the floor, but when I went to the kitchen to use the phone to call the police, I heard a noise. When I went back into the living room, my aunt's body had disappeared. I told them I was afraid that the intruder was still in the house and fled, too scared to call the police.
The police looked incredulous as they listened to my story, but I insisted that if they went to my aunt's house they would find Lenore's blood. They agreed that they would follow up on it, but by their looks I knew they were just humoring me, thinking my concussion was making me confused.
After the police left, my first thought was to call Sarah. She was upset when I told her I was hurt, but I didn't tell her what happened because I was too paranoid that someone would overhear our conversation. I placated her with reassurances that I would be back at Maxwell soon, convincing her not to come down to see me although it took a lot of effort on my part.
I debated whether or not to call my father, but I didn't want him to hear about this on the news. I was pretty sure the fact that I had supposedly killed a college girl in self-defense would hit the media. The conversation was quick and I was surprised when he offered to come to the hospital, but I assured him it wasn't necessary. Despite the way we had parted earlier, my father refrained from making any mention of our argument and I followed his lead, pretending like it had never happened.
It was hours later when Simon walked into my room, looking tired and worn out. He didn't say a word, simply walking over and enveloping me in a hug. I hugged him back fiercely, the solid warmth of his body comforting me like nothing else could. We stayed that way for a while, my face buried in his neck, the warm masculi
ne scent that was singularly Simon soothing me like a balm.
When Simon finally pulled back, it was to kiss me gently, being careful not to disturb the bandage on the back of my head. Instead of passion, there was love and relief in his kiss, an affirmation that we had survived. Simon stayed overnight in the hospital room with me and we didn't talk much, although we couldn't seem to stop touching each other, as if we were each trying to reassure ourselves that the other was okay. I was relieved when no visions or dreams disturbed my sleep.
I awoke with a horrible headache the next morning, with the pills my nurse gave me only helping slightly. I was released from the hospital and Simon took me to his house, where his mother, his housekeeper Maxine and his sister fell all over me, shocked because Simon hadn't called them from the hospital to tell them what happened. They cried over Simon, hugging him repeatedly and asking if he was really okay. His father was on a business trip and Simon argued with them, not wanting them to call him because he didn't want his father rushing back for no reason. They finally relented and I had a feeling that Simon's real motive for not wanting his father to come home was to prevent putting any more pressure on me.
Embarrassing as it was, I appreciated everyone's concern. I appreciated their discretion even more. I wondered if Simon had said something to his family and Maxine, because they didn't ask me any questions about what happened. I was relieved because I didn't think I could lie to them as easily as I had lied to the police.
As expected, Simon and I were all over the news, and his father had been the one to call, angry that he had been left in the dark. Simon had placated him as best as he could, but his father ended up coming home on Saturday. His father hadn't said much, just asking us both if we were okay and hugging his son fiercely.
I ended up calling Sarah and telling her the real story. She had been shocked and sickened by the details, but her overriding emotion was relief that we were okay.
We stayed through the weekend, and by Sunday I was feeling like myself again although I still had a dull ache every time I moved my head too sharply. The police had been by to visit us several times, and I was shocked to learn the back story of Claudia's life. The real Claudia. She had no family to call her own, an orphan who had been brought up in foster care and sent out into the world to fend for herself when she turned eighteen. I mourned for her; the Claudia that had passed earlier without anyone knowing, for the girl who had put herself through school by sheer will, working several jobs to cover what her scholarship didn't, whose potential would never be realized. I promised myself that her death wouldn't be in vain.
Simon and I returned to school on Monday since there was nothing left to do in Connecticut. The police promised to keep me updated on the progress of the missing person cases, although it was with a heavy heart that I realized that I may never get answers on that front.
The next couple of weeks were a blur. Despite everything that had happened, life settled back into a somewhat normal routine. I attended classes, spent time with my friends, and watched Simon perform at the East End. But what I was really waiting for was the visions to start again. I had promised myself that Claudia's death wouldn't be in vain, and I was anxious to have visions again so that I could start tracking vardogers. But they didn't come. At first I thought it had something to do with my head injury, but as days passed with no visions, despite being fully recovered, I began to wonder if they would ever return. I had always hoped that my visions would disappear, but that was before I realized why I was having them. I knew I couldn't just pretend that life was normal and that there weren't shadows out there killing people. I had experienced a paradigm shift in my outlook on life, and now my lack of visions made me anxious and frustrated.
It was a late Friday afternoon, a week before Thanksgiving, when I stopped by Simon's apartment before work. Simon's blue eyes lit up when he opened the door, ushering me inside from the cold.
"This is a nice surprise," he said as he leaned down, kissing me as if he hadn't seen me in days, although we had just seen each other this morning. I kissed him back just as eagerly, still reveling in the freedom of being able to love Simon openly and honestly, knowing that he knew everything about me and still wanted me.
"I just thought I'd say hi before I headed down to Colette's." I was breathless from the kiss and Simon's roving hands underneath my coat made it even harder to catch my breath. Pleasure tingled through me when his hands slipped underneath my shirt, caressing my back and sending tiny shivers throughout my body, but I wriggled out of his grasp. At this rate, I would never get to the diner. "I'm going to be late if you keep that up."
Simon grinned, pulling me back towards him. "I'm okay with that."
I slapped his hands away and rolled my eyes, although I wasn't really annoyed. "Behave. Or else I'll have second thoughts about coming over tonight."
Simon immediately put his hands up, looking innocent. I had promised to come over and spend the night at his apartment after my shift at Colette's and he didn't seem to want to take a chance on me backing out. He didn't need to know that there was nothing he could do to make me not show up.
"I'll be the perfect gentleman."
"I'm talking about now, not tonight." Simon's eyebrows shot up at my words, and I wanted to kick myself. I didn't want Simon to get the wrong idea. We had gotten much closer physically these past few weeks, but I wasn't ready to have sex. I hadn't told Simon yet that I was a virgin and I was hesitant about broaching the subject, but it was more than my lack of experience that made me hesitate. So much had happened recently that I felt a little overwhelmed by how quickly things had changed and I needed to process it before I took such a big step. And for the first time in my life, I felt like I had plenty of time to explore my relationship with Simon. I was hoping that we had a long future together, so there was no hurry to rush things.
"I didn't mean..." I trailed off, feeling gauche and inexperienced. A flush started from my cheeks all the way down to my toes. Simon tenderly tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, smiling gently.
