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“If I’m one half each of two different things, it doesn’t leave any room left over for being anything else. ”
“You looked human. I mean, you looked like you do now. Only with less bruises. ”
It was taking awhile for Holden’s blood to work its magic. I’d already started to feel better, but vampire blood could only do so much. I wasn’t actively bleeding anymore, and most of the major swelling had started to go down. By morning I’d probably still look bad but less like I’d wandered out of the emergency room a week too soon.
“I wasn’t human. ”
“How do you know you are now?” She sat back, placing her hands in her lap and watching me expectantly. Her long blonde hair hung in straight curtains over her shoulders, pushed back at the crown with a glittery pink headband. Her shirt was a cute button-up number in cotton-candy color, but it worked on her. Pink always worked on Brigit. Rio was curled up behind her on the headrest, purring loudly, having come out of hiding shortly after Holden left.
“I can go out in the sun. I can eat stuff other than blood. I can’t beat you up anymore. ”
Brigit smiled. “So now would be a good time to challenge you to an arm-wrestling contest?”
“Now would be a good time for people to challenge me to anything. That’s why you’re here. ” I explained Holden’s theory to her and how dangerous it was for me to be around other vampires until we knew what was happening. Halfway through my explanation my gaze drifted back to Desmond, and he and I stared at each other while I spoke to Brigit.
When I was finished, he was the one who spoke. “We could leave,” he said.
“Could we?” I leaned back into the loveseat, and Rio’s restless tail flicked me in the forehead. “I mean it, Des, could we? Just up and make a break for it?”
“Why not? What are we staying for? Not for Lucas anymore. ”
“What about the pack?” I watched him and saw the moment he understood what I meant. “The pack is more than Lucas alone. It’s your dad’s pack, or it was. It’s your brother’s pack. It’s your pack. ”
“What else?”
“We have responsibilities. Both of us. ”
Desmond got to his feet and started pacing the living room. “Do they apply anymore, though? The pack was your responsibility when you were a wolf. The council was your responsibility when you were a vampire. Now you’re…you’re—”
“Nothing. Now I’m nothing. ”
He crossed the room and crouched in front of me, taking my hands in his. “You are not nothing. ”
Brigit sighed the way a dreamy romantic watching a good movie might.
“I’m not special anymore. ” I wasn’t saying it to be melodramatic or mopey. The fact of the matter was I had become something utterly normal and average.
He kissed my fingertips and stared up at me. “What are you staying for?”
“If I leave, I put everyone here in danger. ”
“People can take care of themselves. I’m worried about you being in danger. ” He was looking at my face, and I knew what he saw. Bumps and bruises. Tangible signs I wasn’t unbreakable anymore.
I shook my head and pulled one hand free so I could touch his slightly stubbled jaw. “I love you. But we can’t leave. Trouble has a way of finding me no matter where I go. ” Understatement-of-the-year award goes to…
“Maybe it’s time you stop worrying about other people and start worrying about yourself. ”
“He has a point,” Brigit chimed in. “If you are human, what good are you? I mean, like, no offense of course. But you totally got your ass handed to you by a werewolf tonight. ” She sneered at the word werewolf before casting a glance to Desmond. “No offense. ”
“None taken?” he replied uncertainly.
“I’m not useless,” I argued. “I have training. I can still fight. Only now I need to find a new way to do it. Nolan isn’t useless,” I said to Brigit. “Shane isn’t useless. And they
’re humans. ”
“But they grew up learning how to fight,” Desmond said.
“And they know how to get beaten up,” Brigit added.
