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She blinked. “You and Declan hooked up?”
I eyed her. “That’s your takeaway from that summary?”
“Like,literallyhooked up?”
“Let’s save this conversation for a time when we’re not trying to escape with our lives intact, shall we?” I told her.
She glanced over her shoulder at Declan.
“He was never very nice to me,” she said. “But I didn’t really care. I always fell hardest for the bad boys, you know?”
“Oh, I know,” I agreed.
“Jackson always told me that he wasn’t the right guy for me, that I should look somewhere else if I didn’t want my heart broken.” She laughed then, a humorless sound. “Still haven’t met a guy who hadn’t broken my heart yet.”
“Well, you’re only twenty-three. There are a lot more guys out there, Jennifer, trust me on that. And I know one of them will be the right one for you.”
“Is Declan the right guy for you?” she asked pointedly.
I was silent for a moment, focusing on putting one foot in front of the other as I found the next stair and the next. Floor twelve now.
“Have you ever noticed there’s never a thirteenth floor in buildings?” I asked.
“You’re changing the subject,” she pointed out.
“Good catch.”
She looked down at her stomach. “What am I going to do, Jill? What happened last night plays in my head, over and over. Stacy...she didn’t want to die.”
“Did Dr. Reynolds try to save her life?” I asked.
“He did. I mean, I think he tried as much as he could.” She shuddered. “The baby looked so wrong, like it wasn’t human. It had talons for hands, and it sliced off a nurse’s finger before they took it out of the room.”
My stomach lurched. “I’m sorry you had to see that.”
“Jackson’s never told me anything like that exists,” she said.
“He’s tried to protect you. That’s what big brothers do for their kid sisters.”
This statement made her fall silent, her tense expression turning pained. “I love him, you know. Despite him being an asshole to me most of the time. I shouldn’t have run away. When I see him again, I’m going to make things right between us.”
“Good,” I said softly.
I didn’t know how I was going to tell her that her brother was dead. That he was only here because he worked for Dr. Reynolds and clearly, to me, knew she was here and wanted to ensure her safety by any means possible. Maybe I’d never know the true story behind Jackson’s employment by the scientist, but I had no doubt that he’d cared deeply for his sister.
I’d promised Matthias that I’d look after Sara and keep her safe. That was now out of my hands but I had to believe that Declan had done the right thing and handed her over to a trustworthy guardian. Given our current situation that didn’t have a clear outcome just yet, I had confidence that he’d been one hundred percent right to do what he’d done.
But now Jackson’s sister needed help. And if we managed to make it to sunlight—still another seven floors to go—then I wasn’t going to abandon her. I didn’t know what she carried within her. It was a monster dhampyr or a dhampyr like Sara, like Declan. Either way, I promised myself that I’d do everything I could to ensure that she got help and wouldn’t end up like Lawrence’s wife.
Helping Jennifer would make it easier to forget that I’d placed my remaining hope in Dr. Reynolds to help me survive the Nightshade in my blood. And now he was dead. But if I had the strength to climb up twenty floors—nineteen, really, since there was no thirteenth floor…
“Bad luck,” I muttered.
“What?” Jennifer asked.
“No thirteenth floor because so many people think it’s bad luck.” I had to laugh at that, just a little. “I’ll take an unpopular number over a thirsty vampire any day.”
“Me too,” she agreed.
