“And I’d rather you had something to eat before you go.” He gives me a hard look that lets me know in no uncertain terms that this is one thing he is not budging on. “It’s not like you can just drop into a restaurant out there in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness, and the Bloodletter definitely isn’t going to have anything you might want to eat. So stop by the cafeteria before you go. You can grab a sandwich to eat now, and I’ll make sure they also pack you some food to take with you—since I assume you’ll be staying overnight.”
I hadn’t thought that far ahead—hadn’t thought about anything other than getting Hudson out of me—and I’m grateful that Uncle Finn has. Especially considering I skipped lunch today, and my stomach is currently reminding me of that in no uncertain terms.
“Thanks, Uncle Finn.” I go up on tiptoes to kiss his cheek.
He responds by patting my back a little awkwardly, even as he says, “Be careful out there. And let Jaxon take the lead with the Bloodletter. He knows her better than anyone.”
I nod, even as I wonder what he means—and what it means for Jaxon that the person who raised him, the person he knows best in the world, is also a woman known for her viciousness.
“Come on, Grace. I’ll help you pick out what you need to wear,” Macy says as she starts bustling me toward the exit.
I go along with her, glancing back only to give Jaxon a wave and to mouth, Thirty minutes, at him.
He nods back, but I can see the upset in his eyes. And I get it. I do. I’m trying my best not to freak out about Hudson, too, but the truth is, I’m hanging on by a small freaking thread. Jaxon has to be feeling the same way, with an added dose of feeling responsible for the situation, because he’s Jaxon and that’s how he deals with every situation—especially ones that involve me.
“You ready?” Macy asks, watching as I turn from Jaxon to head up to our room.
“No,” I answer. But I keep walking forward. Because some days, what a girl wants to do and what she needs to do are two very different things.
29
I’m Too Sexy for
My Coat…and So
Is Everyone Else
“Nice coat,” Jaxon says when he sees me thirty minutes later, and the painfully tight line of his mouth curves upward.
I’m dressed in about six layers to protect me from the wilderness—including a hot-pink puffer coat that predators can probably see from fifty miles away—but when Macy proudly laid it on my bed, I didn’t have the heart, or the energy, to say no.
“Don’t start,” I say, then look him over for something to make fun of as well. Of course, there’s nothing. He’s dressed head to toe in all-black winter wear and he looks good, really good. Nothing at all like an escapee from a cotton-candy factory.
As we walk down the front steps of the school, I expect to see a snowmobile parked at the bottom of them. But there’s nothing, and I look at Jaxon in confusion, even as I duck my face a little deeper into the wool scarf that covers me from cheekbone to chest.
“The temperature is going to drop at least twenty degrees in the next couple of hours,” he tells me as he pulls me close. “I don’t want you out here any longer than you have to be.”
“Yeah, but won’t a snowmobile help with that?” I ask. I mean, it’s got to be better than hiking, right?
But Jaxon just laughs. “A snowmobile will only slow us down.”
“What exactly does that mean?”
“It means we’re going to fade.”
“Fade?” I have no idea what that means, but it doesn’t sound particularly appealing. Then again, what about this situation is appealing? Visiting an ancient vampire and hoping she doesn’t kill us? Living with a psychopath inside my head? Having no memory of the last four months?
Screw it. Whatever fading is, whatever Jaxon has in mind, has got to be better than anything else we’re dealing with right now.
Which is why I just nod when Jaxon explains that fading is a vampire thing and it involves moving very, very fast from one place to another.
I start to ask how fast is fast, but does it matter? As long as we get to the Bloodletter and figure out what to do about Hudson before he decides to turn my life into a fictional TV show called Bodysnatched, we could swim to the Bloodletter’s cave and I wouldn’t care.
“So what exactly do I need to do?” I ask as Jaxon moves in front of me.
“I pick you up in my arms,” he answers, “and then you hang on tight.”