“The fifth item is near the North Pole,” Jaxon continues with a deliberate sneer on his mouth as he says it—definitely rubbing in the whole “we’re going to make you human and you have no say in it” thing to Hudson. Which, not going to lie, is totally well deserved after everything Hudson did.
“The North Pole? What’s there? I mean, besides Santa’s workshop?”
Jaxon and the Bloodletter both kind of raise eyebrows at that, so I give them a sheepish smile. “Not the right time for levity, huh?”
“I thought it was funny,” Hudson says. “Besides, I bet you’d look cute in one of those tiny little elf costumes with the bells on the toes.”
“Excuse me?” I say, not sure if he’s making fun of how short I am or if he’s implying something lascivious and inappropriate. Either way, I’m really not okay with it.
For once, Hudson is mysteriously silent. The jerk.
“The Unkillable Beast,” the Bloodletter finally answers, and there’s something in the way she says it that has me looking at her more closely. Something that has the hair on the back of my neck standing up and the rest of me trying to figure out just what feels so off about the voice she used.
But her face is impassive, her eyes placid pools of green, so I decide I must have imagined it. And focus instead on what she said and not how she said it. “Unkillable?” I repeat. “That sounds very…not good.”
“You have no idea,” the Bloodletter agrees. “But it’s the only way to break the covenant and take Hudson’s power away for good.”
I expect Hudson to protest the idea—maybe something snarky about no reason to get ourselves killed on his account when he’s quite happy keeping his power—but he doesn’t say a word. He just stares at the Bloodletter with his sharp, watchful gaze.
When I turn back to Jaxon, it’s to find him and the Bloodletter watching me expectantly. “I’m sorry, did I miss something?” I lift my brows in question.
“I asked if you wanted to try the wall thing,” Jaxon says.
I don’t even pause to give Hudson a chance to react. “Good God, yes.”
Because a thought is starting to take form in my head that has dread pooling in my stomach. If Hudson already knew how to get out and was taking control of my body to make that happen… What was he planning on doing once he was out? Kill them all?
“There’s that mean streak in you again, Grace.”
It’s only after Hudson walks into the shadows and disappears that I realize he never answered my question.
37
Sweet Dreams Are
Made of Anything
But This
Turns out, building a mental wall isn’t as hard as I thought it would be. Just placing individual bricks around a part of my mind. And the Bloodletter was right: my own defense mechanisms had gotten started all on their own, so the only thing I had to do was finish piling them higher and mortar them in place with sheer grit and determination.
Several hours later, after the Bloodletter had satisfied herself that the wall would hold, she lowers the bars and sets me free again.
I all but run out of the room and throw myself into Jaxon’s arms. No offense to the Bloodletter and her ice cave, but I can’t get back to school soon enough. Something about being trapped in a frozen cage and having no control over my life or my fate just does that to me. Shocking, I know.
Turns out, leaving isn’t quite possible yet, though, not when Jaxon has gone to the trouble of setting out the meal Uncle Finn had insisted we pack for me.
“Thank you so much,” I tell him as I all but devour the turkey sandwich and chips he’s arranged on a napkin beside a thermos of water. “This might be my new favorite food in the world.”
Jaxon raises one eyebrow. “And what would your old favorite food have been?”
I laugh. “I’m from San Diego. Tacos, of course.”
Now that I’ve eaten, I can feel, maybe, a little bit more hospitable to the woman who kept me locked in a cage all night. Maybe. So I force myself to smile and say, “Thank you for all your help.”
She waves in the general direction of the cave entrance. “It’s time for you two to be leaving.”
And just like that, we’ve been dismissed. Which is fine with me. I’m more than eager to finally say goodbye to these caves and this strange, ancient vampire who seems to have more secrets than I ever want to know.
The trip back isn’t quite as exhilarating as the trip to the Bloodletter’s cave—partly because we’re both so tired and partly because Hudson keeps up a running commentary in my head that makes it hard to concentrate on anything Jaxon has to say. I know I’m going to have to figure out what to do about that sooner rather than later, but for now I just concentrate on keeping the peace.