Page 43 of Wonder
“Completely understandable.” I switched the call to speakerphone. “Okay, Simon’s here. Simon, this is Amelia Mishra. She and her husband Bennie were out walking and lost time. They have bite wounds on their necks.”
“Hi, Amelia. That must have been very scary. Reno says you’re home now and safe?”
“Yes. We’re just so frightened.”
“Of course you are.” Simon stared down at the phone, his voice warm and comforting. “Do you have any injuries other than the bites?”
“No.”
“Good. And you’ll be relieved to hear that vampire saliva has antibiotic properties, and it should heal quickly. However, you might have a small scar.”
She started to cry again. “Thank you for telling me.”
“Before you do anything else, I want both of you to eat something and drink at least a full glass of water. Can you do that?”
“Yes. Yes, we can.”
“Good. I don’t think you’re in any more danger from them, but you might feel better if you stayed with a friend or at a hotel tonight.”
“Oh, that does sound like a good idea. Thank you so much.”
While Simon wrapped up the call, I had a hard talk with myself. It was time to face facts. If we were going to find these fucking vampires before they hurt or killed someone else, I had to be able to call visions.
I had to bond with Simon. Mate with him. Now.
Fuck.
I stood up and went inside, not waiting to get my phone from Simon. Nicky and Jackson were watchingMy Hero Academia. “Hey, are y’all ready for dinner?”
Both of them were enthusiastic. Despite being stocked with groceries, I wasn’t in the mood to cook. We were out of tamales, and pretty low on soup, so delivery it was. Nicky had a list of things he wanted to try, but I didn’t want to upset his stomach, so we compromised on Chinese food. I didn’t order anything spicy or fried, and I got extra rice.
Simon had come inside, and he was sitting at the kitchen table going back and forth between my phone and his. I felt a niggle of guilt, but I was mostly grateful he had taken on some of the messages from the Wonders.
Cal and Greg needed to be alerted about what had happened to the Mishras, but instead I went into my bedroom. I wanted a few minutes to myself so I could make sure of my decision.
I sat down on the bed, then I thought,fuck it, and got fully prone with my head on a pillow.
Okay, we had to find the escaped vampires. The Mishras lived on the north side of town, but the vampires could be anywhere. They could’ve stolen a car, or maybe they were flying around in their fog forms.
I could only think of two options to find them. First, I could have a vision that would tell us where they were or would be. Second, we could set up a trap and use Nicky as bait.
No way was the second one happening, which meant I needed to have a vision. I’d tried to call one this morning, but I hadn’t been able to. Of course I’d had my mating connection to Simon blocked, so that might’ve prevented me from getting as much upside to my abilities as I could have had.
Okay, so step one would be to unblock the connection and try to call a vision. No pressure or anything. Just laying all of myemotions bare for Simon to feel, and knowing if I couldn’t call this vision, I’d have to complete the mating.
I let myself have a one-minute primal scream as close to a whisper as I could make it. Then I relaxed my muscles one by one and focused on my breathing. When I was nearing a meditative state, I released the block I had on the mating connection. I had to ride out the surge of emotions coming from his end—worry, stress, desire, and sadness—before I was ready to try.
I wasn’t sure exactly what would work for me, so I went with the first thing I thought of. I visualized my hands raised in a classic framing pose: forefingers and thumbs in an “L”, and each hand creating a corner of a rectangle. Into the frame I pictured the question,Where are the escaped vampires?I added their names, Marcas and Roibeart, in case it would help. Not that I knew which was which.
I waited, making sure my mind felt open to receive the vision. Nothing. After about two minutes, I gave up.
“Fuck.”
I rolled off the bed and got to my feet, unable to keep still anymore. I’d only paced one length of the bedroom when the doorbell rang. Dinner was here.
Grateful for the distraction, I went downstairs into the living room. Simon had retrieved the food and was taking it to the kitchen. He gave me a long look, but he didn’t say anything. Fuck, the connection was still open. I was too tired to bother blocking it, and if we got mated later, he’d be all up in my business anyway, so I just let it be.
The table was already set. Jackson and I helped Nicky walk over to it. He was doing a little better every time he tried. His magical core was slightly brighter too.
