Page 15 of Wonder
“I’m going by Jackson now.” They tucked their phone back in the pocket of their trench coat.
“You are?” Shane stepped forward, then stopped. “Uh, that’s great, Jackson. Thanks for telling us.” I guessed they hadn’t discussed it on the three-hour drive from Houston. He waved. “Hi, Nicky. I’m Shane. I’m another District Monitor.”
Uncertain of what to do next, I was grateful when Shirley came over.
“Hey, Nicky, I’m Shirley. That big blond goof over there is my son, Tucker.” She crouched next to Thomas. “How does your head feel? Any aches or pains? You took a nasty fall.”
“I did? I don’t feel anything.” His eyes seemed to land on the window above us before darting away to look in the other direction.
Shirley ignored this. “Are you thirsty or hungry?”
His eyes shot back to her. “You’ll let me eat?”
My entire body froze. Simon made a low whining sound.
Shirley, bless her, just smiled. “Yes, whenever you want. You can’t have too much all at once right now, but we’ll get you back to eatin’ full meals as soon as possible.” She turned her head and gestured, and Anika came over with a bottle of water and a single-serve pouch of applesauce.
Since Nicky was still propped up against Jackson, Anika handed him the water while Shirley tore open the applesauce pouch. I was relieved to see Nicky had enough strength to hold the water bottle on his own.
“Incoming!” Tucker pointed toward the road. Three large black SUVs turned into the driveway.
“Must be the Hunters.” I got to my feet, which was harder than usual because my muscles were stiffening up. As I walked past Simon I patted him on the shoulder—on hisnakedshoulder—and I immediately felt like a dumbass for doing it. Our magics were still resonating, so I decided to blame it on that. But magic didn’t cause the feel of his warm skin to linger on my hand.
Dominic Shaw, the guy in charge of the Hunters in Texas, was in the first SUV. I’d seen him on Zoom calls before, but never in person. He was big, probably as tall as Simon but with muscular shoulders and a military bearing. He shook my hand, and, once all of his crew gathered around, asked me for a summary of the situation. I didn’t mention who or what Nicky was, only that he’d been held captive for many years. I introduced Jackson to the Hunters as Jackson walked past us on the way to Shane’s SUV. The Hunters all stared, but nobody said anything about Jackson’s appearance or human form.
When I'd told the Hunters everything I knew about the vampires, Dominic gave me a businesslike nod. “Thanks.” He pointed at some of the Hunters. “You four search the house and grounds. Parkerson and Chen, determine the direction the escaped vampires were moving when they went foggy, and head into the forest thirty minutes in that direction to see if you can pick up any scent or tracks. Ross and Fortunata, you’re with the captives. Check in with Shirley over there.” He turned back to me. “We’ve arranged for rooms at a hotel for the captives, and we’ll post guards. We have some burner phones for them to use to talk to their families.”
“Okay. I need to see what Simon wants to do, but I’m going to invite Nicky and him to stay at my house.” Tia would murder meif I let Nicky stay anywhere else, and I knew Simon would want to be close to him. My brain helpfully pointed out that I wouldn’t mind being closer to him either, but I shut the thought down.
Dominic stood taller and narrowed his eyes at me. “He’ll be safer at a hotel.”
I straightened my spine right back at him. “He’s been a prisoner long enough. Plus he’s malnourished and will need small meals every few hours. But why don’t we ask Nicky where he wants to go, seeing as he’s an adult and everything?”
Dominic swept his hand out in anafter yougesture. “By all means.”
I marched the ten or so feet over to where Nicky was still lying on the ground, but he’d fallen asleep. Simon was still sitting with him though. “Hey.” He looked up at me and smiled. Fuck, the man was gorgeous. I wished our magic wasn’t resonating so strongly, because I’d have loved to see if he was interested in a hookup. But doing that when we were resonating was tantamount to making a commitment. “Uh, the Hunters have hotel rooms, but I thought you and Nicky, and probably Shane and Jackson, could come stay with me tonight. I’ve got the room, and my tia made soup and tamales.”
Simon’s smile got even wider, a reaction weirdly out of proportion to my offer. “I would love to. Thank you. I’m sure Nicky would prefer staying at your house to a hotel.” He’d probably heard my entire conversation with Dominic, so he’d known what I was going to ask before I said anything.
I stuck my hands in my pockets. “Great. Um, obviously the priority is keeping Nicky safe, but maybe tomorrow we can also strategize about how to track down the two runaway vamps.” Idarted a glance over at Dominic. “Assuming the Hunters don’t find them tonight, of course.”
Simon lost his smile, and his entire body slumped. “They changed to their mist form. The Hunters won’t be able to follow them. And you should warn the Wonders in the area. The vampires will need to feed.” He looked down at the sleeping Elf. “But more than anything they’ll want Nicky back.”
Fuck. Nicky was way too weak to be used as bait, but if we waited, the vamps would attack Wonders for their blood. And without anywhere to hold them captive, they wouldn’t bother keeping their victims alive.
I opened my Discord chat with the local Wonders. There were over thirty messages—some private, some not—that I barely glanced at. Bernard Laurent’s daughter could wait to tell her boyfriend about the campaign, and I’d check out Anjelica Rios’ disguise for her passport photo in a day or two.
I quickly composed a message telling everyone that there were vampires on the loose and not to go anywhere alone. I asked them to please spread the word and to let me know if they saw or heard anything. Fuck, why couldn’t this District have a real DM?
Jackson, having eaten a large quantity of snacks, was napping in the back of Shane’s SUV. I looked around for Shane, intending to invite him and Jackson to stay with me tonight. Before I found him, Anika broke away from the group of ex-captives and came over to us, a blanket wrapped around her.
“Reno?” She glanced back at the others, then seemed to steel herself. “Can we get your phone number?” She met Simon’s eyes. “Um, both of yours, I guess? We don’t know if our old numbersare even still working, but we want to stay in touch with each other. Nicky’s staying with you, right?”
I nodded. “Makes sense. I’m happy to share everybody’s numbers as they get them.”
She nodded and produced a paper napkin. I told her my number, and Simon told her his. I ended up putting his in my phone as well, since I’d probably need it over the next few days.
Before Anika could leave again, Simon held up a hand. “You and the others are pretty thin on connections after what the, uh, other vampires did to you. Would you like to add me and Reno?”
