Growing Wildflowers | WLW

Tansy

I don't have time to digest the possibility of sharing a gift with Leah because Sophie slams on her brakes so hard I nearly fly into the front seat between her and John. A man in a button up and dark jeans sprints across the road, arms pumping, chest heaving like something is chasing him but there's no one else besides an elderly woman on the opposite side of the road. It's not clear until he propels his body forward, tackling the woman to the ground, that he's the chaser, not the chased. Sophie shouts something and winces as they crash into the sidewalk, toppling over each other. From this angle, I'd swear a zombie apocalypse started while we were in the Vanderbilts home. The way he digs into the side of the woman's neck with his teeth. It's obvious by the time Sophie clicks her seatbelt off though... He's one of us.

"What in the hell is a blood sucker doing draining someone in the middle of the city in broad daylight?" John shouts.

Sophie doesn't answer him, only grumbles something I don't understand, and puts the car in park in the middle of the road, before she pushes her door open.

"What do we do?" I ask but John's already halfway out of the car.

I let out a frustrated breath and force myself to follow them even though my body begs me to stay back. Something about this isn't right. I'm jogging to catch up, close enough to hear what Sophie says when she rips the man away from the body on the ground, holding him by his hair.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? Are you stupid?" She points to her own head. "You must be stupid if—" She stops when the man looks at her. His eyes are bright red, nearly glowing. She lets go of him and he stumbles back and hits the ground hard.

"He's a newborn." The words come out on their own.

I remember those first few months after John turned me. If he didn't bring me blood, I wouldn't have been able to walk. I was dizzy and nauseous and the pain in my throat and stomach was all I could think about.

"Do you think...?" I can't finish the question because I don't want to hear the answer. Do you think Parker did this? But that's not the hard part. The hard part is what follows. Do you think Parker did this because I didn't stop him? Because I was too busy driving to Jamie's house even though she was at Kelsey's?

"It's Parker," Sophie answers my unspoken question as she walks back to her car. "No one else would break vampire law like this."

I'm nodding but I don't know what she's talking about. I know the vampire who bonds with someone is responsible for raising them, but I'm unsure of the details. I've never been interested in bonding with someone.

"We need to get back to the warehouse," Sophie continues. "See how much damage he's done." She stops with one foot in the car, one on the ground. "Bring the baby."

I look at the man who's standing again, swaying back and forth, clutching his throat with both hands. If he heard Sophie call him a baby, he doesn't show it.

I grab his arm and pull him back to the car, shoving him in the backseat and climbing in after him. "Sophie." I clear my throat. "Could you... Window?" I know they smell it too, by the way she's clenching her steering wheel and John's eyes are glassy, focused on anything besides the leftover blood on the man-baby's face.

Sophie stretches tall to look at him in her rearview mirror. "Hey, newbie. Mind cleaning yourself up?" Sophie's backseat is so tiny, I can feel his arm flex against mine as he lifts the back of his hand to his face. "Great, thanks," she says but, by her tone, I can tell she's anything but thankful. "Now. Who turned you?"

The man doesn't respond. He's rocking back and forth in his seat, pressing his hands to his head and mumbling. "God, no. Boss is gonna kill me like he did Jenna." The man is still muttering something, but Sophie isn't listening.