BLOOD MOON » Embry Call

17. IT'S HIM

   "AVA! Ava, come on, wake up!"

   Avery jolted up, gasping for air. She felt her stomach turn and crawled away a few feet before retching several times without effect. When she could finally breathe again she let her face sink onto the cold metal beneath her.

   "Hey, what happened?"

   Jason sat down next to her and pulled her head into his lap, placing a hand on her forehead. When he heard the familiar screech of a vampire's limbs being torn off he had been too preoccupied with one of their kind himself. However when he had finally gotten rid of the leech, he hurried back upstairs to see if Avery was facing any more trouble.

   When he reached the main hall of the warehouse he could hear faint whimpering and hurried up the steps, following her voice. She had been on the ground, shivering violently with pearls of sweat running down her forehead. He had tried to wake her up but nothing appeared to work, until she seemingly snapped out of it herself.

   "I—I don't know," she breathed, furrowing her brows. "There was this old lady that I killed and then there was somebody else but—I wasn't fast enough. Has, uh—has the process already started?"

   Now Jason let out a soft laugh, gently brushing her hair back. "I don't smell any venom. Besides, if you were turning you'd be screaming bloody murder by now. I thought you knew that?"

   In fact, she didn't. She didn't remember being bitten, just as much as she hadn't been capable of remembering the accident. Until now. She shivered again and Jason picked her up; Avery wrapped her arms around his neck and tried to keep the tears from overflowing.

   "There's a safehouse just a few blocks from here. Let me get you to the apartment and then I'll see if I can pick up their scent."

   Avery lifted her head and placed a hand on his arm. "No, I'm fine. I'll come with you."

   Jason sighed and set the girl down on her feet again and she held onto a pipe in order not to fall. The wolf held his nose up high and strode around the room for a while, until he broke off a rusty piece of the railing and guided Avery back to the car. The brunette sank into the seat and stared up at the pale moon, partially obscured by clouds, attempting to direct her attention to anything but her memories.

   She didn't hear Jason talk to somebody on the phone. She didn't even notice the car pulling out of the alley until the door on her side suddenly opened and she found herself in the parking lot by the house again.

   "Think you can walk on your own?"

   The girl rolled her eyes and slid out of the car, walking ahead of Jason in a demonstrative manner. Her eyes were still burning and he noticed how she clenched her fists in order to stop her hands from shaking.

   When they arrived at the house, a group of werewolves was already standing by the front door and Jason held the chunk of the railing in front of each their noses. He said something to them in a language Avery couldn't understand and the wolves scattered, disappearing in between the trees.

   At the questioning look from Avery, Jason guided her back into the house and his office, closing the door behind them. "Do you want to talk about it?"

   He lit the fire and soon enough warmth spread throughout the room, the logs of wood crackling softly as the flames licked at it. Avery sat down cross legged in front of the fireplace, blankly staring ahead. "About what?"

   "Something happened to you back there. Whatever it was, if you ever need to talk about it, I'm here for you."

   "Thanks," the girl mumbled, gaze still fixed to the bright orange flames. Flames like the ones that had danced on the hood of the crashed car. She pressed her lips together in a straight line and balled her hand into fists until she could feel her fingernails digging into the skin.