Part 19 (2/2)
”Way. In the territory of the local werewolves,” Holgar put in.
”The same pack that attacked you?” Jenn asked, startled.
Holgar shook his head. ”Those were Romanian werewolves. These are Transylvanian werewolves.”
”Transylvania is part of Romania,” Jenn said, confused.
He shook his head. ”Not to them it's not.”
”Holgar is suggesting that we try to bargain for it,” Father Juan said.
Jenn shook her head violently. ”Because every other interaction we've had with werewolves has gone so well? Forget it. We can't risk lives. Especially not if there's a chance Jamie and Skye will come through.”
Esther cleared her throat and laid a hand on Jenn's arm. ”One of the hardest lessons I ever learned was that you can't always wait for your friends to come through.”
Holgar nodded. ”At least let me try to talk to them, wolf to wolf. I'll take lots of guns.” He smiled broadly. ”And lots of teeth.”
Jenn sucked in a breath. ”I'll go with you. And don't even think about refusing. I'm doing no one any good here. I need to get away, do something, not just sit and think.”
Holgar smiled. ”Good. I didn't want to go alone anyway.”
Gramma Esther half raised a hand. ”I'll go.”
”No.” Father Juan gently pushed her hand back onto the table. ”You need to recuperate from our adventure. Jenn, Holgar, the two of you will leave tomorrow morning.”
Mutely, Jenn nodded. Then she rose and left the room, heading back to the little bedroom she'd awakened in. She wanted to be alone. No, not alone-she needed someone, someone who could be there for her, who had no other agenda. Someone who might understand just what she was going through.
She opened the door. Sunlight poured through the half-closed curtains, revealing a silhouette on the other side: a man gazing out at the mountains through the gla.s.s. Her heart skipped a beat.
”Noah,” she whispered.
CHAPTER TEN.
When Father Juan gave me this diary, I was going to write a new Hunter's Manual. Instead I've been pouring out my soul. I wonder if anyone will ever read it? What will that mean? That I'm dead? What will the world be like then? What will my world be like? I can't even think about it. My hand is shaking so hard I can barely write these words.
-from the diary of Jenn Leitner,
retrieved from the ruins
THE MONASTERY OF THE BROTHERHOOD OF ST. ANDREW.
JENN, HOLGAR, ANTONIO, FATHER JUAN, NOAH, AND ESTHER.
Jenn blinked in surprise at Noah.
”Jenn,” Noah said, pus.h.i.+ng away the curtain and coming toward her as she entered the small room. He was dirty and unshaven, but he looked like home to her. Without thinking, she went to him and put her arms around him. She heard the strong, hard beat of his heart and shut her eyes tightly against the tears that ran down her cheeks.
”You're safe,” she said. Her brain told her to ask for a report of his mission, but all she could do was rest against him for a moment, just one moment, and know that he was there.
His lips brushed her hair, and a memory whispered in her mind. Had he been the one to carry her from the chapel last night?
She broke away gently and looked around for a place to sit. All there was was the bed. She sank down on it, gesturing for him to join her. Their noses were practically touching. She could smell his cinnamon gum, and a trembling smile broke across her mouth. To stop herself from kissing him, she cleared her throat.
”Why didn't you call?” she asked.
”Sorry. I wasn't sure of this place,” he replied. ”Things have happened. I had to do something I already regret.” He s.h.i.+fted on the bed, leaning back on his elbows. He looked exhausted. ”Goes with the territory,” he added. ”Regrets.”
”We don't have time for riddles,” she said, sounding more waspish than she intended, because she felt ashamed for wanting to kiss him when Antonio was in h.e.l.l. ”Fill me in.”
He let his head fall back and looked up at the ceiling. The suns.h.i.+ne etched his profile, and he was solid and real and there, and she held on to that as she prepared herself. It was obvious to her that he hadn't come with good news.
He sat back up. ”I should do a full debriefing for the team.” When she opened her mouth to protest, he added, ”But you should hear it first. Alone.”
”You're scaring me,” she said, all hope flooding from her. He was going to tell her that Project Crusade had failed in its mission, whatever that was; that Greg and the others had been ma.s.sacred; that they were the last resistance cell in the world.
That all hope was lost.
”Michael Sherman was there,” he said.
”I was in the States when the team worked with him,” she said. I was attending Papa Che's funeral. And nothing has gone right since then. Please, let there be good news from Project Crusade. Please.
Noah nodded at her. ”Well, as your teammates said, Sherman's a vampire now. But he's working with the black crosses. He's on humanity's side.”
Jenn stared at him in ecstatic disbelief. ”So he's good? He stayed good?”
The strangest expression came over Noah's face. ”He swears he's evil. He's obsessed with developing something that will rid the world of vampires. Which, for us, is a good thing.”
”Why does he want to do that?” She waved her hands. ”It doesn't matter. I won't interrupt anymore.”
Noah nodded slowly, as if he were choosing his words carefully. ”This thing he's making. It's a virus. Airborne. The molecules just have to touch them. And then . . . they are destroyed.”
<script>