“Motion seconded,” Rans said.
“Good plan,” I agreed meekly.
“The sooner I go for the blood, the safer it will be for you to stay here alone with him, Zorah,” Rans stated. “You said there was a second hospital nearby, yes?”
I tried to corral my wayward thoughts. “Yeah, St. Mary’s. I’m pretty sure it’s near Forest Park, anyway.”
“Bellevue and Clayton Road,” Guthrie said quietly. “You’re seriously stealing blood bags from hospitals for me?”
Rans raised an eyebrow. “Hospitals and donation centers are about the only places where one can find blood bags in their native habitat, mate. It’s just for the first couple of days, to make sure you’re able to control yourself while we get you weaned onto something with a heartbeat.”
Guthrie leaned a little more heavily against the wall he was using to prop himself up. “Fuck.”
“At this point, it’s either undead or dead-dead, I’m afraid,” Rans said with a brief shrug.
“And I already told you which one I would have preferred,” Guthrie snapped.
I hid my flinch as best I could.
“Okay... um, Rans, you should probably go, then,” I told him. “We’ll be all right here for a bit, and then the three of us can figure out what to do next.”
A phone buzzed, cutting through the tension in the room. Rans looked down at his pocket, nonplussed, before pulling it out. He frowned at the screen and handed it over to me without comment. The name Len Grayson lit up the screen above the handset icon. I swiped it to answer.
“Len?” I couldn’t keep the surprise out of my tone.
There was a brief pause, and then Len said, “Zorah. Hey. Look... I’m sorry about earlier. I shouldn’t have hung up on you like that, girl.”
I turned away from the others, even though with vampire hearing involved, it only granted the illusion of privacy.
“No, I understand,” I told him. “Believe me. I do.”
“Even so,” he said. “It’s just that things haven’t been... good. Since, y’know—since that night.”
I swallowed. “Yeah. I get it. And honestly, Len—I’m the one who’s sorry. You and Tris should never have been involved in that mess in the first place.”
The line went silent for a long beat.
“Len?”
A sharp exhalation. “Right. Anyway, what did you need? Are you in trouble or something?”
Guilt stabbed at me for even considering dragging him back into things, but—
“Mostly, we need a car big enough to transport several people at once. And... possibly someone to pick up some basic clothing and supplies for traveling?”
“Okay, Z. I guess I can do that. Where are you, anyway?”
“In an apartment building across from Forest Park. I can text you the address, along with the codes for the parking garage and the elevator.”
“I just got off work. Let me swing by the house and change, then I’ll come over, all right?”
“You’re the best, Len,” I told him. “Seriously. I owe you big-time.”
“I’ll be there soon, Z. Later.”
He hung up, and I handed the phone to Rans so he could text Len the location and security codes.
“Who was that?” Guthrie asked, with a small frown furrowing his brow.
“Friend of mine with a big car and a bigger heart,” I explained.
“Not to mention, very little sense of self-preservation,” Rans added absently, slipping the phone back in his pocket. “Which is helpful, since I’ve just thought of something else he might be able to help us with.”
I cocked an eyebrow in silent question, and the other one rose to join it as he outlined what he had in mind.
* * *
A knock came at the door about forty-five minutes later. Rans had already flown away as mist to engineer a bit of blood-bank breaking and entering at St. Mary’s, and returned a short time later with enough blood to hopefully keep Guthrie running on a full tank until he was safely able to feed from humans. For his part, Guthrie had done an admirable job of keeping his shit together, all things considered, and there had been no instances of vamping out during the interim.
I checked the identity of our visitor through the peephole, frowning a bit as I stepped back and opened the door.
“Len, hey. Are you all right?” I asked, taking in the dark circles under his eyes and the way his skin stretched over his cheekbones, as though he’d lost weight.
“Never better,” he said, a bit grimly. Then, he seemed to consciously push away the dark cloud surrounding him, giving me a brief look up and down. “You’re looking well, Z. Normally I’d ask if you’d been staying out of trouble, but...”
I gestured for him to come inside so I could close the door behind him, checking the locks as I did. “Yeah... not much chance of that, sadly.”
With the door safely secured, I led him toward the kitchen, where the others were waiting. Len looked around at the casual elegance of the penthouse, taking everything in before lifting an eyebrow at me. Light glinted off his facial piercings.
“Huh. Bagged yourself a rich vampire, then?” he asked. “Good for you. Though you should definitely make him spring for a better hotel, the next time he gets shot at a sex club.”
For some reason, I felt my cheeks heat at his words. “Uh... yeah, apparently when you’re seven hundred years old, stock market appreciation tends to build up while you’re not paying attention. But this place isn’t his. It belongs to a... friend. One who recently became a vampire, as well. And—fun fact—who I’ve just discovered is almost certainly my biological grandfather.”
Len came to an abrupt halt. I turned to look at him, chewing on my lower lip.
He blinked a couple of times, then shook his head and waved me on. “You know what? Never mind. Just tell me what you need, and try not to be offended when I let as much of the other shit as possible slide off without sticking, okay?”
“Okay,” I agreed readily.
The kitchen was cheery and well lit.
