Chapter Sixteen

            Jeremy had ridden with Xana in the ambulance upon her request. He was the thing she was clinging to as her proof of safety. If she was with Jeremy, she wasn’t in that room.

            At the hospital, a female detective took pictures of all her injuries. Xana later learned the Shifter cop was Detective Anderson, who had been handling her case. Xana felt bad for not thanking her.

            Once they were done documenting her injuries, the doctor went about treating the ones she didn’t get to before Detective Anderson arrived"her really bad injuries had been dealt with first. She had gotten stitches because she didn’t have any blood when she got hurt and nothing healed quickly. The healing did speed up a little after drinking Jeremy’s blood, though.

            Her ribs were cracked, not broken, so James must’ve held himself back when he kicked her. Her left ankle needed a boot. They had to see whether she had a concussion, and luckily she didn’t.

            Xana was moved to her own room where the Detectives questioned her. They had to go over how to play it to not reveal the Supernatural part of it to the public. They agreed to say people who took her were under the delusion they were Vampires. Crazy was always a good excuse. One stalked her on the Internet, and because of her rich father, they thought it’d be a good idea to take her and make her one of them.

            After the official interview was done, Jeremy came into Xana’s room. “You okay?”

            Xana was sitting up in her hospital bed, watching the news on silent. “I just feel exhausted. But I don’t wanna sleep.” She remembered Jeremy had killed, and the look on his face after. “You?”

            Jeremy pulled a chair close to her bed and sat. “I’m not thinking about it right now.”

            “Where’s Milo?”

            “Sorting things out with the cops.” Jeremy’s phone rang. He answered, “Mom? Yeah, I’m fine… No. I’m gonna stay with Xana until her family gets here… I don’t really care. I’ll see you later.” He hung up.

            “Go home,” Xana said. “Your mom is probably worried.”

            “Nah. She knows I’m okay now.”

            “She seemed kinda testy.”

            “She doesn’t like that I’m a Night Investigator. She quit after my dad died on a job.”

            “So, she doesn’t like you being here with me.”

            “Guess not.”

            “Why are you still here?” Xana asked.

            “I figured you’d like the company.” Jeremy paused. “And I wasn’t ready to be alone myself.”

            “Do you wanna talk about it?”

            “Do you?” Jeremy snapped.

            They were silent for a moment.

            “Sorry,” Jeremy finally said. “That was mean. What happened to you was worse.”

            “It was s****y all around.” Xana figured she wasn’t the only one who was going to be fucked up for a while. “Thanks for getting me out of there, by the way.”

            Jeremy nodded. “I heard what Roger was gonna do. I tried to get there quickly without bringing too much attention to myself.”

            “I froze up,” Xana confessed. “Before, I told myself I wouldn’t fight because Roger said he liked that. I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction. Then I heard you guys were coming, and decided I had to fight. I wasn’t gonna make it easy to get to me, not when I was getting rescued. But then it was happening, and I froze. I shut down. I was letting it happen.”

            “People freeze up when they’re scared,” Jeremy told her. He couldn’t let her feel bad about how she reacted. It was only normal.  

            “I never thought I would. I didn’t want it to happen. But he got his hands on me and I was gone. Then I heard your voice. Somehow it got through, and just as he was getting ready to do it, I found the will to fight again.”

            Jeremy wasn’t sure if Xana was aware that she was crying and shaking a little. He very obviously made a move to grab her hand so that it didn’t surprise her. “Don’t blame yourself for any of this.”

            “I insisted on driving myself that day. If my mom, or you, or Roxy drove me, I’d be fine. I’d be home right now.”

            “But you’d still be waiting for something to happen.” Jeremy gave Xana’s hand a light squeeze. “You’d still be paranoid.”

            “They’ll try again. James said they would. Hell. They’ll probably kill me right away.”

            “He’s not gonna try so soon,” Jeremy insisted. “Not when we know his game. Especially since he knows we can get to him. Kill Orders will be out for James and Magenta soon. People will be looking for them all over.”

            “I don’t know if I’ll ever feel safe again.”

            “That’s not true. You will.”

            “Well, it’ll be a long time.”

            “Probably.” Jeremy heard hurried footsteps and stood, Xana’s hand still in his. “You hear that?”

            Something loosened inside Xana’s chest. “My parents, Roxy, Mr. Jacobs, Charlie, and Max.” Her family. She was finally going to see them again. For days she hadn’t been sure that would happen.

            The door opened. Xavier was by Xana’s bed in a second. Xana let go of Jeremy’s hand to hug him. “Daddy.” She clung to him and cried into his chest. Maggie walked past Jeremy, sat on the bed, hugged Xana from the other side, and rested her head on her daughter’s.

            Jeremy backed away from the bed. “Maybe I should go.”

            Max stopped him. “No. Stay.”

            Roxy gripped her dad’s arm. Xana was alive. But she was covered in cuts and bruises. She looked so tired too. Xana always seemed so unbreakable, but this proved she wasn’t. Roxy wasn’t sure how to process that. She also had no idea what to say.

            Charlie walked up to the end of the bed. “I’m glad you’re back.”

            Xana looked at her, then at Roxy, then at Max. “I never thought I’d see any of you again.” She sniffed. “How are you guys?”

            Charlie laughed, feeling choked up. “You want to know how we are?”

            Xana nodded. “You must’ve been worried.”

            Roxy found her voice. “We were.” She didn’t know how to address everything that happened. She wanted to ask what Xana went through, but it felt wrong.

            “We brought you some clothes to change into,” Charlie told Xana.

            “Great. Am I allowed to leave?” she asked her parents.

            Maggie patted her hair. “After we talk to the doctor.”

            “Can we please do that now?”

            While her parents took care of that, Xana changed into the clothes her friends brought her. She was thankful underwear was included. She wanted to get rid of the ones they made her wear at the house. It was good to be in her sweatpants and T-shirt. They smelled like home.

            She slipped on her flip-flops and looked in the mirror of her hospital room’s bathroom. She had more color than the day before thanks to Jeremy’s blood. Besides that, she looked pretty s****y. A living punching bag.

            She wondered about school. Would they make her go back right away? She’d been under the radar at school for years, but now she’d been on the news. They probably had a mass or prayer service for her at school. Everyone would be aware of her. They’d all be curious about that happened. Some of the more shameless kids would have the nerve to ask her about her time in captivity. She didn’t want her peers talking about what might’ve happened to her. The last few months of school would be nothing but whispers about Xana.

            She felt overwhelmed, and had another crying fit. She wasn’t ready to face the world yet.

            There was a knock on the door. “Everything all right?” Jeremy asked.

            Xana shut her eyes and took a second. “Yeah.” She opened the door. “Just thinking about stuff.” She stared at her friends and wondered how long Roxy would look at her like she was a bomb about to explode.

            Jeremy gently pushed a strand of hair behind Xana’s ear. “Try to sleep tonight.”

            “There will be nightmares.”

            “I know. But some sleep will have to help, right?”

            “Don’t let nightmares get to you either.”

            Jeremy smiled a little. “I’ll do my best.”

 

 

            Xana was amazed by her house when she finally got home. The house made her feel protected, but it was a mess. Plates and coffee mugs were scattered all over. Mostly in the living room.

            “Do you want us to leave?” Charlie asked after she and Roxy followed Xana to her room.

            “No. When I wake up, I want you guys there. It’ll make me feel better.” Xana laid on her bed.

            Charlie sat on the bed next to her. “Do you want to talk about it?”

            “If I didn’t insist on driving myself, this never would’ve happened,” Xana said.

            Roxy shook her head. “That’s not true.”

            “It probably would have happened eventually anyway,” Charlie said. “Like, I know I’m not gonna be safe from Marco forever.”

            “Vampires do have issues giving up,” Xana agreed. She sat up. “They put me in a dress each night. They gave me underwear, and did my hair and makeup. I wasn’t allowed blood, food, or water. James wanted me desperate enough to drink his blood and Turn. He thought me being in his Clan would be great revenge on my dad. If I didn’t Turn, Roger would rape and kill me.”

            “Did he?” Roxy asked, knowing she didn’t have to specify.

            Xana shook her head. “But… every time I was forced to shower, he watched me. Me being uncomfortable with it must’ve turned him on because he masturbated each time. When the cops and Milo showed up, Magenta and James ran off. Roger stayed.” Xana looked down at her hands. She didn’t like mentioning it, but figured she should. Charlie said Dr. Michaels made her keep talking about that stuff as part of her therapy, and it helped. “I was f*****g chained to the bed like some bad movie. So when Roger came in, I couldn’t go anywhere. He lifted my dress and pulled the top of it down. He had his hands on me.” Her voice wavered. “I could feel him getting hard. I couldn’t move. Not until I heard Jeremy call my name. I was fighting Roger while he undid his pants. Then Jeremy killed him.” She didn’t feel like mentioning that she stabbed Roger. They could learn that later. “Why do I feel so dirty? He didn’t actually do anything to me.”

            “But he did,” Charlie said. “It was still an assault. Don’t invalid what you’ve been through.”

            “It was nothing like what you went through.”

            “That doesn’t mean it won’t have an effect on you. It’ll still get to you.”

            “I wish I knew how to help you,” Roxy admitted.

            “Just be understanding and supportive,” Charlie said. “Like you two have been for me.”

            “Oh.” Roxy remembered something. Something that might make Xana feel a little better. “While this was all going on, your mom called her sister.”

            Xana looked surprised, and was grateful for the distraction. “My mom actually spoke to her sister?”

            Roxy nodded. “And you have two cousins. Gemma and Molly Newkirk.”

            “I’ll have to find them on Facebook or something.” Xana was glad some sort of good came from the ordeal. And getting acquainted with her cousins could keep her mind off things.   

            Xana did have several bad dreams that night. And it did make her feel better seeing her friends when she woke. At one point, she texted Jeremy. He was awake too, and they both talked about their nightmares. Sharing her dreams with him helped.  

            Maybe things would be okay.

 

 

            The next night, James and Magenta were hiding out in a home in Maryland of a Vampire Magenta knew.

            James was irritated as he watched the news. “They have our faces all over. We need to act again as soon as possible.”

            “Most of the Clan had bailed on us,” Magenta told him. They didn’t want to be associated with Vampires who not only had Kill Orders on them, but were also all over the media. “We don’t have the numbers.” She was personally pissed that Roger was dead. They had been Turned by James around the same time. He was her friend.

            “I have a plan,” James assured her. “The little red head that hangs around the Chambers has some baggage. A Vampire named Marco will be willing to help us to know of her whereabouts.”