Accidental Sire(102)

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I wasn't crying. There was dust in my eyes. "I'm up for it," I said, a little sniffily . . . because of the dust. "There has to be some good that comes out of all this."

I looked to Ben, to see if he was in agreement, but he was already nodding enthusiastically.

"Do we get secret identities?" Ben asked, hopeful. "By night I'm your trusted computer programmer, but by day I'm moving very slowly to save the world?"

"Nerd," I whispered fondly.

How he could kiss me while grinning I'll never know. But he did a good job of it. "She's crazy about me, Jane. Honestly."

Jane pulled a face. "Gross. Not in front of me, kids."





16




There will come a time for your childe to leave your nest. This is one of the few natural steps left in a vampire's rather unnatural existence. Let your childe go with as little fuss and emotional scarring as possible.

-The Accidental Sire: How to Raise an Unplanned Vampire

All of Dr. Fortescue's research and any evidence that his drugs had been used on Ben and me were destroyed in the Council's crematory, along with Dr. Oxmoor's notes on us. Gigi had cracked Fortescue's storage cloud and uploaded a devastating virus, deleting his work from cyberspace permanently. And wherever Fortescue was being held, he was in no condition to remember his own name, much less complicated chemical formulas. Jane said it was better that I didn't know what the Lambert sisters planned for him. It was also better for me not to question why the Council needed a crematory.

In Jane's defense, Fortescue had hurt Fitz. He deserved a pant­load of retribution.

Fitz survived his ordeal with a few stitches and one of those embarrassing lampshade collars. While the wound had been bloody, the impact of the bullet had been mostly absorbed by one of the folds in his coat. He had passed out from blood loss, but thanks to Iris's resources and the quick thinking of Jane's late-night vet, he would make a full recovery. He had already reclaimed his spot at the foot of our bed.

The Council agreed to let Ben and me graduate before taking advantage of our superpowers. They were so eager to use our special skills that they agreed to all of Jane's conditions, including the part-time status and Jane's supervision. And if anything happened to her, Dick would be our go-between with the Council.

It took weeks of negotiations, three reams' worth of paperwork, a solemn blood oath that we would not harm our fellow students, and approval by the university president, but we were finally allowed to return to campus for the spring semester. Jane figured that if we hadn't lost our cool and attacked humans during two scientific abductions and working for the Council for three months, it wasn't going to happen. 

I was ready to get back to class, to normal. But everything would be different now. I had a boyfriend. The way I spent time with Morgan and Keagan would have to change. But it would be good. I still didn't know what I wanted to do when I grew up. I liked to read. I liked to talk about books. I didn't think I wanted to teach. But I had all the time in the world to figure it out.

I would have a single, because I wasn't allowed to room with humans anymore, but I was sort of looking forward to a private room. Besides, Ben would spend a lot of his nights with me anyway. He had to take one more class-a lab course he couldn't take online-and he was out. I got the feeling that he was only going back so his parents could watch him walk the stage at graduation.

We'd had a very low-key Christmas and were now packed up and ready to head back to campus. Ben's parents had come by for a quick presemester visit, but they were still a while away from welcoming him home for weekends. A Council-issued SUV was loaded with our stuff, and Ben and I were bundling up to drive over the rare half inch of snow causing so many night commuters to panic on the news. Ophelia and Jamie had run-ahem, driven, they'd driven-home a few days before. Ophelia and Jane had hit their limit of togetherness.

"It's going to be weirdly quiet around the house without you." Jane sighed. "I'm going to miss you both. But I'm going to take the opposite approach from my mother's when I left for college, which is to save the crying breakdown for after you leave."

"We appreciate that, Jane," Ben said, hugging her.

"Call me when you get there," she told him. "And just call me anyway. I've gotten used to talking to you. I don't expect daily calls, but weekly would be nice."

"Got it." Ben gave her a little salute and approached Gabriel for a manly handshake.