Avet’s upper lip curls at the notion. “Don’t be obnoxious. I don’t need mothering.”
He forfeits the keys so I can drive us. I am now unquestionably awake, and in no danger of falling asleep on the short drive to my home.
I keep my mouth shut while Avet grits his teeth through the pangs of his open wound. “We have to find him, Keran. He knows how to find her. He knows where she is!”
“Who?”
Avet’s eyes close, too pained to speak the person’s name aloud.
I know that look. Avet won’t let this fight go until he has settled whatever score is keeping him up at night.
And he’s decided to bring me along for the ride. We always used to say, “Your fight is my fight,” to each other whenever a creature was aiming at one of us. We went after the thing together.
Old habits die hard, I guess.
Whatever my life was before tonight, I know it is about to be forever changed.
3
HOME SWEET HERMIT
I grip Avet’s good shoulder to keep him in place. “Hold still. I know it hurts, but you’re twitching. I can’t sew it up if I can’t get a solid hold on the tear in your skin.”
“I can’t help it if my muscle jumps. I’m not doing it on purpose.” Avet harrumphs. “When was the last time you stitched an open wound, Keran? I don’t remember being accidentally jabbed this many times.”
“Who said it was on accident?” I joke. “You deserve a little discomfort, showing up out of the blue and bringing a vampire to my town.”
Avet snorts. “Your town? Are you the sheriff of Nowheresville?”
“Brother, as far as you’re concerned, I’m the king of this hole on the map. That’s how unwilling I am to pick up and leave on whatever quest has crawled up your butt this time around. I left trapping, if you recall. I have no intention of getting back in the game. I barely made it out alive before; I’m not putting myself through all of that again.” When Avet doesn’t reply, I feel the need to give more reasons. “It’s an addiction, hunting and killing the way we were. The rush, the need. It was always there. I never stopped to think things through.” When he still doesn’t speak, I lay out the hard truth. “It was killing me, Avet. I can’t go back to that.”
Avet shakes his head. “Funny. When I think back on those years, they were some of the best of my life. I felt alive. I had a brother looking over my shoulder. I was invincible.”
I snort. “You were always convinced you were invincible. I’m sure that hasn’t changed just because I stepped away.”
Avet glances over his shoulder at me while I thread the needle through his slicked skin. “You have no idea how much has changed since you left.”
I narrow my eye at him. “You finally settle down with some nice guy? Get yourself a white picket fence and a matching set of wedding rings?”
Avet snorts. “You know I’m not the settling down type.”
I shrug. “Then I guess not much has changed.”
“I was talking about trapping, not about my dating life.”
I keep my eyes on my work. “I read The Hawker. I keep up. I’m just not willing to throw myself into the ring to remove a few pesky drops from an ocean of a problem that I didn’t create.”
Avet chuckles at my phrasing. “There you go with that poetry again. You always could make a dismal moment all pretty.”
I shoot him a wry look. “Shut up and sit still. Laughing at me will only get you stabbed. I’m holding the weapon, remember.”
Though a sewing needle is hardly a proper weapon, Avet grins and faces forward once more. “I’ve missed this.”
“Getting snacked on by a vampire? I hardly imagine that’s an irregular occurrence.”
“Not that. I miss not being on my own after an attack. Usually it’s me limping into the ER, or trying to figure out how to stitch myself up in a gas station bathroom.”
I grimace at the mental image. “Stay here until you get on your feet. But understand that if you go back out there, I am not going with you. I like it here.”