Hollowed (31 page)

He smiles pleasantly.
"
There is one in front of that liquor store up the street. Oliver can accompany you.
"

"
I can?
"

"
He can?
"

Oliver and I exchange dirty looks. I
'
m not in the mood for his attitude, but fine, fine. If my parents are alive, I
'
m really not going to give a shit about how mad he is at me.

I practically run out the door with Oliver trudging along behind,
his
shoulders hunched, scowling. I
'
m tempted to grab his hand and tell him to get his ass moving, but I don
'
t feel like being snapped at again.

When we reach the store at the corner of the street, I approach it with a knot of dread working its way into my chest. Half-expecting the doors to slide open and Joel to step out, with another victim on his arm. Watching me. Expecting me. Would he be surprised that I
'
m still alive? Does he know already?

I
'
ve slowed in my steps without realizing it and Oliver nudges me sharply between the shoulder blades.
"
What
'
s your problem?
"

Shuddering, I snap back to the here and now, forcing Joel from my mind, touching the spot on my neck where not even the
line
of raised flesh remains. Nothing at all to attest to what he did to me. To Oliver, I mumble an absent apology and make my way over to an ancient payphone near the doors.

I try to think if I
'
ve ever even
used
a payphone before. Seen my parents use one, sure. Most memorably when I was little and the car broke down. Ruby and I watched wide-eyed while Mom yelled into the receiver at the tow-truck driver on the other end, using language neither of us had ever heard out of her mouth before.

Now I rummage around in my pockets for enough change to make a call, dialing Mom
'
s cell number first, because she
'
s more likely to answer. Dad never did wrap his head around the idea that having a cell meant
picking up
when someone called.

It
'
s cold
and drizzling
, and I huddle into what little shelter the phone stall offers with Oliver not far behind me. One ring, two, three, turns to four and five...

"
Hi, you
'
ve reached Macy Greyson. Sorry I
'
m unavailable but please leave your name and number...
"

I hang up quickly, taking a deep breath, steadying my nerves. Just because she didn
'
t answer doesn
'
t mean anything, right? Right. Nothing at all. Just means her phone is on silent, or her purse is in the car. Something, anything.

Thankfully the phone returns my change because I didn
'
t get through, so I can pop in the same few quarters and try again, this time to Dad
'
s number. Ringing, ringing.

"
I
'
m
not sure how...
oh, oh. It
'
s
—
hello, this is David. Uh, please leave a message.
"

No.
No.
Not good enough. I try them both three more times before giving up.

I place the receiver back in its cradle, my forehead coming to rest atop it. The sound of their recorded voices, trapped in time, sucks every bit of energy right out of my body. Inside, I
'
m hollow. An empty shell that wants nothing more than to scream and cry. But all I can do is stand there, feeling
exhausted
.

"
Why aren
'
t they answering
?
"

Oliver has been so quiet I almost forgot he was there, and his hand comes to rest against my shoulder, his voice softer than it
'
s been to me all day.
"
Hey... Come on. Let
'
s head back and we can try again later.
"

His touch reminds me of Noah. How he reached for me in the car and pulled away at the last second when all I wanted was to curl up in his arms and be allowed to feel sad for awhile. I twist around and bury my face against Oliver
'
s chest, the riptide of emotions careening through every nerve in my body. It isn
'
t fair.

The warmth of his arms around me, no matter how stiff and awkward the gesture, is all I rea
lly wanted from anyone. Just...
a hug. Something to reassure me it will all be okay, even if nothing feels
further
from the truth right now.

"
What do I do?
"
I mumble into his shirt, which I
'
m dampening with my tears.
"
What do I do if my parents are dead? What if they got Ruby, too?
"
I feel the rise and fall of his chest as he sighs.

"
I don
'
t know, Briar. But we
'
re here to help if we can. As long as you
'
re going to stop being reckless and running off...
"
He pulls back, hands on my shoulders, holding me at arm
'
s length.
"
You ha
ve every right to be upset
, but you also have to look at the
bigger
picture. There are other people out there
dying
right now; Cole heard about two more while you were missing.
"

I sniff, wiping at my eyes with my sleeve. Sobbing in front of a liquor store payphone? God, I must look amazing. Oliver
'
s right: this entire thing is bigger than just me and my losses. Remem
bering the girl Joel killed...
the things I said to him about her having a family and friends. Somewhere, someone is worried about her. Someone is devastated that she
'
s dead. Sherry
'
s family who loved her so much will never get to see her bubbly, smiling face again.

Oliver brings a hand up, gripping my chin, forcing my eyes to meet his.
"
This needs to be more than just revenge for you, Briar.
"

I think of Oliver, dying in the snow alone. Of what he risked and gave up in
hopes of setting things right. The kind of strength he has that I wish I could find in myself.

But maybe I have. As terrified as I was, I still faced off against Joel. Not the smartest choice, but I did it for no reason other than that I wanted to protect that girl.
I wanted
to see her go home to her family safe and sound.

"
It is,
"
I whisper.
"
I don
'
t want anyone else to go through this.
"
I don
'
t want anyone to hurt the way I am.

He gives me a smile, the first one I
'
ve really seen to ever reach his eyes.
"
Good girl. Now let
'
s get out of the cold.
"

Oliver lets me return to my room when we get back to the hotel. This time I try to be more productive with the silence beyond sitting around, moping. It
'
s taken everything I have to
not
keep trying my parents from
my semi-working cell. I've kept it close, in case Ruby calls.
That is, if Joel hasn
'
t gotten to her already. Why else would she not have
stopped by or called
to find out if
I
'
m
okay?

As I
'
m scrubbing at my hair in the shower,
I remind myself
that
Ruby
was able to keep an eye on me without me ever knowing she was here. She got into my room to leave that note, and she seems to know when I come and go. For all I know, she
'
s been calling me off the hook and my busted phone is too tweaked to ring anymore.
Maybe she lost my number.

I think about Joel, wondering where he went after torching my parents
'
place. If it was even him. Could have been Alex or Fred, or even the elusive Maverick himself who none of us have even seen yet. Maybe that
'
s a good thing. If he
'
s anywhere near Cole
'
s level in power, I
doubt
any of us would stand a chance except Cole himself, and as far as I
'
m aware, he still doesn
'
t have permission to get directly involved.

Stupid vampire rules. Stupid witch rules.

The room to my door opens and closes just as I
'
m turning off the shower. Daniel has a copy of my card-key, comes and goes as he pleases, and I
'
m feeling well enough that I
'
m glad for his company.

"
No peeking,
"
I announce, towel snug around myself as I step out of the bathroom and to the closet for clothes.

Any scream I might have managed is stifled
by the hand clamping over my mouth.

Whoever is in my room, it sure as hell isn
'
t Daniel.

I try sinking my teeth into the hand holding me, thrashing until another arm winds around me to pin
mine
to my sides. How could I let my guard down? How could I be so
stupid?!
I let the comfort of having the boys nearby delude me into thinking I was untouchable in this place, but they have no real way of sensing another vampire here if they aren
'
t constantly trying to sense for one.

He lifts me off the ground, breathing ragged against my ear. My legs kick freely as I
'
m hauled across the room. When we near the bed, I get my feet
against
the
edge
of
the mattress
, bracing myself, and push as hard as I can. Enough force it gets him to stagger back, slamming into the wall and making the paintings rattle. More importantly, it ge
ts him to loosen his hold
so I can squirm free.

Noah
'
s gun is on the nightstand nearby. I snatch it and launch myself over the bed for distance between us, twisting,
aiming
.

Fred sags back against the wall, holding up his hands helplessly and looking like he wants to sink into the floor and disappear.
"
Don
'
t—
don
'
t shoot! I just didn
'
t want you to freak out and scream!
"

"
Consider me freaked out,
"
I pant. It
takes me a second to realize...
he still has my towel. Which means it isn
'
t around me.

Oh. Oh, that
'
s cute.

Heat floods into my face. I point with the gun to the towel in his hand.
"
Give me that!
"

Fred opens his mouth and closes it. His cheeks turn a brilliant shade of red as he throws
the towel
in my direction
. It
lands on the bed. I have to lean over to grab it and
yank it up around myself
.
"
So you
'
re a pervert on top of being a really shitty henchman.
"

"
I wasn
'
t trying to look,
"
he protests, averting his eyes while I try to get myself covered.
"
Not like you have anything worth looking at anyway
.
"

"
You really wanna insult the girl who has a gun aimed at your head? And for the record, no one else has ever complained about it before.
"