Weiss shouted, forgetting their hearing was keener than his. “Got him! You can let it drop!”
“Sure?” Claire called.
“Yeah, we’re okay!”
Together they dropped the weight and took a quick step back as the crash echoed, pierced Claire’s ears. She winced. Everything was too loud. Sirens as a third ambulance and a police car arrived. Abbie and Alice crying while their dad hugged them. Bella crying while she talked on her cell phone to her sister. George groaning and cursing as Weiss stabilized his foot.
“They’re okay,” she whispered.
Tai met her eyes. “They’re all okay.”
“We helped.”
He nodded.
From the most hidden place inside her came a familiar flicker of protection—not only toward the injured they’d rescued but toward so many more, the victims she fought to prevent every time she put on a blonde wig and sauntered through a club as loud as the sirens had been tonight. But this aftermath felt different. An accident, no predator to catch, no one to rage against. And teamwork. What would it be like if Verena didn’t work in secret? If someone knew, even partnered with her? Impossible, of course, and no point feeling lonely about it; but for a moment, the ache lingered.
They made sure no one needed them for anything else before they began the walk back to the car. Claire’s gown was smeared with dirt, but maybe she hadn’t torn it anywhere. Unlikely. Worth it to help so many people.
She laced her fingers through Tai’s, and he gripped back so tightly she was sure now. He wasn’t okay.
“Tai?”
He said nothing all the way back to the car.
Eleven
Thirst. Thirst. Thirst.
No. He had to be stronger. He had to be.
Thirst. Thirst. Thirst.
Back in the car. Door shut. Hands on steering wheel. But nowhere to go. The traffic jam would last an hour or more if the cops didn’t direct them onto the shoulder, onto the exit. He had to get out of here. Away from the blood. Away from the—
Thirst. Thirst. Thirst.
“Tai?”
A thousand needles raced over his skin in waves. He held onto the wheel. This was his anchor. He had to hold onto it. So he couldn’t leave the car. Couldn’t go out and find a fresh source of the—
Thirst. Thirst. Thirst.
“Tai, are you okay?”
Fight it. Be stronger. He was so cold. So unbearably cold. “We’re probably going to be here a while.”
His voice came out dry and rough, and Claire shot him a look of concern. “Probably, unless they get a cop down here to directpeople onto the shoulder to the exit. I guess until they do, we can’t drive there.”
But he had to. He had to get away from the scents, the sounds, the injured humans. He focused on Claire’s voice and ordered himself to be still. Calm. In control.
“If neither of us has to sleep tonight, I guess another hour’s okay. Just knowing everyone made it out of there alive, that’s all that matters.”
He nodded. Flexed his hands on the wheel. Hold on. Just hold on.
“I could definitely use a slaking at the moment,” she said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever expended that much energy that fast before.”
Slaking. Thirst. Need. Thirst. So cold.
