The Ghosts

Chapter Nine, Part Three

Unedited.

Jon made me sit down on one of the benches in the hall until my eyes went back to normal. This was not what I had in mind when I reopened the bond. How I ever dealt with this, I didn’t know but it felt more intense now than it ever had before.

“Are you sure you don’t want someone to take a look at you? You might’ve popped a stitch,” Olivia said.

She was trying to check my side wound but I kept batting her hand away.

“I’ll be fine.” I looked at the clock on my phone. “We were supposed to report in fifteen minutes ago. Someone is…”

“Vertigo?”

“…going to come looking for us.” I turned to the left and saw Jesse jogging down the hall. “Hey. Have you met Olivia?”

He looked at her briefly and then back to me. “You ok?”

“Oh, you know, got to bleed a little to get anywhere.”

Jon moved back so Jesse could kneel down in front of me. I lifted my hand and he rolled up my shirt. The gauze was now a nice shade of red and when Jesse peeled it off…the scratches looked angry and swollen. “That should be healed by now.” Jesse smoothed the gauze back down. “We should probably take you to the Infirmary.”

“I’m fine, really. I just need a fresh dressing and I’ll be as good as new. The last thing I need is Brad harassing me right now.”

“There’s a first aid kit in the office. Can you walk?”

He got up and offered me his hand. It was a nice gesture, something I would expect from him but right then, I didn’t want help. I just wanted everything to go back the way it was pre-injury.

“I’m not a baby, Jess.” I batted his hand away and stood up. “I’ll be fine.” Jon snorted and I glared at him. “No comments from you.”

Jesse looked at him. “Maybe you should go upstairs for this. She’ll go get you when she’s done.”

Jon’s eyes flashed at him, not liking what Jesse was implying. To keep him from doing something rash, I grabbed Jon’s arm before he could even move towards Jesse.

“He’d never do that.”

“You sure about that? He is a Vampire.”

“You’re going to have to trust me, ok? I’m perfectly safe around him, whether I’m bleeding or not.”

“She speaks the truth. Ana is spoken for and I’m not about to go against it. I do not wish to offend my friend by taking what’s his.”

“What sort of crap is that?” Jesse spit out.

“It’s their blood laws, Jesse. Leave it, ok?”

He glanced down at me finally and nodded. “After you, then.”

He already knew I was bonded. Like Olivia said, rumors swarmed through the Guild about it after I’d been here a few weeks. Someone had seen the bite marks on my neck and assumptions flew from there.

Most of the already established personnel brushed it off since they were around when Jason kidnapped me. Jesse, along with most of the Security office, never said anything about it and I had to think Gregori had a hand in that.  

I released Jon’s arm and took a step forward which turned out not to be the brightest idea.

“You might want to…there she goes.”

Jon barely got his warning out before my head began to swim and the floor rose up to my knee caps. Both Jesse and Jon caught an arm and kept me on my feet.