fully awake. “Wha?” I shot up and glanced around. But there was no danger. The air was calm and stable. It was twilight, the sun gone, black creeping along the sky. My gaze landed on the only person around. “How long have I been asleep?”
Ray sat on the metal cooler staring at me. “I thought you might be dead,” he retorted. “Even though they told me you were alive, I didn’t believe them. You haven’t moved a muscle all day. You’ve been out maybe fifteen hours.”
“My body must have been in healing mode,” I answered. At least I think that was the reason I’d been out. “All my available energy went to fixing the damage.” I hadn’t even dreamed.
I checked down the length of my body just to make sure I was, in fact, healed, and this wasn’t some cruel joke and Ray and I were actually having this particular chat in hell and I just didn’t know it yet. I lifted my hands in front of me and wiggled my fingers. Very pale, slim pink scars covered my skin everywhere and I was wearing a new outfit. I was glad they’d picked spandex again. I looked around. “Where is everyone?” Danny and Tyler wouldn’t leave me unguarded unless we’d been attacked again and they had no choice. “Did the Mahrac come back?” I dusted myself off and strode forward.
“Nope,” Ray answered. “The wolf boys ran down to the truck to get more supplies. They said the vampires would be here within a few minutes because the sun just set. Seems we might have to stay here for a bit, depending on what the bloodsuckers have to say.” He paused for a moment. “What exactly are you, Hannon?” His voice echoed a wary tone, but it’d been delivered in a resigned cadence I’d never heard before. “You’re not like them. If supernaturals, like the wolves and the vamps, are considered normal in your world, you don’t fit in. You’re not the same.”
I paced closer to him, crossing my arms in front of my body. “How can you possibly know something like that? You can’t even begin to imagine the scope of what’s out there, Ray. You’ve known about us for exactly three days. We should all look equally scary to you.” There was no way Ray knew anything about the Prophecy or what skill level any supe should or shouldn’t have.
His lips formed a thin line. “I know, because I have two eyes in my head and I still think like a cop. You screamed ‘different’ to me on the police force and it’s the same here,” he said in a smug tone. “You don’t fit in.”
“I’m a supernatural just like everyone else.”
“Bullshit.”
I arched an eyebrow at him.
“You cured the girl vampire, right? Then you changed something in the monster’s brain so it left us alone rather than crushing us to dust. You’re the only one who figured out why the varmints could cross over, except that asshole vamp after he tried for an hour. Then you annihilated the bats from hell with your blood. According to what I see, you’re at the top of the food chain.”
“You know, he’s right,” Naomi said, coming silently through the trees in front of me. “Your blood is completely different from any I’ve ever sampled. And I’ve tasted a good many, both human and some very powerful supernaturals. But that doesn’t matter, because killing all the winged devils would have been impossible for any other supernatural. You have a gift that marks you different.”
“Well,” I said, clearing my throat. I couldn’t exactly argue, because all those things had happened. But going into the Prophecy with a human and a vamp wasn’t an option. “It seems I do have some power, but since I’ve been a supe for only a few weeks, I’m still figuring out… all the logistics. I don’t know what my special gift is yet, but there’s a good chance it has something to do with my blood.”
Before Naomi could from a rebuttal there was a loud buzz coming from the top of an old tree stump.
“That’s been going off on the hour, every hour, since you came across the boundary,” Ray said.
I knew why. I walked over and powered it on as I brought it to my ear. “I’m here,” I said.
“Jessica.” My father blew out a relieved breath. “Thank gods you’re finally awake. Tyler has been keeping me informed. Are you fully healed now?”
I brought my arm up and