Page 4 of Demon Hunter

I exhale. Alive. That’s good. But obviously incapacitated, or a doctor wouldn’t be answering his phone. “I’m Dylan. He’s Matt.” I pause, a thought occurring to me. “If we’re talking about the same guy?” Maybe this is a case of mistaken identity? Matt could have lost his phone and even now is trying to find a way to let me know.

Dr. Howard hesitates again. “If I tell you about an intimate tattoo he has, perhaps you can describe the rest of him?”

My heart sinks. “The tattoo on his hip that says ‘Bite here, I like it’?” I ask dully. He really does. It’s the weirdest erogenous zone ever.

“Ah. Yes. I’m sorry, it seems your boyfriend is a patient of ours.”

I swallow down the thousands of questions I want to ask. She won’t answer them. “He was supposed to be in Reno today. Is that where you are?”

“Yes, at Renown Regional Medical Center. Can you give me the information of his next-of-kin? His brother, you said?”

“He lives in Illinois. I’ll call him now. Is there a number that’s best for him to reach you on?” I shut down my computer and grab my laptop bag. There’s already a go-bag in the trunk of my car, like all good little hunters are supposed to have. Some lessons are hard to unlearn.

“It might be better if I call him directly?—”

“Doctor, no offense, but I’m not letting a stranger wake him up to tell him his baby brother’s seriously injured. They already lost their parents in the worst way possible. Just give me a number he can call you on, and I guarantee you’ll hear from him really soon.”

Shoes. I’m going to need shoes. Fuck, when was the last time I put gas in the car?

The doctor reluctantly gives me a phone number, and I recite it back to her twice, cementing it in my memory. “I’m calling him now. And I’m on my way.”

“I won’t be able to let you?—”

“That’s fine. I’ll sit in the waiting room.” Until Gabe either smooths things over so I can go in or arrives himself. “See you soon.”

I end the call on that ridiculous inanity and scroll to find Gabe’s contact in my phone as I let myself out of my apartment.

It only rings twice before he answers. The thing about being in the Collective is that middle-of-the-night phone calls are common, and they’re rarely good.

“Dylan?” He sounds groggy but alert enough. “What?—”

“Matt’s alive,” I blurt, then stop and take a breath to hold back the tears.

“What— Fuck. What happened?” He’s fully awake now, his voice urgent.

“I don’t know. I called him and a doctor in Reno answered. She wouldn’t tell me anything except that he’s alive. I’ve got her number for you to call.”

“Jesus. She wouldn’t say anything else? Do you know what he was supposed to be doing in Reno?”

“No.” Not specifically, anyway. We both know he was there because of something demonic. I toss my laptop bag onto the passenger seat and climb into my car. “I’m on my way there now, and I’ll call Ian while you call the hospital.”

“Thanks, Dylan. Hold on a sec.” He must turn away from the phone, because his voice is muffled when he says, “Pass me that pen and go wake up Connor. Matt’s in the hospital.”

I hear Tom’s exclamation as I start the car and pull out onto the road, then Gabe tells me, “Okay, what was the number?”

I reel it off for him, along with the doctor’s name. “Call me back, please?”

“I will,” he promises. “And I’ll see what I need to do so you can sit with him and get updates while we’re traveling.”

I want to close my eyes in relief, but the last thing any of us needs right now is for me to get into an accident. “Thank you.”

“No, thank you. You’re a good friend, Dylan.” He ends the call before I can finish processing how much those words hurt.

It’s my own fault, of course. Matt’s wanted to tell his family about us for months. I’m the one who said no, even though I know he doesn’t fully understand why. Even though I know it hurts him.

I guess these are my just desserts.

Pushing that thought aside, I tell Siri to call Ian. Just like Gabe, he answers quickly. “Dyl? What’s up? You okay?”

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