Page 60 of Concluded
Achilles sat on the living room floor, staring at Dee, who was laid out on the couch like an invalid.Dee was naked under the soft plaid blanket; Achilles wore sweatpants and a gray T-shirt, both possibly borrowed from White.Which implied that vampires wore sweatpants, an image that made Dee want to break out in hysterical giggles.
Instead he asked, “How’s Ish?”
“Sort of comatose.I’ve never seen any living creature look that awful.But he is alive.And he’s out of the black hole.Thanks to you.”
Dee took a few deep, shuddering breaths.“Now what?”
“Now you rest.”
That sounded like an excellent plan.Dee felt as if he could give Rip Van Winkle a run for the record.“Is Ish really Charles’s dad?”
“Dunno.Chief’ll be back from Seattle tomorrow.We were gone for five days.”
“Five days?”
“They feared we might be gone for good.And when we did return, Clay says we popped back in with, like, a sonic boom.”
Dee turned this over in his head for a moment.“I’m hungry.”
“Yeah.I ordered a whole lot of delivery because our hosts' diet doesn’t quite suit us.Want me to bring you some Korean fried chicken and/or pizza and/or pad Thai?”
“All of the above,” Dee answered, laughing.
“I got donuts too.”
But the conversation had sapped the last of Dee’s strength, and his lids slid closed.“In a little while,” he mumbled.
Achilles tucked the blanket slightly higher under Dee’s chin.“I’m here to serve you, Dee.Your wish is my command.”
* * *
They had arrivedin San Francisco midmorning, which explained their hosts’ nudity: the vampires had been fast asleep at the time.Apparently vampires—these two, at least—eschewed pajamas.It was well after dark by the time Dee felt capable of prying himself off the couch, and even then, it was all he could do to totter around in jeans and a sweatshirt that Achilles had somehow procured for him.
“I hate being so weak,” Dee complained as he sank back onto the couch after a bathroom visit.
Achilles sat next to him.“I know what you mean.I was laid up for a while after the bear attack—thefirstbear attack—and I hated it.”
“Who took care of you?”
“The Bureau has—had—its own little hospital wing.Top-notch care by people who are used to treating weird injuries and weirder patients.But it’s still a hospital, and I hate those places.I got out of there ASAP.”
Although Dee was glad that Achilles had received proper medical treatment, he didn’t like the sound of the rest of it.“So who took care of you once you were out?”He was pretty sure he knew the answer.
And sure enough, Achilles shrugged.“I managed okay on my own.I always have.You too, right?”
“Until recently, I never had to.I hardly ever get sick, and I spent forty years with nobody trying to kill me.When I made charms, they were little ones.Not enough to drain me.”
Achilles, who was looking pretty drawn himself, nodded and leaned back against the cushions.Dee wanted to ask what had happened to him in the black hole, but Dee had raised the subject twice already today, and both times Achilles had shuddered and shaken his head.
Maybe it was time to distract Achilles with a different painful subject.“Orson,” Dee ventured.
Achilles looked sharply at him.“What?”
“Tell me about him.”
“Ugh.”Achilles lolled again, closed his eyes, and kept them that way.“He was a really good guy.Smart.Working on a grad degree in some kind of biomedical thing that I totally didn’t understand but knew was important.We met right after I graduated college and started Bureau training.He was… I don’t know.Wholesome.Normal.He had a supportive family who were nice to me, a cat named Scan—because CAT scan, ha ha ha.He liked to play video games, go snowboarding, and yell at the TV.”
Dee felt a small pang, but couldn’t tell whether it was jealousy, envy, or both.“What happened to him?”
