Page 24 of Born Chaos

I nearly die at the price tag. Once upon a few months ago, Elena just threw expensive clothes at me. But I’m a real grown-up now with money of my own. And it feels good to know that I have the funds to cover this without sweating it. But still. Not too long ago that would have been more than a month’s rent.

I’m not a girl who needs expensive clothes. I’d be just as happy with a dress from Target or even a secondhand store. But this is about spending time with my best friend. Shopping is Elena’s love language, and you have to feed those your care about.

We both pay for our dresses. They load my dress into a dress bag, but Elena leaves her for tailoring. Together, we step out of the shop into the blindingly brilliant day. Donning our special shades, we step out into the frigid air.

“Rick?” I call as I spot the burly man walking up the sidewalk.

He looks up, his eyebrows raising. “Afternoon. What are you ladies up to?”

“Just finding something fabulous for our beautiful lady to wear to the engagement party,” Elena offers with a smile. “You are coming, right?”

“I wouldn’t miss it,” Rick answers with a smile. But there’s something… hesitant about it.

There are nearly three million people in Chicago. It’s the third-highest populated city in the country. Yes, we form our circles, we have our regular places, so running into people can be perfectly normal.

But we’re on the Magnificent Mile. Thousands and thousands of people walk this section of Chicago every day. It almost feels too coincidental to run into him here.

And I think back on it.

I never ran into Rick before Archer King. I didn’t even meet him at all until a month before Roman and I killed The Collector.

But over the past two weeks, I’ve now run into him three times?

“Where are you headed to, Rick?” I ask. I try not to narrow my eyes at him. I think I have a good poker face, but really, I am extremely mundane in hiding what I’m really feeling.

“Just headed to Alfred’s Bakery for some bagels. Have you tried them yet?” he asks, raising his eyebrows slightly.

“They really are the best,” Elena confirms.

“No, I haven’t,” I answer, though bagels are the furthest thing from my mind. “Thanks for the tip though. Sorry to dash out. It’s freezing out here.”

And without another word, I step into the limo, climbing in without a glance back.

“What the hell was that about?” Elena questions as she climbs in after muttering an awkward goodbye to Rick. Tabitha climbs in, and the driver sets down the road.

“Nothing,” I lie. “Shopping just has me burned out. Wanna hang out at your place tonight?”

"And… he's seizing,"I say as I try to keep the man on the gurney from falling off. He came in only thirty minutes ago, both of his friends frantic about his state. They had been out for a night on the town, and they reported that he said he hadn't felt very well. Within an hour, he had a spiking fever and could barely walk. They had dragged him straight to the hospital.

"Dammit," Sebastian growls. "That's two more vampires in two days."

"And three gifted in two days," I remind him.

Over the past two days, two new gifted had come into the hospital. Sigrid must have talked to them all. Every one of them had the same story. They felt oddly numb inside. And none of them had been able to use their gift since the feeling started.

The other three gifted experiencing this had come in a few days ago. We ran bloodwork. We took imaging. And so far, nothing was coming up. They seemed normal. Just like the vampires.

The mood was heavy in the hospital. As doctors, we’re supposed to be able to fix people. We’re supposed to be able to get answers. But in this? We don't even have a diagnosis. As Sebastian and I work on this latest victim, I feel defeated.

How do you fix something when you don't know what the something is?

It's a long night. Some shifts fly by as if they are only a matter of minutes. And others crawl by, the minutes feeling like they are hours. Tonight is the latter.

"I'm heading over to Sigrid's," I tell Sebastian as we both change in the locker room after our shift. "She's been having a hard time lately. I just want to make sure she's okay."

"She has certainly had a lot on her mind lately," Sebastian agrees as he pulls a sweater over his head. "Don't lose track of time. Tonight is kind of an important night."

Our engagement party is tonight. I'm going to need an hour or so to get ready. I already told Elena she wasn't allowed to send over her hair and makeup artist again. I would take care of that on my own. But it is eight in the morning. I have twelve hours until the party.