Page 42 of Born Wicked

My feet move to the right. My mind is a messy wheel of thought. Elena is gone. Mason is gone. Sigrid is incapacitated. Roman is going to spend the night in jail.

Just you, Juliet. Just you and a hospital full of injured, dying people. Just you and a room full of vampires in a coma, just waiting for you to figure this the hell out.

Just you, Juliet.

The first tear slips down my cheek as I step back through the hospital doors. A dozen more quickly follow the first as I walk down the hall.

And by the time I reach my office and look down at my desk, they begin freefalling.

I know Warren is still behind me, but I don’t care. Everything has gone to shit too much to care about dignity and privacy.

I pull my phone from my pocket. I bring up my favorites list.

There are only a few names on the list. But I haven’t been able to bring myself to change it in the last few months. So, still sitting there at the top, is Sebastian’s name.

I tap it and hold the phone to my ear.

“You’ve reached Dr. Sebastian Vincent. I can’t get to the phone right now, but if you leave a message, I’ll do my best to get back to you.”

I squeeze my eyes closed, sending a fresh cascade of tears down my face.

I knew my call would go straight to voicemail. There wasn’t a question mark in me about it.

But hearing his voice again…

It messes with my heart. It messes with my mind. It messes with my anger and my hatred. But also my grief and my pain.

“Sebastian,” I say after the beep. His name right there is an entire conversation. It’s regret. It’s vengeance. It’s disbelief. It’s pleading. “I can’t do this. I’m trying. I’m trying to fix it all. But I don’t think I can fix this on my own.”

My eyes are squeezed tightly shut. I feel the breath in my chest pick up speed. Everything starts to feel painful. My lungs. My heart. My legs, shoulders, my scalp. Everything hurts.

“Sigrid can’t use her gift. More gifted have moved out of the city,” my voice breaks on my words. They grow thicker as I start to lose control. “Elena is in a coma, and Mason is dead.” I shake my head as that grief hits me all over again. “And now Roman has been arrested for your disappearance.”

My fingers rise up to comb through my hair. A sob explodes from my lips, and I don’t contain it one bit. “I can’t do this all on my own, Sebastian. You need to call the police and tell them you’re okay. You need to let them know you’re not dead. You need…” It hurts to speak. It hurts to voice all the things that are wrong. “This is messing with so many lives. And I can’t do it. I can’t handle all of this on my own, Sebastian. Damnit. Don’t you see what you’ve caused?”

Another sob takes my voice for a few seconds. I’m a mess. Snot, waterfalling tears, my voice shaking and breaking.

“Please, Sebastian,” I whisper. “Please call me back. Please tell me how to fix this. Tell me how to wake the vampires up. Tell me how to restore the gifted.” I suck in a quivering breath. “I’m trying. I am. But I can’t do this, Sebastian. Not on my own.”

Another sob erupts from me and feeling too overcome, I end the message, dropping my phone on my desk.

Instantly, warm arms wrap around me, and my head is guided to a slightly boney shoulder. Warren has always been a warm, easy person to be around, but this is our first earth-shaking moment shared.

But I’m not embarrassed as he holds me together. I don’t feel like he’s going to use this against me later, seeing me at my weakest.

He just holds me tight and allows me to let it all out as the weight of the world crushes me to dust.

CHAPTERTHIRTEEN

“How much longer now?”Sigrid asks. She sits in the chair across from the bed.

“Honestly, I’ve never seen the Resurrection happen yet,” I answer her. “But Mason said it’s not an exact science. Just about four days. The four-day mark will be at about eleven.”

Sigrid glances at the time on her phone. We have three hours. She needs to not be anywhere in this building when Mason Resurrects. She’s not one who would come back from the dead.

Well, I guess that’s not true. I could die for her, so long as I were right there with her when she died. And I absolutely would die for her.

And now she knows the ability is there. In the last two hours we’ve spent together, I’ve told her everything. Every detail of every crazy thing that’s happened in the last few weeks.