“Did he get bit?” someone asked.
“Move over,” another replied.
“He wasn’t bitten!” Guy cried out. “I told you already! Get the fuck away from him before I—”
My eyes cracked open, then immediately shut as a blinding light slashed into my vision.
I groaned.
“Jason?” Guy asked.
The hand was familiar once it was within mine. I squeezed with all I could muster and forced myself to adjust to the lighting, only satisfied with my progress when I could see Guy’s face above me. “Hey,” I said.
“God, Jason. What the hell were you thinking?”
“What do you—”
A door burst open. I was suddenly aware of my nudity as Elliot Winters approached.
“What’s going on here?” he asked.
“He was attacked,” Guy said, turning his eyes on his father, “by a Howler.”
The man narrowed his eyes. “Is he bitten?”
“What?”
“I said—”
“I heard what you said!” Guy snapped. “What the fuck is wrong with you? I thought you said you’d tell him to stay inside!”
“I was leaving that up to you.”
“You asshole!” Guy screamed. “You told me you would do it! I was the one who wanted to bring him with us!”
“And I was the one who told you that our family’s secrets are not to be openly displayed.” Elliot’s eyes fell on me. “Now someone tell me: has he been bitten?”
“No sir,” a short, African-American woman said beside me. “He wasn’t.”
“And you’re sure?”
“He would’ve displayed characteristics already. Look.” She pried one eye open for the world to see and waited until Elliot examined me before releasing her hold. “He’s without the lined iris. He wasn’t bit.”
“Then what’re all these then?” He gestured to the side. “Blood? Bone? On his clothes?”
“He had to fight it off.”
“Because you didn’t warn him,” Guy growled. “What're you trying to do, turn him into a Howler?”
It looked like the senior Winters would strike. He seemed to take note of the scene it would cause and held himself at bay as Amadeo approached with a robe, gesturing me upright as he wrapped it around my naked body.
“We’re not going to fight about this now,” the woman who’d tended to me said. “The young man needs rest, and neither of you are doing anything to help.”
Elliot said nothing. She jabbed a finger in Guy’s direction with accusatory eyes. “You—take him to your room. Make sure he’s cared for.”
“Yes, Faith,” Guy said. He shrugged up beside me and laced an arm across my back. “Can you walk?”
“Just… give me a minute.”
He helped me to my feet and let me gain my bearings. The hard, linoleum floor was cold, but helped ground me as we made our way out of the room.
Immediately upon our departure, the room broke out into argument.
“Ignore them,” Guy said.
I couldn’t do much else. I simply allowed him to lead me through a part of the house I’d never seen before, then up the stairwell to his flat.
Once in his room, he settled me down on his bed and ran a hand across my temple, careful to avoid the spot where I’d cracked it on the railing. He wouldn’t meet my eyes even when I took hold on his hand.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“My father was supposed to tell you to remain indoors after it got dark,” he said, the muscles in his forearm tense—rigid with anger. “He told me that I couldn’t bring you with me to meet her because it would be seen as improper and disrespectful.”
“To see who?”
“The Kelda.”
I shuddered. Whether the result of a concussion, I couldn’t be sure, but I drew my legs closer to my body and forced my eyes shut as a wave of nausea hit.
“Do you—”
“Why didn’t he tell me?”
“I don’t know,” Guy said, his voice still strained with grief. “Fuck, Jason. I’m so mad. I just wanna go down there and rip his fucking—”
“Don’t.” I sniffled. The tears streaming down my eyes burned worse than the pain in my head. “Please. Just… don’t. No more fighting. It’s done. Over. There’s nothing you can do about it.”
“Nothing I can do? I’m his son, his prince. If he wants me to do anything, he’s going to treat me and the man I admire with respect.”
I opened my eyes.
Gone was the rage on his face. Instead, it was replaced with something I’d yet to experience—sadness.
I realized this was the first time I’d seen Guy cry.
“When I saw you out there by that… thing… I thought…” He stuttered. He gasped and bowed his face into his hands. “God, Jason. I thought it got you.”
“I’m okay,” I said. “Really. It’s ok.”
“No it’s not. All my parents ever wanted was for me to settle down and find someone I cared about—to put my whoring days around and act like the man I was supposed to be. And when I finally do bring that man home… when I finally am settling down… you get treated like a sack of shit.”
He managed a stuttering exhale and then a fragmented inhale before he took the deep breath I knew he needed. He palmed the tears from his eyes and looked over at me, his peace destroyed by the night’s events.
He spread out alongside me and took me into his arms.
Outside, the world continued on.