Don't Rush Me (Nora Jacobs #1)(43)

“What?” Red yells. “What happened? He was my favorite initiate! He didn’t get his vamp? He said the guy was over four hundred years old. Do you know how powerful a vamp that age would be? He didn’t get himself killed, did he?”

“Almost. But not from any vamp attack. The idiot went to Underworld the other night, got his ass beat, and OD’d on something no one can identify. He ended up in the hospital, almost dead. He’s claiming he was drugged, but the cops are still on his ass about it. We can’t have him bringing that kind of shit to us.”

“DAMN IT!” Red smashes his fist into the dash in front of him. He rakes a hand through his hair and blows a puff of air out. “Who else is there?”

“No one, Elijah. Only Xavier.”

Red—Elijah—shakes his head. “We need Xavier, then. Tell him he has one last chance to bring us an underworlder, or he’s out. Let’s see if he can really get his 400-year-old vamp like he said he could.”

“And if he can’t? It doesn’t work without twelve,” Muscle Head says. “The Blood Moon is on Tuesday. We’re cutting it kind of close.”

Elijah glares at Muscle Head. “Tell Xavier he’s got new competition. That’ll motivate him. Tell him to bring his underworlder to the… I don’t know. We don’t want him to come to our place, just in case he does have problems with cops. Who’s having a party tomorrow night?”

“Umm, I think Alpha Gamma Delta’s holding a mixer tomorrow night.”

“Perfect.” Elijah opens his door to exit the car but turns back to Muscle Head with a grimace. “He’d better come through. You’re right that we need twelve. I was counting on Xavier.”

Muscle Head sighs. “Me too. I’m not crazy about the guy, but at least he has a brain, unlike Noah. I’m not sure how he got so messed up.”

“Let’s hope he’s telling the truth and he really just got drugged or something.” Elijah sighs and nods his head toward the lively house. “You coming?”

Muscle Head nods. “Hell yeah. I need a drink after tonight. Something strong.”

“How about a little elixir in your whiskey? I’ve got a little left saved for a rainy day, and I’d say you earned it tonight.”

The vision fades before I get Muscle Head’s reply, but I’m fairly certain he wasn’t going to turn down whatever that elixir was.

I slump back in the seat, groaning. My head is freaking pounding. Those long visions kill me. But at least this vision was informative and not just some quickie Mr. Muscles had in the car.

When I come to enough to take in my surroundings, I hear two voices calling my name. Nick Gorgeous is standing right behind Oliver, a worried expression on his face. “What are you doing here?” I mumble.

His face turns annoyed. “It’s my case.”

Oliver takes my hand as I turn to the side and set my feet on the ground. His look is rueful. “We can’t deal with dark magic by ourselves, Nora.”

“You shouldn’t be dealing with this at all.” Nick harrumphs from over Oliver’s shoulder.

I ignore him and hold out my hands to Oliver. “Help me out of here. I think I’m gonna hurl.”

Oliver jumps to action, helping me to my feet. Nick shuts the car door behind us, then steals me up into his arms. Damn, it’s like I’m weightless. If I didn’t feel so shitty, I’d enjoy the ride in the hot guy’s arms. I’d even enjoy the fact that Mr. Just Call Me Gorgeous is wearing an old school AC/DC shirt and a cowboy hat. But…like I said, I feel too awful to care. Without warning, my breakfast comes back up.

Cursing, Nick holds me out away from him as far as he can so that the splatter of my puke barely misses his nice, shiny cowboy boots. “Easy, woman. Watch the snakeskin!”

“Oh, I’m so sorry. I’ll just defy the laws of na—” I’m cut off when my stomach heaves again, and I hurl round two. There’s a hiss behind me, and then Nick sets me down on the curb behind Terrance’s nice loaner. “I’ll just defy the laws of nature,” I say again once I can breathe, “in order to spare your obnoxious shoes.”

“Obnoxious?”

“Yeah. I mean, look at them.” I’ll never admit how badass I think they are.

“Please. These are sexy.”

They totally are. “If you say so.”

“I do. Now what the hell are you doing here? And why are you throwing up everywhere?”

While I’m rolling my eyes at Nick, Oliver digs up a water bottle from the bottom of his backpack and hands it to me. I moan with pleasure as I take it from him. “Oh, Ollie, you are my new best friend.”

I rinse and spit several times while Oliver sits down on the curb next to me. “Are you okay now? Feeling better yet?”

I nod and wipe at the sheen of sweat on my forehead with the sleeve of my shirt. “I’m good now. I don’t normally puke, but that was a particularly strong vision. The stronger the vision, the worse the backlash.”

“You just had a vision?” Nick asks.

Oliver smirks when I sigh, as if Nick is hopeless. “I’m not here looking to buy a car,” I say.

Nick glances back down the street at the yellow monstrosity he found me sitting in and shudders. “Wise decision.”