Project: Nighthall

5

Once the 'excitement' of the night settled, I changed for bed. When I walked into Rose's room, she was sitting on the edge of her bed dressed for bed.

"Are you alright?"

"I haven't seen a Strigoi since...you," she breathed, "I forgot what it felt like. The nausea, that fear in your chest. I forgot what it felt like."

I nodded and sat beside her, gripping her hand that rested in her lap.

"You hide the fear well," I whispered.

"All I could think about was Mikey. I remember when I froze when I saw Natalie, and I knew what to expect. But him...that was hard. To comfort Bryce, Emily, and Martin and Sheila. Gabriel, he'd seen one before, but them. That's terrifying. And for a minute, I thought I was too late."

I nodded and squeezed her hand.

"You're lucky to have an Alchemist contact like that. It can come in handy," I mused, not wanting to jump on the topic directly but ease into it. Rose was like a deer in the woods when it came to personal things. You couldn't make any sudden movements; I couldn't make any sudden movements.

"Yeah, I can thank my father for that," she said after a moment, looking up at me from under her lashes.

"I knew that you were going to ask," she said with a smirk. I chuckled.

"I was simply curious about his generosity that came so quickly."

Rose shrugged. "Before I even told them about my gift, they took me in. Gabriel found me camping out in the woods. Instinct led him to me, and they took me in. Once they realized I could see the dead, they reached out to Jerry. Once Abe heard that they were taking me in, out of the kindness of their hearts, and understanding out our mateship, he offered to help fund the project. That's why it flew under the radar for so long," she explained tiredly, yawning widely.

"It's been a long day," I whispered, standing up and reaching under the pillow to turn the bed down. Once I had the covers down, I gestured for Rose to climb under the sheet.

"You're not coming to bed?" she asked. The notion of the question made my lips smile. She didn't mean it in the way that I wanted it to, but it was a sweet question.

"I have to talk to Croft about tonight's incident, and then I'll be in shortly," I whispered as I tucked her hair behind her head. She nodded and tucked the edge of the blanket under her cheek and closed her eyes.

I didn't linger and headed down the stairs and went into the living room. Martin was sitting on the couch with a beer, a report file balanced on his lap. he looked up and nodded politely at me.

"Beers in the fridge if you'd like one. Or if you want something stronger, there's liquor out the cabinet above the fridge," he offered before making a note on his file. I nodded and I glanced at Croft out of habit. He had a beer in his hands while everyone aside from Guardian Castile declined. I stepped back into the kitchen and grabbed a beer.

From the look on Castile's face, I knew something was on his mind, and I had a feeling it was the same thought. Gabriel came down and grabbed a beer too, eyeing Croft and then me before sitting on the ground next to my chair.

"How's your face?" Gabriel chirped at Tyson as he took a sip of beer. Tyson grumbled and a few Guardians threw a look at Gabriel, but Castile tried to cover up his laughter.

"Tonight was a long one," I murmured as I relaxed.

"Yeah, that's not how I expected your last night here to go," Gabriel mused, "Did you talk to Rose yet?"

"About what?" Castile asked.

I rolled my eyes. "Not yet."

"Get a move on," Gabriel joked. I rolled my eyes again and drank my beer. Martin engaged the rest of them in conversation and shortly after, Bryce came down.