Revenant by Phaedra Weldon Page B

moved the floor on me, and I went down, my knees giving first. I never actually hit the floor though—as Jason was instantly there, holding on to me, his arms around me. With a sigh, he nearly picked me up and sat me back on the bed.
    Next, he leaned down to my eye level and pointed a finger in my face. “You—sit. It’ll take you maybe a day to get up to speed—if I’m right about your Wraith ability.” With that, he turned and went back into the bathroom.
    I stayed put. Not because he told me, but because I was still focusing on not falling in a seated position.
    When he came back, he had the washcloth again and a bowl of water. Setting it on the nightstand, he started moving the cool cloth up and down my arm, then moved it to my face, where he pulled my hair away and started wiping it all down.
    I wanted him to stop because I felt twelve and helpless. But I was getting very light-headed and nearly fell back again. Jason was there and moved me into the bed.
    “Please . . .” I managed to say. “I’m hot. Don’t put that quilt back on top of me.”
    “I won’t,” he said, and continued to dip the cloth into the cold water and rub it over any exposed skin. “Breaking a fever like yours was hard. Just sit back and relax. Joe went to get you a glass of water with cucumbers.”
    Cucumbers?
    Jason laughed. “Don’t make that face. It’s good for you. And you need the liquid. You’re dehydrated.”
    I watched him, again amazed at how incredibly beautiful he was. Oh, don’t get me wrong—when it came to beautiful men, I was surrounded by them to hear me talk. From Daniel’s boy-next-door look to Joe’s rugged manliness, all the way to Dags’s pretty-boy face.
    But this—
    This was a vampire. A First Born. A Revenant.
    I cleared my throat as I watched him with droopy eyelids. “What happened?”
    “To you? Or to me?”
    “Both.”
    “Well, for me”—he wiped my forehead one more time before setting the cloth in the bowl—“when Archer came at me, he initially stabbed me through the heart with a rod of rowan tree.”
    A what? He had a stake? Was Jason kidding? And where did a Symbiont stash a stake in his coat?
    “Apparently, when you pushed him through the back wall, he traveled to England and snatched a stake from a magic house over there. It hurt, and it did some serious damage to me, as in Jason. But as for ending my life?” He smiled. “Not yet.”
    “But why did he try to kill you?”
    “Oh, I wouldn’t say that he was trying to kill me. It was more like”—he smiled—“sibling rivalry.”
    I reached up with my left hand but couldn’t get to his chest. Reading my actions, he pulled up his shirt to expose a well-toned chest and a healing hole to the center right from my point of view. “I guess healing fast isn’t true about vampires?”
    “Revenants.” He smiled. “It’s not my favorite word—but First Born has a pretentious ring to it, don’t you think?”
    I couldn’t help but smile. He had a way about him. Something kinda sparkly in his eyes, and I was disappointed when he pulled his shirt back down. Lemme tell ya . . . the Revenant’s got a serious six-pack, ladies.
    “I’ve glanced over the Dioscuri notes on us”—he gestured to himself—“and they’re vague at best. Your great-uncle wasn’t as curious about us as he was all the other little critters on the Abysmal plane.” Jason gave a short sigh. “I’ve already explained a lot of this to Nona, Rhonda, and Jemmy. Lex, of course”—he looked directly at me beneath his dark brows—“is forever in your debt. She felt Mialani’s release, as did I. Now, knowing that her companion is in a better place, she feels she can fight whatever this is that’s coming after us.”
    As I rested there and watched him, the sweat on my body cooled, and I started shaking. Meh. This totally sucks. Jason stood and pulled the cover back up and handed it to me. “Sorry,” I said. “Body can’t seem to like hot or