Archaic (21 page)

"Do you want to shower?" he asked.

I nodded. His scent still lingered on me from sleeping beside each other and the smell was giving me a slight headache. I pushed back the stool and stood up, following him to his room where he handed me a towel. He left me alone in his room. It was only when I was about to walk into the bathroom that I noticed my duffel bag filled with clothes next to Jared's desk. They must have packed it on Friday. I walked into the bathroom and closed the door.

I turned the shower on and set the temperature of the water. I got in and washed my body and hair. I was quick and to the point. After I got out, I dried my body and towel dried my hair and then I wrapped the towel around my body. Quickly, I brushed my teeth again. I noticed a set of my clothes was folded on Jared's neatly made bed when I walked back into his room. It was a pair of jeans, a T-shirt and a change of underwear too. I got dressed quickly.

When I was finished, I sat on the bed and waited for Jared. I looked around his room as I waited. I heard a noise coming from outside. Curious, I got up and walked to the window. I looked out.

I heard the noise again. It sounded like someone whistling, and I looked toward the source of the distinctive sound. Across the road stood a figure standing on the opposite side of the street next to the forest. It was a male with blond hair. I recognized the features of the person that had been ingrained in my worst nightmares and fears: it was Mason.

Without emotions, there was no fear. From the window, I watched him. His dark blue eyes met mine as I continued to stare at him.

He was dressed casually in jeans and a white T-shirt, and was standing as he was watching me intently. He smiled at me; it was a cold, calculating smile. A strange feeling came over me while I held his gaze, unable to pull away from him. I was drawn to him. A need to go to him took hold of me. I clasped my hands together as my agitation increased with a need.

Feeling the new impulse to go to him, I turned and walked out of the room. I couldn't help myself; it was like a power stronger than myself was driving my actions. Jared appeared at the entrance to the kitchen as I reached the bottom of the stairs.

I stopped as he smiled at me. But he wasn't the one I needed. I needed Mason. I ignored him and walked past him, but as I was about to open the front door Jared grabbed my wrist, halting my escape.

"Where are you going?" he asked with a crease in his forehead. Beneath his hands, my skin felt irritated, as though his hands were sandpaper chafing against my skin. I yanked my arm from his hand and turned to look at him. I didn't like to be touched by him.

"I need to go," I informed him coldly. The place where he had grabbed my arm had begun to itch, so I scratched at it. "I need to go," I repeated. His frown deepened while he took a step closer to me.

"Where do you need to go?" he asked gently as he raised his hands to reassure me he wasn't going to touch me again.

"I have to go to him." At the word 'him' I saw a confused look on his face.

"Who?" he asked quietly as he tilted his head to the side. It was like he was talking to a child.

"Mason," I informed him.

Anger flared on his face at the mention of his brother's name. His hands balled into fists at his sides as he tried to keep his expression calm.

"I need to go to Mason," I insisted. I didn't know why, but I had to go to him. There was a struggle within Jared as he stood in front of me.

The need inside me grew and I turned to try to open the door again. This time Jared held my arm more forcefully. I turned around and dropped my gaze to where his hand had wrapped around my wrist, but he refused to let me go.

"I can't let you go, Ava," he told me with a steeliness that reinforced that he wasn't going to back down. I tried to pull my arm out of his hold, but he held firm. The skin beneath his hand began to itch more intensely.

"You can't stop me," I stated. With a fierce look on his face, he straightened his stance and cocked his head to the side.

"Yes, I can."

Gone was the gentle boy, and in his place was a hard and powerful leader. He was the leader of the Archaic, and he was right, he could stop me if he wanted to--and he wanted to.

"Let me go," I insisted again as I tried to pull my arm free, but he refused to let go. The longer he held my arm the more painful it became. It felt like his skin was chafing my skin off.

"No," he replied calmly. I didn't want to let him see that he was inflicting pain on me. I didn't want to show him any sign of weakness. With his free hand, he reached for his phone and he dialed someone.

"I need you. Get Tyler as well."

I assumed he was talking to Danny, but I wasn't sure. Maybe he was talking to Nathaniel. My arm felt like it was on fire now. I didn't know how, but I still continued to hide the pain.

"I need to go." I raised my voice. Power began to build up inside me. He was going to get hurt if he didn't let me go. I needed to go.

Mason.

I didn't understand this burning need to go to Mason; all I knew was I had to follow it. The pain in my arms was so intense I wanted to scream, but I pressed my lips together and held it in.

"No." He wasn't backing down. His hold on my wrist tightened.

I felt the power flare up within me. If he wouldn't let me go, I would make him. Energy began to flow in me. He wasn't going to let go. That meant he was going to get hurt. I didn't care. Did I?

Catherine appeared in the hallway. She'd heard the altercation. She stood behind her son, watching us with a nervous look in her features.

She knew that I was in an emotionless state at the moment. I could see there was some confusion, because she didn't understand why I wanted to leave. It was something that I'd never done before.

I hesitated. I tried to pull my arm from his hold, but he wouldn't budge. My arm hurt so much that I couldn't suppress it any longer and I released a scream.

I felt a pull through me and realized that I was feeling weak. My energy was being drained. Confusion set in. I didn't understand how or why my power was being drained. At least the pain where Jared held my arm began to ease. As the energy seeped from me, I began to feel tired.

I looked at him. His emerald eyes had glazed over to become silver. Was he draining my energy? I felt weaker. I swayed. I felt his other hand hold my other arm. My knees buckled and I passed out.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

I felt awful. My head was pounding so badly I couldn't open my eyes. Groaning, I shifted slightly. It felt like my head was going to explode. Gently, I touched my forehead with my hand.

A warm hand touched my head and I felt warmth spread from the hand to my head. The pounding began to ease. I opened my eyes, but everything blurred and I struggled to focus, so I closed my eyes tightly.

"You're okay, Ava," Jared soothed, sounding close to me. My mind felt fogged up as I tried to remember what had happened; it was all a little hazy and hard to remember. I opened my eyes again and this time managed to focus on Jared, who was sitting in the chair next to the bed I was lying in.

"What happened?" I whispered. My headache was nearly gone. I felt tired and hungry.

"Try and drink some of this," he instructed. I felt his hand under my head and he gently tilted it forward. The cold rim of a glass touched my lips and I sipped. The few sips of water I drank soothed my dry throat. He lifted my head again and I took a few more sips. I managed to sit up on my own and I drank the rest of the glass. My hair was disheveled. I felt him brush it aside and tuck it behind my ear. The small gesture made me feel fuzzy inside.

Jared sat quietly next to me, watching me, while I tried to piece together what had happened from my hazy memories.

I remembered waking up next to him this morning. I smiled at the thought. Then I remembered I had started an emotionless episode before eating breakfast and having a shower. Then I remembered the whistling noise I'd heard from outside and then I'd seen Mason waiting patiently for me across the street.

I gasped. I put my hand over my mouth. Jared didn't say anything at my reaction. He continued to watch me with a worried expression on his face. I'd wanted to go to Mason.

Am I nuts?

Horrified at my actions, I got out of the bed and began to pace the room while Jared continued to watch me. My hand went to the wrist Jared had held. I remembered the pain of his touch, but when I took a look at it, there were no marks.

Memories of what had happened after that flooded back and I felt bewildered. My actions had been that of a stranger. There was no way I would want to go to Mason. He'd nearly killed me. All I remembered just before everything went dark was Jared holding on to my wrist as I felt weaker and weaker.

"What did you do?" I whispered to him. His expression was hard to read.

He stood up. "I drained you."

"Drained me?" I quietly questioned.

"I drew out the power building up inside you. It makes you weaker. That's why you passed out," he explained quietly. He stood on one side of the bed and I stood on the other. "I didn't want you to hurt yourself and I couldn't let you go to Mason. You were getting very agitated. I did what I thought would diffuse the situation without anyone getting badly hurt."

I slowly walked around the bed to him. When I stood in front of him, I said, "You did the right thing."

He seemed to be relieved I wasn't angry with him. How could I be angry when I would have done something horrible if he hadn't stopped me?

"I didn't want to do it but I didn't have a choice," he continued, but I shook my head. He didn't need to explain his actions to me.

"I know," I said. I wrapped my arms around his waist. He hesitated for a moment and then I felt his arms enclose around me. I hadn't been thinking like I normally did. It was like a split personality that came out when my emotions vanished, and that part of me was capable of doing terrible things.

"I'm sorry if I hurt you," he whispered. I tightened my arms around him. He'd hurt my arm, but that hadn't had anything to do with him draining my energy. It was like when I was a Hue my body was repelled by his Archaic touch. It was weird.

I said nothing, I just held him. His hands tilted my face toward him and then I felt his lips gently brush against mine. It was such a gentle kiss. Maybe he was scared he was going to break me. It wasn't enough so I released my hold around his waist and lifted my hands to his face. Holding him, I kissed him harder. I needed more.

He broke away from the kiss and smiled at me.
Damn that smile
, I thought as I felt my knees go weak.

"We have company downstairs," he explained as he pressed a kiss to my forehead.

I resigned myself to the fact that we had important things to discuss. I followed him downstairs as he held my hand.

Tyler and Danny were waiting in the living room when we entered. They both gave me a stiff nod. I can't say I blamed them. Every day, I was getting closer to becoming their enemy. I was having more emotionless episodes, each of which lasted longer, and I wondered if I even had a week before the change was complete.

The four of us sat down. Jared sat next to me on one of the two-seater sofas and Danny and Tyler sat down opposite us on the other one.

"What happened?" Danny asked.

"She had another emotionless episode," Jared began to explain. I sat next to him quietly with his hand holding mine. "I left her alone to have a shower and when I heard her come down the stairs, I went into the hallway to see if she needed anything. She tried to open the front door but I stopped her. When I asked her where she was going, she told me she needed to go to
him
. I asked her who she needed to go to, and she told me Mason."

Tyler and Danny looked horrified that I'd tried to go to the enemy, especially after the fact that he'd tried to harm me before. It was hard to explain to them that, when I was like that, I wasn't myself.

"The more I tried to keep her in the house the more agitated she became, and then when she started to harness her power I decided I had no other choice but to drain her. It was the only way I could keep her here without someone getting hurt."

He looked at me. I gave him a weak smile back. I knew I didn't have any control, but I felt so guilty.

"Why did you want to go to Mason?" Tyler asked me, his eyes watchful.

"I don't know. I remember seeing him across the road from Jared's bedroom window. I didn't understand it, but all of a sudden I needed to go to him. I don't know why, all I know is that I had to," I explained quietly.

"I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that he is the one who set this change into motion," Danny pondered aloud.

"I think you're right," Jared agreed with him. I felt his hand hold mine, like he didn't want to let go. He was scared he was losing me, and maybe he was right to be scared.

"This means we can't leave her alone at all. If she has an episode when no one is with her, nothing stops her from going to Mason," Jared explained.

I hadn't thought of that. With the episodes now happening more often and lasting longer, this was going to be a problem. How could they be there all the time? The truth was they couldn't. The fear hit me right in my chest and I felt short of breath. I couldn't stop myself; I had no control. It would just be a matter of time before I went willingly to Mason. I struggled to keep my fear from engulfing me. Jared felt my panic and his hand tightened around mine. He turned to me and took both of my hands into his, stroking the outside of my hand with his thumbs.