Changer's Blood (Balancer's Soul cycle) (56 page)

Starting with the steaks
,
he
turned on the grill and started cooking
.

As
Mark
continued
cooking
he focused on increasing his
hearing. When the
voice
s
in at the bar table were clear enough
over the kitchen sounds
he began multitasking like the best there is
.

“…that was a good cover for your eyes.”
he
recognized Sarah’s voice.

“What did she come up with?” That was Jillian’s chipper voice.

“I can’t hide the fact that my
new
eyes are so different. I knew girls on the cheerleading squad who got colored contacts
for special events
like pep rally’s
and such
. I just told Gerry that this was my real eye color and my brown eyes were contacts.” Kara’s voice
sent bells ringing throughout his
entire being.

F
inally C
onnor’s distinctive voice
spoke clearly
. “H
ow will you explain
the new eyes
to Mom?”

She
became
silent for a moment. That could mean that she was
either
thinking or upset. “Brother, I would think that it would
work too
..
. Why are you shaking your head
like that
?”

“Because, Mom will see right through you. She’s not stupid either
because you were born with brown eyes
like her
.
I could get away with it because I don’t share that genetic quirk like the two of you have.
Now… what could work…?” He
went
silent for a moment. “Jack, I’m sorry for eavesdropping, but that is a great idea.”

Kara chimed
,
saying
“What? What is this great idea?”

Jack finally spoke. “My idea was; What if
you got those colored contacts you were talking about
.
Just pop them in when you go and see your family.
”

Skeptically
Kara asked “And just where would I get them
?”

Jack went silent
.

“
Leave that to me
,
Sweetheart
.”
Kara turned her head towards
Mark as he
came into the room with the first round of food. Ten fully cooked chickens, a heaping tray of burgers a
nd steaks were spread amongst the ravenous
custo
mers.

As everyone began eating he
continued speaking to Kara
. “Tomorrow we will go to an optometrist and I’ll get you those contacts in the exact
shade of
color that your eyes used to be.
”

“Alright Honey
…
”
She smiled brightly at
him
.

Jillian cut her off. “
Connor
,
you’re looking better, but do you feel better?”

“Yes
.” He took another bite of his hamburger. “
But using lightning was risky and I feel I did it too soon…
I’m g
l
ad that I can recover
so quickly
,
simply
from eating.” He cocked his head to the side.
Mark’s
only seen Connor show this exact expression when he figures something out.
“Jack
,
I have a question.” The silver haired man put down his chicken wing as he gave his full attention to Connor. “We survive on our energy
reserves
right?” Jack nodded
. “The fire shield I taught you…
can we absorb enough energy from a fire to sustain us for a
short
period of time?”

“Connor you were the one who created that specific technique.
I’m not really sure.
” Jack
’
s blue eyes were staring at
the ingenious and young Balancer
gently. “In theory it might work, but you’ll nee
d to test it all on your own
. How about tomorrow we give it a try?”

Connor
looked up. He nodded.

Even in recovery, he comes up with strange things that seem to work.

“I’m sorry, but I won’t be able to make it tomorrow.” Jillian said to all of
them
with a pouting bottom lip
. “I have to plan a wedding and it’s not close enough for me to meet up with you all tomorrow.”

“Mother, I hope that you’ll have a great time.” Sarah said sincerely
and without any malice
.

“I will,” Jillian sighed “but I like working out with everyone.
These past few months have been more exciting than the past century.
”
She then yawned.

An hour later
Mark
finished cooking
everything that they ordered
and they were finished consuming their meals.
They
mainly
talked about fine tuning the plan regarding Kara’s eyes.
Before
Mark
went back into the dining area
he
called and ordered more food
from the restaurant distribution center
. Four Balancers and two Changers ate
a large amount of
supplies from the freezer.

Finished with the
call
he
reentered behind
the bar.
Mark
saw C
onnor whisper
ing
in his sister’s ear. She
had taken
a chair off the table and was sitting next to the window shades
.
Connor’s towering form
stood
hun
ched over her as he spoke
quietly
. As he pulled away, K
ara studied him for a moment as she
deliberated
on
what
ever he
had
asked
of
her
. Kara then shook her head
slowly
and his
best friend smiled warmly at her.
I wonder what all that was about?
It didn’t really matter
at this moment
.
She was here and that
i
s all that mattered.

Connor walked back up to the bar and sat next to his mate.
Both Connor and Sarah looked
so
much better
after all
that
they ate
. His voice
grew in strength
again as were his facial features
and the way he moved
. Sarah looked
and moved
the same, but she kept silent. Her eyes would rarely stray from Connor
as he consulted
with
Jillian and Jack
.

Connor said “Mark, thank you
for all of this.” He motioned at
all of the dirty plates that lay on the counter. The only thing that was l
eft on the plates w
ere
the skeletons
of the chickens
and some ice still in the glasses
.
The dishes were a barren battle field and they were the victors.

“No, this was my thanks for all that you have given to me.”
Mark
pointed with
his
chin to Kara who still sat by the window.
Connor said nothing
, but smiled as
he stretched his fist across the counter.

When
they
bumped fis
t
s Connor
spoke
. “Y
ou
’
r
e
welcome then.” He spun
around
in his chair
,
looking at Sarah and her parents. “Let’s go home, but first we need to go grocery shopping.”

The four soon left together in Connor’s truck
after offering to help clean up
. Kara helped
Mark
clean up
the
untidiness
as she told the four Balancers “Just get going. We can deal with this small mess.”
It took about ten minutes to clean up thanks to
their
advanced speed.
Mark
made
up
several
large
bags
of food
to take home from the diner
and b
efore they
left
he
locked the
front
and back
door
s
.

“Mark, is it ok if I stay with you
tonight
?” Kara asked as
they
were driving down the winding
road in his
jeep.
The window
stayed
down and she was looking to her side of the forest.
The wind
continued
whipping her sandy blonde hair and infusing her
scent into everything around him
.
From now on he could find her anywhere in the world by scent alone.

This topic could get dangerous.
“I don’t see why not. I’ll take the couch.”

She didn’t retort
back
on that subject. She rubbed her stomach
. Over the course of an hour, her stomach became flat
again
. “I must have eaten at least ten pounds of food today. I’m not hungry, but I don’t feel full
either
.”

She turned to look at
Mark
with a confused expression
and
he
answered her
. “When you reach your maximum weight, you’ll feel full. So full that you’ll make yourself sick if you’d take another bite of anything. You will hit your weig
ht in about three or four weeks
if you keep eating at this rate.”

“But will I get fat?” She asked honestly.

“Only if you want
ed
to.
”
He smiled as he
turned the steering wheel to go around a
sharp
curve in the road.
“
We store
or
nutrients at a cellular level.
You have the ability to change your height, hair pigmentation, to be tall or short, fat or skinny and even muscular or lean.
Each of our
viral
cells roughly weighs
twice as
much compared to normal cells
. That is why I weigh about four hundred and fifty pounds
, twice that of a normal man
.”

She mumbled to herself “Better not crush me.”

J
ust after six
is
when
they
arrived back at
his
place. She went
up first and opened the door. He
grabbed the bags of food and stepped up and into
the apartment. As he
came in, Kara shut and locked the
front
door.

After puttin
g the groceries away, Kara and Mark
sat down in front of the TV and watched an old action movie.

Around nine, Kara stood and entered the bathroom.
She
turn
ed
on the shower
and soon
Mark
saw steam billowing through the cracks in the door
.
It was odd because she already showered earlier.

About fifteen minutes later
he
saw her quickly walk into
his
bedroom
with a
silver and silky bath robe
.

A few minutes later he
heard her call from behind
the bedroom
door. “Mark, can you come in here for a moment? I need your help
with something
…
”

What could she need my help with? Oh well, better help or I’ll never hear the end of it.
Mark
used the remote to turn off
the
TV as
he
stood. Before
he
knocked
on
the white
door
he
saw that
the
bedroom light was off.
She must need me to change the light bulb.