Dead Awakenings (11 page)

“It’ll take a couple of hours to set everything up. Why don’t you try to lie down for a bit.”

“There’s no way I can rest with this itching going on.”

“I can help with that.” Aron pulled a vial out of a cabinet and came toward her. “This will help you till it’s over.”

A flashback of the guy at the hospital coming toward her with the syringe caused her to gasp and back away. “Uh, that’s OK.” She stared at the syringe in his hand. “I’ll deal with it.”

Aron stopped moving, stuffed the needle into his pocket and held his hands up in surrender, a warm smile on his face.

Needles were so not her thing. Her instincts told her that there was a good reason she didn’t like them.

“I’ll have Luca take you to your room and we can come get you in a bit.” Nate flipped open his cell phone and punched in a number. Nate glanced her way, and he gave her a tight smile. After a minute he clicked the phone shut. “Aron will go with you while I go get things started.” Nate and Aron exchanged a glance. But then just as quick, Aron had on his big reassuring smile. He escorted her out of the hospital wing and back to her room.

Chapter Eleven

Evaine sat on the edge of her bed, scratching the never-ending itch on her hands and arms. She’d slept for so long. Bombarded by images, she tried to make sense of her dreams. The impressions slipped by so fast, she was unable to grasp any particular one long enough to understand what she saw. She sighed and rubbed her hands over her face. How long had it been since she’d showered? She stripped off her clothes and went into the bathroom. Someone had stocked her shower with all the luxury bath stuff she hadn’t been able to afford before. She lingered under the warm water. She would never have allowed herself to stay in the shower that long when she had to pay her own water bill.

Opening the wardrobe she was surprised to find a pair of yoga pants and a pink T-shirt. She pulled them on, sat back on her bed and waited.

After biting her nails down to nubs the camera in the corner moved. A few minutes later a young man knocked and walked in. It was Ronan, the computer kid. His build was slight and his white hair hung in a long, shaggy, surfer cut. He wore a jeans with a polo shirt. He looked much younger than the rest as well. All gangly arms and legs. Her gut clenched—he never would grow into them now.

“Hey.” He entered. “Sorry to make you wait. We’ve been a little preoccupied. Luca has been checkin’ on you since you got here, but he had to run out tonight, so we’re gonna wait till tomorrow to start with your testing. Are you hungry?”

“How long have I been here?”

“Well, let’s see. There’s today and yesterday and you slept four days. You were awake for two days, and we picked you up the day before. So about a week and a half. Maybe a little more, give or take.”

The thought of eating made her shiver. They ate animal parts, but would she go crazy like last time?

Walking to the door he punched the code. “We’ll be removing the lock from your door after the testing. Provided there aren’t any problems.”

She followed him out the door. “What kind of problems could there be?”

One of the Forgotten screamed. Evaine covered her ears to block out the shrill cries. The gigantic lump in the cell across from hers was sitting on his bed staring at the wall. He was enormous with skin like gray coal cinders and stark white short hair. Ronan strode out of earshot of the screams, and she quickly followed.

“Well, there are a few things that can arise from the testing,” Ronan continued. “You could get violent, have super powers that we don’t know about, go crazy and start killing people.” He shrugged. “Typical stuff.”

“Thanks. I feel so reassured now.”

He laughed. “Don’t worry.” He smiled and a dimple appeared on his left cheek.

She smiled back. She liked his sweet smile.

They had made it to the secret wall. He punched the code, and they stepped through into the study. As the door opened she heard voices. Two men were in the kitchen. She remembered them as having been patrolling the grounds when she came in. They stopped talking and turned as she and Ronan entered.

“This is Evaine,” Ronan said. “She’s new here so don’t go scaring her.”

The men were very similar. They had large, heavyset builds, hair cropped short, and big goofy grins on their faces. To her they were giants. Not as big as Victor, who must have been almost six foot five, but still, pretty big guys. All decked out in black tight T-shirts and black camo pants with black boots, they looked as though they belonged in a biker gang.

Ronan turned to her. “These are the twins, Bobby Lee and John Casey. They aren’t really twins, but as you can see, they sure look it.” They stood to welcome her to the house.

“Sure is nice to meet you, ma’am.” Bobby Lee had probably the most redneck Southern accent that Evaine had ever heard.

“Mighty pretty, you are.” John Casey’s drawl was equally Southern. “Don’t get many girls here. You let me know if there’s anythin’ I can do for ya.”

Evaine would have blushed from ear to ear if she still had any blood left in her. “Uh…thanks, that’s really nice of you.”

“The twins are head of security around here. Well, underneath me that is.” Ronan puffed out his chest a little. “They patrol the grounds to make sure we don’t get any unwelcome visitors.”

“Does that happen often?”

“Not much. But from time to time we have people interested in an old house that’s set back from the road with security cameras, guards, and dogs.”

“But there ain’t never been a breech since we came here to stay.” Bobby Lee grinned.

“You better believe it, brother. Goin’ on almost two years now,” John Casey said.

“Where are my manners?” Bobby Lee smiled. “I’m sure ya’ll didn’t just come up here to see my pretty face. Can I get you a drink, ma’am? Water or Isis?”

“She’ll have an Isis, and I’ll just have water,” answered Ronan.

“Sure thing, boss,” Bobby Lee said.

It seemed strange that such a big man would be calling a kid boss. Not to be outdone John Casey offered her his seat, even though there were enough seats for all of them and then some. Evaine took the seat that John Casey had pulled out and said thank you. The men started chatting about college sports teams while she drank her blue drink. Not her favorite, but it helped quench the desert in her throat. Her stomach groaned.

Minutes passed, and the hunger pains intensified. She began to pant, trying hard not to draw attention to herself while the men’s friendly banter grew more heated. Finally she let out an involuntary cry and grabbed her side. She slumped over the counter, placing her face on the cool surface.

“Hey, you don’t look so good.” John Casey leaned toward her.

Ronan took one look at her and told Bobby Lee to get something to eat out of the fridge.

“Sure thing, Boss.”

John Casey picked her up and carried her over to the couch. She curled into a ball and lay there trying to process the pain. Bobby Lee handed the bowl to Ronan, who knelt in front of her.

“Thanks guys, I can take it from here,” he said.

Bobby Lee and John Casey left with well wishes for her, but she didn’t hear most of what they said.

“OK, so this won’t taste, well, it isn’t as good as human, but it’ll make the pain stop. And it’ll keep you going.” He picked something up out of the bowl, and he pressed it to her lips. As soon as the cold meat hit her mouth, she wanted to spit it out. She had hoped it would be sweet and tangy, but it wasn’t. It was like hoping for a big juicy filet mignon steak with all the spices and wonderful taste from being on the grill and getting a cold, hard piece of chuck steak that had sat in the fridge for too long. She ripped through the tough meat until she could finally swallow it. Ronan offered her more, this time something different. Same taste, different texture. By the fifth piece the cramps eased and her panting subsided. Waving him off she lay back on the couch and waited till her body absorbed the new food.

Ronan watched her, but not in an intrusive way. “Better?”

“Yes, thank you.” She sat up.

“I’m sorry about that. I should have realized you needed to feed. If I had, I never would have sat there jabbering. I am so sorry.”

“Really, it’s all right. You don’t need to apologize. And now that I know what happens if I don’t eat, I’ll be sure to eat more often.” She smiled at him reassuringly.

“You need to eat about once a week, and you need to drink Isis once a day at least, but other than that, our bodies require very little sustenance.”

“I’ll remember that.”

He bit his lip. “Could you, maybe, not mention this to Luca? He would kill me if he thought I wasn’t taking care of you.”

Luca had thought about her before he left? What was it with this guy? “Well I don’t think you have to worry about Luca. Even if I did tell him, he wouldn’t care. I don’t think he cares much of anything about me.”

Ronan folded his fingers, looked down at them, and paused before responding. “Don’t judge him just yet. He’s a good guy, and he cares more than you would think. Luca has been rebirthed for a long time, and he’s been alone for a long time. He isn’t too sure how he feels about you, and no offense, but, you’re a newborn. Newborns are hard to predict and control, and if there’s one thing Luca likes, its control. He’s saved my life more times than I can count; the lives of a lot of other people too. All I’ll say is give him some time. He’ll get it worked out.”

She wasn’t sure what she thought either. She shrugged. “Where did he go?”

“He had to go out, but he’ll be back before morning, don’t worry.” He smiled and then picked up the bowl and walked into the kitchen.

It probably wouldn’t do any good to ask again so she changed the subject. “What did I eat?”

“Oh.” Ronan looked at what was left in the bowl before throwing into a trash can. “Looks like pig. A kidney, some lung and probably a spleen.”

Just the sound of what she’d eaten made her want to vomit. But wasn’t eating a person worse? “Where does it come from?” She tried to redirect her thoughts.

“We have a business that picks up the extra parts from butchers around the East Coast. We dispose of it, keep some, and some we sell to the Feeders.”

“I thought the Feeders only ate humans.”

“Mostly they do, yes. But as you witnessed firsthand a few minutes ago, not eating can be bad for your health. And there are times when it isn’t always so easy to find…other food. It’s like having ramen noodles in your pantry for when you get really hungry.”

She laughed at the analogy. Ronan switched on the TV and sat down next to her. They flipped through the channels till she found a show she had been watching before she had rebirthed. A lot of time had passed on the show. There was a new character that she didn’t recognize, someone had had a baby, and another couple had broken up.

“What is the date?”

“What? Oh, the date. Uh…it’s October third, I believe.”

October third? The last date she remembered was…she didn’t remember.

The program ended, and they watched another. Ronan stayed with her, though he showed no signs of interest in the television whatsoever. “Where’s everyone else?”

“Nate and Abbey are upstairs doing some paperwork. Cami and Victor are in their room, doing whatever it is they do. I’m here with you. Aron is down in the hospital wing. Bobby Lee and John Casey are patrolling. Then there is Trey and Mary Jane. They’re out of town right now, in the California Haven. Shandy’s staying with the Feeders, trying to gather some information. Quinten’s following up a lead. That leaves the Forgotten, who are downstairs, unfortunately just existing at this point. Oh, and Luca’s on his errand.”

A slender woman with medium-length white hair walked in. Her clothes were a little too clingy and her shoes were high for wearing around the house. Her eyes had been heavily accentuated with dark eyeliner, and she wore red lipstick that made her mouth even poutier. She had actually managed to accentuate her alien beauty. Evaine hadn’t even thought about wearing makeup.

The girl’s eyes raked Evaine up and down.

“And there’s Karen.” Ronan spoke as if he had forgotten her entirely. But how would that be possible with a girl who dressed like that?

“Hello.” Karen’s tone was cool. She didn’t cross the room to shake Evaine’s hand or look the least bit interested in getting to know her at all, except for what she looked like. Karen continued to eye Evaine.

Finally Ronan broke the silence. “Karen, this is Evaine, she’s the newborn—”

“I’m aware of that.” Karen tilted her head and smirked. “The whole house has been buzzing about the new girl and wondering what powers she might have. Where’s Luca?” She stared at Evaine.

“He’s out.”

Karen gave an irritated glance. “Thanks, computer geek, but where did he—oh forget it, I’ll locate him myself.” Karen spun on her heels and sauntered out of the room, her hips swishing with every move of the mile-high heels.

Ronan gave an apologetic smile to Evaine. “Sorry about her. She’s a little dramatic and pretty much a prima donna but she’s the resident white pages, so we keep her around. Besides she sleeps a lot of the time and so we only have to see her every few days.”

Evaine nodded, still staring at the now empty doorway. She wondered if Karen had come back with her humanity or if she was somehow faking it. Her thoughts turned to Luca. Why Karen was looking for him? Her skin tingled. Maybe if she waited around long enough she would see him when he came back from his mysterious errand.

It took Evaine four shows to realize Ronan was her chaperone. He’d started snoring halfway through the second show. She’d waited and waited for Luca to return, but he hadn’t. She wasn’t sure why what she did seemed to revolve so much around him now. But, the connection between them was a comfort in her new world as much as an annoyance. She got up to get water, and Ronan snorted awake.

“Oh, man, sorry, I must have fallen asleep.”

“No biggie. I think I’m gonna go to my room.”

“Things will get better. Soon as you’re tested you’ll be given more freedoms and you won’t be required to have me hanging around your neck.”