Devil Inside (51 page)

“Yeah.  Several humans were killed as well as another Nocte and a Lux.  The marks on the human matched the marks on the previous victims.”

She felt excited, guilty, and frustrated and confused all at once.  It must have shown on her face because Castor asked what was wrong.

“Long story,” she answered.  “I need to go to California.”

He raised an eyebrow.  “Do you think that is where Cutter went too?”

“Probably,” Harley didn’t offer more than that.

“So…why do you want to go there if you don’t know where Cutter is for sure?”

“I need to take care of the Rogue first.”  When she said this she realized how right the Nocte had been.  This is what she needed to do.  She could feel the Nocte relax in agreement.

Castor looked at her bewildered.  “So you are giving up on Cutter?”

“No,” she sighed.  “But the Rogue is the more important target right now.  My Nocte was adamant about that from the beginning.  She just didn’t fight me on it.”

If Castor had been bewildered before he was shocked now.  “You communicate with your Nocte?”

Harley wet her lips.  “Sometimes.”

Castor shook his head.  “How?  What has it told you?”

Harley could feel the exhaustion pressing in on her.  “I’ll tell you later.  I’m just really tired right now and it’s a long story.”  Really, she just didn’t have the energy to explain it right now.

Castor glared at her for a minute before throwing his hands up in defeat.  “Fine,” he said.  “I guess you had better get your rest anyway.”  His words had an ever so slight edge to them.

“Why?”

“Levi is going to be here in a couple of days.”

Harley froze staring at him for what seemed like a full minute.  “What did you say?”

“Levi is going to be here—well New York I mean—in a couple of days.”

“You talked to Levi?”

“Yes.  He called a few times and I figured if he never got in touch with you he would panic.”

Harley felt cold again and she swallowed hard.  “Um, how did that go?”  Even though she and Levi had no commitment to each other it, it didn’t change the fact that she knew it would bother Levi to think she was involved with someone else. 
Probably not as much as it would bother me if he messed with someone else though.
  She could feel her Nocte agree with that.

“Not too bad actually.  I was pretty sure that he was going to come and kill me when I told him you had been hurt.  I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone sound so calmly angry.”

“Yeah that sounds like Levi,” Harley laughed uncomfortably.

“He calmed down when I told him you were safe and healing.  He’s leaving Virginia as soon as he can.”

“OK.”  She was glad to know that it didn’t sound like she needed to do damage control on that front. 
Good news there…I think…

“I have to say—he didn’t seem nearly upset enough.”  Castor tried to make it sound like an afterthought but there was too much meaning behind the words.

“Don’t go there,” Harley said softly, her words full of steel.

“I’m just saying, if I were him…I would have dropped everything and ran here as fast as I could.”

Harley glared at him without speaking.  She knew how he felt.  The burning look that he gave her all the time said all that needed to be said.  And to be honest, she wanted him too.  But she had no time or patience for jealousy.

Castor looked away after a moment before nodding, agreeing to let it go and not play jealous guy.  Harley tried to brush away her annoyance.  Just like with Levi, she wasn’t looking for romance.  Levi seemed to understand that and she hoped that Castor could too.  Otherwise, it was going to cause problems and distractions that no one had time for.  And whether it was fair or not, she knew her Nocte had sunk her claws into these two men.  Her Nocte purred in agreement.  The Nocte had claimed territory over the two men.
It’s all the Nocte, right?  I’m not being the possessive one, am I?
  Harley couldn’t separate her rational feelings from her primal ones and she didn’t know which belonged to her and which to the Nocte anymore.

------------------------------------

When Harley woke up she was feeling even better.  The bedroom was dark enough that she could tell it was the middle of the night.  Her entire body still hurt and she felt weak and tired, but she could at least move now.  She sat up in bed and shook her head over her nakedness.  She was sure that Castor had fun with that.  She needed a shower—badly.  She could tell that he had tried to clean as much of the blood off of her as he could, but there were still spots of flaky rust-colored blood dried in crack and crevices over her body.  She also had large spots of healing bruises and torn flesh that made her cringe.  Her hair was also greasy and matted and she had to use the toilet so bad she felt like her eyeballs were floating. 
Oh, god!  What did Castor do about that while I was out?
  Harley refused to think about that—or ask about it
.

Harley dragged her legs over the side of the bed and took a deep breath.  She pushed her weight up off the bed and nearly hit the floor.  Her back and legs, having grown accustomed to not bearing weight, felt as if all the muscles had been shredded and taped back together.  Harley had to grit her teeth against the pain.  Her head spun from the shift in blood flow and she took deep breaths waiting for it to all pass.  She held herself steady against a nightstand and soon the dizziness passed.  She took a few feeble steps and with each one walking got a little easier.  By the time she made it to the bedroom door she was out of breath and breaking out in a sweat. 
Wow!  It’s been a while since I have felt this human.
  She knew that she would need to feed soon if she was going to regain her strength before Levi arrived.  She didn’t want Levi to find her this broken.  It would only make him angry and worried.  Not to mention she needed to get on the ball.  They needed to get to California and soon.

Harley eased open the bedroom door, holding herself up by the frame.  She looked around the darkened apartment.  It was decorated in much the same way that the bedroom was.  Lots of pictures of houses were hung on the walls.  The rest of the apartment was same clean-but-not-too-clean.  Lots of clothes and weapons were scattered around along with maps, files and papers.  Overall, it made the small apartment feel comfortable and lived in.  There was a large dark green sofa in the middle of the living area and Harley could see bare feet hanging over the arm of the couch.  Harley smiled to herself. 
Nice feet
, she thought.  She could tell by the sound of his breathing that he was asleep.  She didn’t need any lights so she left them off as she made her way towards the bathroom.  She also didn’t bother to try to cover up. 
What does it matter
, she shrugged.

Harley shut the door before turning on the light.  The bright flash of lights blinded her for a moment.  When her vision adjusted she was confronted by her own monstrous face looking back at her from the mirror.  She nearly peed on herself from the shock.  Once she processed the fact that she was staring at her own reflection she almost cried.  Her skin was a myriad of yellows, greens and blacks and the discoloration marked her entire body.  She kept telling herself it would go away soon.  She ran her tongue around her teeth.  She was surprised that she hadn’t lost any.  Or maybe she had and they had just grown back quicker than the rest of her had healed.

Turning away from the mirror with a shudder, Harley turned on the shower and waited for it to heat up.  She shut the shower door and let the water beat down against her skin.  She could feel the blood and grime flow off her and the pain in her muscles began to ease with the heat of the water.  She braced herself against the sides of the shower stall and just enjoyed the feel of the spray against her back and shoulders.  She spent a long time in the shower and her scrubbing did wonders to work away the soreness from her body.

Harley felt significantly better when she stepped out of the shower and dried off.  She found a comb and worked the tangles out of her hair.  Not having a toothbrush, she used mouthwash to do what she could.  She turned the light off and opened the door as quietly as she could.  She still didn’t want to wake Castor so she tiptoed softly back towards the bedroom.  Harley froze when Castor spoke from the couch.

“Now that is a nice sunrise.”

Harley froze and tried her best to keep a smile from her face as she turned to face Castor.  “Is it morning already?”

He looked towards the window.  “Just about.” 

He sat up and rubbed his face.  He looked even more disheveled that he did yesterday.  He wore a pair of gym shorts and nothing else and Harley felt her mouth go dry a little.  “How are you feeling?” he asked her, carefully keeping his eyes above her shoulders.

“Much better.  Thanks.  I’m just tired and still really sore.”

Castor hesitated.  “Do you need more blood?”

Harley’s heart started beating harder and her Nocte roused herself from her tired stupor.  She debated about how to answer the question.  She needed the blood and she knew that he was offering her his.  Even without his saying so specifically.  She had seen the reaction he had had to the feeding.  He had enjoyed it as much as she did.  But, she couldn’t continue to drain his life.  Levi had fed on her in return and that was how he had been OK.  He took from her as much as she took from him.  “I don’t think it’s very safe.  How did you feel after…after I fed from you before?”

Castor considered how to answer the question.  “Drained.  And very tired.  A little queasy.”  Harley’s heart sank.  “But,” he went on, “that was only later.  At first—it was…um, pretty awesome.”  He didn’t look her in the eye as he talked instead he looked somewhere over her shoulder. 

Awesome was an understatement.  It had felt as incredible when Castor fed as it had when Levi fed.  She couldn’t imagine how good it would be if sex was involved at the same time.  At that thought heat flared through her body.  “I don’t think we should risk my feeding off you.  I don’t know if it could really hurt you or not.”

“I hunted that day.  After you went back to sleep.  After I pulled I was fine.”

“Pulled?”

“Yeah, that’s what the Lux call it when we feed.”

“Oh.  OK.  Well, were you back to normal after you pulled?”

“…mostly…”

“Mostly?”

Castor looked away again.  “Yeah, mostly.  I don’t know if it is because I’m still not 100% after the bite.  Or if it is because of just the drain on me.  I’m fine really though,” he quickly added.  He really did seem eager for her to feed off him but Harley still hesitated.   “It’s the quickest way for you to heal—and you really heal fast by the way.  I’ll recover.  I think it just needs some time to build back up.  Besides, you really aren’t up to hunting right now are you?”

Castor was right about that.  She was NOT up to hunting and probably wouldn’t be for a at least a day or so if she left herself to heal on her own.  “I think I know why you still feel the effects of the feeding.  I need to give you back what I take.”

“How would I do that?”

“You would need to…pull?..from me”

“No way.  I can’t do that.  It’s dangerous.  What if I killed you?”  His eyes were wide but curious.

“I don’t think you will.  I would be the same as me feeding off you.  You weren’t worried about me killing you when you gave me blood the other day.”

“You’re right,” he conceded.  “But doesn’t Nocte feeding work the same way as Lux pulling?  When we pull we pull all their life force from them.  That’s where we get our energy from.”

Tired of standing around naked Harley gestured to herself.  “Uh, do you mind if we continue this conversation after I’ve gotten dressed?

Castor laughed.  “Sorry, no—go ahead.”

“Do you have a shirt or anything I could wear?”

“Oh, yeah.  Sure.”  He jumped from the couch.

Harley followed Castor into the bedroom and he pulled a long tee-shirt from his closet and handed it to her.  When she sat on the bed to continue their conversation he sat in the fluffy chair that had been pulled to the bedside.  She pulled the shirt over her head and breathed in the smell of the fabric.  Even through the detergent it still smelled like him and heat flared through her body again.

“When we feed off Ignis we drain them out through the blood.”

“Do you normally feed from other beings than Burners?”

“Well…I don’t know of any other Nocte who do.”

“So, have you only fed from Burners before this?”  His question was loaded and she knew it.

Harley hesitated.  “Just another Nocte.”

Castor nodded knowingly and refused to meet her eyes.  “So, you can feed without killing the person you are feeding off of?”

“Yeah.  But they—Levi—feed off me too.”  Harley said, decided to stop pretending they didn’t both know who she fed off of before.

Castor’s jaw clenched.  “You aren’t strong enough for me to pull from.”

“We won’t know unless we try.” 

He started shaking his head.   “It’s not worth the risk.  Not if you think you are going to California.”

Harley tilted her head at his words.  She didn’t doubt the logic of his words.  But she also didn’t doubt the nagging that her Nocte was giving her.  She was practically hopping up and down urging her to go through with it and feed from Castor.  She felt sure that she was strong enough to handle the exchange.  The closer she got to the idea the hotter she became.  Her pulse was pounding against her throat and her breathing had quickened.  Castor seemed to notice because he shifted uncomfortably.  She could practically feel her Nocte shouting at her to go for it.