Evolution (10 page)

The blackness began to pour into my vision. I’d waited too long to feed. They mentioned their names, though I couldn’t remember them if I tried. If more of the hunger didn’t bleed off, one of them might die. They wouldn’t remember me interrupting their lives, but I probably would.

Every sound and memory faded into their heartbeats, thumping strong and fast. Soon. Oh God, please soon. Two of the girls kissed, my hunger releasing their inhibitions. If only that worked as well on Genesis.

Finally, I eased my car into a heavily wooded area. The deep forest scent sang of home, peace, and a more brutal sense of possession. My territory. I had a house over the ridge, still under construction. Not that anyone knew about it but me and my accountant. Maybe Genesis would live there someday. I really need to stop thinking about that kid.

I stepped out of the car, opened the door to the backseat, and stared at my dinner for the evening. Tonight, at least, they were mine. The darkness took the last of my sight, and I prayed once again I wouldn’t kill any of them. Still, all I could think of was pink hair and amethyst eyes.

Chapter 10

Genesis

W
HEN
the song ended, the entire room sparkled gold, but no one said a word. If crickets could have serenaded me, they would have. Rob and Joel just stared. The girls, who had clung to them a few moments ago, sat at my feet, even Sarah. All looked like they’d gone into some kind of trance. My heart skipped a beat. “Red Rose” was my favorite ballad. Had I just ruined the song? I’d poured so much emotion into it I hadn’t really thought about my singing.

“I know I’ve been a little off lately, but was it that bad?”

“Gene, if you sang like that every day, we’d be crazy famous already.” Joel fumbled absently with a package of licorice. He stuffed several pieces in his mouth but still managed to say, “Amazing.”

Rob, too, looked dazed. “We used to do covers all the time, but I guess I never realized how similar you and Michael Shuon sound. He’s got training, but your range is better, and you’ve got passion and depth he can’t compete with.”

Joel handed me some licorice. “Maybe we can borrow the song for the new album. Like a tribute or something. Your talent is more rock style. We don’t have to be all pop. We never really were pop.”

The blonde girl tugged on my arm. “That was so beautiful, and you sang it just for me!” She wrapped her arms around me in a near death grip. The other girls followed like some kind of hive-mind mentality with similar comments and tugging. Rob and Joel pried them off, playing bodyguards till we made our way out to the parking lot. Sarah promised to distract the girls while I got away. I liked her already and told Joel I approved. He just slapped me on the back and pushed me toward Rob’s car before commenting how he had two whole days with his girl and then disappearing back inside.

“That was a pretty successful Friday,” Rob commented as he quietly steered his car toward my apartment.

“Yeah. Finished two tracks and had a great interview with that teen magazine.” Though I couldn’t remember the name of it. I’d have to call Uo and tell her to look for it. “Today was a good day. I’m way pumped.”

“About the music.”

“Well, yeah. What else am I supposed to be pumped about?”

“Renee.”

I glanced at my friend. “Huh?”

“The girl with the pink streaks in her hair.”

Oh. “She was nice.”

Rob’s sideways glance said he wasn’t happy.

“What? She was. She liked my voice and told me how great I was. I felt like a star.”

He sighed. “I handpicked her for you. She gushed, and you hated every second of it. You don’t want to be worshiped. It’s stupid. You’re the front man, the vocalist, the focal point of the group, but you don’t want attention.”

“Everyone wants to be liked.” Even me.

“You just want to sing.”

“Sure. Having people listen and like it is a bonus.”

“At least I get it now. You’re this mega positive force, and you need a negative opposite. That’s why Petterson fit for you. I need to find you an opposite.”

He was also a guy. Rob would never get that. I didn’t really want anyone right now. I had to be okay just being me first, but I kept my mouth shut and stared out the window.

“When you sang ‘Red Rose’, your voice kicked me in the ass. Never saw that coming. I sat there thinking, yeah, this is why we became Evolution. This is how amazing we can be. How’d you do it?”

No way was I going to tell him I’d been thinking about Kerstrande. “I just sang. That’s all.”

His fingers tapped the steering wheel to the beat on the radio. “I noticed that when the label made us change our stuff. Your songs may not be as pro, but it’s more heartfelt, and you sing them better.”

I considered telling him about the new song I’d been working on but thought better of it. The song was incomplete, unpolished, and extremely personal. If he saw it and stomped all over it, I’d have a breakdown. Some things I wasn’t ready to share with the world yet, and other things the world didn’t want me to.

The car stopped in front of my building. Rob patted me on the back. “Get some rest and call me. It’ll be nice to have a weekend off.”

“Thanks.” I didn’t mention to him that I was working double shifts at the club this weekend. Instead I just waved good-bye and waited until he turned the corner before racing up to change and then getting into my Honda to go to work.

The night at the club was much the same as it always had been. Lots of drooling men begging for attention from others who were so outside their range they were on another planet. I used my fake smile to rake in the tips, and when I headed home for the night, I felt pretty good about my living expenses for the next few days.

I pulled my Honda into the parking spot in front of my building just after 2:00 a.m. and got out. Another car pulled up, the back window rolled down. “Get in, Gene.”

“Devon?” I didn’t want this confrontation. I didn’t want to lose another friend, but I couldn’t deal with the darkness that was taking control of him. Not if he wasn’t willing to fight it. And KC’s comment about everyone thinking I was Devon’s lover still bothered me a lot. I slid into the backseat because I couldn’t think of an excuse not to that didn’t sound like one.

“Drive around for awhile,” Devon told his driver after I closed the door. The car moved slowly. The tinted glass made it hard to see anything outside. Why was everyone so dark lately?

“You’ve been avoiding me,” he said.

“Sorta.”

“Care to tell me why?”

Not really. I just stared out the window, a million questions running through my head I had no right to ask.

“Is it the shadows?”

Was that why he was sitting in the dark? “Can you turn on the light?”

The overhead dome clicked on, filling the small area with brightness. Devon looked terrible. He’d lost weight. His normal five o’clock shadow had seen several passes of the hour hand. His pale blue-gray eyes were etched with red lines. “Swirly” no longer defined him. Instead, the mass enshrouded him like a cloud of smoke that hovered several inches thick around his body. He didn’t look human anymore—more like some sort of ghoul who’d broken free from the grave to find fresh meat.

The thought made me shiver. “What’s happened to you?”

“I would ask you the same thing.”

“I don’t look like a skeleton with death hovering over his shoulder.”

His laugh was harsh. “That’s a matter of opinion. I’ve never seen your aura so dim.”

I couldn’t see my aura at all, ever; everyone else’s, but not mine. “You won’t talk to me then? Tell me what you’re doing to yourself?” Was it drugs? I know that happened to a lot of musicians, but I’d never seen anything to make me think Devon might be on something.

“I’ll share if you do. I’m in control for now.”

Whatever that meant. “Are you doing drugs?”

He laughed lightly. “No.”

Fine, on with the hard questions then. “Are you interested in me, Devon?”

He tilted his head sideways and seemed to look at me differently. “Depends on your meaning.”

“You know,
interested.
”

“Like you are in young Mr. Petterson? No.”

Okay. So he didn’t want to have sex with me and be with me until we were tottering, gray old fools. That was a plus. “What does that mean? What are we? Coworkers? Friends? Rivals? I don’t get it.”

Devon’s hand slid over mine, and I felt the darkness pull away from his skin where we touched. “He doesn’t like you. I don’t know why. But he wants to taste you regardless.”

“The swirly darkness? Is it a person?”

His smile was faint, chilly, like someone else looked at me. “It makes me think of bad things. Makes me want things from you, Ayumu.”

Goose pimples rippled up my arms. No one knew my real name except my family. Not even Rob. “How?”

Devon touched my face, though it didn’t feel like Devon anymore. “You can see things about me that others can’t see. I can see things about you too.”

“Like my name.”

Devon’s sigh was long and heavy. “You’re so bright. I keep wondering if I take that light, will I finally be free of the shadow? Or will he completely devour me?” He pressed himself against the door, looking wary and like himself again.

“If I can help you, I want to. You’re my friend.” Devon had always been the big brother I never had. The kind that picks on you but won’t let anyone else do so. He had been that way since the day we first met, and I’d been nothing but a starry-eyed kid, looking to learn about the music business.

“You don’t know what you’re offering.”

I didn’t, but that didn’t matter. I would have done the same for Cris, Rob, Joel, or Kerstrande. “You’re not well. Whatever is doing this to you, you need to let it go.”

“If only I could.” He moved across the seat to kiss my hair and whispered, “Forgive me for taking advantage.” His words swallowed the world and yanked me into darkness long enough to begin to feel the groggy sense of dreaming, once again of the graveyard. This time I stared at a girl with amber-colored eyes. Something seemed off about her, but before I could place it, I woke up, still in Devon’s arms. The car had stopped, overhead light out. Devon sobbed. What was it about me that drove these strong men to tears?

“It’s okay, Devon,” I told him.

He moved across the seat and opened the opposite door of the car in front of my apartment building. “I’m sorry, Gene. I hope someday you’ll forgive me. You’re like a little brother to me. I’m so sorry.”

“For what?” I got out feeling more than a little wobbly. How long had I slept? At least he didn’t look as dark or pale. Maybe crying helped. “You should eat something.”

The smile that formed on his lips looked sad and ironic all at once. “I just did.”

“Huh?”

“Get some rest. I’ll call you in the morning. Maybe you can sing for me.”

“Sure. You should hear the mad skills I’ve developed.” The car drove away. I could still feel Devon looking at me until it vanished into the dark. At least the rain had slowed to a drizzle. After wiping my feet in the entryway, I made my way up to my apartment. It was late and felt later. I was so tired it hurt to think. My time with Devon had been only minutes, not hours. Funny, since I remembered dreaming.

I stepped out of my shoes and left them beside the door. When I turned toward the futon, ready to jump into bed, something moved by the window, blocking the light that came in. I swallowed a gasp. The light switch was three feet to the left. “Hello?”

A clunk followed by a shuffle of something being dragged across the floor forced me to dive for the light. Brightness flooded the room from the four corner lights hooked to the switch.

All my things were piled into boxes. Kerstrande had pulled the futon apart in ways I knew it wasn’t supposed to be disassembled. Blood spattered his shirt, which was open to bare his chest. Shadows danced on his face even though the light shone brightly throughout the apartment. His pants were unfastened, and he dripped water from the top of his blond head to his very expensive shoes. What had he been doing out in the rain?

My voice sounded oddly rough when I asked, “Are you okay?” He didn’t seem to hear me. Instead he threw the mattress on the floor and snapped the metal frame in half. “Kerstrande!”

Finally he turned, twisting the weight of whatever stormed inside of him my way. Fuzziness slammed into me, forcing me to my knees, gasping for breath.

“KC?” I could barely breathe. There was a buzzing in my head that grew louder, like a freight train roaring down the tracks. The room snapped in and out of focus. His arms wrapped around me, pulled me against him hard enough to hurt. “Are you okay? KC?”

“No,” was all he replied. He licked the spot on my neck where the bruise had faded to an ugly yellow. “Soon.” With a rough shove we were both on the mattress, him on top, me thanking all things holy for having splurged on the extra-soft padding. He probably had a good fifty pounds on me. The bulk of his weight kept me from moving as he kissed my face, neck, and shoulders then unbuttoned my shirt. His attention focused elsewhere eased the strain on my lungs.