Evolution (20 page)

This beautiful man was speaking to me. “It’s soda.”

He smiled and it felt like the sun had broken through the building to shine just for me. “I’m Crispin, but you can call me Cris.”

“Genesis,” I told him.

Cris touched my hand, and the wild swirling of my senses came to a clarifying halt. “I can help you control that.”

I blinked at him, fearing and hoping all at once. “Not sure what you mean.” Playing dumb worked most of the time.

He leaned in close, cheek brushing mine in the most sensual way. “Your second sight, little one.” My heart pulsed heavily in fear, and my chest actually hurt. His face was still pressed to mine, and he kissed my ear gently. When he pulled away, the room spun. I almost fell out of the chair. Cris wrapped his arms around me and guided me to a corner booth away from the crowd. The world righted itself again with his touch.

“Who are you?” I finally asked. The better question was what was he, but that just sounded rude to my ears.

“I already answered that, even before you asked. As to the other unanswered question, let’s take some time to discover that together, okay?”

“Sure.” I didn’t want him to let me go again if he could keep the crazy visions from my head. “What about the dead people? Can you help me not see them?”

Cris shook his head. “I can help you control it, but they will never go away.”

Any help was better than the way I had been living. “Help me, please.” I remembered thinking he was so beautiful and wondering why I mattered to him at all. The years that passed afterward just brought us closer, first as lovers, then as student and teacher, then as friends. Now I wondered how I’d ever existed before knowing him. He was family to my heart. When I glanced out the window in the hall, I watched him finally pull away, still looking back, that concerned expression on his face.

This home wasn’t nearly as glamorous as his other place. It felt more like a decorated apartment. Two bedrooms, an in-unit washer and dryer, and a good size kitchen, plus a big screen TV and several game consoles made it feel homey. I helped Mikka settle in, then took some cash and walked to the nearby grocery store for supplies before heading back to sulk in peace.

Chapter 22

Kerstrande

H
E
HADN
’
T
come home. I wondered and worried where he was. This morning he’d smelled of the other man. What was his name? Robby? Bobby? Donny? The guitarist. I never missed how that man stared at Gene with a look of possession. The marks all over Genesis spoke volumes. Those sorts of bruises don’t come from friendly play. Damn him for cheating on me. And damn me for caring so much.

It’d been almost a month since I fed. A month when I’d given him every last bit of myself. Rewrote his music, beat up old foes, sacrificed friends, bled for him, and starved myself. Yet the kid crawled into someone else’s bed. We hadn’t had sex only because it was safer for him if we didn’t touch. Obviously that was all he wanted from me. I cursed myself for craving so much more than just sex and blood from him.

He’d walked out this morning so quietly, eyes heavy but downcast. Shame, perhaps? The sun set and still he didn’t come back. His key had been left on the counter, like an impersonal good-bye, but I wasn’t ready for that yet. I left the door unlocked, hoping he’d return and apologize or something. Wouldn’t take much….

My phone rang. “What?” I demanded, not recognizing the number.

“Is Genesis all right? Is he there? He’s not answering his phone.” It was the guitarist.

“I’m not his keeper.”

“Tell him I’m sorry. Please. Tell him I didn’t mean it. I was drunk.”

What the hell? Had he done something to Genesis? As I hung up, the phone beeped that I had messages. I hit one to play them back.

“Hey, KC! Just wanted to let you know that it’s Rob’s birthday so I’m going to make sure he gets home all right since he’ll probably be drinking a lot. Miss you.” Genesis’s voice filled the line. The mechanical woman took over, asking if I wanted to save the message. I hit nine to save it and then continued to the next message.

“Got Rob home. He’s trashed. I’m a little worried. I don’t want to leave him yet just in case he falls or something. Be home as soon as I can.” Another message from Genesis. That one had been at almost 3:00 a.m. last night.

The friend had been drunk. Extremely drunk, from what Gene said. Damn. Did that mean all the bruises and bite marks…?

My sight turned red with rage I hadn’t felt in a long while. I approached the Park with scattered caution, a fight itching my skin. The air smelled of mischief. Hane had stalked my home all day, leaving his scent in the hall, mixing it across Gene’s trail so I couldn’t follow him. Tonight I needed someone other than my eccentric lover or his stupid friend to pulverize. Someone not human. A smile crossed my lips when a shadow fell into my path. Wish granted.

“About time you showed up. Too busy tucking lover boy in?” Hane leered at me, his black eyes hypnotizing.

“Cut the shit and start swinging.” I threw my fist toward his face. He ducked, swung low, and doubled me over with the force of a truck slamming into my gut. A dark hand swept forward, coiling overly long fingers around my throat.

Air wasn’t necessary; it just took longer for the brain to comprehend that and stop fighting to breathe. He smashed me into the ground hard enough to send stars flashing around my vision. Blood poured from my ears.

“Do you wish for a second death?”

“This time I’ll take you with me.” The metallic taste of blood trickled into my mouth. My blood was never as good.

“The boy has given you a new set of balls.” His foot came down, crushing my chest, snapping rib bones and exploding pain into my heart. I battled the grip, but my fingers flowed over him like water. Michael had been like this in the end. Hane had never shown this dark side of power before. But then, he’d beaten Michael….

“I thought you wanted to die.”

Why was I fighting? Was the brat really worth living for? Sure, the things he made me feel actually gave me a bit of my humanity back. And even though he pissed me off because those haunting eyes kept bringing back my past, something just came up missing without him. His voice was always in my head; I longed to pull musical sighs from his lips. “He’s mine.”

“Yet you let him go.”

“It was a mistake.”

“You make a lot of those where he is concerned.” Hane gripped my hair and slammed my head into the pavement before pulling me up and dragging me out of the Park and toward boisterous noise.

Genesis

I
FELL
asleep around midnight tucked into Cris’s king-size bed. Mikka slept curled beside me, purring and flicking her tail in contentment. She’d clung to me all night, even while I watched scary movies until the witching hour.

The graveyard dream returned, only the sunlight had vanished. I sat alone in the darkness, tombstones surrounding me like some mini forest of marble. The girl I usually saw had vanished. Her unnerving eyes always reminded me of KC, that liquid amber that saw right through me.

The ground beneath my feet began to move. And a hand broke through the earth, floundering, grabbing for something to hold on to. The watch on its wrist made me scream and jerk awake.

That had been KC’s watch. He was sort of time obsessed, always looking at it.

Mikka stared at me with disdain for waking her, but I couldn’t stay in bed with my heart hammering away and nightmares swirling in my head. What if KC was hurt? I pulled on a shirt and headed to my car. Even if he hated me, I had to make sure he was okay.

It took every last bit of willpower I had to obey the traffic laws. The ride took long enough for me to devise fifteen ways to explain my encounter with Rob last night without getting him killed or me dumped, though I admit to entertaining a few wishful visuals of KC beating the crap out of Rob. Kerstrande would understand. He had a lot of people fuck him over in his life, but he would believe me.

The condo was dark and empty when I arrived. Why I strode up expecting to find him sitting in on the couch, I didn’t know. The door had even been unlocked. Was he hoping someone would break in?

I swiped my key from the counter. The girl ghost stood in the doorway to the bedroom looking somewhat amused. “Not home,” she said.

“Thanks, Captain Obvious. Any idea where he went?”

“Out.”

I groaned. “You’re no help.”

“Help you?”

“Not now!” I left, locking the door behind me, and headed to my next destination. The Park.

After sliding my crappy Honda in its usual spot, right next to KC’s BMW, I jumped out and peered through the darkened windows of his car. He wasn’t inside, not like I thought he would be, just checking….

I ran toward the bench, but it too sat empty.

The dark shadow of a person approached on the path. KC? But when he came into the light, I realized it was Hane.

“Sorry, kid. Not sure what you’re looking for but didn’t mean to disappoint.” He reached out to pat me on the head, but I stepped back, fearing I’d fall apart if someone touched me. KC could be hurt somewhere. My stupid dreams did that sometimes—old me about bad things. Never enough to prevent any of it, though.

“Have you seen Kerstrande?” I asked Hane, praying he’d say yes.

He shook his head. “There’s a party for a bunch of celebs going on. Maybe he stopped in after I left. It’s really not my sort of party.” Hane pointed. “Just a block or two down the road. Can’t miss the noise.”

“Thanks,” I muttered before taking off in that direction. Something was wrong. I couldn’t place it, didn’t know where the trouble was coming from, but knew it had already been shot in our direction. The street didn’t slow me down as I raced across it. Cars honked and the music got louder and louder as I approached.

A lot of people lingered in the street dressed goth-like in black clothes, chains, white face paint. I made my way through the crowd, its bright colors a solid wall to swim through, searching for any sign of KC. The smell of alcohol made my stomach queasy. When I entered the building, it felt like a fun house: oddities, mirrors, the stink of weed and sex. Some people danced, others did shots or drugs, some made out in groups, others looked like orgies of legs and arms flailing about.

A guy with long hair touched my arm. “Help you find something, Bit?”

“Kerstrande,” I told him. “I’m looking for Kerstrande Petterson.”

“Shame,” he replied, then flicked his head in the direction of the stairs. “First door on the left.”

“Thanks.” I headed upward, fearing the worst. None of this seemed like KC’s scene. His severely introverted, snarky nature would have him breathing scathing remarks and heading for the nearest exit. He’d never go to a party like this.

The door at the top of the stairs stood partially open. The room reeked of sex, pot, cigarettes, and blood. KC sat in the middle of a king-size bed, men and women moving around him like some sort of cocoon of flesh. Shadows covered his face. Blood smeared his lower jaw and bare chest, a clichéd horror movie come to life.

Did he see me standing right in front of him? Did he realize just how this moment stabbed like a dagger through my very soul? I turned from the scene and made my way back to the Park, numb, broken, and defeated.

I got into my car, not sure how I’d even made it there. Not that it mattered. When I turned the key, an explosion hit me with a wave of color, heat, and then silence.

Chapter 23

Kerstrande

M
Y
WATCH
stopped when the sound of an explosion rocked the entire building. Everyone froze, turning in unison toward the sound, but walls blocked the view. My stomach churned with the mix of blood in my gut. The bodies around me stank of sex, drugs, and unwashed flesh. I shoved the wall of bodies away from me. People yelped when they fell off the bed, but I’d never been so happy to find myself mostly clothed.