Evolution (28 page)

The pain in my arm pulsed in throbs. I curled around it like I could stop if from hurting by just willing it to. The heat of my blood stung as it dripped through my fingers. Each drop sizzled when it hit the ground. It hadn’t been that hot when Joel had bitten me. Was I dying again? Somehow I didn’t think changing into a flaming bird was going to help us much.

Joel worried away at Hane’s arm like he was some sort of dog. Hane smashed him away only to have the man rebound and hit him harder with all teeth and claws. The two rolled around for a bit, hitting each other and growling. Darkness began to box in my sight. Was this to be the end, then?

I thought about the heat that filled me and how I could change. The last time I had died to complete the change. What would happen if I died again?

Joel hit the wall just a few feet from me and stayed still. I couldn’t find the strength to move toward him to see if he was alive. But anger filled me with a burning heat. I wanted to rip Hane apart for hurting Joel, KC, and probably killing me.

Him stalking toward me, with deliberately slow movements, was the last thing I saw before fire exploded around me. I willed it into him, wanting to give him the pain and the heat. The flames ate up my vision, and all I felt for a few seconds was peace.

Then the screaming began.

At first I thought it was me, but no, someone else was on fire. The world around me darkened for just a minute. No dreams this time. Just one second there was fire, the next I was inhaling smoke and choking. Something was holding me, and the grip hurt. I cried out, but the sound wasn’t human.

“It’s okay, Gene. Just calm your pet vampire down, and we’ll all leave.”

The semipanicked words made me rub my eyes to clear my vision. Only instead of hands, I had feathers again. Damn.

Cris stood only a few feet away. He held a blanket in his arms and had both hands out in front of him like he was trying to prove he was harmless. The hands that held me too tightly were Joel’s.

“Concentrate on being human, Genesis. You can turn back. I think you can control him. He’s protecting you, which is great, but we should get out of here since the police are coming, and the building is on fire.”

I tried to remember what it was like to have limbs instead of wings. The weight of my body returned, and it hurt this time, like a really bad sunburn. Joel had a death grip on my arm. I turned and looked him in the eye, and for the first time, I recognized the light that resided there. My friend was in there. Thank God!

I threw my arms around him.

“Wow, naked man,” Joel muttered, voice hoarse.

Cris offered me the blanket. It was better than nothing. The stench hit me as I was tying the sheet in place. Burned flesh and hair, like meat, only something much worse.

“Don’t look, Gene. It’s not worth the nightmares,” Cris warned me.

“The fire came from the inside,” Joel said. “He burned slower than you. You went up so fast I thought you were gone.”

My blood.

I had to look. The blackened shell couldn’t be anything other than what was left of Hane. He still smoked and smoldered, a crispy skeleton. The fire had jumped to him probably because I’d willed it to. My blood set him on fire because I wanted him to hurt. I’d done that.

My stomach clenched, and I dry heaved while Cris held me up. The sounds of sirens echoed throughout the building, and then, distantly, the sound of a fire truck.

“We need to go.” Cris dragged me toward the door.

“This way.” Joel pointed in another direction.

We followed him. Well, Cris followed, tugging me the whole way. I couldn’t do anything other than cry. I’d killed Hane. What was wrong with me? What did I really think would happen when I came here determined to get Joel out?

The truth was that I had expected to die.

And I had, hadn’t I? But I wasn’t normal. Just like KC always said.

Chapter 31

I
KNEW
before we even got out of the car that KC was already upstairs. His car was in the underground garage. The drive had been long enough for me to nap. Joel had startled me awake twice with the constant jittery movements he’d done when he was human. At least he was acting more like himself. He sat in back with me, curled up against my side, even though we had the whole seat to ourselves.

When we parked, Cris helped me to the elevator, and up we went, Joel following like a trained dog. The double metal doors opened to my floor, and I saw Kerstrande leaning against the wall outside my borrowed apartment.

“KC.” I tried to reach for him but tripped over the blanket I had tied on and would have landed on my face if Joel and Cris hadn’t held me up.

Kerstrande was suddenly beside me. “What the hell happened?”

His hands cupped my face, and I couldn’t stop from saying, “Ow.”

“Why is his skin burnt?” KC looked at the two men with me.

“He burst into flames,” Joel said.

“Hane killed him. Fed on him. I think when Gene went up in flames, the blood that Hane ingested ignited too. By the time I got down the stairs, they were both already on fire.” Cris let go of my arm, and I dropped into KC’s embrace.

KC’s face turned to a mass of rainbow color slugs, and I knew he was mad. “Sorry I didn’t wait for you. I couldn’t let him hurt you anymore. Not after the way he used Anya to destroy you. I’m not Anya, KC. I’m not Hane or Michael. I’m not here to hurt you, and I will take the pain from you when I can.”

“You stupid fool!”

“Hey now,” Cris tried to interrupt.

“Butt out!”

“KC—” I tried to speak, but his lips covered mine. And we were suddenly kissing in the hallway, with my ex-lover Cris and my friend and bandmate, Joel, staring down at us. This was so far beyond what I knew from KC that I just let him go on. But it felt like he wanted to devour me.

When the kiss finally ended, he was crying.

“I’m okay,” I whispered to him, feeling his arms wrap around me and hold me almost painfully tight. “I’m so sorry.” Since it was nearly four in the morning, the halls were still empty, but none of us seemed willing to move.

“We should take this inside,” Cris said quietly. “People will be up soon.” He moved toward the door, even fishing out a key to open it before motioning us inside.

KC scooped me up into his arms and carried me toward the apartment. “You have to invite me in. The monster movies got that right. You have to invite death in.”

“You’re not death, KC. I love you. I trust you, and I invite you into my home.” I glanced at Joel. “I invite you in, Joel.”

We crossed the threshold together. He sat down on the couch, me still in his arms. Cris took the chair, and Joel began to pace the room. The shadows on KC’s face faded away, and finally he sat back, let my head rest on his chest, and said, “Tell me again, slowly, exactly what happened.”

Everyone took turns. I fell asleep somewhere in the middle of Cris’s version. When next I awoke it was in bed, with KC wrapped around me. The window was covered, and though I didn’t see any spirits, I knew they lingered because there was an unnatural chill to the air.

“You might as well show yourselves,” I muttered to the room, hoping I didn’t wake KC. The ghosts filled the room again. Anya hovered near the bed, looking normal instead of grisly dead. “Anya.”

“It’s time for me to go, Genesis. Kerstrande is letting me go.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe he would let go of all the guilt now. But while Anya looked good and normal, shining like a star, the rest still looked like death warmed over. I hope I didn’t have to kill another vampire for every one of the spirits that haunted KC. I was pretty sure my karma would get tipped the wrong way.

Anya faded, and the rest seemed to move on for the night. I watched him sleep for a few minutes.

“That’s kind of creepy.”

I jumped a half foot in the air, then playfully smacked KC for scaring me. “That was awful.”

“You’re the one staring at me.”

“You’re so beautiful when you sleep.”

He snorted.

“You are.” I set my head on the pillow beside him and let myself just rest with his breath and mine mingling. At least vampires could still breathe, and I knew his heart beat because I could feel it against my palm. “I love you, KC.”

“So you keep telling me.”

“I died for you.”

“No one asked you to.” Mr. Grumpy-Pants was back.

I couldn’t help but laugh. And the laughter turned to hysterics because I laughed so hard I could hardly breathe.

“Quiet down. Your friends are sleeping in the spare room and on the couch.”

I swallowed back the rest of my laughter but couldn’t help but grin at him.

“You’re such a brat.”

“But you love me anyway,” I taunted him.

“Yeah, I do.”

The words took a minute to sink in, but then at that moment, nothing else mattered as much as the man in my arms.

Kerstrande

T
HE
shovel hit the casket. I scrapped away the dirt from the fancy cover. Aaron had arranged a beautiful box, a huge ceremony, even a tribute like Michael’s. Only Evolution wasn’t going to play at this one. In fact, almost no one would be grieving Hane Lewis. The days of Triple Flight were over forever, and I was here to ensure it stayed that way.

Four days would have been enough time for him to awaken. Maybe even heal a bit and try to get out. I should have left him. A few centuries in the box might mellow him out a bit. Or make him crazier. And Hane had always been a sick fuck anyway. When the cops showed up after the fire was put out, they found bodies. Lots of bodies, stacked in several rooms.

Newspapers had labeled him the “Killer Rock Star,” and PG was using this to fan their rage against anything not pure, white, and human. Most of the victims had multiple bites. Many had been failed attempts to bring over a new vampire. The cages of feral vampires had slaughtered a half dozen cops. The ACLU was going crazy trying to defend the vampires from a death sentence. They would start with Joel, who had turned himself in at Gene’s request. He was awaiting a trial and was expected to be allowed to live. I had a feeling it would hurt Genesis pretty bad if his keyboardist died.

Damon Phillis, the American King of vampires, had called with questions about Hane’s death. Mostly because he knew Hane wasn’t dead yet, and I wasn’t strong enough to hold a city this size. The little time I’d been undead didn’t give me that kind of strength, but Genesis did. Regular infusions of his blood helped control the bloodlust. Killing Hane for real would give me control of the rest of the vampires in the city, and enough power to actually stay there. Phillis had already threatened to send someone else to the city to take over. As if I really needed the threat.

The late morning hours ticked past the witching hour. Not a single soul ventured into this cemetery. It was for the damned. No crosses or priests or angels. Just the dead and unwanted. I’d have to hurry if I wanted to be back by the time Gene got up for work.

The lock broke easily enough, and I snapped it open to stare at the shriveled form within. It didn’t move. Even the undead had a pulse; slower than the living, but if I waited long enough I would hear it. I leaned in to listen for the sound.

A crisp black hand snaked around my throat, cutting off my air. I rewarded him with a solid face-pounding. He let go, whimpering, skull cracked in several places. “Hello, Hane. You look like shit.”

“Fuck you.”

“You’ve been trying for years, and I’m still not interested.” I grabbed him by the neck and began to squeeze. “Game over, you son of a bitch. The city is mine now.”

“You can’t handle the darkness, Kerstrande. It will take over, and you will kill your beloved pop star yourself.”

“In case you haven’t noticed, Gene is pretty good at taking care of himself. Since he flambéed you and all.” I scraped at the flaking skin on his chest, which had him shrieking.

He sucked in deep breaths. “Michael should never have asked me to change you.”

“Don’t blame this on Michael.” We’d been childhood friends, best friends. Probably much like Gene and Rob had been at one time. But just like them, we’d gone our separate ways, grown as different individuals who didn’t share the same goals. Michael had become the killer Hane always wanted him to be, but I never had.

“He wanted you with him always. You were like his big brother, his mentor, but you were going to throw it all away. Die so others wouldn’t have to. But we all die in the end.”

“We don’t need to kill, Hane. That’s what you never got. It wasn’t about the death. It was all about the blood.” Even now it was about the blood. Mine. Genesis’s. And Hane’s. Yeah, I’d need his blood to take over the city.

“You’ve wanted to die for years. Have been killing yourself slowly for years.”

“I’m okay with dying. It’s living that’s a bitch.”

To Be Continued….

About the Author

S
AM
K
ADENCE
has always dreamed about being someone else, somewhere else. With very little musical talent, Sam decided the only way to make those dreams come true was to try everything from cosplay at the local anime conventions to writing novels about pretending to run away to become a musician.