Possessed By You (Overworld Underground Book 1) (27 page)

After we were finished, I went back to my little office and looked over the furniture catalog so I could furnish my new space. I still wasn't sure I wanted to move. Although I didn't have a window, and the furnishings were simple, there was something creepy about moving into Thomas's old office. Good lord, I hadn't been here for long, and already the order of power had changed drastically.

My mind followed that chain of events right back to Tyler and last night. I blushed remembering about what we'd done. Just thinking about it sparked heat in my stomach. Heaven have mercy, the man had corrupted me after only one night of amazing sex.

The end of the day finally came. Jack took the lift down to the lobby with me, going on and on about cooking classes with Isabel. I nodded and listened, trying not to laugh at his excitement, though a tiny voice inside me prayed this wasn't another of her dine and dash relationships. I didn't fancy becoming a go-between for a heartbroken Jack and my best friend.

"After this, maybe she and I can cook for you," Jack said.

I had planned to walk home, but the black BMW pulled into the roundabout in front of the office building. Joe got out.

"Good evening, Miss Glass."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "You have a driver now?"

"Um..." I couldn't think of an excuse. Not that my relationship with Tyler could hardly be kept a secret for long, especially if Jack and Isabel ended up becoming an item.

He did a double take. "Wait a minute—you and Mr. Rock?"

I gripped his hands. "Please don't tell anyone."

"I just figured he was trying to get to know us." Jack pursed his lips. "Wow, nice catch, Emily." He elbowed me. "Maybe you can get me a driver."

I rolled my eyes. "Wouldn't you prefer a helicopter?"

He pumped a fist in the air. "Now we're talking!"

I laughed. "Good night, Jack. Have fun."
And don't get hurt.

"Cheerio," he said with a wink.

"Cheers, mate." I stuck out my tongue and got in the BMW.

"Where to, Miss Glass?" Joe asked after getting back in.

"My place, please."

When we arrived, it was still a couple of hours before my dinner date, so I told Joe he could come back in a while to collect me. The moment he drove off, a large black SUV took his place. Though I couldn't see through the tinted windows, I already knew who was inside.

George stepped out. "Hello, Miss Glass."

I folded my arms and waited for whatever surprise lay in store for me. "Have another unfortunate soul for me to examine?"

"Actually, this mission—job requires a short road trip." He motioned toward the vehicle. "Do you mind?"

"I have to be ready for a dinner date in two hours." I shook my head. "I simply can't right now."

He gave me an understanding nod. "What if I could have you back in thirty minutes?"

I gave him a long look. "If you can have me there and back in thirty, then I can do it." I paused. "What do I need to do?"

"We have a group of quarantined students. You can tell us which are sick so we don't unnecessarily have to detain the uninfected ones."

It seemed like a worthy endeavor. "Okay, let's go." I moved toward the front door, but George held open the back one for me. "In order to get you there and back in record time, I'll have to ask that you wear a blindfold."

I stopped where I was. "Excuse me?"

He shrugged. "I'm afraid we'll have to break a few rules, and I can't let you witness the infractions."

I knew there was far more to it than that, but also felt sure he meant me no harm. "You don't plan to kidnap me, do you?"

George chuckled. "We will have you back before you know it."

"You'd better." I climbed into the back seat.

Mr. Sticks sat at the wheel. He glanced back at me, but said nothing. After a few blocks, he pulled into a blind alley that reminded me of the one George had vanished into a couple of days ago.

"Is this the part where we go into a secret sewer road?" I asked quite seriously. I almost expected the alley to descend underground.

George disappointed me. "Not today." He handed me a black blindfold with an elastic band. "If you don't mind."

I took it and put it on. It felt so light and feathery, I hardly knew it was there except for the absolute inability to see through it. "You must do this quite often."

"All a part of the job," he said. "Mr. Sticks, you may proceed."

The sensation of gravity tugged on my insides, as if I were rising into the air. The momentum shifted and I knew we were moving forward. A scant few minutes later, I felt a slight bump.

"You may remove the blindfold now," George said.

I took it off and gasped. We were behind a building with the words
Edenfield High School
on the back. "We're in Decatur." I'd looked at my GPS the day I'd been with my father to see where he was working. It was at least a twenty-minute drive from Midtown.

"Yes it is." George opened the door and got out. "We must hurry if we're to have you back in time."

"This is where the massacre happened."

He looked a bit sad. "An infected student went out of control. We're concerned the serum could affect others this way."

I had plenty of other questions, but refrained from pelting him. "Lead the way."

We went inside the gymnasium where nearly a hundred students lined up and awaiting inspection.

"You'll probably need to touch each one," George said. "Just let us know which ones are infected by scratching your ear. We don't want to alert them."

"Is there any danger of me contracting the disease?"

He shook his head. "It's not contagious like that."

I took in a deep breath and went to the first person, a rather hulking young man who looked as if he played football.

"Who are you?" he asked, a suspicious look in his eyes.

"I'm a nurse," I lied. "I'm simply here to make sure everyone is in good health."

"Whatever," he growled. "I'm in amazing health."

"I'm sure you are, young man."

"The name's Nathan." He jabbed a finger to his chest. "Don't talk to me like I'm a kid."

I resisted a roll of my eyes and touched his hand. Nothing. I sensed a slight chill, but it might simply have been the temperature of the room. I briefly touched the hand of each student as I passed. I'm sure they believed I was the worst nurse ever. If any of them tried to strike up a conversation, I politely smiled but said nothing.

Time is of the essence.

The chill I'd felt earlier grew stronger, sending goose bumps along my arm. One of the infected must have been near, but with so many other students around, I couldn't narrow down the source.

It wasn't until I was about halfway through that I felt the writhing cold sensation in a young woman. I smiled at her reassuringly. She flashed a sarcastic smile back at me. I noticed something about her I hadn't noticed about Stephen or Joey. Her skin wasn't precisely warm. I frowned and looked at her hand.

The girl seemed to sense something was wrong. A look of concentration came over her face and suddenly, her skin felt warm. I scratched my ear and pretended not to notice the abrupt change. I moved to the next student and the next. Not far from the girl, I detected the parasitic presence in a boy and scratched my ear. Unlike the girl, his skin felt normal at first touch. I continued down the line until reached the next to the last person.

The teen glared at me suspiciously. "What are you doing? Aren't you supposed to grab us in the crotch and tell us to cough?"

"Just a quick check of your vitals."

His eyes narrowed. "Yeah, right."

I reached for his hand, but he jerked it away. The split second of proximity, however, sent a strong chill up my spine. I went to scratch my ear, but before I could move at all, he grabbed me, spun me around, and locked a hand to my throat.

"Don't come near me!" he shouted. "I'll snap her neck."

Just lovely. Killed by a hormone-enraged teen on a super-soldier serum.

George raced over. "Calm down." He held his hands in front of him. "Let the nice lady go."

The sensation was too much like what Stephen had done to me. I tried to control my reaction, but panic set in. This kid's touch amplified the sensation of the presence inside him. I felt the cold entity squirming in lust and need.

"Just let her go," George said. "We're only here to make sure everyone is okay."

"I said no!" the teen screamed. His hand went tight against my throat. I tried to break free, tried to wriggle from his grasp, but he was as insanely strong as Stephen.

I sensed that the cold parasite inside him desired nothing more than to warm itself with my hot blood. As with Joey, I felt as though I could touch it. Cringing with disgust, I reached out somehow and embraced it with my senses. A cold, slimy, wriggling sensation touched the palms of my hands even though they weren't actually touching anything. As if trying to kill a bug, I squeezed.

The boy stiffened and shouted. His hand left my throat.

I heard a whistling noise. The boy went absolutely limp and fell to the floor. I looked up and noticed the other three students I'd flagged as carriers making a break for the door. Several people in black suits appeared, aimed their fists at the fleeing students. Silvery darts zipped through the air. Two students went down. The third literally leapt over the heads of several students as if it he were trying out for professional basketball. The huge football player, Nathan, stuck out an arm at neck level. The runner slammed into him.

Nathan, huge brute that he was, skidded across the floor, shouting in pain and surprise.

My jaw dropped open.

The runner leapt over another group of George's people. Several darts found their mark and he went limp in midair. His body thudded to the hardwood floor and slid a few feet before coming to a stop.

Panicked breaths rose in my voice as the other students stampeded. George's people opened the doors and let them out. Soon, all that remained were the four unconscious infected students.

I touched my throat and looked at George. "He could have killed me."

"Our darts would have knocked him out before he could do any harm." George gave me a discerning look. "What did you do to make him release you?"

"I don't know. I tried to squish the parasite inside him." A shiver of disgust ran along my skin. I looked at my hands. They seemed clean, but felt filthy.

"Intriguing." George pursed his lips. "Your ability seems more versatile than we thought."

I rubbed my hands together. The skin felt normal and not covered with bug slime. "I suppose it is."

"I would ask that you remain for a while so we could study it in depth, but I suspect you're eager to return home."

It took a moment for his statement to register. "Yes, I suppose I am." I shook my head to realign myself with the real world. "I can see why you call yourselves the Custodians."

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

I looked around at the wake of the incident. "If word of an experimental super-soldier drug got out, it would be quite a scandal. Your people must clean a lot of dirty laundry."

George pressed his lips together. "You're partially right, Miss Glass, but I can't go into further details."

I wanted to be angry about what had happened, but George's people had handled it rather quickly and efficiently. It would seem I was safe in their hands. They were nothing if not experts of their profession, from what I had seen. I headed outside.

We reached the SUV and climbed in. Once again, I put on the blindfold. I idly wondered what it would be like for Tyler to blindfold me while he had his way. I shivered in anticipation and hoped George and Mr. Sticks didn't see my body language. After the feeling of ascending, moving forward and, a few moments later, descending, I was able to pull off my blindfold and enjoy the view of the blind alley though this time we faced the exit instead of the wall. Mr. Sticks drove us onto the road and around the corner to my condo.

George opened the car door for me and gave me a serious look. "What you've done tonight will be a tremendous help, Miss Glass. With your assistance, we may be able to stop this before it spreads."

"Do you have other people in your employ who can do what I can?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Your ability is quite singular. In many cases, these infected individuals are able to adjust their heart rate, body temperature, and even scents to mask their condition. You are the only person capable of seeing through the façade."

"One of them didn't have warm skin," I said. "The girl's skin felt strange—like soft fabric at room temperature, but then it warmed."

He nodded. "As you can imagine, a super-soldier serum would give people greater control over their bodily functions in order to survive."

I shook my head slowly. "I've seen movies about this kind of stuff, but never thought it could be real."

"You should get ready for your date," George said. "Thank you once again." With that, he climbed back into the SUV. Mr. Sticks promptly gunned the accelerator and they pulled into traffic.

I checked the time and saw I had a little less than an hour and a half to ready myself. I hurried up to the flat and packed my bag. Thinking of Tyler was nearly enough to banish thoughts of the afternoon. It was best not to think about my new side job since I couldn't tell anyone about it anyway. I sighed and contemplated my new secret life. I loved talking about my days with Isabel. It felt like such an awful shame I couldn't share this with her or Tyler.

I slid into a red dress with matching high heels, thinking back to Tyler's request that I dress sexy. I wondered if acceding to his request was another big step toward the point of no return, and went so far as to put on makeup. I wanted to look good for him. I wanted him to burn with lust at the sight of me like I did with him.

Good lord, this man was going to do me in.

I called Joe while I packed and made myself pretty. He met me downstairs and drove me to the Gregorian. Tyler stood outside, a single rose in his hand and a gorgeous smile on his face. It was enough to make the rest of the day's events vanish like smoke in a breeze.