Wrenching Fate (18 page)

Silas licked the blood from his lips and released his victim from the trance.

“And that’sh how thugh Sheahawks tooks the game,” the man slurred. “Hey man, thanksh for the cabs money. Yer alright.”

“One less danger on the road.” Silas nodded curtly and headed to his car. He loathed drunk drivers. They caused so many senseless deaths, injuries and property damage.

As he drove home, he regretted not being able to be out in daylight for the first time in centuries. The limited time he had with Akasha was not nearly enough. He had to be careful not to keep her up too late; it made her schooling suffer. When she we
nt to college, it would be more vital, since her education would henceforth be dedicated to her career.

Akasha’s goals for her auto repair shop had soared. She wanted her business to be open at night so vampires could get their cars fixed.

As Silas reached the top of the hill, he spied Little Beast in his driveway. The second he pulled into the garage and locked onto his Mark with Xochitl, a chord of alarm reverberated through him. Something was wrong.

“Silas!” Akasha ran into the garage, gasping. “Something’s wrong with Xochitl. She was attacked and her back’s all fucked up!”

“What happened?” His heart leapt with worry while his instincts raged to protect one he Marked.

Akasha’s hands shook almost as much as her voice. “She didn’t come back from lunch but after school her car was still in the parking lot. I searched and waited for her, then left a note on her car. She just got here a few minutes ago. She’s all scratched up and bruised. They… they tied her up!” she panted.

A roar of outrage built in his throat as he understood her implication. “Did they…”

“I don’t know!” Akasha wailed. “She was starting to tell me about it, but her eyes turned red and she started screaming about her back hurting. I don’t know what’s happening to her. She won’t let me call an ambulance and I don’t know what to do! I carried her upstairs and put her in bed when I heard your car.”

“Well, let’s go see.” He followed her upstairs, fangs bared in anticipation of slaughtering whoever dared to hurt what was his.

Xochitl lay on her stomach on Akasha’s bed, thrashing and groaning in pain. Her wrists were rubbed raw and bleeding from where she was tied.

“Oh, ‘Kash, it hurts!” The Mark between her and Silas was fiery with agony and rage.

“Xochitl. I think you need to go to the hospital.” He struggled to control the beast within and
to stay practical. “If you were raped, it needs to be verified so the bastards who did it can be caught. And your wrists and back need to be attended to.”

“They didn’t…rape me,” she bit out. “I stopped them… Ow…The fuckers!”

A measure of his rage dissipated. Thank God she hadn’t been violated.

“Silas, look!” Akasha pointed.

There were lumps under Xochitl’s shirt... and they were moving.

“Maybe you should let us look at your back,” Silas tried to sound calm though his flesh crawled at the sight before him.

“O-okay,” Xochitl managed to gasp.

Akasha faced him. “Silas, turn around for a minute so I can get her shirt off.”

Silas faced the wall, cringing at the pained noises Xochitl made as Akasha removed her shirt. He heard Akasha hiss and his instincts warred between soothing Akasha and protecting Xochitl. Now he knew why vampires were so careful about their Marks.

“Okay, you can look now.
” Akasha’s voice quavered.

He turned around and gasped at the sight of Xochitl’s back. The skin was scraped raw all over. The worst part was the moving lumps under the skin at her shoulder blades. Something was pushing and straining under skin, about to burst out. Xochitl whimpered and shifted on the bed.

“What the fuck?” Akasha breathed. “Xochitl, are you a shapeshifter or something?”

“No. Why? What’s going on?” Despite her obvious pain, Xochitl’s tone was rife with curiosity.

Akasha cursed. “Shit, Silas, we can’t take her to a hospital.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “They’d call those AIU guys or something.”

“Never mind that,” Silas threw up his hands, at a loss for how to handle this strange situation. “When did it start, Xochitl?”

“When those bastards tied me to a tree,” Xochitl growled.

“Who?” Silas demanded, his predatory instincts roiled. “I will make them pay.”

“You will not!” the creature on the bed roared with such ferocity that Silas stepped back. “
I’ll
take care of it. They’ll be lucky if they ever sleep again. They—” The lumps strained on her back harder. “Ow!”

Silas shuddered at the power of her command. Some potent force beneath her words compelled him to obey. Was it because her father had made his kind? The thought was cut short as Xochitl’s cries of pain wrenched at him.

If he couldn’t punish her enemies, perhaps he could ease her suffering.
But how?
What was causing this? He had a thought. “Is it worse when you’re angry?”

She took a deep breath and appeared to consider the question. “I don’t know, maybe.”

“You were quite angry when Bill hit you. Did your back hurt then?” He prodded.

She took a deep breath. “I think it did… yeah! I remember now. It hurt like a bitch until…”

“Until the cats came?” he asked, ignoring Akasha’s questioning look.

Xochitl nodded. “Uh-huh.”

Silas was amazed at how reasonable she was being. Akasha was right. Xochitl really had no fear at all.

Akasha ran a tentative hand across her friend’s back. It looked li
ke there were extra bones beneath her skin. Silas watched her struggle not to show her revulsion and knew she was trying to match Xochitl’s bravery. At least the movement was slowing.

“Maybe you should try calming down,” Akasha said brusquely.

“Okay. Can you get me a smoke?” Xochitl sounded as calm as if she were attending an afternoon tea.

Akasha nodded and pulled her cigarettes out of her pocket. “Sure. Damn, that tree scraped you up bad.” Her eyes, pleading amethyst pools, met his. “Silas, can you get a cold cloth and some triple antibiotic ointment?”

Silas went into the bathroom and rummaged through the medicine cabinet as his mind raced.
What the hell was under Xochitl’s skin?
He ran a washcloth under cold water and made a decision. He was going to be blunt and ask her. He was tired of all the questions, all of the strange new revelations.

As Akasha cleaned the scrapes on Xochitl’s back, she talked to her casually in hopes to calm her down. “Hey Xoch’, I was wondering if I could keep the fur coat if I bought you a new one.”

Silas gasped. “That was
your
coat?” His cheeks grew hot. “Oh my…”

Akasha and Xochitl looked at him and burst out laughing.

“So you guys desecrated it, did you?” Xochitl asked with a grin, though the skin at the corners of her eyes was tight with pain. “Did the plan work?”

Akasha smiled. “I think so, it’s only been a couple weeks, so we’ll have to wait and see if we’ll have to try again.” She grinned at Silas’s flaming face.

“I’ll buy you a new coat, Miss Leonine.” Silas said, hoping his embarrassment wasn’t obvious, “Mink, sable…”

“I don’t do real fur,” Xochitl interrupted. “I only wear leather ‘cuz I eat cows.”

“Ah, a woman with principles,” he said as he tried to think of how to broach the subject of her origins.

By the time Akasha was finished tending Xochitl’s wounds, the things in her back had stilled. She was now swaddled in Akasha’s purple fuzzy bathrobe, sipping a glass of wine and smoking a cigarette. Silas decided he’d waited long enough.

“Xochitl, what are you?” he asked, praying he wouldn’t frighten her by being so direct.

She looked up at him, brown eyes so sad and pitiful, it almost undid him. “I thought I was just different…like Akasha. My mom said we were special. I was never supposed to tell anyone, ‘cept Sylvis. But, with what just happened and a couple other
things…” Her sigh echoed through the room. “I just don’t know anymore.”

“You thought you were human?” Silas couldn’t hide his sympathy.

Xochitl gave him a droll stare. “I look like a homo sapien, I talk like a homo sapien…the evidence seemed apparent.”

“I see. So you have no idea.” He struggled to hide his disappointment.

“No,” she replied. “I was gonna work up the courage to ask Akasha what she is.”

Akasha shook her head and opened a beer. “Just stronger than the average person,” she muttered through the cigarette clamped between her teeth.

Xochitl grinned. “C’mon, ‘Kash, you’re like bionic or something. Now what’s your deal?”

“It’s a genetic mutation I inherited from my father.” She shrugged.

Xochitl nodded. “Well, you’re no help. Mom never told me about my father, except to say he was bad news.” She finished her wine with an uncharacteristic gulp. “May I please have some more?”

Silas buried his head in his hands.
She doesn’t
know
?

What a fine mess this is!
It seemed he knew more about Xochitl than she did. Another twinge of pity pierced him. He wished he could at least tell her about her father, but there was no way to do that without telling her of his kind and thus breaking Delgarias’s decree.

His fists clenched in frustration. If Xochitl didn’t know what she was then how was he supposed to figure it out? How would the Elders react?

Akasha refilled her friend’s glass and gave Silas a look.
What are we going to do now?

Silas jolted in surprise at the silent message. It must have taken a great deal of effort for her to slow her rapid thoughts down enough to speak to him telepathically. He sent her a reply.
I’m going to get Razvan. He might have a few ideas in his conniving head.

Akasha nodded.
Good luck.

***

“Where’d he go?” Xochitl asked worriedly as soon as Silas left the room. Akasha sighed, not knowing what to tell her. “I think he went to get Razvan.”

“Why? I don’t want more people knowing about me. ‘Kash, you gotta stop him!” She tried to get out of bed, wincing in pain.

“Lay down, Xochitl,” Akasha ordered. “I don’t want your back acting up again. I won’t let Razvan touch you. I promise. I’ve kicked his ass before and I can do it again.”

“You kicked
his
ass?” Xochitl giggled for a moment then sobered. “But what are they? Why are they so interested in my… my idiosyncrasies?”

Akasha smiled wanly at Xochitl’s word for it. Her friend would lapse back into a more scholarly language when her other friends weren’t around. She didn’t know if Xochitl dumbed down her speech out of embarrassment or consideration for those less well read.

“Why don’t you pay Silas back for his bluntness and just ask him?” Akasha suggested, avoiding the question as well as Xochitl’s probing gaze. She didn’t like where this was going. Silas had been very adamant on the subject of concealing his secrets. Hopefully, he or Razvan could come up with a plausible lie.

Xochitl grinned. “Maybe I will. Was I right, though? Are they mob guys?”

Akasha shook her head and lit a cigarette. “Not exactly.” She sat on the bed next to her friend and patted her shoulder awkwardly as she changed the subject. “It’s gonna be okay, ‘Xoch.”

“You don’t hate me now because I’m not human, do you?” Xochitl’s eyes were soft and pleading. “‘Cuz I’d totally understand if you do.”

Akasha managed a small but sincere smile. “No, I don’t hate you. Why would you ever think that?”

Xochitl looked away as if she didn’t hear her. “I think that’s why most people don’t like me. It’s like they can smell that I’m different, not one of them. People turned away from me in revulsion and called me a freak even before I started dressing Goth. Everyone hated me, except my mom, Sylvis and a few friends…like you. In fact,” she said contemplatively. “A lot of people seem to be scared of me.”

A wave of sadness washed over Akasha for her friend. How lonely it must have been for her! It had to have been worse than devastating for her when her mom died, the only other one of her kind.

“What’s being scared like, ‘Kash?” Xochitl asked suddenly.

“It’s kind of a sick feeling,” Akasha answered automatically. “Like your stomach dropped into your feet and your heart’s climbing up your throat while at the same time it’s attempting to pound itself out of your chest…and all the while you’re paralyzed and your nerve endings can’t decide whether you’re hot or cold.”

“Whoa,” Xochitl breathed. “That sounds like ultimate suckiness. Do I really affect people that way?”

Akasha shook her head. “I doubt it. If you did, they’d run away at the sight of you. I was talking about complete terror. Maybe you just make people nervous.”

Xochitl nodded, digesting the information. “So do people get that way when they see spiders or are up high and stuff?”

“If that’s what they’re afraid of, I guess.” She shrugged. “I’m not bothered by either.”