Dead Awakenings (12 page)

“I just wish I knew what was so stinkin’ important that Luca had to leave.”

“Hey, do you like to read? We have a huge library full of books.”

“Yeah, OK.” Her attempt to find out where Luca had gone had failed. Again.

Ronan led her through the dining room to a room behind the kitchen. There were shelves and shelves of books, rows and rows of shelves. Enthralled, she picked out five books that she was pretty sure she hadn’t read before. Then she went to the magazine section and pulled out a couple. Lying around on her bed eating bonbons and reading the latest magazine wasn’t something she was used to doing, but she’d give it a shot—well the laying on the bed part and reading, anyway.

Grabbing her water bottle on her way through the kitchen she headed to her room. The piercing screams from one of the Forgotten had gotten worse. Ronan reached into his pocket.

“I forgot. Aron wanted me to give these to you.” He handed her a small case with earbuds inside. She put them in. They filtered the sound, as opposed to blocking it out. She could hear Ronan speaking clearly, but the high-pitched screams, the air conditioner, even the squeaking of Ronan’s shoes had filtered out.

Making it to her room she lay down and flipped open one of her magazines. Someone had put an alarm clock on her table, it read 7:30 p.m. She still had a whole night to read.

By a.m. she’d finished three magazines and
The Magician’s Nephew
. She gulped down the rest of her water and flipped off her light. In the darkness she lay in her bed thinking about Luca, his face, so white, so flawless. His breath on her face, the way his fingers tingled her skin. She felt a twinge of jealousy at the thought of Luca possibly being involved with someone else. Maybe Karen. It was ridiculous; she had no right to him. Yet, a burning desire boiled inside her. Every time he touched her, she felt she might burst.

She let her mind wander, thinking about him. About where he was, what he was doing, his hands, his face, his lips.

* * *

Luca sat in the darkened car for the second night in a row. Staring out the window he watched people come and go from the building. Their lives moved forward at a rush, while he sat in the shadows, his existence on hold because of one man. Coming down here had been a bad idea the first night; now it was just plain reckless. Luca knew that Nate was more than angry with him. And Nate didn’t know what he was really doing. Before he’d left two nights ago, he had gotten an earful from Nate.

“There’s no reason for us to be going into the city tonight. What’s the big deal?” Nate asked.

“I need some space. I can’t… I have to.”

Nate had stared at him and shook his head. “We’re starting Evaine’s testing.”

“Wait for me. You’ll need me.”

Nate threw him a quizzical look. “I won’t make her sit down there with nothing to do while you run off and get ‘space.’”

“I’ll be back. Wait for me.”

“I’ll do what I can. But whatever this is, whatever you are going to go do in the city, do it and be done with it. We need you here, brother. I won’t ask if it involves going off diet.”

“It doesn’t.”

“I’m not sure if that makes me feel better or worse. Whatever it is though, make it quick.”

That had been two days ago. Luca knew it was stupid, but he had to do this. The pain that he might sustain if Evaine’s memory returned and she left was something Luca wasn’t prepared for. The longer he was around her, the more he couldn’t deny the fact that he had feelings for her. That hole in his soul that had been ripped into him years before finally showed signs of mending. With every touch of her soft skin, every glace of her bold blue eyes, every sound of her sweet and terrified voice. Though she deserved better than him. She deserved the man he had once been. The man he was now was nothing like the man he’d been while alive—sensitive, shy even. Now…

How many had he killed? How many doctors, scientists and hired thugs? He’d lost count years ago. Every death hardened him to the world a bit more; got him one step closer to finding the ones who had done this to them all. If only he could stop losing control and killing them all.

But somehow Evaine was unlocking the old Luca. Even now he could feel parts of his hardened and closed-off heart opening to her.

Luca scratched at the back of his hand. The itching from the feeding lasted longer every time. He was on the edge of a knife, in danger of falling to the addiction. He reached for the Isis in the cup holder, opened the cap, and drained the bottle. All he wanted was to catch a glimpse of
him
. The one who could take away Luca’s budding happiness. He wasn’t going to hurt him. He just wanted to see him. Then he’d head home and check on Evaine.
He’d been surprised at how much he had missed her the last two nights. Like a piece of him was far away. The feeling had him on edge.

A young man exited the building, and Luca’s head snapped up to see if it was the man he was waiting for. Tall, dark hair, boyishly handsome face. It all fit, till a tall blond woman took his arm. Not the man he was looking for. His phone rang, the caller ID read Nate Lake. Luca drew in a deep breath and hit his Bluetooth.

“Nate.”

“We are doing the testing tonight.”

“No, not tonight. I won’t be back in time. Wait till tomorrow.”

“No. We waited for you, like you asked, and did the mental testing last night. You knew we were doing the other testing tonight. We aren’t going to make her wait any longer.” Nate hung up without another word.

“Dammit!” Luca pounded the steering wheel.

It was almost midnight. The drive would be at least three hours. Cursing again he turned the key, slammed the vehicle into drive, and jetted away from the curb. He hit the brakes at the stop sign. A man walked out of a park with a large white dog on a leash. Luca froze upon seeing the face burned into his memory by the photos he’d found on the Internet. Tristan Atwater. He was being propelled forward by the huge animal.

For an instant Luca had the urge to run him over. To feel the crunch of his bones under the tires as the front end lifted and then dropped over the body beneath it. Luca gripped the steering wheel tighter and ground his teeth together. Tristan lunged across the street without even looking at him.

It took several deep breaths for Luca to regain control of his rage. A honk from a Prius behind him pulled him to the present. Home…he had to get home. Luca rounded the corner and gunned the engine, heading for the highway.

Chapter Twelve

Evaine woke with a kink in her neck from having fallen asleep reading. At some point through the night, someone had come into her room, laid her book on her nightstand, turned off the stereo, and put a blanket over her. Had it been Luca? Her shoulder hurt from where she had slept on it. She grumbled and rubbed her face. Irritation raced through her though she couldn’t pinpoint what the problem was.

A shower might help. She pinned up her hair, stepped in, and let the water run over her body. It didn’t help. After several minutes she gave up and got out.

The black T-shirt and black fatigues that she had worn the first few days she had come in were all she had to wear. Cleaned and pressed they smelled like Tide, her new favorite smell in the world. She didn’t remember what her favorite smell used to be, but now, it was Tide detergent.

Turning the stereo on she went to her bed and sat down to wait again. The waiting made her anxious, more than anything she wanted to start this testing so that she could get the access code to the door and leave this room without a parent’s permission.

She replayed the events of the previous evening in her mind. Nate had come and gotten her. They had gone down to meet Aron and had done the passive ability testing. She had sat in a chair for more than two hours, seeing if she had telepathy, telepathic influence, teleprojection, and a myriad of other abilities, none of which she possessed. Afterward Aron had given her a memory test. She was to blurt out the first thing that sprang into her head.

The only things she remembered were that she was from Nevada, her mom’s name was Phyllis, and she liked theater and music.

“Can you answer a few questions for me?” she asked when they’d concluded that she had no passive mental abilities.

“Sure.” Nate crossed his legs, giving her his full attention.

“How did I get this way?”

“All we know is that there’s someone out there who for some reason is experimenting on people without their permission. We’ve recovered some of the research from the computers we got from raids and rescue missions, but we aren’t quite sure what this person is trying to find out.”

“Do the Feeders know anything?”

Nate’s eyes widened. “Uh…I don’t think so. We’ve never really discussed it with Damien before.”

She’d hoped that they would have at least a little more information for her than that. But they hadn’t.

Evaine picked at the bedspread; butterflies beginning to wiggle in her stomach. They had refused to tell her about tonight’s impending testing.

“It works better when you don’t know what to expect,” Nate had said.

The butterflies moved to a fevered pitch when Nate opened the door, a look of irritation splayed across his face. “We’re going to start in about an hour, if that’s all right with you.”

“Is Luca back?” She hadn’t meant for it to come out like that. But he was the one she was most comfortable with, and reasonable or not, she felt if he was there, everything would be OK.

Nate’s back stiffened. “No. He had another errand. I’m sorry.”

The way he said
errand
gave her the distinct impression that whatever it was Luca had been up to the last few nights was not making Nate happy.

Evaine stood, nodded. Fine. She didn’t need him to be there. She’d done just fine on her own with Aron and Nate yesterday. She could do this. Together she and Nate started down the hallway and crossed toward the house area. Nate’s phone buzzed, and he glanced at the caller ID.

“Will you give me a second, please?” He walked away a pace when she nodded.

Evaine stood in the middle of the blank white cement hallway trying to find something important to divert her attention from the conversation. It suddenly became her life’s mission to count how many tiles there were in the corridor.

“What? Yes, we are still going through with it… No I won’t wait any longer. It isn’t fair to her or the rest of us. We are starting within the hour whether you are here or not. This is not up for discussion.” Nate clicked his phone shut.

So Luca had been trying to get them to put off the testing till he returned. Maybe she should wait. She shook her head. Screw him. If it was that important, he would have been there. What was the worst that could happen?

Nate’s phone buzzed again. He pulled it out, hit the ignore button, and put it back in his pocket.

Aron rounded a corner and met them. “We’re ready.”

“Good.” Her voice was firm. “Let’s get this over with.”

They walked down the dorm wing, past all the bedrooms, to a hallway she hadn’t been to before. Another small elevator at the end of the hall dinged as it came up from a lower floor. Nate, Aron, and Evaine stepped in and descended to the lowest level yet. The doors opened into a different hallway. The walls and floor were gray cement—no white paint, no tile. They walked silently to a door about ten feet down. A tangible tension permeated the air, setting her on edge. Nate led her into a room about forty feet by forty feet. The floor had been covered with what looked like blue gymnastics mats, as had three of the walls. With only an eight-foot ceiling and low-hanging florescent lights, the room pressed in on her. The one wall not covered by padding was mirrored. Like a lab rat, she envisioned a thousand eyes watching her. What was this room used for when it wasn’t being used for tests? She had a vision of straitjackets and chairs with torture devises.

“So is now when you start beating me?” She gave a nervous laugh.

“Not exactly.” She noticed for the first time Nate had dressed differently. He’d replaced his usual button-down shirt and nice slacks with a pair of jeans and a white T-shirt. Aron wore more casual attire as well.

She swallowed a heavy lump in her throat. Maybe she should have waited for Luca after all. But it was too late now. Aron stepped past Nate, looked toward the mirror, and nodded. A second door, located on the mirrored wall, opened and Victor walked out. He was huge and shirtless, which made him that more intimidating. His wavy hair reminded her of a Viking. His muscular body rippled. He flexed his muscles and stretched, glaring at her.

“Are you going to tell me what’s happening now?” She spoke to no one in particular.

“No.” Nate backed against the mirrored wall and crossed his arms.

They won’t hurt me, they won’t hurt me.
But what if that wasn’t exactly true? Here was Victor looking like a raging bundle of muscles ready to break her in two; and Luca had called at least twice to get them to wait until he could get there. So maybe they really were going to hurt her. She removed her earbuds in an effort to hear better.

Victor lunged, and she backed up. He paced in front of her, lunging and then backing up again. She swallowed again, her limbs beginning to tremble. It was just a test; they weren’t really going to hurt her. Her shoulder spasmed, and her neck ached from where she had slept on it wrong.

A blast of energy hit her in the chest, as though a giant hand had knocked her down. She fell on her rear, but was up in a flash. Her eyes focused, and everything becoming much clearer. Energy surrounded Victor, rippling and swelling like water running over his skin. Thrusting his arms out, she saw the wave of energy blast toward her. She ducked and rolled. It ran over her head, slammed into the opposite wall, and made the room vibrate and lights flicker.

“Fight back, little girl.” His command taunted. She saw fire in his eyes; his pupils had gone into slits already. A chill raced down her spine. He was serious; he really meant to hurt her.
Again he slammed a wave toward her, and again she dodged it. Coming out of the dodge she was struck with another wave. This one threw her a few feet before she hit the ground. It took her a minute to get up this time. Her shoulder screamed in pain.