A Shock to Your System (Dangerous Creatures #2) (3 page)

He looked over, trying to see what was
happening. All he could make out were the retreating figures of
Allison and her two shaggy friends. They shrieked something as they
ran, but Ethan couldn't make it out. They might as well have been
screaming from the other side of a long tunnel while Ethan had
cotton stuffed in his ears.

Flashes of glowing white-blue color whizzed
across the field, so bright they could have been shooting stars. Or
fireworks.

Now what was happening? Ethan tried to keep
himself awake and aware, but he was being pulled under. The torture
session has sapped his strength and energy. Being soaked and cold
didn’t help either. His body wanted to shut down.

No, no, no.
Stay awake!
If he fell
asleep out here, bleeding in the woods, he might not wake up again.
No, correction, he
wouldn't
wake up again. He would die from the cold, or an
animal would come for him. His mission was to stay awake. He
couldn't let the darkness take over.

But the darkness was succeeding. Fuck, he
was going under and he was starting to not care. Sleep still wasn’t
a good idea, but he was so tired that a nap suddenly seemed
reasonable. He could handle a nap. He was strong enough to not be
killed from a ten-minute snooze. He wasn’t too cold anymore either.
In fact, he was kind of comfortable right where he was.

This was a nice spot for a rest. He’d have
to tell Jamie about it sometime.

A voice calling to him from the other end of
the hazy tunnel yanked him back. At first it was far away, but then
it cleared up and became louder, closer, and it echoed until it
sounded like it was coming from right in front of his face, an inch
or so from his nose. Ethan tried to get away from it, considering
the pain from all the damned shouting—his eardrums were starting to
really fucking throb!—but it was no use. The voice was stubbornly
persistent, and very familiar.

"Ethan!
Ethan
!
Get up
!”

Jamie. He'd come back. Ethan opened his
eyes, which was a lot harder than he expected. His vision was
blurred to shit, but there was no way he could mistake the
dishwater blond hair with those spots of white. Only one person
Ethan knew had hair like that.

He actually came back? What an idiot. This
was by far the most dangerous place for him to be. He tried to say
so, but his voice was so small and Jamie’s babbling so panicked and
loud, that he doubted the man heard a single word.

Jamie yanked off the net, but he did it with
a lot of effort, considering the weight of the thing. Jamie didn’t
have the bulk that Ethan did.

Then Jamie's hands were on him, grabbing his
shoulders first before his fingers touched Ethan’s neck.

Was he seriously taking Ethan’s pulse? Could
he not see that Ethan was looking up at him right now? Were his
hands trembling?

Jamie’s hands moved back to his shoulders
after that, shaking him a little, and then harder, as if that would
magically make Ethan okay.

Nope, his injuries were still there, and it
really didn't feel good to have Jamie's hands shaking him like
that. He groaned and tried to pull back. When Jamie took the hint
and pulled back, Ethan found himself already missing those hands.
He was so fucked.

Not as much as Jamie. Jamie sounded like
he’d just witnessed a car wreck. Or had been inside of one.

"Fuck. Look what she did
to you. Oh
fuck
."

Then those warm hands were on his cheeks,
feeling so good on his cold face. Jamie always had the right touch,
and goose-bumps rose up immediately on his skin.

Jamie tilted Ethan's head gently, forcing
their eyes to meet. Ethan had never seen them this close before. He
always knew Jamie had blue eyes. Aside from the man's strange hair,
it had been the first thing he'd noticed about him. But this blue
was different from the crazy blues on psycho Allison. Why hadn't
Ethan ever looked this close? He would've seen how much nicer, how
much prettier, the color actually was. They were the color of snow
in the shade. Perfect frost, except they were wet. His eyes were
swimming. Jamie had tears in his eyes. Ethan had never seen him cry
before.

"Holy fuck. Holy fuck, Ethan, don't
die."

"I’m not dying," Ethan said, and then he
started to cough, which made the pain in his chest flare.

Fuck! Everything hurt.

"You're bleeding. I need to see," Jamie
said, and he started to pull at Ethan's clothes.

Ethan grabbed onto the man's hands. His grip
was weak, but it was enough to get Jamie's attention.

And Ethan’s.

The second his hands made contact with
Jamie’s skin, a tiny shock of electricity spiked him. Only a little
more powerful than if he’d touched a TV or a metal doorknob after a
static charge. It hurt enough that it brought him fully awake.

“
Ethan? Are you okay?”
Jamie’s eyes were wide. He stared at Ethan like he thought he was
dying again.

Enough of this.

"Not here. Can’t check here. Have to be
somewhere clean," Ethan said. He wasn’t anywhere close to being a
hundred percent, but at least he didn’t feel like he was dying
anymore. He was still fucking tired as hell though.

Jamie shook his head. “Ethan, you’re
bleeding. I need to see.”

“
Not here,” Ethan
insisted. If Jamie wanted to check Ethan's wounds so badly then he
could do it in a place where there wasn't mud, bugs and slime
everywhere. Better yet, he could do it in a place where those other
three paranormals were less likely to come back and harass
them.

Or kill them.

Jamie nodded. "Okay. I'll get you to a
hospital. Where's your phone? I'll call for help."

The relief came instantly, but in the next
second, it was gone. Ethan knew for a fact that he didn't want
that. No cops and no ambulance. If Jamie called for paramedics, he
was either going to have to explain what had happened, or make the
call anonymous and run away.

But he wouldn't run away. Ethan knew that
now. If Jamie was the type of man who would come back for someone
who'd betrayed him and tried to arrest him, then he was definitely
the type who was going to wait around, protecting Ethan in case
those other three paranormals came back. Hell, Jamie looked
terrified of letting go of Ethan's hands, as if that was the secret
ingredient to keeping him alive.

The man had to make do with gripping both of
Ethan’s hands as tightly as he could in his one hand while he
searched Ethan’s pockets.

“
You took my weapons, but
not a phone?” Ethan asked.

Jamie pulled the phone out. “I didn’t want
to strand you.”

He still sounded on the verge of tears.
Jamie was clearly not the warrior type.

He wouldn’t last in a cage. The men in
charge of the labs would eat him alive.

Ethan yanked one hand out of Jamie’s grip
and grabbed for the phone before he could dial. Jamie looked at him
with a stunned expression.

Ethan wet his lips. Fuck, his throat still
killed. “You call them, and then you run away. Run and hide.”

Ethan didn’t think it should have been
possible, but the man’s eyes widened even more. He actually looked
behind himself, as if searching for a hiding spot.

Or someone hiding, waiting to spring on
them.

Just as Ethan thought, Jamie immediately
shook his head. His face was paler than usual, and his eyes wide
with horror. “Are you out of your mind? I’m not leaving again. What
if those crazy freaks come back here?”

“
You want to be
arrested?”

Jamie’s mouth thinned, and he yanked his
hand away from Ethan’s, staring at the screen of his phone,
constantly clicking on the home button, trying to get a reaction
from the thing. “I can handle it. I’ll just make something up.
Fuck, come on, turn on.”

Jamie had too much confidence in his ability
to lie. Ethan didn’t share that confidence.

The paramedics would arrive, they would ask
questions, and so would the police when they arrived. Ethan had no
trouble lying for Jamie, at least not right now. He owed Jamie his
life, and he wouldn't turn him in, but if the police decided to
bring Jamie in for questioning, then there wasn't much he could do
to get out of it.

He would go in, answer the questions, and
then maybe someone would recognize him and lock him away. Anything
involving paranormals would immediately make Jamie a suspect,
regardless of whether or not Ethan vouched for him.

Those interrogations could last for hours.
Lots of people cracked under the pressure and started to sing
everything the cops wanted to hear.

It was kind of a funny thing for Ethan to be
so worried about. He was genuinely scared that Jamie would
incriminate himself as a paranormal and be arrested, and Ethan
didn't want that.

Yeah, that was kind of fucked up,
considering he'd been prepared to do that exact same thing just
this morning.

"No ambulance. I'm fine," Ethan said,
summoning every iota of strength in his body just to make sure his
voice came out sounding strong, instead of weak and tired. And he
was still so very tired. He grabbed the phone and looked at it,
only to realize it wasn’t even on.

The battery must’ve died while Ethan
slept.

"Jesus Christ, Ethan, you're bleeding all
over!" Jamie said.

He was clearly losing it. He wasn't trained
to handle situations like this.

"Her power was blood and skin," Ethan said,
clenching his jaw when he tried to move. All of his wounds yawned
open and flared with pain. "She didn't touch my organs."

“
How can you be
sure?”

“
I’m not,” Ethan said.
“She tore my pants a little. Unless that happened while I was
chasing you.”

“
I saw this rip when I
threw your weapons away,” Jamie said.

Thank
God
. Ethan nodded. “I’ve read about this
power. It’s not strong. She can’t go deep. She can only control top
flesh.”

With that in mind he was able to relax a
little in spite of the pain, since he probably wasn't going to die
from his wounds. He was just tired and in need of bandages,
disinfectant, and a lot of alcohol—the drinking kind.

"So she was cutting you?"

"Ripping," Ethan said.

Jamie's eyes widened, and his face drained
of color until he was as pale as those spots of white hair patched
around on his head. "Jesus Christ. You really do need a
doctor."

"I said no!" Ethan snapped, and even he was
shocked by the strength of his voice.

Jamie stared at him. The man looked as
helpless as a rabbit in the road, just waiting to get run over.

Yeah, there was no way Jamie would last in
the labs, and Ethan wouldn't last out here by himself, especially
if an animal smelled the blood. Or a crazed werewolf.

"Help me up," Ethan said, reaching for Jamie
and feeling his strength being renewed, as he suddenly knew what
had to be done. "My truck, I left it on the side of the road."

"Yeah, I remember, next to my car. I’ll take
you there, and I'll drive you someplace safe."

"You'll drive me where I tell you to," Ethan
said, but then he was groggy and nauseous as the pain of being
lifted to his feet made him want to vomit.

It felt good to be able to put an arm around
Jamie’s shoulders though. That helped.

Fuck! His legs and his stomach were killing
him. He would survive, but it felt like he was dying at the
moment.

"Sure. Wherever you want. Just so long as we
can get your wounds looked at," Jamie said.

"They're flesh wounds. I won't bleed to
death without a doctor," Ethan said.

The fact that Jamie didn't immediately reply
was worrisome. Ethan hadn't known the man for very long. It was
arguable that he didn't know him at all, but in the short time
they'd been together, Jamie loved to talk. That he was silent now
meant he was probably planning something.

Or was Ethan reading too deeply into this
now that he knew Jamie was a paranormal? Jesus. He could control
electricity. With what happened back in the city—knocking out the
power of several city blocks like that—he could be dangerous if he
really wanted to be, and yet here he was, being anything but.

Why the man had bothered to come back, Ethan
couldn't figure out. Jamie was a fugitive, and it was probably in
his best interest to just let Ethan die, but he hadn't. He was here
now, and Ethan didn't want to shackle him and throw him into a box
anymore. He wanted to give Jamie the chance to turn his life
around. Just one more chance, that was it, and only because he owed
him.

Yeah. That was a good enough reason. He owed
Jamie, and there was nothing more to it than that. After this was
over, they’d go their separate ways.

Chapter Three

Jessica looked at her phone for the tenth
time that hour. She'd been staring at the damned thing, checking
for messages ever since she and Jack went their separate ways.

There was no way Jack would leave Cindy
behind. It would be safer if the man would just go off without her,
but she knew him well enough to expect that her ex-boyfriend
wouldn't leave the love of his life behind a second time.

Cindy was a paranormal. She controlled fire,
and for the longest time she had been suspected of starting the
fire that killed Jack's family.

Jessica didn't know if it was true or not,
she hadn't even known Jack when it happened, but Jack was making
his decision. He was going to believe her innocent, and he was
going to stay with her.

For that, she was going to trust his
instincts and hope she hadn't made a gargantuan mistake by leaving
them alone together. The second Jessica learned that Jack had
caught Cindy, she knew her ex was going to have trouble turning her
in. Even when it had been Jessica dating him, he'd always been
so...well, she didn't have the words for it, but he had talked
about her a lot. He spoke about how he couldn't wait to get his
hands on her again, capture her and give her to the collectors.