Enigma:What Lies Beneath (Enigma Series Book 1) (6 page)

With a quick nod, she stumbled on numb legs toward the house.

Waves could be heard crashing in the distance, letting her know they were still on the beach. It was hard to make out the color of the two-story home in the dark. It appeared to be a light gray under the pale glow of the street light.

She prayed Tony knew what he was doing and hadn’t just led them into a trap.

Chapter Eight

Abbie arrived at a plain-looking door with only a peephole for decoration. She slid the key into the deadbolt and turned it until a
click
sounded before glancing back to see Tony coming up the drive with Hauke once again thrown over his shoulder.

She opened the door and stepped inside. Tony entered behind her and marched off down a hallway without a backward glance. He staggered into a room to the left with Abbie right on his heels.

“Son of a bitch. He’s heavy.” Flipping on a light, Tony dropped Hauke unceremoniously onto a big bed. “I’ll grab the supplies.” He spun away and left the room without a backward glance.

Abbie sat on the edge of the mattress and touched Hauke’s cold hand. She had no idea what his body temperature usually ran, but something told her to warm him up. Even a snake didn’t operate in cool weather. She needed to remove his wet pants before Tony came back.

With a quick glance at the door, she rose to her knees to hover over Hauke’s body. Heat rushed to her face as she lifted a hand and loosened the drawstring on his scrubs.

His stomach muscles were well defined and devoid of hair. The bullet hole next to his hip looked red and angry. Dried blood adorned the area, but the bleeding had stopped long ago.

Surprisingly enough, very little evidence of the pink scar remained from Henry’s incision. She wondered why the gunshot wound hadn’t healed yet.

The skin was flawless around his navel, and she wanted to run her palms over it to see if it felt as smooth as it looked.

Abbie shook her head at the direction her thoughts took and slid her fingers under the waistband of his pants. With a slight tug she inched them down to reveal more of his glorious skin.

Heat traveled up her neck when his manhood came into view. She froze there for a second before pulling his scrubs over his hips and down his thighs.

Abbie tried not to stare, but she was suddenly up close and personal with the most amazing sight she’d ever seen.

She’d caught a glimpse of his naked form back at the lab, but from a distance. She couldn’t bring herself to look away. Abbie had never thought of a man’s anatomy as beautiful before today. Hauke’s was perfection. His size alone made other men pale in comparison. But that wasn’t what held her captive. The smooth olive complexion of his shaft couldn’t have been painted more perfect.

The front door closed, snapping her out of her ogling. With a speed born of embarrassment, she snatched his pants down his legs and covered him with a blanket that had been folded at the foot of the bed.

Tony came into the room a moment later carrying a duffle bag. He dropped it on the floor and ran a hand through his disheveled hair. “He’s bigger than me, but it was the best I could do.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me. I just signed your death sentence. You’ll die if you stay here with him.”

Abbie knew he spoke the truth, but she couldn’t bring herself to leave Hauke behind. No matter what the cost.

She changed the subject. “Whose house is this?”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s safe for now, and you won’t be found here as long as you stay inside. They may be watching me, so I won’t be around for a while.”

He nodded toward the duffle bag on the floor. “There are no shoes, just so you know. I threw a few bandages and some alcohol in there.”

“Mother would be proud of you.”

His emotionless mask slipped for a second. “You’re so much like her.”

“Uncle Tony? What happened to you?”

He turned to go. “There’s a disposable cell phone on the kitchen counter. My number is programmed under the name
Why Not.
Don’t use it unless you have to.”

Abbie lifted an eyebrow. “What kind of name is
Why Not
?”

“It’s Tony, spelled backwards.” He spun back toward the door.

“Wait.”

“Just stay put, girl. I’ll figure out a way to get you out of here.”

Abbie watched her uncle Tony leave with a sinking feeling in her gut. She was Hauke’s only hope at survival, and she didn’t have a clue how to help him.

Moving back to the side of the bed, she gazed down at his unconscious form.
Okay, think. He has gills, so why didn’t the water help him?

Abbie mentally went over everything she knew about fish. They couldn’t breathe out of water because the pressure would collapse their gills. But Hauke had lungs also. Blood flowing in the opposite direction of oxygen fed a fish’s gills. So if there was no blood flowing, water being forced through the slits wouldn’t deposit oxygen into the membrane sacs of his gills. The result would be excruciating.

He also had a six-chambered heart. She could only guess that four chambers supported his human side and pumped oxygen and blood throughout his body while the two extra chambers parented his gills. She wondered how long he could possibly live in his comatose state.

He needs blood,
but how to get it?

Abbie paced the room and quickly discarded every idea that surfaced. He wasn’t human, and she had no clue if giving him a particular blood type would be fatal to him. The O negative she’d pumped into him earlier had started to work before he’d been shot and began to bleed out.

A thought occurred to her. Her blood type was O negative. If she could give him enough to revive him, maybe he could tell her what to do to help him.
He’s dead for sure if I do nothing.

Abbie dropped to her knees next to the bag Tony had left. She unzipped it and dumped the contents onto the floor. There were sweatpants, T-shirts, bandages, soap, and alcohol in the pile she’d made. Nothing she could use.

She jumped to her feet and rushed to the bathroom to rifle through the drawers. Empty. “Damn it.”

Abbie hurried to the kitchen to search the cabinets, only to come up with the same results. She now understood the meaning of
without a paddle.

Dizziness swept through her body, and she realized she hadn’t eaten in a while. She wondered how long it had been for Hauke. He had a digestive tract; she’d seen it on the X-rays.

The cell phone that Tony had left on the kitchen counter caught her eye. She picked it up and scrolled to her uncle’s number. Her finger hovered over the Send key long enough that the screen went black.
What am I expecting him to do? They could be watching him.

Abbie laid the phone down and trailed back to the bedroom, approaching the bed with trepidation. Hauke resembled a corpse with his pasty skin and lack of color in his face.

“I need to warm you, Hauke. And then figure out how to do what needs to be done.” She pulled the covers back enough to climb underneath, and her breath caught. He felt like a block of ice. If she couldn’t share her blood, she would share her heat.

With that thought in mind, she sat up and removed her clothing. Hopefully her body temperature would promote the rise of his own.

A gasp escaped as she lay back down and her naked flesh touched his. Goosebumps peppered her body from head to feet, and she bit her lip to keep her teeth from chattering.

* * * *

Abbie wasn’t sure how much time had passed when she suddenly felt Hauke inside her head. She sat up and peered down at him with wide eyes. “Is the heat helping?”

She was met with silence. Maybe she had wanted to hear him bad enough, she’d imagined it. “Hauke? Damn you; answer me.”

With a noise of frustration, she threw her leg over his waist and straddled his hips. Wrapping her arms around him, she leaned forward until her breasts flattened against his ribs. Her head ended up resting over the place where his still heart should be beating. “Please come back.”

The memory of him looming above her long ago on the beach passed through her mind. She coasted her fingertips along his arms until they were palm to palm. “I remember you. The boy with those remarkable eyes.” A spark of current entered her hands. “You can hear me.”

She interlocked their fingers and slid up higher on his body until her mouth touched his. “Open for me. I’m going to try something.”

Abbie applied pressure to his lips until the seam parted. She hesitantly ran her tongue along his teeth in search of his incisors. She thought of the vampire movies she’d seen in the past and almost laughed at herself. There was no way such beings existed.

Then again, if someone had told her a creature like the one lying beneath her actually lived before tonight, she would have thought them crazy too.

Abbie unlaced their fingers and slowly brought her hand up to his mouth. She separated his lips with the pressure of her wrist until the sharp tips of his incisors could be felt.

Her heart pounded painfully fast while she gazed down at his beautiful face.
Please let this work
.

She had never been more afraid yet sure of anything in all her life. She’d do whatever it took to save him…maybe even kill.

With a quick flick of her wrist, his fangs penetrated her skin...

Chapter Nine

Hauke wanted to scream in denial. His sweet Abbie had done the unthinkable.

She had no idea that by offering him her blood, she’d sealed her fate. He would never be able to let her go now. There would be no choice but to take her with him when he returned home.

He lay there, paralyzed and powerless to stop her as she gave her life force to save his. In that moment, he knew he loved her, more than he’d ever loved or ever would again.

His thoughts scattered the instant her life’s blood reached his system. Hauke had never known anything as pure and delectable as Abbie’s blood.

He was torn between wanting to throw her from him and burying himself inside her body while his fangs sank deeper into her vein.

Energy swirled through his chest and traveled down his arms and legs.

The membrane surrounding his gums swelled painfully as the milking glands situated at the base of his incisors awakened with a vengeance.

Instinctively, he bit down, and both of his hands shot up to lock onto her wrist. His back bowed off the bed, nearly unseating Abbie as her unique flavor exploded through his veins like an erupting volcano.

Somewhere in the far reaches of his mind, Hauke knew he had to pull back, but he couldn’t seem to stop. Her blood resurrected him, and his body demanded more of the coveted liquid.

The first beat of his heart kicked off a chain reaction inside him. Oxygen expanded his lungs, sealing the gills. Moisture flooded his eyes, pain faded from the wound in his side, and the barbs on his wrists and ankles tingled with life as rejuvenating cells invaded his damaged tissue.

Recent memories suddenly crashed into him. His stomach muscles locked up with the power of it.
“Leave it be, Naura. It is too dangerous for you. We go alone.”

His sister’s anger was strong enough, he’d felt her emotions without their mental link.

“
I am more intelligent than most of the males you think to take with you.”

“I cannot risk you being seen. Or worse, captured.”

“Vaulcron allows me to accompany him on occasion to study the humans.”

“Our brother has no regard for the laws. They are in place for our protection as well as the surface dwellers.”

An explosion. The shout of his sister’s name dying on his lips.

Foreign sounds blended with strange accents in a confusing series of events too difficult to piece together.

A different kind of energy emerged.
Pleasure, tingling warmth.

Images of Abbie as a child interrupted his flashback to swirl through his psyche in a whirlwind of madness.

“
Happy birthday, Mama.”
Pride was evident on her face as she stumbled along, holding a colorful square with small sticks of fire burning on top.

“
Go to your room, young lady
.” Her father’s scolding was met with rebellion.

Abbie’s memories danced around without direction. “
Go get the stick, Spot. Good boy.”

“
I can’t accept a gift this extravagant, Bruce
.” An older Abbie stared up at a man standing over her.

“
Nonsense. Nothing is too good for my girl.”
Hauke watched the guy bend and pull Abbie to her feet before wrapping her in his arms and kissing her.

Jealousy consumed him. He wanted to tear the man’s lips from his face for daring to touch her.

The gulf. A young Abbie’s pain as she swam toward the sandbar. Her grief at the loss of her mother.

A wave took her under. Something about her called to him…a pull too powerful to deny.

He couldn’t allow her to expire, no matter the cost. With his heart in his throat, he sprang into action. The wiry muscles of his teenage body sliced through the water with expert skill.

Gone was the fear of being seen. Nothing mattered but reaching the tiny human before the gulf claimed her life.

Palm to palm. Warmth. Hauke groaned with the release of energy that left his body. It seemed wrenched from his very soul as it poured through his hands into hers.

A spasm racked her small frame. Her lids lifted slowly to reveal hazel-colored eyes. He felt her curiosity as she stared up at him in wonder.

He knew he could never see her again after this day, but her memory would remain with him, always.

Hauke wasn’t sure how much time had passed before Abbie’s moan penetrated his madness. He forced his fangs to retract and released the death grip on her wrists. The urge to take more blood gripped him, but he resisted. Barely.

* * * *

Abbie gazed down at Hauke in more than a little awe. She had just experienced the memory of her drowning all those years ago, through his eyes. It was remarkable seeing it from his point of view with his feelings riding the surface.

“Hauke?”

She felt the instant he closed off from her. The lingering essence of him in her mind disappeared, leaving a void in its wake.

Rejection reared its ugly head, and Abbie’s chest constricted with the knowledge that he didn’t want her. What if giving him her blood had harmed him or disgusted him in some way?

“I’m sorry.” Her voice came out husky with unshed tears. “I only wanted to help you.”

Abbie moved to slide off him. She needed to get to the phone her uncle Tony had left on the kitchen counter.

She could think of only one person to call on besides Tony that had the power to move mountains and hopefully get them out of the mess they were in.
Bruce Ortega.

The snarl that suddenly burst from Hauke startled her. She found herself flat on her back with him looming over her before she could suck in a breath.

“I will end his life, Abbie. Do not think to bring him here.”

Abbie stared up at Hauke without blinking. His protective lenses were in place, making his eyes appear black as onyx. He looked wild and more than a little scary with his fangs peeking out and his bottom lip smeared with her blood.

She wasn’t sure she liked him reading her every thought. “You don’t know him. He can help us, Hauke.”

His gaze dropped to her breasts, and he bared his teeth “Cover yourself and do not speak of him again.”

Humiliation was swift, mocking her with its heat as it spread across her skin in an unwelcome blush.

Turning her head to the side, Abbie crossed her arms over her chest. Shame made speaking difficult, but she managed a whisper. “Get off me.”

She could feel his gaze on her skin, the weight of his body pressing her into the mattress.

“I cannot risk infecting you.” Hauke rolled away from her and stood, not bothering to cover his nudity.

Abbie had a hard time focusing on his face. “What do you mean, infecting me?”

He ran a hand through his long, silky hair. “I have not personally witnessed the infection’s destruction, and I do not believe my father before me has either. We were educated at a young age on the adverse effect of our venom on humans.”

Abbie grabbed her clothes and pulled the sheet over her body to dress in a modicum of privacy. “Adverse, as in negative?”

Sorrow swam in his beautiful green eyes. “Yes.”

“Okay, negative in what way? Like run a fever and vomit for a week?”

“Would that it be that simple.”

Her heart began to pound. She pulled her jeans up and bounded from the bed to face him. “You’re starting to scare me.”

He took hold of her hand and laid it against his chest while gently brushing her hair behind her ear with the tips of his fingers. “Many centuries ago, my ancestors inhabited this island.”

“You mean Destin?”

He nodded and continued. “South, east, and west of here also for many miles before the land walkers built bridges and constructed towns. The natives were sparse yet friendly for the most part, keeping to themselves. Until our king developed an affection for a beautiful young maiden, Aiyana, and took her for his own. She became infected not long after the mating ceremony.”

“Mating ceremony?

“The humans refer to it as a wedding night.”

Understanding dawned on her. “What happened to her?”

“The fever settled in first, then the blisters took over, covering her body until the pain grew too great to live.”

“She died?” Abbie asked incredulously.

“Her father grew suspicious when she was not seen after many days and demanded to see her.”

Hauke let go of Abbie’s hand and ran a palm down his face. His eyes appeared weary beyond his years.

Abbie gently touched his arm. “Go on. What happened after seeing his daughter?”

“The elders tell us that her father attempted to care for her, eventually contracting the sickness and taking it back to his people, infecting others in his camp until the remaining land walkers declared war and rose up against my ancestors.”

“Oh, my God. What was the outcome?”

“The elders advised the king to return home beneath the water. We have remained there for hundreds of years in peace, until…”

“Until you washed up on shore,” Abbie finished for him. “What happened to the king’s mate. Did she die?”

Hauke took a deep breath and lifted a powerful shoulder. “I do not know. Stories were told to me as a child, but I am not sure of the amount of truth in them.”

Abbie patted the mattress. “Sit and tell me.”