Mixed Feelings (Empathy in the PPNW Book 1) (10 page)

“Can you eat?”

“
Can I
eat
,” I scoffed at her. “
Please
. It
’s one of the few things I can always do.”

“Are you sure?” Chloe asked,
leaning in. I opened my mouth to insist that I could, but reconsidered in an
instant. Based on how I felt when I moved more than a tiny bit, I still wasn’
t doing
very well. She continued: “What happened, anyway? Mel
said you called to have him come out to meet you in Bellevue, that he sent a
cop your way in case it was something bad. When he arrived, he claims he found
you feeling each other up, that he had to tear you apart and bring you here.”

“That
ass
,
” I
growled.

Chloe laughed and I felt a
spark of mischief in her
.
“
Relax, Gwen,
I
’
m just
teasing. He told
me she healed you, that something nasty had hopped inside your skull and messed
you up. What was it?”

“I have no idea, but it
wasn’t human. It looked human, but it wasn’
t.
”

“
Werewolf?
”

“There wolf!” I quipped
without thinking, pointing off to the right. Indulging me, Chloe twisted to
look where I aimed and then back to me.

“There cat. That’s just
Poopy. Did you sense a werewolf?”

“
No.
This was something else. I’ve never felt it before, but that doesn’t
mean anything. I don’t exactly have much of a track record with this… sort of
stuff.”

“Start from the beginning.
What could make you drive all the way out to Bellevue?”

“What could make me drive all
the way out to anywhere
?
”
I asked
sarcastically
.
“
Donuts.
”

“Of course.” She sighed and
shook her head. “
I
made a mistake showing you
that place. How many times a week do you sneak off and pick the cases clean?”

“I plead the Fifth,” I said,
unable to meet her eyes. “Speaking of, where are they? Did Mel eat them? I’
ll kill him.
”

“I brought the box in
,
but…
don
’t worry about it. Just tell
me what
happened
.
” Chloe was getting impatient, her concern for me
shoving to the front of her psyche, which made me feel bad. Despite the
niggling worry in the back of my brain that my sweets had been pilfered again,
I pressed on.

“I was in Bellevue, making
life worth living
,
when Evadne called with the
address Merrin had sort of promised us. It was actually pretty close to where I
was, so I headed straight there. I was going to call you, but I realized you
wouldn’t really be able to help.” I jerked as a spike of irritation shot out of
Chloe and stabbed me in the chest. “Mel said he’d rush right over, which you
know, so I’ll skip that part. I parked out in front of this little apartment
building and waited, figuring I’d just hide out until Mel or the cops got
there.

“And then t
his
… dude-shaped thing rocked up, feeling all… wet and
kind of slimy and proceeded to stand around suspiciously. I tried to sense him,
to see what he was feeling, and then… nothing.” I squinted, the memories
floating together like lily pads. “I remember Amy waking me up and Mel being
predictably inappropriate as he offered to drive me home. That’s about it.
Everything’s still kind of a mess up here.” I pointed to my head, as if she
needed clarification.

“Like I said, you were pretty
beaten up, at least psychically. You’re doing better now though, I hope?” Chloe
waited until I gave a nod and relief spilled out of her in a wave. It was a
mild emotion, normally, but somehow it felt overwhelming
now
, crashing across me and making me feel for a moment like I was choking.
I squeezed my eyes shut against it, willing the pounding in my head to ease up.
When it did, it still wasn't nearly enough. I whimpered and tugged the covers
up so I could press my face against them.

Chloe patted my knee. “Your
clothes are clean if you want me to grab them.”

“Yes, please,” I mumbled into
the blanket.

Chloe squeezed my knee and
left Poopy and me alone in her room. The cat breathed out heavily through a
purr, making it sound like she disapproved strongly of our conversation. I
could feel a vague sense of irritation that might have been her emotion but
could just as well have been my own. Cats are normally odd and often
spastically unpredictable in their feelings, but Poopy was on another level
entirely
. I couldn't ever decide if that made me like her
more or less than other cats.

The cat and I filled the next
few minutes with a staring contest that she won several times over. When Chloe
came back in, she had my clothes in one hand and my donut box in the other.

“
I
’
m gonna tur
n the light on, are you ready?”

“
Hit me,
” I said. The light came on and I squinted through the
pain. Chloe set my clothes on the edge of the bed and
rested
a hand on
top of the box. Her emotions spoke wildly of
trepidation and pity. I narrowed my eyes at her. “What.” It wasn’
t a question.

“I found it this way. You
can’t be mad at me.” Without further ado, she set the box on my thighs. It
weighed nothing.

“
No
,
” I hissed, yanking up the
lid. Only crumbs and smears of glaze remained. “
Mel!
”

“
I don
’t think it w
as Mel.
”
Chloe tapped the inside of the lid and I lifted my gaze
to a pink sticky note.

It said,
Get well soon!
in the familiar scrawl of
the candy thief.

That
bastard!

Chapter Eight

Chloe babied me for most of
the day, bringing me thick socks
to
put
over the
thin ones I’d shown up wearing and feeding me like a queen. She explained that
she’d spent most of the evening cooking for me and then dragged me to the
fridge to show off an impressive stack of her colorful Tupperware.

We lazed around until early
afternoon, when she suggested that I go home to check on Sonny; she’d
apparently fed him while I was unconscious but she was no expert on birds and
she was worried about him. As if I didn’t trust her implicitly, she
swore
she would have called a bird expert friend of hers if
I hadn’t woken up when I did.

Loading up my car with the
food she’d made for me, we headed out. I whined at her insistence that Mel come
by so we could all talk through what had happened, but I didn’t put too much
effort into my protest. I was just happy not to risk driving alone in the
post-snow city.

We got to my place and Sonny
announced his displeasure at my absence the second he heard my voice. I went
straight to him, pulling him out of his cage and resting him on my shoulder. He
nipped at me and warbled. I
cooed back
at
him while Chloe unpacked my
haul in the kitchen and gathered some fresh vegetables for Sonny. I dropped
onto the couch, still utterly exhausted.

Chloe came out, folding her
empty tote bag; she looked confused.

“You have no candy,” she said.

“I told you that,” I said as
I set Sonny on the perch where Chloe had left
his
snacks.

“But you have
none
! Not even a single caramel or one of those mini
single-serve boxes of Diabetes-Os.”

“
Yes,
“I repeated, “
I told
you that.”

“Something ate
all
of your sugar! Gwen
,
you’re practically a
C&H
factory. For
something to eat everything you have with sugar in it, that’
s
…” She trailed off, looking worried.

I nodded.
“Yeah, tell me about it. I’m going to have to buy all of that again.”

Frowning at me, she continued.
“No, I mean
...
that night
,
you were only asleep, what, five hours tops?” I
didn’t bother answering. “What could eat
all
of your sugary snacks, fill your fridge with phrases,
and not wake you up in that amount of time?”

“
Didn
’t we have this conversation already? You’re the one who convinced me
it’s a thing and not a person hiding in a crawlspace watching me sleep.”

“I didn’t realize you
actually meant it ate
everything
everything. In this house, even half of
everything is a lot. You have nothing. You actually meant
everything
.
” She shook her head, bewildered. “That’s just way
crazier than I was picturing before.”

“Of course I meant
everything. Why do you think I was so mad?”

Chloe
’s brows shot up
.
“And the office! Something ate all your honey packets
and I’ll have to restock your candy for the dish completely.”

I
squinted at her, suspicious of her sudden interest in
restocking my sugar supply.

“
You weren
’t worried before,
so
why are you nervous now?”

“This creature is clearly sta
rving!
”
Chloe cried
.
“
I
’m just wondering if maybe we should leave something
for it.”

“
Oh, don
’t do that. It’s not a neighborhood squirrel. I’m not
leaving Twinkies on the porch like peanuts. Not only because it would be a
waste of Twinkies but because it may never leave me alone if we feed it.”
I felt Mel approach as I finished speaking, lust and hunger reaching
scalding, sucking tentacles around me, wrapping me snugly in velvet nausea. I
groaned and hugged my arms, squeezing my eyes shut and doing my best to protect
myself as he came up the drive. Chloe realized immediately what was going on
and Mel only got one knock out before she opened the door.

“
I bring
gifts,
” he said. I cracked open one eye, perking up when I recognized the box
he was holding as being from The Internets. “I stopped by for coffee. Madeline
asked where her best customer had been.”

He
stepped inside, elbowed the door shut
,
and set the pastry box down on the coffee table. He
opened it, using his hand to waft the scent of treats my way. The smell of
sweets was nearly enough to distract me from the pain of him being so close. I
could feel my body tensing up, though, and it was all coming at me much faster
than I was used to. Being around a werewolf was always bad, but the scalding
slices of hunger tearing at my psyche felt as if he’d been pressed right up
against me for at least an hour.

“
Chloe?
” I croaked, fighting a war
between my desire for the marshmallow-covered chocolate donut and my body’s
desire to never stop vomiting. “Does that necklace still work?”

“
Neck
—oh! Oooh, good idea. I packed it. Let me get it.” She fled down
the hall toward my bedroom while I continued to focus all my energy on the
donut, as if I could will it to my mouth. She was back quickly, the
black-edged, square blue stone dangling from the skinny leather strap in her
hand. Mel watched her approach, his lips quirking as she stood on tip-toe in
front of him, wrapped her arms and the necklace around his neck, and tied it
off.

I caught sight of his arm
sliding around her back, felt lust arc like a solar flare away from him
...
and then it all stopped. The difference was so stark
the world shut down and for a second
,
I felt
like I had gone deaf, blind, and numb. I blinked as my living room seemed to
melt back into being,
looking
down
at my hands as I flexed my fingers. Sure that my other senses were working, I
took a breath and let it out audibly to make sure my ears were okay. Still
rediscovering the existence of the world, I leaned back with a sigh of relief.

Mel
’s emotions were barely there
now
,
 
like sitting in a luxury
hotel and listening to a heavy metal band play in the dingy bar next door. I
could sense the chaos if I really tried
,
but it
was better just to enjoy the calm. After maybe another minute, he was a blank
slate, as though he wasn’t there at all.

“Oh, thank god,” I moaned,
lifting my hands to press them against my eyes. I felt cool,
comfortable
,
and better than I’d ever felt while so close to Mel. “Merrin
is officially my new favorite person.”

“Did Madeline send any vegan
treats?” Chloe asked as she dropped onto the couch next to me.

“She said the little ones are
from Mighty-O, just for you.”

“
Gwen?
”

I removed my hands from my
face and turned to look at her. She was holding the marshmallow donut out
toward me
;
I must have looked pretty
pathetic for her to
be
offering me pastry.

“
Excellent,
”
I
said, smiling.
“
Thanks.
”

“First things fir
st,
” Mel said, taking a seat in the chair to our left. “What
is this blue thing and why am I wearing it?”

“Merrin made it for Gwen. It
blocks her from reading the emotions of the wearer. She may actually be able to
stand you now!”

“Fat chance,” I groused, my
mouth full of fluffy perfection. Disappointment bounced out of Chloe and off my
shoulder like a pack of
rubber
balls, but I ignored it. “So, tell me from your point of view what
happened.”

“
You
’d mentioned you might be going to stop a kidnapping, so I kept myself
available for when you inevitably realized you’
re completely incompetent and
Chloe
’s skills
mainly include alphabetizing and bullying insurance companies.”

“
I
am
excellent at both,” she agreed, taking a tiny bite of
a French toast donut. I wondered if she’d restrict me to my donuts or if she’d
let me have one of hers.

“I was out the door as soon
as you called, but I knew I wouldn’t make it in time, so I called Amy. She’s
one of y
ou, so
—”

“One of me?”

“
Someone
with powers. Psychic
healing.” He waved off my question
.
“
I told her we
’d gotten otherworldly news
that something was going to happen and passed on the address. She wasn’t too
far away
,
thankfully, and got to you
just in time.”

“Not just in time,” I argued.
“I still got knocked around. I mean, sort of.”

“How much do you remember
after you woke up that night?” Mel asked. I considered his question, trying to
piece together the bits of images and sounds
left by
the jagged shards of pain in
my head into an actual cohesive narrative.

“
Um
. I remember Amy waking me up and touching me a lot, which was nice. I
threw up a few times—not so nice. You showed up, maybe flirted a bit.”

“Sounds like m
e,
” Mel said with a smile. I ignored him.

“You told her you looked
around, that you smelled vampires.”

“
Vampires?
” Chloe demanded, shock and disbelief fracturing the
peaceful interest that had settled over her. I grunted against the feeling,
grabbed anothe
r donut
—one of Chloe’s, thank
you very much—and chomped into it as aggressively as I could manage.

“I said I
thought
I
smelled a vampire, but that’
s
impossible.
” The
sounds of Dave Matthews Band’
s
Crash into Me
rang through the room and
Mel perked up, sliding his phone out of his pocket. “That’
s me.
”

“I wouldn’t have guessed,” I
deadpanned
,
though I don’t think anyone
understood my mush-mouth
retort
. Mel was already answering,
stepping outside as if he didn’t want us eavesdropping. Chloe turned to me,
eyebrows
raised
.

“He
did
say vampires, right? I didn’t mishear him? He didn’t
claim he smelled, like…” She trailed off, shaking her hand loosely in the air. “
Shampires?
”

“And what the hell would a
shampire
be?
”

“If I had to guess, I’d say
every goth kid at my high school.”

I snorted, shook my head
,
and got back to the very serious business of eating
my donut. Chloe stayed quiet as we waited for Mel. Sonny continued to snack,
content to be near the action, even though I was sure he would have offered to
help if he could. Mel came back inside a few minutes later, an excited grin on
his face.

“That was Mrs. Morris, the
mother of the second little girl who was taken. I called yesterday, asked if I
could offer my services for free. She wasn’t sure at first and I think she still
doesn’t entirely trust me, but she’d like to meet me to discuss the case. I
told her I’d be bringing a consultant—it took some finagling, but I got
her to agree. We’re to be at the Bouncing Bunny café in an hour.”
Mel
’s gaze was fixed intently on me, but I didn’t catch
on until I took the last, massive bite of my donut.

“
Wait, me?
” I asked, dribbling crumbs down my front.

“You asked to go with me,” he
said
.
“I can bring Chloe instead,
if you want
.
”

“
Can
’t you bring both of us?” she asked.

Mel shook his head.
“Not likely. They weren’t thrilled with me bringing along one person,
let alone two.”

“
No, no.
”
I sighed,
swallowing the last of my mouthful. “
It
’
s
okay. I
’ll get
dressed and go with you. This is my problem, not Chloe’
s.
” She remained outwardly calm but I felt another jagged spike of
irritation jab out of her. It held the razor edge of frustration,
too
.