Second Nature (14 page)

I thought of mom, her red curls shining in
the light the day she'd told me what I was. Yet even then she'd
held so much back. Mom and Dad told me just enough to stop me from
questioning. It had taken a temper tantrum similar to the one I had
just thrown at Xander to get the rest out of them.

“It's not enough that we just survive
together, Sariah. It's important, I get that. But I think now, to
truly honor their sacrifice, we have to be better than they taught
us to be.”

I sighed, looking out the window as I went
on. “You have changed so much since they died. And I know I don't
say it often enough, but I am so proud of you. But it’s time for
Xander and I to live up to your example. And I don't think we
have.”

“I don't think you're as far behind as you
think you are, girly.” Sariah reached out and gave my shoulder a
squeeze.

She pulled into the lot where my blue Nissan
sat. As I climbed out of the car, I gave her a smile and stretched
out my hand, pinky extended. “No more secrets, promise?”

She eyed my hand for a second then her eyes
flicked to my face. I don't know what she was looking for in my
features, or if she found it. But she hooked her pinky with mine
and shook it. ''Pinky promise.” She smiled.

I closed the door and went to my car. Sariah
waited until I was safely inside before driving off. I watched her
SUV shrink in my rearview mirror, wondering if we could really be
completely honest with each other. Somehow, I doubted it. With a
sad frown, I started my car and headed to the hospital.

GETTING INFORMATION AT the hospital wasn't
as easy as I thought it would be. The staff wasn't helpful at all.
I thought I could discuss the teens' conditions with their
families, but security thwarted that plan. They weren’t letting
anyone near the kids or their families.

I turned away from the nurse's station
frustrated with my lack of progress and saw him. I must have looked
ridiculous as I gaped at the vampire I had seen at the club. He
glanced around to make sure no one had noticed, then beckoned me to
follow him. I had no idea if it was safe or not, but my curiosity
got the better of me, so I followed him. He led me to an empty
patient room, closing the door behind us.

I studied him for a long moment. He had
black hair slicked straight back from his face, glistening with
some sort of hair product. His skin was pale but not in an
it’s-been-a-hundred-years-since-I-saw-the-sun kind of way. It was
more of a natural paleness. His eyes were a rich, dark brown with
dark lashes under thick eyebrows, but they had a dangerous gleam to
them. This man was a predator, and he liked it. But what truly held
my attention was the utter lack of sparkles. Maybe it had been a
trick of the light at the rave. Or body glitter? “Please tell me
you wear body glitter to raves?” The words tumbled out before I
knew I was speaking making me flush.

He raised his brows, and his mouth quirked
in barely repressed humor, but he nodded. I breathed a sigh of
relief at the knowledge that vampires did not, in fact, sparkle. I
wouldn’t have to write an apology to Stephanie Meyer after all.

He studied me for a long moment the blush
spread from my cheeks down my neck. “Be careful, little Gaia.” His
voice was slightly accented, sort of an old European style. “Just
because you're not as tasty as humans, doesn't mean I can't eat you
up.”

I eyed the door, wondering if I had made a
mistake following him in here. I stepped back against the wall. I
tried to inch my way to freedom, but he placed a hand on the wall
just above each shoulder pinning me in place. I winced and
whimpered, reaching out with my abilities for something to help me.
The sterile hospital was barren, not even a rat to send to bite his
ankles.

“Relax.” The vampire stroked a finger along
my neck. “I'm not going to hurt you. I don't play with my food,
though it looks like you'd be fun to play with.” He eyed me up and
down in a way that made me feel like I needed a shower.

Fear shot through me. I might be in very
real danger. I was prepared to fight him if I had to, but something
told me I would lose. Maybe there was a way to outsmart him.

He barked a laugh, backing up. “You young
ones are so much fun. You don't question anything. Relax, little
Gaia, I was only kidding. Besides, eating a Gaia, I might as well
have a salad.”

“Fun? You call terrifying me fun?”

“Let a couple of centuries pass. Watch those
you love get old and die while you stay the same then judge whether
or not my idea of fun is a little skewed.”

I wanted to be angry, to be indignant, but
all I could feel was pity. I had always been surrounded by
Otherworlders. I thought of Gladys, and Mr. Peterson, even my old
high school principal, Mrs. Soberlo. They were the closest thing to
a real connection I had ever made with a human. Did that make me
prejudiced or just pathetic?

“I apologize if I have offended. Perhaps my
social skills are a little rusty. I am Fernando.”

I didn't trust him, but I could still get
information from him. I tried to force myself to relax, while still
being ready to bolt at a moment’s notice. “I'm Lia.”

“It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance,
Lia,” He gave me a rather dashing bow.

I couldn't help but smile. There was still a
dangerous edge to Fernando, but he could charm a goat. But Dracula
was charming too—until you woke up undead three days later. “So
were you born Fernando or has your name evolved over time?”

“I have always been Fernando, though I
haven't always been Carrillos.” He pronounced it like
Cah-Ree-yose.

“I assume you’re here about the drug they
are calling Diesel?” I nodded and he continued. “It's bad. Those
kids are going to die, they just don't know it yet. Demon blood is
one of the scariest things I’ve seen and I’ve been around a long
time. Judging by what happened at the club, I'm guessing you have
dangerous friends, but they are in danger as well. It is not a good
time to be a demon.”

“What happens to the people who are taking
Diesel?”

“At first it's nice, like LSD without the
bad trips. You feel good, stronger than you should be. Sometimes it
even makes you prettier. But then you come down, and it's bad.
You're cold all the time, and you can't stop shaking. The world
looks flatter, less colorful. If you still don't get a fix, you
spiral down into depression and self-destruction. You lose the will
to live. Eventually you die, either from doing something stupid or
by your own hand.''

“And all this after one pill?”

“This drug is quite devastating.”

“What if they keep using?”

“There is no if, it’s when. And it takes
more and more for them to feel good until one day they
overdose.”

“And what happens with an overdose?”

“Their body temperatures go up and up. It
will burn away all the humanity inside them. They'll be empty
shells willing to mindlessly follow anyone.”

“Why would a demon want that?” I chewed my
lip, asking myself rather than him.

“I don't think the demons are doing this.
Too many have died. I think it's someone else.”

“But why?”

“Someone's building an army, one without an
instinct for self-preservation.” My mouth went dry and my insides
felt like they were made out of lead. “At first it was just one or
two dribbling in here and there. But now, we see several a day. And
last night forty came through.” I stared at him, shock stealing my
words for a long moment.

“'I have to get back to work, but here's my
card.” Fernando handed me a black business card with his name and a
cell phone number written in blood red. “Call me, I will help if I
can.”

He opened the door slightly and glanced both
ways before walking out, the door slammed shut behind him. I stood
where I was trying to think of a reason someone would do this other
than creating zombie armies. But no matter how many ways I tried to
approach the problem, the end result was still we were screwed.

I CLIMBED OUT of my car in the driveway as
the first wave of pain hit. At first, it was slight enough to
dismiss, a tightening in my belly easily ignored. The second one
was a little more intense. A red-hot poker stabbed into my
shoulder. My breath gasped in ragged pants, and I clamped my hand
to tight against my collarbone. I pulled out the neck of my shirt
expecting to see blood and charred flesh, but my skin was
unmarked.

Realizing I was the first one home, I tried
to shake it off as I slid my key into the lock. I tossed my purse
and keys on the bench and started into the kitchen when a crowbar
connected with my shins. Or at least it felt like one did. With a
sharp cry, I collapsed onto the floor. A quick examination once
again revealed unmarked skin. It took me longer to collect myself
this time, but eventually, I was able to push to my feet and head
to the kitchen.

Fixing myself a cup of tea and curling up
with a good book, I tried to lose myself in the enthralling mystery
Dylan had recommended, Dark Corners. I'd read some of the author's
other work, a urban fantasy trilogy, but not this one. Before I
could lose myself in the suspenseful story, electricity jolted the
tender skin of the arch of my foot, causing the muscles in my leg
to constrict. Yet I could see my bare feet sitting on the arm of
the couch, untouched. I shifted trying to make the pain stop, but
it seemed to go on and on. After what seemed like an hour—but was
more likely five minutes—it stopped.

Trying to blink back tears, I sat up and put
my feet on the floor. I had no idea what was happening, but it
scared me. It was like someone was torturing me. The last one had
been bad, but after my electrifying introduction to male Gaias’
abilities, it was nothing. I started to worry about Nate, that the
pain I felt was truly his, when new sensations shut my thought
processes down. Blows rained on my back with a giant knot in a
heavy rope. I cried out, my body jerking with each blow.

I'd like to think I blacked out, but it
wasn't the case. Lost in the torment, there was an odd sort of
disconnection between my body and mind. I floated in a strange
place of darkness and pain. I could no longer feel individual hits,
just a sharp heat radiating from my back. After an unknown amount
of time, a lack of blows slowly entered my awareness. As my mind
came back to full consciousness, I found myself curled in the fetal
position on the floor. It reminded me of the day Xander had beaten
Nate.

Since Nate’s presence had disappeared from
my mind, I had forgotten we were still physically connected. If I
was a betting girl, I would have laid it all on our connection.
Whoever had taken Nate wanted to hurt us both. Was he the intended
target, or was I? I told myself to check my ego, no one would be
that cold. Who had Nate pissed off—aside from me, of course?

Knowing I couldn't deal with this by myself,
I stood and grabbed my cell out of my purse. I dialed Xander's
number and listened as it rang, but a sudden wrenching pain in my
shoulder made me drop the phone. I screamed as the joint popped out
of place, but the pressure continued like someone wanted to tear my
arm off. I screamed until my voice went hoarse. Clamping my jaw
sets shut, I could hear a tinny voice not too far away. Still in a
haze and clutching my arm to my body, I sat up a grabbed the phone
with my good hand.

“—talk to me! What the hell's going on? Get
your damn hands off my little sister, or I'll—”

Unable to listen to the panic in his voice,
I cut him off. “It's okay, Xan.” My voice was scratchy and weak
from screaming, but not as bad as I would have expected. “It's not
me they're torturing. At least not directly.”

A hot tear trailed down my face as it sank
in. Nate suffered alone somewhere. He'd been gone for more than a
day, and we had done nothing to try and find him. How did this make
me any better than him? At least he knew I was safe while he
ignored me. To top it off, while he was captive and scared, I'd
been off having the time of my life with another man. Now that I
was aware of the physical connection between us, I felt every
injury. A quick survey made me wince at what he endured. Aside from
the cauterized wound and dislocated shoulder, the crowbar across
his calf had broken at least one of his bones. He was hungry and
cold and if I wasn’t mistaken, naked. I was more aware of his
physical state than I had ever been, but I didn't think it was like
this even an hour before. Someone wanted to transmit his pain to
me, I was certain. And the only reason I could imagine was they had
a grudge against me, not him. It had to be Peter, and we had to get
Nate back. It was our fault he got dragged into all this in the
first place. My fault, really.