Splintered Energy (The Colors Book 1) (28 page)

“Shh, no talking from you,” she murmured as she yanked the gauze out of her pocket. “Happy place, remember?” Jaylynn wrapped round and round his waist, covering gunshot and stab wounds. She smiled her surprise as Caream handed her the tape.

Thankfully the thick compress, bright against Damon’s skin, stayed white and she gently lowered his shirt.

His eyes flew open. Darkened light stared at her lips as he leaned. Anticipation competed with her fear, and there went her heart jolting to escape her chest. Damon stiffened and drew back, confusion clear on his expressive face.

No time to explain mixed signals. Jaylynn pushed at him, and ignored his irritated grunt. He sat down and allowed her to examine his arm. The jagged cut from the broken glass didn’t look deep, and the bleeding had stopped.

“Can’t you explain hidden-weapon-woman?”

Jaylynn dropped his arm and stood back. “That woman was attracted to you. She felt rejected. This is a lot to go into now, but alcohol makes some people quite unpleasant.”

“No.” Damon groaned. “Caream will be even more annoying now?”

“Of course not.” Jaylynn glanced at Caream pulling a bottle of water from the other saddlebag. Damon’s words stung, despite the clear fact anyone attempting to touch her would be lucky to keep their head, especially if there was any mention of a damn hospital. As if Caream needed protection. She was almost as strong as him.

Caream opened the bottle. Damon greedily drank two thirds before thrusting the dented plastic back toward Caream. She shook her head, gaze lowered.

“You need good water.” Damon threw the bottle at her. “I told you that alcohol was wrong. Why didn’t you listen to the ‘boss of you’?”

Caream bit the tremble from her lip. “They said if I drank they’d leave.”

He grabbed her arm. “Stop that. Crying women are difficult. You know it hurts my heart. Why’d you think we’d leave you?”

“You’re mad at me all the time. It’s awful here, and I didn’t help you fight. I let you get shot—again. Maybe next time, you’ll die.”

“Don’t be stupid. I’m invincible.” He released her arm. “Drink. You still smell drunk.”

Caream’s thin face twisted with misery. She finished the water and turned aside. “If you leak too much of that nasty red, big-dummy-not-invincible, I’ll be alone.”

Damon lunged and they both went down, Caream on his lap. “You don’t need to help me. But you must obey everything I say.” He pressed his forehead into Caream’s. “You hit too hard. You know she’ll yell at me when you kill someone. You can’t leave me either. I won’t die, but I may kill you soon.” Damon pulled back, his sigh deep. “You don’t smell so bad now. Wish I had a hundred bottles of water to wash you with.”

Impatience poured from his beautiful eyes. It’d been an entire minute of comforting his fiery…sister. He bounced up and turned to Jaylynn. “Satisfied? You’ve wrapped me in death. I’m sorry Caream drank all the water. Let’s go hunt some for you.”

“I’m fine.” Jaylynn stuffed her bag and purse in a saddlebag. “Caream, I’m glad you drank the few drops he left you.” She pulled out an atlas, and glanced at the bottle on the ground. “If things get much worse I’ll drink that tequila myself.”

Caream responded. She flung the liquor so far Jaylynn couldn’t see nor hear where it shattered. Forget the red glower. This called for a hug. “Caream, I was joking. None of this is your fault. Damon’s right, let’s get going. We need to get out of Arizona.”

Damon joined them by the bike. “I don’t like when anyone lies, including me. I said I wouldn’t leave you.” He placed what looked like a heavy hand on Caream’s shoulder. “I didn’t say all of you. I could leave your head stuck in that tree. Show me how to start this thing.”

Jesus Christ
. Jaylynn shook an image of a rather gross, orange tree from her mind.

Caream shrugged. “Let me see where the ex-computer is.”

Jaylynn pointed their location, and traced along Route 60 to Quemado, then onward into Albuquerque. Caream glanced at the map and tugged at Jaylynn, pushing her to sit on the ground.

“What? What’s wrong?”

Caream answered by braiding and tucking her hair under her shirt. “The wind won’t bother you as much. Don’t worry. We won’t let you fall.”

Jaylynn nodded and hopped to her feet. “We’ll find a room, and I’ll get a doctor. Damon, you could be bleeding inside.” She shoved the atlas back inside the saddlebag. “You could—No! Stop putting your—”

“Shut up about things we don’t need to talk about. Explain alcohol. Why do men want to make Caream throw up?” The big lug paused, moved his hand from Jaylynn’s mouth, and swung her on the bike. “Answer later.”

Right. Stuck between two super-beings fighting over who’d drive a stolen motorcycle. The perfect time to open Pandora’s box. Damon watched Caream huddled on the bike in front of Jaylynn.

“You put in neutral with your foot, flip this switch,” Caream’s hands moved with blinding speed, “release the fuel valve and because no keys, you connect the ugly green to the even uglier red wire.”

“Explain the clutch. Move closer to Jaylynn.”

Caream kicked the stand up, muttering, “Hold on. Mister Boss is gonna get nasty.”

It felt like they’d already accelerated over a hundred miles per hour when Damon landed behind Jaylynn on the large bike. By the time Caream reached high gear, the wind tore at Jaylynn so much she could no longer hear him bellowing. She shivered. Damon slid and pulled her snug between his legs. He wrapped himself around her, and pushed her head into his chest.

The next twenty miles or so passed in a blur while the night air rushed by. Jaylynn collapsed against Damon, his sweet breath warm against her face, his arms a refuge.

When her breathing quickened, his fingers on her hip shifted to caress her arm. He wanted to lull her into sleep? That wouldn’t be good. After they’d left an angry state of Arizona behind them, they’d surely need to stop for fuel. It’d be hard to find a station open in the forsaken wilderness of New Mexico. Her maniacs would break in, destroy gas pumps, steal water, hunt down weapons, start fires, and fight to the death over who’d drive.
Stay awake, stay awake, stay
…

* * *

That low growl drew out the syllables of Jaylynn’s name with such affection. Electricity clasped her thigh, warmth shot down her leg, and she jolted awake.

Damon held her, the bike slowed, and Caream asked, “Any vacant house in

Albuquerque?”

Albuquerque? She’d slept for hours. Damn. That surely meant at least two destroyed gas stations behind them.

“Slow down, I need to see where we are.” Jaylynn guided Caream through the quiet city to the outskirts in Four Hills. Good thing a certain someone couldn’t smell the stash of nuclear weapons supposedly hidden near Sandia. Didn’t take long to reach the foothills and the upscale house she’d lived in for four years.

Jesus, God, anyone, please let my ex really be out of town
. Jaylynn couldn’t explain this weekend to herself, let alone to Wesley. If she dwelled on the decisions she’d made, she’d volunteer to walk into the nuthouse.

Chapter Twenty-Six

This mission wasn’t just impossible. Unless someone changed, it was doomed.

7 AM. They’d barely passed Cleveland, a long drive ahead. David sat quiet in the back. Aaron glanced from the road to Jade’s downcast face. A billion questions surrounded them, yet she hadn’t asked one. If he couldn’t snap her out of this gloom, he might have to carry her into the hospital. Not that he minded holding that gorgeous body against his, but it’d be conspicuous.

Hmm, the lovely shade of jealousy should stir m’lady. “So, Jade, what’d you think of Malcolm?”

Without unlocking her gaze from her feet, Jade whispered, “It feels wrong when I’m not next to him.”

“You know what he is yet—what you are?”

She shook her head, shimmering wisps of hair curling against her cheeks.

“You trust him?”

No reply, only a timid, worried peek.

“Would you be happier if he’d come with us?” Aaron regretted the question. Maybe he pushed her too far. Ah well, already damned, he might as well go for it. “Did you actually like his kiss? His hands all over you?”

“I did something wrong? I should have known I could stop him?”

Three days old and smart enough to evade a question with a question. “Damn right. I almost blasted his head off. How could you be attracted to a cold blueblood? You do know that I’m hot, cute, and willing to never wear a red sweatshirt again?”

“Dad, stop being so lame,” David said. “You know what Malcolm said.”

“Stay out of my business, mister. Green lips ever touch yours again: I’ll pack you off to a military school with”—an evil chuckle and Aaron continued—“pristine white uniforms.”

David snorted, Jade shivered, and Aaron pondered possibilities. Maybe, just maybe, if he teased her out of this funk, he could finagle a minuscule peck for his trouble. A conservative estimate, the human body could take a thousand volts before organs crispy crittered.

“You want me to kiss you?” Jade whispered at him.

No, sweetheart, you could avoid my lips while I kiss every inch of you
.

Her eyes widened at his goofy grin. She turned to David. “Do you know what Malcolm typed? Why Aaron yells at me?”

“He’s trying to make you mad so you aren’t so, you know. He’s not very good at it.” David sounded disgusted with his juvenile father.

“Aaron, you want me to be angry?”

“No. I
want
you to kiss me. Who cares if you fry my brains? Malcolm probably lied because he’s evil and desires you all to himself. I tell you. Can’t trust a blue man.”

David laughed. “Give it up, dad.”

Aaron clicked up the radio’s volume knob. In his head, he changed the words. “
You can’t always get what you want
”—a lost love. “
Sometimes you get what you need
”—an angel from the sea. Out loud, out of key, he sang the Stones’ version.

Jade’s mouth fell open in soft surprise. God, he’d love to kiss those lips closed. “I’ll shut up,” Aaron said, “if you juice me…charge my cell phone, I mean.”

“I’ll do anything, if you’ll only stop that awful noise.”

He winked at her. “Even kiss me?”

Jade’s smile sparkled at him and filled his heart. Would her head spin if he burst into another song? “
I am the champion. No time for losers
…”

David plied her with questions while Jade fiddled with the charger. After repeatedly saying, “I don’t know,” she set the charging cell down, and Christ—how could he keep attention on the road? That dazzling light shifted closer and closer.

“If we drive faster, it’d be over sooner.”

The worry in Jade’s voice made Aaron want to marvel at the inhuman melody and cry at the same time. “I’m doing 80. We get clocked; that’s a major ticket. This is Ohio, you know.”

Jade ducked under Aaron’s arm, ignored his gulp, and settled on the seat’s edge.

“Not a good idea, Jade. I can’t concentrate.”

She found the lever, and the seat shot forward—either bend his damn knees or break his legs. A gentle tap on his ankle, and his foot slipped off the gas. She grasped the wheel and floored it.

The adolescent section of Aaron’s brain delighted in the supple body between his legs, while the extremely small adult portion panicked.

“Slow down. There’s traffic ahead.” He whimpered as she took the wheel from him and whirled into the left lane to pass.

If mortality lurked on the grill of the next Mack truck, he might as well seize the moment. He pulled Jade onto his lap while they leveled off around an insane, a hundred and fifty-five miles per hour, and glanced behind him. Yep, seatbelt on, David grinned back, the wind whipping around him.

Aaron lowered his face, breathed her scent, and muttered, “at least I’ll die happy.” He tightened his arms around her. Jazzed and wonderful. Why worry about residual emotions from a woman that missed a traffic stop months ago? Susan Lathrop had suffered tragic consequences from a split second driver error. He could only hope she was at peace. A tap of his finger closed the window, and the wind settled while rubber burned off the tires of a rental.

When traveling at the velocity of light trapped in an angelic female, it didn’t take long to reach the outskirts of Erie, Pennsylvania. Just as Aaron started to worry again, Jade slowed to the speed limit before the radar even beeped. He grabbed the wheel, and moved his arm over her head, while she slipped off his lap. She buried her face in his shoulder as they passed the patrol.

After they’d cleared the speed trap, David clambered over the seat to claim Jade’s vacated spot. The kid fastened his seatbelt and returned Aaron’s scowl. “Someone needs to baby-sit,” David said. “If you fry your brains, I’d have to live with grandma.”

“Can’t lie to me, kiddo. I know grams’ not your worry. She’d sleep through all night beach parties, and you love her cooking.” Aaron tossed David his most ferocious glare. “You’ve other motives. Assuming I kiss Miss Green and survive, you’ll buy a bouquet of headless roses, and get her to slobber with you again. That your diabolical plan? I’m the guinea pig?”

David’s burst of laughter, Jade’s bemused smile, and Aaron’s heart did that skip thing.

“Stop being goofy before she hits someone.” David sighed. “Maybe we should call Malcolm. The phone’s got a charge now.”

“Sure, after we clear Erie.”

They passed predominantly white, two-story houses in the congested suburbs. The colorful Sunday morning traffic moved slowly, despite the six lanes. When the city lay behind them, Speedy Green Gonzales didn’t wrestle the wheel from him. He’d have to sing again. Or better yet—maybe goddesses were ticklish.

He’d barely explored, and Jade knocked his hand away. She giggled and punched Aaron in the knee. He pretended to howl in pain, and settled her back on his lap. Pennsylvania never looked so good. A blur of lush trees, fields, Amish country. At this rate, they’d arrive in no time. David turned off the music and glanced at Aaron.

Aaron nodded. “Use speaker.”

A burst of static and Malcolm’s cool voice snapped, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” David gulped. “We-we just passed Erie. What’s up with you?”

“Interr-
up
-ted comes to mind. Hadn’t anticipated an
up
date this soon. Eight feet
up
, a wretched white ceiling blocks a lovely sky. I trace two presumably fleeing Arizona, and search for a means of contact before hundreds end
up
dead. Unbelievable, the chaos color has stirred
up
. Sorry. I’ll cease with that and confide the downside. Evan’s still here. Jade, any questions?”

Aaron smiled at his son sucking in his cheeks and patted Jade’s leg. She drew a deep breath. “Yes. It feels wrong leaving you this
up
set. Why couldn’t you have come with us?”

“Sweetheart, you know if I could heal, and didn’t have the weight of four on my shoulders, I’d be in your place. Except, that’s not accurate in the literal sense. The background noise indicates you’re driving. Aaron holds you? I’d rather drive alone. You should try it. Any legitimate concerns?”

“No, but you’ll answer if I call you?”

“Another stupid inquiry. Bye.” Malcolm disconnected.

Aaron jumped in to fill the silence. “Fine with me he doesn’t want to sit on my lap. I told you guys, he’s evil, and Jade, he called you sweetheart—again. How dare he?”

The kid rolled his eyes, Jade’s smile fluttered across her face, and asphalt sizzled.

David pulled out the blueprints. He’d obviously decided someone had to act responsible. The design of the hospital awaiting a miracle should be similar to another, Roswell Cancer Institute, they’d shortly pass along the way.

Ten minutes of whirring around slowpokes, and New York State loomed in their path. Jade joined the flow of traffic, and Aaron took the wheel. “Chameleon time,” he said, shifting her over. “No more green goddess.”

Aaron grabbed the ticket at the tollbooth and glowered at the young man staring at Jade’s white face pressed into his shoulder. He left her alone as he drove the bypass around the teeming metropolis of Buffalo. “David, got that layout in your awesome brain?”

“Yeah. We won’t get lost.” David handed Jade a bottle of water, and sighed as they zipped by the exit for the medical center his mom had died in. “We can enter pediatrics from the main parking garage. Unfortunately, ICU is on the other side.” Another sigh and David continued, “What’ll we do if doctors or the kid’s mother is there?”

“We’ll handle things as they happen. Just remember when Murphy’s Law plays out, if you can’t call Malcolm for advice, find the closest security.” Aaron turned back to the road. “And, son, don’t for one minute think I don’t miss her, too. She’d be proud of you, our guide.” That sound would be David’s breath caught in his throat.

“At least Narci had the decency to have her rampage in Rochester. I hate Buffalo and all this traffic.” It seemed like they crawled when Aaron’s foot controlled the gas. “What’s really important, young man, is that you cease brooding about taking this wheel.” Nothing like a good lecture to alleviate a mother’s death choking you up. “In fact, we’re waiting until you’re eighteen before you get your driver license. Don’t even attempt to get me arrested so you can flee with my goddess—”

David cranked the radio volume. He returned Aaron’s smile before going back to the printout. He didn’t look up when Jade slid back on top of Aaron and hit the gas. The shawl, formerly a black blanket, lay forgotten on the seat. It seemed his arms were enough to keep multiple phobias at bay.

9:45 AM. The countdown to a phenomenon was a few blocks away, and Aaron killed the radio. “David, program Malcolm’s number first on speed dial. Jade, we get in, save the day, and get out. Um, Jade? Can I call you sweetheart, too?” No reason to wait for her answer. He wouldn’t accept a negative. “Sweetheart, I’m begging you to be confident and in superhero mode. Don’t ever make me sing again.”

She turned from the large red sign, Emergency Entrance, and gave him a small nod. Ticket in hand, he maneuvered around the broken orange crossing gate. At least she lost the alien glow without him reminding her. The sunlight sparkled on her flawless complexion. He swallowed hard and almost hit the frickin’ guardrail.
Focus, you fool
.

David guided him to the third level to park by the door marked Employees Only.

Aaron took the cell from David. “If they tow the car, you know how to hotwire another?”

“Sure. They taught that in preschool.” David grabbed the shawl. “Save the day and get the hell out. Should be interesting.”

Aaron stretched, but there wasn’t time to work out cramps. Huge eyes were on him. He scooped Jade out of the car and set her on her feet. David draped the shawl around her shoulders and inched his fingers into hers. Aaron slowed his stride to match David’s and they moved, Jade tight between them, into the pediatric wing.

They passed a polite couple and a hurried, white-coated intern. Jade began to shudder under Aaron’s arm.

“What’s wrong?” David whispered to Jade. “We’re almost to her room.”

“This-this—it’s too much. Pain and suffering is everywhere.” Jade gave a strangled sob. “Fear surrounds me. Trapped. Despair. I can’t—too heavy—Aaron, help me.”

David gasped, and Aaron brought them to a dead halt. His sharp tug freed the kid. David massaged his hand, mouthed, “I’m okay,” in response to Aaron’s worry. Aaron turned from his son. Not good. So much prettier than Kermit, but soft green never the less. Jade seemed too overwhelmed to hide her color. She shivered, molded against Aaron like she wanted to disappear into him. He pulled the shawl tighter and picked her up.

Almost running, David led toward room 308. They hadn’t gotten far, when a woman wearing ID stopped. “You guys okay?”

David blurted, “My brother—you know. My mom’s sad, but we’re getting her some air.”

Quick-witted and believable, what other lies came so easy to his one and only?

“Sorry,” the nurse muttered and continued onward.

Aaron stopped beside room 306. Two children, surely in need of their own miracle, slumbered in the room next to Narci’s victim. David ran ahead, peeked into 308, and returned.