Tribes of Man: The Beginning [Tribes of Man] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Kiel Nichols

  “There was no mirror around, so I missed it, too, but I’m sure it was quite a sight.” As soon as he said it he realized it must have been true. Expressions that his undamaged face used to wear comfortably often looked grotesque now. The scarring on his face did the same thing it did on his leg.

  She must have sensed his discomfort, because her voice became gentle as she took the coat from him. “I’ll just hang this up, and we can head down to the living room.” Before hanging his coat up, she turned and typed a code into the small box next to the door. Gideon saw the light flash from green to red. Then she turned and placed the jacket on the hook. She led the way down the long hallway toward the living room. If he hadn’t known she was blind, he never would have guessed.

  He walked into the comfortable living room to find his brother sitting on the overstuffed couch, shoes off, feet on the coffee table. The rest of the room was spotless, so Gideon didn’t think Bryce had been there long. He had a way of leaving debris behind in his wake. Gideon was a bit discomforted by the sight of his brother looking so casual. He wasn’t sure why, exactly.

  “Hey, Gideon. Right on time.” Bryce didn’t bother to get up, but just waved at his brother from the couch. Bryce was a little taller and slimmer than Gideon. He had the same moss-colored eyes, but unlike Gideon’s piercing gaze, Bryce’s eyes had a dreaminess to them. He had the eyes of a scholar or a poet. Gideon had the eyes of a warrior.

  “Can I get you something to drink?” Raina asked.

  “No, thanks. I hope you don’t mind, but I took the liberty of getting a copy of the police reports this afternoon.” Gideon sat and put the folder on an old wooden chest she kept for a coffee table.

  “I don’t mind at all. Did you have any problem getting them?” she asked as she sat and reached for the teapot sitting on the table. It had been a long time since he’d seen a tea set with a cozy, china cups, and all. In addition to what looked like an old-fashioned tea set, the living room was also decorated with antiques.

  “The only thing I couldn’t get was a copy of your medical files,” Gideon said.

  Raina looked surprised. “Why would you want those?”

  She didn’t sound defensive, just curious, so he answered matter-of-factly, “I think they might solve a puzzle for me. I had a look at Michelle’s postmortem, and I think I might have an idea of what caused your vision problems. If I’m right, you have a big problem on your hands.”

  Raina stood up and said quickly, “Let me go get them for you.” She turned abruptly to rush out of the room and bumped into the arm of the chair. She stumbled then righted herself quickly, muttering, “Stupid, stupid.” Before either of the men could help her, she rushed from the room.

  Bryce looked concerned.

  “I take it that doesn’t happen often?” Gideon asked him.

  “I’ve never seen her so much as double step,” Bryce confided. “She’s usually has an almost eerie sense of where she is in a room, even a room she’s never been in.” He looked at his brother. “Don’t tell her something that you might not be able to back up.”

  Gideon was chagrined. He wasn’t going to tell her what he was looking for, but he’d been off balance since he came into the house. “I wasn’t planning on telling her that much, but I didn’t want to lie about why I needed to see her medical records.”

  Before Bryce could answer him, Raina came back into the room. She held a file out for Gideon to take. He was surprised that she held it so close to him. Figuring it must have been luck, he took the file and began to flip through it.

  He paused when got to the notation in her file that the attack seemed to have made her unable to have children. He felt a swell of pity. He understood it since he wasn’t able to have children either. He’d had mumps when he was younger. He didn’t think about it much since it had always been that way for him.

  Moving on, he turned to the page with the paper copies of the MRI pictures. “You had an MRI.” It was more of a statement than a question.

  “Yes, I think there is a copy of the report in the file. The films themselves would be at the hospital.” She gestured with her hand toward the file.

  The room was silent while Gideon looked at the report. He took a photo out of the file he brought with him and held it up to the light. He saw that there was an “anomaly” on Raina’s brain in the same approximate location of the smudge on Michelle’s CAT scan. The report named it as a bruise, but Gideon suspected it to be a burn. He just wanted to be sure before he proposed the theory he had.

  If he was right, she did, indeed, have a very serious problem, one the police couldn’t help her with. “Is it possible for me to borrow a few pages of this? I’d like to show it to a friend of mine. He’s somewhat of a weapons aficionado.”

  “Why?” she asked eagerly. “Do you know what caused this?”

  “I can’t be sure until he checks it out, but I have a theory.” He wasn’t sure how much to tell them. He didn’t know about her, but Bryce was likely to fly off the handle. He decided to give them some of it. “I think it might be a new weapon used for crowd control. It’s not supposed to cause blindness, but maybe they modified it.”

  “Military weapon?” Bryce asked. “Isn’t that a little far-fetched?” He sounded a little testy.

  “The description you gave of the gun matches something my friend showed me. It’s a weapon that is only supposed to render the victim disoriented for a short time.” Gideon had learned to trust his instincts, and as soon as he read Michelle Randall’s postmortem, they started to scream. “Describe for me exactly what happened right before you blacked out.”

  Raina took a deep breath and sat on the couch next to Bryce. He put his arm around her in support. Gideon had the irrational desire to go sit between them. “I don’t know what you’re looking for. It’s all in the report. He grabbed my arm, and it looked like he was going to put the Taser, or whatever it was, up to my neck, then I felt a pain in my head as though someone hit me, and I fell to the floor.”

  Gideon was taking notes in the file. “Did the weapon actually touch you?”

  “I don’t know.” Raina stood up, unable to sit still any longer. She moved her head as though to escape the darkness and see a place to go. She sat down again.

  “I’ll get you some water,” Bryce said gently. Gideon was surprised at Bryce’s sensitivity.

  She looked delicate all of a sudden, and Gideon wanted to stop asking questions. He reminded himself that he had a job to do and asked her the last question. “Did you see spots before you blacked out?”

  Raina jerked. “Yes. I remember thinking it looked like a strobe light at a slaughter house.” She stopped speaking and waited. When he didn’t say anything else, she said, “Please tell me what you’re thinking.”

  Gideon couldn’t resist the plea in her eyes. He got up and sat on the solid wood coffee table in front of her. He reached out and touched her hands with his. All at once, he felt like he was being sucked into a vortex. His head spun, and he heard her gasp. The colors in the room were suddenly almost painfully intense. She stood up abruptly, breaking the connection, and ran toward the kitchen. She missed the furniture, but didn’t see Bryce and careened right into him. The stoneware mug went flying. The water made an arch in the air before landing on the floor. Gideon watched it fly.

  So did Raina.

  Chapter 2

  For a moment, the three of them were frozen, then everything seemed to happen at once. Raina cried out then collapsed. Both Gideon and Bryce leapt to catch her. Although Gideon was faster, Bryce was closer. He was on the floor already and just shifted so that she landed on him rather than the floor.

  “What the hell?” Bryce’s exclamation echoed Gideon’s thoughts. “What did you do to her?”

  Gideon didn’t answer. He had no idea what he did to her. All he knew was that the moment he touched her, the room sharpened. He could also swear that he saw her watching the arch of the water as it flew across the room.

  Bryce stood up a
nd carried her to the couch. He laid her gently down and began stroking her hair back in a loving gesture that made Gideon want to pull him up by the scruff of his neck. Gideon didn’t dare go over and touch Raina. He didn’t know what had happened, but he wasn’t about to let it happen again.

  “I’ll get her a wet cloth,” Gideon said as he headed down the hall to the bathroom.

  “There are some washcloths in the closet in the bathroom,” Bryce said, making Gideon wonder, again, about his brother’s relationship with Raina. The bathroom was decorated in ocean blue. Gideon opened the cabinet and grabbed a washcloth off the top of the stack. Unlike his closet, hers was organized and neat. All the towels looked plush and fluffy. She would be horrified if she saw his closet with the mismatched towels, some hopelessly threadbare.

  Gideon shook his head at his wayward thoughts. She wouldn’t ever see his closet. She couldn’t see anything. That was the point. He briefly thought about the way her head seemed to follow the spray of the water then just shrugged it off as coincidence.

  When he returned with the towel, he gave it to Bryce rather than putting the cloth on her head himself.

  Bryce laid it over her forehead and talked softly to her. Gideon was just about to call for an ambulance when Raina’s eyelids began to flutter.

  * * * *

  Awareness came to Raina in layers. She was acutely aware of lying on her couch, but the cloth and Bryce’s touch took a few extra moments. Her head ached and her eyes burned. When she opened them, she was greeted with the same darkness she had seen for the past ninety-eight days. The only respite she had from the unrelenting darkness was the vivid and disturbing dreams that sometimes happened when she was awake. Today, however, she had seen more than just fantasies. Today she had seen her living room. The colors were muted and the light was off somehow, but she’d still seen it. Strangely, she had seen the side of the room her back was to. She’d seen herself as Gideon had seen her.

  “Gideon?” she asked.

  The man stroking her hair stiffened perceptibly. “No, it’s Bryce,” he said gently.

  “I know,” she said. “I recognize your touch. I mean is Gideon still here?”

  The two men had opposite reactions to her words. Bryce was pleased, as well as a little surprised, that she knew the feel of his hands. Gideon was not. He knew he had to face the realization that Bryce and Raina were, or had been, lovers.

  “I’m here.”

  “Did you see it? Or was it just me?” she asked.

  He didn’t seem to even need to ask what she meant. “I saw it, too.” He took a deep breath. “Can you see now?”

  “No.” She wasn’t forlorn, just thoughtful.

  “Maybe your sight is coming back,” Bryce offered hopefully. He wasn’t quite sure what they were talking about it, but he gathered that she had a flash of sight and it scared her. He couldn’t imagine what Gideon had to do with it.

  Raina hesitated a long moment before speaking again. “I did see something in the water.”

  Bryce jerked. “The water I spilled?” At her nod he continued, “You could see it?”

  “No,” she said. “But I could see something in it.” She pushed Bryce aside and stood shakily to her feet. She turned in the direction she had last heard Gideon’s voice. She said, “Something’s coming. Something evil. I think you feel it, too.”

  A heavy blanket of silence fell for a moment. “I don’t know about evil, but I know something big is going on here.” Gideon wasn’t a fanciful man, and it took one to immediately buy into the idea of evil. He’d seen evil, but it always wore the mask of humanity. This time he couldn’t see the evil in the eyes of a perpetrator, but rather he felt it coming like the heavy moment before a thunderstorm.

  Raina took a step toward him. “Can we try it again?”

  “Try what again?” Bryce asked.

  Gideon took an instinctive step back.

  “Please,” she said softly when Gideon didn’t answer.

  “Try what again?” Bryce repeated.

  “She had a flash of sight before when I took her hand. I don’t think it was anything I did.” Gideon wasn’t ready to admit that he may have been responsible for her vision. “Sit on the couch, I’ll come to you.”

  Raina sat back down. Bryce sat immediately next to her. Gideon took up his seat on the coffee table and took her hands. He knew immediately that Raina couldn’t see. However, neither of them could claim that nothing happened.

  Gideon felt a rush of tender desire like he’d never experienced before. What the hell is going on? he thought.

  Raina’s voice answered in his head, I don’t know, but it’s amazing.

  This time Gideon jerked his hands away and stood.

  “What happened?” Bryce asked.

  “Nothing,” Gideon answered quickly. Raina just sighed again.

  “What do we do from here?” Raina’s question broke the silence.

  Gideon felt deep down that she was in extreme danger. There was something going on, something he couldn’t really explain, but she needed protection. All of his primitive instincts were screaming at him to stay with her. To claim and protect. Asking Bryce to stay with her when he was unsure if they were lovers was very difficult, but he refused to give in to the urge to stay. He tried to tamp down on his unreasonable jealousy when he asked Bryce to stay the night.

  “I can stay. I don’t mind,” Bryce answered eagerly.

  “I have an extra room. I would feel better if someone stayed.” Raina was making it clear that Bryce would not be sharing her bed. Gideon wondered if she was informing him of it or Bryce.

  “Why don’t you go to your apartment and get what you need for a day or two. I’ll stay with Raina until you get back.”

  Bryce jumped eagerly to his feet. “Sounds good. I’ll be back in a half hour.” He left through the front door, shutting off the alarm then turning it back on once he was through. It reminded Gideon of a question he had forgotten to ask.

  “About your security,” he began, “how many people have your security code?”

  “Only Michelle and I had it when the attack happened. Since she died, I gave it to Bryce. And, of course, the security company and the cleaning company.” She hadn’t moved off the couch since their odd connection.

  “How does it work?” Gideon was looking around the room for cameras.

  “If a door or window is open when the alarm is set, it goes off. You have five seconds after opening something to shut the alarm off before a piercing wail goes up. There are also motion cameras on the outside of the house. A few times they’ve turned on and taped, but there was nothing on the disk when the security company reviewed them. They just assumed it was a cat or something that set it off.” Raina paused in her recital to take a calming breath. “There are three keypads, one by the front door, one by the back, and one in the upstairs hallway.”

  “It’s excellent security. I saw in the file that you’ve always had electronic security. When did you first get it?”

  “Actually my parents always had it. They insisted I use it all the time. It became a habit after that. I’m a nut about security since the break-in.”

  “I bet.” Gideon took a few final notes on the pad then got up to wander around the room.

  After a few minutes of silence, Raina said, “Do you know what’s happening between us, Gideon?”

  “No, I don’t.” His tone was implacable.

  “Can you come here and touch me again?” Her voice was soft, and Gideon felt the almost overwhelming need to gather her up in his arms, to use his hands and his mouth on her.

  It was a combination of tenderness and lust that made him edgy and rough. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

  “Why?” She sounded husky when she got up from the couch and walked directly toward him. Gideon was once again amazed at her ability to find him in a room without being able to see him.

  She reached for his hand. “Touch me, Gideon. I need you to.”

  He put
his hand in hers, and she pulled it to lay it on the skin exposed by the V of her shirt. Gideon saw the colors sharpen again like it did the first time. He felt her heart beat faster.

  “Yes!” she cried out as though in ecstasy. She moved her head to look around, and the scene didn’t change. She looked back at him. Turn your head. She instructed silently.

  He turned and looked at the door. Like that?

  Yes. She could see the door. The light was dim, but she could make everything out. I can see it.

  Gideon could feel her joy, and his heart leapt. He’d never wanted to kiss someone more in his life. He had a sudden image of pushing his fingers into her soft hair and plundering her mouth. That thought led to the image of him plunging deep into her body.

  Yes, kiss me now, she answered his desire.

  He could no more resist her than the sea could resist the pull of the moon. He leaned down and closed his eyes a moment before their lips touched. She moaned in the loss of the view, but the moan changed to one of passion when his lips touched hers. He pulled her onto her toes to align their bodies.

  My God, you feel like heaven. I want you so badly. He wanted to pull her to the floor and take her.

  Yes. Take me here, now! She ran her hands up his body until they were cupping his face. Her body jerked when she felt the scars. The pain!

  As soon as Raina cried out, Gideon got the image of the explosion in his mind and pushed her away abruptly.

  They were both breathing in heavy, gasping breaths. Raina was crying. “You were burned in an explosion,” she said. “How bad was it?” She reached for him. He moved away.

  “It’s nothing. I’m fine now. It’s good that you can’t see me, I’m a bit scarred up now.” He gave a self-deprecating laugh. “Not a pretty sight.”

  “The pain was enormous. You still suffer.” She was still crying silently.

  “Save your tears. I’m alive when three other members of my team aren’t.” He was harsh in reaction to the riot of emotions he felt. Pain, lust, rage, guilt, embarrassment, and even tenderness swirled in him like a maelstrom.