“Pretty much, Kitten. I figured I’d let you get your fill, but then you kissed me and, well, I like to be a bit more involved in that.” Both eyes opened, and as always, staring into them had an exhilarating quality to it. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m okay. I feel great, actually.” Settling down beside him, I wiggled my head onto his arm, and his hand curled back, tangling in my hair. “How about you? I know that had to have taken a lot out of you.”
“You shouldn’t be worried about me. What they—”
“I know what they did. I know why they did it.” I tipped my chin down as I slid a hand between us. He stiffened as the back of my knuckles brushed over his stomach. “I’m not going to lie. It hurt like hell. When they were doing it, I wanted… You don’t even want to know what I wanted, but I’m okay because of you. But I hate what they made you do.”
His breath grazed my forehead, and there was a long stretch of silence. “You amaze me,” was all he said.
“What?” I looked up. “Daemon, I am not amazing. You are. The things you can do? What you have done for me? You—”
He placed a finger on my lips, silencing me. “After what you went through, you’re more concerned about me? Yeah, you amaze me, Kitten, you really do.”
I felt a grin pulling at my lips, and it kind of felt strange to want to smile after everything. “Well, how about this? We’re both amazing.”
“I like that.” He lowered his mouth to mine, and the kiss was sweet and tender, just as consuming as the other ones because it offered a promise—a promise of more, of a future. “You know, I haven’t told you this enough, and I should tell you every chance I get, but I love you.”
I sucked in a sharp gasp. Hearing him say those words never failed to affect me deeply. “I know you do, even if you don’t say it all the time.” I reached up and ran the tips of my fingers over the curve of his cheek. “I love you.”
Daemon’s eyes drifted shut, and his body tensed. He seemed to draw those words into him.
“How tired are you?” I asked after a couple of moments of staring at him like a goober.
His arm tightened around me. “Pretty tired.”
“Would it help to go into your true form?”
He gave a lopsided shrug. “Probably.”
“Then do it.”
“Aren’t you bossy?”
“Shut up and take your true form so you feel better. How about that for bossy?”
He laughed softly. “I love it.”
I started to point out that he was getting mighty comfortable with that L-word, but he shifted ever so slightly and brought his lips to mine once more. This kiss was deeper, starved and urgent. Eyes closed, I could still see the white light as he started to change. I gasped in surprise, getting lost in the warmth and the intimacy of the moment. When he pulled back, I could barely open my eyes, he was so bright.
“Better?” I asked out loud, voice thick with emotion.
His hand found mine. It was strange seeing those light-encased fingers thread through mine, curling around them. I was better the moment you woke up.
Chapter 16
Daemon
Daedalus wasted no time once they were confident I had mad healing skills. As soon as they thought I was rested, they brought me into a room on the med floor. There was nothing in the white-walled space except two plastic chairs facing each other.
I turned to Nancy, brows raised. “Nice decorating you got going on here.”
She ignored it. “Sit.”
“What if I prefer to stand?”
“I really don’t care.” She turned to where a camera was perched in the corner and nodded. Then she faced me. “You know what is expected of you. We’re starting out with one of our new recruits. He’s twenty-one and in otherwise good health.”
“Except for the fatal injury you’re about to inflict on him?”
Nancy shot me a bland look.
“And he signed up for this?”
“That he did. You’d be surprised by how many people are willing to risk their lives to become something great.”
I was more surprised by the level of stupidity of some people. To sign up for a mutation that had a success rate of less than one percent didn’t seem very bright to me, but what did I know?
She handed over a wide cuff. “This is a piece of opal. I’m sure you’re well aware of what it does. It will enhance in the healing and ensure that you’re not going to be exhausted.”
I took the silver cuff and stared at the black stone with the red marking in the center. “You’re literally handing me a piece of opal, knowing it counteracts the onyx.”
She gave me a pointed look. “You also know that we have soldiers armed with those nasty little weapons I told you about. That outweighs you having opal.”
Slipping it around my wrist, I welcomed the jolt of energy. I glanced up at Nancy, finding her watching me like I was her prized bull. I had a feeling that even if I ran from room to room, zapping people to death, she wouldn’t bring the big guns out. Not unless I did something crazy insane.
I was just too special.
And I was pissed off, too. She could’ve given me the piece of opal when I had needed to heal Kat. One of these days I was going to do serious harm to this woman.
The bright-eyed, bushy-tailed soldier marched into the room, and without further instructions copped a squat on one of the chairs. The kid looked on the young side of twenty-one, and while I tried to have no feelings about any of this, a niggle of guilt rose.
Not because I planned on screwing this up or anything. Why would I? If I didn’t successfully bring a hybrid into this world, then eventually they’d turn their evil, sadistic eyes on Kat.
So, yeah, I was rocking the whole “there needs to be a ‘true want’ to heal the person,” but I still had no idea if it would work. If it didn’t, homeboy here would either live out the rest of his life as a boring old human being or would self-destruct in a few days.
For his sake and Kat’s, I hoped he was welcomed into the world of happy hybrids.
“How are we doing this?” I asked Nancy.
She motioned for one of the two guards who’d come into the room with Patient Zero. One of them stepped forward, brandishing a nasty-looking knife, the kind that Michael Myers would run around with in Halloween.
“Oh jeez,” I muttered, folding my arms. This was going to get messy.
Patient Too Stupid to Live handled the knife with confidence. Before he could do anything with it, the door opened and Kat walked in, Archer right on her heels.
My arms fell to my sides as unease exploded into alarm. “What is she doing here?”
Nancy smiled tightly. “We thought you could use the motivation.”
Understanding lit me up like a firecracker. Their kind of motivation was a warning. They knew damn well that we were aware of what happened to Bethany when Dawson failed. I watched Kat shake off Archer’s hand and stomp over to the corner. She stayed there.
I focused on Nancy, staring her down until she finally, after several moments, broke eye contact. “Get on with it, then,” I said.
She nodded at Patient Most Likely to Die, who, without saying a damn word, took a deep breath and slammed that serial-killer knife right into his stomach with a wheezy grunt. He then yanked the knife out, letting it fall from his grasp. A guard shot forward, grabbing it.
“Holy shit,” I said, eyes going wide. Patient Zero had balls.
Kat winced and looked away as blood spilled from the fresh wound. “That…that was disturbing.”
He probably had less than two minutes to live if blood kept pounding out of his rapidly paling body like that. He was clutching his stomach, doubled over. A metallic scent filled the air.
“Do it,” Nancy said, shifting her weight as eagerness filled her gaze.
Shaking my head in macabre fascination, I knelt by the guy and placed my hands on his stomach. Blood immediately covered my hands. I didn’t have a light stomach, but, damn, I
could see the dude’s intestines. What kind of magic Kool-Aid was this kid drinking to willingly do this to himself? Christ.
I let my human form fade out, and whitish-red light swallowed the guy and most of the room. Concentrating on the wound, I pictured the jagged edges healing shut, stopping the blood loss. I honestly didn’t have a freaking clue when it came to healing. It was something that sort of happened on its own. I pictured the wound, and sometimes snapshots of the energies would flicker through my head with no thought of my own. What I did focus on was the light filtering through the veins…and Kat.
I glanced up as I took a breath. An expression of rapture had settled on Nancy’s face, that of a mother who caught her first glimpse of her child. I sought out Kat, and there she was. She had a look of awe on her beautiful face as she stared back at me.
My heart skipped, and I turned back to the guy I was healing. I’m doing this for her, I told him. You better hope it was enough, for your sake.
The guy’s head jerked up. Color had already returned to his cheeks.
With the opal, I didn’t feel a bit drained like I normally would after such a massive healing.
I let go and stood, drifting back a step. Staying in my true form long enough for the man to stand on shaky legs, I glanced over at Kat once more. One hand was pressed to her chin. Beside her, Archer looked a bit unnerved by the whole thing. Something occurred to me then.
Slipping back into my human form, I turned to Nancy, who was staring at Patient Zero with so much awe and hope it was actually sickening. “Why can’t they make hybrids?” I asked. “The origins can heal. Why can’t they?”
Nancy barely looked at me as she motioned at the camera. “They can heal just about any wound, but they cannot cure disease or mutate. We do not know why, but it is their only limitation.” Guiding the guy back into the seat, she handled him with surprising gentleness. “How are you feeling, Largent?”
After taking several deep breaths, Largent cleared his throat. “A little sore, but otherwise I feel good—great.” He smiled as he glanced between Nancy and me. “Did it work?”
“Well, you’re alive,” I said drily. “That’s a good start.”
The door opened, and Dr. Roth rushed in, stethoscope thumping over his chest. He spared me a glance. “Amazing. I was watching through the monitors. Truly remarkable.”
“Yeah. Yeah.” I started toward Kat, but Nancy’s sharp voice rang out, like claws on a chalkboard.
“Stay there, Daemon.”
I turned my head slowly, aware that the other guards had moved between Kat and me. “Why? I did what you wanted.”
“We haven’t seen anything yet other than the fact you healed him.” Nancy moved around the chair, watching the doctor and Largent. “How are his vitals?”
“Perfect,” the doctor said, standing as he wrapped the stethoscope around his neck. He reached inside his lab coat and pulled out a small black case. “We can start Prometheus.”
“What is that?” I asked, watching as the doctor pulled out a syringe full of shimmery blue liquid. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Archer cock his head to the side as he stared at the needle.
“Prometheus is Greek,” Kat said. “Well, he was a Titan. In mythology, he created man.”
A flash of amusement flickered in my eyes.
She shrugged. “It was in a paranormal book I read once.”
I couldn’t hold back a small grin. Her and her nerdy reading habits. Made me want to kiss her and do other stuff. And she picked up on it, too, because a flush stained her cheeks. Alas, wasn’t going to happen.
Dr. Roth rolled up Largent’s sleeve. “Prometheus should act faster, without the need to wait for the fever. It will speed up the mutation process.”
Hell, I wondered if Largent really was okay with being the first guinea pig. But it didn’t matter. They shot him up with the blue gunk. He slumped over—not a good sign—and Roth went into doctor mode. Vitals were through the roof. People were starting to look a tad bit nervous. No one was really paying attention to me, so I started inching toward Kat. I was halfway there when Largent shot up from the chair, knocking the doctor on his ass.
I put myself between Kat and the general area of where Largent was standing. He stumbled forward and then bent over, grasping his knees. Sweat poured off the guy’s forehead, dripping onto the floor. A sickly sweet stench replaced the metallic.
“What is happening?” demanded Nancy.
The doctor started to unwind the stethoscope as he went to the soldier’s side and placed a hand on his shoulder. “What are you feeling, Largent?”
The man’s arms were trembling. “Cramping,” he gasped. “My whole body is cramping. It feels like my insides are—” He jerked up, throwing his head back. Throat working, he opened his mouth and let out a scream.
A bluish, blackish substance spewed from his mouth, splattering the doctor’s white lab coat. Largent wobbled to the side, his hoarse scream ending in a thick gurgle. The same liquid leaked from the corners of his eyes, streamed from his nose and ears.
“Oh boy,” I said, backing up. “I don’t think whatever you injected him with is working.”
Nancy cut me a dark glare. “Largent, can you tell me what—?”
The soldier spun around and ran—and I mean he ran at full light speed—toward the door. Kat screamed and then clasped her hands over her mouth. I moved to block the grisly sight, but it was too late. Largent smacked into the door with a fleshy, wet thud, hitting it at the kind of speed jumping out of a fifty-story window would do.
Silence descended, and then Nancy said, “Well, that was disappointing.”
…
Katy
As long as I lived, I’d never be able to scrape from my mind the sight of the soldier going from relatively normal to something that looked like stage one of a zombie infection to going splat against the door.
We had to wait in that room until staff came and cleaned up enough of the mess that we could leave without stepping in the…uh, stuff. They wouldn’t let Daemon or me get within an inch of each other as we waited, like it was his fault somehow. He’d healed the guy—he did his part. Whatever was in Prometheus had done this. The blood wasn’t on Daemon’s hands.
Out in the hallway, the soldiers took Daemon down one wing, and Archer took me down another. We were halfway toward the elevators when one of the elevator doors on the right opened, and two soldiers stepped out, escorting a child.
I skidded to a complete stop.
Not just any child. It was one of them—the origins. Tiny hairs on my body rose at the sight. The boy wasn’t Micah, but he had the same dark hair cut in the same style. Maybe a little bit younger, but I was never good at judging ages.
“Keep walking,” Archer said, placing a hand on my back.
Forcing my legs to move, I didn’t know what it was about those kids that freaked me out. Okay. There were probably a lot of things about those kids that could freak me out. The main thing was the abnormal intelligence gleaming in their oddly colored eyes and the small childlike smile that seemed to mock the adults around them.
God, Daemon and I needed to get out of this place for a whole truckload of reasons.
As we crossed paths with them, the little boy lifted his head and looked straight at me. The moment our gazes collided, a sharp tingle of awareness traveled up my spine and exploded along the back of my skull. Dizziness swept through me, and I stopped again, feeling strange. I wondered if the kid was doing some kind of weird Jedi mind trick on me.
The kid’s eyes widened.
My fingers started to tingle.
Help us, and we’ll help you.
My mouth dropped open. I didn’t—I couldn’t. My brain stopped working, and the words repeated themselves. The kid broke contact, and then they were behind us, and I was standing there, quaking with adrenaline and confusion.
Archer’s face came into view, eyes narrowed. “He said something to you.”
I snapped out of it and immedi
ately went on guard. “Why would you think that?”
“Because you have a freaked-out look on your face.” Dropping his hand on my shoulder, he spun me around and gave a little push toward the elevator. As the doors slid shut, he hit the stop button. “There are no cameras in the elevators, Katy. Besides the bathrooms, it’s the only area in the building free from watchful eyes.”
Having no idea where he was going with that and still mind-blown from everything, I took a step back, hitting the wall. “Okay.”
“The origins are able to pick up thoughts. It’s one thing that Nancy didn’t tell you. They can read thoughts. So you better be very careful what you’re thinking when you’re around one of them.”
I gaped. “They can read minds? Wait, that means you can do it, too!”
He gave a noncommittal shrug. “I try not to. Hearing other people’s thoughts is really annoying more than anything else, but when you’re young, you really don’t think about it. You just do it. And they do it all the time.”
“I… This is insane. They can read minds, too? What else can they do?” I felt like I’d fallen through a rabbit hole and woken up in an X-Men comic. And all of the things I’ve thought about around Archer? I was sure at some point I had thought about escaping here and—
“I’ve never told anyone anything I’ve picked up from you,” he said.
“Oh my God…you’re doing it right now.” My heart pounded. “And why should I trust that?”
“Probably because I’ve never asked you to trust me.”
I blinked. Hadn’t Luc said something like that? “Why wouldn’t you tell Nancy?”
He shrugged again. “That doesn’t matter.”
“Yes. It totally—”
“No. It doesn’t. Not right now. Look, we don’t have a lot of time. Be careful when you’re around the origins. I picked up on what he said to you. Have you seen the movie Jurassic Park?”
“Uh, yeah.” What an odd question.
A wry smile appeared. “Remember the raptors? Letting the origins out would be like unlocking the gates on the raptor cages. You get what I’m saying? These origins, the newest batch, are nothing like what Daedalus has had in the past. They’re evolving and adapting in ways no one can control. They can do things I cannot even think of. Daedalus already has problems keeping them in line.”
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