Spearwood Book 1.5

by A. S. Oren

  Two days later…

  A light blinds me as it shines into my eyes, but I can’t look away. I can’t close them.

  “Well, unlike the other two, you still have appropriate dilation to your pupils. You may just be the perfect experiment yet, Minos, but we still have to see how a true hybrid deals with my serum.” Rosemen’s face comes into focus as he shuts off the light.

  What the hell? Where am I? I try to move my body, but nothing responds. Why did he call me Minos? I’m not Minos.

  “How much longer are you going to put us through these tests? You said they would end once we dosed the girl. I dosed her. I did my job. This isn’t what I signed up for when I joined the Knights. We’re supposed to be honorable protectors of Spearwood, not lab rats for you to run these asinine experiments on.”

  The words come out of my mouth, but I’m not saying them, Minos is. How is this happening? Am I seeing a memory, or am I in his head?

  Rosemen sighs; he looks at me, or Minos, with bags under his blue eyes. “You knew full well what you were going to take on a year ago when I approached you. You could’ve said no. I gave you a choice.”

  Minos pulls at binds I’m just now noticing are holding our arms down. “Your choice was either I do it, or you’d have Dante join.”

  Rosemen picks up a black bag; my eyes follow it as he hangs it from a hook. “You made that decision to be selfless, Minos. I didn’t force it on you.”

  The black stuff drips down into a clear line that leads to an IV in our forearm. As soon as it hits my system, my veins erupt with fire all over. We scream.

  Rosemen turns around. “So you decided to come, so glad to see you.”

  Minos forces our eyes open to look at a figure standing off in the distance; I can’t make out his face before Minos closes our eyes again to scream more and thrash against the restraints.

  I jolt awake in my room, lying on my floor, still in my dragon form. Something stings in my front, right leg. I lift my head to peer at it, and a man with long brown hair and a shadow of a beard stares back at me with wide brown eyes. “You weren’t supposed to wake up until after I left. The sleeping gas should’ve put you out for a few hours.” He holds a large syringe, a small line is attached to it, and a massive needle pierces the flesh hidden under my scales. He draws blue blood from me into the syringe, where it’s turned a deep purple.

  I don’t remember falling asleep. Wasn’t I outside on my perch? How did I get in here? I rear back from him, ripping the syringe out of my arm. A fire flame burns in my throat.

  He holds up his hands. “Easy, I’m not here to hurt you.”

  My arm spills purple blood onto the floor. Bullshit. I open my mouth to send the flame at him. He curls into a ball and covers his head with his arms. I stop; he isn’t even trying to defend himself. Who are you?

  He hesitates before lifting his head to look at me. His tongue licks his lips before he moves to stand. Black heels with a red sole click against my marble floor. He also wears a black pencil skirt. “I’m Dr. James Quinn. I run the infirmary here. Let me stop the bleeding, please.” He watches as more blood pools under my leg. I must’ve nicked something. James Quinn, wasn’t that one of the names on the list at the Cabin?

  He picks up a black bag that sits by his feet and walks over to me. Taking a jar out of his bag, he opens it and grabs a handful of thick, yellow salve. He spreads it on the wound, the bleeding stops. Why were you taking my blood?

  “I take it every few weeks to monitor your vitals and make sure everything is okay with you. You’re the first, born female that our kind has seen in thousands of years. We don’t want to lose you.”

  You’re working with Perlow, aren’t you? I know he’s doing something he shouldn’t be.

  “I have no idea what you’re referring to. I do not know Head Governor Perlow.” With a rag he wipes the salve off his arm and moves the blood he did get from me into a vial.

  I study his features. He can’t be much younger than my dad; they can’t be more than a year apart, if that. He had to be there the night they signed the contract, which means he knows Perlow. He was childhood friends with him.

  “I’ll leave you now, Miss Radcliffe. So sorry to disturb you.” He turns and hurries from my bedroom, around the seating area, and out the main door before I can think of anything that would make him stop.

  I stare at the blood beginning to dry on the floor. Why isn’t it disappearing like it does when I transform? How is this any different?

  A moment later, my front door opens again.

  “Avalon?” Paden calls as he walks through the door and into my living room.

  Paden? Shouldn’t you be in bed? We didn’t have plans to go to the Cabin tonight.

  Paden, Maverick, and Dante come into my bedroom. Because I’m in my dragon form, they don’t set off the alarm.

  Maverick runs a hand through his hair. “We felt like something was wrong. We came as soon as we could but had to hide from a man wearing heels coming out of your rooms.”

  Paden rushes forward to inspect the salve covered wound and the blood under my leg. “Dear Sun god, what happened to you?”

  That man was Dr. James Quinn. He was taking my blood when I woke up and found him. I moved back from him and ended up ripping this hole in my arm. He put salve on it, and it stopped bleeding. I’m fine now.

  Maverick takes his P.A. out of the side pocket of his sleeper pants. The boy with blue hair unfolds and stands next to him. “Patrick, run program Hide and protect this room.”

  The green light shines behind his eyes. “The room is secure, decoys have been put into place, sir.”

  Maverick nods. “Thank you. The same James Quinn from the contract back at the Cabin?”

  I think so. He looked about the same age as my dad, Rosemen, and Perlow. Yet, when I accused him of working for Perlow, he acted as if he didn’t know him.

  Paden rubs and massages more salve into the flesh under my scales. I can’t believe he’s touching me while in my dragon form, but the action fills me with warm fuzzies. It feels good to know he cares so much. He then bends down to dip his finger in the drying blood and rubs them together, testing the texture. “Why was he taking your blood, and is your blood supposed to be purple like this? I thought dragon blood was blue all the time?”

  Dante nods. “It’s not supposed to oxidize.”

  But I’m a hybrid. I’ve never bled whilst in my dragon form, so who knows what it looked like before Rosemen had me dosed with something.

  Should I tell them about my dream? What if it wasn’t real? What if my brain was just making it up due to Minos’s magic still being in my system? I think I should wait until I know more.

  Maverick rubs at his forehead, his black eye appears worse than it did on the night he got it. “I wish we had some information from the past to go off of.”

  Well we don’t. Why don’t you guys go back to bed? It’s late. I’ll see you in the morning for breakfast.

  Paden steps back to look up into my eyes. “Are you sure? We can sleep in your living room, in case that Quinn guy comes back.”

  Yes, I’m sure. I don’t think he will be coming back tonight. He got everything he needed. Besides, I’m tired. I’ll sleep better knowing you’re comfortable in your beds and not getting kinks in your necks because of me.

  Maverick pats me on the side of my shoulder. “We’ll be down the hall and an emotional distress call away if you need us.” He winks at me before clamping Paden on the shoulder and leading him out of my room. His P.A. follows him.

  Dante stays behind.

  Is there something you want to talk about?

  He nods and turns to watch as the front door closes behind the other two. “Yes, but could we talk while you’re human?”

  I look out the window. We have about two hours before the sun rises. If I change back now with both the ring and earring I’ll be able to stay human the rest of the night.

  Okay, but we’ll need another protection shield and a P.A.
to press the ring against my scales. You’ll set off the alarms if you’re in here after I change back.

  “Right.” He pulls out his P.A., and the woman from the other night takes form. “Elise, run program Hide for the room.”

  It takes her a moment. “The room is secure, the decoys have been put into place.”

  Dante nods. “Good. Now, after I leave the room, I want you to go over there and pick up that ring.” He points to my bedside table. “Then, take it and press it against Avalon’s scales. After she’s changed, stand over the threshold of her bedroom and the living room.”

  He walks out of the bedroom and into my living room as his P.A. carries out the task. I shift back into my uniform and take the ring from her before she walks over to the threshold and stands with her hands folded together in front of her.

  I then take the earring off the bedside table and put it on before walking over to Dante. It’s good to know I’ll be able to stay human until I change again with the sunset. “So what did you want to talk about?”

  He licks his lips before reaching down to take one of my hands. “I know I’ve said it before, but I wanted to say it again. I’m so sorry for the actions of my brother. If it wasn’t for him, you wouldn’t be having any of this strange stuff happen to you. I feel personally responsible for all of it. He’s my blood, after all.”

  Parts of my dream float to the front of my mind. It didn’t seem as if Minos wanted to poison me. He was blackmailed into it. Should I tell Dante? He’s his brother; he should know. But, what if I’m jumping the gun? What if it was just a dream, all made up by my own brain? Maybe I did it so I would feel less angry at him for my new transformation, and the sudden weakness my body has to the extreme elements.

  I pat him on the hand. “You don’t have to apologise.”

  His lips turn down in a side frown. “But I do, I feel responsible for what you have to deal with now, Fire.”

  I raise my hand up to place it on his left bicep. “You brought me the crystal. Without you, I wouldn’t have ever known about it or the fact that I can get a short reprieve some nights. I never thought I’d be able to look at the moon at night, through human eyes, ever again. There’s nothing for you to be sorry for.”

  His grasp tightens on my hand. I swear his amber eyes swirl with gold flecks as he stares down into mine. “Fire?”

  I raise an eyebrow. “Yeah?”

  He closes the distance between us by just a step. “Would you hate me if I kissed you goodnight? I’ve wanted to kiss you again ever since the test.”

  I swallow hard and bite my lip. I want to kiss him, too, but what about Jericho? When he comes back, I promised him that I wouldn’t be with Dante in that way. My feet step closer to him, as well; my body has a mind of its own. “I shouldn’t, but I want you to.”

  He brushes the hair away from my face with the back of his knuckles and leans down. “It’ll be just a kiss.” His hot breath ghosts over my lips as my eyes flutter close.

  Our lips meet. I gasp as spikes of energy awaken all over my body. My arms move around his neck, drawing him closer and not allowing him to pull away. I like this feeling. It’s different from even Paden and Maverick.

  Dante’s hands go to my waist as I deepen the kiss, begging him stay with me longer. I shouldn’t be doing this; it was only supposed to be a simple kiss.

  I move back toward one of the couches, taking a seat on it without breaking the kiss. He braces himself over me. I unzip his hoodie, only to find no shirt underneath. My hands run up his chest.

  He breaks the kiss to move his lips to my neck. Our bodies move together as I lie down on the couch, and he lays over me, his lips and teeth creating wonderful sensations on my neck and collarbone. A moan escapes through a gasp as I part my lips. Sun god, he’s had to have done this before. Otherwise, he’s gifted like Jericho.

  Jericho.

  My eyes open, and I break off everything, moving out from underneath him faster than he can respond. I press a hand to my chest as my heart hammers. I let this go too far. What must he think of me? Hell, if Jericho doesn’t hate me yet, he will if he ever finds out about this. A warm tear slides down the side of my cheek, and I wipe it away.

  My eyes stare at the white carpet. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t…I…I can’t. I don’t know. I…”

  He stands—I look to him—and readjusts his pants. A heat spreads across my cheeks. Sun god, this could’ve gone a lot further than I realised.

  “I understand. I’m sorry. I should’ve slowed down. It just feels so good to kiss you. Like there’s an energy moving between us that I’ve never felt before.”

  I nod. “I know, I felt it too. But, I can’t do this, not yet.”

  “I said it the other night, and I’ll say it again. Je peux attendre. From now on, I’ll go at your speed always, I promise.”

  “Thank you for understanding, I don’t expect you to. I’ll see you at breakfast tomorrow.”

  He nods and heads for the door. Before he closes it behind, he mumbles, “Un jour, je peux être en amour avec tu.” But, it’s too faint for me to understand it fully. Damn me for not paying more attention in French lessons. Something about one day and love, but I didn’t get the rest.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Saturday, Two weeks later…

  Maverick’s fingers inch toward the double chocolate chunk cookie dough I just made. I slap his fingers with my spatula. “No, I just made that. You aren’t getting a piece until the cookies are cooked.”

  He leans on the breakfast bar. “But, I wants some.” He sticks out his lower lip.

  I mimic him. “Youse can waits.” A smile spreads across my lips.

  I glance outside. It’s barely past sunrise. He came knocking on my door nearly the second I finished shifting back and declared today would be a cookie and anime day, just him and me. The others were told not to bug us. These little dates away from the rest of the guys are needed to keep our separate bonds strong.

  As I pull a small chunk of dough off the mound to form into a ball, he grabs a piece and stuffs it in his mouth before I can stop him.

  He laughs and puts his arms in the air. “Oh yeah, the great Maverick Hansen is victorious! The crowd goes wild.” He fakes the cheers of an audience as I shake my head.

  “You’re a butthead. So, great Maverick, what’s on the list of animes today? You better have the new Naruto Shippuden episodes in there somewhere.”

  “You’re kidding, right? Like I wouldn’t have Naruto on the list. I know how much you love to ship him and Sasuke together. It wouldn’t be an anime day without you ooing and swearing they are going to kiss any minute. I have Naruto on the top of the list, the new episodes of Kill La Kill we’ve missed, and I found a one called Junjo Romantica last night. Has the guy x guy romance you like to imagine with Naruto. It looks a little kinky though.”

  I raise an eyebrow at him. “Were you watching hentai last night? Because I don’t know if I could watch one of those with you just yet. Maybe in the future but not now.”

  A pink hue lights up his cheeks, and he holds up his hands. “No, no. I wasn’t watching hentai, and you would?” He shakes his head. “No, don’t answer that.”

  I laugh as I stick the cookies in the oven and set the timer. I come out from behind the counter and tug up my sleeper pants. They keep falling off my hips, but I love them. They fit a few weeks ago. Since it’s a day of lounging around, why put on jeans? “So do you want to use my P.A. or yours to stream the shows?”

  Maverick pushes one of the couches until it faces the largest, blank wall in the room. He takes out his P.A. “Tablet.” It morphs, and he points the camera at the wall. “Transfer screen to wall.” His tablet’s screen goes black and reappears on the wall. “I love this thing. Edgar needs one for his house. Too bad he didn’t have them back in the seventies when he was here. Maybe then he wouldn’t have such an aversion to technology.”

  I laugh as I take a seat on the couch. The scent of chocolate wafts on the air, twenty more mi
nutes—I lowered the temperature to allow them to bake slower, so we’ll have warm, chewy cookies to eat.

  Maverick pulls up the episode of Naruto Shippuden we’re on, still five episodes behind. Sweet, we can binge watch.

  The timer goes off as the first episode ends. Naruto episodes are never long enough. This one was mostly action and Sai centred. “That was fucking awesome. I love it when Sai goes all bad ass.”

  Of course he loved it. Boys. “Don’t start the next one yet. I have to get us our cookies and soymilk.”

  He scrunches his nose up. “The vanilla one, right? I can’t stand the other one.”

  I pat him on the head as I circle around the couch. “I know, Mav. I’ve lived with you for nine years now. I think I know what you like and don’t like. I’d be a shitty girlfriend if I didn’t.”