Dead Awakenings

by Rebekah R. Ganiere

  He must have read what she was feeling because his pupils went to slits and she could feel her desire mimicked in his own. He walked to her slowly, inches from her. He reached up and touched her face. She moaned with pleasure, his caress soft and light. He ran his thumb across her lips where she still had some blood from feeding and then stuck his finger into his mouth. She could hardly contain herself. A growl grew deep inside her chest. He pulled off his black T-shirt and wiped her mouth and chin. She ran her hands over his abdomen and bare chest, feeling him quake beneath her touch. She had never felt so close to another person. Finally, when he’d cleaned her face and neck he leaned ever closer to her, his eyes still slits, his breath on her skin.

  “Luca.” Her voice was hoarse with desire as she whispered his name. “Luca, take me. I’m yours.”

  He kissed her neck softly, and she thought she was going to burst.

  “Luca, I need you.”

  He continued to kiss her neck, her forehead, her eyelids, her chin, her cheeks. She couldn’t take it anymore; she didn’t want him to be soft. Grabbing his face she attacked his lips. Pressing herself into him, she used her metal ability to hold him to her. He kissed her, over and over. She tried to lift her shirt, but his hands were on hers, holding it down. She stopped kissing him.

  “Luca—”

  “Evaine, this isn’t you. This isn’t what you want or the way that you want it. This is your body talking. It’s the feeding.”

  “No, you’re wrong. This is what I’ve wanted since the first time we kissed. It’s what you want too. I know it. Take me.” She pressed her lips to his again as she ran her hands over the hard planes of his torso. The desire within her, to make love to him, was all-consuming. His scent filled her nostrils; his taste lingered in her mouth. She needed him. She reached for his belt buckle, and he pushed her away from him. She could feel him straining to keep control. The thoughts running through his head were clear as day.

  “I want you more than anything,” he said. “But not here, not like this, and especially not with an audience.” Luca’s eyes shifted away from her face.

  She snapped her head around. Someone stood against the wall. His fear hung in the air and she tasted it; it made her hungry again. She took a step forward but Luca caught her by the arm. She looked at the tall, handsome man. She knew him. Her rage began to boil.

  “You shot me,” she spat.

  Tristan opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

  “You shot me!” She lunged at him, but Luca held her back.

  “I…I didn’t mean to,” he stammered. “Not you.”

  “You meant to shoot Luca. You couldn’t have me, so no one can have me, is that it? Well, I am no one’s property.”

  “I think you should go.” Luca spoke in a low, warning voice.

  “Oh, I don’t think so.” Her voice was cool. “I think he should stay right where he is. I think that I’d like to see just what kind of heart he truly has. I want to see if it really is so black that he would shoot me.” She made a lunge for Tristan, but Luca was ready. He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her off the floor.

  “Aron, now!” Luca yelled.

  The door flew open, and for the second time in an hour, Evaine felt herself get shot.

  * * *

  Evaine went limp in his arms. He held her tight. Kissing her on the temple he pulled the tranquilizer dart out of her arm and threw it to the floor. He looked up at Tristan. “Have you seen enough now?”

  Tristan’s eyes were wide with terror, and he looked like he might vomit. “What are you?”

  “We are reanimated flesh. Deaders.”

  “You’re zombies.”

  Luca nodded.

  “I didn’t mean to shoot her.”

  “She didn’t mean to try to attack you. It’s the feeding; it causes a frenzy. It can cause heightened sensuality or heightened rage. With her it’s usually rage.”

  “You mean she’s been like this before?”

  “Many times. But she is better than most newborns.”

  “It’s a good thing she’s so small.”

  Luca let out a humorless laugh. “You have no idea what she’s capable of. She’s more powerful than any of us. If she had wanted to, she could have stopped your heart, just by thinking about it. She doesn’t realize yet that she can do that, thank heavens. She would never have forgiven herself if she had killed you. So let’s be clear: that’s the only reason you are still alive.”

  “You love her.”

  “Yes.”

  “And she loves you.”

  “Yes, though she won’t admit it.” Luca looked at the pained expression on Tristan’s face. He suddenly felt sympathy for Tristan. He’d been in Tristan’s shoes with Mya. “She still loves you too though.”

  Tristan gazed at her. “She doesn’t love me the way she loves you. She’s never looked at me the way she looks at you or talked to me like she talks to you.” He was silent for a long minute. “How did you know that we were in the diner last night?”

  “I knew that you’d taken her from the house. So I drove through town till I felt her. She was scared, so she projected easily. It took only a minute for me to pinpoint her location.”

  “So you do have a connection deeper than love.”

  “Yes.”

  “I hate to break up this little Q and A,” Aron said, “but we need to get out of here. The doctor escaped, and she could come back with reinforcements at any minute. Besides, that sedative isn’t going to last forever and I’d like to get Evaine home before it wears off.”

  Luca nodded and hefted Evaine into a more comfortable position, walking past Tristan out the door. He had gone only a few feet when he heard a noise behind him. Luca turned to see the newborn that had been hiding under the bed crouched over the dead man, finishing what Evaine had started.

  “What do I do now?” Tristan asked.

  “Go home,” Luca said.

  “I want to help. I have resources and connections.”

  “So do we. We don’t need help. Go home and forget us.”

  “I can’t,” he said softly. “Even after everything I saw, I still love her. Would you just leave her and go home?”

  Luca looked down into the peaceful pale face. He knew the answer without even saying it.

  “Let me help,” Tristan begged.

  “All right.” Luca produced a wry smile. “If you can get that newborn into the van, you can come.”

  Tristan blanched as he looked over at the girl on the floor. Luca laughed and then carried Evaine out the door and down the hallway.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Evaine awoke in her soft cream room. She laid there and recalled what had happened. It was a bit hazy. They had been at the abandoned building, she’d been talking to someone, and then a man had come in. He had been about to shoot Luca. She had jumped in the way.

  “Tristan,” she gasped and sat bolt upright.

  “I’m right here,” came a voice from the corner chair. He sat up straighter as she took him in. He wore a black shirt like Luca’s and a pair of dirty jeans. She looked around. She was in her room, but he was in her room too. What was he doing there? Where was Luca? Why did they let him in? All these questions and more ran through her mind. “You shot me!”

  Tristan sighed. “Like I told you before, it was an accident.”

  They stared at each other in silence for a long time. “You saw me feed, and you didn’t run away.”

  “Luca told me not to.”

  “Where is Luca?”

  “He left about thirty minutes ago to shower. He was pretty messed up.”

  The night before trickled back to her. She’d fed and then all of her pent-up desires had come to the surface. She had been unable to control herself. Evaine looked down at her hands. Tristan got up from his chair and walked to her bed. He lifted her chin as he had done a hundred times before. Gone was the crazy Tristan who had been searching for her for months. Gone was his anger, his desire. There
was only Tristan. The man she’d known when she was alive. Tristan, who had protected her and taken care of her. She’d missed him terribly. Reaching out she threw her arms around him. He held her close and stroked her hair, whispering to her how much he had missed her. Her heart ached to go home with him, for things to be the way they had been.

  “Man you’re chilly,” he remarked.

  “I didn’t mean to hurt you. What you must think of me…what I’ve become.”

  He continued to stroke her hair. “I love you and have always loved you and will always love you. It doesn’t matter what you’ve become. I would do anything to protect you, even if it means watching you eat a dead person.”

  She couldn’t help but laugh. He was so Tristan. Sitting back she let go of him. He held her hand and wiped her tears. She saw his face was in vivid detail; everything was still heightened because of the feeding. She closed her eyes and pulled her hand away.

  “Don’t,” he said soothingly. “I love your eyes. Blue, red, purple or orange.”

  “You saw what happened to me last night. You saw what I can do when I lose control.”

  “No, actually, I don’t think I did. Luca said that you’re stronger than everyone else. What did he mean by that?”

  “Some people rebirth with new abilities. Telekinesis and stuff. My ability is more advanced, I guess.” She could tell he wanted to know but he didn’t want to press her. “What are you doing here? Don’t get me wrong, I am happy you are here, but why did Luca let you come?”

  Tristan grinned. “He didn’t have much of a choice. He made me a deal and I kept my half.”

  “What deal?”

  “He said if I could get Simone into my car, I could come along.”

  “Simone?”

  “The girl that was chewing on the dead man after the Doc shot you with the tranquilizer dart.”

  Evaine remembered getting shot now. She felt her shoulder blade; it stung a bit. Man, she was so tired of being shot at. She sighed. “So how did you get her in the car?”

  Tristan smiled. “Charm.” She looked at him suspiciously. He laughed and shrugged his shoulders.

  “Where’s everyone else?”

  “They didn’t exactly share.”

  She nodded and then broke eye contact. “About Luca—”

  “Don’t,” he said. “I saw it in how you looked at him. You look at Luca the way I look at you. But I still love you and always will, and nothing that he feels for you or any connection you might have to him will change that.”

  He leaned close to her and stroked her face with his hand. She looked at him, unsure what to do. He brushed his lips over her cheek and then drifted down toward her lips.

  “Tristan, I—”

  “I thought you said that you’d let her sleep?” A voice came from the doorway.

  Evaine inched toward the headboard and Tristan’s hand fell away. She swallowed a lump in her throat. Having them both in her room was a sensation she wasn’t prepared for. It comforted and confused her at the same time.

  Tristan looked at Luca. “I’ll give you two some time to…do whatever it is you need to do. I’m going to run to the inn and shower and change. I take it that when I am back in a few hours I will be let in?”

  Luca walked into the room. His eyes were on fire, but he nodded calmly. “I’ll see that Bobby Lee and John Casey know to let you back in.”

  Tristan kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll be back in a bit.”

  Luca bumped Tristan’s shoulder as he passed. Tristan kept moving. Luca sat down in the spot Tristan had vacated. Evaine shifted uncomfortably, pulling her arms tight around herself. She remembered all too vividly the things she had said to Luca. The things she had wanted him to do. And he had said no.

  “How are you feeling?”

  “A bit sore. A bit confused.”

  “About your feelings for Tristan?”

  “No,” she said defensively. “Yes. I don’t know.”

  “Are you mad at me? You understand why I did what I did right? Why I had to have Aron shoot you.”

  “Yes, and I thank you for it.”

  Luca moved to touch her, but she shied away.

  “So you are mad at me.”

  She didn’t know how to explain. She had put herself out there. She’d never wanted anyone before the way she wanted him, and he’d said no. Sure, Tristan had been there and she had been high from feeding, but still. He had rejected her in the most intimate way. She had never opened herself up to a man like that before.

  “Evaine.” She could hear him in her head. “You know why I said no last night.” She didn’t answer; he moved closer to her. “Look at me.” She couldn’t. He moved even closer, their bodies touching. “Last night I wanted you more than you could possibly know, but I also knew that you were out of control because of the feeding. You’ve never done that before. Before, it’s always been your anger that you had to keep in control, but now it’s also your sensuality. It happens after a feeding sometimes; it’s usually one or the other. That’s why it’s so enticing to the Feeders and why we stay away from it. You either end up hurting people or doing things that you regret.”

  “I’ve never wanted someone so badly as I did you last night, and you rejected me.”

  “I didn’t reject you. Believe me, I wanted to have you right then and there. I just postponed it until you really wanted to. You, not the you that’s raging, but you, Evaine, the one that I love. The one that I want to be with forever.”

  “You love me?” She finally looked up at him.

  “You know I do, and I’d do anything for you. Including save you from yourself in a moment of weakness.”

  “You’ve seen me worse than I have ever been and yet you’ve stayed. I don’t think I would have made it through this process without you.” She scooted toward him on the bed. He pulled her into his lap. His eyes went to slits; hers were already there.

  “Evaine.”

  “Yes?”

  “Marry me.”

  She creased her brows. “What?”

  “Marry me. You said it yourself. You told me that you’ve never felt like this before. Neither have I. I love you and I know you love me. Marry me. And I’m not asking because I want to sleep with you.”

  She did love him. But she was still engaged to Tristan, or so he thought. She couldn’t be with him, not like before she’d died. And what she felt for Luca was so much more.

  “Luca, I—”

  He kissed her and then pulled away. “Think about it. You don’t have to say yes now. I’ll wait. But just know that I love you and I want to be with you forever.”

  There was a knock on the door. Aron waited. “How are you feeling?”

  “Like I was shot with a tranquilizer gun, thanks for asking.”

  Aron entered the room and asked her to remove her shirt. She pulled it up over her head, feeling her shoulder as she moved, it was sore. Looking down she saw that above her left breast there was a scar the size of a quarter. It was indented about an inch and appeared to still be healing. But it looked clean and approximately the right color of flesh, considering she wasn’t totally sure what her insides should look like. He inspected the indentation and then looked at her shoulder where the bullet had exited.

  “The feeding seems to have done the trick. Sometimes it doesn’t. You’re lucky. Next time don’t skip your feeding. We do it before a mission for a reason. Even with the side effects it can produce, it can be the difference between life and second death. If you’d been shot somewhere that would have prevented you from feeding, you wouldn’t have made it.”

  “Got it. Feed first.”

  “Didn’t you read the handbook I gave everyone?”

  “Sorry.”

  “Why do I bother?” Aron spoke more to himself than to her. “No one reads it.”

  “I’ll read it tonight, I promise.”

  Aron nodded his head and then turned to Luca. “Nate wants us to have a house meeting. He’s going to introduce Jeff and Si
mone to everyone and then we need to discuss where to go from here.”

  “Jeff? So fast? You had me in the cell for a week!”

  “Jeff has taken to rebirth easier than even you. And Simone, I have a feeling she won’t be with us very long. She already wants to go be with the Feeders. Anyway, it’s in an hour.”

  “Wait. What about the third newborn?”

  “She didn’t make it.” Luca’s voice was subdued. “It happens sometimes. They make it through the process but then something goes wrong afterward. We aren’t sure why.”

  Evaine felt a terrible sadness in her soul. To go through all of that, only to die in the end anyway was so awful.

  Luca kissed her lightly and then excused himself while Evaine showered. After a lukewarm shower she jumped out, pulled on a new set of clothes, and headed to the kitchen to get an Isis. The house was quiet.

  She grabbed a drink from the fridge, gulped it down and threw the bottle in the sink. She stepped around the island to head to the conference room when Karen sauntered in, dressed to kill as always. Her hair down and her makeup heavy, she wore the shortest and tightest dress Evaine had seen yet. Standing between Evaine and the exit to the family room, she leaned against the counter tapping her long red nails on it.

  “Heard you had an accident last night.” She sounded smug.

  “Nothing I couldn’t deal with.”

  “You should be careful. First the run-in with the Feeders and then you get shot? Sounds dangerous to be you.”

  “Yes, well, maybe it’s because I am so darn special.” Her eyes blazed and her hearing picked up everything.

  “You think that you’re all that, but I’m the important one here. Without me, they’d have no idea where the newborns were, and the whole operation would come to a blaring standstill. So stay out of my way, since you won’t be here for long anyway.”