Avenge (19 page)

“
You’re right, Cassie. We
won’t be able to fool her for long.” James sighed, scrubbing his
face with his hands. He was as frustrated as we were.

“
Should we tell her that
we’re keeping her locked up? I mean, if we tell her what’s going
on, as long as she’s in her right mind she’ll understand. She’d be
mortified if she ended up doing something that would endanger the
team.”

“
Cassie’s right,” Lola
agreed. “We need to be up front about this. She’ll only resent us
if we keep her in the dark. She’s strong, everything she’s ever
done has told me that she can handle this. We need to trust her to
do that.”

James sighed. “It’s not her I’m
worried about trusting. It’s whatever is inside her. Whatever is
causing this. What if she isn’t even in control anymore? We won’t
know until we find out more information.”

“
Y’all leave that to me.
I’m fixin’ to pull so much information out of that girl, you’ll
think I’m a G-man!”

The room erupted in laughter. Cassie
stood up, ready to start her mission. “I know Adam is with her now
and is supposed to be talking to her, but if you want a job done
right, you don’t send a man. Bless his heart, I knew he’d try, but
this is a task made for a best friend.”

“
Hey, Cassie,” James
stopped her as I headed out the door and I scrambled to hide in an
empty room. “You ever notice how Southern you become when you’re
worked up?” She humphed at him, irritated that he was making fun of
her. “No, no. It’s not a bad thing. It’s cute. Adam must love
that.”

“
Well, I
certainly get worked up enough by him. I swear, that ‘good ol boy’
thinks it’s still the 19
^th
century. Lord knows I love
that man like crazy, if he prattles on about gettin’ behind him
when there’s danger one more time…” she paused, as though just now
remembering her whole purpose for leaving. “Alright, I’m going to
see Lucy. I’ll report back in a little while what I find
out.”

She gave a little wave to the team as
I headed out, but then got serious as she threw open the doors with
force. Before they closed, I heard her last words. “No one takes
advantage of my best friend and lives to tell about it. I’ll get
her back. And then those creatures will have to deal with
me.”

Chapter
Twenty-Two

As soon as the coast was clear, I flew
out the door and back to my room. I climbed a tree and hoisted
myself up the last story, my toes barely scaling the wall, but I
managed to make it through the window and into my bedroom. I
quickly slipped out of my clothes and into a fluffy robe before
tiptoeing into the bathroom. I could hear Cassie come in the front
door, but she and Adam were talking quietly and I didn’t think
they’d bother checking on me for a while, so I relaxed and decided
to enjoy the bath instead of dwelling on what just happened. I
could process that later.

After pouring a healthy amount of
bubble bath in the water, I lit a few of my favorite candles. I
grabbed my iPod and dipped a toe in the water. It was perfect: warm
but not scalding. I slid my entire body in and let out an audible
“ahhh.” I hadn’t let go of any of my stress, anxiety, or nerves
since New Orleans, and my body was tired from carrying it all. Each
inch that my body sunk into the water, my muscles relaxed. I didn’t
even realize how coiled everything was until it loosened a bit. I
needed this. I needed to unwind and recharge, and this was
perfect.

Leaning my head against the soft bath
pillow, I closed my eyes and lost myself in the moment. I don’t
know how long I stayed that way, but eventually the door opened a
crack. I jumped, startled thinking Adam would walk in, but Cassie’s
face peeked inside. “Can I come in for a sec, sweetie?”

I took the ear-buds out and nodded.
Cassie breezed in and sat on the back edge of the tub. “Adam told
me you two talked tonight. This is the bluest I’ve seen your eyes
in days. Are you feeling any better?”

“
Right now? Yeah.” I sighed
loudly.

“
What is it?”

“
It’s just…I feel great
now. But how long will that last? And what do I do when I blow up
again? It’s not like I can stay in this bathtub forever.” I dunked
my head under the water and blew out all my air, but Cassie pulled
me back up.

“
Do you honestly think that
I have not devised an ingenious plan to save you, Max, Jessica, and
the world already?” She winked at me, scooped up a handful of
bubbles, and blew them back at me.

“
You’ve got this all in the
bag already, do you? So glad you’re taking care of it so I can sit
back and enjoy this bath. Tell me, oh great one, what’s your master
plan?” I flicked a few drops of water at her playfully.

“
Okay, maybe my ingenious
plan is still in the works, but I’m pretty confident it’s gonna
rock. C’mon, get out of there. I have a present I think you’ll
like.” We laughed, and Cassie stood up to hand me a towel so I
could get out. She left me to get dressed, and I met her and Adam
in the living room area a few minutes later.

He handed me a salted caramel
macchiato and I hummed in delight when I smelled the sweet aroma.
After settling in on the corner of the couch, I took a few sips and
pulled at the fringed edges of a worn throw blanket as Frenchie
snored softly in the corner.

“
So now what?” My voice was
barely above a whisper. I was extremely nervous now that all eyes
were on mine. I could see them waiting for me to explode, like I
was a ticking bomb.

Tick, tick, tick—boom!

They were afraid of me, I knew it.
They thought I wasn’t good enough to be one of them anymore. They
thought this was my fault! Those no good…

“
Lucy, you’re fading away
from us again, sweetie,” Cassie called, stepping closer and sitting
next to me on the couch. “Take a sip of your coffee. It’s your
favorite, you’ll feel much better.”

I did as she requested, closing my
eyes so they couldn’t see the blackness anymore. “I’m so sorry, I
don’t know how to control it. But I’m trying. I
promise.”

“
We know,
hun. I think that the first thing we need to do is figure out
exactly what
it
is, and then we’ll have a better idea on how to deal with
everything.” She turned to face me more on the couch. “Tell me what
it feels like, when whatever it is starts taking over, explain to
me what’s happening in your head.”

I took a deep breath and calculated
the right words to describe it. I hadn’t really thought of it
before, but now I sat for a few moments to analyze everything the
words wouldn’t come. So I let myself feel angry, and used the
feelings to find the words. “It’s like a thick fog rolls in,
clouding any optimistic or happy thought I could have. I get angry,
and bitter. I want to hurt things—anything. The fog gets thicker
and thicker until it’s almost palpable and I could suffocate in it.
I want to fight through it, but there’s nothing for me to do. It
takes over and consumes every desire until all I can feel is hatred
for myself and everything around me. It’s like….it’s like evil is
corroding me.”

My eyes opened and I prayed I didn’t
see something on their expressions that would set me off. It was
really hard for me to admit all this, and I felt like a failure. I
couldn’t stand if they thought I was too, and I knew if their faces
showed any hint, it would cause me to explode. They both kept their
expressions neutral, and I was thankful.

“
When did you first notice
any…changes?” Cassie was taking this well, almost clinically, like
she was a doctor diagnosing me. She steepled her fingers and placed
them in front of her mouth.

“
You mean when did I first
start going all cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs?” She and Adam both laughed
hesitantly. “I guess it would be after you found me wandering
around in the woods. I didn’t feel any differently when I was
captured. I didn’t even lash out when I was being
tortured.”

“
So what do you think
triggered the change?” Adam asked. “Was there ever a time while you
were there that they could have done something to you? Implanted
something in you or something?”

I shook my head. “Unless it was when I
first got there, no. I was conscious for the rest of the time
except for once, but Max was there then and he would have said
something.” I paused for a second, remembering my last few moments
with Max. “When he was there, it was like everything was perfect
again. My heart practically burst with happiness and the sense of
peace that I always feel when he’s with me filled me. If I was
turning evil, wouldn’t I have felt it then?”

Adam rubbed his chin and thought for a
minute. “You said you noticed the change after being dropped off in
the woods. Never before then? Never had any outbursts while you
were there?”

“
Well yeah, I screamed
bloody murder and almost beat the crap out of Alastair after he
turned Max…” I trailed off, becoming lost in my own thoughts for a
minute. “Do you think…” I was almost too afraid to speak the words
and dropped my voice to barely a whisper. “Do you think they did
something to Max, and somehow I’m feeling the effects?”

“
You said that they turned
him into a vampire, right?” The word alone caused me to wince like
I’d been hit. I couldn’t reply, so I nodded yes. “And they turned
you once too, right? To get your bracelet off?”

“
Yes, but they turned me
back. And they were going to turn him back too. They said they
wanted to…” Again, I couldn’t make myself finish the words. They
were caught in my throat like a golf ball sized lump and no amount
of swallowing would make it go away.

“
Adam, what are you
thinking?” Cassie turned her head quizzically, trying to make sense
of his line of questioning.

“
I’m remembering that Max
had an outburst too. Remember? He went off on Lola, screaming at
her something fierce when Lucy first went missing.”

“
That’s right! He did. He
even made her cry, he yelled so hard. It was so unlike him. I’d
forgotten about that with everything else that
happened.”

“
What are you saying, Adam?
I don’t understand what you mean. What did Max do?” I attempted to
follow the direction he was heading but felt lost.

“
I’m thinking, he had that
little outburst not more than an hour after you were taken.
Probably right around the time that you were being turned so they
could get your bracelet off.”

My hand flew to my mouth as I gasped
out loud, suddenly catching on, but Adam continued. “What if it’s
some kind of effect of being turned? You don’t remember any of your
time when you were a vampire, right?”

I hated that he said it so casually,
like it was a normal or okay thing. It made me sick. My stomach
rolled and bile rose in my throat at the idea. But I sucked it up
because didn’t want the fog take over. I wanted to help fix this.
“I don’t remember any of it,” I whispered. “I was as shocked as
everyone when Alastair told me what he did.”

“
And how did Max act when
he was turned? Did he say anything to you?”

I thought back a moment recalling it.
I spent so much of my effort wanting to kill Alastair for ruining
what Max and I had that I wasn’t thinking about watching what Max
did. “No, he didn’t say a word. He sat there and played with his
fa-fangs, like he was trying to figure them out or
something.”

Cassie clucked her mouth on the couch
behind me. “That doesn’t sound like Max at all. The Max I knew was
inquisitive and would have been asking—no, demanding—answers. He
was never a laid back or ‘go with the flow’ guy. He’s pure alpha,
through and through. He would have wanted to assert some type of
control, especially if he thought you were in any type of
danger.”

“
He didn’t even look at me.
I called his name, but he never looked up. I thought he was in
shock or something so I didn’t push it. I was too focused on
wanting to kill Alastair.”

Adam stood up silently and walked over
to me. He knelt, so we were eye-to-eye and he took my hand. It
wasn’t romantic or anything—it was like what a big brother would
do.

“
Sweetie, I think we may
need to consider the option that Max is still a
vampire.”