Corinne (Book One of The Red Diamond Saga) (6 page)

When she awoke she was lying on something hard and cold, with slats. It took her a few seconds to recognize it as one of her favorite park benches. When she slowly opened her eyes, her head hurt with the same pain she had experienced before. Luckily it was evening, and the park was not well lit.

Carefully she sat up, reaching to touch her forehead lightly. Her mind was swimming with the recollection of what she had just experienced. She had no idea what to think of Conner, or the possibility that she had a brother, and maybe more family that she was not even aware of. She did not have long to think about it, as her cell phone began ringing immediately.

Daniel had been denied a search warrant for the building he suspected Corinne was in. He was not allowed to barge in based on a hunch, and though he was furious about it, his hands were tied. He spent hours sitting outside of the building, trying to come up with a way to get in. It was too secure for him to sneak into.

Though there were cars still in the parking lot he did not see anyone enter or leave the building. Finally he had decided to try Corinne's cell again, on the off chance that he could hear it ring inside of the building.

“Hello?” Her trembling voice answered on the fourth ring.

“Corinne?” He asked as he sat forward in the driver's seat of the car.

“Yes.” She replied breathlessly. “Oh Daniel, I am so glad to hear your voice.” The sound of it brought tears to her eyes and when she told him where she was he began to drive toward the park. He listened to her weep into the phone until he reached the park. When he arrived, she was on her favorite bench, the phone still in her hand, her body wracked with sobs.

Daniel wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to him. He kissed the top of her head she wept against his chest.

“I'm so confused.” She whispered. She could only tell him that she had been taken by people who claimed to be her family. She could not bring herself to explain the whole story, knowing that it would be as unbelievable to him as it was to her. “Please just take me home.” She murmured.

Daniel nodded as he held her tightly. “Of course I will,” He whispered, his voice cracking with the gratitude that he felt for being able to touch her again.

After settling her into his bed, he sat beside her, running his fingers through her long blonde hair. She had filled in as much as she could on the car ride home. He kept asking if she was certain they had not hurt her. She mentioned she was drugged twice, and injected with something, but that she felt okay other than the pain in her head.

He filled in some information for her as well, about the doctor that had declared her ineligible for adoption, and the little boy that had been abandoned on the roadside, and the name of a radical group that he believed was responsible for abduction.

“But they were scientists and doctors.” She argued as she sniffled.

“So they said.” He replied coolly. He knew how dangerous a belief could be; after all, it was his job to convince others to believe he was not a police officer, but that he was a criminal as well.

“But what about their special abilities?” She asked as she turned over in the bed to look up at him.

“They drugged you Corinne.” Daniel said gently. “You were probably too weak to stand, and you're not exactly very hard to lift.” He poked her side softly. “You are tiny.”

She crinkled her nose at that, but as she thought about it, she began to agree with him. It made more sense to think that she was drugged, weak, and her imagination had allowed her to believe what they wanted her to.

Daniel had tried to convince her to go to the hospital and have a toxin screen run to see what she had been drugged with and what they had injected her with, but she had insisted that she had enough of doctors and nurses. She just wanted to sleep, in his arms.

“I'm sorry I wasn't there.” He whispered sorrowfully as he lay down beside her. It killed him to think that someone was able to snatch her off the street, and he had no idea for hours that she was even gone.

“You're here now.” She whispered back and reached up to gently caress his cheek. As she gazed up at him, so amazed by the sight of him, after facing the possibility that she might never see him again, she felt a strange undefinable sensation warm her.

It was not an emotion exactly, nor was it a thought. It was a sense of security, as if all of the sudden, the world was not herself, and other people. All of the sudden, the world was herself, Daniel, and other people.

“I trust you.” She murmured with surprise. Daniel stared down at her with similar surprise.

“You don't have to say that.” He offered gently.

She responded with a stunned smile. “But it's true.” She leaned up and kissed him softly.

The next morning as she inhaled the scent of coffee brewing for her in the kitchen, Corinne woke up to an entirely different world. At first she thought it was because she had discovered what it was to trust. But as she sat up in bed, and glanced around the room, she realized it was something more.

Where her sight had sometimes been fuzzy before, everything was perfectly crisp and clear. She could not only smell the coffee brewing, she could hear every drip of it. Beyond that, she sensed Daniel sitting at his computer at his house across the street. She could see the website he was looking at. But she had not left the bed, in the bedroom, with the bedroom door closed.

He was searching for links between The Liberation Force and genetic scientists. He had already come across a few connections. The more he read and learned the more he wondered if the information Corinne had shared with him might have some truth to it.

In the bedroom Corinne shivered at the sensations she was experiencing. Was she hallucinating? However, at the same time, it was as if her body had been asleep for years, and was finally waking up. Her senses were sharp, and her intuition was working over time.

She knew that the coffee would be too strong from its smell, and that the neighbor's dog had gotten loose because she could feel the anxiety coming from next door, and the sensation of freedom coming from the dog. All of the sensations at once were very overwhelming.

She wondered if perhaps the drug was still affecting her, or worse, if she was losing her mind. When Daniel knocked on the door she asked him to come inside. She did not realize that he had not knocked yet, but was just about to.

“Hey.” He said as he offered her a cup of coffee. “Are you alright?”

He asked with concern as he noticed the tension in her features.

“I'm not sure.” She replied as she ran her hands across her face to try to calm herself. When he wrapped his arms around her, the love that she felt coming from him, soothed her immensely. She had always known that Daniel was fond of her, but she had never understood how deeply he cared for her, until she felt it, pouring into her.

“I'm scared.” She whispered beneath her breath, too quietly for him to hear. He did not have to hear her words to know that she was afraid, from what he had been reading that morning, he was afraid himself.

“I think we should just go.” He said firmly. “Let's just buy tickets somewhere, and get away from all of this.” He gazed down into her eyes, hoping that she would agree.

“Daniel, I have work and-” She protested, but he interrupted her before she could make another excuse.

“Corinne, these people are dangerous. I don't know why they let you go, but I don't think they are going to stay out of your life for long.” He frowned as he added. “I could not protect you from them before, I am not sure I can now.”

Corinne nodded into his chest as she rested against it. “Maybe you're right.”

“I'll make the arrangements.” He said and kissed her softly on the cheek. When he left the room she brushed back the blanket and looked down at the diamond birthmark on her hip. She ran her fingertips along it as she wondered, could everything Conner had said have been true?

“I can't believe you just let her leave.” Aaron fumed. He was alone with Conner in one of the small offices, and his fury was filling the room as he paced back and forth. “First she was so important, and then she just gets to decide to leave.”

Conner smiled patiently as he watched Aaron's frustration displayed through his balled fists and tensed shoulders. He knew that underneath of it was hurt. Aaron had been curious about his sister, and he felt rejected that she was not interested in being part of their family.

“Aaron, Corinne has led a very confusing and difficult life. If I try to force her, she will only fight me.” He sat down on the edge of the desk and smirked. “But she has also lived her life with no family to call her own. She will not be able to resist coming back. When she is ready, she will find us.”

Aaron shook his head. “I don't know Doc, I think you might be wrong about this one.”

Conner shrugged as his gazed hardened. “Either she comes back the easy way, or the hard way. One way or another she will have to realize that she is part of this family. That is not something she gets to choose, genetics chose that for her.”

Aaron glared in Conner's direction. “You mean you did.”

Conner reached up and lightly clapped his hand along Aaron's slim but muscular shoulder. “However you look at it, we all belong together.”

Aaron frowned as he turned away from Conner and shrugged his hand off of his shoulder. His mind wandered to his mother, whom he had no memory of, despite his best efforts to recall even the slightest detail. She had been brave enough to know that all of this was wrong, to put herself at risk to try to save her children. Had she known more than what Conner was willing to share? He claimed ignorance as to what had happened to her, but Aaron had been part of this family long enough to know better.

“She'll be back.” Conner said with certainty, and Aaron nodded. He did not doubt Conner, he rarely ever did.

Their bags were packed. The tickets were purchased. But when Daniel looked into her eyes, he knew she was not going to leave.

“I have a brother.” She said flatly as she stared at the suitcase on the floor in front of her. “I know all of this is crazy, I know none of it makes sense, but-”

Daniel sat down beside her and gently took her hand into his. “You have a family.” He finished for her.

She nodded as she bit into her bottom lip. She had never thought about having a sibling, and if the story was true, Aaron was her twin brother. How could she simply walk away from that knowledge?
“If you want to stay, we can. If you want to get to know these people better, fine. But only if you let me help you.” He said firmly.

“But everything is so secret. They will never let you anywhere near them.” She was certain they would do their best to maintain their anonymity.

“Deception, my dear, is my specialty.” He said with a smile. “Let's just try to let it go for now, let yourself recover from all of this. Then, when you're ready, we'll investigate it, together.”

Corinne smiled at that. She liked the idea of working with Daniel.

“Agreed.” She said with a sigh. Until she was certain that she wanted to know more about her clandestine family, she was going to do her best to put all of the strange occurrences behind her, and look forward instead to her future with the one person who had never truly betrayed her, Daniel.

They had a wedding to plan, and she no longer felt any hesitation in doing so. In fact she was excited about the idea, and could not wait to finally make their lives together official. She wanted to make up for all the time she had wasted, struggling to learn how to trust.

Sam was smiling at her, in that fatherly way. His smile spread wider and wider, as it did, it began to transform into a wicked grin. Around him, she could hear the screams of the women he had harmed, punctuated by his laughter.

Corinne tried to swing at him, but discovered that her arms were bound behind her back. She tried to stand, but found that her feet were also bound. It was in that moment that she realized that it was not the women from his past he was laughing at; it was the woman right in front of him. He was laughing with joyful anticipation of how he intended to harm Corinne. As her eyes widened in horror, the scene before her become fuzzy and distorted. She found it difficult to understand where she was, or how she had gotten there.

As Sam drew closer to her, his wicked eyes glimmering with desire, Corinne closed her eyes. The instant that she did, she felt a surge of power flood through her, from the tips of her toes to her scalp. She felt as if she could change the world with a thought or a gesture.

The intensity of the power she felt made her strain against the ropes that bound her. They snapped with ease, and as she was set free, Sam's expression shifted from one of dominance to one of desperation.

Corinne stood quickly and lunged toward Sam. The closer she came to him, the further he seemed to drift away, as if the space between them were stretching somehow of its own volition.

As Sam cried out in fear, his voice mingling with the screams of his past victims, Corinne opened her eyes.

The ceiling above her was coated with moonlight that drifted through the gauzy curtains of the bedroom window. For the first time in a few nights she was at home in her apartment. As her gaze wandered across the ceiling in search of Sam's horrified face, she came to the slow realization that it had all been a dream.

Rather than interpreting she decided to let her mind drift as far as it could from it. She started to sit up thinking that perhaps a glass of water or wine would assist in her avoidance of the dream. The moment her head lifted from the pillow, the room spun in swift wobbly circles. Her stomach lurched, and she was certain that she would not make it to the bathroom in time. She stumbled through the bathroom door and collapsed beside the toilet, just before her stomach erupted.

Her mind was still spinning when she fell against the bathroom floor, her body too weak to sit up or even dream of standing up. The cool tile floor beneath the nightgown she wore was the only respite she received as her entire body burned with heat. It was an odd heat, not like any fever she had ever experienced. It came from deep within her, and it created a sheen of sweat on her skin. Her wrists ached, as did her ankles, as if her body could not contain the heat, which seemed to throb out to the tips of her fingers and toes.

As her stomach twisted again with the anticipation of another eruption, a groan welled within her. When it poured forth from between her lips its sound was so morose and hopeless that it brought tears to her eyes. As her eyes fell shut against the rise of moisture, she whimpered.

Logically she tried to tell herself she had a stomach virus, but the emotions that were overwhelming her, the heat that felt as if it was boiling her from the inside out, convinced her otherwise. It felt to her, as if her body had decided to torture her, as if it had rebelled and separated from the rest of her, and declared war.

For the rest of the night she lay on the bathroom floor, only sitting up every hour or so to vomit again. By the time the morning came, she had little recollection of what life had been like before the onset of this illness.

She did not hear her phone ringing, or have any sense of the time that was passing. She only knew the pain that emanated through her. When someone began pounding on the door, she mistook it for the pounding of her head. She was dehydrated from vomiting, and her breathing was shallow, though she was not aware enough to even realize it.

Whoever was pounding on the door was shouting her name as well, but this did not sink into her mind which was glazed over with the edge of unconsciousness. She was slipping away into a dark and quiet place where the pain could not find her, when large hands grabbed her roughly and shook her.

She cringed as she was jostled back into reality and the pain overwhelmed her once more, making her stomach retch.

“It's okay.” The voice promised her. “We have all been through it.” She felt a pinprick of pain as something was injected into her arm, and a moment later the pain began to subside. She took a long deep breath that made her lungs burn, and as she exhaled, the voice that was just beside her became just a figment of her imagination.

There was no one there.

She was alone in the bathroom.

There was a pounding on the front door. Someone was shouting her name. “Corinne!”

She knew the voice. She ached for the voice.

“Daniel.” She wanted to shout his name, but all she could do was whisper it. She heard him use his key to unlock the door. She heard its subtle squeak as it swung open. The pain continued to fade away, but the weakness she felt was akin to being paralyzed. When his frame filled the bathroom doorway she gazed up at him from the floor with such gratitude that it brought tears to his eyes. She was pale, and her eyes were bloodshot. Her lips were tinged with blue and when he crouched beside her and gently touched her wrist, her pulse was faint and her skin was cool.

He called for an ambulance as he gingerly massaged her arms and fingers. His eyes never left hers; holding on to the life that he saw within them, as if he was afraid if he blinked she might be gone forever.

“Corinne,” He spoke in a commanding tone. “Just breathe. In and out.” He drew in a breath and exhaled, as if he could force her to do the same. She struggled to breathe at the same rate he was, but she was too weak to match his pace.

“Did you eat or drink anything?” Daniel asked quickly, afraid that she would pass out without him knowing how she had become so ill.

Corinne could not get her head to move to answer him; she could only stare up into his eyes, using them as an anchor for her focus, to keep her mind from drifting and spinning away again.

“It's going to be okay.” Daniel promised as the medics rushed in behind him. There was not enough room for all of them in the bathroom, and they insisted that Daniel leave. Letting go of Corinne's hand was hard, but letting go of her gaze was torturous. His eyes flooded with tears as he felt an ominous sensation that he might never see them open, and gazing up at him again.

The medics worked quickly evaluating her vital signs. They did not waste a moment before lifting her on to a stretcher and wheeling her out of the apartment. Daniel followed closely behind but he was not allowed to ride in the ambulance with her. They were performing CPR on her as the ambulance doors slammed shut, and Daniel buckled over with the stomach wrenching certainty that she was gone.