Kindled (Book 3 The Kindred Series) (38 page)

   Cassie’s hands clenched upon he
r
legs
,
a
sharp pain in her arm drew her attention
back
to it. Though it had stopped burning, it still felt strange, tingly.
Releasing her l
egs, she pushed back the sleeve
of her scrubs. Her arm was puckered
and bruised
with needle marks, but one mark was dark blue with streaks of purple winding out to highlight her veins. She could see whatever they had put in
to
her w
orking its way through her bloodstream
.

   Her breath exploded from her, horror tore through her as a strangled cry escaped. Julian’s head snapped toward her, but she could
n’t
stop the strange, animalistic
noises
escaping her. Bolting upright in bed, she clawed at her arm, trying to rip the purple from it. When that didn
’
t work, she began to squeeze it hard, trying to push the poison
,
or whatever it was,
back out of her body.
Because even if it wasn’t a poison, it most certainly was not natural, and it did
not
belong in her!

   “Cassie! Cassie!”

   She was dimly aware of Julian’s shouts as she pushed harder and harder. Her arm began to bleed
as she clawed at it, small gasps of pain and terror
tore from
her. Cassie bolted off the bed, scrambling to get away. But there was no
esca
pe
;
she could not escape h
er own skin
. She stumbled blindly forward, tripping over her own feet
she
f
e
ll to the floor.
Her knees screamed in protest, but she barely felt it over the mind numbing horror consuming her.

   The discoloration seemed
to have stopped spreading, but it was not receding from her veins. She was unaware of the tears spilling down her face until the
y
plopped onto her arm, mixing with her blood.
The mewls
and squeals coming fr
om her were
not
normal, but t
he noises of a frightened
, cornered
animal. And that was exactly what she felt like.

  
“Cassandra!”
The loud bang
s
reverberating through the room finally pierced her terror filled
, panic stricken
mind.
“
Cassandra
!”

   She blinked, choking back the sobs that clogged her throat. Clinging to her
arm, she began to rock
back and forth
, trying to calm herself. The shaking that racked through her left her muscles aching and her bones full of pain once more. She curled up tighter, leaning over her arm as she clung to it, closing her eyes against the ugly discoloration.

   “Cassie,” Julian’s voice was softer
, tinged with worry. “Cassie
look
at me”

  
She took a shuddering breath, trying hard to regain her rapidly unraveling composure. Though she realized she was on the verge of losing her sanity, she could not bring herself to care.
“Cassandra, look at me!” he ordered sharply.

   Ever so slowly, she lifted her head, trying to focus her attention upon him. He was staring back at her, his eyes wide with worry, his hands resting above his head on the glass. His shoulders
slumped slightly in relief as she focused upon him.
Tears continued to slide silently down her face.

   “Come here,” he said softly.

   Closing her eyes, Cassie took a deep breath
as she
tr
ied
to gather her shaking muscles
. She
conti
nued to cling to her arm as she stumbled to her feet, holding
it
away from her as if it w
ere
a poisonous snake.
Which at this point, to her, it was.

   “Let me see,” he said roughly when she was close enough.

   Cassie bit her bottom lip, unable to look
again
as she held it out to him. She watched his face, saw his pupils dilate at the sight of her blood. Fangs extended briefly before he shook his head, clearing away his hunger
,
and fierce
desire for her blood
.
His eyes narrowed upon her arm, his forehead furrow
ed
.

   “What does that feel like?” he demanded
.

   Cassie shuddered. “It burned when they put it in,” she whispered, unable to keep the tremor from her voice.
“Now, now it just is.”

   He glanced up at her, his eyes rapidly scanning her face. “And how do you feel now?” he asked softly.

   Cassie shook her head, biting hard on her bottom lip. “I don’t know. Freaked out, scared.”

   “H
ow do you feel
physically
?”

   His voice was harsher than it had been
;
his eyes more intense. Cassie stared back at him, surprised by his
forcefulness. “Like crap, but
I suppose that is what happens when you have
been
blasted
with electricity
for hours on end
.”

   He relaxed slightly, but she could sense a current of tension running through him. “Do you know what caused this?” she asked quietly.

   He glanced sharply back at her
, his eyes distant and thoughtful as they met hers. “No.”

   Cassie couldn’t shake the unsettling feeling that he was lying to her. Taking a deep breath, she sat back on the bed
and
dropp
ed
her arm to her side
. She refused to look at it again, terrified by what she might see there. “Did they give you anything like this?”

  
He
lifted his
eyebrow
, tilting his head slightly to the side.
“No, they didn’t give me anything like that.”
   “But they took your blood too?” she inquired.

  
He nodded
as he
r
a
n his hair through his platinum hair. His eyes were distant, troubled. “Yes, they did.”
 

   Cassie folded her
hands
in her lap, careful not to look at her arm again as she curled up
on the bed
once more.
“I think I’m going to lose my mind,” she admitted softly.

   “You can’t do that.”

   “And why is that?”

   “Cause I can’t be stuck in this hell hole by myself.”

   She chuckled softly, but a
single tear slid down her face as she rested her head against the glass again. “If it weren’t for this glass you would rip out my throat
.
”

   He
laughed
. “I’m not so sure I could
take you
princess, and like I said
before
, I do enjoy my existence.”

   “But you would give it a try?”

  
His eyebrow cocked in amusement.
“I do
love a challenge, but no
,
probably not.
”

   She turned her head to look at him, surprised to find him curled up next to her again, his head resting above hers, his shoulders pressed
against the glass
by hers. Once again she was struck by
the fact that if the glass wasn’t between them, they would be touching. She found that the thought didn
’
t make her stomach turn as
much as
it once had.

   He was not such a bad
guy
, for a cold blooded killer, she amended silently.

   “Then why did you come after me the night of the homecoming dance? You had touched me before that night
.
H
ell
,
you almost
killed
me
before that night
.”

   His grin widened, his eyes twinkled brightly. “Yeah, that was a good night,” he replied
wistfully
. Cassie shot him a fierce look that only made his smile widen. “Oh come on princess, we had fun that night.”

   “Yeah it was a blast,” she muttered.

 
“It was,” he agreed,
remembering the night with
a lot more fondness than she did.
Then again, he
ha
dn’t almost b
led to death
.
“I didn’t get much of an impression off of you that first time we met. If you do recall
,
I barely got my hands on you.”

   “Just enough to slit my throat open, and don’t tell me that was fun,” she muttered.

   “Not as much fun as our fight
at
your
homecoming
dance
.
That was a blast.” He only grinned at her as she scowled back at him. “
That was when I really discovered what you were. And
if you do recall
,
I tend
ed
to stay away after that.”

   Cassie was silent,
her head bowed. “Yes, you did,” she whispered.
“Do you think Devon is close to finding us?”

   Julian snorted softly. “He’s not looking for
me
princess, at least not here anyway. But no, I don’t believe so.”

  
“Are you always so pessimistic?” she inquired.

   He gr
inned at her, his eyes twinkled
with amusement.
“Just pragmatic
.
We
don’t even know where we are,
for him to track us down
..
.” He
shook his head, his eyes closed
briefly.
“
Would be
a miracle.”

  
Cassie was silent for a moment, trying hard not to let her doubt and fear swamp her.
“I believe in miracles.”

   “
No, y
ou believe in Devon.”

  
Cassie looked at him in surprise. “Excuse me
?”

   “You don’t believe in miracles
,
you
believe
in
Devon
.”

   She stared silently at him, contemplating his words. She did believe in Devon, she did have faith that he would find her.
That faith
was the only thing getting her through this, the only thing keeping her sane. She nodded
briefly. “Yes, yes I do. He
will
find us. He won’t give up until he does.”

   “No, he won’t.” Though he agreed with her, she could tell that
Julian
didn
’
t put much faith in the words. “But the likely
hood of him finding us is small; we need to come up with
a plan. We need to get
ourselves
out of this.”

   “How?” she whispered miserably, her
gaze dart
ed
toward the dark mirror opposite her. She was afraid that they were listening, that though she couldn
’
t see them, they could still hear her.

  
“You.”
Her eyebrows drew questioningly together as she slowly turned toward him.
“When I touched you it was a shock of power
unlike any I
have ever felt
before
. If we’re going to
get out of this, you are going to have to
find
that power…”

   “I can’t control it, and they have me drugged,” she interrupted
sharply
.

   “
You can break through it, I
know
that you can.”

   Cassie met his fevere
d
gaze
. “You don’t want me to,” she said softly
.

   “Yes, I do. We
need
to get the hell out of here princess, before they kill us, or turn us into something….”

   Cassie frowned as his voice trailed off
, her heart turned over at his words
. “Turn us into something?”