Taste (Ava Delaney #5) (22 page)

“Eddie gave you something for the pain, but it’s made you kind of loopy,” Carl said, and his grin went wide… like beyond his cheeks wide.

I wriggled my entire body to scratch an itch on my lower back, and everybody seemed to sigh as one, except it echoed until it thundered in my ears. “Ouchy.”

Carl couldn’t hold in his laughter.

I frowned at him. “Loud.”

I looked down and saw Eddie leaning over my midsection, lighting a black candle on the table next to us.

“It’s Evil Eddie,” I squealed.

Carl covered his mouth and left the room.

Eddie sighed impatiently. “Does anyone have the power to silence her for five minutes? Any means possible.”

As he straightened, I caught sight of the jagged, ugly wound in my side. I leaned over and vomited on the floor.

Everything got noisy again, and somewhere in between the arguments over who had to clean it up, I fell asleep.

***

The sun streamed through the window the next time I awoke, and I realised I was in my own bed. I tried to sit up, and my side was extremely stiff and sore. Pulling away the covers and lifting a blood-soaked vest, I saw a bandage strapped over much of my side and stomach.

I lay back down and sighed, feeling uncomfortable. The night before was screwed up in my head, but I felt as though I should be angry at someone. I just couldn’t remember who. Hearing voices downstairs, I decided to investigate. Plus, I was half-starved and intent on ignoring those nasty blood cravings that had haunted me for the last few days.

It took me a while to get to my feet, but once I began walking around, I felt a lot looser, and the pain eased a little. Something itched under the dressings, and I rubbed at the bandage, but it didn’t help. I put on a dressing gown and shuffled downstairs, feeling extremely grumpy.

In my kitchen, Carl, Eddie, and Esther had gathered around the table, but I ignored them to scavenge for food. I wasn’t sure what I thought of the fact everyone on the planet had decided letting themselves into my home was acceptable. Peter was conspicuously absent. Carl shoved a delicious-smelling wrapper in front of my face, which led to temporary forgiveness.

“Got you a breakfast roll earlier,” he said, grinning.

I whipped the food out of his hand and tried to sit on the counter. I changed my mind at the serious pain the action provoked and leaned against it instead. Carl poured me a cup of coffee while I ate, and I realised people were staring at me.

“What?” I asked with my mouth full.

Eddie shook his head. “Are you feeling better at the very least?”

“Yeah. What happened again?”

“You got into a fight with a bunch of beasts,” Esther said, staring hard at me.

“Yeah, I remember that. Some fucker set me up. I meant after that. What’s this?” I pointed at my side.

“Had to draw out the poison,” Eddie said. “Cleansing paste, just in case. You were pretty badly hurt.”

“I was fine,” I insisted. “I just needed to sleep.”

“You were totally high,” Carl said. “Eddie gave you painkillers, and you were off your head. Funniest thing I’ve ever seen.”

I shrugged. “Must have been some strong stuff.”

“Fae made,” Eddie said. “It was the only thing I could think of to stop you from ripping at your wound. You kept trying to scratch it, so I feared something was stuck inside you. I still don’t know what was wrong with you.”

“Where’s Gabe?”

“He’s trying to find answers,” Esther said.

“From who?”

“The humans,” she said. “They’re the ones who passed on the message to you, right?”

“Yeah, but it was your brother who…” I bit my lip, thinking hard. Shay had mentioned Aiden’s name. Said I was needed badly. But before that, Aiden had made sure I was alone. “He asked if you were with me or if I was alone,” I said.

“He wouldn’t,” she said, looking scared. “You can’t think he would—”

My glare silenced her. She shook her head and left.

“Don’t be hard on her,” Carl said. “Not her fault her brother’s a prick.”

“So you think it was him?”

He made a face. “Who else? The problem is the connection between him and the BVA. How can we prove it? What if his orders came from above? And if Reuben is the big bad we’ve been looking for, then why would Aiden follow him?”

“You’re up,” Peter said from the doorway. “Can we talk?”

I nodded, grabbed my coffee, and followed him upstairs.

“You okay?” he asked when I sat on the bed. He stood at the end, looking uptight and annoying.

“Suppose. You?”

“I’m going before dark.”

“Are you… really, Peter?”

“Can’t wait until after dark. What happened to you last night? That pissed me off, and I can’t watch it happen again.”

“Gabe helped me.”

“Gabe should be one of our suspects! The Council will be the death of you, Ava. I’m not waiting around for that to happen. I need to get Emmett out now.”

“You think he’ll be happy in Spain?”

“He’ll get some sun. And he’ll get to know his grandfather.” He made a face. “Still not sure if that’s a good thing or not.” He cleared his throat, rubbing the tattooed cross on his inner wrist.

“What?”

“Yvonne’s coming with us.” He squinted a little as if he expected me to throw something at him.

“What? I mean… why would she be going?”

“She wants to spend more time with Emmett, and he needs a woman around. He likes women better than men. She can help get his mind off you.”

I scowled at him.

“She’s coming on one condition,” he said, looking away again.

“And that is?” My mind came up with a million reasons I didn’t like.

“Nothing that affects us,” he said firmly, and I stared at him in surprise. “Leave it, Ava.”

“Fine,” I practically shouted. “Everyone keep telling me what they want me to do, and I’ll do it.”

“Relax.” He came over and plonked down next to me. “So tell me about last night. Before the bit where you were a raving lunatic, I mean.”

I thumped his stomach, and he laughed.

“It was a long night. I deserve an off moment.”

“Gabe said you were in a bad way. That your nose was bleeding, and your ears… sounded nasty. He didn’t think you were going to make it.”

“I can’t remember much about it.” So I had reacted as the beasts did. Was that because my body couldn’t handle using Gabe’s power so forcefully, or because I was the kind of thing Gabe’s light was meant to destroy?

“You look a lot better today,” he said, and I rolled my eyes. “What?” he asked. “You’re always complaining we act like you haven’t been hurt. I’m saying you look like you’re not.”

“It hurt,” I mumbled. “And I was scared. I can’t do everything by myself.”

He took my hand, stroking it with calloused fingers. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”

“I’m not. You might have fallen into the pit of hungry beasts with me.”

He smiled. “I wouldn’t have chickened out and needed to be saved by an angel, of all things.”

I kicked him and groaned. “How am I supposed to fight when I’m so sore?”

“You suck it up,” he said. “Should I bring Emmett up to say goodbye?”

It was really happening. Tears rolled down my cheeks. I had been holding them in for a while, but he seemed shocked.

“I’m sorry,” he said. He wrapped his arms around me, but when I moved to kiss him, he pulled away. “I’ll be right back.”

He returned a few minutes later with Emmett. He checked my face. I had dried the tears. Peter left us alone together.

“I don’t want to go,” Emmett said as soon as his father was gone. “You’re hurt. You need us to protect you.”

“I’ll be fine in a little while,” I said. “Listen, Emmett, your dad’s right. It’s not safe here, and if anything happened to you, it would kill me. My heart would break.”

He glared at me sullenly, but when I pulled him to me for a hug, he let out a sob that ripped my heart in two.

“I don’t want you to go,” I whispered. “But I need you to be safe. And I need you to be happy. Can you at least try?”

He nodded, wiping away tears with his sleeves. “I want to hate everyone,” he said, hiccupping another sob. “But I’ll try. Only for you.”

We hugged again; I didn’t want to let him go, but I had no choice. Who would be next to leave me? But maybe it was time for me to push them to safety.

A while later in the kitchen, I asked Carl, “Any chance at all of you going with them?”

He seemed startled. “What?”

“Would you go with them? To be safe? To not get yourself killed here because of me.”

“Shut up, you headcase.” He squeezed my shoulder and left the room.

I couldn’t stay easy, but it was a good distraction from the pain I was in. Between needing much more sleep than usual and the whole getting bitten thing, I wasn’t exactly on top of my game, and I really needed to be.

Too soon, it was time for Peter and Emmett to leave. They were going to meet Yvonne at the airport and fly to Spain together. One happy little family. The one thing I had always wanted for Emmett. The one thing I wanted to destroy as I watched them walk away.

I kept swallowing, hoping to keep down the bile. It felt so wrong to see them leave, so wrong for them to not be with me anymore. Carl kept a firm arm around my shoulder as we waved both Brannigans off. They had driven out of sight before he let me fall apart.

“You have about an hour to be a girl,” he teased. “Then you have to get ready to meet the werewolf king.”

“That’s not funny,” I said. “Everyone is leaving me, and I just can’t… I can’t…”

“I’m here,” he said, looking at me funny. “But if that’s not good enough…”

“Shut up.” I wrapped my arms around him. “Thanks for being here, but like you said, I don’t have time to act like a normal human being. For fuck’s sake.”

He kissed the top of my head. “Go. Distract yourself. But I’ll keep a hidden supply of chocolate, just in case.”

I smiled as I walked away, but the heartache hurt worse than my shredded side. I went to Anka to see if everyone was okay, and Dita flung herself at me, sobbing her little heart out.

“I’m going to
miss
him,” she cried.

“You’ll see him again,” I said.

“Promise?”

“You think
I
won’t see him again? Don’t even think about that being an option, because it is
so
not.”

She smiled and wiped her eyes. “He was a stupid, bossy boy anyway. I don’t even care if he’s gone.”

“Well, that’s the spirit, I suppose.”

“He seemed upset,” Anka said, drying her hands as she came into the hall.

“He’ll get over it. Right?” Anka was the only real mother I knew, so I took a lot of cues from her at times.

“He’ll adjust, but this might always be the place he thinks of as home.”

Home. I’d had a home once. I still had a family member who needed me. “If anyone’s looking for me, tell them I’ll be back before dark,” I said. “I need to do some things.”

I left Anka’s house and made my way to my grandmother’s home. Nancy’s place was empty, and I actually forgot until I walked up to the gate. I had to turn back, go around the corner, and find my ex-boyfriend’s house.

His mother answered the door, her face falling when she saw me. She plastered on a fake smile, but it was too late.

“I just wanted to see if Nancy’s okay,” I said, suddenly embarrassed.

That very human family didn’t want much to do with the likes of me. I had known it even before I knocked on the door.

“She’s in the living room,” she said abruptly. “Go on in to her.”

I hobbled in to see Nancy, but she seemed terrified when she saw me, mumbling about monsters and vampires and blood and angels. I didn’t stay long. I was making her suffer, even if I didn’t want to anymore.

Chapter Eighteen

Gabe and Eddie were waiting impatiently when I returned to the cul-de-sac.

“What’s with the welcome party?” I asked.

“We need to pair you up with the werewolves,” Gabe said. “One of our vampires-turned-traitor informed us there’s a huge battle planned for tonight.”

“You expect me to help the Council after last night?”

“This is bigger than the Council,” he said.

“And if it’s just another trap for me?”

“It’s not,” he said firmly. “And even if it were, the werewolves could turn the tide for us. It’s worth it.”

“Thanks a bunch,” I snapped. “Save a chick’s life, and you think you can throw it away then?”

“You talk to her,” he told Eddie. “She’s impossible!” He jumped in his car and slammed the door, sitting there like a stroppy teen.

“What on earth is going on with you two?” Eddie asked in an amused voice. He was always happy when I had nobody but him to turn to. “Come inside and let me check your bandage. It’s due a change.”

I brought him into my living room. Emmett was gone, so it didn’t make much of a difference.

I winced as Eddie lifted the bandage, then bit down on a yell when he cleaned the wound.

“It’s, well, I wouldn’t say healing
nicely
, but it’s not as nasty as before,” Eddie said, screwing up his nose.

“Right. Got anything that will stop the pain for a night?”

“It hurts already?”

“Extremely.”

“I can try to numb the area some more, but there’s not a lot more I can do for you. I’m not a miracle worker, and the wound is seeping. You haven’t been taking care of yourself lately. You’re run down, and you refuse the one thing your body needs to repair itself quickly.”

“But can I fight?”

“Tonight?Probably. But expect to crawl home afterward.”

“Peter’s gone,” I said to change the subject.

He rummaged in his bag and took out a jar of ointment. “I did hear a rumour. You seem to be dealing with it well.”

I glared at him, feeling an unusual urge to pout. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“No reason. I wondered. That’s all. I have something for you. Something for you to wear in case the werewolves become a little too interested in you.”

“What?”

“Wolfsbane. It’s a repellent, basically.”

“I’ll be okay. I don’t think a repellent would quite cut it. So who tried to kill me last night?”