Chapter 23 Links
Carmen stopped outside the door to the Med room, her hand hovering in the air above the doorknob. She was dressed in her blue nursing scrubs and holding her clipboard, and the similarity between this moment and when she had first met Callin was disconcerting.
She found herself suddenly apprehensive, reluctant to open that door and step into the room where Callin lay on the medical bed. The memory of his claws on her neck, of knowing her life was just a blinding instant away from ending, was still terrifying, even though that had been almost 6 months ago. Even though she now knew Callin much better.
The bright, clean scent of the hospital grade soap she had used to wash her hands drifted by her nose, reminding her of fresh cut cucumbers, and she found herself smiling at the memory of Callin's remark about it, when he had compared the scent to "an unholy offspring of a chemical waste facility and a demented grocery store."
She cautiously pushed the door open, peeking inside. Reassuring herself he was still lying quiet on the bed. She was annoyed at the relief that flooded through her when she saw him on the bed, not liking to think of herself as a coward, even though she knew it was wise to be very cautious around Callin when he was wounded.
His animal-like reaction to pain, his ferocious determination to never again be trapped and held against his will, echoed inside her thoughts, tracing along similar lines in her own memories. She understood him, she knew what it was like to be a captive, to be tortured, and forced to do unspeakable things. She had fought back years ago, she had escaped. She wished he could do the same, that he could learn to trust her and Raina now that he wasn't trapped.
She slipped into the room and softly shut the door behind her, watching him all the while. He didn't move, other than the steady rise and fall of his chest, which she could see even from across the room, as he was covered only in a nearly sheer, white sheet.
Ahleena had been taking care of him for the last two days as he slept so deeply it approached a coma, but now it was her turn to care for him. She found herself wondering why she had always felt such a need to comfort and nurture, why she felt like she was born to be a nurse, when she couldn't even touch her patients. It was a thankless job for her due to her powers, a job that constantly reminded her of how lonely her life was doomed to be.
She bit her lower lip and dragged her mind away from the familiar, yawning pit of misery that train of thought carried, instead focusing on the job at hand. She supposed one of the reasons she enjoyed caring for others was that the required focus was so intense it shielded her mind from herself, from the darkness of her own memories.
She adjusted the thin, cotton gloves on her hands and stepped over to the bed, studying his features. His amazing healing power had gone into action right after the strange, horrifying bone spurs had receded, but there were still pale spots on his skin where the lines had traced their way around the outside of his body. It looked like the shadow of a full-body tattoo, tracing lines down his arms and up to his shoulders.
She found herself longing to reach out and touch his skin, to feel his warmth and life under her hand. He was both a nightmare and a joy, and she seriously wondered how much of the emotional rollercoaster he had her on she could withstand before she went crazy. There was something about him, something more than his dark good looks and finely toned body that attracted her on a fundamental level. She wondered if it was related to the animal inside of him, always there just beneath the surface, wild and unknowable.
She knew she felt a thrill when she was near him and he let his steel control slip for a second and she was witness to what lay beneath. Just standing in the same room as him was making her breathing quicken. She let her eyes rove over his chest, the sheet so sheer it only fueled her imagination. She swallowed, feeling her willpower fading by the second.
And then, her willpower was gone and she was peeling off a glove and reaching toward him. At the last moment, when her hand was inches above his bare shoulder, she looked up and saw his eyes open and watching her. She gasped and stepped back as her eyes met his burning gaze.
"What do you think you're doing?" He growled.
"Ah...um...I was just...uh..." Carmen spluttered, helplessly waving the clipboard about as if it could explain what she had been doing.
Callin sat up, not taking his glittering eyes off her. His midnight black hair was sleep tousled, and his jaw was clenched, making him look even more dangerous than usual. Even as she backed away from him, she couldn't help but react when she saw him like this, and it didn't help one bit that the sheet had fallen and now his bare chest was there before her eyes.
Callin flicked his eyes to the clipboard she was holding, and gave a bark of a laugh.
"Here to examine me? Doctor's orders?"
It was that short laugh more than his mocking tone that made her stiffen, made her stop backing towards the door and start advancing.
"Actually, you conceited jerk, I was here to try to help you! It might have escaped your little toad mind, but I'm not dressed as a nurse for no reason! You're here, wounded and in a coma for two days, in the Med room, and I happen to be trained as a nurse!"
Callin was momentarily speechless at this outburst, and she seized the moment and pushed on, pointing her finger at him like a weapon as she stalked towards him.
"You've been unconscious for two days, Callin! And just like when you were wounded last time, I'm the one who's been taking care of you! Although I don't know why, seeing as all I get in return is your hot-then-cold torture! Are you actually trying to drive me crazy?!"
Callin looked down at his arms, at his chest, his eyes narrowed as he struggled to remember why he was in the Med room. Then, his memories came crashing into him, and he lifted his head, his fangs just visible behind his lips as he spoke.
"The Flayer! I remember..."
Carmen blinked. "What Flayer? What is it?"
Callin didn't hear her, too busy scenting the air, his eyes closed as he cast his senses outwards.
"It probably followed us here. It's probably just out there, waiting for me." He muttered, his mouth a thin, hard line.
"What is?" Carmen was bewildered.
He snapped his eyes open, then, and Carmen took a quick step back at the fury flooding out from them.
"An enhanced assassin, created by the lab. It's been hunting me ever since I escaped. It followed me here! I have to tell Ahleena and Jacob." He threw the sheet off and rolled out of bed, then stood still, blinking down at himself, as he realized he was only wearing thin, cotton shorts.
He looked up, seeing Carmen staring at him with wide eyes. And abruptly, all thoughts of the Flayer left his mind as her scent struck him like a lightning bolt.
"Carmen..." He warned, his voice sounding choked and almost dark, to his own ears.
Her cheeks went pink and she looked away, and he could see her swallow nervously.
"I don't think you should be out of bed just yet. Your power...Ahleena said it entered the first Alpha stage. And that it nearly killed you."
Callin grabbed the sheet off the bed and wrapped it about him, racking his memories. He didn't remember his power almost killing him. Then, he remembered the bone armor, he remembered the new, exhilarating surge of power inside when it had been complete when he had faced the Flayer.
He remembered passing out. And the marks in the woods when he had finally came to, where he could tell the Flayer had dragged him back to the psychic ward that surrounded the mansion lands. He remembered calling for Ahleena.
"Ahleena brought me back here?"
Carmen nodded. "Yes. And then, when your...your bones tried to go back inside of you, your power went crazy, and she used her telepathy to guide you through it."
"I don't remember her bringing me back here. I don't remember her helping me with my power..." He trailed off as he looked deep inside, trying to put together the missing pieces.
The door opened and Raina strolled in, nibbling on a dark chocolate bar. She looked at Carmen, then at Callin, raising her eyebrows as she saw the sheet wrapped around him.
"Hey. It's Ceaser Callin! I like it, it's a good look."
Callin narrowed his eyes at her. She was wearing tiny jean shorts and a snug halter top, showing off the rippled muscle of her midsection nicely, and he felt like his eyes were moving of their own volition as they traveled up and down her.
Raina closed her eyes as she took another bite of her chocolate bar. "Mmm. Bliss."
Callin noted that her cheeks were as pink as Carmen's had been, and he abruptly realized he hadn't been keeping his thoughts and reactions to her under tight control. He realized she had felt his reaction to her outfit, to how she looked.
Abruptly, he found himself beyond frustrated with these two, with the way he always seemed to react physically to just the sight of them, and even more so when he caught their scents. And it drove him crazy that Raina's empath power allowed her to sense his reaction, that she knew on an instinctual level what he was feeling towards the two of them. On an impulse, he let the sheet go, feeling it slide to the floor as he locked his eyes on Carmen.
"You said you want to help me control my power, and guide me past the blocks and false memories of the labs. You and Raina said you could use your powers together, to help me. Well, I'm ready now."
Carmen's eyes were wide, and her breathing was shallow and fast, and Raina looked equally stunned, but she recovered first.
"Ok..." She said, her voice a bit breathless. "We should probably let you get dressed and then go somewhere quiet and comfortable. I hardly think the Med room is a good place for telepathic exploration."
She turned and grabbed Carmen's hand, pulling her from the room, nearly running. Callin watched them go, smiling at Carmen as she looked over her shoulder at him with wondering eyes as they stepped out of the room. Then he blinked as he realized Raina had been holding Carmen's hand, skin to skin. How was that possible? As far as he knew, Carmen's powers instantly, and ferociously, linked her to anyone she touched, except for him, due to his unusual walls.
As he dressed, he carefully examined his walls. He felt a deep sense of dread as he saw the pain-point links were still there, and now, just like when his power had surged on the docks, they were ripped even wider. And just like last time, they were shifting away from the white light of a pure memory link, to some stomach-twisting shade of gray that he instinctively knew simply shouldn't exist.
It was something he knew he needed to talk with Jacob about. Maybe Jacob could use his telepathy and probe those links, to understand where they led and what was making them glow like that. He heard his stomach growl, a long, angry sound that rippled unpleasantly up his spine, and he hurried from the room, nearly running towards the kitchen.
He knew his healing power must have been working overtime, to heal the damage his own bone armor had done as it had cut its way out of him when he had faced the Flayer. And just like any time his healing power had to work so hard, he was consumed by hunger, a driving, primal force akin to the sheer will to live. Even as he jogged down the halls he felt his fangs lengthening against his will, could feel the ten points of pain at the tips of his fingers as his claws slipped out. When he was this hungry, he was ready to hunt and eat any warm-blooded creature, without a thought of what it was.
This time was a bit different than any other, though. This time, just the scents of the others in the air was making his stomach growl fiercely. As if the raw hunger in him was so mindless that it saw the others as food. It was such a disturbing thought that he pulled up short, stopping in the middle of the hallway, to close his eyes and look inside. Trying to understand what was happening to him.
"Your powers have begun to transition to Alpha. Your impressive walls, combined with the remnants of the psychic blocks from the lab, are slowing the transition, but it will still happen within the month. Are you ready?"
Ahleena's voice behind him made him snarl and spin in place, sinking into a crouch, his claws up and ready. She had effortlessly snuck up on him, and the shock of it had sent his animal instincts into a fury. He grimaced at her, trying to will his claws and his fangs back in. They were not obeying his will.
"Feeling a bit jumpy, Callin?" Ahleena asked, raising an eyebrow at him, at his bared claws and the lines of blood running down each finger.
"Shouldn't sneak up on me." He managed, hearing the low snarl riding along with his words and not caring to try to hide it. It was more than simply annoying that she could startle him so easily, it made his defensive instincts rise up and hold, keeping his power and his adrenaline pumping through him. Keeping him ready for anything.
"Claws? Really?" Ahleena inclined her head at his hands, seeming very relaxed. But he noted that she had chosen to keep back, standing in the hallway a full fifteen feet away from him.
Callin glared down at his claws, hugely annoyed that they were not obeying him. "I can't...I think you're making me too nervous to sheath them." He mumbled, gritting his teeth as he tried to force his will on them.
"I thought you could sense if someone meant to harm you or not. You are trained to read auras and body language, after all."
"Well, normally that works fine. Except for some unfathomable reason you, and my martial arts instructor back at the lab, have no aura I can detect, and you don't broadcast what you're going to do in the next millisecond, at any time. It's as if you both live every waking moment ready to fight."
Ahleena nodded seriously at him. "Yes. I am always ready. To be unaware, to be ignorant of your surroundings, is to be ambushed. I am Ninja, I live and die by the element of surprise."
Callin sighed. She was Ninja all right! So much so that he sometimes wondered if she had ever allowed herself to simply feel, to live in the heat of intense emotion and impulsiveness.
"I can help you with the transition to full Alpha. But you must trust me."
"Trust you? Why would I do that? As you said, you are Ninja. Who would trust a Ninja?"
Ahleena scowled at him. "Only a fool would blindly trust a Ninja...unless that Ninja offered her trust. Then it is as set in stone."
"I don't need your invasive, telepathic help. I've made it this far, I'll make it the rest of the way." He said, thinking that if it got too bad, he could turn to Carmen, and her power, her touch, would likely be enough to get him through the rest of the transition.
"You will not survive without my help. Your power has already almost killed you. If it wasn't for the Flayer bringing you back into Jacobs psychic ward, you would have died. As it was, that ward still barely held your power in check long enough for me to get there."
Callin blinked at that. He had no idea that his own power had nearly killed him and that the psychic ward around the mansion lands had saved him. That the Flayer had, in fact, saved him by bringing his unconscious body back to it.
"What...why would it do that? It's an enhanced assassin, sent to kill me. Programmed to kill me, as its only purpose in life."
"I have no idea. Maybe the lab programmed it to attack you until your power went Alpha, for their own experiment? They may have allowed you to run free and are now just tracking you, using you as an external experiment now."
The idea of that made a sour ball slide down his throat and splash into his innards. He had enjoyed his freedom, had enjoyed the sensation of not being under the constant control and watchful eyes of the lab. Now, what Ahleena was suggesting threatened that sensation.
"Didn't you tell me, when I first came here, that the ward around this mansion was so complete, so thorough, that the labs would never be able to find me?"
"Yes. But this Flayer, whatever type of creature it is, it tracked it's last known location of you to the woods around the mansion. It's likely been searching the area for months. When you broke outside of the ward, it found you."
Callin shook his head at that. His own excitement to run free had brought his captors back on his trail. And what was worse, his own powers were now so unpredictable, so dangerous, that he doubted others were safe around him at all, now. And what was to keep the Flayer from leading the lab here, directly to the mansion, where they would find a treasure trove of telepaths and psychics to capture and experiment on?
"The lab may not have the complete control over the Flayer it thinks it does." Ahleena said.
Callin thought about the time in the lab when he had first met a Flayer. "Yeah, that is actually probably true. I think they've never been able to control them as much as they've hoped and tried."
He closed his eyes, remembering that first meeting with a Flayer as if it had just happened yesterday.
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Ok, I'm gonna go outside my normal writing and ask my readers who've made it this far, if you like the story please shoot me a star/vote. It's more motivating than you can imagine! Thanks!
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