He saw me falter, and thebeginnings of a grin lifting one side of his lips. “You were such a pain in myass your first few days here. It felt kinda good to zap you after you broke myankle.”
Hah. I totally knew whathe was doing. Bastard. It was working too.
Without warning, I threwthe left jab. He blocked. I countered quickly with the right hook, which he letthrough to smash into his unprotected head. Shit. I was about to pull back, butI saw the glint in his eyes. He was daring me to continue, and he had barelyflinched when I’d just hit him, so … I finished the sequence with a knee to theribs and then crouched and swept my leg out to flip him onto his back. Hejumped up just in time.
I stumbled back beforeshaking out my throbbing hand. His face was made of stone or something.
He appraised me. “Yourframe is stronger, your blows harder – you still don’t quite have the feralpush needed to kill, but that will come in the moment when you do literallyfight for your life.”
I really didn’t want tothink about that. I would probably throw up all over him or something.
“Again.” He put his handsout in front of him.
Dammit, why was he beingso pushy with this shit? My frustrations regarding the direction my life had takenflooded through me. This was not the life I wanted. This was not the life I’dexpected. I wasn’t even sure I would survive the next two weeks. I wanted to bestronger than I felt inside, I wanted to see Ryder in a position of weakness.
Instead of starting thesequence off correct, I pretended I was going to throw a left jab but insteadwent right for the leg sweep. Caught completely unaware, Ryder began to fallbackward, then his hand snaked out and he grabbed my arm, pulling me with him.I landed on top of him as the breath whooshed out of both of us. Okay, dude wasquick and I had totally not expected that to happen.
Conscious thoughtdisappeared, and time stopped as I realized I was completely pressed againstevery inch of him. His hard muscles pushed into my softness and our eyes lockedin a stare. So much silver flared to life in that one gaze. His eyes fell to mylips and I licked to wet them.
Before I could movethough, the silver of his gaze darkened and his face turned cold. He rolled meoff, jumping up to stand. “Pulling your old scrappy tricks,” he said. “Give mefive laps.”
I blinked a few times, mydaze wearing off in a blast of disbelief. What the hell was that? Was I crazyor had he been about to kiss me? For a split second I had wanted him to, sobadly, but he clearly wasn’t interested and I clearly needed to expand mycircle of friends. Hanging out only with a gay guy and this insanely sexybadass was messing with my head. Stockholm syndrome was in full effect. Ijumped up and hit the ground running, burning off the sexual tension that hadcrept in between Ryder and I. How long had it been since I got laid? That hadto be the problem. Sexual deprivation was driving me crazy. There was no otherexplanation.
Later that day I was on my way to the cafeteriato grab some human food when I found Lucas waiting off to the side of thedouble doors. As soon as he met my eyes, he flicked his head and motioned forme to follow him. He was all in white again. Did he have a problem with coloror something? He was like a monochromatic painting. Perfect, but eerily whiteand shiny.
My muscles protestedagainst any more running as I struggled to keep up with him. He quickly dartedinto an open door off of the hallway, and I followed him inside. On the otherside was Ryder, Lucas, and an unfamiliar female vampire in a lab coat. She hada very short pixie haircut, her thick tresses an unusual silver color. Seriously,how many doctors and scientists did they have in the Hive?
“What the hell?” I said.Was this an ambush or something? Lucas shut the door behind me and motioned tothe female.
“Everything is okay,Charlie, we just needed some privacy,” Lucas said to me. “Tell them what youtold me,” he commanded, turning to the doctor.
She clutched at the few papersin her hands. “Well, sir, it’s really difficult to explain – the virus has somany variants.”
“Madeline,” Lucas said,bestowing one of his rarely seen glares on her. I noticed that Ryder’sexpression was shuttered, hard to read. But still, I was sensing something inhis black and silver eyes. Curiosity?
The doctor turned to me,her eyes fluttering and her expression sympathetic. “We ran the tests fourtimes. The results keep coming back the same. Charlie appears to have beenfathered by an Original. Her sire was the Original of the fourth house.”
My mouth dropped open.For the first time there was an emotional response from Ryder – his eyesflashed and the silver took over his black iris. He moved beside me as if toprotect me from impending attack. “She’s twenty years old. The Originals diedover two hundred years ago. It’s not possible! I am two generations removedfrom the Original line, and that’s the closest we know of.” Ryder growled.
The female’s expressionhardened. “The science speaks differently. Her DNA is a direct branch of CarterAtwater of the fourth house.”
Why were Ryder’s browsdrawn together like that? Not to mention his fists clenching? Was he scared?Ryder wasn’t scared of anything.
“And the other thing youtold me?” Lucas pushed.
She nervously fiddledwith the paper. “It’s just a theory, sir…”
Lucas’ current starecould have cut glass.
She hurried out the nextpart. “I’m not one hundred percent sure that Charlie is an ash.”
Okay, now I was even moreconfused. First she tells me I’m from a dead Original – sure, okay. I might buythat there was something weird going on there – Carter was the name my mom gaveme for her rescuer after all. But now I also wasn’t an ash? What other optionwas there? I knew I wasn’t a vampire. I had been out in the sun and there wasdefinitely black in my eyes. Was there a third option they hadn’t told meabout?
Ryder shook his head. “Whatis she then?”
Okay, if Ryder didn’tknow of a third option, then this woman was clearly a few blood bags short of afull load.
“She’s not human orvampire, I know that. To tell more I need more time and more blood.”
