Part 10 (1/2)

”You've been a bad boy, Josh Kirby. And you must be punished.” I smiled, finding a queer humor in the situation. The golden boy of Boise High was no longer in charge. I was.

”What's wrong with your face?” He struggled against me, his movements forcing some of my talons to pop free and others to dig in deeper. Blood blossomed across his t-s.h.i.+rt.

Everything had become clearer for me. I could truly see what was in front of my eyes. Josh no longer held his shape; he no longer existed as a person. He became just one big ball of swirling energy. The kaleidoscope of colors whirling and dancing around him made me smile. And there was that red, so deep, so opulent, enticing me. Take a taste, it whispered to me. I wanted to heed its call. I knew if I did I would finally feel whole, complete.

And not so freaking hungry.

My stomach cramped at the thought and I almost doubled over in pain. But it proved difficult with my nails stuck into Josh's broad shoulders. Pulling them out with a soft, sucking wet sound, I reached for his face.

He tried to back away but I was too quick, too strong, now that I'd evolved into my true form. I pulled his face down toward me. Soon, I would feed. Soon, I would feel full, and not so empty. I opened my mouth and positioned it over his, making sure there was a tight seal over his lips. I couldn't have his life-force escape my meal, now could I?

Within seconds of swathing his mouth, I could feel his energy drawing from him and into me. The taste was like ambrosia on my tongue. He tasted even better than Jamie had. Purer, sweeter, untainted by metal and ink.

He fought against me, but my powers made me stronger than him. His attempts to push me back were futile at best. I held onto his face, my fingers digging into his scalp and sucked the life out of his body, soul and all. He didn't need it where he was going anyway.

Greedily, I drank him in, euphoric on his vigor. He fought me hard, whining and babbling incoherently to let him go, but it was pointless. There was no escaping me. I was a being of power now, of sublime infinite supremacy and this mortal was nothing, insignificant. A food source.

Besides, he'd earned his fate. If he had let Salem go when she'd asked him, we wouldn't be in the situation we were in now. It was the boy's fault. Not mine, not Salem's. I was only doing what nature intended me to do.

His thras.h.i.+ng ceased, and cradling his head I brought him down to the ground. The gravel in the parking lot bit into my knees but I didn't feel it, not as pain anyway. I felt life, rus.h.i.+ng through me. Everything became clearer, richer, deeper. Sounds pulsed in my ears like music. It always came down to that, didn't it? The music. The sounds of life and death. Infinite in their certainty.

I wanted to inhale everything around me, to glory in its magnificence. But I was going to have to wait for that because I didn't see him coming.

He pulled me off the mortal, his strength equal to mine, or greater. He was the same as I was. I knew him except he didn't look too happy to see me.

Trevor glared down at me, his eyes as black as mine. ”I warned you, Salem.”

Holding me by my hair to keep me still, he lifted his hand. And that's when I saw the hypodermic needle. A clear liquid dripping from its pointy tip. I threw up my hands in defense, but it was pointless, the needle slid in anyway.

Chapter 13.

I screamed as the liquid shot into my neck. A searing, so excruciating I could hardly stay conscious, rushed down my neck, through my body, boiling my blood.

”Hold still,” Trevor hissed, as I thrashed about. ”You'll break the needle off.”

I didn't care. The pain was immeasurable. Why was he doing this to me? Why was he torturing me?

Finally, he slid the needle out and let go of my hair. I fell in a heap on the ground and curled into a ball trying to soothe myself from the agony ripping my body apart. Rocking, I squeezed my eyes shut from the gush of tears.

I didn't understand how I could still be awake and aware as this awful, dark pain tore at every fiber of my body. It slashed and ripped and shredded, as if destroying me only to invent me all over again.

I thought endorphins were supposed to kick in and lull me into unconsciousness. I didn't think a person could withstand such torture without going completely mad.

Maybe that was just it. Maybe I'd already gone stark raving mad.

I rocked and rocked, mumbling incoherently, eyes shut, fingernails digging into my legs, until finally, blissfully the pain subsided and I could reason. Well, as much as I could before.

I blinked open my eyes and stared up at Trevor. He was standing over me, frowning, that d.a.m.nable needle still between his fingers, dripping menacingly.

”What did you do to me?” I mumbled, my throat raw from screaming.

”I saved you from yourself.”

I licked my parched lips, and tried to move, but my bones and muscles screamed at me indignantly. Why was my mouth so d.a.m.n dry? ”What did you inject me with?”

”Salt water.”

I gaped at him, sure I heard him all wrong. ”Salt water? You stuck me with salt water?”

”Yes, the salt counteracts the changes you were going through. It stops them, keeps them at bay. Something about demons and h.e.l.l and the purity of the mineral. I don't know the reasoning behind it. I just know it works.”

”Why in h.e.l.l would you go and do that for? Are you trying to kill me?”

He smirked. ”Are you dead?”

”No.”

”Then I wasn't trying to kill you.” He put a cap on the needle and slid it into his back jeans pocket. ”I was trying to stop you from killing him.” He motioned to the right with his head.

Sitting up, groaning as I went, I glanced over at where Trevor indicated. Josh was on his back, his eyes closed, and his chest barely moving.

I scrambled on my knees to his side, placing my fingers on his neck to check his pulse. It was there, but it was weak. Sitting back on my haunches, I looked him over, shocked at his appearance. His face was pale and gaunt, his cheeks sucked in. He looked like a ninety-year old version of his former self. Like someone (well, me) had sucked the life out of him. I'd done that to him. I couldn't believe I'd almost killed him.

”Oh, my, G.o.d.” I pressed my lips together to fight back tears or a scream; I couldn't tell which I wanted to do more. ”I did this. I'm a monster.” I looked up at Trevor, beseeching him to soothe me, to take this away. But the menacing look in his eyes told me he wasn't going to do either. ”Is he going to die?”

Bending down to examine Josh, he shook his head. ”I got to you in time. But he's unconscious, and I'm not sure how long that will last. It could be days, or weeks, or...,”

I grabbed his arm. ”Forever? Could he be like this forever?”

Trevor shrugged. ”I don't know. My first just came out of her coma. I sucked on her about two years ago.”

”Was she, you know,” I touched my head, ”okay?”

”I don't know. I never stuck around to find out.” Standing, he hooked his hands under Josh's arms and started to drag him across the ground toward the pa.s.senger door on Josh's car.