Breed of Innocence (The Breed Chronicles, #01) (28 page)

“Shit.” There was a sharp pain in my arm and I lifted it up. There was a small gash with a steady flow of blood.

Felecia glanced down at me. I thought maybe she would help me up, but then she just took off.

I pushed to my feet. “Where are you going?”

For half a second, I’d thought maybe she was just running away again. She didn’t seem to react well under pressure. But she wasn’t.

She was going after them.

“I’m not letting them get away,” she yelled back.

“Damnit, Felecia! Get back here!” I yelled. “Two vamps went out the front door,” I said, speaking quickly. “Felecia went after them.”

I waited two seconds and didn’t hear anything. “Can anyone hear me?” Weren’t these things supposed to be automatic? I tapped the button on the side. “Felecia went after the vampires!”

Just as I was about to run further into the house, I heard Peter’s voice. “Just stop her, Jade. Leave the vamps alone, but stop Felecia.”

“On it,” I said and took off behind her. I had no idea where they were, but I followed in the direction I’d seen Felecia go. I stopped at the sidewalk, pausing only long enough to glance down the street. To my right, I saw Felecia running after a shadow.

I booked it after her, pushing my legs faster and harder than I ever had. “Felecia! Stop!” I screamed. Before I’d even said it, I knew it’d be a waste of time. I was the last person she’d listen to.

As I ran, I noticed that she’d slowed her pace. And I realized something that had me slowing down too. Felecia was the only person—or thing—I saw in the deserted street.

Where the hell had the vampires gone?

“I hope this counts as defense,” I said, pulling the nano-sword from my pocket. I turned the hilt, had it transforming into the sword with the UV light. If for some reason I couldn’t or didn’t use it, it might act as a deterrent.
I really hope it acts like a deterrent.

Felecia was a few feet in front of me, so I stopped and turned in slow circles. “Where’d they go?” I whispered, hoping Felecia would hear me and actually respond.

“I—I don’t know. I saw one go that way and the other just…vanished. They have to be here somewhere.”

Shit. “Come back. We’re safer together than apart.” I heard her snort and had to grit my teeth. “Are you really that anxious to die?” I snapped. “You already left me to do that once. Get your ass back here!”

She stopped walking and, obviously reluctant, turned and started back toward me. Keeping my pace slow, I moved closer to her. Whether she had a death wish or not, I didn’t. I just wanted her with me so we could go back to Peter and the others and hopefully save ourselves from expulsion. Or failure.

Or death.

We’d just about reached each other when I saw a shadow appear a few feet behind her. I opened my mouth and the vampire started toward her. “Run!” I screamed.

She glanced over her shoulder and then swerved to the right. I held the sword up and braced myself. The vamp studied Felecia for half a second, then me, then Felecia again, like it was trying to decide which of us it wanted. It locked its gaze on me. But it wasn’t looking
at
me.

I glanced down and saw the cut on my arm, and the blood.

I really was a demon magnet.

Slowly, I started to back away. “Go get Peter,” I whispered, hoping she’d hear me over the headset. If she did, she ignored my plea.

The vampire sprinted toward me. When it was ten feet away, it leaped. I waited until the last second, then raised the sword. The vamp landed on it and the force knocked us both to the ground. Its blood-red eyes slowly went black and wide, and after a second, the flesh melted away and it disintegrated into nothing.

“Holy shit,” I said, sitting up and gulping air like it might not be there in two seconds.
Dumb luck, Jade. Dumb luck.
I pushed to my feet and hunched over. A nervous laugh bubbled out of my mouth. That was just a little too close for comfort—

“Jade!”

I spun toward the sound of my name. My eyes barely had time to widen before the second vampire crashed into me. Something hot and sharp stabbed into my neck and I felt the worst pain of my life as I hit the ground with the vampire on top of me.

A scream ripped from my throat before it died out as my breath froze in my lungs. My heart hammered in my chest, so fast it felt like one solid, non-stop beat. Then it slowed until I could count each beat individually. Each one felt like being stabbed with a hot poker.

I’d had a bees nest fall on me as a kid, and the pain of being stung by hundreds of bees had been the worst thing I’d ever felt.

But it didn’t compare to this. Not even close. This was like being stung in the same place, over and over, by thousands of bees with stingers dripped in acid.

My body shuddered.

Dimly, I heard voices and sounds in my head. But I couldn’t focus on them enough to make out the sources. My eyes were open, yet all I could really see was a partial dark shadow above me. I looked past the darkness, to the sky, and longed to be a part of it because it had to be better than this. I’d never wished for death before—never thought I would.

Now I did.

I’d seen pictures of vampire attacks and had read the books about them, but still, I hadn’t imagined it could be like this. I hadn’t imagined a pain so bad it was debilitating. I could feel everything, yet I felt paralyzed, or like I was trapped in someone else’s body. Words and pictures didn’t come close to describing the intensity of it.

Colors around me got darker; sounds dimmer. My body was frozen but my neck burned. Shivers wracked my body even though I could feel sweat form on my skin.

Do something, Jade! Fight back!
I knew I should listen to the voice—whoever it belonged to, because I wasn’t really sure—and do something; try to fight, kick, bite, punch—anything—but nothing would obey. It was like the switch that controlled my body had been turned off. I couldn’t really feel it anymore. Even my pain was lessening.

I didn’t know how much time had passed. It could have been hours or minutes or seconds; I just didn’t know.

I wasn’t sure I cared.

Ash-colored spots floated in my vision. The vampire? Had Felecia actually saved me?

Faces swam in front of me.

Someone whispered my name and then the world went dark.

C
HAPTER 16

Strange sounds pulled me from the darkness like a hushed whisper I couldn’t ignore. My eyes wouldn’t open, not right away. After a few minutes of struggling, I finally managed to squint and keep them open. I glanced to my right, toward the sounds, and immediately regretted it. I closed my eyes again. The darkness was better—it wasn’t so darn bright.

A second passed and my eyes snapped back open. I knew those sounds. I blinked furiously until I’d adjusted to the light. Machines beeped and buzzed; lights flashed and blinked. I groaned.
Not a hospital!

Pressure on my hand had me turning to the left. I found Linc, eyes closed, leaning back in a chair with his head resting on his shoulder and his chin tucked to his chest. It had to be the world’s most uncomfortable position.

I would have grinned, but I didn’t have the energy for even that small of a movement. Who knew waking and blinking could be so tiring?

I opened my mouth to say something, but found it too dry to form any words. I tried once more, made a sound that resembled a choking bullfrog, then decided against speaking at all.

Looking down, I studied Linc’s hand. It was wrapped around mine, our fingers linked together, and he was clutching it like he was afraid someone would walk off with it. I squeezed his hand, once, then twice more.

Finally, his eyes fluttered open. “Jade!” He jumped up and dropped my hand. “Doc! Get in here!”

I groaned again as the door burst open and Doc, along with Peter and Director Greene, rushed in.

Doc ran up to the side of the bed, flashed a penlight in my eyes, nearly blinding me. I tried telling her to knock it off but managed only the first syllable. She patted my shoulder and smiled. “Can you grab a cup of ice chips, Linc?”

He nodded and crossed the room to a tray with a bubblegum pink pitcher. He came back a second later with a plastic cup and handed it to Doc. She held it up to my lips and lifted it so a few pieces fell into my mouth.

After another small amount, she pulled the cup back. I would have smacked her—if I could have raised my arms. “I don’t want to give you too much too soon,” she said, reading my thoughts. “It can make you sick. Do you think you can talk?”

I let the chips melt in my mouth and managed a croaky, “Mean.”

The room erupted with laughter.

“Where’m I?”

“A med room,” Doc told me. “You’re at the CGE.”

Greene walked to the side of the bed and peered down at me. “Do you remember what happened, Miss Hall?”

“I—not really,” I said. My throat and mouth were still dry, so my voice sounded strange, even to my own ears.

“What’s the last thing you recall?”

I closed my eyes, tried to pull memories to the surface. “The demon hunt. The trip there, I think, and finding the house with the vamps.” I closed my eyes again, tried forcing the memories forward. “We—Felecia and I—were in the house, in the living room.” Pausing, I looked up at Doc. “Can I have some more water or ice?” My throat was dry again.

She handed me the cup and let me have a few more ice chips. “Small amounts.”

“Thanks.” I gave the cup back and nodded.

“We can come back later, Miss Hall,” Greene said.

“No, it’s fine.”

“Want me to raise the bed a little?” Doc asked.

I nodded. When she finished raising the bed, I linked my hands together and rested them in my lap so I didn’t fidget. “I remember Peter warned us about vamps coming out, and when they ran out the door, Felecia followed.” My eyebrows scrunched together. “I think I went after her and managed to kill one of the vamps.” I sat quietly for a moment, trying to remember more, but I couldn’t. “Things are kind of blurry from there.”

Greene gave a brief nod. “You were attacked.”

Attacked? Everything inside me went cold and my head started to spin. I clutched at my neck and found a bandage covering it. “I was bitten!”

“No, Miss Hall,” Greene said, speaking quickly. “It leapt on you, but Peter terminated it before it could bite you. You were just scratched.”

I fisted my hands in the bed sheets and tried pushing up. “The teams? They were attacked too?”

“They’re all fine.”

“But…” I looked to Peter. “I heard screaming?” I made it question, more to myself than them, because I wasn’t so sure. Everything after the trip there was a blur of images in my head and I couldn’t tell if they were real or imagined.

“That would have been Adam,” Peter said. “He was checking the basement, missed a step, and ended up falling down the rest. He broke his leg. Physically, he’ll be fine.” His shoulders shook. “Not sure he’ll ever live down the squeals though.”

“Felecia?”

Greene’s expression hardened and I watched as his jaw went taut. “She’s gone, Jade.”

“What?” I demanded.

I knew Felecia had run after the vampires and I’d chased her down—that much I remembered pretty clearly. One of them ran after me, I killed it, and then she screamed. There was a flash of a fanged-face as the last vamp leaped at me, and then…pain.

Did I even remember the pain?

Frowning, I shook my head. “I don’t remember the vamp ever touching her.”

If I’d almost died—again—and she still managed to get herself killed, I was going to be really pissed. The CGE worked in genetics, didn’t they? Surely they could bring someone back to life so I could kill them.

“She’s fine, Jade,” Linc said, coming around to the other side of the bed to hold my hand again.

My gaze landed on Greene. “Then…?”

“She’s been expelled. You were all given explicit instructions and she disobeyed them. This was her third chance to make things right, to show she was a team player. Instead, for the second time in nearly as many months, you were attacked by a demon because of her actions.”

“Oh. But I went after it, too.” Getting myself in trouble wasn’t my intention, but it didn’t seem fair that she was gone for doing the same thing I’d done.

“Jade,” Peter started, “you were following my orders. And even if you hadn’t been, would you have really gone after two vampires by yourself with what little training you’ve had?”

I shook my head. “Of course not. I don’t have a death wish.”

“And that’s why it’s not the same thing. You went after her to stop
her
—not the vamps.”

Beside Peter, I saw Greene nod. “You don’t exactly avoid trouble, Miss Hall,” he said, “but neither do you seek it out for the sake of seeking it out. Aside from your one transgression, you’ve been an exemplary student.” He smiled down at me. “The kind the CGE goes to great lengths to find.”

What he said about me not avoiding trouble was off. I (usually) did my best to avoid trouble. It wasn’t my fault it followed me around, was it? Despite that, the bit about me being exemplary…that I wasn’t so sure about. I wasn’t sure how to respond to either without sounding idiotic or argue-y, but I was saved from having to answer when my stomach grumbled loudly. “Sorry.” Heat rushed to my cheeks. “I feel like I haven’t eaten in days.”