The Change (Unbounded) (13 page)

Or maybe I did.

I turned away, but this time sleep was long in coming. When I shut my eyes I saw the dark-haired woman’s sightless eyes, pleading. Her blood dripped like water. I wanted more than anything to help her.

But I didn’t even know who she was.

I
EXPECTED ACHING MUSCLES WHEN
I awoke, both from training and my encounter with the Hunters, but only a mild soreness remained in my shoulder, marked by a fading bruise. There was no trace of the cut I’d made on my hand at my parents’ house. I still wore my bra, but my jeans had been replaced by comfortable pajama bottoms. My bandages had vanished.

So had Ritter.

“Ah, you’re awake.” Ava was sitting on a chair beside my bed, dressed in her black martial arts uniform, which I’d learned during our dinner at the mansion was called a
dobak.

I squinted at her in the bright light coming from the window. “Not going to my funeral, huh?”

“That was yesterday, and yes, I was there.”

Now that she mentioned it, I did seem to vaguely recall getting up several times to use the bathroom. “Friday already?” I must have been really out of it. Tomorrow would make an entire week since the accident, but I only remembered Wednesday, the day I’d awakened.

“Dimitri made us give you a sedative. He’s been worried about you. You were calling out about blood and death during some apparently nasty dreams. We couldn’t wake you.”

“Dimitri’s the one who should be sleeping.”

“He has been. He’s almost well.”

“So how was my funeral?”

“Sad. Thankfully.” She grinned. “I talked to your grandmother for a minute.”

“You didn’t tell them I was hurt, did you?”

“Of course not.”

“So everyone’s okay?”

“Yes.”

I breathed a sigh of relief and made myself sit up. Not even sitting up hurt. In fact, I felt wonderful.

Ava saw me studying the unbroken flesh on my shoulder. “No more curequick for you, especially drinking it.”

“I know,” I said regretfully. “So what’s on the agenda today?”

“After Wednesday’s attack and with all the record tampering at the burn center, we’ve decided to move the group to Oregon now instead of next week.”

“What about New York?”

“Still on. Our appointment isn’t until midnight tomorrow, so there’s plenty of time to get our operation heading to Oregon before we leave on our plane tonight.”

“Isn’t midnight a little late for a business meeting, even for New York?”

Ava laughed. “John Halden’s rather eccentric. I’m surprised you haven’t read about him in the tabloids. Rumor has it he’s a vampire. Completely unfounded, of course, since there are no such things as vampires, though Unbounded are the basis of that particular folklore. Anyway, tomorrow Stella, Ritter, and I will spend the day preparing for the meeting and introducing you to our counterparts in New York. Meanwhile, Dimitri and Laurence will head to Oregon to set up camp.”

She gave a little sigh as she arose. “Well, I’ll leave you to shower and dress. Dimitri’s trying to get up, so I think I’ll go use some muscle on him. I put a few of your outfits in the closet here. They’ll have to do until we get to Oregon.”

I was pulling on a T-shirt in preparation to find the bathroom when a knock came on the door. “Come in,” I called.

Stella entered, carrying a tray. “Good to see you vertical. Ava told me you were up, so I brought you some breakfast. Hope you like bacon and eggs. And don’t give me any mortal nonsense about calories. Your training will burn more than you could ever eat.”

I groaned. “Do you train with Ritter, too?”

“We all do. It’s not a matter of choice. It’s survival.” She set the tray on the bed.

“What’s this?” Besides the promised bacon and eggs, the tray also held official-looking documents.

“Your new identity. An Oregon driver’s license, California birth certificate, social security number, passport, concealed carry permits from several different states, debit card—everything you’ll need. Oh, and under all that somewhere is your new cell phone.”

“Debit card?” I wasn’t even going to think about the concealed weapons permits.

She laughed. “We’ve had centuries to amass wealth. We have royalties on everything from books to patents, not to mention dividends on stocks. The card gives you access to a monthly allotment from a trust. Enough for anything you need as long as your requirements aren’t too lavish. Anything beyond that is up to you. Or you could ask your grandmother for funds.”

I knew she meant Ava, not the woman I’d called Grandmother all my life. I picked up the card. “What if I took it and left?”

“Do you feel ready to be on your own?”

Good point.

She shrugged. “The money is a gift from your Unbounded family, even if you decide to disappear. You may not feel the way we do, yet, but I hope you’ll give us a chance.”

I sat down on the bed. The aroma of the bacon swirled deliciously around me, though I didn’t feel hungry despite not having physically eaten for more than a day. “She’s so . . . businesslike,” I said, for lack of a better word.

Stella pushed the tray toward the wall and sat beside me. “She’s waited a long time for an Unbounded descendant. Many of us have.”

“Maybe your sister’s descendants in Oregon will Change.”

“That’s my greatest hope.”

“There’ve been no Unbounded in her line yet?”

She nodded. “A few. But we lost them a long time ago.”

“What about having your own children?” I realized as the words left my mouth that she might have already raised a dozen for all I knew.

“When I married Bronson, he had two grown children and a vasectomy.” She looked at her fingers lying in her lap and then back at me again. “At the time I was glad. I watched my little sister grow old and die, and her children do the same. Putting off childbearing seemed to make sense. There was no rush.”

“You wish you’d had Bronson’s child, don’t you?”

She gave a slight nod. “He’s ill—dying.”

“Cancer?”

“I wish.” She saw my confusion and added. “We found a cure for most cancers years ago, but sick people make the medical community rich, so scientists are forced to sweep their research under the couch to save their grants. We’ll get the cure out there eventually, but right now the people opposing us have more weight and money behind them.”

I was stunned. My grandpa had died of cancer. “You mean the Emporium, don’t you?”

“They’re always involved wherever there’s a huge amount of money at stake. Anyway, Bronson has a rare autoimmune disease that affects his heart and several other major organs. Medication isn’t working well, so he’s sick quite a bit of the time now, though this week’s been pretty good.” She was silent for a moment before adding, “If we’d had a child, I’d have something of his after he’s gone.”

Until the child grew old and died. The words hung between us, unspoken, but I heard them as clearly as if she said them aloud.

“Your child could be Unbounded.”

“Twenty percent chance with an Unbounded and a mortal.” She hesitated before continuing. “About children—there’s something else you should know. Shortly after the Change, birth control methods no longer work for Unbounded.”

I blinked at her. “What are you saying?”

“Barrier methods have a high failure rate. Implantation happens despite an IUD, often with frightening results. Keeping careful track of your cycle can help avoid pregnancy a percentage of the time, but the only sure method is sterilization—if your partner is mortal, that is, because an Unbounded’s organs simply regenerate.”

“Then why don’t you all have more children?”

“Partly because it’s hard watching those you love grow old and die—again and again. Also, we come from a different age, an age where family was all-important, where people married and stayed together. Most Renegades have watched the world change, families falling apart, and the resulting weakening of society. We reject that. To us duty to family is everything. We feel a deep responsibility to track our descendants for at least six generations, which is generally how long it takes before the gene is too diluted to create an Unbounded. We refuse to allow our Unbounded posterity to be killed or recruited by the Emporium. Or left alone to discover their nature.”

“Like Cort.”

“Exactly. So we’re very careful. Laurence is already on his second marriage and has eight children that will probably result in more posterity than he’ll ever be able to look after by himself. His current wife is only thirty and they have one child together. She had her uterus removed two years ago. The next time he marries, he’ll look for someone who’s finished bearing children.”

The next time. How could she be so casual?

My thoughts must have shown in my face because she nodded. “It’s a paradox. We desperately want more Unbounded to stand with us against the Emporium so we keep marrying and trying, but many of our children aren’t Unbounded and as the generations go on, there aren’t enough of us to keep watch over our posterity.” She patted my leg and stood. “Enough seriousness for now. You should eat. When you’re finished getting ready, come meet my husband. He’s quite pleased with himself for getting all the lead out of Dimitri. Ritter’s in a mood, though. He’s insisting everyone double up on defense training for the next few weeks—especially Dimitri.”

“And me, I suppose.” I was the weak link, no doubt about that. Perhaps the family talent had skipped me altogether.

Stella smiled. “Don’t mind Ritter. He takes it personally when any of us get hurt.” She grabbed my hand, squeezing it briefly. “I’m glad you’re here, Erin. I’ve missed having a sister, and while I love Ava dearly, she can never be that for me.”

I’d always wanted a sister. I’d almost had one in Justine.

After Stella left, I stared for a long minute at the phone she’d given me. It was thin and black and very much like the one I’d stolen from the office at the warehouse. At least I’d moved up in their estimation if they trusted me this much. Then again, after hearing about Ritter’s family and getting up close and personal with the Hunters, I wouldn’t likely be running to my family again anytime soon.

I dialed and waited until a familiar female voice spoke. “Sorry, no one’s home right now. Leave a message and someone will call you back. Tom probably.” A laugh that made me smile. Justine.

“Hi, Tom,” I said when the beep signaled. “It’s me. I wanted to see how it went yesterday. If you’re okay. Call me later on this number if you want to talk.”

I hung up feeling pretty pathetic. He’d made his point quite clear, and hoping that he’d been unbalanced because of Justine wasn’t doing me any favors. Even if he begged on his knees, I didn’t know that I’d ever be able to trust him again. Not really. I told myself the only reason I was calling was because of Justine. She’d want someone to check up on her little brother. But in the end, I failed her because I’d called the home phone Justine had insisted on, which Tom never picked up, instead of his cell. I wasn’t sure I wanted to talk to him at all.

M
Y SHORT HAIR WAS STILL
wet from my shower when I emerged into the hallway and ran into an extremely large man with the thickest, brightest, most beautiful curly red hair I’d ever seen in a natural color. His red shirt contrasted unfavorably with his hair and his pale skin. I knew he must be Laurence, for he moved his impressive bulk with the same casual confidence as the others.

He held out his big hand, which completely enveloped my own. “You won’t remember me, but I’ve seen you several times. I’m Laurence Green, and Dimitri’s my fifth great-grandfather from his tenth wife’s line. Our family tree is rather lengthy and wide. Takes a computer program to track everyone for even six generations these days.”

“I can imagine, with him being so old.”

Laurence had Dimitri’s brown eyes, though not nearly as dark. He was also taller and a good deal rounder. “Old?” He laughed, leaning up against the wall, folding his arms over his ample stomach. “Dimitri hasn’t even had his mid-life crisis yet.”

“Are you a doctor like he is?”

“No way.” He lifted a hand as though to wave away a pesky fly. “I’m not giving in to that for at least another century. I’m a hundred and ten already, you know. Right now I’m amassing a huge fortune so that when I do give in I can spend the rest of my life throwing unheard of amounts of money at my research.” His voice lowered. “Although, I do own, in one form or another, every relevant medical text in the world. They’re fascinating. Only don’t tell anyone, okay? It’s our little secret.”