Anomaly (Causal Enchantment) (8 page)

Finally, Cecile’s
eyelids fluttered open, revealing bright cornflower blue irises.

Break the bag now
, Max instructed.

I listened, stabbing my thumb through the plastic
. I tried to staunch the blood flow. With the blood shortage, we couldn’t waste a drop.

A second passed and Cecile
was on her feet, her wide eyes taking in our primitive surroundings. She finally looked at me, quickly zoning in on the bag in my hand.

Her nostrils flared.

I tossed the bag to her feet just as those pretty eyes began to morph, as her lip curled back into a vicious sneer. She dropped to her knees, teeth sinking into the fluid. Yet again, the difference between the other fledglings and me was becoming more and more apparent.

Had the
Fates made me the village idiot of fledglings?

So focused on Cecile, I hadn’t noticed
that Brian had regained consciousness until he was already on his feet, his cognac-colored eyes morphing with the reaction to human blood.

Bag! Now!
Max ordered.

I tossed it and Brian
caught it midair, biting down until crimson spurted out the sides.

“What now?”
I mumbled quietly to Max.

Grab the crate of blood and s
tart moving toward the haulage tunnel. We need to lead them there.

Like dogs following a trail of
treats, we led them back to the makeshift feeding space, tossing blood bags on the ground. Veronique and Julian remained exactly as we’d left them, cowering over their coolers. My entrance didn’t even earn a glance.

I understood now w
hat Sofie meant. They
were
sitting ducks. I could probably pour gasoline all over them and light a match before they noticed.

A heavy sense of loss lingered inside.
When would I get the old Julian back? Caden mentioned he’d snap out of it in a few days but what about after that? From what they’d told me, Julian wouldn’t be the friend I so cherished for a long time. Years, probably.

Uh, Evangeline?
That was the only warning I got before low growls erupted behind me. I turned in time to see Brian and Cecile bolt toward Julian, their hands reaching to dive in. Apparently, the threat of having to share his blood supply was enough to momentarily break Julian’s trance.

Oh, t
his is not good,
Max declared as Julian, Cecile, and Brian faced off. Veronique watched warily from her corner but continued to feed, her fingers flexing as if readying herself for an attack.

“No shit,” I
said, rushing to the industrial-sized fridge. One container of bags remained. “What do I do?”

Split the container into two piles and set them out on the floor,
farther away
.

F
ollowing Max’s instructions, I retrieved the blood bags and dumped them in two piles on the other side of the tunnel. “Over here!” I announced.

In answer, Julian grabbed
Brian by his shirt and launched him across the tunnel to land by my feet. Cecile followed closely. The two scrambled to their respective piles and we once again had peace.

I edged over to stand next to Max.
“That was close.”

I’ll bet you’re happy to be an anomaly right about now,
Max said.

“Aren’t you?” I retorted
, though I mulled over his choice of word.
Anomaly.
Is that what I was?

Max snorted in answer.

“Isn’t this blood getting to you?”

I prefer the kill
.

“Well, thank God for that
because we wouldn’t have enough blood for everyone,” I said, pausing. “They’re going through it fast, though.”

We don’t have enough to sustain four of them when they’re feeding like this
, Max agreed.
At this rate, they’re going to run out before Sofie and the others get back.

“And then what?” I said
. We couldn’t have them running loose. “This is a problem.” I pulled out my phone and hit “one” on speed dial.

No answer.

Caden had warned me not to worry. That they were just busy. Still, the ball of anxiety festered in my core. I called three more times over the course of a half hour, watching the fledglings’ supply slowly dwindle, before I realized that I was on my own here. I may have promised Caden but … “Max, I have to go find more blood. It’s as simple as that.”

You can’t leave.
It’s as simple as that.

“If I don’t, we’ll be leaving anyway, to chase four blood-crazed maniacs through the countryside of New York!” I argued.
“If they’re going to leave me here to babysit then I get to call the shots, not them.”

He groaned but said nothing. Probably because he knew I was right.

“Where can I get more?” I pulled on a black leather jacket that lay on the ground. Not because I’d be cold, but because a young woman walking coatless on the winter streets at night would certainly draw attention.

With a huff, Max finally suggested,
Kiril’s men will know. We should be able to pick up their tracks fairly easily.

“We?” I turned to meet Max’s eyes.

You think I’m going to let you
go out there alone?

I threw my hands in the air. “What do you think is going to happen to me?
I’m freaking
immortal
now!”

Max’s tone was
thick with doubt.
Knowing you … something
.

*

“I win!” I teased, reaching the edge of the tree line, the fluorescent lights of the small hospital ahead now visible. Max had been right; it wasn’t hard to find the wolves, likely because they found us first and had tried to force me back into the mine, thanks to Sofie’s directive. When I explained our predicament, they quickly pointed me in the direction of this hospital, thirty miles west. It took us all of ten minutes to find the hospital. Now, all we had to do was hope that there was enough blood to make this worthwhile.

Because I had to avoid the twenty trees you took out along the way
, Max said, joining me only seconds later.

“Two trees!
” I corrected. Okay, so maybe I wasn’t a hundred percent graceful just yet. Still, I remained boggled at the speed with which I was able to move through the woods, the deep snow providing no hindrance.

Besides, I let you win.
“Whatever.” I laughed, the light musical sound different from how I remembered my laughter sounding. It caught the attention of a nurse in the parking lot, her shoulders hunched against the cold, a cigarette in hand. I doubted she could see us from that distance but we stepped into the shadows anyway.

“How hard do you think this is going to be?” I
watched the nurse extinguish her cigarette before turning to head back inside. It was late and few staff seemed to be milling about.

Just try not to look like you don’t belong and you’ll be fin
e, Max assured me.

“Right. I guess you’re staying out here
, then.” Max was slightly more conspicuous and, though he’d managed to tail me unnoticed for most of my childhood, I didn’t doubt that our luck would be tested tonight. “What if I attack someone?” Is this where my control would finally falter? At the first sound of a human heartbeat?

If you get past the desk nurse, you’ll be fine.

“And … if not?”

Then
I’ll have to come and pry you off.

I bit the inside of my mouth, hesitation flooding my nerve. “
They must have visitors’ hours. I can’t just walk in there like this.”

You can run
past them without them even noticing! And if they do see you, then just compel them.

“I missed that part of the training course, Max,” I grumbled. How the hell did I compel someone?

Whatever you do, you’d better figure it out quickly. Remington just checked on them. Julian and Veronique are down to their last ten bags and I’m guessing Cecile and Brian won’t be willing to play sharesies.

“Crap
.” We were fortunate that Max could communicate with his brothers telepathically, even at a distance. I sighed. “Okay. But when we get back, you need to teach me how to talk to you like that.” Caden and Bishop were able to talk telepathically with their werebeasts, back on Ratheus. There had to be a way for me to as well.

So you can
order me around from afar? I’m so excited.

I
headed for the main doors, my anxiety growing with each step, until my senses were so keenly aware of my surroundings—the lingering smell of the nurse’s cigarette, the creak of the revolving door ahead—I struggled to focus on the task at hand.

At about twenty feet away
the faint beat caught in my throat, just as earlier today, in the woods behind the mine. Only this wasn’t the heartbeat of a black bear or two deer. It was the slow, rhythmic pulse of a relaxed individual.

And it
didn’t bother me. It didn’t elicit any strong urges.

Still wary, I gritted my teeth as I
quietly pushed through the door and moved into the front lobby, the single heartbeat growing louder with each step.

As suspected, there were visitors
’ hours and, based on the prominently placed sign at the front desk, I’d missed them by a large margin. Before the heavyset receptionist could look up from her desk to tell me to leave, I bolted past, leaving only a swinging door behind.

I didn’t stop until
I was beyond the “staff only” entrance in the hospital’s operating wing and standing within one of the operating rooms. It was empty—of people, of heartbeats, and of blood.

“If I were blood, where would I be
…” I murmured, biting the inside of my cheek in thought as I searched the cupboards for hidden refrigeration compartments. I had never been inside a hospital, aside from my birth. By the third room, it was painfully obvious that keeping blood on hand in operating rooms was probably not standard protocol.

What if they didn’t even have blood
in this tiny hospital? Kiril said the next hospital was sixty miles farther.

So intent on my
worries, I missed the rhythmic thump until a woman in scrubs with short, sandy hair pushed through the door. “Excuse me. You can’t be in here!” She exclaimed, brown eyes glaring at me. She reached for the phone on the wall.

“Wait!” I called out, my hand
s raised, palms up in surrender as I edged closer. Her heart accelerated slightly, though not enough to indicate fear. Of course she wouldn’t be afraid of me. I looked like a simple eighteen-year-old girl.

H
er fingers hammered out an extension. In seconds, there’d be a phone ringing in some tiny office with television screens and a retired cop who was probably half-asleep in his chair. Sure, I could simply run. No one would catch me. But then I’d have security on alert as I continued my search for the blood supply. What did that mean? A fight? Guns? I wanted to do this as quietly as possible.

She made it to the second number before I closed the distance and slammed my hand down over hers
to the sound of crunching bone, followed by her cry of pain.

I gasped
as tears streamed down her cheeks, her pulse doubling within three beats.

“I’m so sorry!
” I cried out. “I didn’t mean to do that!” Her fingers, bent at awkward angles, were badly broken. When she held her hand up in front of her, her stifled sobs turned into wails.

“Shhhh!” I hissed,
covering her mouth with my hand, as my ears caught the faint sound of footsteps in the hall. Still far away, but already too close for my comfort. With all the wailing, we only needed one person to walk past the door and alarms would be set off. I didn’t want to hurt anyone else.

The nurse’s
sneakers squeaked as her feet edged backward toward the door

Yanking her farther into the operating room, I locked
onto her terror-filled eyes. “Please! I need you to be quiet! Now!”

Her lips clamped shut and she
silenced immediately.

I paused for a second
, startled by how easily she’d obeyed. “I’m sorry about your hand,” I whispered, my ears now perked for more intruders. “I need you to tell me where you keep your blood.”

“Downstairs
, next to the morgue. Room number one-oh-nine.”

Excitement sparked inside. I would have my hands on blood shortly
. “And how do I get in there?”

“Take the stair
s at the end of the hall. You’ll need my badge to get in,” she answered robotically. Gazing into her eyes, I noticed the cloudy swirl in her irises.

I
t finally hit me.

I
’d compelled this nurse.

Des
pite everything, I giggled. I did it! And without anyone’s help!