Human Blend (21 page)

Julie was about to challenge him on the
matter when her stomach protested the thought. “Fine,” she
grumbled, unwrapping the bar and taking a bite. “Happy?” she
mumbled while chewing.

“Don't talk with your mouth full,” he chided.
Julie scowled making him laugh. He put additional money in the
machine and handed her a small carton of milk.

“I can do this myself,” Julie said, accepting
the carton.

“Then why didn't you?” Austin asked. Julie
didn't answer; anything she could say would just be an excuse.
Austin waited until she was finished everything before
speaking.“Feel better?” he asked. Julie nodded, frowning. She did
feel better. “Julie, I care about you. I need you to care about you
,too,” Austin said, placing his hands on her face.

“I know,” she answered softly. He pulled her
into an embrace. Julie wrapped her arms around Austin. She felt
comfortable. She hoped her feelings wouldn't change after talking
with Marcus. Austin pulled back slowly, resting his forehead on
hers.

“What am I going to do with you?” He laughed
lightly.

“I can think of a few things,” Julie said,
wrapping her arms around his neck.

“Sweet temptation,” Austin breathed as their
lips met.

“Julie Miller! This is inappropriate behavior
for a hospital corridor,” Nurse Hacher spoke firmly, jostling the
both of them.

“I'm sorry,” Julie said, quickly moving away
from Austin. “I'll be right back,” Julie told Austin, as she ducked
into the locker room.

Austin grinned at Nurse Hacher. He was
familiar with the woman who had previously been the school nurse.
“Wipe that smirk off your face, Mr. Dorsett. I'm sure your mother
would not be happy to hear of your behavior here,” she scolded.

“I'm pretty sure she wouldn't be, either,
Nurse Hacher,” Austin replied.

Julie quickly returned and handed Austin the
key. “Go,” she ushered.

“Later,” Austin said, stealing one more kiss
before he left.

Nurse Hacher folded her arms and looked
disapprovingly at Julie. “I had hoped you were a bit more mature
than some of the other younger people that work here, Julie. Was I
wrong in my assumption?” she asked.

“No, ma'am. I had a momentary lack of good
judgment,” Julie explained.

“See that it does not happen again,” Nurse
Hacher admonished.

“It won't,” she promised. The nurse looked at
her watch.

“Your shift is almost over. You're
dismissed,” she said.

“Thank you,” Julie accepted and went back
into the locker room to change.

She made her way to Doctor Elsworth's office
for the meeting with Marcus. She had so many questions and didn't
know which ones to ask first. Marcus' comments were swirling around
in her head.
Human parts... Uncle G... cousins
. She was lost
in thought and bumped right into Eli, who then steadied her with
his hands. “Sorry.” She blushed at her inattentiveness. Eli
smiled.

“You heading to your meeting?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she answered. “I have so many
questions. I don't know which one to ask first,” she sighed.

“Be sure to keep your guard up,” he
reminded.

“I will,” she said before continuing on her
way to his office.

Eli watched her for a moment before turning
to continue down the hall. His turn was met with a grinning Marcus.
He was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt; his shift was over. “I don't
know, Doc. If you want her, you are going to have to work a little
harder. You've got competition,” he laughed.

“Is that a threat?” Eli challenged.

“Not from me,” Marcus said, raising his
hands. “Of course, if I wanted her, I could easily get her,” he
added snidely. Eli grabbed Doctor Samson by the arm and dragged him
into a nearby conference room. Once out of sight of witnesses, he
pinned Marcus against the wall.

“You think this is some kind of game, Doctor
Samson?” Eli seethed.

“If it was, you'd be down a few points,”
Marcus teased.

Eli found himself unable to control his
temper. He flung Marcus across the table and raised his fist. “You
can beat me up all you want, Doc, it won't matter. I'll heal
quicker than she does,” Marcus reminded. Eli let go of Marcus and
turned his back on him before his rage could take Marcus up on his
offer.

Marcus slid off the table and smoothed his
shirt. “Look, Eli. I wasn't trying to make you angry. I just wanted
to tell you that she looked awful cozy with my cousin, and if you
were planning on...” Marcus' telling was interrupted.

“Your cousin?” Eli questioned.

Marcus bit his lip. He had revealed too much.
“Doesn't matter,” he said, trying to leave the room. Eli blocked
his way.“Are you going to threaten violence again, Doc?” Marcus
said with a crooked smile. Eli stared him down.“You're not of my
world. Hell, you're not even of this one. I don't expect you to
enlighten me into your ways and I don't intend to tell you about
mine,” Marcus stated. “Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm late for my
date,” he finished with a sarcastic grin.

Eli realized he was not going to get anything
more from Marcus. He was, however, not going to send him off
without a caution. Stepping closer, his face a mere inches from
Marcus', he warned, “You hurt her in any way and I promise you, I
will make sure you will need weeks of healing time to recover.”

“Message received,” Marcus said. He stepped
around Eli and opened the door.

Back in the hallway, Marcus headed toward
Eli's office and his meeting with Julie.
Hope you are up for a
battle, cousin,
he thought. As he approached the office, Marcus
could feel Julie's lure. “Gotta teach you volume control,” he said
before opening the door.

Julie was sitting and reading one of Eli's
medical journals that he kept on a bookcase in his office. She was
so engrossed in the book that she did not hear the door open.

Marcus was able to get close enough to
breathe in her ear. “Boo,” he whispered. Julie reacted by jumping
off the sofa with the thick book held high above her head. “See,
now that's how you should've reacted the minute I walked in the
door. For someone on the run, you're an easy target,” Marcus
laughed.

“You didn't have to sneak up on me,” Julie
frowned.

“I didn't, but that's besides the point. I
could track you from down the hall. Do you keep the Lure on
twenty-four seven?” Marcus asked her.

“I don't even know what you mean by 'Lure'.
What is that?” she asked him.

“You expect me to believe you have no idea
what that is?” Marcus laughed loudly.

Julie was insulted. “I told you earlier, I
know nothing about any of my abilities. Whatever I've garnered,
it's from experimenting. This 'Lure' is not anything I know of or
have practiced using. I really don't appreciate you ridiculing me,”
Julie ranted.

Marcus was suddenly in front of her. “Let's
try a little experiment, shall we?” he said, taking her hand.

“No,” she said, backing up into Eli's desk.
Marcus stared at her. His voice was silent but his eyes were
focused on her. “What are you doing?” she asked.

“What are you feeling?” he asked. His voice
seemed deeper to her.

Julie felt a warm, tingling feeling. It
spread throughout her body. “Stop that,” she said. The feelings
were making her uncomfortable.

“Why? This is the same level of intensity I
feel from you,” Marcus explained.

“I don't understand. How am I doing it?” she
asked.

“Find it. Control it,” Marcus said.

Julie closed her eyes. She amazed herself by
going inside her body, this time without Marcus. She discovered the
source and pulled it back. Her eyes snapped open. “I think I did
it,” she smiled. Marcus pulled back his own.

“Yes, you did. I don't feel it anymore,” he
confirmed.

“Now push it back out again, only stronger. I
want to show you what else it can do,” he instructed. Julie
hesitated at first, but her curiosity got the better of her. She
followed his instructions. Julie pushed out from the source as
strong as she could.

Marcus swayed at the wave Julie sent out.
“Wow,” Marcus said, quickly moving closer to her. He put his hands
around her waist and pulled her to him. “Tell me,” he said, his
lips pressed against her neck.

Julie pushed back on him and she pulled the
power back into her. “Stop it,” she ordered. Julie was able to
escape his grasp.

“You were supposed to tell me to do
something,” Marcus said, still trying to recover.

“Why would I do that? I don't like this,” she
said.

“It could come in handy one day and get you
out of trouble. I'll show you,” Marcus said, once he had regained
control.

“I'd rather not know,” Julie said as she felt
Marcus focusing on her again. The feeling was more intense this
time. “Marcus... stop,” she said, but her actions betrayed her.
This time, she moved quickly to Marcus. She slid her arms around
his neck. Marcus' smile sent jolts through her. When their lips
met, her whole body felt like it was vibrating. “Feel how good it
is?” Marcus asked as his lips traveled down her neck.

“Yes,” she breathed as all self control left
her.

“Go lock the door,” Marcus whispered in her
ear. Marcus watched as she did as she was told. “Come back to me,”
he ordered. She ran into his arms, almost knocking him over. “See,
this is what you can do,” he said as he kissed her passionately. He
began to pull back the source as he deepened the kiss.

Julie felt her self control returning and
began to struggle in Marcus' arms. He released her; his lesson was
over. She launched herself far from him. “That... that was uncalled
for!” Julie shouted.

“Maybe, but it was a hell of a lot of fun.”
Marcus laughed.

Julie was angry at him. “I will never use
that! You are taking away someone's power to choose. That's not
right,” she said.

“In some situations, you may need to distract
someone. It is useful,” Marcus countered.

Julie sat on the sofa with her arms folded.
“I have other things I need to know about,” she grumbled.

“Fine,” Marcus huffed and sat down next to
her. “What... Who...” Julie tried to formulate the question she
wanted to ask. “What did you mean by 'human parts'?” she finally
asked.

“That's really an Uncle Gregg question,”
Marcus said.

Julie turned to face him. “Please, Marcus. I
need to know. Can't you please tell me something?” she pleaded.

“I'm not good at explaining things,” Marcus
said.

“Can't you just tell me... are we human?”
Julie asked.

“Partly,” Marcus answered. “We were born the
same way humans are, but contain other... special things. We're
more of a blend,” Marcus said.

“Blend?” she asked.

“Enough on that, Julie. This is all stuff
your father and Uncle Gregg should have told you,” he said, his
frustration showing.

“Wait. You said we were born the way humans
are. So, that means I have a mother. Why can't I remember her?” she
asked.

“Because she died when you were born. All the
birth mothers die,” Marcus said.

“Why?” Julie asked quietly.

“I don't know. They just do. Something gets
released during the birth and they die,” he said.

“That's... horrible!” Julie exclaimed.

Marcus was getting agitated. “Okay, that's
all. Any other questions need to be asked of Uncle Gregg,” he said,
standing up.

“Marcus, please. I know I'm being
troublesome. You have no idea what it has been like for me growing
up and not having anyone to talk to about anything,” Julie
told.

“I'll give you Uncle Gregg's address and
phone number. You can ask him yourself. He'll be surprised as hell
to hear from you,” Marcus laughed. Julie decided to not push him
any further. She did, however, have one more question that needed
an answer.

“What about Austin?” she asked.

Chapter Ten-- Surprises

“What about Austin? Is he like us too?” she
asked timidly.

Marcus turned and grinned. “So, cousin is in
the lead, huh?” He laughed. “I'll have to warn him to be wary of
Doc's temper, though. He almost took my head off.” Marcus shook his
head.

Marcus seemed to be going off in another
direction with his words. Julie decided not to follow and stuck
with her original question. “What about Austin?” she asked
again.

“He's got nothing. Something went wrong with
his. Uncle Gregg doesn't know what. He turned out just plain old
human. Oh, you might want to be careful 'round him. Uncle has kept
him in the dark. He was not part of all the gatherings,” he
explained.

Julie didn't know why, but she felt relieved
by Marcus' explanation of Austin. “You wore me out.” Marcus sighed.
“I gotta eat and re-energize. You've probably noticed that you eat
a lot. You have to. Our abilities use up a lot of energy,” he
yawned.

“I'm always hungry.” Julie laughed.

Marcus retrieved a pen and a paper from Eli's
desk and wrote down some information. He handed it to Julie. “Uncle
Gregg's address and phone number. Call him. Let him know you are
still alive, “ Marcus said.

“Are we related, too?” Julie asked.

“Me, you, Austin; we're all cousins, but not
in the related by blood way that humans are. We just use the term
loosely. We all come from the same planet,” Marcus said.

Julie blinked. “Planet? Like... you mean...
outer space, like... planet?” she asked.

“Yeah. What did you think I meant?” he
replied.

“I don't know what I thought you meant,”
Julie said quietly. She sat back down on the sofa and stared.

“I should have kept my mouth shut,” Marcus
said more to himself than her.

“I really am a freak,” Julie said with a
small voice.

Marcus rolled his eyes and knelt down in
front of her. “Uncle Gregg can tell you everything. He is, like,
the liaison to our world. That's why he has all these different
names. Each name represents a section from which we all came.
That's how he keeps track,” he said