Page 45 of Awakened Gifts

Kellan groans, muttering something that even I can’t hear, and I instantly kneel closer putting my ear closer to his lips.

“Say it again,” I prompt, praying he has insight into what’s going on, considering he’s her counter.

My stomach roils at the thought of what he means to her, but this isn’t the fucking time for a pissing contest.

“Blood. Hers. Pocket.” The three words are rasp and barely audible, but he passes out before I can question what the hell he means.

Pocket.

With quick motions, I check all of his pockets, trying to make sense of his ramblings, and finally find a napkin that is saturated in red. I have no idea what we’re supposed to do with this, but maybe Simone can help. Aria’s blood is useless the second it hits the air, but maybe Simone’s gift can bring it back to life. Not that it’ll do a damn bit of good for us even if we get a single answer to the ever-growing list of questions.

“What’s that?” Rex asks, his body still shaking after its vile reaction. He does all he can to shield his eyes from the sight. He’s a strong hybrid who has endured the sight of slaughtered people, but never at his sister’s hand.

It’s all I can do to keep my own body in check.

“Aria’s blood. I think.”

He looks as puzzled as I do, but Mel beats him to the question.

“What good will it do us?” she asks.

As I stare at the napkin, I look into the nothingness where Aria once stood. “Either it has the answers to the universe, or it’s another dead end. Call everyone. No one goes after her anymore. She left a warning this time.”

“You honestly think she’ll follow through?” Mel asks, shaking visibly. “Aria’s still in there somewhere.”

My heart clenches, and I fight back the tears. “Right now, Aria’s just as scared as we are. And she’s even more helpless.”

“So she really can just vanish?” Simone asks in a mixture of disbelief and awe.

“Yes,” Rex and Mel say in exasperated unison.

“Sucks being second guessed, huh?” I ask dryly, still staring at Kellan’s still body that is resting on the table.

It took us three days to get back here after dealing with the fallout of everyone finding out about the rogue savage on the loose. All nations are quivering in fear right now. It’s almost as though Aria’s savage planned that brutal site—a strategic chess move. But I can’t imagine what would be in it.

She enjoyed their vicious dismemberment, but she had a reason behind it. I couldn’t hear her thoughts, but the emotions she projected have started sorting themselves out, and amongst the madness is the taste of calculation. But what’s her angle?

I know they were Scorpions, and obviously she had ample reasons to want them dead. Just as she has reasons for wanting the Fire Hawks dead. But she’s setting up moves for future plays.

“Why isn’t he waking up? Any clue what she did to him? We’ve fed him numerous packs of blood, and there aren’t any lethal pathogens or substances in his bloodstream. What’s keeping him down?”

Simone sighs while caressing the cheek of the sleeping hybrid who could have answers we need. Somehow he got her blood, and he needed us to know he had it. But why?

Her mind is a cluster fuck of incoherent and unfinished thoughts, just like everyone else’s. Her eyes dart up to the monitor that hangs from the ceiling when a beep sounds off. Unsure of how to read all the random equations and numbers on the board, I just watch her face. When her studious expression drops to make way for paling horror, my stomach knots up.

“What?” I prompt, doing my best to pick apart her frantic, even more jumbled up thoughts. Nothing she’s thinking is understandable.

“Zero percent,” she says in a whisper.

She drops to the floor, landing hard enough to crack the tile, and she continues staring numbly at the screen.

“What the fuck does that mean?” Rex demands, his fear almost rolling off him as he clutches and bends the table under his hand.

Simone stares blankly for a minute, and Mel steps up to read the shit that has stunned or terrified the blood gifted scientist. After several tormenting and suspenseful minutes, Mel looks at me, her eyes wide.

“She’s stripped herself of her counter,” she says on a gasp, and I take a deep, slow breath. “That’s probably why he’s unconscious. That would be excruciating. They’re at zero percent. And you’re at zero percent as a match as well. She stripped herself from everyone.”

“Then why am I not unconscious?”