Burdened (A Burdened Novel) (58 page)

I stumble backwards,
tripping over what I think is a root. Before I can fall, Roehl catches me. He cradles me—his touch shocking, but he holds me gently. He stares at me for a moment. His eyes are glossy still, and full of wonder and excitement.

“
I know you now, Tracey, and I can see why Nathan is so enraptured by you.” He smells me again. “You may smell like Nathan, but you taste much sweeter. You appeal to me.” He smiles. “And I will have you.” He kisses me, burning my lips with his tongue, trying to force it into my mouth.

He’s ripped from me. He yelps loudly
, falling backwards. “Nathan, you have something special there.” He stands. “I
will
have her.”

Nathan springs towards
Roehl and he vanishes.

Anger flashes through me
, coming from Nathan. I sit down on the ground, wiping my mouth, then I grab my arm. It’s numb.

Nathan
disappears quickly. A few seconds later, I hear a manly scream in the distance—a gut-wrenching scream, full of anger, irritation, and frustration. I can feel the hurt and rage that he feels.

I feel his presence before his hands
grab me from the ground. His soft hands are filled with anger. When I make it to my feet, we are back at the house.

He takes us into a bright room I’ve never seen
. We are shortly accompanied by Taylor, Justin, and Olar. Taylor holds towels, Olar holds a silver bowl, and Justin has wraps and alcohol. My nerves rattle as everyone but Nathan stares at me. He sits me in a chair and he sits in one across from me.

“Baby.” I look to him. “I have to hurt you
, which is me hurting myself.” He takes the alcohol from Justin, who steps up first. “He is in you, and we need to stop him before he can fully course through you.” He scoots closer to me. Taylor steps to my side with the towels, and Olar places the bowl between us.

My stomach drops.
Nathan scoots closer to me and rubs his thumb over my lips. I try to open my mouth, but I can’t. It feels rough under his touch. Then fear kicks in.

He still doesn’t look at me as I stare at him. His eyes are dark
-blue and grey eats at the lining. I try to reach up and grab his hand, but my right arm won’t move and it’s throbbing.

“Tracey
—” I watch his eyes fill a little. “I’m going to cut out the flesh of your shoulder first. I’ll heal it after, but first we have to drain you.”

He takes a breath
, then continues, “This will bring you near death, and that’s why everyone else is here. Olar will be the one to drain you, it’s an ability he has. It will all be painful, and you will also feel my pain. Taylor is here for me—so I don’t try to kill him. Once all of Roehl is from you, I’ll heal you. Then I’ll explain the next step.”

He still doesn’t look at me. No one else speaks. I heard what he said
, but I’m scared of it all. He pulls my chair the remaining distance.

“Look away
, Tracey,” he warns.

I ignore the warning
, and Taylor walks to my side. “Tracey, just look at me.” I can’t. I only want to look at Nathan.

He moves over a little. I look away from him
, looking for a knife or a scalpel that he is going to use to cut me, when I feel something digging into my skin. My hands start to shake as I feel it dig through by the centimeter. I want to cry out, but my mouth won’t open.

The pain worsens and it spreads throughout my back and my chest. My eyes fill
from the unbearable pain. Tears fall, along with the bow of my head.

Taylor offers me her shoulder
, and sobs come as I feel my shoulder move and the wound widen. I hear something slop into the silver bowl.

I
’m broken, weeping against Taylor’s shoulder. The entire right side of my body hurts. I feel Nathan move and kiss my cheek.

Taylor rubs my back. “I would advise you
to either try to keep your head down or your eyes closed. You’re not going to want to see this part.”

I watch her stand. She and Nathan walk to the
farthest corner of the room. My eyes stay glued on him. His eyes are still dark, and he still doesn’t look at me. I see Olar approach me out of the corner of my eye. He looks sorry when I turn to him. He looks at Nathan, then towards my arm.

He pours the alcohol on his hand
s, over the bowl. I look up at him and he shakes his head, pointing to my other side.

I turn
in that direction and Justin kneels there.

“Hi Tracey.” He smiles. My eyes beg him to take the pain away. “I’m going to stay with you through this one.” He looks around me
, then back to me. “You should keep looking this way.”

Fear rolls in my stomach and I want to cry harder. I’m sc
ared, and this is getting worse.

Bu
rning fingers press into my wound. They feel like tubes digging into me, sucking my blood from my body. The black film covers my eyes and I scream—close-mouthed.

I see Nathan from my peripherals
, shoot out towards Olar and me. Taylor jumps in front of him and pushes him back against the wall. They tussle, and she pins him against the wall. He tries not to fight her back. I can see his restraint.

Staring at him, he starts to become sluggish at the same time
that I feel the burning fingers press harder into my arm. My head falls over and my vision fades. My head starts to swim, and I feel myself float in and out of consciousness. I can feel nothing.

“Tracey
, hold on. Don’t pass out.” I hear Justin’s distant voice. “Hurry up, Taylor.”

“I am. Come on
, Nathan. He’s done, and you need to heal her. Get up.”

Sluggish footsteps approach
. I continue to slip in and out of consciousness, until I feel Nathan’s hands press against the good side of my neck, while he kisses the other. I want to touch him, but I can’t.

He moves to my wound
and I feel nothing there. Minutes pass and I start to feel warmer. Maybe three minutes later, he pulls back. He has a towel, wiping my blood from his face. And Taylor is at my side, cleaning me off.

I calm
. Nathan sits back in—what I now call—the ‘bad news’ chair and pushes his hands through his hair.

“We
—need to clear your mouth. I have—” He pauses, shaking his head. “—to remove the entire area.” He lets out an uncomfortable breath.

My eyes widen.
I know I don’t have a choice. I close my eyes and nod.

“I’ll try to not make it painful
,” he reassures.

He grabs my face
, pulling it gently. He leaves one hand resting on the back of my cheek, while the other begins cutting through the other side of my face, starting half an inch from my lips.

Tears roll from
my closed eyes, feeling this pain as equal to the last. It seems like he cuts a square shape. I feel everything. The area is removed and it sounds like it is thrown into a bowl of water. I can feel the warmth of his body get closer and the freezing air of his breathing against my mouth.

Slowly
, I feel the wound close. And after, I feel lips against mine. My tears stream at the feel of his lips, and I kiss them. They are soft and desirable. I move quickly from the chair to his lap, and he wraps his arms around me tightly. I let out a breath of relief against his face.

My sight is still dim, so I let my eyes stay closed
, putting my head down on his shoulder, near his neck. “Thank you, all. Can we have this room? We’ll come to you in a few.”

“That is fine
, Nathan. Take as much time as you need,” says Taylor. I hear them leave.

“Tracey, what were you thinking when you came up
to my side out there? No, I know what you were thinking. Why were you thinking it? I have made the decisions I have made for a reason. No one can change my mind. No one talks me into doing something I don’t want to do.”

I don’t know how to respond. I don’t know why I would
have thought that. I don’t say anything.

“He will still try to come after you. Just
, what we did to you, makes that process harder. Roehl can track people by putting something of him in them—his blood, saliva—and he did that to you. There still may be some in you, taking into account that we can’t completely drain you.”

He takes a deep breath. “That’s twice today
that I almost lost you. Both family, and Roehl should have been killed.” He kisses my shoulder. “Come on, Tracey. Let’s go get something to eat.”

We change our clothes and Nathan takes us to a restaurant that just opened their patio for eating outside. We both have a salad. His is flooded with chicken and mine is just veggies.

On our way
to the restaurant, he got an update on Glen, and we are going to see her next. I still have not said anything—just a few head nods and a couple of deep breaths.

We get back in the truck and he pulls away from the parking lot.

After building up enough courage, I say, “Nathan, I’m sorry. I honestly don’t know what I was thinking.”

“Tracey,
” he follows quickly. “If you don’t trust me—and I don’t mean trusting me not to spaz out; I mean, with myself. What I mean is, do you not trust me to know right from wrong? Or knowing to choose good over evil?” he says, trying to remain calm.

Talking with his hand
, he says, “Do you really think someone can talk me into doing something I don’t want to do?” He rolls his eyes. “Someone besides you?” he says in a lower voice.

“Nathan, I
—”

“No
, Tracey. Just tell me.”

“I didn’t want him to persuade you into the things he was saying
,” I whisper.

“And what would make you think I would allow this
…this
serpent
to persuade me of anything?” He takes a breath, shaking his head. “I told you, people talk. Now, Roehl may have been a threat. But a threat I could have managed. So what he was saying—as I told you before—was just words. I could have taken care of the situation, managed it accordingly, if you would have just stayed where I had left you.”

He turns into the hospital parking lot. “You allowed him the opportunity to know you. The moment you walked up
, it sparked his interest. The distance you started at was good enough for him to just be curious, rather than intrigued. And now he knows your taste, your touch, and your smell. And I told you who you smell like. He can copy those things, use them against you—to attract you. He’ll want you, and he
will
die trying to get you.” His last words are venomous.

“Nathan
, please?” He still hasn’t looked at me, and when I look at him, his eyes are still night-blue, resting in front of a moon. “I am sorry.”

He pulls the truck
into an open spot. “Don’t be sorry, Tracey.” He’s calmer. “Let’s go in here and see Glen.” He gets out of the truck, and I climb over to get out on his side.

“Hi. I need to see Glen Richards.”

“Hello
. Okay, allow me one moment to look her up.” The receptionist is nice. She is more on the heavy-set side, but she has the prettiest smile. “Okay, here is a visitor pass for each of you. She is in room 344—take the second elevator to floor three.”

I take our passes and we head
to Glen’s room. It smells like bedpans and medicine. I hate it.

Glen is sleeping when we walk in
, and Nathan pulls up a chair for me to sit next to her. Her face is normal, and I rub her nose with my pointer finger until her eyes flutter.

Her eyes open and she smiles
at me. I smile back at her. “Hey, GeGe. How are you feeling?”

“Hi.”
It’s a whisper. “I’m better—a little hungry.” She swallows hard. “No—I’m a lot hungry.”

I chuckle
, and Nathan comes to my side. “Hi, Glen.”

She smiles
. “Hi, Nathan. Have you all seen Scott?” She tries to sit up, but can’t; only her head moves. “I haven’t seen him at all.”

“I don’t think you should sit up, and yes
, he’ll be up here tonight to see you.”

Her smile grows wide. “Good!”

She seems much better, which means that Scott will be better. Glen rambles on about Scott to Nathan, and he entertains her by listening.

I
think Nathan is going to leave tonight, to check on things, and I’m not going to fight him over it. I feel bad about him thinking that I think less of his decision making capabilities. That’s not it at all.

“Well
, Glen, we’ll let Scott know you’re awake so he can come see you.”

“Thank you
, Nathan. I really miss him.”

I take Nathan’s spot and place my forehead to hers. “I’ll see you later.”

She nods. I pull back and we say our ‘goodbyes.’