Consume (The Devoured Series) (18 page)

"You know he only told you he loves you because he thinks you're going to die."

I stilled. Such hatred, such malice, such belligerence from someone who didn't even know me. "Don't talk to me anymore, Finn. I don't want to hear it."

I lay down and pulled the blanket higher.

"I'm just trying to save you some heartache." He shrugged. "You never saw them together, him and Angelina. I don't know what he's told you about them, but she was very much in love with him," he growled and sneered. I looked at him curiously.

"You sound very jealous," I whispered.

He stood and threw his glass on the floor. It shattered, but before the glass even flitted its way across the deck, Enoch was there. He shoved Finn back into his seat and held his hand out in front of me as he spoke to Finn. "I suggest you stop feeling sorry for yourself and shut up."

"Sorry for myself?" he scoffed and glared at me. "And I am not jealous."

"Ok," I said to placate the situation.

He stalked off to the other side of the boat and I sighed as I sat.

"I should never have brought him," Enoch muttered and tossled his hair.

"You brought him to get rid of me," I said softly, but honestly. "Why are you upset that that's exactly what he's trying to do?"

"Because it hurts you to do it," he answered and looked back at me. "The kind of pain and hurt I get through the bond isn't the kind I get when I feed from people. It hurts me to hurt you, or watch you be hurt. Like right now, you're hurting somewhere, aren't you?"

I hesitated and nodded. "My head. It's killing me."

He left without another word and went below. He came back quickly with a glass of ice water and a couple of pills. He held his hand out for me to take them, so I did. "Take it," he ordered quietly. "You should feel better soon."

"Not to jinx anything, but this is the nicest you've ever been to me. Why? I'm not going to be a Devourer, Enoch. I want you to know that so you don’t get even more upset later when we fix what's wrong with me."

"Yeah, I figured." He smirked. "High hopes."

"Why?" I repeated.

"Because…I guess I'm stuck with you. And like I said, if hurts when you're hurting. So, self-preservation and all that."

I smiled and nodded. "Right." I took the pills and drank the whole glass of water. Enoch watched me do it, to make sure I was taking them I guess. "I wish Eli and I could feel each other through the bond the way you can me."

"I would gladly offer it to him."

"Why can't your parents feel it?"

"It's a brotherly\sisterly bond thing," he said and waved his hand at me in annoyance.

"Hey, I am sorry, you know."

"For what, princess?" he said snidely. "Ruining my life or making me soft?"

"Both. I would never have bound myself to Eli had I known what would happen to you."

He smiled humorlessly. "Yes, you would have."

I pressed my lips together. "Maybe," I conceded after a pause. "I love him. Like really down-in-my-soul love him. Don’t you want to be happy for him?"

"Are you kidding?" he hissed. "You ruined his life before you ruined mine."

"I think your dictionaries are different, Enoch," I said and leaned my head back. It wasn't hurting anymore, but I was so, so tired.

"Hey," Eli asked as he emerged. "What's all the hissing about?" He stepped on the broken glass and it crunched under his feet. "What's this? What happened?" he asked and came to me.

Enoch answered, "She didn't like Finn's advice, and Finn didn't like her assessment of him."

"Assessment?" Eli asked, his brow rose. "What happened?"

"He threw his glass," I said. "He's sulking over there." I waved my hand towards that end of the boat. "He's fine. I'm fine."

"And the hissing?" Eli questioned Enoch.

"No hissing, brother mine. We're just one big happy family."

Eli rolled his eyes and looked to me for the answer. I grinned. He rolled his eyes again and smiled before leaning back on the seat beside me. But then his face changed and he sat back up. He took my chin in his hands and looked at me closely. "Clara, did you take something?"

"Yes, why?"

"Your pupils are dilated," he murmured. "What did you take?" I looked to Enoch in answer. Eli knew immediately what happened and growled as he stood. "What did you give her, Enoch?"

"Just some tranquilizers the old man had stashed in the bathroom."

"Some! Some tranquilizers, as in more than one!" Eli boomed.

"Two. Two will be enough to knock her skinny butt out for a few hours so me and my bond can have some peace and quiet," Enoch said rationally and leaned his head back against the boat side.

Eli was in front of me then. I could hear them, but really, I didn't care. I was just tired. "Can you hear me, love?"

"I hear you. I'm just tired."

He cursed and looked over his shoulder. "Enoch!" he said his name like it was a curse itself.

"I'm trying to rest," Enoch muttered. "Pipe down."

"That's it," Eli said to me. "We'll ditch them in the morning. I can't kill him, but we can leave him."

"Whatever," I muttered. "Lay with me?"

He sighed and cracked his neck like he was exhausted. He scooted me over so he had room and climbed on the bench beside me. He was so warm against the cold wind that I groaned loudly making him chuckle. "Better?"

"Much better."

He pushed my hair back. "I'm sorry."

"It's all right. It's just payback," I muttered. "I'm ok. I needed to sleep anyway."

"Where's my snarky girl?" he said through a chuckle, but it was laced with strain.

"Bite me, Thames," I whispered, making him laugh again.

"Well, there's that." He pressed a sweet kiss to my forehead. "I'll be here all night. I won't leave you for a second."

"I'm not worried."

He scoffed. "Of course you're not. You're high," he added dryly.

"Not high, just tired." I let my fingers tangle in the hair at the nape of his neck. "I love you."

He sighed. "I love you, CB. Go to sleep, baby."

~ ~ ~

My head was splitting, and I was freezing. I shivered and felt hands rubbing my arms. "Sorry. It's really cold at night."

He said something over his shoulder to someone and I felt another blanket land roughly on top of us. Eli grumbled as he spread it out and pulled me closer.

"Where are we?" I murmured.

"Almost there." He kissed my forehead. "Go back to sleep."

"Will you take me somewhere in a reverie?"

"To sleep?" he asked surprised.

"I want you to take me somewhere warm."

I'd barely said the words before I felt the sun on my face. I peeked up to see him sprawled on his side against me on a large beach towel in the sand. The beach was empty of people. I could hear the birds and waves pounding behind us.

"Thank you."

"Anytime, love."

And I fell back to sleep thinking of doing this with Eli for real one day.

~ ~ ~

The rocking boat woke me. I felt nauseas all of a sudden. No, not nauseas. I was upchucking. I scrambled up, leaning over the rail in milliseconds of being too late. But nothing.

My body racked and heaved, but nothing came up. I felt Eli's hand on my back, but I hurt so bad that I couldn't even focus. The blue water beneath me moved and swirled, making my vision blur.

"Ah," I groaned. "I want to just throw up."

"You want to throw up?" Enoch mocked. "Stupid feelers and their strange rituals."

I heard a scuffle and then Eli yelled. "She wants to throw up so she'll feel better, because you drugged her you jackass!" I heard another scuffle, and then a thud before Eli was at my back again. "Love, you ok?"

"Just kill me," I groaned. "Just make it quick," I joked.

"No talk of that," Eli barked, not appreciating my joke. "Come on," he said softer, as he turned me. "You want to freshen up before we go?"

I looked up and saw we were docked. "Arequipa?" I asked.

"Soon. We need to go catch our ride."

"Ok," I said and swallowed to make sure I was going to keep the contents of my stomach for good.

He showed me where the bathroom was, and I brushed my teeth and changed my clothes to some jeans and a layered t-shirt. I let my hair out of its ponytail. It fell in waves. More waves that made me ache even more for my mom. I took a deep breath. Mrs. Ruth has waves, too…

I shook my head and opened the door. Eli was there and took my bag from me. He led me to the top and the Captain threw the plank down for us to walk and cross to the dock.

"All right," Eli said once we all got across. "See ya." He nodded his head to Enoch and Finn, taking my hand and pulling me along the sidewalk.

"Whoa, wait," Finn said frantically. "What are you doing?"

"Neither one of you has Clara's or my interest in mind. You're here for yourselves and we've got enough to deal with than having to worry about your next move on Clara." He pinned Finn with a glare. "You kissing her again," then his glower swung to Enoch, "or you drugging her."

"It told you it was a test-" Finn said while Enoch yelled, "I just wanted her to nap a bit!"

"Whatever! We're done. We're going this way," Eli pointed with my bag in his hand, "and you go that way. So help me…if you follow us…"

His guttural growl even had Enoch looking surprised. Eli pulled me along as he cut through a busy alley full of people. There were fishing boats lining the pier and tables of goods set up. People yelled out to us to come and taste their fish, the freshest in the market they said.

"I'm sorry," I said and gave him a sideline glance.

"Why are you sorry?" he asked. "You didn't tranquilize yourself."

"I'm sorry you had to choose. Them…or me."

"I'll always choose you," he said incredulously.

"And I'll always be sorry that you have to. The jerk is your brother, and the bigger jerk is your best friend."

His brow bunched and he seemed to wonder what to say to that. "Yes, and as such, they should respect my decision."

"Is that something Devourers do? Respect?"

He swallowed and looked uncomfortable. "No."

"Then how can you expect them to?" I said softly. "I'm not saying what they did was right, but they only know one way to live."

"But it doesn't make it ok for them to treat you that way. I can't do anything to stop them because they're immortal. Leaving is the only option."

"I know," I agreed. "I just wanted to make sure you understood all the variables. I don't want you to think one day that you wish you'd tried harder to make it ok with your brother."

"My brother is just another Devourer. We don't view family like that, I told you."

"Then why do you care so much?" I said quietly and touched his cheek. He seemed a little peeved at my ability to see the truth.

"I care, he doesn't. He can't. I just want you."

"But what if I'm not enough one day?"

"Enough for what?" he asked, but kept going as I opened my mouth to speak. "I don't know if you know this, Miss Hopkins, but you are an extreme handful."