Creatus (Creatus Series) (2 page)

As
the sun’s rays peeked above the horizon, lighting the abyss below her, she inhaled a deep breath, closed her eyes, and jumped. The ice-cold air rising from the river below rushed by her as she plummeted. She didn’t scream; she didn’t look down. As much as she hated her life, she hoped it wouldn’t end this way. She’d really like to see him one more time.

Her
life didn’t flash before her eyes as she’d always heard. Just an image of her mother covered in blood and her Dark Angel telling her he was sorry. Those were obviously the only images she’d ingrained into her subconscious as important.

As
she hit the water, a second of crushing pain seized her body and then the world turned dark and cold, enveloping her into its chasm.

“Breathe, dammit!”

His
deep voice penetrated her brain at the same time the sensation of a stabbing hot poker seared her shoulder. She gasped for air, but fire radiated through her chest as she attempted to inhale the cool air. She opened her eyes but couldn’t see the face above her, only a silhouette of a man. She recognized his voice, though. Her Dark Angel had come for her.

The
morning sun glared into her eyes, blinding her as she tilted her head to see him. As she lifted her hand to shield her face, a bolt of pain surged through her arm. “Oww…” she groaned.

“You
dislocated your shoulder and you may have a couple of cracked ribs, but you’ll live,” the deep voice she’d longed to hear for six years said.

“I’m
supposed to be dead,” she wheezed.

He
cupped the side of her face. “No, you’re not. You’re supposed to live, Kristina. For me. I just wanted a few more years, you stupid girl.”

Remembering
how he’d called her ‘stupid girl’ when she was sixteen, she tried to pull in a breath to protest, but it hurt too much. So she used what limited oxygen she had left in her lungs. “Stop… calling… stupid.”

He
spurted out a breath and stood, shaking his head. “I’ll be back in a minute. Try not to get into trouble.”

Kris
sealed her eyes shut, attempting to block out the sun as well as the throb in her shoulder, but then she couldn’t help but smile. Maybe she
was
dead, because she could swear she’d just heard him say he’d be back.

Chapter Two

Derrick leaned over Kristina, thankful she was still alive. Her eyes opened and she smiled. She had to be in pain, but she forced a smile anyway. His heart soared. He’d wanted to wait a few more years. But now that he was here, beside her, allowing her to see him, he had no idea how he’d waited as long as he had. And he could have lost her. She could have died from that drop. He’d never believed for a second she would jump. She’d never indicated she was suicidal.

He touched her face again, loving the way her soft skin felt beneath his palm, hating that he was going to have to hurt her to help her. “I’m not going to lie to you; this isn’t going to feel pleasant. I need to set your shoulder before I can move you.” He removed his leather belt and held it in front of her mouth. “Bite down on this.”

Her eyebrows furrowed a bit, a flicker of fear lighting in her eyes, but she accepted the strap without uttering a word. Did she think he’d hurt her on purpose?

Derrick bent her arm at a ninety-degree angle, rotating her arm and shoulder inward, toward her chest. She
clenched her teeth together on the leather, restraining her cries, for which he was grateful. It would kill him to see her in agony. Slowly, he rotated her arm and shoulder outward, keeping her upper arm stationary, coaxing it back into the shoulder joint.

She released her grip on the belt and exhaled in relief. “How did you do that?”

“I’m a doctor.” He scooped her up carefully and moved her into his vehicle. They needed to talk, but they couldn’t remain here. Someone might have seen her jump, and they’d be calling the police.

As if in shock,
Kristina didn’t say anything else as he strapped her in the passenger seat. She just stared at him, her hazel eyes sparkling in the morning sunlight. Beautiful, mesmerizing, even though wisps of red lined the sclera. After grabbing a blanket out of the cargo area of his Navigator, he dropped behind the wheel and handed it to her. She accepted it without comment, wrapping it around her. He adjusted the temperature controls as he drove out of the parking space at the yacht club where he’d carried her up on shore. She still hadn’t spoken a word, so he drove off without explanation. Maybe she was in shock or ticked that he’d called her stupid. It’d been rude, he knew. But why in hell would she jump off a bridge?

Feeling her gaze
burning through him, he cast a glimpse in her direction.

“You’re
… real,” she finally sputtered, a quiver in her voice as she touched his arm. “You’re flesh and blood.”

Huffing out a chuckle at her words, he attempted to contain the nervousness of her accusation, as if she
’d discerned there was something unusual about him. He didn’t look any different from any other twenty-eight-year-old male. He’d always assumed that once they met, he could convince her that she’d been mistaken as a child when she told the police officer that her dark angel had saved her. “Of course I’m real,” he said, attempting to add enough conviction behind his words so she wouldn’t question him further. He proceeded over the Tobin Bridge and took the exit toward the park underneath the tall structure on Chelsea’s side of the Mystic River. After he pulled into a space, he turned to the young woman he’d waited fourteen years to meet. “We need to talk.”

Her eyes widened in a mock gesture. “You think?”

Derrick exited the vehicle and walked around to the passenger side, opening the door, but Kristina didn’t get out. “Are you coming?” he said as softly as he could force himself. He’d saved her life for the fifth time by his count—of course, she only knew about two of the situations—and the first thing she chose to do was develop an attitude with him.

She assessed the deserted recreational area, her gaze raking across the vacant playground and picnic area, and then looked at him again. “Where are we going?”

“A morning stroll.” He motioned his head to the north, raising an eyebrow. “Don’t tell me you’re afraid of me,” he taunted, knowing she always tended to lean toward danger. He swore the girl thrived on putting herself in treacherous situations.

“I’m not afraid of anyone,” she retorted, a pronounced pucker of her lips detracting from the power of her words. She proceeded to move her legs to the side, but then cringed at the pain in her side.

“That’s what happens when you jump from a hundred and thirty-five feet.” He shook his head at her foolishness. “What in the world were you thinking?”

Ignoring him, Kristina inched herself out of the
SUV and carefully pulled herself upright. Her good arm cradled her other, but she didn’t as much as let out a peep.

“We could stay in the car,” he offered quickly, a pang of guilt rushing through him. He was being too hard on her. He’d heard her proclamation, knew why she’d jumped. “But the sunshine will do you good. You picked a beautiful morning to kill yourself, so I thought it’d be nice if our official introduction was a little more memorable than just me saving you.” He held his hand out to her.

She scrutinized him, scrunching her eyebrows and crossing her arms, even though the movement caused her to wince again. “What’s your name?”

Ah, his spunky girl was coming to,
he thought. He smiled, dropping his hand since she obviously wasn’t going to accept it. “Derrick,” he said, gesturing to the walkway. “Come on, it’s just a short walk.”

As they strolled along the boardwalk that bordered the Mystic River, a grouping of black-capped chickadees flew about them, searching for offerings, which brought a faint smile to Kristina’s face. A loca
l obviously fed them regularly.

The sun
was higher now, bathing Boston with a heavenly glow, providing a beautiful backdrop. Rays of sunlight reflected off the steel and glass buildings, sparkling like diamonds on the horizon.
The City upon a Hill,
as it had been dubbed, conveyed a quiet innocence in the morning. Of course, he knew better. Tonight, the vilest of society would be out to terrorize and take what wasn’t theirs. But for the time being, he was with the woman he’d protected from those beasts. The woman he’d also protected from his brother and best friend after she’d seen his antics in the alleyway so many years earlier.

He stopped at a bright sunny spot away from the playground, which would fill with children in the next hour. He aided Kristina to the lawn and then tucked the blanket around her. “I would have taken you to the hospital, but they can’t do much more than I did. All they can do is try to make you comfortable.
And
… they’d commit you for attempting suicide.” He shook his head again at the fact that she would do something so reckless, but held his tongue from uttering any more insensitive remarks. “Warm enough?”

She bobbed her head, but then released an uneasy breath tinged with discomfort. She crinkled her nose and then shook her head as if confused. “You look exactly the same.”

Derrick broke eye contact and stared off at the river. He figured she wouldn’t accept anything but a full explanation, but that was something he couldn’t give her yet. “No I don’t. It was dark in that alley,” he refuted, realizing she wouldn’t buy it, but knowing he had to try to convince her otherwise.

“But I saw you,” she insisted. “It’s been fourteen years, and you look the same age as me.”

He turned to her and sighed, wanting to tell her everything. Hoping she’d accept him. “I wanted to wait a few more years. You’re too young to know what you want, but you forced my hand.”

Her mouth turned up a fraction, obviously proud with herself, but she held a full grin at bay. “I always thought you were a vampire or something.”

He cleared his throat, resisting the urge to laugh. “Vampires don’t exist. The dead don’t walk. And if you don’t have a heart pumping blood through your body, you can’t do any of the things that supposed vampires do.” He raised his brow, inquiring if she caught the gist of his comment. He’d always wondered how books and movies portrayed vampires as sensual and erotic when they purportedly didn’t have the necessary body functions required to make such acts possible. You didn’t have to be a doctor to understand that if you don’t have a heart pumping blood through your body, vital sexual organs aren’t going to function properly.

“I know vampires don’t exist,” she rejoined. “But…” she moved her head slowly from side to side as though trying to unite her memory with reality, “the way you came off that roof. And you
do
look the same. Now that I know I didn’t conjure up some apparition, I know what I saw. So, what are you? No
normal
human could jump off a four-story building without getting hurt.”

He gazed into her eyes, attempting to impress on her the importance of this conversation. “If I tell you, Kristina, your life as you know it is over. You’ll have to stay with me forever. My family won’t allow you to leave once you choose. That’s why I wanted to wait until you were older.”

Kristina lifted her chin, steeling herself, a question in her eyes as she struggled to understand, it seemed. “Can you make me what you are, then?”

His jaw practically fell open in response. He hadn’t expected her to accept that he was different so easily. “Can you turn an ape into a human? No, I can’t make you what I am; I’m a living being like you.”

Her body trembled, and she gathered the blanket tighter, as though a chill had swept through her. She’d been fishing for an answer, and he’d caved. Maybe she wasn’t ready. He needed to be careful.

But then she squared her shoulders and sat up straighter, as if preparing for the truth. “So, why me? Why did you save me—twice?”

Twice? It’d been more than twice
, he wanted to confess. But he understood what she was really asking.
Why hadn’t he saved her mother?
“I was too late.” He balled his hands into fists at his sides. “If I’d only been a few minutes earlier, your mother would be alive. That punk stabbed her in the descending aorta. It was amazing she’d lived as long as she had.” He ran his hand across his forehead at the memory, pinching his temple. “So I had to make sure I’d never lose you; I couldn’t fail twice.”

Her eyes softened, accepting his answer. But then she leaned closer, her brow furrowing as if a thought had just occurred to her. “But how do you always know where I am?”

Derrick focused above her head, afraid to meet her eyes for this tidbit. “I wish I could claim some magical, mythical power, but I can’t,” he said, trying to make light of his confession. She didn’t crack a smile, so he continued, “It was easy the first eight years; I just had to check on you at night, make sure whichever foster home you were with didn’t abuse you. But then, you turned into a wild teenager, so I had to find ways to keep track of your whereabouts.” He lowered his gaze to her eyes again. “I tracked you by your cell phone. Amazing the programs that are available. I could sit back and wait to see what trouble you would find.” He smiled, attempting to diminish his admission.

“So that’s how you knew I was at the party,” she said, seemingly not alarmed by the fact that he’d kept tabs on her. He thought for sure that she’d think he was some deranged stalker.

He drew in a breath at the memory of Kristina when she was sixteen. He’d seen the two of them on the balcony, heard their conversation. Ignored the first twinge of jealousy as it’d hit him. He’d never thought of her as anything but his charge. But when he’d heard the college kid tell her to drink up and then offered for them to go outside for fresh air, he sensed he was up to no good. He’d waited, though. He’d thought it would be good to let the boy scare her, but he hadn’t expected him to turn violent as quickly as he had. “That kid is lucky I didn’t kill him.”

Kristina dropped her head, apparently not upset, but plainly disappointed for some reason. “So, you’re human?” she asked, a note of doubt tainting her words.

He released a breath of relief that the idea didn’t repulse her, but then realized she’d obviously ignored his attempt to change the subject of what he was. Offering her a hint of a smile, he said, “Would that disappoint you?”

When he’d failed to save her mother, leaving her parentless, he’d become her protector. But after seeing her with that college kid, he’d started to see her differently. They looked nothing alike, didn’t listen to the same music, didn’t do the same recreational activities. But he’d always hoped that once they finally met, she would like him. In the last few years, he’d fallen in love with her strength and spirit, even though he didn’t agree with her unwise choices to escape reality.

“I just don’t understand. How can you be the same age as I am if you’re human?”

“I’m not the same age,” he said, resisting a sigh. He wanted to tell her, needed to tell her, longed to tell her, but knew he could only reveal so much without knowing if she was the
One
. “I’m roughly twenty-eight in your years, though.” Again, he was talking too much, but he had to give her something, and for some reason, he felt as if he could confess anything to her.

She absorbed his answer without commenting. Kristina did senseless things, but she wasn’t stupid by any means.

He stared into her eyes for a moment, noticing she didn’t look away. “Kristina, if you’ll allow me, I want to watch over you while you come down. And then we can discuss everything else. Okay?”

Her brow furrowed
again. She hated anyone to tell her what to do. He’d overheard many arguments between her and her foster parents over the years. Of course, in her defense, most of them had never treated her as their child, rather as a paycheck. Just another kid they fed in order to pad their pockets. “Come down from what?” she snapped.