Freak of Nature (The Lost Witch Trilogy #1) (7 page)

Zane leaned over and kissed her cheek when she hopped into the jeep.
“
Wow
. You look so beautiful today,” he said sounding in awe.

Sarah blushed and lowered the mirror to look at
herself. All she saw was her same face, make up free. “
Riiiight
,” she said doubtfully.

Zane grinned and drove away from the curb. “Trust me on this.”

Sarah relaxed and watched the town go by and found herself smiling. She felt so alive today almost carefree. She honestly couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so good. It was almost as if she’d come out of a dark scary cave and out into the sunlight. It felt amazing.

“Listen Sarah, I’m going to drop you off and then head over to your house to get your things.
Mom and I talked about it last night and we both think it’d be safer if I went by myself while you’re aunt is at work. No drama and it can be done and you won’t have to worry about it.”

Sarah frowned and grabbed Zane’s hand.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea Zane. I’m coming with you. What if my aunt catches you? What if Drakes there? I don’t want you to get hurt,” she said worriedly.

Zane looked at her in surprise and laughed.
He reached over and touched her cheek, sending a warm pulse through her skin and down to her heart. “You are absolutely lovely. You’re worried about me? Sweetheart, it’s them you should be worried about. Trust me.”

Sarah studied his confident smiling face and relaxed a little.
“Sorry, I forgot for a moment who I was talking to,” she said bowing her head to him sarcastically.

Zane laughed again and pulled up in front of the school.
“I’ll see you at lunch,” he promised and leaned over for a kiss.

She looked around at all the kids milling around the parking lot and looked back at him, still patiently waiting for her.
“This doesn’t mean we’re together or anything you know,” she said hesitantly.

Zane lifted an eyebrow and Sarah felt his energy wrap around her body.
She leaned over and quickly kissed him, but not fast enough to avoid the energy that seeped into her almost immediately.

“You and I will have to agree to disagree for a while on that,” Zane said narrowing his eyes at her.

Sarah smiled and opened the door. “I can still get that restraining order you know,” she teased.

Zane laughed and pulled the door shut with his energy, leaving her at the curb
grinning her head off.

She walked into the school and realized that she already wished it was lunch time.
Time went by slowly and when fourth period finally came around, she gave serious thought to skipping. She felt antsy and worried about Zane. She wouldn’t be able to relax until she knew he was okay.

Fourth period was her World Civilization’s class.
The teacher didn’t have an assigned seating chart so everyone sat wherever they wanted to. She headed for the back of the class as usual, but changed course when she saw an empty seat behind Jill Cavanaugh. Jill had her head down as if she was studying her textbook, but to Sarah, she looked like she was just too weak to lift her head. Sarah frowned and glanced around the classroom to see if anyone else had noticed the change in Jill. All the other kids were too busy talking, flirting, complaining and doing the usual.

She sat down and leaned forward to tap Jill on the shoulder and stopped with her hand in the air.
She slowly lowered her hand as she saw a small drip of blood slowly make its way down the back of Jill’s neck. No one would have noticed, but Jill’s hair had drifted to the side. Sarah stared at the red liquid, mesmerized and horrified at the same time. She got her book out and set it on the desk opening it, without even caring about what page she was on. She leaned over her book, very similar to the way Jill was, and closed her eyes. She sent her energy out of herself and towards Jill. She wrapped around Jill and concentrated on her neck. She could feel the seeping blood pulsing around a deep laceration. She could feel the dull pain and the weariness in Jill. She probed deeper and felt something even stranger, longing and a complete lack of care for herself. She could tell that Jill didn’t even care that she was hurt or that her body was so weakened. She felt in Jill a desire to give up everything she was for what, she didn’t know.
But she could guess
. For the first time in her life, she felt anger towards Lash.

She concentrated her energy on the laceration on Jill’s neck.
She’d only been able to heal in the past by physically touching the wound, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to do that this time. Jill would never allow her to. She blocked everything out and felt Jill’s blood and her skin. She used all her energy to bring the skin together. She faintly heard the teacher come in, but she knew she needed a few more minutes. The cut was deep and was nothing like the scratch she had taken just moments to heal yesterday on Zane.

“Miss Hudson?
Is something wrong?” Mrs. Jensen asked.

Sarah heard her speaking to her through a thick haze and looked up while trying to heal at the same time.
It was exhausting and the strain on her face must have shown because Mrs. Jensen looked worried.

“I think you should go see the nurse Sarah,” she said walking to her desk to write a note.

Sarah lowered her head again without saying anything in reply and sent out a burst of energy in the hopes of closing the skin on Jill’s neck.

Jill slowly turned around to stare at Sarah.
She reached back as if to touch her neck but then lowered her hand. “
Sarah?
Are you okay?”

Sarah raised her head and sighed, knowing that even though the skin was closed, it was a very fragile bond.
Anything could break it open again. “I’m okay Jill. What about you? You don’t look like you’re feeling very well either.”

Jill shrugged and tried to smile.
“Just a bug going around.”

Sarah frowned.
“Sure.”

“Here Sarah.
Head to the Nurse’s office. You look like you’re going to pass out.”

Sarah shrugged but took the note and stood up.
“I’m okay Mrs. Jensen.”

Mrs. Jensen shook her head and motioned to the door with her head.
Sarah walked out of the room and shoved the note in her pocket. She and Lash needed to have a little conversation. She closed her eyes and felt for him. She’d never really analyzed why she always knew where he was in school. She’d been able to do that since Junior High. She accredited it to the fact that she’d thought so much about protecting him from bullies that it was just ingrained in her now.

She leaned up against a wall for a moment and then just knew absolutely that he was three doors down the hall.
She walked towards the door and looked through the window. She stood at an angle so that the teacher wouldn’t be able to see her. She looked around the classroom until she found Lash. He was sitting in the back with his head thrown back and his hands cradling his head. He looked cocky and self-assured and there was a girl leaning towards him, trying to get his attention. He had such a self-satisfied look to him that she felt like hitting him. Just then he looked right at her and his grin faded and turned into a real smile. She motioned for him to come to her with her finger. He immediately raised his hand and walked up to talk to the teacher. He opened the door seconds later and pulled her down the hallway towards the back doors.

“Let’s go talk out here.
I know the perfect place,” he said excitedly.

Sarah glared at his back, but let herself be pulled towards the football field and the bleachers. A few moments later they were standing in quiet privacy.
She took a moment to look around and get a feel for the place.

“I get a feeling you come here a lot,” Sarah said quietly.

Lash shrugged and leaned against a post. He reached out and ran a hand down a lock of her hair, pulling gently through the waves. “I’ve always loved your hair Sarah.”

Sarah looked down at her feet.
“I need to talk to you Lash.”

Lash grabbed her hand and pulled her closer.
“I knew you would. I knew you couldn’t be seriously interested in Zane. I’m so glad you came to get me. You have no idea,” he said and then before she knew what he was about, he’d pulled her into his arms and began kissing her as if he’d been dying to.

Sarah squawked in protest and tried to pull back but his arms were like a vice around her.
Her energy that automatically wrapped itself around Zane, whenever he kissed her, was rearing up to shatter over Lash. She stomped on his foot hard before she seriously hurt him. She tried to pull her energy back, but some of it seeped out onto Lash, giving him a power slap for the first time since she’d known him.

Lash looked shocked and paralyzed for a moment.
He shook his head and rubbed his arms, wincing. “What just happened?” he asked, still feeling pain shooting through his nerve endings.

Sarah could have reached out and taken the pain back, but chose not to.
“Don’t kiss me like that again Lash. You have to ask first. You can’t just dive in and take.”

Lash swallowed and looked away.
“I thought . . . I thought you came to find me because you wanted me as much as I wanted you,” he said sounding confused and hurt.

Sarah shook her head and stepped away from Lash.
“I told you we need to talk. I didn’t say grab me and shove your tongue down my throat.”

Lash looked away in embarrassment and then looked back at her angrily.
“Then what is this about, if you don’t mind my asking?”

Sarah put her hands on her hips and stared at him coldly.
“I saw the back of Jill’s neck Lash. I could feel you on her, like you left an imprint. What are you doing to her? It feels like you’re draining her. Tell me why she’s bleeding Lash,” she insisted, staring him down.

Lash whipped his head up, looking at her aghast.
“
What?
How do you know that?”

Sarah shook her head in confused disgust.
“Tell me or I’ll do whatever I have to, to stop you. I won’t let you hurt her Lash. The last few days she’s gone from beautiful, bright and alive, to dull, exhausted and gray. Tell me right now what you’re doing to her.”

Lash turned away from her, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking miserable.
He walked a few steps away and then turned back. “I don’t have a choice. So much was taken from me. He’s always taken too much. Like he’s had a right to me. Like I was just there for him to use any time he wanted. Like I was just a thing and not a person. I’ve been so weak my whole life because of him. I figured that if he could take from me, then I could take from someone too. And it worked. I couldn’t believe how well it worked. And I finally became the person I was always meant to be, you know. Strong, and powerful. People see me differently now.
I am different.
I’m finally me. Sarah, you have no idea what it’s like to be used and used and used. Now it’s me using. And I get it.”

Sarah shook her head in confusion and grabbed Lash’s hand.
Not just to steady him, and calm him, but to sense what he was trying to tell her behind the words. Her touch immediately brought his agitation down and he looked her straight in the eyes.

“Sarah, do you know what
Blutrausch is?”

Sarah shook her head. “No.
I’ve never heard of it. Tell me.”

Lash kept hold of her hand but looked away.
“It’s blood lust.”

Sarah’s mouth fell open in horror.
“What are you telling me Lash? Are you telling me that you’re drinking Jill’s blood? What is this, some vampire thing?” she asked, feeling squeamish and physically sickened by the thought.

Lash looked at her in pained silence for a moment.
“Yeah, that’s what I’m trying to tell you. My mom died when I was seven and ever since then, my dad’s been taking my blood. That’s why I’ve always been so weak, and small and unhealthy. He practically drained me dry a few times and he had to take me to the hospital for blood transfusions. One time a doctor got suspicious enough to call Family Services. He suspected my father was abusing me, but my dad just paid the social worker off and it was back to life as I knew it. Or hell more like it. The only bright spot in my life has been you Sarah. You’d look at me and you wouldn’t see this used up shell, this victim. You saw
me
and you helped me and protected me. I love you for that Sarah and I will love you until I die.”

Sarah felt so ill she slid to the ground, still holding Lash’s hand in hers.
He kneeled down beside her and tilted his neck and lifted his hair. She looked at the back of his neck at the hundreds of scars crisscrossing his neck and felt tears fall down her cheeks. She lifted a hand to touch his neck, wanting so much to heal the skin, to heal the little boy who was so taken advantage of. She could feel the heat and energy leave her hand and press down into Lash’s neck, but it bounced back almost immediately. This she couldn’t heal.

Lash raised his head and took her other hand in his. His blue eyes were intense and open and vulnerable. “My father took and took and took from me.
But I stopped him. I finally turned the tables on him this summer. I realized that if I could take blood like he does, I could get stronger. I could regain what he’d taken from me. And I did. I met some girls online and met up with them at the mall in the city. And I’d . . . well, I did what I had to do to get what I needed. After a few months, I confronted my father when he came for me and I was able to fight him off. He leaves me alone now. I don’t know where he’s getting his blood from now. But it’s not me.
It’ll never be me again
,” he swore looking savage and wild.