Parahuman (Parahuman Series) Page 23

  Devan grabbed some supplies from out of the vet’s cupboards. Putting on some latex gloves he cut around the area of the chest where he’d impaled the animal with the ski pole. Devan had aimed for the heart and hadn’t missed. He stored the tissue sample in a borrowed baggie stuffing it his pocket. He also combed the animal’s fur for particulates, putting those into another baggie.

  Opening the jaws of the animal Devan inspected the oral cavity. It looked free of any kind of disease or infection. There was no bleeding gums or swollen, cracked tongue. It appeared to be the mouth of a very healthy animal. He moved onto its eyes and ears and found nothing there indicating signs of sickness.

  Stepping back Devan looked at the animal as a whole. There wasn’t any sign of malnutrition or any other injuries to the wolf besides the hole in the chest. In its immobile state the irregularities of the animals feature became even more prominent; the jaws and snout were larger as well as the forehead, and the cranium broader. It brought back disturbing memories of other animals that didn’t look quite normal making Devan’s heart skip a beat.

  Taking the scalpel Devan made a jagged cut into the foot of the animal and snapped off a small bone. Dropping it into a baggie he added it to the other two in his pocket.

  The crunch of gravel from outside alerted Devan to the possibility of company. He’d left the door to the cold room open so he would hear if anyone was coming. Stashing everything back where he found it he closed the door to the cold room silently hoping whoever it was would pass on by. No such luck, the footsteps were coming closer. Being a teenager it wouldn’t be difficult to impress on someone that he’d only just been curious and wanted to see a wolf up close.

  The door handle clicked and Devan strived to put a shamefaced expression on his face.

  The person who opened the door transformed it into sincere surprise.

  Laney!

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  “What are you doing here?” Laney glared at Devan. When she had seen his jeep drive by she had thought for a minute he might actually come into The Diner. After a few moments had passed and he hadn’t come in she knocked herself on the head, figuratively of course, for thinking that he would voluntarily enter an establishment to be surrounded by unknown people. She may only have known him for a couple of days, but she knew he wasn’t comfortable around a lot of people. Small groups of people probably made him uncomfortable.

  She’d made a quick excuse to Hali and Donny and left to go look for him. After finding his jeep and quite by chance catching the vet clinic sign she’d immediately realized where he’d gone. The question was why?

  Devan looked at her in surprise. “I needed a closer examination of the wolf. What are you doing here?”

  Laney stepped into building and closed the door. No need to advertise their presence.

  “I was sitting over at The Diner when I saw your jeep go past, but I said to myself that I must be mistaken because Devan should be at home resting from the attack he was in earlier today. Instead, here you are sneaking into the vet’s.” Laney knew her voice was sounding way too ‘momish’, but she was really upset that he was running around after almost dying a few hours ago. She didn’t care what he said about it not being that close of a call. He’d looked next to deaths door when he’d come down from that roof.

  Devan’s surprise turned to confusion. “I’m fine, really. My recovery from injuries is fairly rapid, and something about the wolf was troubling me so I decided to come and get a look.”

  Laney rolled her eyes. “Of course there’s something wrong with it; it’s sick or diseased. No normal, healthy wolf comes into a school ground loaded with people and then attacks for no reason.”

  “Probably.”

  Laney narrowed her eyes at Devan’s short reply. There seemed to be a load of meaning behind that one word.

  “You think it’s something else?” She asked curiously.

  “Possibly,” he answered just as vaguely.

  Laney growled. “Probably, possibly. What are we playing; the ambiguity game, because I never learned to play that.”

  Devan gave her guarded look…at least it looked guarded from what she could tell from behind those blasted glasses. “I’m not sure; that’s why I came so I could get some samples.”

  Samples? “Samples?” Laney asked, intrigued.

  “I was retrieving some specimen samples to test for diseases.” Devan looked back at the cold storage door thoughtfully. “Although, the animal isn’t showing any visible signs of being sick or diseased that I can see.”

  Laney frowned. “You don’t think it’s sick?”

  Devan walked back to the cold storage and opened the door. Laney followed and felt a little trepidation. The animal was dead, but it had just tried to kill them this morning. She looked down at the dead wolf, and…Jesh, was it huge!

  Devan knelt down by the animals head and Laney again followed suit. He reached over and tugged up the wolf’s lips. Laney wasn’t easily frightened but she could help the shiver at all those sharp, pointy teeth.

  “This is not the mouth of a sick or diseased animal. There is no bleeding or cracking of the gums or tongue, there was no foaming of the mouth, and there was no madness in its eyes when it attacked us in the building. In fact, there was a calculating gleam to its gaze. I’m not sure why it did what it did, but it wasn’t because it was sick.”

  “Maybe it was just one of those ‘fluke’ things, or maybe the sickness hasn’t manifested itself physically yet.”

  “Maybe,” he granted.

  Laney’s breath huffed out in aggravation at his one liner. She was starting to change her opinion on how cute they were.

  “But you don’t think so, do you?” Laney pressed.

  He sighed. “No.”

  Laney stood up. “Getting information out of you is like pulling teeth.” She huffed irritably.

  A small indent appeared between Devan’s brows and his lip twisted slightly as he stood up next to her. “Sorry, it’s hard to break the habit of concealing everything.”

  Laney immediately became contrite upon seeing his expression and hearing those words. Devan had been laying low for six years; he wasn’t all of a sudden going to spill what was going on in his mind with her just because he revealed his secret to her an hour plus ago.

  “No, I’m sorry. I need to recognize that it will take awhile for you to trust me and hopefully feel like you can share with me. I mean, this is only our first day as collaborators.”

  Devan appeared to stare at her appraisingly for a moment. Laney smiled and could only hope he would see her as a friend soon. He cleared his throat and gestured for them to leave the cold locker. Shutting the door he turned to face her, rubbing the back of his neck.

  “I’m unsure of my facts at the moment. Sickness or disease is a valid hypothesis, but the wolves’ behavior in the parking lot seemed strategic to me, like they were searching for something. Their manner was restrained, not out of control. That they might have set their sights on me is concerning.”

  Her eyes rounded in alarm. “You think they were hunting you.”

  Devan gave a small shake of his head. “I don’t have the data to support that supposition at the moment.”

  “Do animals make a habit of stalking you?” She asked curious and worried at the same time. Did other animal’s sense the animal DNA in him?

  He looked pensive. “The predators I’ve encountered before have kept their distance, but they have been either singular or part of a small faction. I’ve never come across such a large group before.”

  “Animals in a larger group would probably be more territorial.” Laney stated. At least, it made sense to her.

  Devan threw a brooding look at the cold room. “I’m all set here; we should leave before someone comes back.” He shuffled her toward the door.

  Unfortunately, when they opened the door to step outside it was to see Jarrod storming down the driveway with Hali hustling after him. Jarrod’s expression turned angry as he
watched them exit the building together. Hali raised her brows in amused surprise.

  Jarrod plowed toward them and Laney placed herself in front of Devan, but Jarrod didn’t pay any attention to her. His concentration was focused on Devan.

  “Every time I turn around you’re panting after her like a dog in heat and I’m sick of it.” Jarrod yelled angrily, continuing to storm forward.

  The animal comment did not sit well with Laney, and all she could think was that it might have hurt Devan’s feelings. She couldn’t turn to see though, because Jarrod wasn’t halting his stride. He was also raising a fisted hand as he barreled toward them. Laney’s own anger rose and she stepped forward putting her arm out to physically stop Jarrod herself.

  Suddenly, she was lifted in the air and spun out of the way as Jarrod’s fist swung toward her, and the words she had been about to blast Jarrod with came out in a squeak. Laney was held tight to Devan’s body for just a moment and then she was deposited next to a huffing Hali.

  “I tried to stop him.” Hali gasped out looking at Devan in astonishment.

  Devan released her and stepped back. She looked up into a face that looked hard the only sign of emotion a vein bulging and twitching on the side of his neck. “Make sure she stays out of it.” He ordered Hali before turning to face Jarrod.

  What! Oh no he didn’t. She wasn’t going to allow them to fight each other while she stood on the sidelines. Jarrod was being an idiot and Devan was hurt. He shouldn’t be fighting! Laney went to intercept Devan, or Jarrod, or both of them; the whole dang fight.

  “Stay out of their way. If you get in the middle of it, then I have to get in the middle of it, and that’s just too many people throwing fists. Devan looks like he can take care of himself anyway.” Hali said, gripping Laney’s wrist firmly.

  Jarrod was facing Devan with a malicious smile. “Just you and me,” he sneered. Clenching his fists he made another run for Devan.

  Laney tensed, prepared for a collision of bodies and flying of fists, but Devan did some sidestep maneuver spinning Jarrod with him and then gave him a shove. Laney could tell Devan was conscious of where Hali and she were standing and made sure to send Jarrod in the opposite direction. It was a pretty fancy move. Her tension eased a little at the absence of actual fighting.

  Jarrod stumbled forward before righting himself. He turned and his expression was filled with fury.

  “Jarrod, you need to stop this right now.” Laney yelled furiously. She tugged at Hali’s hold but was unable to dislodge her death grip. Hali might be smaller than her but she was pretty strong, and she wasn’t going to get into a tugging match with her best friend…at least not until she was actually needed, because it did look like Devan was handling himself.

  Jarrod glanced at her briefly his face flushed with anger. Turning his attention back to Devan he attempted another rush. Devan just sidestepped him again with another spin movement. Laney was pleased to see that Devan was keeping his injured side away from any contact.

  “Whoa, that boy sure has some moves.” Hali whistled next to her.

  “Jarrod, I swear if you don’t stop right now I will have my father fire you.” Laney shouted.

  Jarrod staggered around from Devan’s last push, panting in his fury and exertion. “Your dad wouldn’t fire me over some Frankenstein freak he doesn’t even know,” he snarled.

  “He would if I told him how you’ve been acting.” Laney retorted, infuriated again at Jarrod’s comment.

  He opened his mouth and took step in her direction, but before he could say anything or even take half a step Devan was between them. This seemed to infuriate Jarrod even more and he charged forward again. Devan grabbed his arm effortlessly swinging it behind his back, catching Jarrod’s leg with his foot Devan swept it out from under him sending Jarrod down to the ground. While the move had been super fast Laney noted that Devan could have allowed Jarrod to fall to the ground to earn some serious well deserved bruises but he didn’t; instead, he took Jarrod down almost gently. Jarrod didn’t seem to care about that because he began yelling profanities.

  “The more you struggle the more it’s going to hurt.” Devan’s tone was calm and he held Jarrod easily as he struggled.

  Hali’s grip on Laney’s arm slackened at either what had transpired or from the decrease in the threat level. Laney took advantage of the freedom and ran over.

  “Is that hold hurting him?” Laney asked in concern. Even though Jarrod had instigated the whole thing she didn’t want him really hurt.

  Devan looked up. “Only when he struggles.”

  “I’m going to kick your ass when I get up from here.” Jarrod gasped from the ground.

  “Are you serious, Jarrod? He took you down easily and would probably just do it again.” Hali stated, looking at Devan in wonder. Laney watched Devan glance away self-consciously.

  “He’s a dead man when…”

  “Jarrod,” Laney interrupted. “He’s not going to let you up while you’re making threats toward him.” She remarked sarcastically.

  “Someone will be by soon, and when they see him on top of me you’re going to have explaining to do.” He rejoined.

  “There are three of us to contradict anything you might have to say.” Laney countered, but Devan shifted and Laney realized that he didn’t want to be here if someone came around. He didn’t want that kind of attention.

  Laney leaned down near Jarrod’s face. “Is that what we have to do, wait for someone to come by and relieve us of your idiocy, or are you going to calm down so he can let you go?”

  Jarrod glowered fiercely, not bothering to answer. Laney frowned, what was up his butt? This was really extreme behavior for him. She looked at Devan fretfully, baffled at what to do.

  A look of resignation crossed Devan’s face as he reached up and gripped a spot between Jarrod’s neck and shoulder. A couple seconds later Jarrod’s eyes rolled back in his head and he slumped inertly.

  Laney gasped in alarm. “What did you do?”

  Devan stood up from Jarrod’s seemingly lifeless body. “I pinched a nerve in his neck causing a significant decrease of blood to flow to his brain which in turn caused him to pass out.”

  Laney knelt down and examined Jarrod for a pulse. “He’s going to be okay though, right?” She asked shakily. It had been creepy watching Jarrod’s eyes roll back.

  “He’ll wake up in a few minutes; a little groggy but fine.” Devan confirmed, looking uncomfortable.

  Laney stared at him in bemusement. The things he knew and could do were a little overwhelming. He’d fought Jarrod with little effort. Well, actually he hadn’t fought, but he’d held him off without difficulty. This had probably been one of the less extraordinary things he’d done, but combined with everything else…it could overload a mind.

  Hali chuckled apprehensively. “I thought only Spock was able to do that Vulcan nerve pinch.”

  Devan looked at her in confusion. “Who’s Spock?

  Laney couldn’t hold back a small nervous laugh. Devan switched his gaze back to her. “No one real.” She answered. “We should get him up off the ground.” Laney said, bending down to grab one of Jarrod’s arms. Devan gripped his other arm and did most of the lifting to get Jarrod up and over to a lounge chair in the backyard.

  Laney patted Jarrod’s cheek to see if she could get a reaction. No reaction from Jarrod, but Devan made a low rumble sound from his throat. She looked over at him questioningly, but he’d already straightened up.

  “Should we hang out till he comes to?” Hali asked.

  “I don’t think I should, but I don’t want to leave you two with him alone either.” Devan stated emphatically.

  “Devan, you should definitely go before he wakes up; we’ll go get Lee or John to come get Jarrod. We’ll tell them something and have them take him home if he’s still out.” Laney was beginning to get really anxious for Devan. She didn’t want him to get caught in a situation where he thought he would have to pack up and leave.

>   Devan stood hesitantly staring at her for a moment; then he was gone, walking swiftly down the drive, away.

  Hali chuckled next to Laney as she watched him walk away. “Well, that was exciting. We should hang out with him more often.”

  Laney just looked after him sorrowfully. It was completely unfair that he was the one that had to go.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Devan drove straight home doing his best to not think about the expression on Laney’s face, but to no avail. The look of alarm on her face spoke volumes. She wasn’t going to want to have anything to do with him now, and he didn’t blame her. Their association with each other seemed steeped in conflict. It was one of the reasons Devan had tried to stay away.

  He hadn’t been able to though. He longed to be near her, hungered for her scent, yearned to hear her voice, ached for her touch. He was drawn to her in a way that was hard to explain, rationalize, or logically define. It was something beyond his sphere of knowledge.

  It just was.

  But her look after he’d subdued Jarrod had been alarmed. She was rightfully fearful of him, because when Jarrod had come after him with his fists appearing to not care that Laney was in the way an indescribable anger had overtaken Devan. His first priority had been getting Laney safely out of the way, and after he had Devan had been able to get the anger under rigid control, but it had still been there boiling under the surface. If Laney had been hurt in any way Devan was unsure of how he would have reacted. Something told him that it wouldn’t have been pretty though.

  When he arrived back at the house Devan went directly to Brett’s office. Forcibly pushing Laney to the back of his mind Devan focused on the immediate problem—finding out why this wolf seem to have wanted him so badly.

  Placing the samples from the wolf on the desk Devan began the process of analyzing them, starting with the tissue samples. Swabbing blood from the sample he set it under a microscope to observe any irregularities.

  They didn’t have the multi-million dollar equipment that the facility did, but what they had been able to procure over the internet would be sufficient for what was needed. They used the equipment to keep tract of Devan’s development, making sure he wasn’t acquiring any blood or organ anomalies.