Vev exited the murky lake and rushed up the muddy bank, looking for shelter. A wide tree trunk served as a perfect blind. To further shield herself, she squatted and waited for Mada and the others.
“Ouch!” She jumped up. A sharp needle pricked her ankle. She didn’t see one of Tag’s poisonous darts, just two dots of blood.
The fiery pain crawled up her leg, burning, as if an inferno of flames were eating her from the inside out. Not sure where it had come from, or what she could do to stop the conflagration, she ran. Her nest wasn’t too far. Mada would know where she had gone.
A vice-like grip seized her heart, making it hard for her to breath. She wasn’t sure how far she’d gotten or how far she still had to go. The anvil suppressing her breaths stopped her.
Vev stared down at the blood seeping out of her ankle as the forest spun around her—or maybe she was spinning. Dizziness overtook her. She couldn’t stand. Her legs, then her hands, trembled, as if ice water had replaced her blood.
“I got you,” said a man’s deep voice.
Frightened, she tried to turn, but she couldn’t feel her legs. The forest quivered before her eyes. No, not the forest. She was shivering, and she was never cold. Even the water in the river where she bathed nightly wasn’t much cooler than her skin, but now violent spasms rocked her entire body.
“That’s quite a bite. Must have been a big one.” The husky voice traveled through her body, but she couldn’t force her eyes to focus. “You must be related to that other fellow I helped a few months back. He and his friend had had multiple third-degree burns.”
Vev tried to force her eyes open, tried to run, but she no longer felt the moss-covered ground, and she just needed to rest her eyes a bit. Just a few seconds. It’d been days since she’d slept well, and she was so hungry. Maybe she was dying. Marguerite had told her about dying, that she shouldn’t be afraid. Vev wasn’t afraid for herself; her only concerns were Mada…and Zara…and Cade…and the others. They needed her…she needed to…run…to get to her…family. Unable to stay awake…to move…to think, she gave in to the sleep that wanted to steal her.
***
Shuffling noises caused Vev’s heart to speed up. She kept her eyes closed and tried to slow her breaths. If Tag had been the one who found her, he’d take her prisoner. Maybe if he thought she was asleep, he’d lower his guard enough that she could jump him before he had a chance to poison her. No way would she allow Tag to touch her again.
A squeak of metal scraping metal shrilled next to her, then a heavy heartbeat masked all other sounds. “Okay, girl. The poison doesn’t seem to be affecting your heart or lungs, but you’ve lost a lot of blood. If I can find a vein—”
A sharp prick to her arm caused her to jolt awake fully. The deep voice didn’t belong to Tag, but the man was trying to poison her. She blinked rapidly as she tried to take in her surroundings. Something held her strapped down so she couldn’t protect herself. She thrashed, working to break the thick bands restraining her arms and chest.
“It’s okay, hon. Relax. I won’t hurt you,” said a man she didn’t recognize as any of the ancients. She’d heard the deep voice before, though. The forest. The man had shot her and then had carried her away. “I swear… I’m trying to help you.”
Vev forced open her heavy eyelids. The man didn’t look like any of the male ancients she’d seen inside the castle, but he had a needle he was trying to stick into her. She arched her back, straining upward, snapping the straps, but then she fell back, unable to hold her body upright.
“Oh!” The man gulped. “I mustn’t have latched those.” He held up his hand, showing her the syringe. “You’re okay. You’ve lost a lot of blood, though. So much that I can’t find a vein to start an IV.”
Vev sniffed the air, then reached for the dangling red line. Grabbing it with all the energy she had left, she shoved the plastic tube into her mouth and bit down, sucking down the fluid. At first, the liquid burned her scorched throat, but then soothed it. Her pulse quickened, immediately delighting in the feeling of food in her stomach after so many days of starving.
“Whoa!” The man standing over her raised both his hands, then stumbled back a few steps, falling onto a black stool.
No, he definitely wasn’t an ancient. His hair was a soft gold color, like dried grass blades that don’t receive enough water and sunlight. His skin, while not translucent, was nearly as light as hers. But unlike her skin, which didn’t have a spot on it, hundreds of tiny brown specks dotted his arms and face, as though he’d been splashed—rather, sprinkled—with mud. And his eyes were the color of the lake water. A dusky green. Not blue like hers or black like the ancients. A human, Vev realized, and he was backing away.
The stool he sat on squeaked as he whooshed away as far as the room would allow. “What the hell?”
Feeling better after she’d drained every drop, Vev sat up slowly and blinked. “Thank you, sir. I feel much better now.” Not just better, but amazing. Her stomach was full for the first time in days. But more than that, a strange tingling sensation pulsed through her body, as though every nerve ending were plugged into a power source, energizing her.
The human offered her a slow nod. “Timber rattler. Nasty bite. They’re not usually lethal, but their venom is hemorrhagic, which means that it causes their victim to bleed out. I’ve never seen anyone bleed out as quickly as you—” The man stopped his rambling and just stared. “I’ve also never seen anyone drink…you know…” He gestured to the now-empty bag that dangled from a metal pole.
Confused, Vev stared back. “How else was I supposed to get it into me?”
A puff of air popped out of the man’s mouth. “Like most of my patients. Through a vein.”
“What difference does it make if it gets in me through a vein or my mouth?”
The man rubbed his eyes, then blinked them open, as though he expected the room to look different when he opened them. “Well…”
Vev slid off the table, and the man backed himself farther away, knocking over a narrow table. Metal pieces crashed to the floor.
The human man is afraid? Of me?
She raised one of her hands, the way the ancients did when they approached her. The man wore a white coat similar to the one Marguerite had always worn, and the room where he’d brought her resembled the laboratory with its clean white walls, stone floor, and reflective metal tables and counters. And she did feel a lot better. “Are you a doctor?”
“Yes,” the man said, one side of his mouth pulling up slightly. “A vet.”
She tilted her head. “Vet?”
“A veterinarian. An animal doctor.” The man narrowed his eyes a fraction, as though he were thinking through something. “I didn’t have time to take you to a hospital. What I did for you wasn’t much different than what I would have done for my normal patients, though.” He nodded as if he’d figured out what he’d been contemplating. “I’m pretty sure I helped your friend a few months ago. He and another fella were badly burned. I found them in the same part of the woods where I found you. I treated their wounds and bandaged them while I waited for an ambulance. I went outside to meet the paramedics—to prepare them—and when I came back, both men were gone, even though one of them hadn’t regained consciousness since I’d brought them here.”
Vev wasn’t sure who the other patient was; she didn’t remember one of the young ones being burnt as badly as her brother had been. According to Mada, most of the ones who’d followed Tag’s food trail had died. Mada had only been able to persuade a few to follow him off the roof, and those few had caught up with Vev and the others the same night. And now she knew how Mada had survived his burns. “Thank you for helping my brother.”
“Your brother?”
“Yes, Mada is my twin brother. We’re the firsts of our kind.”
“Your kind?” He laughed. “Exactly what kind is that?”
“Creatus talis.”
The veterinarian’s mouth moved as though practicing the words, the way she did when she tried to recall words Marguerite had taught her. Then he spoke aloud, “Ahh…it’s Latin. Created of such a kind. Created distinguished. Created great. Great creation. Important creation. Something like that anyway. It’s been a few years since I’ve taken Latin.”
Vev forced a smile as she scanned the room again, wondering if the ancients might know this place. “Yes, that’s what Marguerite said.”
“Marguerite?” he asked, his forehead creasing.
“Yes, that’s who created my brother and me. And the others.”
“The others?”
Vev blew out a breath and rested her hands on her hips, the way she’d seen Marguerite do many times. “Must I repeat everything I say, Veterinarian?”
The human male shook his head and laughed again. “No. No. I’m just trying to understand.”
Vev spotted a door. “Well, I have to go. I have to find my brother.”
“Wait.” He jumped up. The man was taller than she was, but not by much. Slightly taller than Mada. “Umm… Where are you going? Do you live nearby?” He stood straighter, as if something had occurred to him. “In that old castle? The one that caught fire? Of course! That makes so much sense now. The reason your brother had been so badly burnt.”
“We don’t live there anymore.” Vev inched her way toward the door, hoping he didn’t intend to stop her. She didn’t sense a threat, but she couldn’t let down her guard. Marguerite had said that humans couldn’t be trusted.
“Wait!” He caught up with her again. “What’s your name?”
“Vev.”
“Vev,” he repeated. “And Mada.” He smiled, but didn’t explain his expression.
“What’s funny?”
“Don’t you get it?” he asked. “This Marguerite, the woman who claimed she created you—”
Enraged at once, Vev reared back. “Marguerite did create us—”
He waved his hand, then tapped his mouth. “Sorry. Of course, she did. That was rude of me. Evident by your names, too. Mada is Adam spelled backward, and since Eve isn’t spelled differently backward, she inverted it to Vev. Adam and Eve, the firsts of their kind.”
Not understanding, Vev frowned again, then chanced a peek at the door, careful to keep the man in her peripheral view. She really needed to get home. Mada would need her help. The children needed her. She didn’t have time for this man’s confusing chatter.
“It’s from the Bible. Never mind,” he said as he shuffled his feet. “Can I ask you another question?”
Vev exhaled a long breath. “I suppose.”
“How old are you, if you don’t mind my asking? Your face is…flawless. Not a spot or wrinkle. But you speak as though you’re older.”
“Twenty,” Vev said, wondering what difference her age made. Marguerite had said that humans didn’t live long, that their lifespan was barely half the years of creatus. Maybe since humans didn’t live long lives, age was important to them. “My brother and I are the oldest. The Nephilim are sixteen, but I haven’t seen any of them since the night of the fire. The younglings are nearly sixteen. Mada and I are certain they will be stronger than the Nephilim when they mature. And the children…they are only a few years old. We’re not sure what they will be like when they reach sixteen.” Vev stopped talking. The human man had gone pale. “Are you okay? You look like you need some of the blood, too.”
The man shook his head as he backed away again, this time resting his body on the edge of a wood desk. Books, paper stacks, and writing instruments cluttering the desk now balanced haphazardly. “I don’t drink blood, Vev.”
This man is so confusing, Vev thought. “But I can see it…smell it. How do you get blood inside you if you don’t drink it?”
A swish of air left his lungs, then he smiled at her again. “Umm… Yeah, you’re right. I do have blood inside me. All…humans…do. I’m not sure how to explain that process, though.” He dropped his head and muttered below his breath, “I can’t believe I’m having this conversation.”
“Well, Veterinarian, I must go find my family.” She backed toward the door again, feeling stronger and more energized than she ever had.
The male human stood, then stepped toward her again. “My name is Zachary Ducket…or just Zach is fine. I took over my father’s veterinarian practice when I graduated last year. So if you need…”
Vev stared up at the man, wondering why he’d acted scared before, but now he appeared anxious…excited. Even his scent had changed. He suddenly smelled like the forest after a storm, when hints of pine and moss blended with the rain water. “If I need…?” Vev repeated his words, not sure what she could possibly need from him.
“Anything. If you or your brother get bitten by a snake or burned again, you’ll be safe here.”
“You won’t tell the ancients where we are?” Vev asked.
In a quick movement, the man who called himself Zach lifted his hand to his right shoulder and drew it down his chest to the left side of his body and then lifted his hand up to his left shoulder and repeated the same action, as though he were drawing the letter X. “I promise. I won’t tell anyone.”
Vev stared at the golden man’s mossy-green eyes, wondering why her heart rate had sped up. Was it the smell of his blood that made her insides churn? No, she wasn’t hungry. So why did she feel so odd?
Not wanting to dwell on the strange feelings that Zach stirred within her, Vev reached for the handle and jerked open the door, but then launched herself backward, hissing.
The sun was up.