4. Chapter Two
Chapter Two
L ucas regretted agreeing to come out. The music was too loud and there were so many people. Anxiety welled up in his chest, cutting off his air. The headache started again. The pain blossomed at the top of his head and spread down, like it had when he’d felt Shawn’s emotions.
Would the light come again? That was the burning question. If it did, would the government put him in some laboratory like a rat? It was next level weird for sure. Science might get him answers he desperately needed but it wouldn’t do much else.
Shit. It wouldn’t be good if that ball of light went zinging around the room like a stray bullet.
His headache was getting worse.
What made the whole situation even more craptastic was the fact that he felt all these emotions at the bottom of his stomach, and he didn’t think they were his own.
He had thought he had to touch a person to feel what they were feeling, but apparently not.
Although it had been hard to separate his own emotions from others around him when he’d first walked in an hour ago, he had figured it out after a few minutes.
It was weird experiencing what other people were feeling.
So much emotion, it had been as if his mind was a plugged-up sink drain, filling up and getting ready to overflow.
Lucas stood against the wall in the corner and willed himself to calm down.
Not long ago, he used to be able to come here and have a good time.
Then the headaches had started, and now it seemed like all hell was breaking loose inside of his body.
It was as if World War Two was taking place in his brain and he was losing a war against himself.
He couldn’t help but think maybe everything in his body was building up for something big.
Stupid fucking magical curse, or whatever the fuck it really was. Some sort of real-life Merlin shit was what it felt like.
He breathed in through his nose and let it out through his mouth. He willed his heart to stop its heavy pounding. He watched as people danced instead, attempting to stay calm by doing something normal.
One man slid up and down another, back to front. His eyes closed and his mouth hung open as the other worked his way under his shirt, playing with his nipples, or so it looked like from Lucas’ vantage point.
Lucas figured they were a couple. All that love reflecting off them toward the other person was like this pink stream of color extending out as if it were a bundle of strings connecting them.
That color had calmed him when he had first seen it.
As they danced and things began to heat between them, the pink hue turned to red.
They’d be fucking on the dance floor if they didn’t leave soon.
It wasn’t that kind of club.
His parents had auras similar as the couple.
Always pink with gold or peach. One time his dad had gotten sick with the flu and there had been a hint of gray with the pink.
His mother’s aura had turned blue, as if she loved his dad differently when he was sick.
Maybe she became more nurturing toward him, or something.
She definitely went into mom mode when he or his dad even had the sniffles.
He had asked her about it once, why did she love Dad differently and she answered that she didn’t.
He had said, “But your color is different, Mommy.” He remembered her telling him not to mention the colors again, to anyone, ever, not even her.
He glanced at a man who didn’t appear much older than a teenager.
He probably had a fake ID. The calculating look in his eyes spoke of experience.
The boy turned to someone at the bar. It was too crowded for Lucas to tell who held his interest. He smiled and Lucas could swear he saw longer than normal canine teeth.
Even stranger was the fact that he didn’t have an aura like everyone else in the place.
The kid’s lips covered his teeth, and, in the blink of an eye, they were gone from Lucas’ sight.
It must have been a trick of the light. It was dark in the club, especially on the dance floor, and the colored lights left strange shadows on people’s faces.
The boy glided across the floor as if picking a different target, and finally tapped a bigger guy on the shoulder.
The man turned and gave the kid a lecherous smile.
Lucas tried to find an aura that might connect the big guy and the kid, but one didn’t exist.
Lucas spotted Shawn, who led a dark-haired guy across the dance floor. Lucas followed, trying to intercept them. He waded through dancing bodies but finally managed to gain Shawn’s attention near the bathrooms.
The panic must have been visible on his face because Shawn nodded. He turned to the man and said something Lucas couldn’t hear past the bump of the bass and the distance remaining between them. Despite the man’s clear disappointment, Shawn turned toward Lucas .
The man watched Shawn’s ass with regret for a long second and then moved to the bar.
“I need to leave. Now.” The shouted words weren’t necessary but sometimes Shawn got whiny when he didn’t get his way. Lucas wanted to head that off before it got started.
Shawn surprised him by taking his hand and heading for the front door.
It took them a couple of minutes to make their way around all the people and to the parking lot.
Once they were outside, Lucas was able to hear a bit better, although the sounds were muffled as his ears adjusted and the bass of the music played inside his head, thumping through his body as they walked across the overflowing parking lot.
“Sorry about that. Just can’t take a lot of people around me.”
“Yeah, I know.” Shawn shrugged. “That guy was kinda pushy anyway.”
“Right.” Lucas smirked. “Thanks, Shawn.”
“Yep. Didn’t need sex. It’s only been like four months and twenty days. Not a big deal,” Shawn said just as they made their way around the corner and down the sidewalk.
“Of course.” Lucas chuckled.
Shawn held out his hand. “I can drive if you want.”
“I can drive.”
“I can tell by the look on your face you’re starting to get a headache. Just let me drive, Lucas.”
Lucas stopped walking long enough to dig his keys out of his pocket. He handed them to Shawn, who had stopped as well. Shawn took them. “See that wasn’t so hard, was it.” Shawn pocketed the keys.
“You were supposed to bring the witch to us,” someone said from behind them. Lucas jumped about a foot in the air because the voice was so close.
He saw Shawn stiffen, and instantly went on alert. They both turned to face the person talking. Shawn stepped in front of Lucas. “This isn’t the one you want.”
Had the guy called him a witch? Did they know about him and what he could do? How did they find out? He had never told anyone and had always been very careful to not freak out in front of people, including his parents.
Lucas took a step back from the three men, standing a few feet away from them.
None of them looked average, although one stood out amongst the other two.
The one in the middle dressed like a biker.
He even had a long beard and a red bandana around his head.
The other two were straight-out-of-a-movie hired guns.
Or maybe Lucas had watched too much television since housesitting for his parents.
One of these things is not like the other , Lucas sang in his head.
“I can smell him. Dumbass humans don’t understand that we’re far superior. In every way, including our senses. Then again, you would have some idea. Wouldn’t you, blood whore?”
“Just stay away from him.” It was brave, but stupid of Shawn. Lucas grabbed his arm, trying to pull him away.
None of them seemed as if they spent time outdoors, which made the biker seem off somehow. Shouldn’t his skin be weathered from riding in the elements? Instead, the parts of his face not covered by hair were smooth and pasty white.
None of them had an aura either, just like that kid in the club.
Then the biker guy spoke again, and Lucas sucked in a breath at the sight of the fangs. “Nicolono will not be happy that you’re holding out, Shawn.”
Oh god, the teeth on that kid in the bar had been real, like the teeth of the man standing in front of him. Or maybe they were normal people playing at something, which didn’t make Lucas feel any better.
His pulse pounded in his ears until all he could hear was it and his own breathing. He tugged on Shawn’s arm when he saw those long teeth again.
Shawn didn’t budge. Lucas felt the panic in Shawn and then the resignation that it wasn’t going to end well.
All at once Lucas understood that Shawn prepared to die right there on the sidewalk in front of an abandoned auto-mechanics shop.
Shawn’s shoulders came up to his ears and his back hunched.
“Just leave my friend out of this, Gary.”
Gary? The big, badass biker guy with some very realistic fake teeth was named…Gary. Like the snail/cat thing on that sponge cartoon? Wow.
Gary took a step closer and Lucas tugged harder. Shawn wrenched his arm out of Lucas’ hold, looking back over his shoulder. “We can’t outrun them, Lucas. Not both of us. I’m sorry I got you into this.” Shawn turned back to Gary, taking a step toward him.
“Shawn!” Lucas shouted when Gary reached for Shawn.
He fumbled around in his pocket for his phone with shaky hands.
It took him what seemed like forever to dig it out but was probably only a few seconds.
He held it like a lifeline, as if the phone could teleport him away from the guy with the funky teeth.
“Run, Lucas,” Shawn said, without turning away from the biker.
Lucas wasn’t about to leave Shawn in the hands of these creatures. He had no idea what the hell they were, but they certainly weren’t normal. Then again, he wasn’t normal either.