Tasteful

Chapter Five: Triggered

Chapter Five: Triggered

 

~Lo’s POV~

Lo stared as Taylor fell backward and into the wall. Giant wings stretched out of his back, golden and bloody, having ripped through the skin forcefully. They fell limply against him as he blacked out, and all Lo could do was stare. What the fuck is going on? Lo thought with a thick, heavy frown. “T?” he asked cautiously, carefully sliding forward to kneel in front of his friend, who was sitting slumped against the wall. “Taylor.”

He didn’t receive a response, and he didn’t really expect one. But he wanted one. His friend’s face was pale. His forehead was bruised and bloody from how he’d been ramming it into the wall. His knuckles were bloody, either from the small dents in the wall where he’d probably been punching it or from touching his back, Lo wasn’t sure.

The scent of blood was strong in the room. Lo wrinkled his nose at it. Taylor’s blood smelled different from everyone else’s. He wasn’t sure what it meant, but he knew that it was different. It smelled stronger, somehow. Sweeter. More intense than other people’s blood. If Lo recalled correctly, it was the scent of his blood that had led Lo and Corbin to Taylor in the first place, after he’d pulled himself out of the freezing cold river, beaten and bloody.

“Pathetic wimp,” Lo hissed angrily, narrowing his eyes at the guy before him. For a moment, golden eyes watched him as though stunned that the words had been spoken to him. He was still dripping wet from the water, his hair damp and tussled, strands hanging into his pale face. He looked almost like he hadn’t seen the sun in ages. Cuts and bruises marred his body. He was without a shirt, and it looked like a rib was broken or at least bruised, his side dark and purple and yellow.

“Fucking asshole!” the guy snapped before suddenly throwing a punch. He hit Lo in the face and for a moment, all Lo did was stare. No one usually even tried to hit him, as though they sensed that he was strong. But this guy…he was just watching him with a stubborn, angry expression on his face, his eyes narrowed and staring him down.

And then Lo burst out laughing. Corbin watched, faintly amused but also worried, probably thinking something bad was about to happen.

But all Lo did was laugh and say, “The name’s Lo.”

“Do you go high?” the guy snipped. Lo narrowed his eyes. “Fuck, that tastes weird.”

“What?” Corbin asked, quirking a brow. Even Lo frowned at him.

“I can…um…I think I can taste emotions,” the guy said. “I know that’s freaking crazy, but c’mon! He was just a damn dog!” He jutted a thumb at Lo.

“Emotions?”

“That’s what I just said,” the guy said, rolling his eyes.

“What’s your name?” Corbin asked, frowning.

The guy blinked. “Taylor,” he said finally. “Taylor Moore. I think. I’m not sure I remember.”

Lo shook the thoughts and memories out of his head as he chewed on his lower lip. Corbin was worried that something was happening to Taylor, that he was showing new symptoms of what had been done to him to make him be able to taste emotions in the first place. Whatever he was thinking, though, he wasn’t sharing. And while Corbin angered Lo greatly, he did respect the man and pretty much trust him. He would tell Lo what he was thinking when he was ready.

Speaking of Corbin, where was he? Lo had called for him as soon as he’d heard Taylor start screaming. He’d almost been out the door of the library but had heard the painful sound and had raced to find out what was happening. This was his friend, after all.