Protection (Book #1)

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve
Wesley arrived at eight that night and spoke to Ben for a few moments before he and I sat in the dining room talking over the sound of the washing machine running in the adjacent utility room.
"So, Ben said you had some concerns," he said looking in my eyes.
"I have a lot of them. So I hope you have time." I really didn't want to talk about it, and I was kind of irritated at Ben for calling Wesley and not telling me.
"I have plenty of time."
"Alright. So, I guess we could start by talking about Dragos?" I had no idea how to talk to this man. I had expected him to be aggressively asking me questions.
"We've been checking the reports again, going through them more closely. We found a few of the more recent reports mentioning things that suggest the person may be struggling with jealousy issues."
"Jealous of what? How does that make them a woman? And who is 'we'?"
He smiled. "I have a few interns working with me on your case. They're quite excited to be helping. We're still deciphering what exactly the reports are trying to say, because they are somewhat... cryptic. Because they may speak with different doctors regularly, they get a different opinion each time and the reports have a different take every time they come in. We're trying to figure out how much of the doctor's voice is reflected in the report.
"No offense, but jealousy is predominantly a female emotion in the way we think they were talking about. Right now you don't need to worry about it."
"Ben said I didn't need to worry about it either. Smooth. Okay. What is your position on 'fate'?"
"He got you into that argument?"
"Oh, yes, he did. He also referred to the people who commit mass murders as 'broken', so I inadvertently pushed him into a corner about how you only study people with developmental disabilities or mental illnesses and that he was referring to them in general."
"We take in a very large amount of reports on a daily basis. We do monitor all reports from counseling offices, but we also take into account many police records. Governments from other countries will send paperwork over, sometimes warning the U.S. about people from their countries who were destructive or made threats to be destructive on our land. We take them very seriously.
"'Broken' is not the right term. They have issues. Some of them only have problems because of a chemical imbalance in their brains. They can be fixed with medication and therapy to even out the levels of chemicals like serotonin and dopamine in their systems."
"Do Zuri get those kinds of imbalances?"
"Actually, yes. Your race still experience emotions so they still have issues dealing with them. Ben mentioned that you had roommates, before you were turned?"
I nodded. "Eleanore and Clare."
"Is there any reason they would have to harm you or maybe even be jealous of you?"
"I don't know. I haven't spoken to them in eight years."
"What kind of people were they?"
"They were both Safi. Eleanore was studious, I think. Clare preferred to party and spend her time out."
"What about you?"
"I was both. I went out with Clare sometimes, but I mostly stayed in and read books. I like reading."
"Ben told me what you said about your parents. I don't know that anyone they made enemies with would come after you, but I can't be sure. I'll look into it. Is there anything else you'd like to talk about?"
"Did Catalina say you've been bitten a lot?"
He chuckled. "Some Zuri work with our company. I volunteer during our lunch hour."
"That's quite nice of you."
"I also go to clubs from to time to time and things can get crazy."
"Have you ever gotten sick from it?"
"It's easy to get sick. Even if you only take a little bit, if you do that repeatedly our bodies get low on blood. We'll get lethargic and light-headed. It's dangerous if you don't catch it and keep going. Ben will be fine." He smiled at me reassuringly.
"If I asked you something, would you promise not to tell Ben?" I felt nervous asking him, but I needed to know.
"Of course."
"Are hickeys normal?"
His grin spread across his face from ear to ear. "Yes. You've never been around humans have you?"
"Not since I've been changed. I freaked out. I thought I hurt him."
"He's fine! You may not believe so, but he'll tell you if something is wrong. Trust him. He's here to protect you, not scare you. He can't protect you if he's hurt, so he'll be careful."
I nodded. "Okay. Thank you."
"You're welcome!" He walked into the living room and I walked to the bedroom to tell Ben we were done talking.
"How did your conversation go?" he asked.
"Good, I think." I smiled.
"I'm sure it was great! Wesley is easy to talk to. He makes everyone feel at ease."
"It seemed like it!"
"So, did you figure anything out?" He raised his eyebrows.
"He's going to look into people linked to my parents. He's still here. He's in the living room. He probably wants to talk to you before he leaves."

Ben rolled over in the bed and kissed me, pushing his hands up my shirt, but I pushed him away.
"No," I said firmly.
"Dee, I'm not hurt. Seriously."
"I'm not taking the chance. Not until those bruises are gone."
He groaned. "Do you know how long that's going to take?"
"It doesn't matter. I said no."
"Okay. I love you."
I smiled. "I love you, too. I just want to be more careful with you."
He wrapped his arm around my waist and closed his eyes.

Green eyes. Green eyes that could see right through me were the first thing I saw in the dream. They pierced my armor.
Brown eyes comforted me, and assuaged my fear. Brown eyes looked over me to make sure I was okay.
Red hair that made me feel safe. Red hair wrapped around me as I stared back at that pair of green eyes.
A man with a thick beard put his hand on my shoulder and held me back when I tried to run towards the green eyes. They chilled me to the bone, but I felt an irresistible urge to go towards them. I needed them.
"Delilah," Dion purred. "Come to me." His black hair came into focus, then his jawline. I saw his lips for half a second as they parted just enough to draw in a breath.
"Ben?" I whispered. I looked over to where I thought he was.
His brown eyes fell on me and I saw his face as he came into focus, coming towards me to put his arms around me.
"Wait. Wait, you aren't safe."
"Why?" He stopped walking to look around.
"He's here."
"Who? I can't see him."
"Just don't come closer. He's dangerous."
"Why?"
Why is he struggling so much with these simple ideas? "Because he's violent, and very strong."
Cata stepped up to my side from behind me. "Point in his direction. We don't need to see to fight."
"No. No!"
"Delilah. I'm going to hurt them if you don't come with me. I told you Safi were dangerous if you stayed around them too long," Dion said.
"Shut up! Let me think."
"What is he saying?" Wes asked.
I groaned. "Can you all be quiet?" The room was so dark that if I hadn't heard it, I wouldn't have known it was filling up with water. "What is that? Do you hear that?"
"The water will fill up this room within five minutes," Dion said. "I'll kill all of us if you don't come with me."
"Hear what?" Ben said.
"There's water coming into the room." I picked up my foot. I was crying and Ben rushed over to me and picked me up in his arms. Dion moved towards us but Cata and Wes shoved him away from me. Cata was wrong, they did need to see to fight, because they were losing badly.
I wrestled with Ben, trying to get away from him, but he wouldn't let me. I looked over just in time to see Dion strike Cata in the face with an elbow, leaving her spitting blood. "Ben, she's bleeding!"
When I looked back at Dion, he was no longer Dion, but was instead the Safi girl I had caught him with before I left for Ohio. I tried to get away from Ben again, but we ended up moving backwards. He broke through a glass wall and the water that had been waist-deep flooded over us.

I was gasping and coughing, with my hands on my chest. Somehow I had ended up on the floor and Ben leaned over the side of the bed to look at me. He looked very tired.
"Are you okay?" he mumbled.
"Yeah. I'm fine."
He reached his hand out to me and I took it. He pulled me back up onto the bed and wrapped me tightly in his arms, surrounding me in his wonderful scent. "You had another bad dream."
"They just keep coming."
"It sounds like you woke up feeling pretty bad."
"I'll be okay."
He kissed my cheek.