DEMON SENSE (Completed)

Chapter 28

CHAPTER 28

It was like déjà vu all over again; Larson was driving, with Nathan in the passenger seat, while I sat in the middle section of the Escalade. Vigil watched over Atlas' unconscious body with a knife at the ready in case he happened to wake up and misbehave. We were taking the creep back to Nathan’s, where we wouldn’t have to worry about any other loyal Atlas Caine followers interrupting us.

Everyone was quiet in the car was we drove, though the drive itself was not silent. I could still hear everything, like the volume of my eardrums was on full blast. Still, it wasn’t as bad as it had been in the basement. Either it was wearing off, or I was getting used to the phenomenon.

I reflected on everything that had happened in the last hour or so, and just couldn’t get passed it. I’d been extremely lucky.  

In an attempt to alleviate the silence, and get some answers, I spoke. “Hey, remember that one time I almost ate Larson? What was up with that?”

“Vaguely,” Larson said, his tone dry.

That made me smile. “Right. Anywho, you started to say, before being so rudely interrupted, why my reaction was unusual.”

Larson kept his eyes on the road, but occasionally glanced at me through the review mirror. “For one, you practically mauled me. I’ve never even heard of that happening. And second, when someone on the brink of death is given vampire blood, they usually don’t bounce back like you did. Depending on the severity of their injuries, it usually takes a couple hours for them to recover fully. Let alone arm wrestle a vampire, and nearly win.”

“I take it they don’t have super-hearing either?”

“You’re hearing has improved?” he asked with obvious interest.

“If by improved, you mean I can hear the boy in the next car screaming at his mother to take him to Mickey D’s, then yes. It’s improved substantially. Either that, or tonight’s recent events have rendered me psychologically unstable.”

Nathan turned around in his seat to stare at me. Larson, meanwhile, nearly drifted into another lane. He corrected himself, of course, but his worse than usual driving told me the old-as-dirt vampire was pretty shocked. For someone who’d been around awhile, it probably took quite a bit to surprise him.

“Uhh…Larson, how positive are you that I’m not a creature of the night?”

“You thirsty,” he asked.

I thought about it. “For blood? Not so much. I could go for a gallon or two of water though. I’m freakin’ parched.”

“One-hundred percent,” he answered. “You’d be a blood-lusting zombie right now—all the recently Turned are. Plus, your heartbeat. Although it’s faster than normal, it’s not unusual considering the situation. A vampire’s heart, however, beats at half the average rate of a human one.”

Good to know I was still human. “Any clues why I had the reaction I did?”

Larson shrugged, and Nathan turned around in his seat losing interest in the topic. So long as I was alive and not undead, he seemed content. I twisted toward Vigil to see if he had any ideas worth sharing.

“Sorry, Miss Viktoriya. I haven’t a clue.”

That was unfortunate. I wished someone had known a little more about what was happening to me. Like, how long I could expect to hear everything as if it were being shouted at me via megaphone. I hoped not long. I didn’t have the funds, or the liver, to handle all the ibuprofen I’d need.