Eaten, Inside Out
An attack on a Daybreaker agent leaves his soulmate in despair. No weapon, no apparent reason to why he is suddenly dying. It all started with a deal that went wrong, and now they have to get the antidote before the rest of the male population of Circle Daybreak is struck down.
The perfect weapon is an invisible one. The perfect plan is Eaten, Inside Out. With Daybreaker males dying, their soulmates have nothing to live for. And its so easy to be driven to the edge…
Sorry this chapter took so long. I can't be bothered with doing any more funny things at the end because I am not a witty person and am using up all my humour on Night World Fables – and I tell you now: they aren't that funny!
Here you go, soulmate fans!
Chapter Two
Infectious
The room stank of herbs and sandalwood incense. What did Rashel expect? Thea was pottering around – picking up jars of Goddess-knows-what and waving feathers momentarily over Quinn's unconscious body.
Rashel would've laughed. If it had been funny.
His hands were icy cold. His touch was like glacier ice as she grabbed his hand for a shed of comfort. As cold as his stare had once been.
Rashel bowed her head. Couldn't the witches do anything for him? She wondered. A tear would have rolled down her cheek at that instant, had she not used up all her tears earlier.
Eric, Thea's soulmate, stepped into the room. "How is he?" he asked, pausing briefly in the doorway. Rashel didn't look up, but she saw out of the corner of her eye. She saw Thea shake her head and look grave.
She saw the Harman point at her and pray – pleading Eric not to tell Rashel how bad Quinn really was.
Rashel knew he was bad. She knew it with all her heart and soul. Her throat felt tight. She had the sensation that she was drowning in air. Overwhelmed by all this. She coughed to clear her throat.
"Thanks, Thea, but you don't have to hide anything from me." She told the witch-girl.
Thea turned, her mouth open. "R-Rashel, I didn't…"
Rashel clung tighter onto Quinn's hand. "You didn't have to say anything, I already know."
Eric gibbered for a few minutes, then stepped over. "Rashel, I don't know how you're feeling right now, but…"
He put a hand on hers – which was also linked with Quinn's – and stared at where they were joined. One tanned hand, one olive-skinned and one deathly pale.
"I can only imagine how it is to have your soulmate like this. I mean, if it were Thea… I…" he stopped and bowed his head. "I'm so sorry, Rashel. I'll… I'll leave you alone."
He pulled away and started to walk out of the room. Rashel was filled with an ounce of comfort. It fled as Thea and Eric both left together. Rashel turned to look at her own soulmate.
He had his shirt off and was wearing his jeans. He looked corpse-like, as if he were about to have an autopsy. He was spread out for it.
Rashel felt the blockage in her throat once more. She leant in and rested her head on Quinn's chest. His heart was beating very slowly and with an echoing beat. Like a slow bass drum thumping away until the end of the song – where it would fade away and switch off completely.
She balled her hands up into fists. Her eyes were filling with a burning warmth. She was crying with anger and fury. She kissed Quinn's bare chest and let out a sob, thinking of that stupid deal she'd almost made earlier. "That werewolf bastar–"
"ERIC!" The heartfelt cry cut her off. Rashel jerked upwards immediately. It had been Thea's voice. She sounded so afraid…
Rashel ran forward and threw open the healing-room door. There, lying spread-eagled on the floor, was Eric. He was having a fit – his eyes were rolling in his head and the hand he'd used to hold Rashel's was jerking about wildly. It was ghostly pale.
The white colouring seemed to flow up from his hand and wash over his entire body. In an instant he was completely pale – no trace of his tan. And then he simply fell still.
Thea was in floods of tears. She dropped down beside Eric and touched his forehead.
"So cold…" she whispered.
Rashel stared at the two with disbelieving eyes. No. It was too familiar. Was it because…? She stopped thinking and switched off completely. Because the truth was something she didn't want to understand.
When Eric had held Rashel's hand, he'd effectively been holding Quinn's too. And the spot where he'd seemed to freeze up first was the hand he'd touched Quinn with.
It's contagious. Rashel realised.
She looked down at her own hand. No white colour. Nothing. And Thea was fine – she and Rashel had rubbed a herb mixture on Quinn's chest to aid healing. They didn't have anything wrong with them.
"Eric… Oh, Eric, wake up…" Thea whimpered.
Rashel put a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Thea, I think it's the same thing Quinn has. Maybe the infection only travels through men." Rashel told her.
Thea looked up through tear-stained eyes.
She sniffled. "You think?"
Rashel nodded.
Thea stood up with Rashel's help. She rubbed her eyes. "Surely it can't have caught him that fast," she whispered.
Rashel shrugged. "It's the Night World we're up against. Night People are capable of anything now that the Old Powers are rising. Who knows? Maybe their getting super smart."
Thea took a few steadying breaths and then gazed down at Eric. "He looks dead," she moaned, shaking uncontrollably.
Rashel looked down too, then her bottom lip wavered. "Come on," she soothed. "Help me get him up."
She half expected to start fitting as soon as she touched Eric. She didn't. Rashel wished she had though. She hated being awake without Quinn. If only she could switch off… maybe then she'd be with her soulmate.
Thea and Rashel heaved up the human boy and took him into the healing room, putting him on a rug next to Quinn.
Thea went to light another candle – crying all the while – and got out another feather. She handed it to Rashel.
"But… I'm not a witch," Rashel gibbered.
Thea shrugged. "It doesn't matter. At this stage you just need to know the person you're healing. Quinn's your soulmate, you know him better than anyone. Try and imagine drawing his soul out from somewhere within him. Imagine him waking up and being his old self."
Rashel nodded and waved the feather over Quinn. She hoped with all her heart that this would work.
It didn't.
It was late by the time they gave up.
And by then – someone else had collapsed too.
"Put him down over here," said Thea unemotionally. David landed with a thump on a third rug. Gillian's petite form shivered in protest and then she broke down. "He's dead, isn't he? Oh God, he's dead…"
Thea and Rashel sat on the floor with pursed lips. Both their eyes had long stopped crying. Quinn and Eric were lying side by side, looking like inactive robots with their hands at their hips.
David was placed horizontally next to their heads.
"Where did he collapse?" Thea asked. Gillian shook with her sobs.
"Gillian – cousin – where did he collapse and what exactly happened?"
Gillian's eyes opened to reveal bright violet eyes. "He collapsed at the end of this corridor. We were coming to see how Quinn was. He just keeled over and started having this fit…"
Rashel bowed her head. "Do you think it's in the air, now?" she asked Thea. The witch nodded gravely and fumbled with her fingers.
"We have to put them in quarantine. The infection is in this room and the corridor. Gillian," she turned to her cousin. "Seal the doors at the end of the corridor. No one is allowed to come in here."
Gillian nodded and ran to the doors.
"I hope you're right, Rashel." Thea whispered.
Rashel's head jerked up. "About what?"
Thea sighed and looked at the three unconscious boys on the floor. "That it only travels through men."
They turned to look at each other wordlessly. Then their mouths fell open. "We have to warn Thierry!" they cried.
The healing room was full. The corridor was now being used as an extension. Unconscious bodies lined the way. Girls walked down the aisle that separated the two rows. They either cried or looked very sympathetic.
The girls that made up the soulmate couples were in the healing room. Quinn, Eric and David had been moved out.
Hannah was sat on a stool – looking willowy and elegant. Her face was a mask, her lips were held in a tight line. "I say we make a deal with the Night People. Get the antidote."
"It might just be a con," spoke up someone else. Poppy North. "The boys could be as right as rain if we just leave them for a while. If we get paranoid and call for an antidote then we might just pay out loads of cash for no reason. I'm telling you – they'll wake up."
The other girls looked nervous. The room consisted of close friends: Poppy, Mary-Lynnette (who'd arrived a month ago), Thea, Gillian, Rashel, Hannah, Jez, Maggie and Keller. There were other soulmate girls as well – making up the rest of the Daybreaker soulmate population. They were newcomers.
The boys in the corridor that weren't from soulmate couples were guards or relatives. Miles Neely, Nilsson, Were and Val Stillman for instance. And the only girl in the healing room who didn't have a soulmate was Lupe. She was very close to everyone and was exceedingly worried about Nilsson.
Right now, there was a debate going on. Everyone was in favour of the boys waking up any time soon – but they didn't know whether there was an antidote or not. People like Poppy thought the boys would be out for a few days.
But they were all unsure and tense. Rashel didn't feel alone any more, it somehow felt better that everyone else was suffering like her. But that didn't make her proud. What if they all die?
"I think that whatever's in the werewolf's briefcase has the answer. He gave it to me and took the money. But after what happened with Quinn we didn't get to analyse it. We should check it."
There was a round of mumbles. Hannah looked slightly happier. "Yes. That would be a good idea. Keller, can you fetch the 'case?"
Keller nodded and took off in a sprint out of the healing room doors. On the way down the corridor she stared at Galen's still body. Her business-like expression faded. Pure-love and helplessness washed over her momentarily.
Rashel saw the tears in her friend's eyes.
Then Keller was gone, blowing her soulmate a kiss and disappearing out of the corridor.
Everybody felt raw.
Whatever's in that suitcase has the answer, thought Rashel. I know it.