As if in answer to his question, another sharp jolt of pain went through him. To Reddix it felt like a lightning bolt had entered through the top of his head and was exiting through his feet.
“Gods!” Every muscle in his body went rigid with pain, and he felt for a minute like his spine might crack from the immense pressure. His hands clenched involuntarily into fists, and if he’d had his tongue between his teeth, he was sure he would have bitten it in two. Then, as suddenly as it had come, the pain was gone leaving only a lingering ghost of discomfort behind. He sagged against the wall, gasping.
“Reddix? What happened?” Nina’s eyes were wide with worry. “Did it happen again?”
“Yes,” he managed to get out through gritted teeth. “It did.”
“But what…how…?”
“Let’s go look at the controller.” He pushed his way into the bedroom and snatched the small black oval with its three blinking buttons. The plasti-shields were in place over all of them, proving that no one had touched the damn thing.
“What is it?” Nina asked anxiously, peering around his shoulder at the controller. “Is there some kind of a short in it?”
“I don’t think so,” Reddix said grimly. “I think the damn collar really did shock me itself.”
“What? But how? And why?”
“Because,” he said grimly. “It’s hungry.”
* * * * *
“Hungry?” Nina stared at him in disbelief. “What are you talking about?”
“I’ve heard of this kind of thing happening before with Hurkon collars. It’s rare—very fucking rare—but not unheard of.” He placed the controller back down on the rickety wooden nightstand and turned to face her. “The collar has an adjustment period when you first put it on—it sets the levels for what the collar can expect in terms of ‘food’ for the rest of the time it’s on the unlucky son-of-a-bitch wearing it. And by food, I mean extreme emotions. Reactions to stimuli—most often pain and fear.”
“But…” Nina shook her head. “But almost right after you put it on we had our first encounter with the Feeling People. You were having…all kinds of extreme emotions. To the point where I had to knock you out!”
“Which made the collar think it could expect a constant stream of heightened emotion from me,” he said grimly. “It was satiated for a good long time by that first burst of fear and anger and pain I felt before you knocked me out, but now it’s hungry again. The fight we had tonight was like a Goddess damned appetizer to it—got it going. So now it’s telling me to feed it or it’ll feed its own damn self.”
“Feed it how?” Nina asked, feeling sick.
Reddix took a deep breath, his broad, bare shoulders rolling in the flickering firelight. The thin fur blanket wrapped around his waist was still his only clothing, and in the dim room, he looked huge.
“You’re going to have to shock me again,” he said. “At least once more.”
“What? No!” She took a step back, wrapping her arms protectively around herself. “I’ve already shocked you a lot more than I ever wanted to.”
“You only did it twice. Once to save me from having my brain overload and once to keep me from…” He cleared his throat. “From hurting you.”
“Exactly. And that last time was earlier tonight. Shouldn’t that made the stupid collar happy?”
“Apparently not.” Reddix picked up the controller and tried to press it into her hand. “Probably because it didn’t last long enough. Here—do it.”
“No!” Nina backed away again. “No, I won’t do it.”
“You have to—the one holding the collar is rendered unable to control it,” he insisted. “Besides, I’d rather be able to brace myself and know what was coming than have the damn thing just shock me at random intervals.”
“But…I don’t want to hurt you,” Nina whispered. “Maybe we should try to take it off again.”
“And let it shock you too, like it did when you tried to take it off while I was unconscious? No.” He frowned. “Look, when we get in contract with them, I’ll ask my Kindred brothers to bring a universal key with them when they come to collect us. Until then, it’s either pick my time to get shocked or let this damn collar shock me whenever the hell it feels like it.”
“Maybe it’s had enough now,” she said stubbornly. “It might leave you alone for the rest of the night.”
“Or it might fucking not,” he growled. He lowered his voice to a more gentle tone. “Come on, Nina…don’t make me beg. I could be seriously injured if it surprises me again. I nearly bit my tongue in two that last time.”