Touch of Death(21)

I stumbled back, so grateful that he was going to save her. He reached into his pocket with his eyes still closed and pulled out his knife.

"What are you doing?" I panicked, afraid I'd been right to be afraid of him before.

He ignored me and sliced his right hand with the blade. He closed his fingers over the cut and positioned his hand over Mom's mouth. He opened her mouth with his other hand. "Stop!" I cried as he squeezed his fist and drops of his blood fell into Mom's mouth. I wanted to do something, make him stop, but it was like my body was frozen. Something was holding me back. Finally, Alex opened his eyes. He backed away. I ran to him and smacked him over and over. Instead of fighting back, he wrapped his arms around me and let me cry on his shoulder.

"She's going to be okay. Give my blood a minute to do its stuff. She'll come back."

I turned my head so I could see Mom. She was still motionless on the floor. I watched, the seconds ticking slower than I thought possible. "Maybe you did something wrong."

"I didn't." Alex sounded very sure of himself. "Patience, Jodi."

My breath caught in my throat. How long did this take? It was absolute torture. If she didn't come back …  I couldn't get over losing her. Especially when it was my blood that had killed her.

Mom's eyes snapped open, and she choked. "Mom!" I bent down to her, but Alex stopped me, grabbing the wrist of my bloody hand.

"We don't want to go through all that again," he said. "She'll be okay. She's just having a little trouble adjusting to my blood in her system. But she'll be fine in a minute or two. That doesn't give us much time to get out of here."

"What? I can't leave. Not now. She won't even know where I am."

"Do you want her to live?"

Of course I did. There wasn't any question about that. He was right. This accident could easily happen again. I couldn't risk that. I couldn't lose her for good. Alex might not always be around to fix my mistakes. I wasn't even sure if you could bring someone back more than once.

"Let me at least tell her where I'm going."

"You can't. It has to remain a secret. You can call her later and tell her you're okay." Mom's choking was easing up. "We're running out of time, Jodi." I looked down at her through the wall of tears I'd built up.

"I love you, Mom." I turned and ran out the back door. I had to get out of there fast or I wouldn't be able to make myself leave. If Mom had seen me or called my name, that would've been it for me. I would've lost my nerve and given in to staying. That would've been selfish and stupid. I ran past Mom's car, hearing Alex's footsteps behind me. To my surprise, there was another car in the driveway.

Alex ran around to the driver's side. "Get in. It's unlocked." I listened. We peeled out of the driveway and took the back roads to the highway. I cried. I couldn't believe I'd left Mom. Couldn't believe I'd killed Mom. I looked over at Alex. He was so calm. He didn't reprimand me or tell me how stupid I was for not going with him sooner. I owed him so much. He'd brought Mom back, given her another chance. I hated feeling in debt to him. I barely knew him. But I hated myself more.

Alex kept his eyes on the road, pushing the speed limit. "You did the right thing. I know it was tough, but leaving means she gets to live."

"Is she even really alive? I mean she's not going to be like Matt was, is she?"

"She's alive. Her soul hadn't even left her body when I started the process of bringing her back. It's very similar to saving a drowning victim. They can be dead for a few minutes and still come back okay."

In a way, Mom was like a drowning victim. She'd drowned on my blood. It had suffocated her. And Alex was the guy who'd saved her, whose blood had breathed life back into her body. "Thank you." My voice was small. "I can't even begin to tell you how much I appreciate what you did."

"You're welcome." He reached across me and opened the glove compartment. He motioned to the box of Band-Aids. "Cover that cut." He didn't need to tell me twice.

"I don't know how I'll ever repay you for this."

"Coming with me now is a good start. I've been getting hell for not bringing you back sooner."

"What do you mean?"

"It wasn't supposed to take me this long. I was supposed to make you like me so that, when I told you the truth about who you are, you'd come with me right away. Only I didn't do such a good job making you like me. I scared you instead."

"Saving my mom makes me like you a lot." He glanced at me just long enough to see me give him a weak smile. Then, he turned his eyes back on the road.

"Hey," I said, "why did you come on so strong at first? I mean, the whole stalker thing isn't a great way to get a girl to like you."

"I freaked. I saw you with Matt, and I lost it."

"You thought I was going to kill him."                       
       
           



       

"Yes." He got quiet.

"And I did exactly what you thought I would."

"No. He did exactly what I thought he would."

"What do you mean?" That wasn't at all what I thought he'd say.

"He fell in love with you."

I shook my head. "Matt wasn't in love with me. He liked me, but he didn't love me."

"Yes, he did. Believe me, Jodi, a guy doesn't wait around for a girl who hasn't even kissed him unless he's in love with her."

I'd never understood why Matt was so patient with me. Was Alex right? Had Matt been in love with me?

"Remember when Melodie introduced you to Matt?" Alex smirked. "The guy practically fell all over himself."

"Wait, how do you know when she introduced me to Matt?"

"I told you. I was assigned to watch you back in September."

Right. Man, that was creepy. I wondered what else Alex had seen. I decided it was best not to think about it. We sat in silence for a while. I tried to figure out where we were going, but Alex seemed to make a lot of turns and road changes. It was almost like he was trying to confuse me. I let it go, though, figuring I'd find out where we were going once we got there. I repositioned myself in the seat, trying to get more comfortable. I hated being cramped in a car for too long. Even though I wasn't tall by any standard, I couldn't take being in one position for any length of time. I twisted sideways, stretching my back, and saw the lime-green bag sitting on the backseat.

"Oh, my God! That's my gym bag." I reached for it.

"I took the liberty of packing for you. Good thing, too, since there really wasn't time before we left."

He knew I couldn't argue with that. He'd played the "you-killed-your-mother-and-I-brought-her-back-so-you-can't-get-mad-at-me" card. I put the bag on my lap and unzipped it, curious to see what Alex had thought to pack for me. At first, it looked like all practical things. Socks, sneakers, jeans, shirts. I dug deeper. "You went through my underwear drawer?"

"And what would you have done if I hadn't?" He raised an eyebrow at me.

I let out an annoyed sigh. He was right. I didn't exactly want to go commando, so it was a good thing he'd packed underwear and bras for me. Still, the thought of a guy I barely knew going through my underwear drawer wasn't exactly comforting. I put the bag down by my feet and made a mental note to wash all these items when we got to wherever it was we were going.

"So, how is this going to work? Me coming to stay with you and the other Ophi." This was probably the kind of thing I should have asked about sooner.

"I'm taking you to my parents. They live in this huge old mansion. It was a reform school at one time, but it lost its funding, and the school was forced to close. It was left abandoned. Now, a bunch of Ophi live there. My parents own the place, so they pretty much call the shots, but everyone gets along well." He shrugged. "For the most part. Well, except-"

There was always one person who had to cause trouble. "Who is he? Older brother? Distant cousin twice removed?"

"Her name is Abigail." I must have looked as surprised as I felt to hear the bad seed was a girl. "Yup, she's …  well, there really aren't any words to describe Abby."

"Great. I can't wait to meet her," I said with all the sarcasm I could manage.

"I should probably warn you that she likes to prey on the new ones."

"Of course she does." I rolled my eyes. "I'm sure she and I will be the best of friends." That was a bad choice of words because it made me think of Melodie. I hadn't exactly been a good best friend to her. I'd killed the guy she secretly liked, maybe even loved. Then I'd taken off without saying goodbye or telling her where I was going. I was pretty much the worst excuse for a friend, daughter, or human being ever. But I wasn't really human, was I?

Alex pulled a wrapped sandwich from the middle console. "Here, it's turkey and cheese. You haven't eaten much lately, and you need to keep your strength up."

He was right. I forced myself to eat the sandwich. "Can you tell me a little more about what we are? I mean, I know we're Ophi and we have Gorgon blood in us, but what else?" I stared at Alex. Really stared. He must have felt my eyes on him because he turned his head and looked right at me.