Reborn (Altered) by Jennifer Rush Page A

ring.
    “Anna?”
    That was the first thing Trev said when he picked up.
    “Sorry to disappoint you,” I replied.
    Trev cursed. “What the hell do you want? Where’s Anna?”
    “She’s home.”
    “Is she okay?”
    “Yes. Is there anything else you want to know about her? You want to know what she was wearing yesterday? You want to know what she had for breakfast? You want to know how often I stumble on her and Sam going at it?”
    The last one was a lie, but twisting the knife always felt good. Anna would smack me for it if she ever found out. A little sliver of guilt wedged in my chest.
    “I’m hanging up now.”
    “Wait,” I said. “I’m sorry. Mostly for Anna’s sake. Not yours.”
    “What do you want, Nick?”
    “I need your help.”
    “And I’m just supposed to jump?”
    “There’s a girl,” I started, looking over my shoulder. It was alwaysgood to know who was within earshot. A couple sat at a table a good ten feet away. No one on either side of me at the bar.
    “‘There’s a girl,’” Trev echoed. “Oh no! Not a girl.”
    “You’re such an asshole,” I said, and started again. “There’s a girl that I was sent here to… you know , before the farmhouse lab. And I need to know what the mission was, and why she was part of it.”
    “Where’s ‘here’?”
    “Trademarr, Illinois.”
    Trev cursed.
    “What?” I said.
    “I can be there in less than an hour.”
    That was close. Closer than he should have been.
    “Where can I meet you?” he asked.
    I told him the name of the bar and where he could find it.
    “Stay there. I’ll be in town soon.”
    All the warning bells in my head were going off. It was like a fucking holy hour of bells.
    Something wasn’t right. Staying put was probably the last thing I should do.
    ’Course, if anyone was good at doing the exact opposite of what should be done, it was me.

18
    ELIZABETH
    I PULLED THE GABRIEL BOTTLE FROM the shelf and popped out the cork. I took in a deep breath, and that night came flooding back in disjointed images.
    The woods. The moonlight. The branches snapping at my feet and snagging my hair. The log that tripped me. The dry leaves rustling as I rolled over.
    And finally Gabriel.
    Nick.
    “Take care of it,” someone shouted.
    The gun was pointed at me.
    In the dark woods, the barrel was darker. Black. Empty. Bottomless. It was like staring into an abyss.
    Nick whispered, “Say nothing. Do you understa—”
    He cut himself off, and I whimpered at his feet. We were in the middle of nowhere. There was no one but Nick and the man in the distance. No one would hear my screams, so there was no point wasting my energy.
    Nick shot. I was squeezed so tightly into a ball when the gun went off, I couldn’t breathe. A ragged, choked sound escaped me.
    The bullet sailed over me. I wrapped my arms around my head. Every part of my body hurt. Fire in my veins. And fire in my lungs. My side was slick with blood. My chest, too. If Nick didn’t kill me, I’d be dead anyway. I was dead if he left me here.
    “Stay here,” he whispered. “I’ll be back.”
    His footfalls sounded like thunder in my head.
    “Go,” he told the man. “I’ll take care of the body.”
    “Decapitation, remember? Carry her back to the warehouse,” the man said. “Wrap her in this, so you don’t leave a trail of blood.”
    The ground smelled like coming winter. Like the end of everything. Or maybe that was just me and my dying, bloodless body.
    The word decapitation kept running through my head like a flashing red marquee.
    The man made a call on his cell. “It’s taken care of,” he said, and left, the leaves rustling as he walked away.
    Nick reappeared with a roll of plastic. “Wait until he’s farther out,” he told me. “No sound. None at all. Got it?”
    I nodded.
    I was shaking so bad by that point, I felt like gelatin.
    Nick took his coat off and wrapped it around me. Pine and musk and cinnamon and something else woodsy and sweet. I focused