Page 7 of The Black Rider
“Sure. Check out everything. I was kidnapped and put in a coma. There’s no telling what they did to me.”
Doctor Gonzalez started shining a light in my eyes.
“Oh, we’ve heard all about you. First, all Leif could talk about was his amazing new girlfriend. When you went missing, Aeron and Leif went a little insane trying to find you. Then the war broke out, and they had to join the fight. Their friend Dice joined up to help, and then all three of them were looking for you in between trying to stop the world for killing each other. No one could understand why until Leif admitted you might be able to help him end all this. I’m glad he found you. Follow my finger.”
Great. All of San Quintin thought I could stop this, and they all had guns. What if my blood wasn’t the answer? Could my angel blood survive my body being riddled with bullets? I mean, my father killed my mother, so clearly, there were ways to kill angels. What if my fucking blood was a one-trick pony and could only turn people into cannibal corpses?
Doctor Gonzalez gave me a full exam and took some blood to test. He checked my arm too. I’d never had a cut this big, but I lied through my teeth and said I got it a few weeks ago when he told me it was on the mend, and he could go ahead and take the stitches out. Fuck me. I was some angel mutant.
“I will run your blood through a few tests to check your levels, but you seem healthy. You’re way too thin, but you’re in a wonderful place to remedy that. No one in San Quintin goes hungry, and aside from some processed junk food that was out there before, we have all the food you could want.”
I cocked an eyebrow at him.
“Are you giving me a prescription to pig out?”
Doctor Gonzalez just laughed.
“Doctors orders. I want to see you again in two weeks to go over your bloodwork, and I expect to see some weight gain. There’s a little café next door with the best chocoflan in Mexico. It always has been, and the owner survived the Rage Mutation and the war. Celebrate finding Leif and Aeron again by going to eat there. Get the seven-course meal she offers and finish up with the chocoflan. That’s my prescription, along with a lot of good food.”
“Okay, you’re officially the coolest doctor I’ve ever seen.”
“Well, my coolness may change, and so may your prescription when your bloodwork comes back. Right now, you seem healthy, but underweight. Your bloodwork most likely will tell me you’re deficient on certain things, and we must get those levels up. Plus, we don’t know what those drugs did to your organs.”
Well, if my arm had already started healing enough that the stitches could come out, those drugs could have done one of two things. My father knew a combination that would do damaged to a Nephilim, or they’d already started healing themselves.
Still, it had been an interminable day, and I’d had a lot thrown at me. I was still a little drunk from drinking straight from the Tequila bottle. Did we even have time for me to take a brief nap?
Chapter 7
A
eron and Leif were waiting when I left the exam room. My eyes were drooping, and all I wanted was a pillow. Ever since my eyes opened, the big goal had been to find my missing memories and get to Mexico. I still didn’t have most of my memories, but we finally made it to Mexico. Tall walls surrounded us, and we were safe here. It felt like I could let some stress out and take a nap.
On the road, and even in California, day time was for travel. It was safer to move when it was light out, or there were curfews in California. Even at my apartment, I couldn’t nap because there was always this driving force to get to Mexico. I’d take twenty minutes, and then we could go to the lab and start experimenting on me again.
They didn’t even give me a chance to ask. Leif scooped me up and cradled me like a baby.
“Someone had too much Tequila and needs to lie down.”
“This one drank me under the table one night in Gabriel’s Haven. Let’s get her to bed.”
“I can walk,” I murmured.
I didn’t really mean it. Technically, I could walk, and I could make it to the bedroom, but I was quite comfortable in Leif’s arms. Way too comfortable considering I didn’t remember a fucking thing we ever talked about on the phone. There was just this easiness about him that made me comfortable around him. I wanted to remember him so severely.
I was in Leif’s bedroom in no time, and he was right, the bed was big enough for all three of us. Was it weird that I didn’t mind sharing the bed when I couldn’t remember Leif? All we would be doing was sleeping. I still wanted to explore where all the kissing Aeron and I had done would go, but it wasn’t really the time, and I wouldn’t do that in front of Leif.
Leif set me gently on the bed, and he and Aeron stepped away.
“We will let you nap, Ariel. We need to contact Dice and Asher to move to phase two of our plans now that you’re here.”
“What’s phase two? And how are you talking, anyway? I never once saw Aeron use a phone.”
“Angels can talk telepathically. You probably can too. We’ll teach you, but for now, take a nap and rest.”
The pillow was so comfortable, but I just couldn’t shut up.
“I want to know about your zombie killing horse. Where does he disappear to when you smack him on the ass?”
