Broken Wings: Genesis by A. J. Rand Read Free Book Online

pleading in
his eyes that called out to me. I was still leery. People in my line of work
didn’t stay alive as long as I had by not playing it safe. The sound of the
freight elevator moving again reminded me I might not have a lot of time.
    I edged toward the man with
caution, sending out my feelers as I went. It almost knocked me to my knees
when I connected with him. I don’t recall the last time I had felt such power.
He didn’t feel like an immortal. He also didn’t have that tarry, slimy
feeling of evil, either. I’m not sure what he was.
    He lifted a hand to me and tried
to speak, nothing came out. The man slumped forward, unconscious, without a
sound. A trick? Maybe, but I didn’t have time to work through it all. The
elevator stopped at my floor. With my luck running the way it seemed to be at
the moment, it meant another somebody headed my direction.
    I worked my way around the man,
but he didn’t move. Taking up a crouching, defensive position several feet past
his immediate reach, I faced the direction of the new threat and waited. My
heart was pounding in my chest and the adrenalin started pumping through my
veins, helping to metabolize the remaining opiate haze in my system. The sound
of footsteps crept slowly to the corner. Whoever it was, they moved with
caution. That’s all right––I was ready for them.
    Blond spikes tipped with black
showed around the corner before the rest of the face. The tension fell away. It
was Chaz. I stood up and took a few deep breaths to slow my pounding heart.
When I looked up, the kid was coming around the corner with a concerned look on
his face, his eyes darting from my Companion to the bloodied man and back
again.
    “Yesh, did you––?”
    I shook my head and took a step
closer to the unconscious man. “No. I found him this way.”
    “Who is he?”
    “Now that seems to be the
question. I’ve never seen him before.”
    “Then how––?”
    “How about holding back on the
questions while I check him out?”
    Chaz opened his mouth and shut it
again without another word.
    Since the man was unconscious, I
took advantage of a full probe with my non-physical senses. The level of power
I had first sensed was still evident. There was nothing evil about the man, not
in a demonic sense anyway. But there was definitely something wrong. It was
nothing I could put a finger on. He felt familiar, but not. There was a
struggle going on between his physical and metaphysical self––like they kept
wanting to separate, and yet stay together at the same time. I had been around
death before––that last moment of life where the spirit separates from the body
and leaves to wherever it may be headed for the afterlife. This wasn’t the
same. My confusion must have shown in my face.
    “What’s wrong, Yesh?”
    I shook my head. “I don’t know,
kid. Let’s get him inside and see what we can find out.”
    “Are you sure it’s okay––?”
    I stood up the rest of the way and
tucked my Companion back into place. “No. But it’s probably the only way we’re
going to get any answers without having the guy die out here in my hallway.”
    I unlocked the door to my
apartment and swung it open. Chaz and I turned as one to get the man situated
between us. We worked well as a team. At least I got a clue on where all of the
blood was coming from now. It was oozing out from beneath the jacket covering
his back. Chaz moved toward the couch once we got inside the door, but I shook
my head.
    “No––I want him in the bedroom.
There’s more room to lay him out.”
    The kid looked at me like he
didn’t agree, but he didn’t argue.
    Once inside the bedroom door, I
moved to hold the guy up against the wall. “Run and grab the extra shower
curtain from the bottom drawer in the bathroom, will you?”
    Chaz helped me get the man propped
into a place where I could hold his weight up by myself, and then ran to do
what I had asked. Just because I wanted to lay the guy out, didn’t mean