Ch 9: Heartlines

Jackie has never seen Luke more concerned, but she didn’t have the mental capacity to think about it more. All she could think about was the hole in her stomach and the revenge she would have on Adrik. Laura rushed over with a heart, and Luke stopped her as she approached, “No! She has never had a fresh heart; it’s against the law, and we don’t know how she will react to it.”

“I don’t care, Luke! She is losing too much blood, and she is not healing fast enough. She needs to eat this, or she could die!”

He turned to look at Jackie, her face quickly draining of color, and looked at her with affection. Hardening his resolve, he spoke to her with no bravado or teasing. “This is going to be different than anything you have felt so far. I need you to trust me and eat this.”

Jackie was slightly disgusted by eating a raw heart, but was quickly swayed by the excruciating pain and the way they were looking at her. So trusting him, she took the heart and bit into it. There was an explosion of sensations that burst through her. She almost convulsed, but the tensing of her muscles and the animalistic reaction to the heart held it back. She devoured the heart before her own actions could repulse her. She felt like the air was made of static electricity, the fur on her body stood up, and she almost purred.

Then, suddenly, a shock went through her, and her vision went white. She saw flashes of red eyes and faces she didn’t recognize and felt anger and pain, and fear, so much fear she felt like she was choking on it. Then another flash, and she saw a face, then another flash, and she saw her own feral face, then nothing. Another white flash, and she was standing up, feeling like everything was in slow motion. She felt no more pain; the skin on her abdomen was completely healed and smooth. She felt high, alive, and alert. Because of her heightened senses, she easily noticed how tense Luke and Laura were as they watched her. Their comforting ocean scent was changed slightly; there was a hint of a storm, and her instincts told her they were scared. Her heart was beating slow and steady as she took a breath and licked her lips.

“Um, why are you guys looking at me like that?”

Luke was the first to speak, “Jackie, I have seen people eat a fresh heart before to survive, or for a quick burst of power. But what you just did was something else. You’re completely healed, and I think you glowed a little.”

Laura kept staring at Jackie’s healed stomach and said, “Maybe this is the power of one of her bloodlines. What do you feel?”

Jackie, looking down and feeling her new skin, said, “I think I just saw his memories. I saw my own face from his perspective. And I feel amazing, honestly. Does that make me a freak?”

Luke’s eyes softened and turned teasing, “Yes, Petit Chaton, it does.” Jackie glared at him and was about to say something snarky, but was cut off when Luke moved to touch where there should have been a hole in her stomach as he said, “But at least you are alive. A living freak.” The words were rude and teasing, but the way he was touching and looking at her was saying something else entirely. With her heightened senses from the heart still lingering, her skin sparked to life everywhere he touched, overwhelming her. His hands were still lingering and moving to examine her stomach when a quiet moan escaped her. Mortified, her eyes shot up to him, and she gripped his wrist to stop his hand from roaming any further. “I think that’s enough for now. I’m clearly okay. Can we just get out of here?” Laura cleared her throat, catching their attention and pulling them out of their trance. Luke stepped back, flexing his hand as Laura said, “Yes, go call this into our cleaners, Luke. I’ll look after her for now. We need to figure out how they found Jackie.”