Tainted Blood by Sam C. Leonhard

Author:Sam C. Leonhard [Leonhard, Sam C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press

Chapter 9

OUTSIDE, the sun was shining, a welcome change from the artificial light in the apartment as well as from the clouds that had been plaguing the sky the past few weeks. There was no snow in sight, and although it was still quite chilly, it wasn’t freezing anymore.

Thoughts in serious turmoil, Gabriel decided to walk to the bus station instead of taking Tennant’s car to run his errands. A little fresh air would do him some good. Getting his emotions under control before he entered the shopping center was essential.

Sneaking up to his neck, his fingertips parted the hair and searched for the tattoo. He couldn’t really feel it, but he knew where it was. Always had, in a way. Until now, he hadn’t known its significance, but now that Tennant had brought up the subject, he could clearly remember the pain caused by the needle. He could remember crying. And very vaguely, he could remember a soothing hand on his head, holding him down, immobilizing him while someone etched the tattoo onto his skin.

Not his gran. He couldn’t imagine the old woman knowing that much about runes, so it hadn’t been her who’d created the rune. Maybe she had taken him to someone who had the knowledge, but as the old woman had vanished when he’d been a child and was probably dead for twenty years, there was no way to find out.

It didn’t matter, anyway. Only two things were of importance: someone had, by way of protecting him, doomed him to a life where finding a new family or close friends had been awfully hard, if not impossible, and somehow, his ability to become sort of invisible didn’t affect the doctor.

Whom, coincidentally, he had fallen in love with.

His heart skipped a beat as he thought of Tennant, and he wondered why he was so reticent to let the doctor know how he felt. He had resolutely denied any emotional entanglement, had denied desire as well as love, because he was too damn scared of something that might become more than a mere one-night stand. In theory, it would have been easy to say, “Yes, I desire you. Let’s go to bed.” That way, Tennant would be aware of his feelings, but Gabriel hadn’t been able to force the words out of his mouth. He was beginning to think a quiet ten minutes in the bathroom would become a repeat occurrence.

Bathroom. Shit. How embarrassing! Sitting on a cold floor, pulling himself off while thinking of someone who was a fucking virgin!

“Can’t believe it.” Gabriel stopped walking. “I should just keep going and never go back.”

He was about half a block away from the bus station. He had his knapsack and enough money in his pocket to survive for a month, if he ate sparingly. He stood there, seriously contemplating just vanishing, running from the doctor and those skilled hands that were so good at soothing headaches, aching muscles, or catching him when he fell off a chair.

“I can’t go back there, really,” he murmured, trying to convince himself.

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