Hybrid (The Healer Series Book 2) Read online

  HYBRID

  Copyright 2014 Brandy Toler

  www.bntoler.com

  All Rights Reserved

  This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means without prior written permission of the authors, except as provided by United States of America copyright law.

  Also available in paperback format

  Cover Design: Cover to Cover Designs

  Cover Photo: Parpalea Catalin

  Interior Design: Integrity Formatting

  The following is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are fictitious or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, to factual events or to businesses is coincidental and unintentional.

  To you, Toler.

  Because you are the Shake to my Bake.

  dedication

  prologue

  one

  two

  three

  four

  five

  six

  seven

  eight

  nine

  ten

  eleven

  twelve

  thirteen

  fourteen

  fifteen

  sixteen

  dear reader

  glossary

  acknowledgements

  about the author

  [I’ve learned the hard way to never think things can’t get worse. Believe me, no matter how terrible it is, it can get worse.

  My name is Aldo Lawson, and all I’ve ever wanted is to be like everyone else. But I’m so not like everyone else.

  I’m a healer.

  I have a unique ability to pull energy from one human and transfer it to another in order to heal illness, injury, and sometimes death. As if that isn’t enough, I can also absorb information from those I touch. Trick is, I can’t find out what information I’ve absorbed until I dream. Even then, the information I absorb can be random. Figures.

  Oh, and I’m a triplet. I have twin brothers, Whit and Hudson. They’ve been my best friends my whole life. We were raised by my aunt Lucy, who took us in after my mother died giving birth to us. Lucy moved us around a lot and we never knew why until our senior year in high school when a mysterious man showed up.

  His name: Thomas Watson.

  He was swoon-worthy for all the right reasons. Hot, funny, and too old for me to date. Did I mention hot? But there was more to him than that, more to the reason I immediately fell for him. He was like me.

  He was a healer.

  He has another unique gift, too. He’s a dream walker. He can link his mind with another’s and invade their subconscious without them knowing. Well most people anyways. I figured it out and we spent many nights in my subconscious hanging out.

  With Thomas’ arrival, my aunt was forced to tell us truths she had hidden from us our entire lives. Like vampires do exist. Oh, and they lust for healer blood because it energizes them. They also turn healers, creating a vampire healer known as a blood healer. Vampires and blood healers typically live in nests together. I wouldn’t find out, until much later, that vampires were doing far worse to healers. My aunt Lucy didn’t tell me this part, but vampires had started taking female healers and impregnating them, using male healers who were either paid or forced to comply. Each female would produce three offspring and then they would be disposed of. The babies were taken to a compound type complex where they’re raised by vampires and blood healers that are loyal to the nest. This is how the vampires kept the healer bloodline pure, ensuring they would always have the best blood to feed on.

  Yes, that was some crazy shit to figure out, but that didn’t stop me from falling for Thomas. Even our eight-year age difference didn’t stop me. But Thomas held me at arm’s length and we became the best of friends, but that changed. One night it all came out, and we confessed our love for one another in my dreams. In my subconscious, we made passionate love. It was everything I fantasized it would be.

  The next day I was on cloud nine, but that was short lived. My aunt was murdered, and Thomas disappeared. I had no idea what happened to him. My brothers and I fled fearing vampires had found us and taken Thomas. Not long after, I discovered I was pregnant. Yes, I got pregnant from having sex in my dreams.

  I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy we named Beau, but my heart couldn’t rejoice in his arrival. Not while I knew Thomas could still be out there. So I left Beau with my brothers and set out to find Thomas.

  Five years later, I was stripping and had not one lead. I had been working so hard trying to find vampires that could lead me to Thomas, I wasn’t prepared for when they found me first. My life took a dramatic turn for the worse when I was taken by a blood healer named Rhett. He took me to his farm where he and his sister, Sarah, began preparing me for transition. They were going to make me a blood healer.

  I hated them. How could they do this to me? Even worse was knowing that I’d failed. I’d never found Thomas. I deserted my baby and my brothers and now I would never see them again. I hated Rhett so much for that. But as time went on, Rhett didn’t seem so evil or vicious. In fact, he seemed almost human, not the soulless monster my aunt had told me blood healers were. Something about him made me feel safe, and closer to sanity.

  It didn’t take long for the hate I felt for Rhett to transfer into something else. Love. I didn’t want to; I wanted to hate him, but Rhett was amazing. Just as these new feelings were forming, I discovered Rhett, too, was a dream walker, and the last five years of my life had really only been one year in my subconscious. The day my aunt died, my brother drained me unconscious to protect me, and I never woke up. Instead, I remained in a dream state where I lived. I never had a baby. My brother and my best friend Lila had a child and even though I was unconscious, I absorbed that information and twisted it to fit in my dream world.

  This is the part where things get worse. This is why I say, never say it can’t get worse, because it always can. Sarah knew my mother, Lisa. My brothers and I are a product of the nest, and after my mother gave birth to us she was murdered. Sarah had been working undercover, a spy inside the nest, but she had plans to escape. She took my brothers and me with her and found our aunt Lucy.

  Days before my aunt was murdered, Sarah and Rhett had caught wind from an informant three healer siblings had been found. Sarah rushed to find us, to warn Lucy, but she was too late. When I fell unconscious, she and Rhett began walking my dreams trying to find a way to wake me up. They also discovered they weren’t the only ones there. Thomas had been in my subconscious. He was alive. Which left the question, where was he?

  Rhett and I made love before I woke up. I am so thankful to him for helping me, but discovering that my mother had been murdered by the nest where I was born did something to me. It changed me. I knew when I woke up I’d have to leave Rhett. I needed to find the nest and destroy it and Rhett would never let me do that. No matter how much I loved him, I needed revenge more.

  Convinced Thomas deceived my family, I vowed to find and destroy him. I will find the nest that killed my mother and destroy it as well.

  I will get my revenge.

  katz

  “Aldo,” Rhett whispers as I struggle to open my eyes.

  “She’s waking up,” I hear Hudson say excitedly.

  Rhett gently strokes my cheek as I gaze lazily up at him. His hair is loose and falls freely, accentuating his immaculate facial structure. His incandescent eyes stare down at me, and a surge of relief runs through me. There was a part of me that was terrified I would wake up to discover Rhett had just been a part of my dream world. But here he is.

  He is real.

  Just as he promi
sed.

  “Yes,” I manage through a hoarse voice.

  “Help me sit her up,” Rhett orders, and suddenly hands are behind me, lifting me, much to my limp body’s dismay.

  There is silence as I look around the room through my grogginess. Whit sits to my right with a face-splitting grin and Hudson stands behind him, staring at me with his big doe eyes, wearing a softer smile.

  “Hi,” I mouth, my voice failing me. I grab my throat and try to swallow, but it’s so dry I can’t. It feels like there were tubes down my throat and it burns when I try to speak.

  “Sarah, will you get her some water?” Whit nods to the other side of the room and Sarah smiles at him as she exits. Sarah’s being friendly? What’s that about?

  Looking back to my brothers, tears fill my eyes as I survey them. I wouldn’t be surprised if they hated me for hiding away in my dreams. I’m overwhelmed with guilt for leaving them to mourn the loss of Lucy without me. “I’m sorry,” I mouth as I burst into tears.

  “Hey, stop that.” Whit grabs my hand. “Today is a happy day; no tears.” He uses his sleeve to wipe my wet face.

  “We’ve missed you.” Hudson leans over Whit to hug me, forcing Whit to fall on me as well. I laugh and cough, but wrap my weak arms around them both until Rhett pulls them off of me and hands me the glass of water Sarah has returned with.

  Sarah looks the same as she did in my subconscious world, but she’s actually wearing color, decked out in a blue tank top with her blonde hair tied back. Her blue eyes gaze upon me, cold and lacking emotion, and I can see her frosty disposition exists in this world too.

  “Aldo.” Lila emerges into the room holding a bundle in her arms. Her long, dark hair billows over her shoulders, and she looks every bit as gorgeous as the last time I saw her. She leans down and kisses me on my cheek, then shifts so I can see the face of my nephew.

  “Aldo, this is Beau.” Hudson comes behind her, smiling proudly as he places his hands on Lila’s shoulders.

  I touch Beau’s tiny hand as he peers down at me from his mother’s arms. He’s only about four months old now, still tiny. He has Lila’s complexion and Hudson’s big doe eyes. He’s beautiful. I find it hard to breathe for a moment staring at him. I had thought this was my son in my subconscious, but I had really absorbed it from my physical surroundings and twisted it to fit in my world, or rather—that world.

  “I’ve missed you.” Lila wipes under her eyes with her spare hand.

  “I’ve missed you, too.” I smile, actually producing sound with my words, although hoarse.

  Tears keep streaming down my face and I glance back to Whit who is still squeezing my hand and he rolls his eyes. An abyss of unspoken words travels between us, yet none seem to say what I need him to hear.

  “You really need to brush your teeth. Your breath is kicking.” Whit sees my angst, and staying true to his usual self, uses jokes to lighten the moment.

  “I see not much has changed,” I croak. “You’re still the same smart ass you’ve always been.” Everyone laughs—except Sarah.

  Whit’s laughter begins to calm and his gaze fixes on me, his expression soft, but serious. “We’re really glad you’re back.” He nods. Whit has never been one to show his emotions—humor and sarcasm have been his methods of handling the harder parts of life. Understanding this, I squeeze his hand and smile back.

  After an hour, Rhett begins forcing everyone out of my room, noticing how overwhelmed I’m becoming. It’s wonderful seeing everyone, but it’s also hard to wake up and see how much I’ve missed. When they have all left, Rhett sits down beside me, taking my hand and kissing it gently before pressing it to his face, sending chills through me. I smile at how human he seems, not the monster I thought he was when he kidnapped me in my dreams.

  “Welcome back,” he smiles softly and butterflies descend to my stomach. My heart rate increases as he leans in and kisses my forehead, and I try to hide my disappointment that he didn’t kiss me on the mouth, but then I remember my breath probably smells like death that’s been locked in a Ziploc bag in the back of a van on a hot summer day.

  “Thank you,” I whisper. Rhett saved me. If it hadn’t been for him I might never have come back to the real world.

  “I’ll make you some dinner,” he pats my leg.

  As I watch him leave, I wonder if something is wrong. He seems off. Didn’t we just make passionate love in my dreams, where he confessed his love for me? I decide, maybe, he’s just taking it easy on me, not wanting to overwhelm me.

  With a quick scan, I look around the room and don’t recognize it. The walls are white, bare of any décor, and it’s small. There are a few medical machines, but I have no idea what they’re for. Lifting the blanket I pull the hem of my shirt up. Tubing runs atop my leg and disappears behind, yes—you guessed it—a diaper.

  I. Am. Mortified.

  Could I be anymore pathetic right now? With as much haste as I can muster up, I tear off the diaper and remove the catheter, which is in no way pleasant. When I’m done wanting to die of embarrassment, I shift so my legs swing off of the bed and my feet touch the cool wood floor. I need to take a shower, there’s no doubt in my mind I probably look like hell. I stand and immediately collapse to the ground with a hard thud, my legs having given out from under me.

  “Shit.”

  On my hands and knees, I begin crawling towards the door. Even crawling takes a great deal of effort, but I manage. Once in the hallway, I look for what might be the bathroom and make my way to the end of the hall, which feels no less than twenty miles away, relieved I picked the right door and crawl in. As I pull myself up on the toilet, Rhett comes in behind me.

  “Need some help?” he teases softly.

  “I can’t walk,” I say embarrassed, giving up my attempt to pull myself up. He quickly lifts me and sits me on the toilet, making sure to steady me.

  “Thank you.”

  “You should’ve asked me to help you,” he scolds and I smile as he turns the faucet to the bathtub on and begins filling the tub. As he bends over, I admire his physique while my inner self does a fist pump in celebration of having done the nasty with him—even if it was only in my dreams.

  He turns back to me and grabs a towel from the shelf over my head, behind the toilet, and as he does his scent consumes me. Even in the pathetic state I’m in—I want him, but more so, I want to touch him. I grab his hips and press my face into his stomach, resting there, relishing his touch. He tenses, but quickly bends down before me and grabs my face with both hands as he stares into my eyes. His mouth opens slightly, but in a second, he turns deciding not to speak. He places a hand under the running water and looks back to me.

  “Do you like it hot?”

  “Or cool.” I shrug, biting my lip, thinking about his cool touch.

  He smiles sideways. “Hot water?”

  “Yes.” Guess he’s not in the mood for playful banter.

  “If I sit you on the edge of the tub, do you think you could slide yourself in?”

  I stare at him blankly. I don’t really want him to see me naked right now, but that’s because I haven’t shaved in forever and have a Loch Ness Monster between my legs, but why is he being so strange about it?

  “Yes, I think so.” I nod.

  “I’ll leave and let you get undressed. Wrap this towel around you, and I’ll come back and put you on the edge of the tub so you can slide in once I’ve left again.”

  “Okay.”

  He leaves the door open a crack and I begin to undress. I was right to worry about what things look like downtown; it’s about a month away from becoming Chewbacca, throaty sounds and all. Pulling the towel over my lap, I rest for a moment before I tug the large T-shirt I’m wearing off and find my necklace. Grabbing it, I slide my thumb against the rectangle to open it.

  In my dream, right before I came back to the real world, Lucy told me there were answers inside the rectangle, but I couldn’t read the engraved inscription. My heart is in my throat as Lucy’
s image plays out in my mind. She was the best aunt—or mother, for that matter—a girl could have hoped for, and I let her down. I hid things from her when all she ever did was tried to protect me. Of course, she hid a great deal from me as well.

  My mouth falls open as I read the inscription. I’m stunned. After I close it, I hold it tightly in my hand.

  “You don’t know what you are.” Lucy spoke those words to me right before I woke up.

  I bite my lip trying to understand what she meant. What the hell am I? I look back to the door and see Rhett staring at me through the crack. He quickly moves away as I wrap the towel around me, tucking the rectangle underneath. Minutes pass, when finally Lila enters.

  “Rhett said you might need some help.” She smiles softly, and my heart drops. Why is Rhett acting so weird?

  Lila, much to my horror, bathes me, lecturing me not to be embarrassed, as it was her who bathed and changed me daily while I was asleep. I’m mortified and somewhat relieved that she took the liberty of shaving my legs and armpits because she couldn’t—in her words—stand to let me look like a troll, even if I was in a coma, as she so delicately put it.

  “I suppose waxing my snatch would’ve been too much to ask?” I say dryly, but totally joking. The last thing I would want is anyone working on that area.

  “Why, you got company coming?” She stares down at me eagerly as she conditions my hair.

  “Maybe,” I shrug nonchalantly.

  “Oh my God! Rhett? Really?” she squeals as she bends down to meet my line of sight, her eyes wide.

  “Shut up!” I hiss, knowing Sarah and Rhett have probably heard every word with their blood healer powers.

  “Oh, sorry.” She glances back at the door, but snaps right back to me. “So did you, like, tap that in your head?” Her eyes widen again. “He is soooo hotttttt….” Her words drag out in emphasis.

  “A gentleman never asks, and a lady never—”

  “Oh shut the fuck up and spill!” She rolls her eyes and laughs.