Read Changeling for Free Online

the handle. He looked up at Lucien, and, shaking his head at the stupidity of what he was about to do, opened the door and jumped into the back seat. He fastened his seat belt while looking out of the window to see what Lucien was doing. His heart pounded in his chest and he felt extremely hot and clammy, as the blood raced around his body carrying the fight-or-flight chemicals to every cell within it.
    Outside, Lucien switched the umbrella to his left hand and, opening the door with the other, very quickly threw himself into the seat while simultaneously discarding the opened umbrella on the road outside the car and closing the door. For the first time since they had met, Trey saw that the man’s impeccable self-composure had been allowed, momentarily, to slip. He was breathing hard and a slither of sweat snaked down the flesh on the back of his neck.
    As Lucien sat in the chair for a minute to compose himself, Trey watched in horror as large, angry blisters started to form on the top of Lucien’s head and the backs of his hands. They grew at an incredible rate, increasing their diameter five- or six-fold in the mere seconds that he watched, filling with a light, yellowish-white fluid until the area around them looked pinched and sore. Trey had seen how quickly Lucien had entered the car and knew that those areas of skin could not have been exposed for more than a fraction of a second.
    ‘Lucien, your skin . . . it’s . . .’
    He watched as the man in front of him gingerly touched the angry welts on the top of his head with the tips of his fingers. ‘I know. It’s this . . . condition. I don’t react very favourably to the sun. Don’t worry, they’ll be gone shortly.’
    ‘I don’t think so. They look bad. You’ll need a doctor. I think—’
    ‘Trust me, Trey. I am an extremely fast healer.’ He removed the sunglasses and placed them on the passenger seat by his side. Starting the car, he began to pull away from the curb and away from the institution that had been Trey Laporte’s home for the last three years. ‘Now, we need to make haste.’
    ‘This looks like a drug dealer’s car,’ Trey remarked carelessly. In the rear-view mirror he saw Lucien’s cheeks rise and his eyes crinkle in what he guessed was a smile.
    ‘Does it, indeed? Then I will certainly have to change it. The remote control for the television is in the lift-up compartment on your right. Feel free to watch what you like.’
    ‘I’m too wired to watch TV, Lucien. I think I’d just like to sit in peace for a while and try to work out what the hell I have just done.’
    Lucien nodded from the front, and they drove in silence for the remainder of the trip, mile after mile of countryside speeding past Trey’s window as he gazed out from the rear of the car. He could feel his eyes start to drop and he blinked them open in frustration, shaking his head in disbelief that he could even consider the possibility of sleep after everything that had just happened. But the adrenalin dump that was taking place in his body right now was making him suddenly extremely weary. He felt his eyes blinking shut again and looked up to see Lucien regarding him in the rear-view mirror.
    ‘Sleep is a good thing,’ Lucien said. ‘We’ve got a long journey ahead of us, so, please, sleep as long as you like. You are quite safe now. Trust me.’
    Fighting the sudden waves of exhaustion that seemed to simply roll over him, Trey suddenly remembered that he had left the home without any of his possessions.
    ‘My stuff . . .’ he mumbled.
    ‘Shhh, now. I will arrange for all of your personal items to be collected by one of my people. Everything else – we will simply buy as new.’
    Trey looked around at the luxuriant car interior. ‘Are you rich, Lucien?’ he asked.
    ‘Yes. Disgustingly so.’
    ‘Where are we going?’ His eyes fluttered as he fought to stay awake long enough to catch the answer.
    ‘We are going to my apartment in London. You are coming