Driven Read Online Free PDF

wouldn't give for Keith. I know
that's probably not healthy, I know that I'm giving too much of
myself to him, for him, but I can't help myself. It's just how I am."
    "Do
you wish things were different?"
    "Are
you asking me if I want you to fix me?"
    "I'm
not sure. I guess maybe that is what I'm asking. Do you wish things
were different?"
    Aly
shook her head as she ripped a sheet of paper off of the tablet on
the desk next to the bed and wrote a number on it.
    "I
don't want to be different. Maybe if you told me that there wasn't
anything that could be done to save Keith then I'd want to change,
but things were so incredibly perfect for the two of us back when we
first met. Back before he started using."
    Geoffrey
accepted the folded sheet of paper. "It's possible that he won't
need any more help than what I've already given him. If you can get
him to talk to you about who he lost then he might be able to
recover. No matter what happens he won't be using for at least a
little while, but with a little luck he'll recover enough that he
won't stumble into some other kind of self-destructive behavior."
    "I
know; I really did see part of what you did to him. I…well, I
guess I'm volunteering. If he needs more help then I want you to come
help him, but even if he doesn't, I want to do my part."
    "Your
part for what?"
    "My
part to keep you alive so you can help other people. Most vampires
aren't like you, are they?"
    Something
very much like terror started to grow inside of Geoffrey. It had
happened once before with Melody. She'd been able to see inside of
his mind at the same time that he'd been inside of hers. Having
someone else inside of his mind didn't have to be a terrifying evil,
but the fear operated as a reflexive thing that engaged and
disengaged at a level of consciousness far below anything he had
control over.
    Imastious
had scarred him too badly for things to be any other way. Maybe he'd
get past that at some point, but it wasn't going to happen anytime
soon.
    "Did
you see that too?"
    Aly
gave him a sad smile and the expression implied that his fears
weren't unfounded. "No, not really. It was more along the lines
of vague impressions. I could tell that you came from somewhere
terrible though. Even if I hadn't seen that I'd still know that most
vampires weren't like you. The world is too bad a place for things to
be any other way. If there were hundreds of people like you running
around helping people like Keith and me then the world wouldn't be as
bad as it is."
    Not
trusting himself to speak, Geoffrey simply nodded and then left the
room. He was almost back to his room before they struck. Exhaustion
had made him grow careless or he would have had enough probes out to
feel them coming.
    Geoffrey
rounded a corner in the dingy hallway leading to his room and was
suddenly confronted by a slender, almost skeletal redheaded woman.
Even before Geoffrey's reflexive probes skittered off of the blank
wall of someone who was actively trying to make sure that their
thoughts couldn't be read, he was backing away. It was an unplanned
movement, triggered by something that knew she was wrong on levels
that he couldn't consciously identify.
    It
would have been foolish to turn his back on her, but Geoffrey didn't
need to turn around in order to make sure that he'd be able to
retreat. He burned up some of the strength Aly had lent him as he
sent out a network of fine thought-tendrils behind and to either side
of him.
    He
brushed up against two more shielded minds, and then something struck
him from behind with enough force to knock him to the ground.
    Geoffrey
didn't realize that the blow had been to his head until he noticed
that he was surrounded by an inexplicable blackness. The voices he
was hearing seemed to be coming from a long ways away.
    "You're
sure that's him?"
    "Yeah,
he's a little worn around the edges, but he matches the picture that
Imastious sent over."
    "Good,
let's get out of here then."
    A
third voice chimed in with