"I…" Daniel looked back at us, his face impossibly white with terror. "I did this? But-"
"You and only you did this," the thing said. "How does it feel to know that your treachery to us is what will be all of your demise?"
"Don't speak to him again," Jeff ordered. "Let's kill this thing and be rid of it."
Daniel nodded and said, "I'll take my punishment. I deserve it."
"Not you, idiot! I'm talking about that thing!" Jeff barked in exasperation and pointed his stake at the new beast. It just laughed at us with a metallic crunch to its voice.
"And you," the thing said and appraised me with deep eyes. "You have death all over you."
"I have life all over me!" I yelled and charged it. I blurred and hit it in stomach with my shoulder. He was made of lead, or may as well have been, but he at least fell to the ground. With my ego intact with that fact, but bruised, I raised my arm to finish him with a fist. He opened his mouth and howled this howl that caused me to see stars it hurt my ears and head so badly. I fell to the ground beside him and covered my ears fully expecting blood to come seeping out.
Cain stepped forward, with Josh…uh, Simon right by his side, and blasted him with his palms out, but the thing just flew back a bit then back flipped back into a standing position. Cain gawked and looked around at us. This wasn't working. We needed to think.
It couldn't end like this. After everything…it just couldn't be the end this way.
Hot Hands
Chapter 5
Ryan
I watched as Jeff crumpled to the ground, taking another hit from the thing we had yet to identify. I ran my hands through my hair with frustration at having absolutely no idea what to do. My human brain just wouldn’t think.
I began to feel the tug and buzz of my conscience. I cocked my head to the side, and hoped and prayed that Calvin wasn't doing anything stupid. He had begun to be aggressive in his efforts to help us and fight, but there was no way in hell or on this Earth I was letting that happen.
And when that thought hit me, so did another. My conscience…it wasn't buzzing because Calvin was in trouble, it was buzzing because this was Calvin's task. In all the hustle of fighting and trying so hard to keep our charges safe, we'd forgotten the most important thing. The reason the Specials were special and needed to be protected was to keep them safe until their task was presented to us and could be fulfilled.
I looked across the field to see Merrick shielding Danny and it all fell into place for me. I gulped down my petty fear and ran. I saw Miguel eyeing me as I ran passed him, like he couldn’t believe I was being the coward I was.
But he didn't know what I was up to.
I yelled to let Marissa know it was me and she swung the door open. I ran past her without explanation right to the door that I knew Ann was guarding on the other side. I stopped for just a second and took a breath. Please, please, God, let me be right.
Ann, it's me. Open up.
Did something else happen? What are you doing down here.
Open the door, Ann.
She opened it with a scowl that quickly morphed into horror as she read my thoughts. "No! Ryan, what are you thinking?"
"He's my Special. Move." I deposited her to the side swiftly and went to Calvin. I tried really hard not to glance at Ellie, because I didn't want to deal with two things at once, but I still couldn’t stop from glancing her way. She stood, her mouth slightly open, and watched me. Calvin looked up, shocked to see me and even more shocked when I took his arm and said, "Come on, champ. You're getting your wish."
He grinned and made a noise of excitement, but then Sherry stopped me with a hand on my arm.
"Ryan, what's going on?"
"He needs to do this," I said low. "I've been so blind lately, we all have. They're Specials for a reason, Sherry. This is his job, his task," I emphasized. Her eyes went too round and she bit her lip. She looked at Calvin with a look that a mother would give. I felt her pain, literally, it hurt me to think about this, but it had to be done.
"O-ok," she stuttered. "I mean," she turned to Lana, "he's not my son."
Lana was a different kind of woman and mother. She was perceptive beyond what most people were capable of. She gave me this look that told me she understood. She smiled and broke at the same time and signed 'What I wouldn't do to change things, but they are what they are.'
I bowed to her slightly in thanks and pulled Calvin's arm. He came willingly and said, "Yes! Finally! I've waited so long for this that I was starting to feel like it would never happen unless I made it happen."
I stopped in my stubborn, inhuman tracks. Was that a message directly for me or was it? I turned to Ellie, who still looked at me with a longing that I had known was there for a while now. She was shy, like me and my human self. I had kept her at a distance because I feared hurting her. If this all ended today, could I give up the After to stay here and die a human? What if I fell in love with her, would that change my decision? Merrick and Jeff were pretty adamant and sure of their decisions.
Could I risk breaking her heart to explore that?
My body answered for me as I found myself propelling across the carpeted floor to her. She let her arms fall to the sides and closed her eyes, squinting in a way as if I'd hit her instead of kiss her. I plowed into her, my arms going around her like I'd seen the other men do so many times. My lips took their first taste of female flesh and I felt a growl work its way into my throat. But she whimpered and that halted all movement, until she gripped my neck and tugged me closer. I felt clumsy and awkward, but she didn't seem to be complaining, and when she opened her mouth to me and I felt her tongue reaching for mine…
I pulled back and licked my bottom lip. I could still taste her there, smell her. Gah, I had to get out of here. I hugged her to me and spoke against her ear. Something in me that I didn't understand was extremely satisfied when she shivered. "I'll be back. I just couldn't go another minute without knowing what that felt like."
"I'm glad you did," she said breathlessly and laughed as she leaned back and touched my chin. "Please come back, because I really want to do that again."
I felt myself smile and stole one last peck before sprinting toward the door with Calvin. We'd wasted too much time already and I knew that I was going to have a fight on my hands with the other Keepers.
"Thanks, Calvin," I told him as we rounded the corner and clapped him on the shoulder.
"For what?" he asked.
"For making me brazen."
His face scrunched up. "You mean I said something to make you want to kiss Ellie?" He turned back and thought. "That was not my intention."
"That I know," I told him through a laugh. We went through the back door and he gasped as he looked around. "Still want to help?"
"Yep," he replied and gulped. "Let's do this, Ry."
I felt a ping in my gut. "Ry?" I asked and looked over at him. He was almost my height now.
"Yep, Ry. It suits you, man."
I chuckled, but sobered as a Lighter looked at us and started to inch toward us. "Stay close."
"You stay close. I'm ready to bar-b-que some Lighters."
"Calvin, be serious. This is…serious," I mumbled and tried not to question my decision. Then I heard Jeff in my mind and wanted to just block him and push him out. But I didn't.
Ryan, what are you doing?
It's what's right, Jeff. My conscience was buzzing. It's time for the Specials to start fulfilling their tasks.
Are you nuts! He got hit in the arm and swung around with distraction. I winced, but he just sat up and glared at me. Our job is to protect them.
Our job is to protect them until they can fulfill their task. This is Calvin's and I'm done talking about it.
I turned to Calvin. "Calvin, you ready?"
"What is that thing?" he leaned back and said. "It's wicked."
"Yes, it is. Do you feel anything?"
"Like what?"
"Like a…buzzing or a sense of purpose?"
>
Calvin laughed and gave me a strange look. "What are you talking about, Ry? Are you asking me if there's a bee in my pants?"
"What? No. I'm just asking if you feel anything different."
He laughed and clasped me on the shoulder like he was the adult and not the other way around. "You mean like if I'm supposed to be doing this or not? Yeah. I feel that. Stand back, Ry." He held his hands up in front of him just as the beast turned to grin at him. "I'm sick of this thing already."
I gawked and felt my teeth grind together at the injustice of the whole situation. Why was I given one purpose and one only, to watch over a boy, and then to have to turn him loose to find his own way against a beast? It felt so right in my gut and conscience, but so wrong in my human head.
I watched, as did we all, as Calvin and the thing went head to head. Calvin's hands burned and blazed. The beast smiled and cocked his head to the side in contemplation. "You sent a child to do the job," he mused. "A hot hands Special with an unjust ego the size of a Buick."
I stared at him. He seemed so…
"Human?" he finished my thought and grinned. "I am. I am the best of both worlds. Lighter part to read your thoughts, Taker part to deflect your gifts, human part to catch you off guard and my true nature, the Graphter, to end you all once and for all."
"Never heard of it," Jeff barked in his way that was becoming his own. "Sounds like a trick to me."
"Only the ones with the lower hand need to use trickery, Keeper," the thing mused with a smile. "You can call me the new Taker if you like, for I and others like me will continue to come and share all of his traits."
Calvin bolted toward him. I felt the gasp settle in my throat like a lump, but he apparently had a purpose. He ran straight to the things back, let his hands touch the beast's back and let his gift loose on him. He yelled, "If you wanna be the Taker, then die like the Taker!"
And he did, but not without one final look over his shoulder as he burned. It was as if he knew this was going to happen…and he was happy to make the sacrifice. I felt everything in me cringe and become uneasy.
Right as the lightning began to build, he said, "We know right where you are. We'll see you again."
And the lightning took him with a blast that knocked us all down on our butts. I coughed and sat up, staring at the spot that he had just been. Did that really just happen? I found myself blurring to Calvin, who had been knocked back the furthest. I leaned over him and shook my head when he leaned his head up to grin at me. "That was so awesome!" he yelled. "Did you see that?"
"No, Calvin," I chuckled in exasperation, "I had my eyes closed."
"You did not. You totally saw!"
"Yeah, I saw. You kicked butt."
"I can't wait to tell Mom!" he said excitedly.
I turned to Jeff. "Did you hear what he said?"
He groaned. "I heard. We better start packing everybody up."
I sighed and looked at Cain as he slapped his stake into his palm over and over in frustration as he said, "You mean we have to leave the store? After all the work and everything we've done-"
"Can't be helped," Jeff cut him off. "You heard that thing. Let's get this show on the road. The sooner we get out, the better."
He huffed and groaned as he and the rest of them beat a quick path back inside. I slung my arm over Calvin's shoulder as we followed them. "I'm proud of you, Calvin."
"Thanks, Ry. I'm kinda proud of me, too." He grinned and bounced excitedly. "Let the record show that I saved your behinds."
I shook my head and felt a smile tilt my lips. "Sure thing."
As we descended the stairs, I was plowed into by a sweet smelling thing that made my smile even larger. I wrapped my arms around her and felt the question I kept asking myself , 'Would I be able to leave when and if the time came?' spring to my mind, but I pushed it to the back.
This girl, this human female, had wiggled her way into my heart somehow. It happened without my consent, really. I'd tried to talk to Merrick about it once, about how his feelings for Sherry seemed to be all consuming. He didn't really know how to explain it to me. I could see exactly what he meant now. If you asked me how this happened or why, I would have no words to describe it.
Confused would be a good word.
I pulled back and looked at her face. She was fighting tears and I realized…those tears were for me. This human cared for me and though I struggled to understand the whys of it all, I understood one thing perfectly.
This girl had been sent to me, given to me really, for a reason and I intended to guard and look after her as if she were my own charge. She made me feel strange in my belly and chest, a buzzing that had nothing to do with my conscience. I felt warm and…content when I was with her. Content was something I hadn't felt since we arrived on Earth and the fact that she gave me a small slice of my old self back was a gift all itself.
I saw in her eyes as she tilted her face back that she wanted me to kiss her again. And this body wanted to as well. No, that was a copout.
I wanted to.
Me.
I wanted to feel the rush of blood that her kiss induced in me. So I did.
With my fingers wrapped gently around her upper arms I pulled her closer. She came surprisingly easy and then lifted on her toes to reach me. I felt her nose on my cheek first and then her lips. I let my body take over and was surprised when I once again put my arms around her and then lifted her feet from the floor in an embrace. But she just held on and it felt incredible.
For now, all those What Ifs would just have to wait. Today, I was taking my prize. When she tugged at my hair and pressed closer, I realized she was doing the exact same thing.
Smitten Kitten
Chapter 6
Cain
An eager L was waiting for me at the foot of the stairs and I let my newfound vulnerability fly like a flag and ran to her. It actually was a little liberating. The fact that I been crying like a chick just yesterday was not the issue on trial here. It was the fact that I liked that L and anybody else that wanted to take a gander could see that I was smitten.
I smirked as L smashed herself to me and leaped, wrapping her legs around me. She pressed her face to my neck and exhaled. I exhaled, too, and dreaded telling her the devastating news; that we had to pack up our crap and get the heck out of Dodge. She pulled back a little. "You're worried about something. I thought it was all over?"
"No," I sighed. "No, my little smitten kitten, it's not over."
She smiled, but stopped. "Not over? What do you mean?"
"Let Jeff explain. I'm more than willing to let Keeper boy take the fallout."
She gave me a weird look, but turned to look at Jeff. He must've already told Marissa because her hand gripped Jeff's so tightly that his fingers were white. Lillian looked back at me with alarm, but I gave her my best reassuring smile.
"All right," Jeff started, but plopped himself down on the bottom step and groaned, running his free hand through his hair. "It seems… Well, we took care of- Calvin took care of," he corrected and continued, "the new beast that we encountered. But it seems that they aren't finished with us. They know we're here now and will be back. We've…we've got to leave the bunker."
"What?" Sherry gasped. She was the only one who spoke, everyone else just stood stunned. She looked destroyed. She'd been here from the beginning and I could imagine she'd have lots of attachment to this place. I felt that familiar tug for me to go and hug her, make everything right again, but I held back. Poor girl had been through hell lately. Screw it. I tugged Lillian along with me and went to Sherry's side. I gripped her fingers and that seemed to jolt her. She looked up at me and the tears forming at the edges of her eyes made me ache. She squeezed my fingers and I squeezed back. Then I squeezed L's fingers and she squeezed back, too. I looked down at her, my wife, and I let my breath come out in a long puff.
This next step for us was going to suck something fierce, but we could do this. We had to do this.
Danny wrapped
his arm around Sherry's neck from behind and we continued to listen to Jeff as he explained that our home was no longer our place of residence. The pastor went on about his place being a good replacement. Miguel argued that his place was destroyed.
"Yeah, no thanks to you!" Rylee told him, hands on her hips. "You and your bunch of Neanderthals ransacked the place!"
"We did no such thing! We didn't break your place, a Lighter did. We almost died trying to get out."
"Now, now," Pastor soothed them both. "Trouble has befallen us all, but that's no reason to go at each other's throats." He gave Rylee a hard look. "The fact that our place was destroyed is all the more reason to go back there. No one will think someone was staying there or would know there was a basement underneath. It's not as comfy as this place, it'll be an actual bunker, not the lovingly titled one you've coined this place as, but we'll be together and we'll be safe."
"Let's do it," Merrick said and his worried face turned to Sherry. "Let's go as soon as possible."
Max, who had been awfully quiet in the corner, stood. Then Patrick and Ann stood. Then Simon, A.K.A. Josh, stood. They seemed to be doing that silent agreement thing. Merrick gulped and nodded at Jeff. Jeff looked at his now wife and in a rare show of affection got down on his knees and pressed his ear to her belly. She giggled out of surprise and nervousness as she combed his hair with her fingers.
"I'll do anything to keep you safe, little one. Don't you worry." He looked at us all without getting up. "Let's get going. Bring only what we need. Every person needs to get a bag together, but only what you can carry. We'll leave at daybreak."
That seemed to be everyone's cue.
We scattered in a haste to pack our pathetic little lives into bags and boxes. I dragged L to her room first and helped her stuff her clothes into a pillowcase. Then we went next door and I put all my crap into my duffel.