Dusk (5 page)

Although why one of the impenetrable Sentries would be so bent out
of shape over such a small thing is a mystery to me.
She fingered the ring absently,
then firmly pushed her misgivings aside, heading to the table to sit with her
friend.

Chapter Four

Solomon stared at the pillar, waiting for his brothers to join him
in his tower. They’d been overjoyed by the ability to travel great distances
quickly with his new transporter tech, but being constrained to using each
other’s pillars had not been nearly as easily digested.

But there is no way around it,
he mused, tapping his finger on the stone facade. The tech used
their DNA and the existing network to essentially deconstruct and then
recombine their bodies in another location. Proximity to the Stronghold network
was vital.

“Hello, Solomon,” Bruno said, stepping out of his pillar and
adjusting his cuffs. He touched his finger to the corner of his eye and looked
around. “Ah. Another cheery day on top of the mountain.” His blond hair was immaculate
and his blue eyes cool.

Even though he’d created the tech, watching his brother come out
of what looked like solid stone still disconcerted Solomon. He suppressed a
shiver. “Bruno,” he replied, touching a finger to his face in greeting. “I can’t
control the weather, as you well know.”

“That’s a lie,” Isaac said, materializing next to Bruno. He wore
his customary jeans and black leather jacket. His shirt today was the same deep
green as his eyes.

Solomon shrugged. “Very well. I
could
control the weather,
but it would be pointless to do so. Upsetting global weather systems is
something only to be done under extreme duress.” He gave his younger sibling a
chiding look. “As you well know.”

Isaac grinned and strode to the window. “I don’t know where you get
your self-control, Bruno. If I lived here, looking out at this white nothing
day after day, I’d go mad.”

“Then it is just as well that you don’t live here, Isaac,” Greyson
said, the last to join them. He touched his face. “Bruno, Solomon, Isaac.”

Solomon waited a moment, then realized Eva wouldn’t be joining
them. “Where is Eva?”

Greyson made a face. “Shopping.”

Isaac laughed. “What is it for this time?”

“New sheets.” Greyson shrugged. “She says that two sets aren’t
enough.”

Solomon ignored the emotions swirling around him. He did not want
to hear any more details. He was happy for his brother’s domestic bliss, but
listening to daily updates was more than he could bear. He would never have
that kind of happiness in his life.

What about Lucy?
a small voice at the back of his
mind whispered. He ignored it. “I have the new sensors set to deploy,” he said,
heading for his work area. He’d stacked them on the curved metal table: five
for each brother. “They’ll initialize once you’ve chosen the location.”

“She’s meeting Lucy for lunch,” Greyson added, just to annoy him,
Solomon was certain. “She said she’d find out if Lucy was still having
nightmares.” He followed Solomon to his workspace and touched one of the
metallic devices thoughtfully. “She’s a nice girl.”

“She’s a child.” Solomon leaned back against the table. “Why are
you telling me this?”

Greyson shrugged. “No reason.” He eyed his brother. “Eva and Lucy
are the same age.”

Solomon frowned. “Your point?”

Greyson lifted an eyebrow. “My mate and her best friend are young,
but they are not children.”

Solomon didn’t respond.
She
is centuries younger than I am, and mortal. You cannot have her,
he told
himself.
You know all too well what pain
would come of it.

Isaac looked from one brother to the other. “Okay. Now that we’ve
got that scintillating news out of the way, can we get on with the sensor
check?”

Bruno nodded. “Yes. I have a meeting in ten minutes, so…” He
trailed off.

“Solomon gave Lucy a shield ring,” Greyson said.

The words dropped like a bomb into the silence.

Solomon glared at Greyson.

Bruno was the first to speak. “Is this true?” he demanded, eyes
flashing angrily. “I thought we’d agreed to discuss it if we decided to share
more tech with the mortals.”

Solomon glanced at Isaac. His younger brother looked shocked.

Greyson’s face was calm, but determined. “They needed to know,” he
told Solomon. “If it activates, we will all feel the energy surge.”

“No, they did not need to know,” Solomon replied, anger burning
through him. He didn’t want them to know. The knowledge that he’d given his
ring to a woman was
private.

Isaac cleared his throat uneasily. “Who is Lucy?”

****

Lucy sat back in her chair, watching a bead of condensation run
down her glass of iced tea.

“Greyson thought Solomon had discarded his ring over a hundred
years ago,” Eva said, doggedly pursuing the subject Lucy did
not
want to
discuss. “He told me that Solomon was the most solitary of them all. Which is
hilarious, since I met Greyson skulking around a forest.” She rolled her eyes. “Talk
about the pot calling the kettle black.”

“You’re driving me crazy, Eva,” she replied, trying to keep her
voice even. “Remember how I mentioned that I didn’t want to talk about this?”
The ring on her finger felt more like a shackle than a shield right now. She was
tempted to take it off, but Eva would notice.
And it actually did help you
sleep better the last three nights.

“Uh-huh. Not gonna happen.” Eva picked up her root beer and took a
long sip. Outside the small diner, a few pedestrians walked toward the bank on
the corner. “We’re best friends. That means I get to ask you all sorts of
uncomfortable questions.”

Lucy eyed her friend. “Hmm, you mean like how you can read my
emotions really clearly, but you totally refuse to discuss this nifty new power
of yours? Or even admit it?” She smiled tightly. “Tell me, what am I feeling
right now?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Eva squished the tip of
her plastic straw.

“Yeah, right. You think I haven’t noticed how uncomfortable you
are in crowds of people these days? Sitting here, in a restaurant where we’ve
eaten a hundred times, makes you jumpy when the place fills up at lunch.” Lucy
glanced around. “Like it is right now.”

Eva frowned, then sighed. “Fine.”

“So you’re going to let it drop?” Lucy hoped so. She couldn’t take
much more of this. It was bad enough that the nightmares had been replaced by
erotic dreams of Solomon holding her. Kissing her. Keeping her safe. She did
not
want to admit that to Eva.

“No,” Eva said, sitting up. She pushed the straw in her drink to
the other side of her glass. “Right now, you’re a little bit angry with me, and
a little bit worried, but mostly, you’re afraid.” She leaned on her arms.

Lucy’s heart did a slow flip. “Afraid of what?” she asked, faking
indifference. “Afraid of you playing Madame Fortune Teller?”

“Afraid of admitting how Solomon makes you feel.” Eva sat back,
the silver flecks in her green eyes strangely bright.

Lucy stared at her. “He doesn’t make me feel anything. I don’t
even really know him.”

Eva snorted. “You are such a lying liar.”

Lucy smiled despite herself. “Okay, maybe I think he’s hot. But it
doesn’t matter. He’s a billion year old Sentry.”

“He’s two-hundred and forty-five years old. That’s not even close
to a billion,” Eva said dryly.

“Fine,” Lucy replied, fidgeting with her napkin. “He’s still a
Sentry. He still lives far away. And I haven’t seen him since you so kindly
invited us both to dinner.” She crumpled the paper napkin into a ball. “And how
did you ever manage to convince him to come pick me up?”

“It wasn’t difficult. I asked. He said ‘okay.’ That was all it
took,” Eva replied. “In fact, he seemed happy to go fetch you.”

Lucy mulled that over. “He didn’t tell you about the ring before
he picked me up?”

Eva shook her head. “No. I had no idea.”

“I don’t understand why he gave it to me. Or why he called in the
first place,” Lucy muttered. Why would Solomon care enough about her to go to
so much effort?

“It’s simple. He likes you.” Eva grinned. “And you like him.”

“Are you trying to make me miserable?” Lucy asked. “He’s a Sentry.
I’m just a girl who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.” She ran a finger
along her right arm.

“You were the one who encouraged me to give Greyson a chance,
remember? And what happened to the person who loved crazy, impossible crushes?”
Eva asked her.

“She got probed by aliens and it hurt like a bitch,” Lucy replied
with a completely straight face.

Eva’s expression flashed from humor to worry to regret. “Shit. I’m
sorry.”

Lucy smiled crookedly. “Nah, it’s okay. I’m just still feeling
weird about it all. You know what I mean.”

Eva nodded slowly. “I guess I do.” She leaned forward. “But there’s
one thing you have to know.”

Lucy frowned. “So serious all of a sudden.”

Eva took her hand and turned it over, then tapped the silver ring.
“Sentries don’t give these out to just anyone. They don’t share their tech, and
for good reason, as we both know from horrible, harsh experience,” she said,
referring to when Eva’s stepfather had hacked into the Stronghold network and
drawn the Spiders to Earth.

“I know,” Lucy said.
That’s why I’m so scared,
she thought,
very quietly to herself.

“As far as I know, you and I are the only ones to ever get one of
these rings,” Eva said quietly.

Lucy drew her hand away. “Why would he give it to me?”

Eva smiled. “That’s the million dollar question, isn’t it?”

****

Solomon gathered the last three sensors and stepped out of the
small starship, then quickly pulled a camouflage net over top of it. He’d
landed in a small clearing in Greyson’s woods where he didn’t expect any
mortals to find it. He especially didn’t want Greyson to know that he was here.

Because you should not be here,
he reminded himself even as he started walking toward the town
where Lucy lived with her parents. He’d fabricated a few extra sensors and
wanted to place them close to where she spent most of her time. It wouldn’t
take long to activate them, as long as Greyson didn’t find out he was adding
extra tech to his territory. He’d already placed two of the sensors on the
highway leading into the small town where she lived. The last three would be
easy.

“Solomon. What brings you here?” Greyson asked.

Solomon froze, glancing over his shoulder. Greyson stood on the
edge of the clearing, arms crossed over his chest. He hadn’t sensed him at all.
His own worry had handicapped his empathic senses.

Greyson gave him a flat stare. “Don’t lie. That would be awkward.”

Solomon sighed, turning to face his brother. “I’m setting up extra
sensors.”

“And why, pray tell, did you not see fit to inform me of this
before doing so?” Greyson looked toward the clearing. “I saw the ship come in
to land, and thought, ‘Hmm. Why would one of my brothers use a ship when
Solomon just created that nifty new transporter tech for us to use?’ So I
decided to investigate, and here you are, skulking about.”

Solomon debated what to tell his brother. The truth? He’d rather
be drawn and quartered, but he might not have much choice.
And really, what
can he do to me that would hurt worse than what I have already suffered?

Greyson unfolded his arms and walked over. “You don’t want to tell
me, I understand that. But of all of us, don’t you think I’d understand what
you’re going through the most? I struggled against my affinity for Eva for
years. Years, Solomon. I understand what you are feeling for Lucy.”

A flash of anger surged through Solomon. “How could you understand
what I’m feeling? I do not understand it myself!” He began to walk down the
trail towards the town. This clearing edged up near the high school, close to
where Eva had first met Greyson. He should have expected his brother to show
up. He was entirely too observant.

“You and Lucy have an affinity,” Greyson murmured, walking with
him. “I know it might be difficult for you to accept that, after being alone so
long—”

Solomon stopped abruptly. “You understand
nothing.
” His
lungs felt like a giant had wrapped his fists around them.

Greyson eyed him warily. “What don’t I understand? Why are you so
angry?”

Solomon stared at him, frustrated beyond belief. His brother was
so calm. So self-assured. He felt Greyson’s quietude stand fast against his
empathic energy like a great stone wall that nothing would budge. “You have no
idea what it is like to watch someone you love die, Greyson,” he finally said,
letting go of the silence he’d carried around with him for over a hundred
years.