Embers (The Wings of War Book 1) (37 page)

“Well, well, Sawyer, now I know what’s been keeping you sated.” 

Kimberly stepped out of the shadows of the trees with pure hatred etched onto her usually beautiful face, contorting it into something hideous. Donnelly was with her and he held a look of amused shock at what they’d stumbled upon.

“Go away, Kimberly, this is none of your concern,” I said in a harsh tone, quickly trying to gather my thoughts. 

“I won’t make it that easy for you,” she hissed. “I don’t know what I ever saw in you.  You’re some kind of animal out here in the woods mating with a human!”

“Sawyer, how the hell are you managing that anyway?  Don’t you want to rip her soul out?  It’s not natural, you know?”  Donnelly spoke with pure astonishment. 

Ember stiffened and her heat diminished at his words.  As she burrowed into my back, realization dawned on me that she couldn’t use her powers when she was fearful.  She wouldn’t be much help to us now.  She wasn’t ready to fight yet—she was too young and inexperienced and had much to learn still.  I needed to get her away from here, and I’d have to do it on my own.                                                     

Kimberly was still staring at me with cold, black eyes. They were unblinking and dead. 

An idea came to me. 

“Don’t you have someplace to go, someplace more enjoyable than this?”  I said in the steadiest voice I could manage.  “Let me have my fun with this little human in privacy.  And to answer your question Donnelly, that’s the whole point.” 

I waited for what I’d said to sink into their predatory minds.  It was nearly impossible for them to believe that I was able to be here, loving this human, without killing her.  But they should know that some of our kind took extreme physical pleasure from killing a human in the process of having sex with them.  I just hoped they fell for it.

Kimberly hesitated and looked at Donnelly who shrugged at her.  Then he grinned at me.

“Go ahead, have a good time with her.  We do have somewhere to be.”  Donnelly touched Kimberly’s shoulder and whipped around, disappearing into the shadows. 

Kimberly narrowed her eyes and spat, “I’m not going to let this go.  You just wait until tomorrow.”  And then she was gone.

I twisted, picking Ember back up and cradling her in my arms.  She gripped my chest, hiding her face in my jacket as I carried her out of the woods. 

For now, Ember was safe. But what would the light of tomorrow bring for the other humans?

I reckoned it wouldn’t be pretty. 

2 Thessalonians 1:7

And to you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels.

Ember ~ Thirty-Four

I
squeezed my eyes shut, wishing that in a second that I’d wake up from the terrible dream.  But that wasn’t going to happen.  This nightmare was real. 

Sawyer’s muscles were strong and firm around me and his quick shallow breaths puffed into my ear.  He was also afraid and that scared me even more. 

The Demon woman’s face had been distorted in malevolence and the giant brute who was scowling beside her turned my blood into ice.  My inner heat had vanished.  It had disappeared at the same time my gaze had met the glistening black eyes staring at me hungrily.   

They were not like Sawyer—they were pure evil and their faces showed it. 

Their bodies had given off a pale, slick sheen that separated them from humanity.  At first glance, the female’s features would have been considered attractive, but when she’d snarled, her skin had tightened over her bones making her look alien.  The significance of the tattoo of a hand with long fingernails that stretched from the male’s bare chest to wrap around his thick neck was lost on me.  But it was unsettling, to say the least. 

There was no negotiating with the likes of them, no begging for mercy.  They enjoyed killing.  Up until now, my fantasy about magical beings had been that they were all the same as Ila, Sawyer and Ivan.  The stories she’d told me were just fairy tales.  The atrocious acts she depicted had not resonated with me.  Now, I knew firsthand what monsters were lurking in the shadows.

It took less than a minute to reach the truck as fast as we were moving.  The trees blurred by when I risked opening my eyes.  Still, it seemed as if it was an eternity before Sawyer set me in the passenger seat and latched the seat belt around me.  That little gesture put a smile on my lips for a brief second.  That Sawyer was protecting me from a car wreck, after we’d just faced those creatures was pure irony.

Before he pulled away, his face stopped within inches of mine.  In a hushed voice filled with urgency, he said, “Are you okay?” He touched my cheek with his thumb and lightly caressed it. 

All I could manage was a nod.  I gazed into his eyes.  The desire I’d seen earlier was gone, replaced with a frown of worry. 

I didn’t want him to break the contact, but he did.  He drove too fast for the mountain road.  Under normal circumstances, I would have felt unsafe.  But in this case, I wanted him to drive even faster. 

“I’m sorry, Ember, I had no idea that they’d find us, talk about coincidence,” his voice trailed off.  He glanced at me, holding out his hand, palm up.  I stared at it as the doubt crept in.  I knew if I took it, I’d be sending him a message that we were together. 

I couldn’t help but wonder if Sawyer’s beautiful face was just an illusion—maybe underneath it all, he was the same as the others. 

Confusion scratched at my insides.  Tears moistened my eyes.  I turned away to look out the window. 

He snatched his hand back as if I’d bitten it and gripped the steering wheel.  The rest of the drive up the mountain was silent.

                                                             
*

The closer we got to the valley, the stronger I felt.  I finally had enough energy to wipe the tears from my face with the back of my hand.  It occurred to me after we had passed the compound some ways back that Sawyer didn’t have his Hummer.  Had he planned to hike home?  Did it even matter?  I finally gathered the courage to speak to him.             

“We can stop here.  I’ll drive myself the rest of the way.  That way you won’t have as much ground to cover on foot,” I told him as we approached the twin Sycamores.

“I don’t think so,” was all he said.  His lips were a thin line in the lights from the dashboard. 

He drove right up to the cabin.  It was the middle of the night and the air was cool and the grass in the yard was already covered with heavy dew.  Angus was lying on the front porch.  When he saw my truck, he covered the distance of the pathway in a few seconds.  I opened the passenger door, willing him to come to me.  I used my mind, begging him to be quiet.  The last thing I needed was Ila waking up.  I’d deal with her in the morning. 

Angus obeyed.  He ran around the truck and threw his hand sized paws onto my lap.  His course hair rubbing my face as he licked me made me feel better instantly.  He was my little bit of slobbering reality in a mixed up world. 

Sawyer frowned, shaking his head when our eyes met briefly. 

I didn’t want to part this way, with him angry, and with so many questions ringing in my head. 

“Have you made a decision about my offer yet?”  I whispered.

He glared at me. “Are you kidding me?  You won’t even hold my hand, but you want to give me your soul? ” 

His nastiness startled me.  “It’s your loss.”   I jumped out of the vehicle, slamming the door shut.

I walked around the truck aware that Sawyer remained planted in the driver’s seat.  I was beginning to wonder when he was getting out of my truck, when in one sudden movement he was out and holding me in a tight grip.  He was strong.  Wiggling free wasn’t an option.     

All at once, Angus went into hysterics and jumped up, clamping his jaws around one of Sawyer’s forearms.  I heard the sickening sound of the dog’s teeth crunching down and I instantly smelled blood.

Sawyer didn’t even flinch. He just said in a low voice, “Please get your dog off my arm.”

I closed my eyes and tried to calm Angus, but it was difficult.  He didn’t want to listen.  He thought he knew better.  Finally, after an excruciating minute, he relaxed.  When he’d bitten Marshall, I hadn’t known about my powers. I’d been lucky that my inner fire had released a blast of heat that broke contact between the man and my dog.

This was different.  Angus had bitten down so hard on Sawyer’s arm that he couldn’t open his mouth back up wide enough to release him.

“Let go of me, Sawyer, so I can help you,” I pleaded.

When he loosened his hold, I pulled the dog’s jaws wider with my hands and Sawyer slid his arm out.  Angus sat down with a grunt, not taking his gaze from the Demon. 

Sawyer’s blood was all over my hands.  It was sticky and the consistency of normal blood.  I brought my fingers to my nose to smell, causing Sawyer’s eyes to widen.  His blood had the same metallic-sweet scent as regular blood.  I thought it was odd that a Demon had the same blood coursing through his veins that I did.   

I surveyed his arm that was freely bleeding.  The wound gaped and the muscle was deeply torn.  I glanced at Angus.  He quickly looked away. 
You should feel guilty you naughty dog
, I told him with my mind. 

When I placed my hands on Sawyer’s arm, he jerked it away.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll heal on my own in a few hours.  I should have remembered the dog was there.  Then again, I never think straight when I’m around you.”

“I don’t want you feeling the pain for hours when you don’t need to.  Please let me heal it for you.” When he didn’t seem to be bending, I added, “It will be good practice for me.”

That made a difference.  Reluctantly he held out his arm. I hadn’t done a healing before, but I recalled what Ila had taught me as I touched the wound softly with my fingers.  The earth power flowed swiftly through me into Sawyer.  There was a tingling sensation, and just an instant of sharp pain whipping through me, before it faded.

I was suddenly heavy with tiredness and slightly dizzy.  I shook my head a little to alleviate it.  

When I examined his arm, the blood was still there, but the wound was gone and the muscle was strong and healed.  I glanced up.  The expression on his face was one of respect.   

He put his hands carefully on both sides of my face.  “You’re the one who needs to make up your mind about me.  I already know how I feel about you,” he said gently.

Before I could say another word, he silenced me with a kiss that held so much meaning that all my reservations melted away.  When he stepped back, I wavered, and Sawyer’s hand shot out to balance me. 

He smiled wistfully, and he was so handsome that I caught my breath. 

“I’ll see you soon,” he promised and turned, running down the driveway like a streak of darkness.            

John 20:12

And she saw two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.

Ember ~ Thirty-Five

D
ull morning light was beginning to creep into the sky when I heard the rumble of a truck engine.  I bolted out of bed.  I was anxious to see Sawyer, as much as I didn’t want to be.  I didn’t even bother changing out of my sweats and t-shirt and it only registered in the corner of my mind that Ila was in the process of rising also, but much slower than me.   

When I opened the front door, I was shocked to see Preston getting out of his truck.  He looked as if he hadn’t slept all night.  There were dark circles beneath his eyes and his hair fell in a mess around his face. 

I tensed.  The feeling of foreboding overwhelmed me and I took a sharp breath.  When he saw me, he blew out a long sigh of relief. 

I ran to him barefoot on the wet grass.  “What are doing here?”

He reached out for me and pulled me against his chest.  The action startled me. I stood stiffly in his embrace, not really sure what to do. 

“You have a phone in the house, right?”  His voice sounded strange, upset.

“Yeah, follow me.”  I led him into the kitchen and showed him the phone.  He quickly started dialing.  Ila was in her robe making coffee.  She frowned slightly.  I tried to make eye contact with her, but she turned away and busied herself at the counter.

Preston said into the phone, “Don’t worry Dad, she’s here safe and sound…yeah, me too…. I’m going to stay here with her for a while…call you later…I will, don’t worry…bye.” 

While he was talking, he never took his eyes off of me and his penetrating stare gave me goose bumps.