Embers (The Wings of War Book 1) (43 page)

I dropped my head back to my knees.  I wasn’t ready for a conversation about that horrible man yet.  I wanted to forget that he ever existed, but another quick glance at Sawyer told me that he wanted answers.  Ila had been worried that the killing and soul draining was going to bother me the most, but here I was, worrying about what crazy action the Demon might take when he learned the real reason that I came to the mountains was to escape a predator. 

For some reason, I could block out the faces of the sleeping people as Sawyer fed on their souls.  Even now they were hard to recall.  At the time I was in Sawyer’s mind, my own brain had accepted that the people were food.  Food I needed to survive. Sawyer was only doing what he had to do to live, and he did it as gently as possible. He’d felt a deep sense of sorrow each and every time he’d fed.   I know it didn’t make it right or politically correct, but it was what it was.  My lack of sensitivity worried me, but I could move on, and forget.  I had to. 

“Ember, I can see that you are handling this better than you should be, as usual.  I’m going to leave the two of you alone.  If you need me, I’ll be in the bedroom.  It’s been a long day for me, and I’ve used amounts of power I haven’t touched in decades.  Goodnight, my dear.”

Before she could rise, I reached over and clung to her for a minute. “Thank you, Ila.”

She whispered into my ear that she loved me.

Ila got up and walked to the bedroom.  Before she slipped through the door, she said, “Good night, Sawyer.  You did well tonight. I’m proud of you.”

Hearing the door close sent a tingle of anticipation down my spine.  I returned to hiding my face between my knees.  Testing the waters, I sent out the extra sense, seeing if I felt anything different now that I had a guardian.  Nope.  I felt pretty much the same. 

Maybe, it was because he was sitting right across from me? 

I risked looking up at Sawyer again.  To my surprise, he’d moved to the couch, and I didn’t even know it.  Some connection we had. 

He still looked annoyed. 

              I crawled to the sofa and climbed onto it.  My legs hardly worked.  How long had we been on the floor?  The window was still swallowed in darkness.  It was deep in the night. 

His voice split the air. “Are you really all right?”

“I’m fine, what about you?”

“Never been better,” he said in a satisfied way.  He scooted closer, but not near enough for us to touch.  I was irked at his obvious good mood, and I was disappointed he wasn’t kissing me. Talk about being conflicted.

In a kind voice he said, “I’m sorry about your parents.  It’s terrible what happened to them.  And to think, I didn’t even know you while all that was going on.  I was just going on with my own affairs…and you needed me.”  His face became a stone again and his eyes searched mine.  “At least you had Angus to protect you.  You should have told your brother what was going on.”

Irritation pricked my skin.  I didn’t like Sawyer thinking he could tell me what to do when he didn’t understand anything.

“Marshall’s a dangerous kind of man.  I know my brother.  He’s a lot like you.  He would’ve taken matters into his own hands, and it would have caused a bunch of trouble for all of us.”  I sighed and thumped my head against the back of the sofa.  “If I’d known that I had powers back then, I would have taken care of it myself.”

“Someday, I’ll bring justice to Marshall.  He’ll never bother you again,” Sawyer promised in a quiet voice.

I looked up.  Telling him to leave well enough alone almost tumbled from my mouth, but his eyes stopped me.  There was nothing I could say that would stop him from punishing Marshall.  The man was as good as dead.

He relaxed when I reluctantly nodded.

“There were some things that I was pleased about,” he said with a slight smile.

“Like what?”

“That I’m the first, well I can’t exactly say man, but you know what I mean,
being,
you’ve ever kissed. I thought a beautiful girl like you would have had a dozen boyfriends in the past, and I was jealous of them all,” he said significantly, narrowing his eyes on me.

“I wish I could say the same for you,” I muttered, looking away. 

His fingers dug into my shoulders as he pulled me to him. 

“You have to believe me that those events were nothing to me.  I was never intimate with a woman when I was human.  Everything changed the day I was awakened.  I didn’t experience the emotions of love or tenderness.  It was basic physical need and nothing more.”

“Yeah, there was a lot of needing going on.”  I still wouldn’t look him in the eye.  He became frustrated, giving me a little shake.

He softly grasped my chin, and angled it to him. Leaning in, he spoke just above a whisper and very slowly, as if he were trying to cement the words into my skull. “Let me explain to you about my kind. There is something called a bonding that happens to us when we fall in love.  I’ve known others who bonded, and I envied them.  But I’ve never experienced that kind of feeling toward any female before.  I figured that I was doomed to spend my life relatively alone, with the occasional fling. But then you came along, and changed everything.”

His eyes searched mine and he implored fiercely, “You must have seen that in my mind?”

He had me there.  I did see it and I knew what he was saying was true.  He had never loved or even liked any of the others.  He’d just used them.  The thing that bothered me was that he would have them to compare me to. Who could live up to that?

Heat spread across my cheeks and I quickly searched for an escape route. 

“Did sucking my blood make you hungry for my soul?”

              He bowed his head and took a deep breath.  When he looked back up solemnly, I regretted being so rude.

“I’ve never wanted to feed on your soul. From the first moment I first laid eyes on you, I only had primitive desires to worry about.”

I looked away. 

“So you’re not interested in my offer then?”

Immediately his hands were on my shoulders again and he was pulling me closer to him.

He whispered into my ear, “I was afraid that after you saw my past, the things I did, that you’d take back the gift you offered.  Are you sure this is what you want, Ember, to be with me?”

“Well, it’s not as if we’re getting married or anything like that.  I need to take things slow, not as fast and furious as your Demon girlfriends.”

A laugh exploded from his lips.  I worried that he’d wake Ila and Ivan, but the sound was short lived.  He smashed his face to mine, kissing me with more passion than ever before.  How could each kiss keep getting better?  At some point it would have to level out.   If it didn’t, I wouldn’t survive the improvements. 

His mouth moved on mine and I responded like a seasoned veteran.  My body was on fire, but not from the power.  All the horrible events of the past few days melted away into oblivion.  It was just Sawyer and me on the couch, alone in the world.   

He eased his body alongside mine, adjusting his muscled arm beneath my head.  It was a hard pillow, but it smelled good, making me feel as if pine needles and the forest floor were beneath me. He jerked the quilt off the back of the couch and arranged it over the top of us. I certainly wasn’t cold, but it was a nice gesture. 

Just when I thought we were settling down for the night, he breathed softly onto my face, making my head spin.  A gasp escaped my lips. When he heard the sound, he held me even tighter, and his hand slid down my side, slipping under my shirt. 

My body
really
didn’t want his hand to stop, but my mind stiffened, causing him to snort softly before resting his hand on my stomach.    I began to breathe again as he tenderly swirled his fingers in place, almost tickling, but not quite. He brought his head down and nuzzled my neck.  And that’s where his face stayed, against the pulsing warmth of my skin. 

Within minutes, he was breathing deep, slow breaths.  I didn’t worry about him trying anything at that point.  He seemed perfectly content to be sleeping alongside me.  And amazingly, I wasn’t concerned about him waking in the middle of the night for a snack of my soul either. 

Right when my thoughts were becoming heavy and sleep was near, a vision of a burning city appeared in my mind.  A tall building that had a summit that looked as if it was a glass tiara toppled in slow motion.  A group of children, led by an elderly woman, were engulfed in flames on a city street.  The football stadium exploded, and the river beside it suddenly swelled, sending a giant wave over a boat that Timmy and Chloe stood on, sweeping them into the churning, debris filled water. 

I know that city. 

Opening my eyes, I stared into the quiet darkness with shaky breaths.

The safety of Sawyer’s arms and the warmth of Ila’s cabin were only temporary.                 

I snuggled deeper into Sawyer. 

Ila was right.  I had to enjoy life while I could.  There wasn’t much time left.

Luke 2:9

And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. 

Sawyer ~ Forty-Two

I
woke from a dreamless sleep with Ember’s warm body cuddled against me.  Her hair smelled of vanilla shampoo, and I inhaled deeply, letting the scent fill my nostrils. 

It was a very nice way to wake up. 

The rain had quit, and early morning light shone through the windows, bringing with it cooler, cleaner air.  There were quiet shuffling and tapping sounds coming from the kitchen.  I figured Ila was preparing breakfast. Normally, I didn’t just figure things, I checked them out, but I was extremely comfortable at the moment and not overly concerned with the goings on in the other side of the room. 

Angus was acting the sentry a few feet away.  He sat erect, watching me.  The expression on his face was different, the hostility of before was absent.  I took a chance and disengaged my arm from Ember, holding my hand out to the dog. 

“Angus, come here boy,” I whispered, knowing the dog would have no trouble hearing me. I didn’t want to wake Ember up on a hunch.

Angus tilted his head, considering.  After a few seconds he got up and walked slowly over.  When his nose was about a foot away, he stretched out his neck to me.  The hair on his back was down and his tail was still.  I waited, wondering if I’d have any fingers left when it was over.  His cool nose brushed my fingertips and then he stepped closer, putting his head beneath my hand. 

I began to pet him softly, and when he accepted my touch, I moved my hand more vigorously on his head.  He panted and his tail thumped against the side of the couch.  I was happily confused.  What had brought on Angus’ change of heart? 

Possibly the guardianship of Ember had something to do with it. Regardless of the reason, I was thoroughly elated that for the first time in a century and a half, I was petting a dog.  What a glorious feeling when deprived of the simple pleasure for so long.

“I’m glad the two of you have finally made friends.  It was starting to stress me out.” Ember yawned.

I took my hand back from the dog.  Angus looked annoyed that I’d stopped petting him, but I had something better to touch.  I wrapped my arms around Ember, squeezing her.  The knowledge that she was mine to hold and caress made it feel like Christmas morning—another activity I hadn’t experienced in forever.  The thought that she’d accepted me after everything she saw during the ceremony made me love her all the more.

Yes, I loved this human—Watcher—with all my heart. 

She lifted her head, and I couldn’t resist brushing my lips against hers.  She returned the kiss for too short of a time before she began wiggling for freedom.  I didn’t want her to leave. 

In a hushed voice at her ear, I said, “Where do you think you’re going?”

It was Ila who answered. “She’s getting up so she can make it to school on time,” she said the words with a grunt as she stood over the back of the couch.  When Ember heard the old woman’s voice, she shot out a blast of heat that forced me to let go, and she bounded away. 

“You’re kidding!  I don’t want to go to school today.  I’m so tired and I can’t think straight.” She looked at Ila with a pitiful expression that I hoped she never used on me. Otherwise, I was a goner.

It worked on Ila as well.  “All right, Ember, you can stay home today and rest.  But tomorrow, you’re going to school.”

Ember grinned at me triumphantly. 

“Where’s Ivan,” Ember asked Ila.

“He’s still asleep.  His kind uses an enormous amount of energy to change and they tend to sleep long periods when they get the opportunity.” Ila placed a plate of pancakes onto the table. 

Ember went to help her and I sat up on the couch rubbing my eyes. As much as I didn’t want to do it, I needed to go back to the compound and talk to Charlotte, Colten, Patrick, and especially Horas.  They’d been my friends for a long time and I had to tell them I was leaving.  At this point they might even think I was dead.  After the discovery of the ashes in the woods and Kimberly and Donnelly missing, they would figure out that a magical being was involved. Whether Garrett would know that Watchers did the damage was anyone’s guess at this point, but I was betting that he’d find out soon enough.