From The Ashes (Life After War) (4 page)

“
Where I come from, where I go, it's always flaming like this,”
the Witch whispered gently in the back of her mind, as if afraid to make things worse.

Still by the door, Adrian's heart thumped as he picked up her presence.

“
I thought you were gone–fled to find a new host,”
Angela answered tiredly. In her mind, it took less effort to communicate, but it still drained her to think around the pain.

The Witch cackled lowly, but without amusement.
“We share power. If I had stayed, I would have come forward and healed you. These men would not have been able to hold a secret so large.”

Even in her agony, Angela was astounded. Adrian had converted the Witch! Sexually, she'd been prepared for–spirits were lusty creatures because they could no longer feel through their flesh–but to have the demon inside willing to sacrifice her for the dream was almost too much to accept.

“
Why come now? Am I in the clear?”

Silence.

“
I hate it when you do that,”
Angela grumbled, close to crying again as the pain increased. She heard the Eagle closest to her moan in distress, but couldn't even open her eyes. She'd never felt pain like this.

“
I needed to check the healer's mind,”
the Witch answered evasively.

“
You aren't sure.”

“
I dread ever having to face the choice,”
the Witch confessed miserably,
“but is that not how you would have it?”

Angela barely heard that, tears now oozing from under her closed lids.
The pain!

Marc's glare was refused by John. “She's not strong enough for anything more.”

Marc turned to glower at Adrian. “Help her.”

The leader also shook his head. “I can't.”

“
Can't or won't?” Marc accused. He knew Adrian was gifted in more ways than he'd let his men see.

“
It's limited by gender.”

Thick blackness swam around the edges, muting the conversation while waiting for Angela to surrender. She held on grimly. These might be the last waking moments and she wanted every second of them.

“
So there's nothing we can do?”

It was a realization that the other men there had already come to accept–and loathe.

Adrian didn't answer and the Witch reached out.
“Will you not give them up?” the demon seduced. “Trade the herd for her?”

“
Can't I have both?”

“
Never.”

Not without a small measure of pity, the Witch withdrew to her fiery den instead of making him feel worse. There were always prices to be paid. Having so many of the descendants together was priceless in the uses, but it was also heavy in the weight. Adrian would carry as much of her discomfort as he was able to ease, but in time, he would need the same favor. Heartbreak was not to be lightly dismissed. It was one of the most dangerous things humans gave to each other.

Sure she wouldn't be awake long, Angela took advantage of the respite to fulfill a promise she'd made to herself while Adrian burned her.

“
Thank you for choosing us to stop the Slavers. It was our honor to serve as YOUR hand of justice.”

Still connected, Adrian flinched as if stung. He'd turned her into a killer and she was thanking God for it. Was there a more perfect woman anywhere?

At her side, Marc covered her tenderly with his jacket.

“
Mmm…”

Feeling things start to come together again gave Adrian little comfort this time, thrusting him back into the role that he feared he was growing weary of. Carrying so much guilt was staggering.

Marc was glad to see that Angela was breathing easier than when he’d arrived, and allowed himself hope for the first time since being swarmed by a blast of dry heat. Most people would have ignored the moment, but Brady knew that sensation too well. He’d left camp ten minutes later.

Now, his inner Marine began estimating her chances of survival. John’s words had been far from reassuring, but learning of the doctor’s illness almost was. John would do anything he could to save Angela, so that he could save himself. There was no higher motivation.

Turning to face the room, Marc slid down and leaned his head against Angela's arm. Exhausted, he fell into a light doze, broken by fifteen minute checks of her and the room.

6

An hour later, Adrian motioned for him to switch with Neil, and Marc realized he wasn’t as furious now. The leader had saved her life. There was no way that any of his Eagles had been ‘around’ enough to think of car lighters.

“
I’m sorry.”

Marc found he actually held a bit of sympathy. Hadn’t he made his own grave error in Versailles? He’d been the one to get this all rolling by leaving her alone–forcing her to kill.

“
Hearing her screams will give a grown man nightmares,” Marc stated carefully.

“
Yes.”

Adrian’s expression said sleeping was something he wouldn’t do until forced to. Allowing females into his army might have been the smartest thing their leader had ever done… or the worst choice he’d made. From here, it was impossible to know.

As Marc slid carefully into Neil’s warm spot, Adrian revealed his inner turmoil.

“
What would she do now… if I pulled it all?”

Other than heads turning their way, there was complete silence at Adrian's show of doubt. It was unexpected, especially after his words to them before the Wolfman had arrived.

Marc didn’t want to answer, and again, it was Cynthia who blurted the truth.

“
Die.”

Her voice lowered to a mutter as the males in the room turned to glare at her. “Along with Safe Haven… and our future.”

There it was, Cynthia declaring her loyalty to the dream. Marc closed his eyes in distressed resignation. “You shouldn’t do that. She gets cranky when you take away something she needs.”

Heart crying behind his wall, Marc tucked Angela safely against his warm body and tried to rest until it was time to go.

Chapter Two

Ellsworth Country Club

5/13

1

Twelve hours after Brady arrived, they rolled out of the rest stop with Angela's ragged breathing filling the truck.

Cushioned by jackets and blankets, she clutched Marc’s shirt with her good hand and soaked them both with her tears. It didn't take long for John to do what the other men had wanted all along. He sedated her–slipping the needle into her arm before she had a chance to protest again.

The wreckage wasn't smoking anymore, only stinking and smoldering resentfully as nature began to clean it up. The pristine grounds of the country club were a welcome change of view.

Angela’s wound was bleeding by the time they got her settled into a front room. When John was satisfied, he took a chair on her left. Marc settled into the one on her right.

Adrian and his Eagles were gathered on the long, white porch to make plans.

“
Midnight tomorrow, the main mission team rolls. Seth, Jeff, and I will take John back to Safe Haven. Everyone else remains with Angela and Brady. When the gunfire starts, we'll drive the herd here. Get us set up to stay a week, and make a plan in case we can’t.”

Realizing Safe Haven would come to her, the men fell into the details with lighter hearts. Angela had looked rough as Marc carried her inside. Another road trip might kill her.

As the others moved off to take care of things, Kyle stayed on Adrian’s right, waiting for the details their leader usually wouldn’t give to anyone else. Instead, Adrian asked a question that both men had already answered for themselves.

“
Would you change anything?”

Kyle wanted to say yes, but couldn’t. “No. They’re dead–she’s not.”

“
She feels the same.”

“
I know.”

“
But?”

Kyle had been thinking about his purpose in this new world, and he revealed his fears (sins) in a low mutter of confusion. “Before the War, I had killed five men… and one talkative prostitute.”

Adrian waited, finally getting the reason for almost not welcoming Kyle into his Safe Haven. His first instinct had said the mobster was indeed the killer-for-hire he appeared to be, but a second voice had promised that the Italian would only kill for him now. That had been enough to sway Adrian. It was a role he’d needed to fill–desperately.

“
I’ve racked up near a hundred as an Eagle, and that’s only the ones I’ve done, not those I’ve ordered.” Kyle was flooding with something he knew they didn’t need right now, but couldn't help–guilt. “I’m damned.”

Adrian was sympathetic, but his expression said the mobster had known what he’d signed up for after the very first mercy run. “We all are.”

Kyle wanted something Adrian couldn’t give–absolution–and he stopped himself from saying anything else. Usually, talking to their leader was a comfort, but this time, it had drawn anger.

Flashes of holding Angela while Adrian burned her slapped Kyle, and his feet went to her room.

Marc and John snapped-to when he opened the door.

“
What?”

“
Is there a problem?”

“
We’re 5-by.” Kyle’s gaze went to Angela, who was crying again from under closed lashes. “What about her?”

“
The same.” John’s tense body language revealed his worry.

“
Not… dead yet,” Angela confirmed weakly.

You sound like it could happen any minute, honey.

As if to reinforce his thought, Angela turned her head and threw up.

Kyle eased out of the room as John and Marc rushed to help, closing the door with a shaking hand. This time, he went to the mission team and prepared to do his duty. Damned or not, someone had to pay for this awful weight. A few of the Eagles and probably most of the camp would blame Adrian, but not Kyle. He was clear on who was responsible, and he was glad to have another target–a group of slaves to rescue. Maybe after this next run, the sense of doom might lift from his shoulders.

2

Brady?”

Marc came to her side with a bottle of water, not acknowledging Zack as the tight-lipped man took a shift keeping her warm. The trucker had insisted on pulling his weight and after her not moving for seven hours, Marc had been ready for a break.

“
Hi, Honey!”

Marc's cheerful greeting didn’t match those worried blue eyes.

“
How ya doin’?”

Angela slowly found him, now under the daze of drugs. “Better now… stronger.”

The men around the door exchanged silent concern as Marc knelt down by the makeshift bed to help her get a drink.

“
What... How long…?” Angie tried to form sentences through the thick fog in her head.

“
It’s dusk, a day after,” Marc answered, wiping away some of the blood on her chin by using the small drops she spilled.

Her profile flooded with despair–physical and mental–as memories and pain swarmed down. Now was the time she might change the path she’d chosen, but Marc already knew. “Say it.”

“
I don’t regret… anything.”

He leaned down to press a light kiss to her hot forehead. “Then hurry up and get better, so you can do it again.”

Angela’s lashes closed. “Love you, Brady.”

Marc drew air into shrunken lungs. “Love you, too, Baby-cakes.”

She chortled in surprise and then cramped up in agony.

Behind her, Zack’s glare was unexpected. “Let her rest! And give her something for the pain! She’s suffering.”

“
She’s got a bit to go,” John stated softly from the other side of her bed. He’d been puffing restlessly on his empty pipe for hours, worrying and stewing. “And she needs to eat.”

Zack noted the beads of sweat popping out on Angela’s pale skin. “No way. She’s rockin’ rough.”

John quickly gave her a fresh dose of the calmative, and Angela looked at Zack in gratitude as her stomach eased. It should have felt odd, or maybe even dangerous to be lying in the trucker’s warm arms, but there was only a sense of being protected. Kenn had another surprise coming.