The First Touch (60 page)

Grayton shifted adding
, “
Or that you are my mate.”

Autumn
smiled brightly then
, “
Then you would be pleased either w
ay, since you do not have one
.”

Grayton winced and
she
reached forward to touch his hand softly, and Grayton flinched withdrawing his hand instantly.
Autumn
pulled her hand back cautiously as well then, and added, “If this is a trick, then you can kill me quickly and go back to stalking Ivan again.” Grayton continued to watch her cautiously, and
Autumn
slid her hand out
a second time. T
his time he
did not jerk away
, “
You can even cut yourself and pour a bit into my hand if it makes you more comfortable.”

Grayton continued to watch her, “You might need more than that.”

Autumn
watched him cautiously, “Oh. You think?” Grayton nodded, and then he gave her a look of warning and
she
nodded. Then Grayton sliced his wrist and held it out to her.
Autumn
moved slowly towards him and began to drink slowly, keeping her eyes opened. As soon as the images began flashing in her mind she threw herself backwards, half cl
osing her eyes. S
he was completely immersed in a
barrage
of horribly painful memories that shot through her brain leaving cuts that caused her to call out.

Immediately
,
she felt strong arms wrapping around her tightly, and a familiar comforting voice filling her head with calm. Then after what seemed like forever
Autumn
finally understood the words, “It is alrig
ht, no one will hurt you.” She
felt the warm salty
wetness
of the tears that had fallen silently on to her cheeks. She finally sat up and
wiped
her eyes, “That was horrible
Grayton,
I hope I wake up from this one sooner than the last.” Grayton eyed her and
Autumn
frowned, “I am sorry for all of your loss, I did not know that you
and
Drake
were the last of my clan.”

Grayton looked at her confused
, “
What clan?”

Autumn
looked at Grayton, “You, Henry, Flora, Galen, and Helen were all members in my clan
during
my first life as the eye.” Grayton looked at her strangely, and
Autumn
explained the entire jumping pr
ocess over again to her new all
y.

Grayton ended, “So
Drake
killed his creator and Mirth made h
im think that she was a traitor?
”

Autumn
nodded
, “
Yes, but like I said before, he will change sides once he knows the truth.”

He
frowned, “Ivan was your mate?”

Autumn
nodded sadly, “Yes... but he has become a different man now.”

“
Yes but you already bonded with him.”

Autumn
nodded blinking back tears again
, “
Yes if I have to stay this route... his death will be particularly... painful for me.” Then she cursed, thinking about killing Ivan seriously.

He
asked
solemnly
, “
Do you really think you could do it?”

Autumn
frowned, “Honestly? I do not know, one
part of me says that I have to
,
”
Autumn
touched her hand to her forehead, “and the other part says to keep him a prisoner.” She touched her chest then.
“
Either way will be painful for both of us, but I think a clean break would be the best.”

Grayton continued to frown, “If you think you will not be able to see it through then once you have weakened him, I can finish him off.”

Autumn
frowned
, “
I don’t think that is such a good idea. I have one fatal flaw.”
Drake
perked up a bit, and
Autumn
laid
it out for him, “I can
not forgive
someone
when they wrong me.”

Grayton did not seem to grasp her words and then suddenly he nodded, “Taking him from you.”

“Yes, and sadly I hope Ivan hurts me enough to numb the pain, even if it is just a moment or two. Just so I will be able to flip the switch and cut him off quickly.”

Grayton replied matching her sorrow, “I hope for your sake then that he is as cruel as he was the night that he murdered all of our friends.”

Autumn
nodded looking distraught, “Yes my thoughts exactly.” Then
Autumn
hissed
, “
I am so tired now
,”
and she looked at Grayton changing her tone to thoughtful, “You are old Grayton.”

Grayton nodded surprised by her words, “Yes I am.”

She
reached forward and ruffled his hair, “You need a hair cut, and to eat. You look like hell.” Again Grayton seemed surprised by her, “I have been busy.”

Autumn
looked at him nurturing, “I guess you have. Thank you for saving me.” Grayton nodded, and was about to start the car when
Autumn
stopped him, “Wait, why did he know before I did?” Grayton looked at her uncomprehending,
then
Autumn
slapped her leg and cursed
, “
Gregory must have awoken in a different time and
place than I did because Mirth
was already in power before I was
even
born. But h
ow could that be unless he has the power to move by himself. I would not have sent him back, would I? No I would not have sent him back to put Mirth in charge. But Gregory was not waiting for me. Why was he not waiting for me himself?”

Grayton interjected, “Perhaps he thought you already had your abilities.”

“But if that were the case, then why would he allow Ivan to run into me?”

Grayton replied
, “
To test a theory?”

Autumn
nodded, “Either test to see if I could or to see if I knew if I could. Or it could be that Ivan did not tell them the whole truth when they spoke about it the first time.”

“Or to ensure that you bo
nded with their strongest male, o
ne that they have been grooming for
centuries
for just this purpose,
”
He offered.

Autumn
nodded
, “
To kill me. Just like
Drake
did to his first.”

“Have you tried to use your abilities?”

Autumn
frowned, “No, but I can think of the perfect opportunity to test it.”

Grayton replied, “The bad man?”

“Yes but in the past it
only came out w
hen I was in danger. So you can
not help.”

He
agreed though not looking confident
, “
Alright.”

Grayton started the car,
Autumn
frowned,
“
They will
definitely have the files now….”

H
e
frowned
, “
How important are they?”

Autumn
shrugged, “I do not know but Serena seemed to think they were important enough to take with us before.” Then
she
cursed again, “I wish that Ivan did not have my journal. I burnt it the first time, so he never read it. Well he glanced at it but nothing important at least I was pretty sure.”

Grayton sat quietly, and
she
pouted, “He will know me
fairly
well after reading it.” Grayton nodded understanding and
Autumn
snapped
, “
I made a lot of inappropriate comments about Ivan in my
last
writings.”

Grayton raised his eye brow, “
Inappropriate
”

She
smacked the seat next to her
, “
Yes, though
embarrassing
would be a better
descriptor
.”

He
smiled, “Those are usually seen as healthy.”

Autumn
frowned blushing
, “
Well they are my private thoughts and I did not want him to see any of that.”

Before Grayton could rebut
Autumn
said, “He went back
father
than I did perhaps even back to his birth like I did. Are we linked in someway? He already knew about me
or
else Mirth would not have risen to power after his
sister’s
suicide. Then why did he not simply kill me earlier? Like before I could use my powers? He certainly could have done it easily enough. There is something else, what am I missing?”

Grayton resorted back to his original theory, “They might have decided to take a gamble and try and bring you into the fold like they did with Ivan.”

Autumn
frowned, “Then why not take me as a baby and raise me as one of their own? I could have been easily shaped.”

He
frowned and shook his head, “Maybe they could not.”

Then
Autumn
asked, “When did
I
s
i
sa
die?”

“Long before you were born,” he explained.

Autumn
asked angrily, “Mirth took
power right after that?” He
nodded and
Autumn
frowned looking frustrated and huffed, “I just need more
…
.”

Grayton smiled suddenly, “Yes we do.”

She
huffed, “I should have bitten Ivan
.
”
Grayton nodded his
approval.

Run
Away

Ivan watched the scene over and over again in his mind, there i
s no way that he could have foreseen
her jump. He should have, but she had not even fallen asleep yet. That move would hav
e been suicidal had she not
already begun the change though. He felt the weight on his chest again and cursed, she was his mate and she had nearly killed herself fleeing from him. Only to be picked up by someone else, he cursed to himself.

Ivan put his
hand
to his chest, as it shot through him piercing his skull, the pain was horrible now. It was like nothing he had experienced before, and he knew pain. He dropped the two men’s bodies in the back of the van and patted the back after closing the door. It drove off and Ivan sniffed the air looking for his mates scent. He found it fast enough, though as soon as he did, the pain increased. She was not too far
,
he could feel it. There was another feeling that touched his
mind;
she wanted him to stay away.

Ivan smiled, pain and more pain, the subtle nudging of life, to keep you moving. The first lesson that he had taught by his creator was pain, when he was first born into this life. Pain keeps you moving, while all others are intended to slow you down. Others shy
away from it
, embrace the others because they satisfied the lesser urges. If you let go of those urges, tend them less, eventually they wither.

Pain on the other hand can be a powerful motiva
tor. No need to tend it, allow
it to run free and spread. It will consume you, leaving
its
power behind. Decades of training and this one was causing him so much pain that even he had trouble pretending to breath. This agony now truly consumed his body, ate away at his soul, what was left of it. The strangest feeling was the new weight that he now felt on his shoulders. Perhaps that was what they had meant by slowing you down.

Ivan patted his side and pulled the hidden book back out of his pocket. This journal was filler for the images that were still flashing in his mind uncontrollably. He watched them over and over provided him with another dream like version of himself. The way that she saw him was unsettling. No one had ever been so intensely intertwined with him before. Touching him and driving him to think things that he never would have before.

Pushing him to think...he stopped himself, reconsidering his perspective... the frustration of not having her next to him. Being able to touch her, that would help him to close the book, at least he hoped it would. He sniffed the air again, and followed the scent closing in on its source. Even if she did not want him he was coming for her, to collect what was his.