Gracie, one of the council members rose. “We are all in your debt, Deacon. We’ll never be able to say sorry enough to you. You saved everyone. As the prophecy said you would.”
I shuddered as calls of the prophecy and yes filled the room. I wasn’t anyone’s destined savior. No, they’d have to get past that idea.
“Can we all agree we don’t like any plan where they leave us?” Gracie continued and shouts of yes happened again.
Micah nudged me. “We knew they wouldn’t like that one any more than you do.”
“You can still go.” I had to point that out to him.
He shook his head. “We do this together.”
“Option two,” I shouted out again. “And I want you to hear both options. Then Micah and I will go outside and let you vote. This is your town, not ours. We’re only visitors here.” I forced myself not to look at Lydia again. It was like I was addicted. “We run away. There’s no shame in it. Some battles can’t be won. There are always going to be more of them than us because the sick thing is that they can make us them. They catch one of us, turn us into them, and the cycle continues. We leave here. Tonight. Pack only what you can carry and come with Micah and me back to Genesis. It’s a long walk. Two weeks. But we can get there.” No one reacted, as I requested so I continued. “The third option is more complicated. We still need help, but we fight. How do we do that? Micah leaves, tonight, and goes as fast as he can to Genesis. At a faster pace and by himself, he’ll cut the time there in half. He returns with reinforcements.”
Maybe. This was where he and I differed. I wasn’t convinced they would help. He was. And that was why he had to be the one to go. He was Micah Lyons, prince of Genesis. If anyone could convince them to help, it would be him, not me. I finally finished. “In the meantime, I teach you how to fight. How to defend your homes. How to beat them. So after this battle, everyone knows Geronimo is defended.”
Gracie looked me in the eyes. “What if the battle happens before Micah gets back?’
“That’s a risk. It certainly is. It’s also a risk that they catch us in the long walk to Genesis. Or some of you freeze to death. I will stay here until Micah returns with help.” Or came back without it, whichever the answer turned out to be. I could keep them from knowing, but I wouldn’t. “The other risk is Genesis says no.”
Micah shook his head. “Deacon doesn’t have faith. Not in people. He sees the worst in the world, and he has every right to do so. He still climbed, injured, into Vampire hell and brought your people back. He doesn’t think Genesis will come, but I know they will. I’m neither simple nor naïve. They’ll come. If you guys chose that option, remind him to trust me, if nothing else, when I’m gone.”
With that statement, we both exited the room. They could tell us what to do. This was their town. We were visitors who stayed to help, but we wouldn’t be caught in their honey trap again. They were going to start self-determining. They could run, or they could fight. We couldn’t—wouldn’t—do it all for them.
Sitting outside in the cold, I really didn’t know which way the people would choose. Micah didn’t have a second thought. “They’ll fight.”
“These are people who spent no less than three generations honoring a deal with the Vamps. They caused who knows how many deaths. I feel sorry for them as a whole and even worse for all the victims who ended up in the water down there in Vampland. They’ll run.”
Micah shook his head. “You and I had different childhoods. Big time differences. Before they were Mom and Dad Super Warriors, they were Mom and Dad in the world before the monsters came. We had kind of an idyllic life. We weren’t rich, although I doubt you’d get exactly what that meant if I explained it. Icahn gave you some pop references but not enough to really get what the pre-apoc was like.”
“You’re right. I’m learning, though. The brown houses that all look the same. The cars Chad builds. You wanted to fly.” Which blew my mind. Human beings had made machines that flew in the sky? And viruses that caused Vampirism… With all the good, came the bad.
He nodded. “There was a lot of preoccupation with abuse. Naming it for what it was, calling it out for what it was, helping victims. Look, I was a teenager. We learned the signs in school. Our counselors told us to come to them if we thought someone was being hurt. Now?” He shook his head. “Abuse is the norm. We’re all so fucked up from the shit that’s happened to us, how can anyone know what exactly all this abuse has done to our psyches? The way I see this town? Three generations of people who have been beat down. How can you fight a bully like the Vampires if no one is ever around to teach you how to make a fist? They’re going to fight. They’re tired of being knocked around. Like you were, Deacon. When you first showed up? You were so sick of being kicked in the teeth.”
He was right. I didn’t know what to make of everything he said. Abuse? Sure. That was life. Vampires came. They ate you, or they didn’t. Maybe they scared the shit out of you all of the time. You kept living until you died. I’d wanted there to be more. Lydia was more. But the world? It just sucked and was going to continue to do so until the whole place ended. That’s all there was to it.
Lydia came out of the meeting, walking toward us. I took a deep breath. Her face was a mask to me. I didn’t know her well enough yet to read her thoughts before she said them. Besides, she made no sense to me. Why me? There were easier, better men she could choose from.
She stopped in front of us. “Option three. Everyone is tired of how it’s been. We fight.”
Micah stood. “I knew it. I’ll get ready to go. Look for me in two weeks. One week there. One week back.”
“You’re not going to be that fast.”
He rolled his eyes. “Come on, Eagle, trust me.”
I’d been given a nickname, and I didn’t even know why. “What’s your tattoo? I’d never seen it.”
“Apollo.” He shrugged. “Sometime I’ll tell you why.”
I didn’t know what or who Apollo was, so I’d have no choice but to wait. So much of what Micah knew, I never would. I’d have liked to have known what an idyllic childhood was.
Lydia brushed my hair out of my eyes. “Eagle?”
“He’s put half a tattoo on my back.”
Her eyes widened. “What?”
“I’ll show you… later, if you want.” I couldn’t assume she’d be by later. She might have other plans.
She kissed my cheek. “Count on it. Can you teach us to kill the Werewolves, too? I really, really hate them.”
“Yes.” That I would do. I never got to say goodbye to Micah. He took off after the meeting. I understood his need for speed, was grateful for it, and I hoped he could make it back as fast as he said he could.
Now that I wasn’t just some guy who they all expected to be gone, taken by the Vampires, more people showed up to my lessons. They paid attention, and I was able to go on for several hours before anyone needed a break.
Some of my students were downright shaking with cold when I finally realized they needed to go in for the night. Even Lydia, who withstood the chill very well, had a blue tinge to her lips. I took her hand in mine and walked her back to her parents.
She shook her head. “Let’s go back to your cabin.”
“You have a family. You should spend time with them.” I stepped back. “I’m not going to be around for a bit. I have to patrol. I’m going to get a little bit nocturnal. Stay up all night, sleep until the late afternoon. Do it again.” That was how I would keep them all safe until Micah came back. Like it or not, this was my role, this was how I lived, and what I did. My heart ached. I wanted to be awake when she was, I wanted to sleep with her in my arms.
Lydia nodded. “I see.” She reached up to kiss me gently on the lips. “Be careful out there. I love you.”
I kept that with me the entire night. No monsters presented themselves, and with the morning sun greeting me, I made my way back home. There was still the risk of Werewolves in daylight. Micah had set up his alert fence, and
I’d hear loud crashes if the Werewolves showed up. It was a good thing exhaustion and I were well acquainted. I’d sleep with one ear alert at all times.
I was shocked to find Lydia sitting in my cabin. She was still dressed from the night before. “You’re okay.”
“I am.” I walked toward her. “Did you stay here all night? You have to work. You can’t keep my hours.”
She shook her head, rising when I approached and putting her arms around me. “The other teachers are going to cover my class for the next few weeks. You can’t do this alone. I can’t patrol, not yet, anyway. But I can be on your schedule with you. Someone has to see to it you’re okay since we’re all counting on you for the time being. That someone is me.” She sniffed. “Not that I would have allowed it to be anyone else.”
“I…” I really didn’t have anything to say. I was utterly moved by her choice.
“You need to eat.” She handed me bread with some cheese inside. “It’s not much, but you probably don’t want a lot in your stomach right before bed. It sits there. Makes me feel sick, anyway. Bigger meal when you get up.”
I ate the sandwich she gave me while standing right there, washed it down with water, and was lying down in the bed before I knew what had happened. Why was this so shocking? “No one has ever told me my welfare mattered to them before.”
She shook her head. “You were meant to come here and be with me.”
I groaned. “Prophecy?”
“I’m not a believer. But I see all the good in you.” She crawled in next to me. “I put blankets over the shades. We’ll make it dark enough to sleep. Later, you’re showing me your eagle.”
She was warm. I was achy and tired. I still wasn’t one hundred percent better from my Werewolf attack. I held onto her like she was a lifeline. “Lydia, I’m afraid I’m going to get too accustomed to this. What will I do when it goes away?”
“Like Micah said, trust me.”
I did. That was the scariest part of all.
Eight
Lydia may have covered the windows to create faux darkness, but I still couldn’t sleep. Every noise in the town could be a Werewolf coming. I wanted to believe my Werewolf radar was still good, but what if I screwed it up? These people needed me. Sleep didn’t come fast or stay long, more like spurts and stops. Next to me, Lydia slept soundly.
Sleep through the adrenaline. That’s what Keith used to say to me. The funny thing was I used to do that in the Vampire holdings. I could sleep even when it was scary. I only had myself to look out for. The second I became a Warrior, sleep stopped being my friend.
Lydia tugged me closer to her. I looked down. She wasn’t awake. Adjusting so she could get nearly half her body on top of me was easy, and then she settled again.
I closed my eyes. This time, the darkness took me for a little while. I woke when Lydia got out of bed. She stretched her arms upward, and I had the pleasure of seeing her body move while she didn’t know I watched. She was all long limbs and soft curves.
“Hey,” I whispered, not wanting to lose the sense of privacy. Loud noises could draw attention from anyone. My years with the Vampires had given me some strange habits others didn’t have.
She turned and smiled. “Hi. I was hoping not to wake you while I made us breakfast or lunch or whatever this is.”
I shook my head. “You’re not my cook or my maid.”
She bit down on her lip then climbed back onto the bed. “Eagle time?”
“Oh, sure.” I needed to get some cream that Micah left me on the spot, too. I reached into my bag and pulled it out. Then I tugged my shirt off so she could see.
She was quiet.
“Not good?”
“It’s going to be beautiful. Right now, it’s a black outline. I’m trying to imagine it with colors. Here, I’ll put that on you.”
Her gentle hands smoothed the lotion on the spot, and I pretended it didn’t sting. “So I’ll train everyone again today then go on patrol. I don’t want you sitting up all night waiting for me. I hate that. You should stay on a normal schedule. We can figure things out. Maybe if you wake me around the regular time and…”
She kissed my cheek, effectively shutting me up. “Deacon, I know it’s senseless. You don’t have to tell me that it’s too fast. It was too fast the second I saw you. But you’re mine, and I’m going to take care of you. I want to. We need to learn what you do. That’s the most important thing right now. Everyone might change their schedules to train. We want to be able to help.”
I touched the side of her face. “How are you not broken?”
“What does that mean?” She scrunched up her face. “I’m completely broken, Deacon. My mother is dying. My father is a mess coming out of the cages. The town is falling apart. We were always one step away from the real nightmare. I don’t know what I’m doing one day to the next. I see the faces of the people we gave to the Vampires all the time. I didn’t participate, but I didn’t stop it either. And I’m throwing myself at you. I know, it’s too much. It’s odd. I don’t even date. Men ask, I say no.”
I tapped her on the nose. “Which men?”
“What?” She shook her head. “Why?”
“Because maybe they’ll trip and fall during training tonight and get bruised.” I really hated the idea of men asking her out. Several of those unworthy assholes who let themselves get taken time and again thought they could touch her?
Her smile was slow. “Why Deacon, I think you might just like me.”
I kissed her, hard. “What gave me away?” I flipped her over so I was on top of her. “You only like me because all the men here are weak. If I took you back to Genesis and you saw the guys there, you’d know you could do better.”
She took my cheeks in her hands. “No. It was like an explosion in my heart. I’d been waiting for you all along, like I finally understood I hadn’t been interested in anyone, ever, because I knew deep down you were somewhere in the world.”
I had to have her. She was mine. Lydia lifted her lips toward my own, and I took them. Over and over we kissed. I’d never get enough of her. Our tongues darted in and out of each other’s mouths. Sometimes we were smooth, sometimes our teeth banged—it was all hot. My shirt was already off, and I had her out of her pink slip in seconds.
Lydia reached up and bit lightly on my chest. I cried out, all the heat going straight to my cock. Her smile was pure vixen. I palmed her breasts, and she squirmed against my touch. She must like that. What else could I do with them?
My mouth watered. Would she like it? I took her nipple in my mouth. The beautiful woman writhed against me. I closed my eyes and sucked harder. Her curves were mine to worship. She moved her hands to the back of my neck, stroking my hair. I changed nipples. She cried out again.
I’d remember this for the rest of my life. This very moment, when I knew I could bring her pleasure. That was all I wanted to do. Getting off was fantastic, but making her come, that was better.
That was magic.
She slipped a hand between us, and trailed her fingers down my stomach to my cock. When she touched me, I had to let go of her breast. Otherwise, I’d never be able to breathe. I throbbed against her.
“Not too much. If it's okay, I have something we can use to not get pregnant, and I could come inside of you, if you want.”
Her eyes widened. “More than okay. Yes, I want it.”
I reached past her, for my bag on the floor. The condoms were there. I’d never put one on, but I figured between Lydia and me we could figure it out. I didn’t want to take Micah up on his offer to describe how to use them. It was easy and pretty soon I had myself sheathed in it. Her eyes watched me put it on which did not help steady my shaking fingers at all.
I put myself back on top of her. She was warm and so lovely. I hadn’t realized I’d been so cold.
Slipping a finger inside of her, I found her wet already. I met her gaze and saw nothing but desire in her turquoise eyes. “I don’t know how or why…”
; She shook her head. “Let’s not question us. This happened. I’m just going to be grateful you came into my life.”
I pushed myself gently inside of her and almost spilled myself right there. She was tight, amazingly so, and I didn’t want to hurt her. But this was… there weren’t words. She was so soft. Coming inside of her was like being home. For the first time ever.
“Oh, Lydia.” I didn’t know what to say. I inched forward, deeper and deeper. She spread open her legs, and I slipped further inside.
“Love. You.” She kissed my shoulder.
Was this good for her? Did it hurt? I was finally all the way inside of her. Tears streamed from her eyes. “Oh, no. I didn’t want to cause you pain. Never, ever, baby.”
She shook her head. “It’s so beautiful. Good tears.”
I didn’t know what good tears were, but if she was okay, then so was I. I knew what to do even though this was technically the first time I was doing it, outside of imaginings. I moved out of her then back in. She cried out and so did I. With each thrust, pleasure grew so intense it was practically pain. My ears rang. I held on.
Nothing would happen until I knew Lydia found pleasure. I changed my position so I could rub her sensitive area better with my own thrusts. That seemed to do it. She writhed beneath me, holding onto my neck and calling out the sweetest words I’d ever heard. Yes. More. Love. Okay, I’d give her whatever she needed whenever she needed it.
Finally, she came. Her body clenched around mine. She said my name on a sigh. I loved the sound of it on her lips. I exploded. It was the only way I could think of it. Time ceased to matter. I wasn’t sure if I breathed or if I’d left my body, but then it was over. I was still hard but softening. I needed to get the condom off. I couldn’t think.
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