by Kristie Cook
“I wish we could go to Key West,” I said at the end of that second week as we ate breakfast. “It looks like fun.”
“You’re not really missing much,” Tristan said. “And it would definitely not be a good idea for us.”
“I know. I guess I’m just starting to feel a little cooped up here. I don’t want to leave, but I’d like to get out for a while.” I pushed the remainder of my pancakes around my plate, the blueberries leaving purple swirls in the syrup.
“I should’ve brought the boat.” He watched me for a while, and then finally said, “I have an idea. Get your bathing suit on.”
He packed up my snorkeling gear and took us to a nearby marina, where he rented a speed boat.
“Are you sure it’s safe?” I asked as we headed out.
“We’ll be out in the middle of a big ocean. The worst things out there are sharks and I can handle them.” He grinned. “In fact, that would be fun!”
I raised an eyebrow. “You’re not serious, are you?”
“About fighting with sharks? Absolutely. Especially when they try to get away. You just hang on and let them take you for a ride. Better than the Waverunner.”
I laughed. “You’ve seriously ridden a shark?”
“Yep.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“I can show you. We’ll go find some.”
My eyes widened. “Okay, I believe you! Please don’t go looking for sharks.”
He laughed. “I thought you were bored.”
“Not that bored. Just find some pretty fish to look at.”
“How about lobsters? They just came in season.”
I nodded. “If you get the lobsters, I’ll cook them.”
“Deal.”
He took us south until we could no longer see land and only saw another boat every now and then and cut the engine. We lay in the sun, swam and snorkeled. I was amazed at all the beautiful life under the water—yellow, blue, pink and silver, solid, striped and polka-dotted fish, among other creatures. Tristan told me what we saw, but I couldn’t keep track of what was what. There was much more to see here than there was at our beach. As promised, he caught a couple lobsters for dinner that night.
Toward the end of the day, I stretched out on the bow, letting the sun bake me dry. I lay on my stomach, about to doze off, when Tristan untied my top and started rubbing my back. The warm sun and his electric touches made my skin tingle.
“Tristan . . .” I protested when he rolled me onto my back.
“There’s no one around for miles,” he murmured, keeping me from rolling back over by kissing me. It wasn’t long, though, before he cocked his head for a moment, and then turned me back over. “I’m sure they’re just passing by.”
I lay there and listened as the sound of another boat’s engine grew louder as it came closer. It seemed to be approaching steadily, not fading out as it turned off.
“Or maybe not,” Tristan said, tying my strings for me.
I sat up to see the boat pulling up to us. The driver was alone. He apparently had spent many years on the water in the sun, his face the color and texture of beef jerky and his man-boobs hanging like leather pouches over his browned beer gut. My sense told me he was bad.
“He feels wrong,” I whispered to Tristan.
“It’s okay. He’s not them,” he said under his breath. He pulled his shirt on and handed me my sundress as the man gave me a slow once-over, giving me the heebie-jeebies. I put the dress on, not that it covered much.
“Hey, man, just wonderin’ if you saw any lobster down there,” Leatherman called to us, his voice as rough as his face, but friendly.
“Yeah, we saw a few,” Tristan answered, returning the genial tone. “Caught us a couple for dinner.”
They exchanged small talk as I watched the man suspiciously. I was surprised when Tristan invited him over to our boat, but I figured when you’re the “ultimate warrior” and it’s not a Daemoni trying to abduct your wife, you could be as friendly as you wanted to be. It can still bite you in the butt, though.
“You two look pretty young to be out here alone,” Leatherman said after a while.
“Looks can be deceiving,” Tristan answered with a small smile.
Misunderstanding, the man looked around. “You’re certainly alone for now.”
He was right. We couldn’t see land or another boat at all.
He suddenly jumped up and grabbed me with one hand. He held a knife in his other. “Just give me whatever money you got and everyone’ll be okay.”
Damn it! One day out and this son of a witch has to ruin it! Tristan looked at the man’s hand roughly gripping my arm. He shook his head and smirked. We caught each other’s eyes and mine narrowed in anger. He nodded his head once. I shoved my elbow into Leatherman’s fat gut and spit flew out of his mouth as he doubled-over. Tristan grabbed and twisted his arm, the bone snapping audibly. He heaved the man back over to his boat. Rattling off every cuss word imaginable, Leatherman quickly took off.
“That was unpleasant,” Tristan said after he was gone.
“I told you I didn’t like him.” I scowled.
He chuckled. “Nice job.”
“You, too. But you didn’t have to break his arm.”
“Sorry, didn’t mean to. Do you forgive me?”
I nodded. I’d rather Leatherman’s arm be broken than my neck be slit. I hoped that didn’t make me a bad person. “Maybe he’ll learn his lesson. We make a good team, huh?”
“Yes, we do. I knew there was a good reason I married you.” He winked. I gazed at him while he started the engine and we headed back to cook lobster.
Chapter 26
Tristan’s cell phone woke us up a couple of mornings later.
“Hi, honey, sorry to bother you, I know you’re having a great time,” Mom babbled.
“It’s okay.” It was actually good to hear her voice. I realized how much I missed her.
“Well, I just couldn’t wait to tell you. Someone from a publisher called today and she wants to read your first three chapters!”
“Really? Already?”
“Yeah, it helps when you know peop—” She cut herself off, as if she let something slip in her excitement.
I was too excited myself to ask what she meant. “You know where to find the file, right?”
“Yes, I’ll take care of it. This is great news, honey! Whoa!”
“Mom? Are you still there?” She didn’t answer. “Mom, what’s going on?”
“I don’t know,” she finally said. “It almost felt like a small earthquake.”
“You’re in Florida, Mom.”
“I know. There was something, though. Oh, Owen’s here. I need to go. I’ll call you back.” She hung up before I could even say good-bye.
“A publisher might be interested,” I told Tristan, nearly jumping up and down on the bed. “Can you believe it?”
He grinned and gave me a bear hug. “Of course I can. I told you, you’re very talented.”
Tristan’s phone rang again a while later. After looking at the number, he handed it to me. I barely had a chance to say “hello.”
“Put Tristan on the phone. Hurry!” Mom didn’t sound right at all.
I handed the phone back to him. “I’m here.”
A long pause. Then he sat bolt upright.
“Shit! Motherfuckers!” More silence as Mom spoke. “No, we’ll stay here for now . . . I’ll call them . . . I know . . . I will.”
He snapped the phone shut. Something’s wrong. Terribly wrong. I stared at him expectantly as he just sat there in silence. His jaw twitched.
“Tristan . . . ?” I said quietly. He didn’t look at me, but stared at the wall.
“My house—our house—is gone,” he said flatly, distantly. “It exploded. Owen said it’s just burning rubble.”
“What?” I gasped, not comprehending.
He paced the room with angry strides. My eyes followed him, back and forth, as my mind raced, trying to make
sense of it. Is that what shook the ground all the way at Mom’s house? It had to have been a major explosion to reach that far.
“FUCK!” He yelled, slamming his fists against his thighs and making me jump. My heart hammered against my chest as I continued to stare at him wide-eyed. “The fucking bastards!”
He was serious. His house is gone. Everything . . . gone.
“What happened?” I asked, my voice small, frightened. I knew the answer, but didn’t want to say it.
“I’m not exactly sure, but I have a pretty damn good guess,” he seethed. He also didn’t want to say it.
After he calmed down about an hour later, he called the authorities. He held his head in his hands as he listened to them, barely saying anything on his end. He snapped the phone shut and jerked his hand as if to throw it against the wall, but he held onto it.
His voice was frighteningly calm when he explained. “Their initial assessment is something ignited fumes from the generator. They said it wasn’t properly shut off after the storm.”
I stared at him in disbelief and terror. “Tristan . . . we didn’t use the generator.”
“I know.” He paced the room again.
The vision of his sleek house on the beach . . . the motorcycles and other toys . . . all he owned . . . everything exploding in flames filled my head.
“I can’t believe . . . your house . . . everything?”
He stopped pacing in front of me and lifted me in a hug. “It’s just stuff, my love. At least we weren’t there.”
“Do you think they knew we weren’t there?”
He held me tighter and said grimly, “Yes. I think it was a message.”
My stomach clenched. I thought I would be sick if I had anything in it. They know. We held each other in silence for several minutes. A pounding on the front door made us both jump.
“Stefan,” Tristan said, letting me go.
“Tristan, you have to get out of here. Immediately,” Stefan said, bursting through the door as soon as Tristan unlocked it.
“But, we can’t—,” Tristan started, but Stefan interrupted.
“I know what happened, but you cannot stay here. They know you are around here somewhere.”
“Son of a bitch!” Tristan pounded the counter, cracking the granite countertop. “How?”
“From what I have gathered, a local was drunk in Key West, complaining loudly about how a couple tried to rob him and broke his arm. He described you two perfectly, down to the mark on Alexis’s chest.” Stefan glanced at me grimly. “They do not know exactly where you are, but they know you are in the Keys and they are looking.”
“Alexis, get ready to go. Now,” Tristan ordered.
I hurried into the bedroom and threw whatever clothes I could get my hands on into our bags as quickly as my shaking hands allowed. Tristan closed all the shutters and locked up the house. We were on the road in five minutes and in Mom’s driveway in two hours.
“I need to see if there’s anything left at all,” Tristan said, not getting out of the car.
“But I want to—”
“No, it’s not safe. You stay here with Sophia.” He leaned over and kissed me. “I won’t be long.”
He nudged me and I grabbed our bags and hurried inside. Mom rushed to greet me with open arms. She squeezed me tightly and then pushed me back. Her face looked sick with worry.
“You need to pack just the bare necessities,” she said, the words coming in a rush. “We have to get out of here. Just the basics. And be sure to back up your book and wipe out your hard drive.”
I gave her a confused look.
“You heard me. We need to go. It’s not safe here anymore.”
I obeyed. I knew what “bare necessities” meant from previous departures—enough clothes for a couple days and important documents. That was all. I saved two copies of the book on CDs and erased the hard drive. I gave one CD to Mom and put the other in my own purse. We were ready to go by the time Tristan walked in the door. I flew into his arms. I hated being separated from him and he, apparently, hated it, too, because he held me tightly.
“Anything?” I asked.
“No, didn’t look like it. I didn’t get too close, though. I’m sure it’s being watched.”
“We need to go now,” Mom said. “The Daemoni know about the marriage and your vows to the Amadis and claim it’s Provocation. They’ve given free rein on all Amadis . . . especially on royalty.”
Owen and Stefan burst through the door.
“Tristan, get her out of here!” Stefan barked.
Tristan pulled me out to the car and threw our bags into the tiny trunk space. My heart hammered for the first hundred miles we drove, headed north, as I stared out of the window in fear. I imagined demons surrounding us, flying over us, waiting for an opportunity to swoop down and attack. I wondered where we could go for safety. Can we ever get away?
Then deep sadness eclipsed the fear as I closed my eyes and visions of the past year played against my eyelids. It all seemed so innocent and safe. Will we ever have peace again? The tears fell silently as I absently played with the pendant on the chain. Tristan gently squeezed my hand.
“I rushed us right into this mess, didn’t I?” I said quietly.
He looked at me. “Don’t ever blame yourself for this, Alexis. This started before you were even born.”
“I insisted we get married, though.”
“It would’ve happened anyway, whether we married now or ten years from now. The marriage was inevitable . . . unless they killed us first. So, at least we are married.” He squeezed my hand again. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’d rather fight for us forever than not have an us to fight for.”
I kissed his hand and held it against my face.
“I love you more than anything, ma lykita.”
“Together forever, right?”
“Absolutely.” He smiled and winked at me. I didn’t fog over. And that made me sadder.
We drove for hours, stopping only for gas. Finally, a little after midnight and somewhere near the South Carolina-North Carolina line, Tristan turned off the main highway, crisscrossed several country roads and found a small town with a motel.
“We need to stop at the drugstore,” I said before he turned into the parking lot. I pointed at the 24-hour store down the road. “I didn’t have time to grab anything from the bathroom.”
Tristan sighed. “Make it quick.”
He stood at the door of the store, pacing back and forth, watching me and the door at the same time. I loaded up on sample-size toiletries and toothbrushes. I couldn’t remember everything we needed, so I hurriedly glanced down each aisle to jog my memory. Feminine Hygiene. Uh-oh. I counted backwards in my head. Twice. Then a third time just to be sure. Crap! I looked for the box I needed, grabbed it and headed to the front. I threw in a bunch of snack food at the register.
When he pulled in front of the motel office, Mom, Stefan and Owen stepped out of a dark corner. Mom and Stefan stood by the car while Tristan paid for the adjoining rooms and Owen disappeared to place a shield over the entire motel. I still didn’t know how he did it—I just took it for granted it was there.
“Anything new?” Tristan asked the others once we were locked inside the rooms. I sat on a bed and pulled my knees to my chest.
“Nothing from Rina,” Mom answered.
“There have been a couple of attacks on my people, just because they can,” Stefan said. “But the Daemoni are really focused on you two. Fortunately, they do not know where you are. We have been able to sidetrack them, at least for the time being.”
“There’s still a safe house in Washington?” Tristan asked.
“It’s being cleared for us,” Mom said.
“We will need to divert them, though,” Stefan said. “Go on north, past the safe house, and double-back the long way.”
They discussed a watch schedule so everyone could sleep, then Mom, Stefan and Owen went into the other room. Tristan sat on the bed next
to me and rummaged through the food sack. How can he eat? He opened a bag of chips and tossed a package of cheese crackers at me. The thought made my stomach lurch. I made a face.
“You need to eat,” he said.
“I don’t think I can.”
“You haven’t eaten for over twenty-four hours.” He opened the package. I took a couple crackers to make him happy and after eating one, I realized how hungry I actually felt. I devoured the entire package and then started on a candy bar. Just as I swallowed the second bite, my stomach lurched again and I had to run for the bathroom.
“You okay?” Tristan asked when I came back out.
“Just really scared,” I admitted.
He held me close in the bed and I trembled in his arms. I woke up once after a nightmare and the room was dark. I was alone in the bed.
“Tristan?” I whispered.
“I’m here, my love,” he answered from somewhere else in the room. It must have been his turn to keep watch.
I felt Mom climb into the bed next to me. She put her arms around me. I fell back to sleep.
***
“Lexi, ma lykita,” Tristan murmured, nuzzling my neck. “You need to wake up.”
He picked me up and carried me into the bathroom, shutting and locking the door behind us. He kissed me fully awake.
“What are you doing?” I asked between kisses.
“We only have thirty minutes and it’s been nearly twenty-four hours since I made love to my wife,” he said, starting to undress me.
“Now? Here?” Despite the verbal protests, I automatically responded to his touch.
“Just be very careful so we don’t break anything. I’ve already paid in cash.”
He turned the water on and we stepped into the shower together. The bathtub was tiny and we had to be careful, so it wasn’t nearly as wonderful as it usually was in the shower. But it was real. And it was for us, when everything else was against us. I gave myself to Tristan, not knowing when the next time would be that we could just enjoy each other.
Thirty minutes later, we left the motel. Mom, Stefan and Owen disappeared while Tristan and I drove for hours. I stared out the window, barely noticing the changing landscapes as we sped north, past the Washington, D.C., area, up through northern Maryland and even briefly crossed into Pennsylvania. Every time we stopped for gas, Mom, Stefan and Owen waited for us, as if they’d somehow been following. Mom accompanied me to the bathroom and she didn’t say anything, but gave me a knowing look when I vomited every time. My stomach stayed knotted with fear.