by Kim Faulks
His heart was thunder, matching the storm in mine. Lips awkward, opening too wide, taking too much. His breath warm against my face. I touched him, skimming the hard curves of his ears, then the stubble on his cheek.
But it was his hands I felt. Blunt nails, calloused fingers skimming my cheek to linger at the corner of my eye. He broke the kiss, pulling away to find my gaze.
Words filled him, but none that needed a voice.
Stars shone amongst the brown in his gaze. He was rich, fertile earth. He was rock, dark from sweet rain. He was life unfulfilled, and the longer I stared into his eyes, the more I saw.
A movement in his shadow.
Spirit stepping out of the darkness, coming closer…closer.
Come now, I urged. Come to him.
His fingers brushed my hair, tangling, twisting. He leaned in, hunger now in the brown of his eyes. Need kissed the corner of my lips, and moved across to the other side. Need found the nape of my neck and pulled me closer. Need touched my waist…my hip and went no farther.
Ace was changing. Unfolding. Flowering second by second. Human was leaving this man…leaving the real him behind.
He pulled away, breath fast through parted lips, and then glanced over my shoulder to the quiet forest. Human behind us was gone now, moving deeper, and quiet. I could still hear them. I could still feel them.
And what I could feel I could hunt.
Ace shifted, pain savaged the tenderness, leaving him to clench his jaw and push against the pine. He grabbed his pants and yanked. The fabric stopped halfway along his leg. “Knee’s getting bad,” he whispered. “Something’s wrong. Torn ACL, I think. Maybe something worse. If I had my med pack, I might be able to strap it.” Hurt flared in the brown of his eyes. “Where the Hell is Stitch when you fucking need him?”
My fingers danced in the air, fluttering helplessly toward him. There was nothing I could do, nothing to ease his pain…nothing but stand here, and wait while the sun dimmed.
His shirt bunched, riding up as he slid down the trunk and hit the ground. I knelt in front of him, touching the outside of his boot, touching his leg.
He leaned backwards, sweat shone against his forehead. “It’s okay. Just need to rest. It’ll be better in a few hours.”
His eyes fluttered closed, and then jerked open to stare at me and then the forest. Slowly though, slowly they closed once more. Sleep…sleep Ace. Soft touches against his leg, his thigh. If I had my med pack…if I had my rifle… He needed…pack. Needed rifle.
Pack he carried. I searched my memory, remembering Humans with their belts and their pouches. Was that pack? I opened to Spirit and searched the trees.
Human moved deeper, but still there. I shoved up from the ground. “Sleep, Ace,” I whispered. “Sleep.”
I moved, carefully, leaving him behind to slip through the trees. There was no rush, no thunder, no panicked dash for survival. This was a different hunt, a Human hunt. Spirit moved around me, and through me, leaving nothing but scent behind.
Mice scampered. Birds called out until I neared, and then quiet…so quiet.
Shadows snaked around my body as I pushed deeper. Stars glinted through the break of trees above, still I focused on the trail, as the heady scent of Human carried on the wind. They moved in front of me, slowing to press their ears and surge right.
Crack…snap…jerk…rustle… Human filled the forest with sound.
Easy, Spirit warned and slowed my steps. Not too close, remember they bite.
I reached for my chest and lingered behind the tree, remembering the sleep that came with their claws. They made Ghost sleep, made Ghost weak.
I didn’t like that…belly tightened, hide around my arms softened and moved over skin.
I didn’t like their bite at all.
I watched how they moved, watched their hatred grow. The snap of a branch wrenched their metal up…rifle, I reminded myself…Ace called it…rifle.
Snap…snap… Slow tread, stop…heart beating faster…not Human. Deer. Rich ammonia made my nose twitch. And made the hunter in me surge.
I sank claws into the wood as the flash of white cut through the air. The buck jumped, tail up high as he leapt, cutting across the green in front of them and disappeared.
“Clear. Push forward,” growled one to the right. “He has to be here somewhere.”
They were hunting Ace…just as I hunted them. They wanted to hurt him. They wanted to take him—just as they took from me before. I closed the distance, stilling behind a tree before I stepped close. Sick carried on the wind. I froze, moved backwards.
Sick.
I’d smelled that before. I was a girl…and before Human came. I tried to remember. Memories pushed in, crying, screaming…words of rage. An old woman—crying, begging. I knew that old woman…I reached for the totem at my neck. She begged my father. Get her back for me…please. Soren.
My father shook his head as she cried. I remembered now. Remembered the old woman falling to her knees—remembered the agony in her voice as she gripped the totem around her neck and growled. You are my son…and she is your sister. Save her. Bring her back to me.
But he was tortured. Fires, words of war…I watched them from the safety of my mother’s lap as they left…and didn’t return. Not that night.
When they did, they brought Sick with them…Sick and hungry, screaming, snarling. She lashed out when others neared, she clawed her face, bit her arms, and this time Spirit didn’t heal.
Old woman cried, cried and cried and cried. Old woman cursed Human. Old woman screamed for revenge. There’s nothing left, father growled. It’s done.
I inhaled this Human’s scent. He smelled like her, only not as strong—not as corrupted. He stilled, turned. His face was covered across his mouth. Still Spirit was gone. Only animal.
Only Sick.
He wrenched his gaze toward me scanning the growing dark. But he wouldn’t see Ghost, wouldn’t see anything but the forest. Wouldn’t smell anything but downwind.
I waited, watching as they moved, stilled…then pressed their ears. Human surged together, crouching down, opening pack, eating and watching. Then others slept, one slid under the overhanging branch of a fern. One watched, hand on rifle, then slid something over his eyes.
Sick knelt, Sick moved. Sick growled at the birds settling for the night, and then Sick slept.
I waited while the darkness closed in, then stepped close.
Human shifted, moaned and then soft breaths deepened. One watched, one waited.
I neared, slow steps now. Easy, Spirit warned…easy.
Pelt smothered the skin on my arms, the brush of fur growing longer and longer, touching forearms as nails turned to claws.
Quiet now. Toes sank into earth, next ball of the foot, and then the heel. Muscles trembled, ready to fight, ready to take.
“Bravo six copy, all quiet here,” Human murmured.
I reached out, scraping trunk with the tips of claws. Human eased his head against the wood, inches from my hand. One slow step. One slight turn of his head. One slow breath…in…and out as I lifted my hand, nails curled, sharp, ready to save…ready to protect.
24
Ace
You gonna cry little man? Those fucking words resounded.
You gonna cry for Momma?
The kid inside me hurt. Thick sobs tore through my chest like fire to spill from my lips.
Just a dream. Get out, just a motherfucking dream. I fought, kicked and tried to surface. But the shackles of my past dragged me deeper—back to where the darkness waited.
Gonna cry? Lips stained red opened as she leaned in. I stared at the masticated white gum as it rolled around in her mouth, and fought the need to vomit.
Harold! My foster mother screamed. Harold, kid’s gonna cry!
I didn’t want to be here. I wanted to go home, back to the TV and the empty room. Mom was coming back…she was coming back. Just had to give her some more time.
She was coming back…tears slip
ped. I tried to find her face, tried to find the memory of her eyes, her lips, her touch. Outta cigs. Be back soon, okay?
Her faded voice drifted to the surface. Just be a good boy, Holden. Just sit here, and be a good boy.
I tried. I fucking tried. I waited…waited while day slipped to night.
Waited while morning came, and still her bed was empty. I pulled out a bowl, and the last cereal. There was no milk, didn’t matter, I ate it dry…used to eating it dry—used to the bits sticking to my gums, used to water to wash it down. I sat and watched the door. She needed cigs. They take a long time, right? They take a long time.
Breakfast gone, dinner was the same, until the cereal ran dry…and the cupboard was bare. I waited…I waited and…never…once…fucking…cried.
I clamped a hand over my belly, still warmth slipped through.
All your fault, red lips moved, white gum poked out. All your fault.
And it was, it was all my fucking fault. If I had been better Mom wouldn’t have left. If I hadn’t gone out to play they wouldn’t have come, wouldn’t have knocked on the door, wouldn’t have asked their questions.
Wouldn’t have taken me away and whispered words of abandoned…druggie mom. Deceased father. Into the system…the fucking system.
The fucking system.
The dream blurred melting into the forest. Night settled in. I shuddered with the cold and tried to rise. But the dream still held me tight in a winter’s embrace. Movement in the trees…silver glowed.
Who’s there! My heart picked up pace as he slipped behind the tree and came closer.
The apparition slipped away, hidden behind thick trunks.
Spirit will help you, Ghost’s voice echoed. Spirit will heal.
The kid neared a little closer, faint silver blurred at the edges as he moved. I swallowed hard and tried to shove against the ground.
Hey! Hey there…come out now, I called. Come out so I can see you.
He peeked around the pine, waited…and then stepped clear.
My stomach tightened, the whisper of fear took hold. There was no more hiding, no more waiting. The kid stepped free and moved out into the open. His face sharpened with every step.
I shook my head and shoved against the ground. But this time it wasn’t to see him better…it was to get away. You’re not real, I snarled and raised my hand. Just stay the fuck away from me.
He took a step closer, dark eyes found mine.
My fucking heart was thundering. Stabbing pain followed. I was having a heart attack. I slammed my hand to my chest, a fucking heart attack at twenty-nine.
The kid stepped closer, dragging a whimper from my lips. Stay away…just stay the fuck away.
One more step. The forest made no sound as he neared. My fingers skimmed the ground, finding the hilt of my blade. I gripped the molded grip and dragged the weapon into the air. Stay the fuck away from me…
But he never slowed. He never stopped, only glanced to the weapon and then met my gaze. I don’t want you Thick sobs slipped from my lips as the kid blurred. I don’t want you, don’t you fucking understand that?
He didn’t understand…he couldn’t understand.
How could he when he was nothing?
How could he when everyone he cared about left?
Tears slipped down my cheeks, falling faster as the child pushed through the last thick fronds to stand before me.
How could he when that kid was me?
25
Ghost
Ace whimpered as I strode through the thick palms. He shook his head, eyes wide staring at me. “I don’t want you. Don’t you fucking understand that?”
Spirit held him. Spirit moved. Tears shining silver as they slipped down his cheek. “I don’t need you, don’t want you…”
I stepped close as the child in him whispered. “I’m alone, always, always alone. They always leave, always leave.”
I’d taken him to the place where magic still lingered, to the place of my people and my blood.
I wanted him to find his spirit there…
But it was never his body that was broken.
It was never his flesh that needed to heal.
It was a child’s soul that fractured and left a wounded man behind.
“Ghost?” He murmured, focusing now as I took the last step and dragged the kill. “Is that you?”
“Ghost,” I answered. Clenched my fist and heaved.
Human flew through the air, arms splayed as he hit the ground with a thud at Ace’s feet.
He jerked backwards, and slammed his knee against the ground. The moan was instant, fresh tears shone as he gripped his leg and rocked.
“Pack. Rifle,” I snarled and looked to the Human. “Pack…rifle.”
“Is he dead?” Ace gripped Human’s head and tilted it, looking closely as the claw marks across his throat gaped. “Christ…Christ…”
Blood leaked out. Most gone now, smeared across palms and the earth after I grew tired from carrying and dragged instead. Human was heavier than Ace, dragging down my shoulders. I craned my head, testing muscles. I needed rest, just a little—and more water.
“You did this for me?” Ace wrenched his head up, dark eyes met mine. He touched, probed, working his way across the thick black belt. He yanked pouches free, and shoved tiny white stones into his mouth and chewed. “Oh, thank you, Jesus…Fucking Motrin, but it’ll do…it will fucking do.”
He yanked the covering from Human’s eyes and slipped it over his own, and then worked the strapping around his knee. “It’ll compress, until the drugs kick in.”
I reached for his face. I couldn’t see his eyes, couldn’t see his soul. He jerked his head up at the touch. His fingers were soft, finding my hand. “They’re goggles. Infrared so I can see at night, like you. We can move, if you want…keep pushing north to the river.”
His hand left mine, moving to the Human. He grabbed his rifle and other dark objects, sliding one arm through the pack and then the other. Human lay there, silent, bleeding. Food for the others. He’d bring the wolves. We had to be far away before the scent carried.
Ace shoved against the trunk, pushing until he stood. He settled the pack over his shoulders and tested his knee. Heavy breaths echoed as he took a step and stilled. “I’m good, for a while.” He glanced over his shoulder as I rose. “You lead, okay? And I’ll follow.”
There was a difference in him. His steps not as hard, heart not as heavy. I found his hand in the dark, touching warm skin, fingers entwining as I led him through the darkness.
He held his breath and stepped, twisted, and went again. The longer we went on, the easier his gait as we skirted the edge of the forest until the faint rush of the river filled my ears. His hand clenched, slowed steps made me turn. He leaned in, chest brushing my shoulder as he whispered. “Is it safe?”
I lifted my head, drawing in the cold air and scanned the bank. Day animals hid, night animals hunted. None were here…but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t come. I released his hand and gripped his shoulder.
Stay. I gave him a light shove, hard enough for Ace to understand, before I grabbed the soft flask from his belt and made for the river. My tongue was thick, the inside of my mouth dry. I moved faster, not caring about sound as the angry water chopped and splashed, slapping wide rocks to cover my steps.
I knelt at the side, watching the back ahead and to the front. No smell of wolves, not yet. They tracked farther downwind, too far to catch Ghost’s scent. I scooped, filling water, drank, and then filled again.
Ace would need as much as the pouch could carry. I made my way back, finding him hiding at the edge of the woods, watching with his new eyes as I neared.
His hands trembled, taking the flask from my hand and drank all he could. He tied the top closed and eased back against the tree. “I think we should make camp. It’s late and pushing ahead will only get us to the action when we’re tired. Alpha and X will be holed up somewhere. These Shadow bastards will hit them hard when the su
n comes up. Even with these things they’re still walking around in the dark. They won’t take the chance of coming across them, not yet.”
He dropped one shoulder. Wide straps slid down his arms before his pack hit the ground. The goggles were next leaving me to find his eyes in the dark.
I stepped close and lifted my hands, finding the marks on his flesh the rubber seal left behind. Warmth found warmth. His spirit called mine, more than body…deeper than soul.
Protect, he whispered…Protect.
Spirit saw. Spirit knew.
“God you’re beautiful,” he whispered.
His breath was warm against my face as I moved close. I dragged my finger against his lips and gently scratched the hard bristle along his jaw. Human, he was Human. But Ace was more than that. He was kind, honest—he was a killer…willing to die for those he loved…
Just like me.
And there was that frown. Brows puckered, drawing a line along his forehead. His hand moved to my hip, barely touching. His chest brushed mine and pressed hard.
“I’m dreaming, aren’t I,” he whispered. “Or, dead. Yeah, that makes sense.”
My heels left the ground as I rose. Lips, so soft, taking just enough, and yet I could feel Spirit brew like a storm building…building…building.
His fingers clenched, driving my hips against his. His hand gripped my neck, hard fingers tangled in my hair and then fell to the soft pelt of silver around my shoulders, delving through to the thick downy hair underneath.
A shudder raced, and my heart thundered, like a hunt…like a kill.
His lips pressed hard against mine, body hardening. He wasn’t soft, not so Human anymore. I dropped my hand to the swell of his chest and felt the muscle rise.
Fabric moved against his skin as I brushed his belly searching out that fine trail of hair I wanted to touch.
He moved fast gripping my wrist, eyes sparkling like stars above. Heat radiated, blowing hot against my cheek as he leaned in to whisper. “You really want to do this? I mean…I’m trying to do the right thing here.”