Fierce Dawn

by Scott, Amber

He gathered her close, bringing his wings around to touch her. Broken fragments of thought slipped through. He shouldn’t be doing this. But he wanted so badly to taste her. He needed to know how her warm, lithe body felt against his. Her clothes were in the way. He groaned, slipping his hands up the back of her shirt, and splayed his fingers over the slope of her back.

  She pressed her hips into his. Her kiss grew demanding.

  On a groan, he gave in. He delved his tongue into her mouth. She gasped, huffing her minty breath into his. The scent and taste drove a shudder through him. He wanted her naked skin against his. He wanted to feel her slick heat clenching around his stiff prick.

  He cocooned his wings around them and reached both hands up the front of her shirt. In his mind he replayed the way each breast moved as she’d stepped closer, their round, full flesh draped in loose material. Slowly, he trailed up her shirt, over her ribs, until each heavy mound filled his palms.

  Sadie arched into him.

  He groaned again, pressing his hips as well. He thumbed over her nipples, aching to suck each hard tip.

  Her vibration spiked higher. Its urgency pierced the haze clouding his rational mind. What in the world was he thinking?

  Elijah pushed Sadie back, rapidly retracting his wings.

  “What is it?” she asked, reaching for him again.

  It took all his will not to succumb to more. But he wanted far more than kissing and touching. He wanted to feel every last inch of her. He wanted to bury himself into her depths and drive the world away. She couldn’t realize what she was doing. “Sadie, you don’t understand.” His voice was hoarse. “This is no dream. I am real.”

  “I know,” she said and stepped forward again.

  He caught her wrists. She let them go slack. Confusion drew her brow tight. “You are not dreaming this.” Elijah reached over and firmly, pinched her arm.

  “Ouch.” Sadie rubbed the spot he’d offended, scowling harder. No anger. No alarm. “I never thought I was,” she said. “Why don’t you adore me any more?”

  This brought him up short. His desire-laden frustration sidestepped, confusion taking over. “Adore you?”

  She put her hands on her hips. “Yes, adore me.”

  The drug couldn’t still be in her system, which left one conclusion. Her mind had been seriously injured by the drug’s effects. Or transporting her had damaged her. Disappointment careened down into his gut.

  “If it’s my delusion, shouldn’t I be the one to say stop?”

  With a ragged exhale, Elijah closed his eyes. “I’m not a delusion. I’m very real and so help me, I would love to prove just how real.” But he refused to. Not like that.

  She crossed her arms and examined him a moment. “If you aren’t a delusion, what are you?”

  “I’m Elijah Stokes. We almost met at the University library two weeks ago and I have some things I need to tell you.” He couldn’t leave without trying. “We can wait for Jen to return if you’d like. She promised to be back within the hour, but there are things I cannot share with her,” he said, enunciating each word with care.

  Dust particles swarmed like gnats in the sunlight filtering through the blinds.

  She pressed her temples. “If you’re you and you’re not a delusion, how in the hell did you get here, why do you have wings and why did you let me just kiss you?”

  “Do you recall any of the last three days?”

  She shook her head. “You’re the same Elijah from the library?”

  He sensed panic’s high pitch. “Yes. Look. I’ll be as straight with you as I possibly can. Do you recall seeing me at the club?”

  “Yes, but I thought…I thought I was seeing things.” She gestured at his wings.

  He retracted them in entirely so they lay under the slits of his jacket and shirt. Not that it would change the facts. “You weren’t seeing things. Aren’t seeing things.”

  “Okay,” she said, sounding doubtful. “But you have—”

  “I followed you there.”

  Her eyes widened. “Whoa. Okay. Why?”

  “You are in danger,” he said, fearing he was telling too much, too fast. He concentrated on holding her gaze, on listening for a rise in her panic.

  “From who?”

  “Before I can explain, I need you to tell me something.” He waited for her to nod. “You can still see my wings?” he asked, opening them wide for a moment.

  Slowly, she nodded again.

  “Good. They are real. I’m as much living, breathing and feeling as you are, only a bit different.”

  “Oh, man.” Sadie whirled around to her bed and sat upon it. “Heather is going to love this. She was right. I got off the meds and now I’ve totally lost my marbles.”

  “No,” he said forcefully, pulling her back up by the shoulders, making her stand. “Not crazy. Changing.”

  Sadie’s voice rose. “Jen called Heather, didn’t she?”

  “Who’s Heather?”

  “My sister.” She paced the room.

  “I don’t know. I brought you home from the club. Jen and I took care of you,” Elijah said, avoiding the gross details of the drug’s effects.

  “You brought me home?” She shook her head, paced more. “No, you—you hate me.”

  Here was the alarm he’d been expecting. “Why would I hate you?”

  “Okay, maybe not hate, but seriously dislike. I didn’t miss the look on your face when I trampled you with my cart. You were flat out pissed. And now you’re telling me I go from that to you taking me home and taking care of me? Oh and by the way, you have wings. Hi, Crazy. I’m Sadie. Nice to meet you.”

  He liked her anger. Anger meant fight. She’d need fight in her to survive this. “Well, put like that, yes. Crazy sounds logical. Would it help if I told you I was trying to protect you? Never mind. Do you follow what I’m saying?”

  “I’m crazy, not stupid.”

  Her anger like a zap, zinged in the air. Elijah stepped back.

  “I need Jen. Go get Jen, please.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Then leave. I’m a grown woman and I’m okay now. I don’t need your help.”

  Her anger sent another shock at his skin. Elijah knew he was staring, gaping at her, but couldn’t stop. Of all the reactions he’d anticipated, this he’d never imagined.

  “Now!” she screamed, jabbing her finger toward the door. A pulse wave shimmered off of her, slamming into his body. It sent him crashing against her bedroom wall. The picture hanging there fell to the ground, the glass shattering in a burst.

  Sadie screeched, covering her mouth.

  Dazed, Elijah righted himself. He held his hands up. “I’ll leave if you really want me to, but before you make me go, please consider this. I can answer every question that is forming in your head right this second, if you will just give me the chance.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Chapter Ten

  “No.” Sadie’s heart slammed in her chest. The broken glass. Elijah. What the hell had just happened? “I want you to go now.”

  She didn’t want to hear any of it. If he was the real Elijah and now he had wings—sharp pain stabbed through her skull.

  Sadie pressed her temples, shut her eyes.

  “How bad does your head hurt?” he asked.

  Hurt didn’t cover the blinding pain. “You said you would leave if I asked you to,” she grit out.

  “I will. If you insist.” She could feel him approaching her very carefully. “But you shouldn’t be alone either.”

  Nausea crept into her belly. “Get Jen.”

  “I can’t. She swore she’d be back soon.”

  “You can’t stay,” she said, her voice growing shrill. Her head felt like an ice pick was being jammed into it over and over again.

  “I’ll go. Who else could come?”

  Sadie winced. What was happening to her? How could she have kissed him? How could she have believed he was some hallucination? “I don’t know what kind of twisted game this is but, so
help me, I’ll scream if you don’t just leave.”

  “Stay calm, Sadie. Let me get help. You mentioned a sister. Can I call her for you?”

  “God, no! She’s the last person I need right now. I’m a grown woman. I can take care of myself. Can’t you see that?” But the pain hammered. Her eyes burned when she opened them to stare him down.

  Elijah stood his ground. “There must be someone else.”

  Sadie shut her eyes against the pain. There was no one else. No…wait. “Call Ben.” Would he come? They weren’t exactly at emergency contact levels of friendship, but she didn’t have anyone else. She squinted at Elijah.

  He held his phone out ready to dial. Sadie didn’t know the number, though. Elijah dialed anyway. “Lyric,” he said. “I need Holly to locate someone.” He looked at Sadie expectantly. “Last name?”

  Sadie frowned. “I can’t remember. Give me a second.” Jesus. Elijah meant it. He’d go as far as to locate Ben? Would Ben actually come here? “Forget it.”

  “Sadie, I’ll go but I won’t leave you alone.” He hesitated, as though searching for the right words. “You’re in pain.”

  “Okay, okay. Forget it.” If Ben came here, he’d devour every minute, then tell her she was crazy not to give the ‘tasty treat’ a chance. “You can stay, alright? Just hang up!”

  “Lyric? Never mind.”

  Elijah snapped the phone shut. The golden thing was as thin as a credit card and glinted as he put it away.

  “When did the pain begin?”

  “After I screamed at you and you fell against the wall.”

  Again, Elijah approached her carefully. Taking her elbow, he helped her onto the bed. “I didn’t fall against the wall, Sadie.”

  She scowled, which stung her brain. But he backed off.

  “Okay. Tell me about the pain. Describe it for me.”

  “It’s like someone is knifing my brain with broken glass.”

  He leaned in, searching her eyes. “What else?”

  “My eyes are on fire.”

  “Try closing them.”

  She did but shook her head. “That’s worse.”

  He drew the blinds open. The sun’s warmth sent goosebumps of awareness over her skin. “Try opening them.”

  She did.

  “Better?”

  “Much, actually.” The stabbing rapidly receded to a dull thump. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. May I?”

  She gave him her hands, the relief from pain leaving a strange euphoria behind. He turned her wrist up and set a thumb to each. He closed his eyes. Alarm shone in the mahogany depths when he opened them.

  “What? Just tell me what it is.”

  “I have a lot to explain in a short amount of time. What I’ll say will scare you. I’m not asking you to believe me, just to listen. The choice will be yours. Can you do that?”

  The intensity in his gaze gave her pause. What in the world had she gotten herself into? At last, she nodded.

  “Good. First, tell me, can you feel this?” His left wing came around, reaching close to her. Her breath caught. Feel his wings? Up close, in the brighter light, she could see through them. They were a deeper blue than the dream version, more substantial, yet…. She reached her hand out, spellbound, but paused. Warmth emanated off of the wing.

  Her fingertips tingled. Her pulse quickened.

  Elijah stood very still. Was he nervous? Curious? The seconds seemed to hang in the air as her mind fired off fears. A breath away, a single soft touch to the dark sable wing.

  He took her hand and pulled it to the wing’s surface. The tingle permeated her hand as she touched the wing’s surface and passed slowly through it.

  Sadie gasped. “How?”

  “The drug that miserable fuck slipped you may have altered your transformation.” Elijah frowned. “Seeker wings are not perceptible to human senses. But your mind allows you to see them, yet you can’t touch them. Is this new?”

  She balked a little. “More than new. It’s weird.”

  “But you saw my wings before you were drugged?”

  Sadie rubbed the back of her neck, thinking. At the club. In dreams. “I don’t know. I can’t really be sure.” He quirked an eyebrow up, calling her bluff. “Okay, yes. I saw them before.”

  “When you screamed a moment ago, you unleashed an electric pulse. That is what knocked me into your wall. I don’t have to explain that this isn’t normal human behavior, correct? Good. Here comes the hard part.” He sat on the bed and faced her. “It isn’t. It is, however, immortal behavior.”

  “Whoa, whoa. Whoa.” Sadie moved to stand but her head sparked with pain, so she settled for two hands up and sarcasm. “Immortal means what? Like a vampire or werewolf or something? No thanks.”

  His wings shifted behind him. Sadie jerked. He opened them wider, his eyes intent on her face. Her mouth fell open. Each wing curved out, the blue-black expanses filled the background.

  “How in the world can they be so big?” Shit. Had she said that out loud?

  Elijah laughed. “Think of it like stretching. Your arms, your fingers.”

  “So, vampires?”

  Half a smile crooked his mouth but warning shone in his gaze. “Human blood is a drug for us, Sadie. Vampirism is nothing to laugh over. Witnessing the truth your myths are based on would make you wish for the reprieve of insanity.”

  A chill licked up Sadie’s spine. “Then what are you?”

  “A seeker.” He leaned in. “I hunt the bloodsuckers. I find them before it’s too late.”

  “Not an angel.”

  “If you liken it to angels, I understand, but that’s human myth. Demons, angels, faeries, all human attempts at defining the indefinable.”

  Her mouth went dry and, stupidly, all she could do was watch his. “Indefinable?”

  Had he drawn closer? Had she? “Some humans sense something else is there, just beyond a thin veil of energy, separated thousands of years ago to protect humankind.”

  “From what?”

  “From us.”

  “Vampires.”

  “Blood junkies. Humans farmed for blood. More than blood. Energy. The soul.”

  His hair was the color of dark chocolate and a tendril at his forehead begged to be touched. “I’m one of the ones who can see you?”

  He nodded. Then shook his head. “Humans can’t see us. They can perceive or dream or get an impression they can’t explain like a gut instinct to flee. You, Sadie. You can see. Because you are a changeling.”

  The severity in his tone made her think she’d missed an important detail. “Changing how?”

  He straightened a little, putting distance between them. “Changeling. You are a human evolving into immortality. You are crossing realms.”

  The breath whooshed out of her lungs. Her mind went blank. Something eerily familiar whispered in the back of her mind. “Realms?”

  “Realms. Worlds. Dimensions. The veil that separates mortals from immortals.”

  “But you said immortals farm humans for their blood, exploit us for energy. That doesn’t sound like different dimensions.” The headache she’d nearly forgotten creeped back in. “It sounds like a horror movie. Why are you really here?”

  “I crossed over realm lines. Hunting. Vampires only survive on this side. Like a heroin addict, they need their fix.” Was there more? If so, he wasn’t ready to tell her.

  Fear crawled over her skin. He was right. Crazy sounded better than her blood being heroin for some weird inhuman beings. “Why me?”

  “I don’t know. In truth, I didn’t believe you were evolving. The only proof of it is in the fact that you can see my wings.”

  “And feel them,” I said, not sure why I felt defensive.

  “Not entirely. The human part of your mind still refuses to accept them as real.”

  “So prove it.” The pain in her temples ebbed away.

  “Prove I’m real?” He shifted, irritated. “What more proof could I possibly give you?
”

  That one stumped her. Okay, so he was right. Sitting mere inches away, looking beyond divine, the hint of his scent making her want to bury her face in his neck and sniff like an animal. She needed something more, though, before her heart jumped back into wrong conclusions or her libido took over. “If I am changing, what am I becoming?” she said, a tremble in her voice.

  “I don’t know yet. And there’s more.”

  Her mind bucked. More? Nope, her head hurt too much for more. The urge to make him leave took over again. “Jen is pulling into the garage.”

  “I know. I heard her coming.” He leaned back on one elbow, unflustered. The mattress squeaked as he got up. He faced her with a crooked grin. “I’ll go if you still wish me to. But if you change your mind,” he paused. His eyes narrowed. “Wait here,” he said.

  “And what if Jen sees your wings.“ Or, could she? Was that a stupid question? In a flash, Elijah disappeared. Sadie jerked back. “What the fu—.”

  In another flash he returned, grabbing her hand and pulling her to her feet. “We have to leave. The changeling found us.”

  Hadn’t he just called her a changeling? “I don’t think so.” She pulled her hand free but he took her into his arms, holding her waist. “Not until you explain.”

  His eyes met hers. The fear looking back at her stilled her squirming. “I won’t compromise your safety again, Sadie. Forgive me.”

  His wings surrounded their bodies. The room went grainy. Her body seemed to shatter into a billion specks. By the time she tried to cough or breathe or scream, it ended. The world swam back into view, shrinking away under them.

  Sadie shrieked, every muscle in her body bunching. Suddenly, her direction reversed, Elijah let go, and her body plummeted. She was falling so fast that air blasted her face, forcing her to hold her breath.

  It occurred to her that grass might not hurt so much to crash into, then Elijah scooped her into his arms before she could find out if she was right. “Don’t scream again,” he scolded. “Ever. You shocked me.”

  Sadie gripped his neck for dear life, wrapped her legs around his waist and squeezed her eyes shut. “What do you expect?” she yelled. “First time frickin’ flyer here!”