An animalistic snarl answers me as we move together even faster, my body reaching a peak it’s never experienced before. I can’t think, breathe, only managing to cling to the man holding me as our union explodes within and all around our beings. Stars break apart like tiny fireworks behind my eyes, and my body jerks and arches before falling against him.
Gently, Josh carries me back to the bed where he slowly rolls both of us upon it, turning to the side while remaining inside of me the whole time. The same tender touch to my cheek brings me back from the elated rush. This body and mind experience undermines any adrenaline overload I’ve ever experienced, and to think it all came from something I had always feared happening.
“What are you thinking right now?”
Pausing after his words, his eyes crinkle. He’s worried I’m going to regret this, or is he regretting it right now? I push the girlie thoughts aside and smile widely before kissing him again.
“I was just thinking how I worried every day about getting close to someone for fear of hurting them, and instead, this is the result.”
Josh chuckles in an adorably manly way in response. “Yeah, we should have fucked-up like this a long time ago.”
Now, we’re both laughing, and I find myself drifting from thoroughly enjoying the moment, to fearing our time together is soon all about to end. Even though I don’t want to move an inch, we really can’t wait too much longer before speaking to Gage. I kiss him before easing him out of me slowly. I give him another smile before I start to look around, trying to find my previously discarded robe and cover up.
“What’s wrong?”
Well, crap, I guess he can read me like a book. Why have I dropped all of my walls around this man? Because you deserve to, damn it. Darn right conscience!
“This is the first and last time you’ll be with me like this, isn’t it?” His voice isn’t angry, more laced with worry.
“We don’t know that, for sure.” I reply, turning my back to him so as not to allow him to see the teasing arc of my lips. Yet, when I spin back towards him, my smile vanishes at the wide-eyed look upon his face. “What?” I snap with more irritation them I intend.
I roll my shoulders up and back, I am still his leader, and regardless of what happened back at the mansion, I’m also breaking the rules as his superior. Yet, it’s the fact he looks shocked when I don’t flat out agree with his detrimental statement that’s causing the uncomfortable tightness in my chest. Is this was hurt is like? Not physical pain from an enemy’s blow, rather emotional hurt, something foreign to me until now. I know I’ve been off-putting, cold even, but what else should I do when I must not only lead, but keep my distance for safety reasons as well.
“It’s just, I’m surprised.” He mused, smiling to show a hint of teeth.
My skin ripples, remembering the feel of them upon me in a variety of ways. Keeping his effect on me a secret, my eyes bore into him, in a half-joking, half-serious way.
“Oh, come on. Can you blame me? You’re not exactly…” his words fumble a little as he trails off. I cross my arms over my chest in response, which isn’t as intimidating in my robe. Josh raises his hands in mock surrender. “Okay, okay. I hoped you’d be open, but as my commander and considering what’s happened, I didn’t except it, that’s all.”
Turning my back, I answer him while grabbing my clothes and heading for my bathroom. “Neither did I.”
Even as the door closes behind me, I can still hear his heartbeat. The thumping has been a soundtrack to our time together. I’ve relished in its patterns and change in speed. Its lazy thumping showed how relaxed he was after we bonded, yet, it’s spiked every so often with our conversation. It continues to soothe me now. Knowing he’s still here and that he feels safe enough to be this close to me is so new and elating. I smile into the mirror, jolting when my cool blue band flashes around the remaining darkness of my orbs, the intensity of the blue nearly overwhelming the black, as if a light has formed inside as well as around.
An acceleration in Josh’s heartbeat whips my head towards the door. I hold my breath, as if jumping into the cold sea, my body freezing as the cold water surrounds my entire body. My head fills with the thumping of his heart. He’s small prey, and I, a shark lurking and hiding in wait. Have I made him come to me, controlling him even against his will? What if this is what happens when another comes into contact with my blood? It can’t be. This isn’t what I want, some slave. Knowing my thoughts are going dark, I reach deep inside and then back into my memories. Josh has looked at me this same way, even before my blood seeped into his, and I have denied myself a true consideration of it, until now. Taking deep breaths, I pull myself out of the frozen sea, out of the darkness I’ve slipped into.
As my eyes refocus, my bathroom comes into view around me, as does the taxing sensation of my fingertips against the door. No, not just the tips, my nails have burrowed into the metal closure, creating ten small tears without causing the least bit of damage to the nails themselves. My thoughts go to a bear digging its claws into a tree or a jaguar ripping the skin off the back of its prey. Would I have harmed Josh, was that what caused this response? Normally, I’d react this way around a Queen or one of the Hollow Walkers, not around one of my team members. Staying silent, I gather my wits, taking deep breaths and trying not to focus on the heartbeat in the other room. It’s returned to normal, and my muscles have relaxed enough for me to calmly change into my clothes. We have to go to Gage; there’s no doubt now.
Taking one last deep breath, I open the door to see Josh fully dressed and facing me, alert and at the ready.
“Did you feel that? What was it?” Josh is up, muscles taught and eyes darting.
I breathe in his scent; yet, it’s not one of fear. He’s ready to fight, but it’s not directed at me. Maybe I read this all wrong.
“Yes, I felt it as well. It appears we have bonded on an entirely new level, but I don’t know what triggered the response.” The cold fear in the pit of my stomach unravels. “We need to speak to Gage. If we both sensed something, then she needs to be made aware—of all of it.”
His answer is a firm nod. Safety of our team and this compound comes first. Gage will have to hear us out, and if I’m correct, she won’t want to lose both of us. I’ll make it crystal clear I have Josh’s back, and he has mine.
CHAPTER 4
Gage
The night has opened its entryways to a raging storm of both wind and sand, the tiny pebbles of stone and dirt trying their hardest to bleed into forgotten crevices or cracks in our sound structure. The team’s fortress, impenetrable from the elements so far, sits like a squat dome hidden in the mountains of the Arizona desert. Though the tempest creates havoc of the surrounding terrain, forcing animals to take cover for fear of their forced relocation, we hear nothing of its spatting, beastly nature. Instead, the sound of carefully poured liquid, though normally tranquil to a listener, strikes like nails hammering into my eardrums.
Gage hasn’t said a word since we unveiled the truth of what happened back at the mansion. She only stared into our eyes, or as I like to call it, burrowing golden irises into our souls, trying to read a cryptic message tattooed on our frontal cortex. She knows. Gage didn’t get to where she is today by baking her superiors brownies or sleeping with her bosses; no, she reads people as easily as a baby’s picture book. Now, she stands in the corner, taking an exuberant amount of time filling three glasses with a dark viscous liquid. This is a tactic; she’s waiting for us to rush to disclose everything. Well, I’m not falling for it. She should know I’m not some human lackey who’ll crumble under the weight of her presence like a dichotomous shell under a booted foot.
Returning to her desk, she places a glass in front of her before moving the others toward the center. Josh reaches out, moving one to me before sliding one to hold in his hand. If I could give him a hammering elbow right now, I would. One act of chivalry in front of Gage sends a twinkle of knowing into her eyes, and a practically sinister
corner curl to her lips.
“So, you two have broken multiple rules in one day, I see, and it’s taken you this long to come to me with this reveal of your offenses.”
I open my mouth in retort, but she raises her hand silencing me.
“No need for defenses and explanations right now, Captain Katan. It’s obvious to me what has happened here, and I dare say I knew one day it would. Yet, I hoped we would have agreed on a more laboratory way, versus this animalistic, dare I say, exceedingly human way.”
The bitter taste in my mouth is only swayed away by the smile in her eyes. She knew this would occur, and am I reading her right? Is she happy about it?
“It wasn’t our intention, Commander. It just happened. I take…”
One look silences Josh during his testimony, yet his eyes remain locked with Gage’s, jaw firm, and shoulders taunt. He isn’t one to permit even our Commander to put him in his place. It’s one of the reasons I named him my number two.
“But it’s been your intention, hasn’t it, Lieutenant Langdon? You can’t tell me this isn’t what you wanted, at least part of this blending of angel and hybrid human fluids.”
A slight trembling takes over my neck and face. She’s being rather scientific about it, but it’s still making me snarl at her clinical, matter-of-fact tone. I can’t bear to look at Josh; I’m certain the veins must be popping out of his neck, straining against his smooth skin. I’ve seen it before, his ire, but to see it now may have an effect on me that I can’t bear to have Gage observe. Lingering tingles of pent-up energy continue to pulse through me, like soft fingertips caressing my skin in ways I never thought possible. It’s akin to how I’d imagine hot wax drips along your skin, mixed with a melting ice cube while traveling the lengths of my body, and it’s taking all of my willpower to keep myself in check.
Once again, Gage moves from her desk. This time, she raises the cut-glass to her lips before stopping to tap against the crystal, sending soft tinkling sounds around the room. Gage slides an eye my way, as if she’s sensing the change in me just as I. Apparently, I’m not doing a fantastic job at hiding anything. Looking at her now, I am flooded with emotions of the first time I met her years ago. Even though the days have passed, she hasn’t changed in the least, not even her hair, remaining black in its slicked back style. She isn’t tall, rather stocky, and built like a tank combined with a touch of a mixed martial arts fighter. If I had a true age, she’d appear older than me, but not by much, and without the slightest difference in her mentally. In fact, she may be even sharper. Every human philosopher, poet, and sage declares that wisdom comes with age and experience; she’s somehow defied the physical effects and only consumed the mental effects of proficiencies, storing it like the powerhouse mitochondria in their human cells.
“What are you going to do, Commander? Josh seems no worse for wear, and we have a job to do—together.”
The tapping continues. Perhaps one may find the sound soothing in a different circumstance, but to me, it sends visions of snatching and smashing that glass against the wall.
“Your honesty is per the usual, Ilese, and something I will rely upon as we move forward. The two of you will keep a close eye and close proximity to each other from this moment forward, which I doubt will be much of a problem; however, the point is if anything should become an oddity, anything at all, you will come to me at once. Am I clear?” She toasts her glass to us, and we respond in kind, releasing the identical word from our lips.
“Crystal.” My head whips towards him.
“Hmpf, I’ll consider that a happenstance and not an oddity for now, but if you all start converging on the same ideas and thoughts like super twins, you best report ASAP.” Her finger points at Josh and then I as if sealing the deal like a bloodbath.
And once again, in stereo, “Yes, sir!”
Josh puts his hand to his face. Is he laughing? Instead of becoming agitated again, his lusciously pleasant sound has the corners of my mouth curving upwards in response. It all feels so…so human. But I am not a human, not even close, but he is, at least partially. Did his humanness leech into me? Is it changing me, weakening me, or is it waking different parts of me like the first peeks of glowing sunshine prying one’s sleepy lids open? Whatever the case, it’s different, yet familiar, and not at all uncomfortable.
“Well, if that’s all, and I mean all of it, then you two best return to your quarters. I’ll have you moved in the morning, Lieutenant Langdon. Your room will now be alongside Ilese’s, and there’s no discussion; it’s a requirement. It doesn’t mean you have to be together each waking moment, but I must have you near in case something, and by something I must reiterate I mean anything, occurs that I should know of immediately. It’s for your safety, and that of everyone else’s in the compound.”
The final sound, that terminal D, hits my eardrums while being accompanied by my encouraging nodding, and then, our world, the one created by the intensity of our new situation, since the occurrence in the mansion and the one of my room, stops. Alarms sound, and the three of us are now alert, poised, and standing together on our feet.
“Did you kill them all? Each monstrosity turned to dust, completely destroyed and eradicated?” Her voice is stable, but her left eye twitches as a quick ghost of fear crosses her brow.
“Yes, sir. I swear on my life the entire area, and everything that had been there, was scrubbed clean.” My answer is quick but secure in its sincerity. It was done, just as I said, and checked thoroughly. Nothing remained. Finch, the lone S1 we found, and all of the gore remaining of the S2s, our team, and the Queen were disintegrated. That’s how it’s always done, how it must be done.
Turning on her heel slow motion, she faces me and Josh. “Then, they didn’t follow the team back here, so how and why are they here?”
I know why they’re here, but I can’t bear to say it out loud. For the first time in my life, fear thrills itself through me, delighting in a sadistic dance like an evil symphony to my errors.
“They’re here for me.” Their eyes find mine, wide and sharp as an owl’s. “Somehow, they know; somehow, what happened at the mansion has led them here. I’ve damned us all.”
Gage downs her drink before moving to the wall where she presses a button before getting on the comms to find out what in the hell is going on. Behind us, a wall slides open, stocked with copies of every single weapon I’ve had created just for my use. Alongside them are enough guns, ammo, and miscellaneous weaponry to take down thousands of men, yet that equates to less than half of that in Hollow Walkers, and on a lucky day, a couple Queens. Gage prepared this room well, and Josh and I waste no time arming ourselves for the worst possible situation, because that’s indeed what we’re facing this night.
“Grab everything you can. We’ve started this mess, so it’s up to us to finish it.”
Josh nods in agreement, and we make quick work eyeing the tools we need.
Alongside the wall Gage faces, a rectangular section alights with screens at the touch of her fingers. “Come on, where is it? Damn it. Outside cameras! Show me the perimeter cameras, now!”
A flicker followed by a computerized male voice answers her command. “Yes, Commander Gage. All perimeter cameras to screens.”
Speaking into the room with relative calm as Josh and I continue to arm ourselves with gear, Gage voice remains even in the wake of the shitstorm coming our way. “What do you see, Troy?”
“I see one S2 Walker on the western bay door. It appears to be holding a portion of the door ajar.”
The table beside Gage trembles under the weight of her bashing fist, its instability causing the once filled crystal glass to tumble and shatter upon the floor. Pieces of once bell-toning glass spraying in all directions like water droplets from a voluble fountain.
Staring at the screen, I see a massive Hollow Walker holding a torn piece of the metal bay door open with a mammoth tentacle. Smaller forms slip through the opening; they must be human lackeys, or possibly S1s, flood
ing in. When another monstrous Walker doesn’t appear on the screen, I look to the internal cameras, trying to locate the hallways connecting to that door, while Gage continues to speak to our system guide.
“How did they get through our external barrier? I will have someone’s ass for this. Troy, full lockdown! Move everyone into the interior residence, except phase one personnel. Close the doors. Lockdown now!” The ire in her words appears to cause the screens to flicker with her voice’s intensity.
Lights dim all around us and on each screen. Only a blue flickering flash from a tiny light in the room remains. It’s eerily silent, though the chaos the tiny blinking bulb signifies causes a thunderous roar of blood pumping within my ears. I stop my hands creeping to cover my ears, by grinding my teeth hard enough for a squeak to escape, bringing Josh’s attention my way. I don’t make eye contact, instead, I watch the monitor showing large drawers pulling away from walls in the phase one zone. The quiet allows the drones stored within those walls to take flight and to seek without disruption. They will find their targets and eradicate them without lives lost, though who we may have lost outside of the compound perimeter, and how we didn’t get a single warning, grates at my nerves. My nauseating response reminds me of the desperate gnawing of a nervous animal, scratching relentlessly at its cage, unable to escape, but willing to bloody its claws trying.
“Troy.”
“Yes, Commander Gage?”
“Electrify all possible doors adjacent to these devils. That should at least slow them down.”
“Yes, sir. Doors electrified, and I’ll notify phase personnel as well.” Troy proceeds to send cryptic messages to the phase one team leaders. Gage isn’t taking any chances, that is, as long as our rat isn’t one of them.
Worry spikes through me at the thought of what could have happened to our outlying and perimeter teams. Addison is one of those outside tonight; I reach for my phone, intending to initiate contact, when Gage stops me with a sharp tone.
The Aching Darkness_A Dark Fantasy Anthology Page 4