Hope of the Future

by Ariana Browning

  Hope had no idea what to say. Having Ronin there must have given Cayla such hope, such comfort. He was somewhat good at that. Always with the right words, always there at the right time. Never faltered. She swallowed the lump in her throat and watched him for a long time, unable to form words. What would she do without him? He made her feel unlike anyone ever could.

  Ever since that night they were together, she had started to finally feel again. Little things sure, but it was something.

  Ronin turned his head enough to acknowledge her watching him. She turned to glance back out the window. “I’m sure she appreciated it,” Hope whispered.

  Feeling the weight of his gaze, she turned and held his attention. Like I do.

  Ronin’s lips curled ever so slightly up at the corners.

  Hope stood in the kitchen, staring at Vandren’s back. The other guards were at work in the garage, along with Ronin. They were gearing up the vehicles as best they could. The group was preparing to head to a zone known for its muscle to gather more men.

  Hope was drawn to the kitchen with the determination to settle things. She couldn’t be around Vandren, worried he would try something every second of the day.

  The shadows hung in the air of the kitchen, lending it an even more dreadful appearance, despite it being daytime. Long ago the windows had been boarded over to prevent intruders from entering. The chairs were either broken or cracked, and the linoleum had peeled up in areas, leaving the once beautiful kitchen abandoned and dull.

  Dust particles danced in the rays of light like small pixies parading through the air on their own song while Hope remained in the shadows. She studied Vandren, trying to determine if he really was the man she’d once seen.

  “You will need to remove that tracker.” Hope jumped. How did he know she was here? There weren’t any mirrors around the kitchen. “You are no good to anyone,” Vandren told her.

  Hope placed a hand up as if she could stop him before crossing her arms. “And that’s supposed to mean what?”

  The man grinned and meandered her way. Is the kitchen shrinking? Am I getting smaller? When he stopped in front of her, he stood a foot taller than her and was twice her width, but that drawn in feeling intensified. His green eyes pierced through her and he swept his gaze over her. His scrutiny left her feeling naked . . . and grossly aroused. She cleared her mind.

  Vandren made sure they were alone before he leaned down to put his face right in front of hers. Hope’s gut tightened. “It prevents you from being you,” he said. Hope’s eyes widened.

  “Still makes no sense,” she said, leaning away.

  He moved away, removed his jacket, and threw it over the back of a nearby chair that was in better shape than the rest. Then he removed his gun vest holster, placed it on the same chair. The chair wobbled, but held.

  Vandren grabbed the hem of his t-shirt and raised the cloth up to his armpit to show her his side. Hope saw a black plate and wondered what it was. Vandren tapped the metal. “Open and remove what’s inside and I will be weak. That is what separates us.”

  In a flash, he let his shirt drop, grabbed and spun her. He pressed his body into hers so he could use his big hand to smack her head against the wall, placing her cheek to the wall. With his big hand he jabbed a large finger into the scab over the tracker. Hard enough to make her wince.

  “Do you not like it? So weak, so pathetic.”

  Hope bucked, trying to get him off. “Get off me.”

  Vandren placed his mouth against her ear and whispered, “Were this not in your neck, you could throw me down the block if you chose, couldn’t you my darling? It must be hard to be so human when you have spent so many long years perfecting it and yet still, you were never human.”

  “Who are you?”

  “Depends on who you ask.”

  “You plan to get off me?”

  He laughed and released her, but didn’t move away, using his presence to intimidate her. And yes, it worked. “I know of one who can remove that device. It will hurt, but I imagine that will not be a problem for you.”

  “Why do you think you know me so well? I’m not the same person you think I am. I’m the same as I was.”

  Vandren leaned down and sniffed her from chest to neck, which unnerved the hell out of her. He moved away. At least far enough so she could breathe. “I have watched you. You know who I am. You watched me as I watched you that day. I know who you are. I know what you are.”

  Hope stared at him for a long time. That prickly feeling she received from being around him didn’t let her relax. She hoped talking to him would fix things, but it just added to her angst. She sighed. “Let’s pretend what you say is true. Let’s pretend I trust you. Why on this planet would you help me?”

  He leaned back against the counter, folding his thick arms over his chest making the small veins in his arms bulge. “I do not help you. I help this world. A world who needs you more than they understand. What they need more, is for a woman to stop denying who she is—” he pointed an accusing finger her way “— and be what she is.”

  “If you know as much as you say, you get the dangers. I don’t deny, I can’t do anything anymore. I died long ago.” Hope rubbed the back of her neck.

  He shook his head. “Not for you.”

  “I have a tracker in my neck that renders me useless. Slap e-cuffs on me and I’m screwed. I can’t do anything anymore, I’ll kill myself and every single person around me. I did what this world wanted. I lost what they are so desperate for in the middle of a dark alley. I lost everything!” She threw her hands up in exasperation and stormed over to him, bashing her fists into his chest, but again, he didn’t react. It was like she was nothing more than a small fly, trying to make a building move.

  “You have not given this world a thing.” He chastised, looking down at her. “You have been a selfish child, fearing your strength, forgetting who you are, why you are here. Why they need you. Be what you are and watch this world change. Darrok is in power because nobody stands up to him. They don’t have the power to. Darkness rules. You possess the power to change things. Only you can surpass him. You think him human? He is as human as you are. You can turn everything around. You refuse. Because you are still but a baby. So afraid. So pathetic.”

  “You do not understand who I am, or what it’s been like, so stop claiming you do.”

  His head turned left to right. “Or perhaps you don’t.” His hand seized her chin so fast she couldn’t react. Raising her face until the bit of light coming through the wood on the window, struck her in the eyes. “Look at those eyes. Lifeless. Cold. No life anymore, no spark. The cuffs, the tracker. They don’t stop you. You do.”

  Without another word, he shoved her and she went flying back into the wall, causing a split from floor-to-ceiling in the plaster. She leapt to her feet. The kitchen lit up in a violet glow before settling down once more. He smiled and raised an eyebrow.

  “You know nothing,” she said in a dangerously low voice, warning him to back off, hiding her supreme shock that her body felt renewed. Energized. Alive. And anything but helpless or dead. Why? How? When?

  “No, but were you as defenseless as you think, I would not have seen that which I so desired.” He cocked his head to the garage. “Does that creature in there know what he deals with?”

  “Don’t call him that.”

  Vandren smirked. “And yet one says she’ll never love again.” He hmmed to himself, a little too pleased.

  Hope stormed over to him. “I never said I loved him.”

  “So were I to meander out there and crush the throat of that beast, you would watch. Do nothing?” An eyebrow rose in challenge.

  Forcing herself to stay calm, she ground out, “I would do something. Not because I love him. Because I owe him.”

  “What grows inside of you will die. Suffocated within a womb of control, treason, and death, as you so are filled.”

  Hope stepped back with a sharp inhale. “What? What makes you thin—”<
br />
  He cut her off. “You reek of him. Already it dies. What gave you the ability to have the other survive is not here. The tracker drains, but it isn’t you that it drains.”

  Hope spun around, running her hands through her hair. Was it possible? That she was pregnant? No. Not possible. She turned his way. “I don’t believe you.”

  “You do not need to.”

  Grief welled up inside of her. She didn’t want to believe that. Ronin’s child. Ronin’s child wouldn’t make it. He’d already suspected she was pregnant. What would happen to him if she told him everything? The tracker was killing the child growing within her. The tracker didn’t harm her.

  Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she weighed her options. A large presence loomed over her.

  “Is there anything I can do to save it?” she whispered.

  When she opened her eyes, Vandren stood too close, looking down at her. She stepped further back.

  “No.”

  “I saw you in Scott’s Club, but that was it. I didn’t talk to you, we aren’t friends. You act like you know so much about me, but you can’t. It’s not possible.”

  “Do you believe as a Hunter, I would be so naïve?”

  Hope’s eyes widened and she stumbled further away. “He hired you.” Shaking her head so fast her hair flew all over her face, she shoved it back. “I will kill you if you try to take me to him.”

  Vandren smiled and Hope found it strangely enticing and attractive. “You cannot stop me in the state you are. Would I have helped you?”

  “I don’t understand what you mean.”

  “I was paid quite a lot by him, yes. To find you, yes. To gain information, yes. The price for that information grew in fifty years passing. As the information I found. I decide which side I like better.”

  Hope snorted and leaned back against the counter. “And what worth am I to you?”

  “A lot.”

  “So I’m supposed to convince you not to take me to Darrok? Convince you not to tell him what you think I am? Convince you that staying on this side of the fence is better?”

  He shook his head. “Only I can do that.”

  “Why the hell did I bother to talk to you? Now I’m angry. A step up from worried I suppose.”

  “Anger is better. Use it. Stop being so weak.”

  “Fuck you.”

  His eyebrows rose and Hope gasped.

  The door behind Vandren opened. Ronin came in, hands covered in grease. He was wiping them off with a cloth. He glanced at the two of them before moving to stand next to Hope. “Everything all right in here?” His attention took in the room, paused on the crack in the wall, and then returned to Hope.

  Hope shrugged. “It’ll be better knowing he won’t sell me off to Darrok.” It was her turn to raise her eyebrows at Vandren.

  He gave her a look, well played.

  THIRTY TWO

  “WHAT DID HE WANT?” Ronin asked while Hope shoved her bag into their vehicle. “Should you and I happen to separate from the group?”

  Hope turned toward Ronin and grinned. He could be cute when he wanted to be . . . and wasn’t being too much of an ass. “Vandren told me he knew someone who could take the tracker out. And yes.”

  “We can do that. What was that about Darrok?”

  “Not too sure yet.” Ronin nodded. Hope left him and went into the house.

  After they grabbed the last of their belongings from the bedroom they shared, Ronin made sure nobody was around the upstairs and their room. He came back in the room and his gaze swept over her stomach. “How do you feel?”

  “Fine.” She shoved her clothes into the bag and zipped it up.

  Ronin walked over to tower above her small frame. “You’re pregnant with my child, Hope. Deny it.”

  Hope bit her lip. Her cheeks brightened. She wanted to run away, back away, but either of those and he’d win. Instead, she met his stare. His gaze bore into her and as much as she wanted to avoid giving in, the minutes ticked by, and finally she did.

  “Gah. Fine! I don’t want to admit it, I don’t like to admit it,” she poked him in the chest, “but yes, you’re right. Happy?” Hope shoved past him, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her close. Being so close to him only fueled the fire to touch him, but she suppressed the urge.

  “You’re stuck with me. Pisses you off, doesn’t it?”

  Hope fought the smile. “Yes, it does. I don’t like you very much right now, Ronin,” she mumbled.

  Ronin smiled and tapped her on the nose. “Feeling is mutual. You can’t even say you’re pregnant with my child. And you think I’m the stubborn one.”

  Hope grinned. “But you lo—”

  “Finish that sentence and I’ll do something that involves that mouth of yours.”

  The words died on her lips and Hope narrowed her eyes. “I’d kick your butt.”

  “You could try.” Ronin laughed. “It would be worth it.” He walked off and called out, “Come along.”

  “I’m not a dog,” she gasped out. Ronin’s laugh in the hallway trickled back to her. Hope stood her ground until he moved a fair distance away before running to catch up with him. “I hate you.”

  “If you did, you would’ve run off. We both know it’s the opposite.”

  “Argh!” She shoved past and went to jump into the vehicle. Ronin chuckled behind her.

  The moment Ronin hopped in and shut his door, both back doors opened. Hope and he exchanged glances. In jumped Vandren and another man. “Perhaps it better we stick together. I can give you better directions to our next stop. I would hate for us to get separated.”

  Hope turned around in the front passenger seat to glare at him. “Because that would be such a bad idea.”

  The way Vandren stared at her made her turn and thump down in her seat. Dramatic, but it suited her needs.

  They arrived at the building where Vandren said they were to find the man to remove Hope’s tracker. When she hopped out a sick feeling grew in the pit of her stomach. They were in the middle of nowhere, it was dark, and run down. Birds weren’t even making a sound, which wasn’t that unusual. But this silence was . . . too quiet to be natural.

  The rest of the vehicles found places to park. For the first time, Hope noticed the vehicles appeared too much like the vehicles that always pursued her. Turning back to Ronin, she saw him watching her. He agreed with her thoughts. What were they to do? She was defenseless and this creep wouldn’t stay away from her.

  Vandren motioned for her to follow. “I am sure you are eager to remove the tracker and be on your way.”

  A feeling pricked at the back of Hope’s mind. Yes, she wanted it out, but was the price she was about to pay worth it? Her attention drifted back to Ronin being led off by one of the men. Her hand drifted across her stomach.

  The hair on the back of her neck stood on end. Soldiers led Ronin toward the building and the shadows engulfed him. The sickening in her stomach intensified until Hope had to react.

  “Ro—”

  A large hand slid over her mouth. One man grabbed her right arm, the other her left. Something stabbed her in the side of the neck and then fluid slid down inside her subconscious. Ice filled her veins. Oh my god.

  Vandren’s sickening voice sent shivers crawling down her spine. “Time to remove a tracker no longer needed.”

  Hope fought to see where Ronin went, but her vision blurred. Images moved and churned. Demonic shadows danced wickedly around the walls, sweeping over her, and around her. The beast’s large hand held her mouth so all she could muster was a murmur. Her face tingled until she couldn’t feel it anymore, then her arms, her legs, and every last inch of her.

  Then there was nothing.

  “You’re sure about all of this?” A smooth, deep voice asked in her dream, slipping around her luxuriously. Her body stirred in longing. She wanted more from that voice.

  “Yes,” Vandren replied.

  “She doesn’t look a day older than upper twenties. This isn’t a
child of hers?”

  “I know her smell. A thousand years from now, that will remain the one.”

  “Astonishing. Perfection. . . .” The deep voice murmured, eliciting a wave of desire as it penetrated her body. Touch me.

  Hope’s eyes jerked open and she sat up in bed. A chain rattled against metal when she did. Pain trickled down her spine. Wincing, she glanced around and reached up to rub her neck. Her hand hit a small solid necklace, but no tracker scab.

  Piddling with the necklace, turning it around and around her neck, she couldn’t find a spot to unhook and remove the darn thing. No holes, no cracks, nothing. Tugging at it didn’t yield any results either. She gave up when her arms and neck grew sore. Her entire body ached like she’d been through the ringer.

  Her hand drifted over her stomach. At least you’re okay.

  A huge bedroom with a large bed in the center of it, decorated in warm golden and cream hues, stone columns surrounded the bed, ivy grew around them from floor to ceiling. A marble fireplace was set in the wall across from her. A doorway to the side entered into a bathroom. The entire room came from an ancient city and made her feel at home in an odd way.

  A wall of windows showed more clouds than city. Hope threw back the plush bedspread, climbed from the bed, and the chain rattled again. A thick iron cuff around her ankle. The chain was attached to one of the four columns that made up the bed.

  Okay.

  Hope went to the wall of windows, scraping the chain along the floor, and rubbed at her temple, but not before catching her reflection in the glass. She’d been bathed while she was out of it. Her long hair washed clean, and hung around her shoulders, down to her waist. It shimmered in the light of day. Someone had dressed her in a flowing white gown. A little too revealing for her taste.

  Where am I?

  Seemed like every other zone she’d ever been, but—no.

  No, it didn’t. This building was far higher than the rest and stood out. Many of the buildings in this zone were destroyed like any other zone, and it looked ran down, but for one thing. This was a city used a lot. By powerful people.