“No more than you being truly contained with any object.” He pointed out.
Darrok had been watching Ekon and when he turned to Hope, the look in his eye scared her. Scared her to where all defenses went up, and her system woke to defend itself for the first time since Gideon died. Her eyes widened and Hope sucked in a breath, but it was too late.
He’d seen.
A snake’s smile slid along his lips. “Exactly what I thought,” he said, dragging it out. “You can’t hide from me. I knew it was you from the beginning.” Closing the distance, Darrok took a deep breath, inhaling her. His eyes turned solid black.
The future stared back at her.
A future that made her soul tremble. A dark dismal future that would send this world into further desolation. Then it slammed into her who, or what, stood there in front of her and left her breathless.
The words barely whispered past her lips, “You’re an Eternal.”
THIRTY FIVE
DARROK’S OFFICE TURNED TO ice around her, but Hope didn’t react because in truth, she didn’t feel it. Her skin protected her from the effects. A glossy sheen built upon the surfaces of the office, crystals formed along the crisp edges of the desk in web-like patterns, along the sides of the wall-to-ceiling window, and on the chairs.
When Hope exhaled, a cloud plumed in front of her face. She crossed her arms. The air turned arctic and the man behind it, sat with a smug expression, watching her, waiting for a reaction. Hope refused to give it to him.
Soon after Hope confirmed what Darrok was: an Eternal, he brought her back to his home. He wanted to spend a few minutes more with Ekon, told the child goodbye—as though he’d never see Ekon again—then they headed straight to this office.
Darrok demanded she admit to what she was, and she’d told him off, “Why don’t you tell me, if you think you know?”
Darrok’s lips curled up and his eyes blackened. “I can make you show yourself.” So began his deep freeze.
Another column of air escaped from her nostrils. There was a chance Darrok knew nothing about what she really was. She sure as hell didn’t plan to help.
Finding out that this man was her polar opposite, but also like her, was terrifying. It explained why she craved his touch. They were meant to come together to populate this world with the next step up from Amaranthines.
Telling him she was everything he had sought, and maybe she herself had—no. Darrok was a nightmare. He was more demon than human. There had to be something else. How had they come into this world? Why was this man the one? Hope refused to believe it was him.
“Do you plan to keep this up for long?” If he kept it up, she may experience the cold. She didn’t want to test it, but she also didn’t want him to keep going. She had to protect her secret. Ronin’s secret.
The collar around her neck sizzled. Hope yelped and began clawing at it. It struck harder and she dropped to her knees. “You can stop the pain,” he said in the most casual tone.
You can stop him, came Vandren’s words in her mind, forcing their way through the pain. Did it matter if this man, this Eternal, knew what she was? Another bolt cut through her spine and Hope fell over, clutching her neck. “Stop it you sonofabitch!” she screamed.
“I will do that.”
Another strike. This one rattled her to the core, worse than the rest, and it hit deeper within her body, not just on the surface this time. Hope struggled to a kneeling position. If he kept it up he would kill—
Hope smacked her palms against the floor and thrust to her feet. Beautiful, warm, inviting, the sun said hello beyond Darrok’s shoulders. The cold was centered in this room. Her attention dropped to the man in the chair and he tapped his neck with a single finger, telling her he’d keep it up, it was up to her to stop it.
Hope clenched her jaw. The sun’s rays penetrated her body and poured through her system, warming her as the energy crackled in the room. Darrok’s lips curled at the corners, the smile one of acceptance or maybe satisfaction more so for what was to come. When the energy continued to build, the small twitch of his lips showed a flash of fear. Hope built off of it.
A hairline crack built in the center of the window behind him. Thick glass cutting itself from the middle out, spreading spiderweb-like veins outward. Small lightning bolts of shattered glass pulsed outward from the place they began. The crrccckkkiinnnggg drew a quick look from Darrok. When he turned back, pain struck down Hope’s spine, but the electricity the collar produced evaporated into smoke.
—boom—
All at once, the window behind Darrok splintered, then burst outward as if a bomb went off in the office. The chair he sat in tore across the floor before he caught himself on the window frame at the last second and kept both him and the chair in the room. If he didn’t, he would’ve slipped off the edge, and out into the air, plunging to his death, not that it would kill him. Too bad for her.
The filing cabinet beside Hope bent inward down the center, folding in half when it hit the wall. A crack formed in the wall, all the way up to the ceiling behind the filing cabinet and split open from the force.
The chair in front of her and the ones behind her flew to the opposite corners of the room like pool balls, and papers rained down around the entire office. Darrok’s desk broke down the center.
A resounding bang drew their attention when the door to his office burst outward and clattered into the living room beyond.
Hope breathed in the warm air from the wall behind Darrok where once stood a window as it surrounded and caressed her, and warmed the room. All remnants of ice were swept away by the warmth of the sun.
A soft violet glow grabbed Darrok’s attention. He stared at her, in awe of her strength. It had been so long that she herself was just as surprised, but she didn’t let it show. Now she knew for sure that she wouldn’t blow anyone up. She’d found her source again.
Soft grinding drew Darrok’s attention to her feet.
Spinning around and around and around on the ground, was the only imprisonment he could ever hold on her. The only ability Darrok possessed to control her, now held little meaning.
The necklace that had been on her neck spun around and around a few final times before flattening on the ground.
Split in half. A scorch line marked the place it had been cut.
Darrok raised his attention and smiled. “I would never—I did not believe another Eternal existed.” His attention flicked over to the open door. “And yet she does not try to run. Curious. Or did you think to kill me?”
Hope huffed. “You think I’m capable of either? I try to run and you’ll stop me. I try to kill you, I’ll waste my energy. Give me more credit than that.”
“The wisdom you possess comes from age. How old are you?”
“I would have to know that to answer it.”
Darrok studied his now open wall, and moved over to her. When he stopped in front of her, he simply admired her for a few seconds. The increasing need for his touch was worse by the second. “Still fear me, do you?”
“I’m not naïve.”
Darrok had been alive for longer than her, and had never had his strength taken away. The man had all this time to practice and hone his skill so there was no way she wanted to test her strength against his when she only just now learned she had her abilities back. At least . . . not yet. But by the time she did, it would not be for testing, it would be to kill him.
“Then tell me why you don’t bother to run, or kill me.”
Hope shrugged. “No matter where I run, you will find me. No matter where I hide, you will find me. I can’t kill you. That doesn’t mean I can’t find a way to destroy you. Can’t do that if I’m not around you can I?”
Darrok laughed and caught Hope off-guard. She enjoyed the sound. “Blunt. Enjoyable. Age?”
“I told you.”
“You told me nothing.”
With a sigh, Hope glanced around. “I don’t know.”
“Why?”
“If I don’t know what I don’t know, how would I know?”
Darrok cocked his head this way and that, studying her. Accepting she spoke the truth, and ignoring her attitude, he nodded and grabbed the necklace from the floor. Hope didn’t bother to fight him. If he wanted to, he could hurt her, but he wasn’t. It seemed he had only sought the answer.
Would it end there?
Doubtful.
Darrok spun the necklace in his hands without acknowledging the item. His focus was on her. The man in front of her had plans. Confirming she was more than human was all he was after for today.
What next?
Did he think he was the new Adam and her the new Eve? Believing that between the two of them, they could repopulate this new existence?
Children existed. Sure they were made in a lab by combining the best DNA streams, but as long as they were alive, that was something. They still deserved life and protection. It was true then. Hope was the last remaining female alive who could get pregnant naturally, and her child would survive and fill this earth with the same.
This demon in front of her must think he was the only one who could get her pregnant with a child that would be like him and her. Well, that’s not true, is it. Ronin—Her heart clenched.
Don’t come for me, Ronin. He will kill you. You are the only other one alive now who can produce a child with me and he will not allow you to live.
Which didn’t make sense. If Darrok had found out another Eternal was the only possibility at having a child that didn’t need outside help to survive, then how did she get pregnant from two different men?
Bits and pieces of that night in the alley drifted in. The perfection of that newborn’s face, before darkness grabbed her. That boy died in her arms. He wasn’t born dead. Why did she never remember that before? All this time she thought it different.
He’d opened his eyes too. Just the tiniest bit, but it was enough. There had been a slight white glow before they drifted closed. The glow from the moon had faded.
The cold cement seeped into the back of her head chilling her further as she stared into that dark sky, knowing her baby was dead. It had hit her then. His father hadn’t been human, or Amaranthine, he’d been more.
Darrok cut through her thoughts. “You look like a woman whose heart has broken. Why? Thinking about Ekon?”
“No, I’m not.” She stiffened at the mention of that poor child. “You said yourself that boy knows he’s dying. It’s your fault you brought him into this world, believing any human could produce a child with you. It’s your fault he’s dying. Not even an Amaranthine would have possessed the ability to have a child with you.”
Which means the same for me, doesn’t it.
Her baby hadn’t been human. There had been no moon in the sky that night. Which meant that not just anyone could get her pregnant. That was the last thought she had while she lay there alone dying, not that she wouldn’t ever love. That the child had been special. Like her, like his father. It is why she gave up. Why she gave up hope for this cold damnable world. Because he had been so much more.
“No,” he said, ensuring she paid attention when he added, “but you could.”
Being so close to him did a number on her nerves. Hope moved over to the edge of where the window once was. The glass crunched under her feet as the wind blew her hair behind her. The warmth of the sun on her face caused her to close her eyes. She took a deep breath.
Without turning around, Hope said, “What do you want with me, Darrok? Your plans aren’t a load of children giggling underfoot.”
Darrok came up behind her, pinning her where she stood. “What makes you so sure? You believe I don’t want a child?”
Hope refused to face him. “I believe you want a child, but after? Would you imprison me and force me to birth children for your Associates?”
Darrok’s anger engulfed her. Possessiveness? You’re possessive of me? “No, I would not,” he ground out.
Taking a chance he may have some empathy, she tried to make him understand, “If they find out I exist, they would do anything to make that happen. I would be their lab rat.”
His attention bore into her body. She could feel it move from her head, to her back, down, and back.
“Turn around,” he ordered.
“Not a chance.”
Rather than be as smug as he had been, at the mention of the Associates using her . . . it was different. As though for the first time, he understood what would happen. Funny he didn’t seem to enjoy the idea.
I need to hate you if I’m to destroy you.
Hope clenched her jaw, resisting the urge to find comfort in his words. Darrok closed what little distance remained, which was already so little. His presence consumed her. A shiver swept through her. She was forgetting everything, including forgetting to hate him. She lost herself around this man.
“I read you easier than you may think,” his voice soaked through her.
“And?” was all she managed, worrying if she said more her voice would give her away. She didn’t want to take comfort in this man, she refused to.
Darrok chuckled. “I wanted you to see the truth in my eyes when I speak. I promise no games.”
Hope waited to answer until she could speak with strength. “I can believe you without looking at you.”
“Turn around or—”
“What?” Hope cut him off. “You’ll throw me from the window?” He couldn’t do it because he wanted a child from her, not that she would give him one.
“If you don’t, I will touch you. I will place my hands on that body I crave so much, and we both know if I do, neither of us will hold out any longer.”
“You try and touch me and I’ll throw you out of this window.”
For a long time he didn’t answer. His presence still consumed her existence.
“I considered using you for the Associates,” Darrok said, taking the truthful route. “I am not Amaranthine. I do not feel the way they do, the way you have learned to, but when I think of anyone touching you, I get furious. Anger envelops me and I want to kill everything.”
“You mean you get jealous.”
“I don’t know jealousy. I know possession. I know when something belongs to me, I do not want others to touch it.”
At that, Hope spun around. She underestimated how close he was to her. She cried out and stepped back, her foot sliding off the edge of the floor and meeting empty air. Darrok’s strong grip wrapped around her waist and tugged her forward, his touch searing her skin.
“I am not your possession,” Hope snarked.
Darrok grinned. “Yes, you are. Perhaps not the heart, but the rest? Mine.”
Energy flared through her and Hope intended to throw him across the room. Darrok didn’t give her a chance. His hand wrapped around the back of her neck and he pulled her into a kiss. One that wracked her system.
The energy had nowhere to go and sizzled through her body, opening her mouth to protest and try to shove him off, allowed him to deepen the kiss. Her body trembled beneath his touch.
Darrok wrapped his hands around her waist and rotated both their bodies, then released her to stumble back away from him, and into the room. Her entire body buzzed. “As I said. Mine.”
Hope’s cheeks burned. How dare he! “You’re an asshole. I am not yours, I do not belong to yo—”
“If you weren’t, the world would be told of you, and nothing would stand in the way of them having you,” he finished for her.
Hope’s jaw dropped. “What is wrong with you?” Motioning toward the window, she yelled, “Have you spent all your time separated that you have no thoughts to them? Do you know what it would do to them? You would give them false hope!”
“Would I? You can have children. There is no deception in that claim.”
“And what’s funny is the man who stated he wanted no one to touch what belonged to him.”
“So you admit it.”
“I—what? No, no I didn’t.” She whirled and sto
rmed toward the door, intent on leaving. The door reassembled in front of her and the door solidified . . . then locked with a bang. She stopped an instant before her nose touched the surface.
He’s still hiding what he’s capable of. So we each have our own set of talents. Darrok pulled his chair from over by the window and slid into it as though he hadn’t done a thing. “We have not finished talking.”
“I stay out of choice. Would you rather I fight?”
Darrok didn’t bother to raise his head, only his gaze. “You would enjoy me tying you to the bed?”
Hope pursed her lips. Satisfied with it, Darrok nodded. So she countered with, “You think you have something that would hold me?”
“Want to try me?”
This is not working. Giving up with a sigh, Hope stared at him. “You still don’t own me,” she muttered.
THIRTY SIX
A FEW MONTHS AFTER their conversation, Hope stood off to the side while Darrok talked business with a group of Associates. Since he confirmed what she was, Darrok kept her close to him. If he left his home, she was by his side; otherwise, he locked her inside his building. The filament chain stayed attached to her ankle when at Darrok’s home, unless she was in her room, then she was allowed to wander free.
Her resolve crumbled day by day. Somehow she kept herself from allowing any feelings for him to take over, but the need for Darrok’s touch grew at a constant pace.
Darrok helped her every chance he got. Brushing her arm with a feather light touch when he passed her, placing his palm against her lower back to direct her through doors. It was to where she believed if he touched her in a gentle way one more time, she wouldn’t just allow him what he wanted, she would beg him for it. As much as her secret that lay within her, screamed to resist him, Hope knew her resolve was fixing to falter.
And far worse . . . Darrok seemed to be playing a waiting game with her, fully aware that if he waited, he would win.
They each existed to complete the other, they were here to advance this world. With that demand pressing on her, with the gentleness he could show, with the way he looked at Ekon. How could she keep telling him no, keep hating him, keep denying him? Part of her kept denying the truth, but Ronin and Gideon were gone. Why keep fighting Darrok? How could she?
Hope of the Future Page 27