by Sabrina Rue
“My sister uses a lot of power to search. I’m her battery pack. Uncle Titus does that for Aunt Desiree.” Justice brought a smooth rock over to show Juliette. “We also keep them company and take care of them. It’s not always easy to be different.”
“I imagine not.” He inhaled deeply. “It cannot be.”
“It is,” Titus said quietly. “Juliette found me. I have my Mate after almost ten thousand years.” He clasped the taller Daemon on the shoulder. “Would you like to know how that feels, old friend?”
“It’s too late for me. Too much has happened.”
Desiree approached him. “If my niece says she found your Mate, it’s a truth I’d swear a blood vow on.” She held out her hand. “May I?”
When he hesitated, she released a friendly bark that made him laugh.
“Allow us to help you, General Orion.”
Exhaling roughly with a single nod, he placed his huge hand in hers. Titus slipped his hand over her shoulder.
Desiree focused and drifted through the trail Juliette left her. “Oh, she’s lovely. Such kind eyes. Let me see…Seattle, I think. I’ll nudge her for a name.” Frowning, she murmured, “Talia? No, that’s her daughter’s name. Tyler? No, no. He terrifies her.”
Orion’s hand tightened around hers.
“Hannah. Her name is Hannah.” Suddenly, there was blinding pain and Desiree received the full blast of it with a scream. “Y-you have to go to her now!” She barged into the struggling woman’s psyche without permission or grace to get her exact location. “Please!” Dropping to the ground in residual pain, she begged, “Please help her. He’s going to kill her…”
She blacked out.
Held across Titus’s lap when she opened her eyes, she realized they were in their home in the Daemon dimension.
Trying to sit up, she screamed, “H-Hannah, is she alright?”
“Orion got there in time, Aunt Desiree. Drink.” Juliette held a glass to her lips and she took several grateful sips. “I know how draining it is to fully enter someone like that. Breathe and get your bearings.”
Titus pulled her back, cradling her. “You scared me, Mate.” Then she was sobbing against his chest. “Ssh, all is well, my love. She’s going to be okay.”
“We could have lost her. We must work faster. There are so many unknowns. Just a few more minutes and a Mate necessary to someone’s very existence could have been gone. I-I can’t…”
“Take deep breaths for me, Desiree. Focus on the fact that we didn’t lose her. There are many we haven’t lost.” He stroked his palm over her head and gently rocked her. “That’s it. Our little one is panicking at your distress. Breathe and feel me holding you.”
Nodding, she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face there, inhaling deeply of the scent of him.
“Lady Desiree.”
Surprised, she turned her face to look at the general standing on the other side of the coffee table. “Orion? What are you…?”
“I received my first military commission when Titus was barely a century old. When our royal family assigned me to accompany him to this world, to establish order for Lucian, I hesitated. I wondered if I was leaving behind my future Mate.” He clasped his hands at his back.
Years of military habit, she thought.
“The humans were so backward, so far behind us, that I questioned the wisdom of choosing this planet many times. For two thousand years, it felt as if we were watching errant children.”
She could see his frustration.
“When Lord Titus began dabbling with the Witches, I was livid.” Lifting one shoulder in a shrug, he conceded, “At least the grotesque, killing monsters the covens were creating on their own stopped wiping out entire villages.”
“A bit of a win then,” she murmured.
“It was. Unfortunately, I never liked the inhabitants of the Lesser Kingdoms. Our people spent hundreds of thousands of years honing our abilities and growing into an advanced society. I had no use for creatures born of illiterate humans and the equivalent of house pets.”
“Uh huh,” Desiree said with a sigh. “Are you…going somewhere with all this? Because I’m beginning to get hurt feelings.”
“I am.” The huge Daemon walked over and crouched in front of them. “I never would have imagined one of what I used to refer to as Titus’s science projects finding my Mate and helping me save her life.”
Placing his fist over his heart, Orion bowed his head. “I pledge my service to you, as I once pledged my service to Titus, Lady Desiree. I cannot repay my debt to you or these children. However, my loyalty is not easily won and few are my equals with a sword.”
“Th-thank you, General.” Her voice was quiet as tears slipped over her cheeks. “Having your loyalty is a great honor.”
Lifting his face, he smiled. “Caspia watches over my Mate. I wished to speak to you personally. I must return to Hannah now.”
“I wish you every happiness I’ve found with Titus.”
Seeing a true smile on the hardened warrior’s face was breathtaking. The Daemon stood, bowed, and disappeared.
Everyone was silent for a few minutes.
Suddenly, the twins were talking a mile a minute, back and forth, as they walked in the direction of the kitchen.
“We won someone over! One less Were hater in the universe. He’s a good ally to have, I think. I wonder what happened with his Mate?”
Their voices trailed away as Medina followed her young charges with a small smile.
Looking at Titus, she whispered, “A busy day.”
“Very.” He stroked her hair back from her cheek. “Are you hungry, Mate?” She nodded but pressed her body against his. “Food?”
“Of a different sort entirely, Titus. Feed me what I really want.”
His mouth lowered in a growl and as he spun them into the Between, she thought how lovely it was to have a purpose, strength, and someone to love as she walked into her future.
With substantially more confidence than she started with.
* * *
Hannah Knowles stared at the Seattle skyline and wondered if she would still be alive when the sun came up. If she was alive, she wondered if she would still be free.
In her darkened apartment, most of the furniture covered in heavy cloth, her belongings packed and neatly labeled, she trembled violently.
The timing of catastrophe couldn’t be worse but then…such things didn’t exactly happen when it fit best in one’s schedule.
Recently divorced, she gave up her apartment and resigned from her job. For years, she’d imagined running away to the coast, living out the remainder of her life where only her daughter knew where she was.
Doing whatever she damn well pleased.
Even the staunchest of critics would agree she’d earned the right to peaceful anonymity.
For almost twenty years, she let her ex-husband hurt her. She took Tyler’s beatings, his insults, and his incessant cheating with everyone from their first nanny to her best friend in the world.
Hannah kept her chin up in public, looked people in the eye when she spoke to them, and did her fucking time.
There was no way she’d have gotten custody of her daughter and she knew that from the start. Not with Tyler’s extensive resources and family money. She refused to leave Talia alone with that man.
When her little girl was four, Hannah created a countdown notebook. Counting down the days until her daughter graduated high school.
Doing her time.
Every day, for years, she hid it from her child. She endured anything and everything her husband delivered, in silence and with smiles on her face when necessary, as long as he never touched their little girl.
Strangely, as much of a monster as he was to Hannah, Tyler was a decent father. Dedicated, encouraging, and present in Talia’s life.
It was literally the only thing he’d done right in their marriage.
The weekend before, she settled her now-adult daughter at the U
niversity of Texas. They flew down together and shopped to outfit her dorm. Hannah’s expenses were closely monitored but there were no limits to what she could spend on Talia.
She bought her a car, paid for her education in advance, and made sure she had everything she would need to get through school. Just in case he tried to punish her to get back at her disobedient mother.
With a bright smile on her face and tears in her eyes, she hugged her daughter, her closest friend, her only companion. “I love you and you’re going to be incredible.”
Holding her close, Talia whispered low enough so the bodyguard assigned to Hannah couldn’t hear and report back, “Run, Mom. Thank you for keeping me safe. Now it’s time for you to run.”
Gasping, she sobbed brokenly and they held each other. The security who tracked every move she made watched them closely.
“I’m going to miss having you in the same house. It won’t be the same without you, Talia.” Her emotions were in tatters.
“Call me every day, Mom. I’ll pick up. I don’t care about being the cool kid.” Leaning back, she looked directly into Hannah’s eyes and said cheerfully, “Tell Dad thanks. I wish he could have been here.”
That was the moment Hannah realized that not only had her daughter known all along what was happening but had developed acting skills as outstanding as her mother.
“I will.” Cupping her cheek, she whispered, “I love you.”
In the car, she cried leaving her daughter behind as many mothers did. She watched Talia until she was out of sight. Then she cried some more as they drove in silence to the airport.
One week after leaving her not-so-little girl on her campus in Texas, Hannah filed for divorce. The asshole she’d been married to for twenty years too long contested it and thought he’d win. She refused to cower, didn’t change her mind, didn’t return to her place as his wife.
The presiding judge granted her divorce quickly. Particularly after seeing the hospital records backed up by countless photos and videos of the secret life she’d lived for so long.
She didn’t want anything and their child was grown. All she wanted was out and to have her maiden name back. She received what she asked for and a monetary settlement she didn’t.
Like the psychopath he was, Tyler bought a gun and stalked her.
Every day for the first year in her small apartment, she lived in terror. The peace of not living with him was worth the fear.
She went back to work as a researcher and lived quietly, day by day. Pulling up information for a client about a sleepy little coastal town, she stumbled on a tiny cottage.
Her dream cottage on the Washington coast.
She decided to just go for it and live the life she had given up on living. Quietly, simply, blending into the scenery. Maybe take up watercolors again and experiment with gardening.
Just breathe and be still for the first time since being shackled to a man who scared her from the start.
Tyler had been quiet for so long that Hannah foolishly imagined he’d moved on, maybe even forgotten her. A new woman half her age was living in her old house, their daughter was grown and gone, their divorce had been final for almost a year.
To her ex-husband, she was property. Tyler never gave up what belonged to him in business or his personal life.
Earlier, as Hannah returned from the post office, giddy to submit her change of address forms, he stood waiting for her in the parking garage of her little downtown apartment.
After a year of quiet, a year of partial calm, her body was no longer accustomed to the beatings. Lulled into a sense of safety, she could do little to defend against his attack as she got out of her car.
She screamed, she fought, but she knew she wouldn’t survive.
Not this time.
He wasn’t going to let her go. He wasn’t going to let her live a life away from him. Since she wouldn’t come back to the hellish existence he created for her, he decided she didn’t deserve to live.
Hit after hit, and all Hannah could think was that all of it was for nothing. Just when she finally thought she could start over, start again and make better choices, here he was again to hit her, hurt her, tear her life apart as only he could.
Then Tyler’s arm, the one punching her in the face again and again and again, was suddenly ripped from his body. It landed a few feet from where he straddled her body on the concrete.
She stared at it.
Tyler stared at it.
It was just sitting there as if he’d accidentally dropped it. His delayed screams were a mixture of terror, pain, and rage. Incoherent, he raised his other arm, his fist balled to smash her face.
Then that arm was gone, too.
His eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed on top of her, his blood seeping through her clothes. She was in shock, confused, unsure what the fuck to do.
Shaking violently, she started to cry and whispered, “I don’t know what’s happening…c-can someone please h-help me?”
The weight of his now-dead body was lifted away. Thrown shockingly easily against the far wall of the parking garage.
The mess was horrific.
She found herself on her feet but didn’t know how. Then she was in her apartment, with no recollection of having taken the elevator, getting brutally sick on her bathroom floor. Wrapped in the blanket that normally laid over the back of her office couch.
She had no idea what to do with herself or the gory crime scene several floors below her. Should she call the police? File a report?
Would they think she’d killed him? She was covered in his blood. She could barely see out of one eye, couldn’t walk fully upright.
At five-four, could they think her capable of killing a man – ripping off his arms – who was almost a foot taller?
Still, she was frightened.
The news always talked about convictions that didn’t make sense and people who did decades of prison time who were innocent.
Stumbling into the bathroom, she carefully stepped in her shower. The entire time, she whispered, “I’m washing away evidence…”
As the blood and particles from her ex-husband rinsed down the drain, she murmured, “I’m going to spend the rest of my life in jail. I’m going to die in jail and never see my daughter again.”
Dressed in leggings and a t-shirt, she was too sore to clasp a bra or bend to tie her shoes. She stepped into running shoes without ties and walked gingerly to her front door.
Despite her shower, she’d clearly been badly beaten. She shrugged into a hoodie and pulled it around her face. She didn’t want to run into anyone from her building.
Head down, she took the elevator to the garage. It was spotless. There wasn’t a drop of blood to assure her she hadn’t dreamed the entire thing.
Staring at her nails, she knew she hadn’t. Three were broken to the quick as she’d scratched them down Tyler’s face. The dent remained in the side of her car where he’d slammed her head against it.
His blood was gone.
His ripped away limbs were gone.
The rest of his body was gone.
Shaking, in pain, and more confused than she’d ever been, she got back on the elevator and returned to her apartment.
Inside, the door triple-locked behind her, she poured herself a glass of wine and made an ice pack for her face.
She stared at the Seattle skyline beyond the window and trembled.
The smell of peppermint was everywhere. She couldn’t search out the source of the scent now. Not now.
She had to stop shaking. She had to figure things out.
She had to fucking breathe…
CHASING HARMONY EXCERPT
The Others – Book One
Eugene, Oregon
Harmony Kassis was hurting, filthy, and so fucking tired.
Tired of running, tired of hiding, and tired of wondering if today would be the day she died…or worse.
There were many things worse than death.
Anyone w
ho believed dying was the most destructive event that could happen to a person hadn’t been pushed to the edge of their sanity.
She no longer feared death. She feared every sunrise signaling another day, another fight to survive.
If today was her last day to breathe, only Hope would mourn her.
From where she stood, Harmony could see her parked car. She might be able to shake them long enough for a head start.
They found her so fast now.
Someone new had joined the hunt over the last two weeks.
Because he was stronger and faster than the ones who came before him, Harmony hadn’t been able to stay in one place more than a few hours before being forced to run again.
She hadn’t seen his face, thank the gods. He hadn’t gotten close enough to her…yet. Each time, the hunter closed the distance to his prey a bit more.
This time, she watched the silhouette of his body against the setting sun from her hiding place. He faced in the opposite direction, two buildings away. His build and stance told her she’d never be able to take him in a hand-to-hand confrontation in the condition she was in.
If he caught her, it was over.
He traveled with two others she’d never glimpsed before. They scoured the rooftops further away as he watched, head slightly tilted, dark hair lifting in the breeze.
Her car was in the parking garage that separated them. She had to leave it. There was nothing in it worth her life.
Though she didn’t fear death, her parents raised her to understand life was sacred, worth the struggle, worth the pain.
One did not quit because they were tired.
For them, for the beautiful memories they gave her, for the twin sister she believed was still alive, Harmony prepared to run yet again.
Perhaps she’d make it.
There was no one faster on level ground. If she failed, it wouldn’t be because her parents’ child gave up.
She wouldn’t go down easy, that was for damn sure.
There was no time to dwell on what might happen. She crawled from the ventilation system and straightened slowly, silently.
Shrugging her narrow backpack over her shoulders, she readied her body to take the first step toward the edge of the roof, toward escape, toward one more day of life.