He handed her a basket and she started gathering food that wouldn’t require the microwave, though she’d noted there were barbecues and propane tanks onsite, so that was helpful. She collected other necessities. Filled one basket and started on another while Kage packed everything into the SUV. He added some bottles of wine and a few cases of beer and fifths of whiskey for good measure.
Meanwhile, the cashier debated this or that as he watched them. Kage’s intensity likely had the other man thinking he really ought to do as instructed. Or perhaps he was calculating in his head how much was walking out his door versus how much was going to end up in his till.
But he neither called the police nor stopped them.
Kage returned to the counter and said, “Pull up the news on your phone.”
Out of sheer curiosity, Taelyn was sure, the man did as Kage instructed. The same image appeared onscreen as had been on Kage’s iPhone.
He said, “That is not a movie trailer. It’s happening. Right now. Get the hell out of here. Leave the door open for anyone who needs supplies, but do not—I repeat, do not—stop them or challenge them. You might wind up dead.”
Kage rushed Taelyn out of the store. She eyed the roof rack of the SUV, stacked high with strapped-down cases of water. “All that just for us?”
“There are twenty cabins on this lake. Campgrounds lining both sides toward the mountains. Most of these summer renters and RVers are here for two or three weeks at a time, if not the entire season. So they’ll have their own provisions, but not for the long haul. We have to make sure our villagers don’t get desperate and drink from the faucet if there is a contamination. Or threaten someone’s life for a sip.”
“Our villagers?”
“This is the way it works,” Kage told her in a terse tone as they drove toward his rental. “You and I are here. The demons will know it. And this is where they’ll make their stand against you.”
“Why me?”
“Slayer, remember?”
She gritted her teeth. “Fine. I’ll play along with that for the moment. But why wouldn’t I just leave? So no one’s in danger?”
“And where are you going to go so that no one’s in danger?”
“There are plenty of remote areas, Kage.”
“No sport in that for demons. Something has to be at stake, Taelyn. That’s how they operate. The more human lives at risk, the greater the challenge, the bigger the thrill—the grander the victory. And with victory, comes tremendous spoils. It’s an incentive thing with these assholes.”
Her heart started beating too fast. “You’re scaring the shit out of me again.”
“Not my intent. But what fucking good is sugar-coating going to do? You’ve seen for yourself what’s out there. What’s lurking in the shadows, around every corner. What that vampire said about homeland security is spot-on. Breaking News confirms it. The demon population has the capability to overpower the government, destroy weapons and leave the nation defenseless. And if Davian—he’s the immortal leader organizing this rebellion—goes for gold, he’ll already have forces on every continent prepared to move at the same time he does.”
“So there’s no one to save us.”
Kage flashed her an insistent look. “We save ourselves, sweetheart. And as many other human beings as we can.”
CHAPTER SIX
Taelyn was torn. As alarm and a healthy dose of oh, my fucking God! lanced through her, she stared at Kage’s strong, set visage.
The man was deathly serious.
She couldn’t find an ounce of doubt about that, deep in her soul.
And somehow, she was supposed to help him keep people alive.
There was a gnawing in her core that told Taelyn she absolutely should be at Kage’s side if the world truly was on the verge of a demon uprising.
Yet it was the whole concept of this demon uprising that was damn-near impossible to make heads or tails of, let alone accept as gospel.
Despite what she’d seen on his phone.
Though what had happened at the sports bar—in-person…none of that could be swept under the rug. A strategy had already been mapped out, according to the vampire she’d slain. In addition, Kage Deville did not strike her as the sort of man who would spin yarns about something so heinous.
Nine lives had been lost tonight. And it did not go unnoticed by Taelyn the reality of that weighed heavy on Kage’s mind. As much as it did hers.
They pulled up to the rental and hastily unloaded the supplies, stocking the cupboards in the kitchen and the laundry room that doubled as storage space.
Then they went door to door and Kage very calmly chatted with his neighbors. Some had no clue the White House was under attack. Those who did had glassed-over eyes and did a lot of head-shaking. They said things like, “This is another 9/11. We saw the planes crash into buildings—witnessed it on TV!—and yet…it never seemed real. Until those towers started to collapse and people were running through the streets, trying to escape the smoke and ash and debris…”
Kage provided as-needed information, so as to not fully alarm anyone, but he clearly wanted the reality of the situation to be know. He also spoke of the wild beasts roaming the woods and that it would behoove everyone to not wander alone and take a weapon with them if they were out and about. Conserve the batteries on their phones and tablets, but also keep an eye on the Internet reports.
Taelyn hoped the streaming sources wouldn’t run dry, though she suspected backup generators were primarily in use.
Kage also mentioned to everyone that he’d heard rumor in town the tap water might not be safe and advised them to drink from bottles and boil their water for cleaning. All very conversationally, doing his absolute best to avoid heightening fear and anxiety.
“You’re very diplomatic,” Taelyn said as they finally made their way back to his cabin.
“Unfortunately, I’ve done this before,” he told her. “Half of these people will be out of here come morning. Terrified out of their minds. The survivalists will remain, because they know returning to the cities isn’t going to keep them alive.”
Her stomach roiled. “You know way too much about this.”
“You do, too.” His fingers swept along her temple. “You just don’t remember yet.”
Kage let out a low grunt of frustration and shook his head. “This is completely fucked up.” He grabbed a broom from the laundry room and slammed his booted foot to the base of it, separating the handle from the bottom portion. He tossed the stick at her and did the same to a mop.
“You need to train,” he simply said.
And came after her with his weapon in hand. She jerked hers up to chest height just as he lunged forward and attacked, his stick thwacking against hers once, and then catching her knuckles the second time.
“Kage!” She dropped the wooden spear and shook out her hand. “Jesus Christ.” The sting radiated up her arm.
His eyes deepened in color and his jaw tightened. He didn’t like that he’d hurt her. But he said, “Pick up your weapon and defend yourself.”
She barely had time to straighten before he advanced on her again. Taelyn countered his blows, but they were slow and measured. Not at all what she would encounter in battle, she was certain. Still, Kage helped her to get accustomed to wielding the stick and protecting herself.
They went at it for hours. Until she was exhausted and could barely fight him off a moment longer.
Kage dropped his mop end into the umbrella basket at the base of the coatrack in the entryway. “You have the instinct. It’s a part of you. But you’re rusty as hell.”
“Apparently, it’s been a while since I’ve had to protect myself from getting run through.”
He snickered. Took her stick and added it to the basket. He propped up an iPad on the kitchen counter to check the news as he poured two glasses of wine before he started dinner.
Nothing further had happened at the White House—a hostage situation with the President and the First Lady. N
umerous staffers and Secret Service. But the reporters refused to say who the captors were, just repeatedly referred to them as “unknown suspects, who had yet to make any demands.”
Tension radiated from Kage, but he didn’t elaborate on what he might know about the situation. Taelyn wondered how long a standoff could ensue. Wondered when the National Guard would roll in. It was disconcerting—no, downright horrifying—that hours had gone by and yet the two factions, human and demon, were at a stalemate.
Anxiety clawed at her. So, too, did her potential role in all of this. If she was meant to help the human world prevail against this threat, she had to pay attention to everything Kage said, every bit of instruction he gave. Even his quiet demand that she eat, despite her stomach being twisted into the tightest knot ever.
There were a million questions burning a hole in her head. Mostly about how one became a demon slayer…and what the hell had possessed her to pursue this particular line of work.
Though those thoughts couldn’t compete at the moment with what was happening in DC. While Kage cleaned up, she curled on the sofa with the comforter and the iPad, her gaze glued to the screen until she could no longer fight the fatigue closing in on her. Even as her eyelids dipped, the White House was still under siege…
In the morning, Kage broke the sinister news.
“The White House and the Pentagon have been overtaken by Davian. The cities will be destroyed as the demons attempt to eradicate the human race.”
She stared at him, tears stinging her eyes. “What do we do?”
“Exactly what I’ve been telling you. We protect those we can. There are still military forces under human command. We let them fight the battles in the larger towns and we try to provide a safe haven here. That means you have to keep training, because, Taelyn…there is a demon coming for you.”
Three days later, she was moving faster when Kage more aggressively engaged her. She let her gut reactions guide her and discovered that she was not only incredibly resilient to injuries—and healed quickly, as evidenced by the rapidly mending cuts on her back that no longer required the bandages—she also possessed an inner strength she’d not known existed. She could deliver blows that rattled Kage’s teeth.
Not exactly something she enjoyed. Nor did he like bruising her when she missed a step and his weapon connected with her body. It was the price they paid.
On the fourth night following the vampire attack in the bar, he said, “We need to start patrolling the perimeter of the lake. The council’s intel suggests that Davian’s forces are on the move—and that means the other demon factions will be stalking humans to help aid in annihilation. They’ll want this war over as quickly as possible.”
“Not particularly thrilled with the word annihilation,” she lamented as she pulled on her dark-brown leather jacket and reached for the broomstick.
“Training’s over, Taelyn,” he told her. “Take the sword.”
She stared at him, aghast. “I haven’t practiced. I have no idea how to use it.”
“Yes, you do.” He retrieved the box and a duffle bag from the storage room and set both on the hardwood floor of the foyer. He knelt before the case and unlatched it. Held the sword up for her.
Taelyn reluctantly clutched the handle. “I could kill myself with this thing. Or you. Have you considered that?”
“I have faith you’ll take better aim. Spare the both of us.”
“Ha, ha,” she quipped.
Kage loaded up on weapons himself—mostly wooden stakes with laser-sharp points. He tucked three of them into the inner pocket of his jacket and a sheathed dagger into the waistband of his jeans at the small of his back. Then he extracted a high-tech crossbow with a half-dozen arrows secured to it.
Unease skittered through Taelyn. “You’re so convinced I know what the hell I’m doing. But none of the memories you were expecting to return to me have. I’m acting on instinct alone, Kage. I truly could get us killed.”
“You won’t. Keep doing as I say until your own internal guidance fully takes over. You won’t falter, sweetheart.”
“And what if we get separated?”
He stepped toward her, his head dipped and he said in a low voice full of conviction, “I don’t leave your side. That’s the bodyguard part.”
His accent still doing crazy-wicked things to her insides, as though she’d never quite get used to how sexy and seductive it was—even when they were in such a dire, life-threatening situation.
He continued. “I will fend off anything that tries to double-team you. When the grand standoff comes, love, I keep the demons at bay while you take on the most powerful of them. I make sure it’s mono e mono for you and whatever demon du jour has challenged you.”
He spoke to her in a soothing tone meant to settle her nerves a bit, as were his slightly whimsical words. Kage knew not to overwhelm her; rather, proverbially hold her hand as he led her through this dangerous new existence of theirs.
So she swallowed down the lump of fear and emotion swelling in her throat. But asked, “Did I just wake up one morning and decide hey, I think I’ll pin a target to my chest and offer myself up as demon bait?”
“Sort of.”
“Kage!”
He chuckled. His fingers grazed her cheek as he told her, “You had mad skills from the time you were a toddler. It was when you were in your late teens that you were ordained as a slayer. It was a calling you couldn’t deny. One you felt fervently about fulfilling. It’s your destiny, Taelyn. No matter the century. Regardless of whether you remember it or not. It’s who you are. Plain and simple.”
“There is nothing plain and simple about this,” she argued as she gazed into his glowing green eyes. “I’m terrified.”
“I understand. But when you attack, there’s nothing but expertise and innate knowledge of what needs to be done that motives you and propels you forward. You don’t hesitate. Have you noticed that? You don’t second guess yourself or deliberate over your actions. You inherently know to protect your life and others’. It’s something inside of you that innately takes over.”
“I thought it was because everything happens so fucking fast I don’t get the chance to think twice.”
He smirked in that bad-boy way that sparked a sizzle between her legs and made her heart skip a beat.
His head dipped further and he murmured against her lips, “Trust yourself, love. As I trust you.”
Then he shifted away and moved toward the door.
Taelyn’s eyelids fluttered closed. Heat rushed through her and butterflies took flight in her stomach. Her inner thighs flamed and her pulse raced.
The man made her burn for him. Made her crave him.
“Ready?” he asked.
Was he kidding? Hell, she could barely breathe. And her knees practically knocked together.
His rich voice, his masculine scent, his radiant virility clung to her, taunted her.
Taelyn had not been so exhausted the past several nights that she hadn’t woven in her head a fantasy or ten about Kage Deville.
Envisioning him naked, all those solid muscles and bronze skin. His mouth on her neck, leaving kisses down to her collarbone, to the tops of her breasts. His tongue flitting over her puckered nipple as he pumped slowly into her, making her moan. Making her—
“Taelyn?”
She let out a long-suffering sigh.
Jesus. She didn’t even need the sanctity of her bedroom or the cloak of darkness to allow her mind to wander. Her bodyguard was a twenty-four-seven temptation that took all her willpower to resist.
She said, “As ready as I’ll ever be, I suppose.”
He grinned at her. “You can do this. I’ve seen it dozens of times.”
“And yet you keep coming back for more. Bit of a masochist, hmm?”
“I do it for you,” he said, pinning her with a serious look. Then he shook his head and tried to appear less severe. “I do it for the greater good. For the humans. For the council.” He groaned. “B
ut, yes. At the end of the day… I do it for you.”
Taelyn melted. “Kage—”
He lightly pressed a fingertip to her lips. “We have to remain focused, love. I’ve had reports from campers today who’ve seen unnaturally sized wolves in the area.”
“Damn it,” she said around his finger. Then pushed his hand away. “Those fuckers again?”
“Yes. Those fuckers again.” He stepped around her and opened the door, gesturing for her to proceed him.
Taelyn feared she wasn’t prepared for what awaited her on the other side of the cabin walls. And the way her blood hummed from the mere nearness of Kage was a little disconcerting. It was hard to rise above her arousal so that she could concentrate on what they actually might be facing this evening.
But this was why she was here, right? The very reason she hadn’t insisted he make that bus stop run for her—the reason she hadn’t slipped out in the middle of the night in our own vehicle.
She’d stayed.
For Kage.
For their neighbors.
For their…village.
So she walked out the door with him hot on her heels.
They patrolled the immediate area where the cabins were scattered. Then moved deeper into the eastern woods toward a few campgrounds. The near-full moon cast glittering golden rays over the slight ripples in the lake. The rolling waves lapped languidly against the sandy shore. Crickets and frogs harmonized on the quiet night air, accompanied by the occasional snap of a twig from an animal or the hoot of an owl.
Taelyn paid close attention to all the sounds. All the scents of nature. Even the crackling energy floating on a gentle breeze that rustled the leaves on the trees and the ground brush at her feet.
Long strands of her hair swirled around her neck and cheeks. She’d pulled up the mass of curls in a high ponytail and wore minimal makeup, specifically skipping the mascara because there was rain in the forecast that would make it run and she’d already learned that, when it came to defending herself against lightning-quick demons, she didn’t need anything hindering her vision.
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