Death Before Dawn

by Amelia Hutchins

  “Freedom,” I mused, scrunching up my nose. “Glass cutter, or, you know, the code to the door? That would be nifty.”

  “Any personal items, Emma?” he rephrased.

  “No, I don’t want or need anything from you. The only thing I need? Is to get out of this pretty prison and back into the real world. I’m not a willing hostage so let’s not play like I am,” I snapped, tired of feeling like a bird in a cage.

  “So you can run back into the arms of your lover?” he seethed; his eyes flashed red, but it was gone as quickly as it had started.

  “He’s not my lover. I ended it with him,” I growled back, my own eyes unable to flash red, but my temper rising. “Besides, who I lay with is none of your damn business,” I turned to leave the room.

  My hair blew up as if a great gust of wind had entered the room; papers lifted and swirled in the air as they fell to the floor. I slammed hard into his chest and had to throw my hands up to prevent myself from falling at his feet. I stared face-to-face with him, having to raise my eyes to hold his. I was pissed, mostly because whatever the hell was between us had me curious, and when he was around, my body reacted.

  “You can either have the freedom of the house I’ve allowed you, or you can wait for me in my bedroom, in chains. It’s your choice. Decide now,” he snapped, as his hands pushed my shoulders until I was forced backwards. “I could have killed him, so fucking easily. I chose not to, because you would have hated me for it. He lives because you wish it; he isn’t what you think he is. His kind feed upon the human race, they’re parasites; ones you were created to rid the world of. Instead of doing so, you took him between your thighs,” he snarled, stalking me as I backpedaled against the window. “Your mother is the same, spreading her flesh for any who will further her cause.”

  “Is that so?” I stammered, unsure why I could face off against vampires, and yet this Sentinel scared the fuck out of me.

  “You were created for me and me alone. Not him. I was too far away when you allowed him to become your lover. I was trying to get back to this continent, while my little phoenix spread her legs willingly and succumbed to his charms. I knew what he did; what you did. I could see what happened playing out in my nightmares; was tortured by his hands on your flesh, his cock inside of you. Then he left and I knew you’d rise above it, above him. Yet, the moment he came back, you let him between those silken thighs again. No more. The other day when you took him on the dirty floor of some virus-infected trashcan was the last. I am here now and I claim ownership; I took you from them, so he is no longer an option for you. You deserve so much fucking more than to be taken on some dirty floor, Emma.”

  “You had dreams of when I was with Jaeden for the first time?” I whispered thickly. I cried out as the cold glass touched my back and his hands flattened on the glass beside my head.

  “The first time and each time after that,” he whispered coldly, as if he was lost in the memory. “Nightmares, not dreams. I watched him pound your flesh, knowing it was mine to do so with. I watched you fight off the ill-effects of the drugs and still, you gave yourself over to him. I saw it through your eyes, every fucking time you took him. I had been watching you long before that, Emma. I felt you the moment you drew air into your lungs. You were a beautiful baby. You had big blue eyes, hair of sunshine, and life that curled perfectly against your pale complexion. They brought you home on a Sunday; it was pouring rain. As if even the world wept over your beauty and the sadness you’d have to endure in your life. I was there when you took your first steps, unable to stay away as I watched the child that would someday become my bride grow. I stood near you at your mother’s funeral, watching as you refused to cry or even shed a tear. You brushed against me, and gasped, as if you felt me too. You may not have known it then, but you sealed your fate that day. You confirmed everything I felt. My heart connected to yours, but you weren’t ready for me. You were still a mere child who had so much growing to do before I could bring you into your birthright. I watched you become a woman, believing you’d remain chaste because the idea of any other man touching you felt wrong. You made up excuse after excuse to Addy as to why you wouldn’t throw your virtue at the feet of the boys, but the truth was you couldn’t. You knew it was special, that it was meant for one man alone: Me. Yet, the moment Jaeden walked in, a supernatural being, you gave in. That racing of your heart right now?” His hand pressed against my chest as his armor disappeared to reveal how he really looked. “Matches mine. Perfectly,” he whispered as I gasped at his features. He was fucking gorgeous. He stared down at me as I raised my hand from where it rested on his chest to curve it around his cheek.

  His skin was bronzed, beautifully so. I was able to get a better look at his tattoos, and every one of them had been strategically placed to enhance the contours of his body. This man was created to please a woman’s eye, yet my hands trembled as I touched him. I brushed my shaking fingers along the writing that was tattooed just below his right pectoral.

  “What does this say?” I murmured.

  “Life is just a beautiful death.” He smiled softly. “Do you like what you see, little one?” he asked, and there was a hint of insecurity in his voice that made my eyes rise to capture his. He’d just dropped a few hefty bombs on me, and I wasn’t sure if I believed him or not.

  “You’re beautiful,” I whispered. “Wait…What did I wear to my mother’s funeral?”

  “A black skirt with a soft velvet top,” he whispered, and I shivered. “You wore a coat, one that was too big. Your hair was up, it wasn’t perfect, and you never complained about the hair pins that your father had secured the wayward strands with. They hurt you, but you refused to add to his pain during the ceremony.” He pushed a few strands of hair away from my face as if he was reenacting what he had witnessed. “They asked your father to speak, but he didn’t. He held your hand while he carried Grayson on his hip. He refused to let either one of you far from his sight.”

  Fact.

  “How did I not notice you?” I asked, narrowing my eyes as I dropped my hand.

  “You were a mere child, grieving for her mother. You grieved for a mother who wasn’t even dead. You knew that at the time, too. You just didn’t want to believe it. You removed the necklace and refused to wear it, not because you were angry she’d died. You refused to wear it because it made you see what others couldn’t, and it made you feel sure that she hadn’t been murdered, that she’d in fact left you and your brother. That’s why you took it off and hid it in the floorboards of your room. It showed you that you weren’t human.”

  Okay, that? I’d never told that to another soul. I’d bottled it up, thinking it was my childish anger. I’d told myself the lie of being angry for her dying and leaving us so often, that eventually, I’d believed it. The truth was that necklace had done shit to me, made me see things in the shadows, like my mother across the street when we’d been at the park. She’d watched us, and I tried to chase after her. It had been two days after she’d been killed and the day before her funeral. My father had chased after me, and he patiently tried to convince me that I’d imagined it all in my grief, but I knew I hadn’t. She’d been there, watching me and Grayson on the playground that day. I knew it as surely as I knew the sky was blue.

  It was the last time I’d seen her until she’d turned up with my father and Grayson, and ordered her people to shoot me.

  “You’ve rarely been alone, Emma, and until just before the virus hit, I was near you every chance I got. I was in Europe when they released the virus and I watched as millions died and could do nothing as I tried to get back to the States, back to you. Oceans are one thing I can’t navigate. It took close to a year to find a few survivors who had a bit of nautical skill and were desperate enough for the hope of a better life that they were willing to help me cross the ocean. While you were protecting your people inside the Ark, and escaping filth by jumping off that damn
cliff, Jaeden tried in his own way to help you. It’s why I don’t hate him, because while everyone else watched you sink, he threw you a lifeline. He’s not innocent either; he’s aware of Shamus’s plans. Shamus isn’t there for the little bit of blood your people can offer, Emma; he’s there to build an endless supply of it. He plans to use the few men he’s allowed in to impregnate the women inside your shelter to create the next generation. Once it’s begun, he’ll bring in the elders and he’ll become one himself. It’s his endgame, it always was. It’s why he commissioned your father to build the Ark.”

  “How do you know all of that?” I demanded; I was getting defensive, but then, I had a damn good reason to be. This Sentinel had been at my mother’s funeral. He’d known the moment I’d drawn air into my lungs as I was born, what the fuck!?

  “Which answer would you prefer? That I have been watching you, or because you were created for me,” he answered enigmatically, his lips quirked into a wicked smile. “It is the way our kind is made. We are created to recognize one another. We are designed to see the world through each other’s eyes. When you stop fighting yourself and look to the quiet place inside your soul and search your heart, you will know that what I say is true, and you will stop fighting me and a different world will be opened to you. I’ve given you much to think over in my absence, but I must take my leave. Sleep well, and don’t do anything to anger me in my absence.”

  I took a deep breath, blinked, and shook off the mesmerizing words. “I don’t plan on being here when you return,” I said as blandly as I could. I didn’t, but hey, I was being honest. It didn’t matter how hot he was, didn’t matter if he was supposed to be my mate; nothing mattered but getting back to my group and making sure they were alive, and then moving on to find my brother.

  Chapter 16

  The first day he was gone I spent looking for a way to escape the prison I found myself in. The house was lavish; high ceilings gave a sense of airiness, and the walls had ancient weapons securely affixed to them along with huge portraits of battle scenes. One had a knight on a black horse, facing off against another on a brown horse. Death waited patiently, mounted on a pale horse near the fighting warriors, watching to see which of the warriors he would claim. The other paintings were of similar scenes, but in them all, Death stood in the distance, or close to the artist’s eye. He was never missing from any of the scenes. Whoever the artist was, he seemed obsessed with the idealistic warrior he portrayed Death to be. In none of the artwork was Death holding the traditional scythe, or wearing black robes. Death was a warrior in all of the scenes.

  The second day, I started going crazy. I’d never been one to sit still, and the virus hadn’t changed that. I needed to be out there, searching for my brother. I paced in front of the glass wall, my eyes always straying to see beyond the cliffs that I faced. The promised storm hadn’t arrived, and I wondered if it would as I looked upon the tranquil view.

  The waterfalls were beautiful; the house was built to face them so those inside could indulge in the calm serenity they offered. I’d always been obsessed with waterfalls and the calmness they gave me. These would be loud outside the house, but the glass was probably soundproof as well as shatterproof.

  The sun was setting and the moon was beginning to rise over the falls, which was a breathtaking sight. It was a full moon, which meant Lachlan and his pack wouldn’t have as much control over their shifting tonight, and I wondered where they were. I wasn’t sure if what mystery man said was true, and if they’d ever made it out of that horrible place of death, or if they’d died there. Not knowing what happened to them was eating me alive. I had enough to worry about with Grayson, but now I had others out there who I wasn’t sure if they were alive or hurt and if they needed me.

  My mind wandered to the shelter. Addy was probably going crazy without my normal check-ins. Were they doing well? Had they refilled the storage from what we’d depleted during winter? Had they been out sourcing more locations? The train cars were empty, which meant they’d need to venture into more towns nearby. That was a dangerous job; were they taking precautions, sending the immortals instead of those who could be easily killed?

  I expelled a long sigh, hating that I couldn’t do anything to stop my thoughts from moving back to the man who held me here against my will. His kisses made my brain turn off, and my libido replaced it. I didn’t feel that need to pull away from him, and that bothered me. I missed Jaeden, but his kisses had never made me react as this man’s did. Jaeden was heat, scorching me to my bones, but this guy? He undid me. His touches sent me over the edge, and his kisses? They caressed and set fire to my soul. They felt right. It scared the shit out of me. Where was my control?

  It was as if we were linked, connected somehow, or something far worse. He kept saying I was created for him, but what the hell did that even mean? He was a puzzle; one I wasn’t sure I wanted to play with. He held knowledge that I needed, though.

  The Sentinel had told me that he would teach me how to use and control my powers. He knew about my brother, but seemed dismissive about him, so I wondered if he would actually help me find my brother if I asked. I didn’t know this guy, and so far, trusting other people hadn’t worked out too well, and the only one I could count on was myself. That left me with only one remaining option that was logical, so, as I sat idle inside the house all day, I started formulating a plan.

  I would seduce him. I could gain his trust and I could get away from him in the process. He wasn’t planning on just letting me go, and desperate times often called for desperate measures. My father had once told me that being a girl would be both good and bad during an apocalypse. To always use my brains, and learn the enemy. If I couldn’t outwit him, seduce him. Lull my captor into thinking I was with him willingly, and then once I had his trust, run the fuck away. I’d told my dad that I couldn’t do that. I wasn’t built that way. Pain sliced through me at the memory and I shook it off. I hadn’t known what he’d meant back then, but I did now. You did what you had to in order to survive, no matter what.

  I could do it. It couldn’t be too hard, right? I shook my head, and returned to the bedroom and dug through the drawers until I found a shirt, and a comfortable pair of pajama pants. I slipped the shirt on, struggling to figure out the straps, then giving up on it, only to pick out another that was the exact same style.

  I held it up, wondering how the heck it went on, and then fought with it for a moment more before I got it to where it seemed like it should fit. I pulled on the soft lounge pants and made my way back to the kitchen.

  I cut up a few different types of cheeses and meats and added a sleeve of crackers, grabbed a bottle of wine and a glass, and headed towards the couch. A few trips more, and I had quite the spread set up. I eyed the TV, then the cameras around the room. I saluted one of the cameras with my glass of wine and took a long sip, popped a few pieces of meat into my mouth and moaned around the succulent juice that seemed to explode in my mouth. The food here was definitely a plus.

  I poured more wine, trying to remember the last time that I’d indulged like this. Memories of the day I’d sat with Addy watching the news replayed through my mind. It was a day I thought I’d never forget, and I’d been right. It had changed everything. While so much had changed since then, it had been one of the times that I immediately remembered when I thought of us being together.

  I stood and swayed on my feet as I made my way towards the entertainment stand, sinking to my knees as I adjusted the shirt that had moved to reveal my nipples. The traitorous bastard wouldn’t stay on right. I adjusted it, pulling it back over my breasts. I reached into the DVD section, pulling out a few old movies and smiling as I ran my finger over the first Harry Potter movie.

  It had always been one of my favorite books, and the movies were pretty damn amazing, if not perfectly matching the books. I turned on the flat panel television and pulled the DVD carefully from the package as I fu
mbled with the buttons. I pushed it in without paying attention and picked up the remote as I moved back to the couch.

  The TV turned on with static, and I smiled. Unlike the Ark, he was pushing enough watts to be able to use a TV with a DVD/Blu-ray player. He probably had an Xbox One somewhere inside this place too. Grayson would have been in heaven here.

  I pushed ‘play’ on the Blu-ray player, poured more wine, and sat back, waiting for the movie to start. I’d just shoved a tower of meat, cheese, and crackers into my mouth when moaning erupted from the surround sound. I coughed violently and almost choked to death.

  My first thought was to run to the TV and turn the thing off. Although I’d like to say I did, curiosity won out, and I didn’t. I tilted my head as a woman dropped her knees open as a man slowly licked her flesh. I swallowed hard. The food in my mouth felt dry, hard to swallow as my eyes followed that tongue as it lavished the woman who was moaning overly loud.

  I picked up the wine and sipped it, returned it to the coffee table and looked around the room. None of the cameras were trained on the television, which was a relief. I turned back to the couple, watching as her own fingers played with her nipples as he licked her. The man stood up, positioned her leg over his shoulder, and pushed a seriously too big dick into her. It was pretty obvious why he’d been chosen for his role. He wasn’t good-looking, but damn, he needed a concealed weapons permit for that thing!

  My head tilted, a soft moan left my own lips as he started to move. Yeah, I was excited. I was so engrossed in what they were doing that I didn’t notice anything else.

  It wasn’t until I felt the sensation of being watched, prickling the hair on my nape, that I turned to my left, and found the Sentinel watching me. My shirt had slipped again, and his eyes were on my very hard nipples, which were exposed. I tried to think of an explanation, but nothing plausible seemed to explain the situation. Heat fused my cheeks as a blush spread across them. I sat there, frozen as his eyes scorched my flesh as they slowly moved over it.