Death Before Dawn

by Amelia Hutchins

  “He’s healed,” he mumbled as we stopped at the door to the bunker, and asked me to wait for a moment.

  I stood there, considering the irony that he was taking me right where I wanted to go. I ran towards the door without waiting for him and was gazing out the glass when he pulled up in front of the house. His Ducati was a work of art. The sight of Azrael on it made my ovaries physically hurt. His arms were bare, and I could see the omega glyphs branded on the inside of his forearms that were similar to the infinity glyphs on mine. His shirt did little to hide them, and he looked good enough to eat.

  He straightened the bike, stood up, and looked at me with his hand extended. I swallowed, and smiled as I made my way to him. I missed my Ducati, but it was home, safe. I hadn’t wanted to bring it since we hadn’t expected to be on foot for most of the trip and the terrain was shit.

  “You know, you’re faster than the bike is,” I teased. “Are you getting lazy in your old age?”

  “Sometimes I like to enjoy the trip, smartass,” he laughed and smirked as he placed his hands on the bars. “Hold on tight,” he said as he slid his helmet on and I followed his lead. We may be immortal, but head wounds hurt like a bitch.

  I wrapped my arms around him, placed my feet on the pegs, and inhaled his heavenly male scent. He turned his head, smiled and clicked a button and music began to play inside the helmets. I so needed one of these back home. Luke Bryan’s Kick the Dust Up surrounded my senses and I smiled. I could do the country thing. I’d grown up in a town that thrived on it.

  He hit the gas, and we were off; the smile wasn’t leaving my lips anytime soon. I liked this. Holding on to him, letting him drive, all of it. Just a few minutes into it and I was rocking with the beat. Yeah, I could get used to this, which, for me, was dangerous.

  After a few hours and a couple stops, we were entering the outskirts of Provo. It was a humid day, and the city was greener and lusher than I remembered seeing in pictures. It reminded me of home, only a lot bigger. No cars lined the streets; no bodies littered it, either. Someone had spent a lot of time cleaning it up.

  Azrael killed the music and I turned, sensing the same thing he had once my senses weren’t muted by the music’s beat. My heart spiked, and everything inside of me said to run. I looked behind us just in time to catch the flash from a muzzle.

  “Go!” I shouted, but he hadn’t needed me to tell him. His armor had already materialized around his body as if from thin air, and he pushed his motorcycle helmet off as his armored one materialized around his head.

  “Get in front of me,” he ordered as we hit bumps, caught air, and bullets whizzed by.

  Get in front of him? I felt a burning sensation in my arm and frowned as blood became visible. I struggled to ignore it, as I slowly wormed my way around him, but with the shots ringing out, it wasn’t easy. One moment I was clinging to his side, and the next he’d somehow managed to help me slip around. I wrapped my legs around his waist, pulled the guns from their holsters, and searched the trees.

  “How bad are you hit?” he demanded.

  “Grazed; I’ll live,” I replied, and watched as a four-wheeler caught air as it burst from the woods. I aimed both guns, shooting to the left, knowing they would hit the same bump we just had.

  Not going to lie. Riding like this with Azrael and feeling him against my delicate parts? Hot. As. Fuck. Deadly, but I felt bulletproof with him and his armor protecting me. I reached up and removed my helmet to make it easier to see, and watched as his eyes slowly drifted down to meet mine.

  “Hold on,” he warned as he turned left, and we made our way through the brush. His Ducati had the same wide tires as mine. He easily and expertly navigated us through the branches and back trails until a large gate loomed in the distance. “Tighter,” he growled at the same moment he caught air.

  I was holding on to him, but gravity isn’t kind. The bike flipped off a jump, and we went airborne. I was screaming as other people came into view. This was going to suck, because we’d jumped a hill, a gate, and now we were falling to the freaking ground.

  Right before we would have crashed onto the pavement, time stood still. I watched as Azrael bounced, stood, and turned, plucking me out of the air. He’d fucking frozen me! He wasn’t even hurt from falling to the ground? He walked without a limp. Perfectly.

  “Told you, Emma, I’ll never let you fall or let you down,” he mused with a sexy grin. I smiled up at him and released the breath I’d been holding. I turned, finding about a hundred or so pairs of eyes staring at us.

  So much for making a normal entrance.

  I’d made it to the stronghold in Provo Utah, but it hadn’t been with the people I’d intended to. I was here, with my people.

  Chapter 24

  I stared in awe at the sheer magnitude of the temple. They’d created a stronghold, one that stood proudly against the backdrop of the mountains that it was nestled in. People had stopped what they’d been doing when we’d jumped the bike over the gates, but now they put their heads down, waiting for something or someone to say something.

  My vision was going gray; people’s images blurred, revealing their status as they waited. I held on to Azrael, as if he was my anchor. A group of people made their way through the crowd towards us. One familiar, as his image shimmered to reveal the Knight. The once cold blue eyes were now warmer, and his skin looked bronzed instead of the olive color he’d had when I’d met him on the field in the middle of the rogue battle. His head tilted, as if he was trying to gauge my response to him. He pushed his long brown hair from his face as they closed the distance to stand in front of us.

  “Azrael, I see you have finally claimed your woman,” he mused, his smile warm and affectionate. It was a huge change from the last time. He’d called me the vampire’s whore. He’d also been willing to fight me then; not so much now.

  “Hayden, this is Emma. Emma, this is Hayden, your Knight,” Azrael whispered the last against my ear. “Maude, Kayden, and Hayden are brothers and sister sired from the same parents. Kayden and Hayden are twins, but Kayden tends to be a bit more circumspect than his brother.”

  “We’ve met,” I informed Azrael.

  “Indeed, we have. I do apologize for the way I behaved the last time. I was sure you’d chosen to side with your mother. I mean, based on how it looked, you were balls deep with the enemy,” he grinned, the pun not lost on me.

  “Hayden, she’s a Guardian of Life and deserves respect,” Azrael growled, his eyes holding warning with each word. “Why hasn’t the area been secured?” He swiftly changed the subject.

  “Trina is growing bolder,” Kayden offered. “Dagan is closer than we expected as well. It’s probably because you have her daughter,” he said, his cold blue eyes shifting to me. “It seems as though they are willing to sacrifice much to secure her capture.”

  “They won’t get her,” Azrael replied. “Where is Katie?”

  “She’s…busy. There have been a few developments while you were otherwise detained,” Hayden advised. “She’s below; if you’d like, I can escort Emma to her chambers while you see to Katie. I’m sure she’ll be excited to know that you have returned, Azrael.”

  I wanted to grab onto Azrael and beg him not to leave me. The eyes were on us; all of them. I felt uncomfortable here, as if I was an outsider who didn’t belong. They all knew of my mother, what she was and what she’d done to the world. I understood the ones who watched me with mistrust. I was the daughter of enemy number one.

  Azrael must have felt my unease, because he pulled me closer and whispered against my ear. His hot breath fanned my flesh, causing a ripple of need to pulse through me.

  “You’re safe here, Emma. They will not judge you based off the actions of your mother. They are aware that you were never a part of it, not willingly. Hayden will show you the room; bathe and I’ll be there as soon as I can be. I h
ave much to show you,” he chuckled wickedly; the sound of it caused the hairs on my neck to rise in awareness.

  “Okay,” I replied as I stepped closer to Hayden, who nodded.

  I watched as Azrael walked away from me with the others. He looked as if he fit in here, even though his armor was securely in place. His tall frame towered over most of the others in the crowd as they parted to allow him through.

  “You’re just full of surprises, Guardian,” Hayden commented, pulling my attention back to him.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I was on guard now that I was on my own in the strange temple.

  “First your vampire lover, and now Azrael.” He looked back at me as he led the way. “You’ve been with him, right?” he asked.

  “That’s personal,” I muttered as I started to follow him as the crowd stared at me. “They’re staring at me.”

  “No, they’re staring at a Guardian of Life who just walked in holding hands with a Guardian of Death. You understand that no one expected another Guardian of Life yet, right?” he asked, giving me a mischievous smile.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said guardedly. Azrael had said something to that effect, but I wasn’t sure where Hayden was going with this line of thought.

  “Guardians of Life aren’t supposed to arrive until the world is ready to be mended, and yet here you are in the midst of chaos. I came back from the battle and told all what I had seen. No one but Azrael believed that you had become a Guardian. To him, you were a gift. To the rest of us, you’re a problem. Your birth is from questionable parentage; you weren’t born in a Sentinel temple, nor were you raised as one of us, so you are ignorant of our ways and your function. A Guardian of Life is supposed to be a gentle soul that values life, and yet I know you have taken it. Azrael is not wrong in wanting you, but I wonder just what it is about you that draw so many men to you. The wolf, he’s in love with you. He has been for some time. He hides it well, but he’d die for you. The vampire, he’s fucking smitten by you, and yet conflicted because of the rules he lives by. Azrael, well, he’s simple. He can’t touch anyone else. Even so, he was drawn to you before he knew it.”

  “Azrael said it’s because I’m Life,” I answered softly. “That Jaeden is drawn to me because I am life and he is sort of the undead. He craves what he can never have. Azrael said it’s the same for him. Lachlan would love a stick if it could get him off. Lachlan is a rare breed as well. He has loyalty, which he gives to those who earn it. I’m not sure he loves me in the way you’re thinking. He’d die for me, yes, but then again, I’d die for him, too. That’s not love. It’s family. We’ve become close; we care that the other survives.”

  “Back to the question that started this,” he replied, ignoring my reasoning. “Have you fucked Azrael?”

  “Back to the answer,” I snapped. “It’s still none of your damn business.” I turned to look at him.

  “So you have,” he mused. “And his seed didn’t poison you?”

  “Seed? I’m not a flower, and we didn’t pollinate.”

  He laughed. “You’re on birth control, yes?”

  “Yes,” I replied. I’d been on it since I’d pilfered it from the clinic. I was due for another shot soon. Every three months, like clockwork, I’d give myself that damn Depo-shot. Not that I needed to worry with Jaeden; his seeds weren’t planting any flowers. I took it for my peace of mind alone.

  “Good, because no one really knows what would happen should you and Azrael create a life. The other pairs never conceived, so no one is sure if that is by choice or design,” he said cryptically.

  “I would guess that in nine months after we planted the seeds in the garden, that we’d have a baby. Afterwards we’d become sleep-deprived, go insane for the first year, and then run our asses off keeping up with the baby for the next eighteen years. Just a guess,” I stated as we arrived in front of a set of very tall doors.

  “If you were human, yes,” Hayden laughed. “You’re not, Emma. Keep this in mind: You can have Jaeden’s child. You are a Guardian of Life; you bring back that which is dying. You can heal. He is infected with the virus of vampirism, but should you be with him when you’ve fully become Life, he’d no longer be vampire. He’d be human. Judging from your face, Azrael forgot to mention what would happen should you run back to your lover after you come into all of your powers. It is our guess, but considering what you are, its probability is high.”

  “No, he must have left that part out of it,” I replied crisply. Why would he have left that part out? It was huge! I could potentially turn vampires mortal. What if I’d run back to Jaeden and done so? Had he knowingly left that spicy tidbit out in case I would run back to him? Wait. No, he had tried to tell me; I just hadn’t understood what he meant at the time.

  “Your new rooms, my lady,” Hayden announced, pushing the doors open.

  “Wow,” I said with a low whistle. The room was huge. It was decorated in a country-chic theme that included sheepskin rugs, with soft blue and white accents. The bed was huge, with a fancy wrought iron metal frame that had a canopy which was draped with soft sheer curtains to match the room’s soothing colors. There was a couch against one wall, which faced the front gates of the temple and looked over the courtyard.

  “You like it?” he asked, watching me carefully.

  “It’s gorgeous,” I acknowledged.

  “I’m glad. The bath is through there.” He pointed at an open door. “The tub has heated jets and all. Luckily this place was in the middle of being refurbished when the world went to hell. We’ve updated a few things, but Azrael insisted this room be fit for a queen. There are Mongolian-lab stools in the bathroom and on the balcony. I do ask that you stay away from the windows until Azrael returns, as the people who shot at you have yet to be contained. There’s fresh clothing in the drawers, all in the sizes Azrael had us obtain.”

  “He stole my undies. That’s how he knew my size,” I whispered while crinkling my nose.

  Hayden coughed and laughed nervously. “Actually, I was the one who stole them and a few other items from your room. When Azrael made his way back here, he confiscated them from me along with some pictures I had taken when I was following you,” Hayden said ruefully, and I wondered how that confrontation went down. “How was I to know that he’d known you were there and he was biding his time? He’s a strategist. If he wasn’t, he’d have just ridden into your town the day the world started to crumble and taken you. It’s what I would have done had I known you were going to be mine. Azrael, though, he’s got the patience of a fucking saint.”

  I meandered around the room picking things up and examining them before putting them back down. He’d had more than one room created for me. The house he’d first taken me to had mirrored this room. Both locations had simple luxuries that made it more comfortable, and yet were simple things. Like the sheepskin couches.

  “Do you plan on watching me shower?” I asked as I turned to look at Hayden.

  “Only if my lady wishes it,” he quipped as his eyes slowly drifted down my body. “I’m yours, Emma. I was born to serve you. I am your protector, your knight. If you move, I move. If you ask me to do anything, I do it. The knight protects the queen,” he smirked boyishly. “Or in this case, Guardian.”

  “Well, I don’t need protection and I sure as hell don’t need you to assist me in bathing.”

  “I’m just a boy, standing here, hoping to the Gods you need help getting naked, my lady,” he groaned with a smile on his face.

  “Oh…hmmm, maybe I do need help,” I offered, smiling as Azrael stepped from the shadows behind Hayden.

  “Oh, you do?” he asked, his eyes smiling. I frowned, and he paused. “Azrael is standing behind me, isn’t he?” he laughed. “Well, can’t blame me for trying. I’m sure your lord and master will see to all your needs now. I bid you goodni
ght, my lady,” he grinned, and gave me a mock bow before he turned to Azrael and held up his hands. “Had to try, just making sure she’s faithful to my lord.”

  “Get out, Hayden,” he growled, and then shook his head at the guy’s audacity.

  I watched Hayden give me thumbs up before he fled from the room. I stood there, staring at Azrael as my emotions warred inside of me.

  “I could have killed Jaeden,” I whispered as I chewed on my lip.

  “Had you run back to him, I would have killed him. It wouldn’t have mattered what he was at that point,” he explained. “You haven’t bathed.” He stepped further into the room before he closed the door.

  “Hayden was a chatty-Cathy,” I offered.

  “He’s infatuated with you. I don’t blame him for that. You’d have to be a monk or made of stone not to see your beauty, Emma. He’s neither of those.”

  “Did the meeting go well?” I asked, wondering why the hell I was so suddenly nervous about being alone with Azrael.

  “Take off your clothes,” he ordered. The way he looked at me felt like he was undressing me before I even had a chance to take them off.

  Chapter 25

  I leaned against Azrael as he washed my hair. I was in heaven, and at the same time, my emotions were all over the place. He’d told me absolutely nothing about what required his immediate attention when we’d arrived here. When I asked him about it, he ignored the question, and instead started pulling my clothes off, stripping me bare as he walked me backwards into the bathroom.

  Once there, he’d stripped as well. He poured richly scented bath salts into the tub, his eyes trained on what he was doing instead of me standing awkwardly behind him. This man gave me butterflies. My emotions became a mess of nervous energy around him, but more than that, he simply undid me. He climbed into the tub, extended his hand, and helped me in, as if I was some delicate flower.