Shattered Skies - Night Waves

by Heather Linn

  “Cat, how did that happen? Where did it come from? Because as far as I know, the mark of the Rose was lost a long time ago, and there’s been only one way ever to get the mark in the first place. If this is some sort of joke, please tell me!” He sounded excited and devastated and confused all at once. His voice was muffled and child-like.

  Walker moved up behind me with a Vampire’s speed. He was so close to my skin that I was uncomfortable and starting to think revealing the Rose had been a bad idea. What he did next made me rethink just what Walker was to me. Slowly he traced his fingers along the rose on my shoulder and goose bumps rose up on my arms. I felt the heat rush to my cheeks. Then came the sniff.

  “Cat, you smell just like her.” He was dreamy and lost and then a growl escaped his lips. “I can smell him on you too! What were you doing with Trāves Cat? Where is he? Was he at the Hunt? That stupid bastard. I have been waiting my whole life for him to resurface.” Walker spat out the name Trāves like a bad taste in his mouth better left on the sidewalk.

  I was too scared to look at Akia. I could feel his eyes boring into me. The mention of his father had shocked him deeply. I knew that I better choose my words carefully.

  “It was a dream Walker. Trāves came to me in a dream. I dreamt we were together, just like the dreams I have had about you, Akia. Trāves told me that he was going to kill me, that he had to before he lost his son to me. He said that I was a demon, that I was cursed and that he wasn’t going to let me take down centuries of his careful planning and work. I waited for him to kill me. I didn’t think that he could do it in the dream but I will be honest, I’m not sure just how real these dreams can get. Before I had enough time to think things through, he switched directions. Something changed in him. He called me NYX, the name on the inside of my ring and things changed.”

  Before I could continue I felt Walker tense. He pushed against me even closer now. I could feel the energy vibrating off his body, merging and mixing with mine. Walker had amazing self-control but something had him so worked up that he was spilling wave after wave of energy that was shooting in all directions. What was going on? I had to finish my story; I had to tell them all what happened, before I lost my nerve.

  “Trāves said that something had to be wrong, that there was no way he could explain feeling so drawn to me, and then he kissed me and told me he had to know.” I saw Akia wince at the mention of his father kissing me, but he said nothing. “I am sorry,” I continued. “I don’t know what any of this means, but I know that we have to get out of here fast. All of us. And we have to hide before Trāves tracks us down. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. After the dream, I woke up and the rose was there. Trāves said something about the mark of the Black Rose, something like that, but none if it was registering with me. None of what he said had any meaning. All I knew was I had to get free of the dream, before he saw the rose on my shoulder and confirmed for himself whatever it was he was thinking.”

  What happened next was something that burned into my mind and will remain there till the day I die. Walker grabbed me. It wasn’t a loving nurturing grab; it was a possessive lover’s grab. I didn’t know how to react and neither did anyone else.

  “You weren’t supposed to come into power this quickly. I’m not ready for this. Please Cat, you have to forgive me.” The words that poured out of his mouth made no sense to me.

  I tried to struggle and I tried to get away but he was a Vampire. The blood we had fed him kept him strong and now the nourishment we had provided meant I couldn’t subdue him. He lifted me clean off my feet. He was going to kill me or do whatever else in the world he had in mind. His lips were on the tattoo, kissing it, licking it, he even bit it just a little and the feel of his fangs brushing my skin caused me to moan, sending jolts to ever intimate place in my body. It wasn’t my moan though; it was hers, the voice from the dream. No one was moving, there was too much fear in the room. I could feel the fear wash over us, smothering us in waves.

  Walker was like a man possessed. “You taste like her. Like power! I have missed that taste.” He was in a world of his own. He sounded like a man without a mind. He spoke in a voice that I hadn’t heard for a million years, and I longed for that voice, father or not.

  “Walker, put her down now!” That was a female voice. I looked around but there was no other female in the room but me. Everyone was staring at me. Had I just said that?

  I felt his grip loosen a fraction before it tightened again and then his lips were back on my neck, sucking and nipping. I was going to be lost to him soon and I couldn’t fight it. I had no idea what was going on.

  Then the unknown female voice split the silence again. “Akia! Go get the necklace that holds Trāves’s blood, the one that he gave you before he left. Bring it to her and place it in her hands.” My mouth was moving, the voice was coming from my lips, but the voice wasn’t mine!

  Akia didn’t hesitate. He was up and gone with no questions. My voice or not, he didn’t care. I struggled to focus on anything except what my body was feeling in response to Walker. I looked at Jace; I looked at Jaden and Darien. I could only imagine what was going on in their minds. If this didn’t prove to them that I was a monster then nothing would. I wanted them to know I was still me. I begged for the concentration I needed regain my voice. The effort was draining me. I felt like my body weighed a ton.

  “Please help me! I don’t know what is going on. Walker please let me go!” Every word I spoke sounded weaker and weaker to my ears.

  The other three men across the room were slowly edging closer to me. I wasn’t sure what they were going do once they got to me, but I trusted them enough to know that they would figure it out. But Walker saw them coming.

  “If any of you take another step, then I take her and I disappear. None of you are fast enough to stop me and you know it, so back the fuck up.” The breath from his voice was warm and wet against my cheeks. I was humming in anticipation of the thrills that each warm breath sent through my body. Jaden slowed his footsteps but kept inching forward.

  “Walker! I don’t know what has gotten into you but this isn’t right. It’s Cat for Christ’s sake! Put her down now.” Jaden was trying the calm approach. I never needed anything to work more in my life. I was panting rapidly, but I willed Walker to listen.

  “Get the hell back all of you or I swear you will never see either one of us again,” he shouted. In a move quicker than I could blink, I was in his arms and across the room and much closer to the door than comfort allowed.

  “Listen to him!” it was that female voice again. “He will take her. He isn’t in his right mind. He can barely control himself. I am proud of you Walker. The rest of you, ignore your instincts and stand down now!”

  Whoever it was, her voice had the power to make people listen. All three of them stopped moving. It was a standoff. Everyone was close to their self-control breaking. Walker knew he was one step away from carrying me off into the black of the night. I could feel him fighting his urges off, but they were getting stronger, and he was losing the battle. He had one hand wrapped tightly in my hair.

  He was pulling my head in the opposite direction from my body, exposing my neck for his slithering tongue. Every lick and every sniff was bringing me closer to forgetting that this man had raised me. Was the line between black and white and right and wrong really fading so quickly for me? If so, I was in a lot of trouble. How was it possible that I was this turned on? I should have been disgusted to say the least. But somehow, the sane part of me wasn’t able to convince my body that this was all wrong. I couldn’t focus on anything except the pleasure his lips and fangs were bringing.

  I was so lost in sensations that I didn’t hear Akia come back in the room from a side entrance. He was edging closer and Walker moved again, standing with one foot outside the main door. This was about to get even worse. Maybe if Walker fled with me in tow, maybe Akia catch us. Then the voice spoke through me again.

  “Walker, be a gentleman and l
et Akia hand Cat the necklace. Please do it for me. That is the only way this will stop, you know that.” The voice was soft and soothing now, creating a mood that made me want to listen, just so my ears could have the pleasure of hearing her purr.

  “I am not ready to let you go, Nyx. If she gets that necklace, then I lose you again. That is why you gave it to him. You knew they were never supposed to meet, they were never even supposed to know each other, and never, never in a million years were they supposed to fall in love but you wanted some insurance.” Walker was begging her to back down. He was hoping beyond all hope that the voice would reconsider and allow him to flee with me into the moonlight.

  “Walker you know that isn’t true. You have spent decades of your life planning for them to meet. You are letting your emotions cloud your judgment and there is no time for that right now. Right now you need to lead these kids to their destiny. Whatever happens after you release her, we can still figure out.” Wait, these kids? Was she talking about us?

  “I know NYX, you are right,” he said suddenly calm. “This is just what we wanted. I didn’t know how to get them all together, but fate did it for me. But it wasn’t supposed to happen like this, out of my control, and it wasn’t supposed to happen so soon. And surely not before I figured out how to keep you with me.” What was Walker talking about? He sounded more lost than Trāves had.

  “Let her take the necklace Walker. If you run off with her, I will be lost to you forever, that I promise. Now hear me and do as I say.” Keep talking, whoever you are I thought and then I laid lifeless and still against Walker’s chest, daring not to breath as I watched Akia inch ever closer.

  “Damn it! Hand her the necklace now Akia, before I change my mind,” said Walker. It was the cry of a man fighting personal demons and way too close to losing for my liking.

  Akia was standing beside me now, and in a flash of motion, he grabbed my wrist and caused enough of a distraction to break the spell that Walker had bestowed on my body. I could feel the electric shocks that I had come to associate with Akia’s touch again. Akia gently laid a silver chain that held a glass vial across the palm of my hand. The weight of the glass was quite impressive. The glass was filled with a beautiful rich crimson liquid that the voice had insisted was Trāves’s blood. I shivered as the reality of what I was holding hit me. Akia quickly released the necklace, taking his other hand and closing my fingers around the chain, securing my grip on it. As soon as Akia let go of the chain and the necklace was firmly in my hand, Walker groaned in agony. He dropped me as if holding me had burned him, and then he threw himself against the wall, a broken mess. I braced for the impact of the hard floor but Akia caught me in mid drop, a handy characteristic to have when you were a candidate for boyfriend!

  Walker spoke, his back to the wall. “Put that on and never take it off Catalina. Do you understand me? I can’t promise that I will ever be able to fight myself off like that again. That necklace is the only thing that is strong enough to quell the hold you have over me now,” said Walker slowly. My jewelry collection was becoming quite impressive for a girl that preferred weapons.

  I had never felt more ashamed and embarrassed in my life after letting the others see how I reacted to Walker’s touch so I didn’t even bother to point out that I thought it was creepy to wear the blood of a Vampire around my neck, especially a Vampire that was hell bent on doing unspeakable things to me. Instead, I pulled the silver chain down over my head. The blood filled vial hung low and heavy, perfectly pressed between my breasts. It doesn’t get any more personal than that I thought. The weight of it added to the feeling of misery that was already overcoming over me. I didn’t want to know what Walker meant about me having a hold over him. I didn’t want to contemplate how complicated my life was becoming and that was when Darien spoke.

  “Someone needs to tell me what just happened and I mean now! The sooner the better before Cat and I walk out of here, away from all the craziness here.” Darien was too close to jumping into jealous husband mode for my liking. I might have pointed out to him that he didn’t own me and that he had no right to speak for me, but I was confused and needed the same answers as he did, so I let the idea that I would leave with Darien stay on the table, in the hope it would motivate Walker to explain.

  “Akia, you can put me down now. I need to feel something solid under my feet and then I need to find a chair because I have a feeling I am going to need to be seated when I hear what Walker has to say.” My voice sounded steadier than I was feeling, which was a good thing because letting weakness show wouldn’t help me redeem myself. There was no pride in weakness.

  I felt Akia hesitate and I wondered if I would have to argue and then he gently put me down. His subtle acquiescence earned him brownie points, and put him well above Darien on the boyfriend scale for the time being. In a normal situation I would have been worried by the fact that I had worked out a boyfriend point system in my mind. But then Darien began shouting again, losing points with each shouted word.

  “Somebody better start talking and I mean right now!” He slammed his hand on the table. “I’ve had enough of this sick twisted game.” Darien was on the verge of losing it, and if he did, I was lacking the energy to calm him back down.

  I tested my legs, found them worthy enough and I walked slowly across the room to a chair away from everyone else in the room. No one made an attempt to stop me. Good. I needed to be out of range of all them until I figured out what had just happened. Much to my surprise, Walker started to explain. Was he going to tell the truth finally? No mind games, no denying, just the cold hard truth straight from Walker?

  “He is coming. We have to take Cat and get out of here fast. He is less than four hours away.” I was looking at Walker and trying to make sense of his words when I realized that it was Akia that had spoken, not Walker.

  “How do you know and who is coming?” Walker was looking at Akia like it was the first time he’d ever seen him. I knew that look. That was the crazed scientist with a question that demanded an answer look. It was helpful when it wasn’t focused on me, but nerve racking nonetheless. Akia was susceptible to the look, he had no resistance to it, and so he willingly answered.

  “My Father! Trāves is on his way here. I don’t know how I know it; I just saw his image for a second and I know he is coming. A flash like a movie imagine flickered across my eyes…” He sounded confused and frightened to say the least.

  “Your insight isn’t anything that I haven’t anticipated, Akia. I’m just not sure how reliable your insights are going to be. If the prophecy is right, then it means you will come to power. You have always had visions; that is why you are capable of sharing dreams with Cat. This is your ability to connect awakening. This is just the beginning. Cat, do you see now that all of this is real and that each word of the prophecy speaks of you?” Walker was one step away from making me scream.

  “Please not the prophecy again. Just drop it OK?” I was tiring of this way quickly, I was exhausted. My nerves were shot and I didn’t need more insanity being piled on right now. I guess Akia didn’t either.

  “Help her up and get her out of here! You need to take her and go; head in a direction that will throw him off. If he gives chase I think I can stop him,” said Akia. “Or at least delay him, but you need to take her away from here fast. Mark my words each of you, if anything happens to her while she is under your watch I will kill all of you with my bare hands,” and with that Akia turned and left with that blazing Dominus speed and Walker took charge once again.

  “Darien, and Jaden you come with me. We have to leave a decoy necklace behind, we can put my blood in it, that way Trāves won’t realize his necklace is missing. Jace, take Cat and gather up everything you have here so there’s no sign of you left. And then you have to go. We are running out of time. We will dissect all that happened today when we re-group back home. Catalina, I am asking you to understand that this isn’t something that we can rush through. I promise you that I will sit with you
for as long as you need and I will put all the cards on the table.” With that Darien, Walker and Jaden turned and left the room.

  I wouldn’t have agreed to wait if Akia hadn’t already had my nerves standing on end. I was so edgy that I just wanted to get of Dodge. If Trāves almost consumed me in my dream, then I didn’t want to know what it would be like to meet a Vampire of his power face to face. That was one thing that I hoped I would never have to experience for real.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Darien waited until he was sure that they were far enough away from Cat and there was no way she would be able to hear what he was about to say. He knew she had enough on her plate right now.

  “Hold up Walker,” Darien commanded. “I will not allow you to put Cat in anymore danger and if that means killing you and taking her away from you, then I will do it.” Walker knew Darien still had his gun and he could see Dairen was done screwing around. The question was, had Darien loaded a wooden bullet in the chamber?

  “Calm yourself Darien. You don’t have a clue as to what is going on or just how much trouble she is already in. As usual you don’t see the big picture. If you take her away there is no way you will be able to protect her, it will be days at best before Trāves finds you. I need you to listen up and listen good. You are going to do exactly what I say no questions asked or you are going to have her blood on your hands.” Walker sounded so matter of fact that it was all Darien could do to not pull the gun out and shoot him with it.

  “Do you know how crazy you sound right now Walker? How completely unhinged you were back there in that room? And you expect me to listen to you know? If you ever touch her in that sexual way again I will rip your throat out. The days of you having absolute control over the three of us are over. You are nothing but a beast just like the rest of them to me now.” Darien was shaking; a cold sweat ran down his face. Walker moved so fast that there was nothing Darien could do to avoid being pushed hard into the wall. Walker’s fingers curled around Darien’s chin making it very clear that he had no intention of letting go until his point was made.