Cherishing Destiny (A Dangerous Destiny)

by Blakely, Noelle

  Aurora figured that it must be around 10:30 AM. She was already getting skilled at telling the time of day from the position of the sun. She checked her accuracy with Ryan as they rode yesterday before they ran into trouble. He was the only one that was wearing a watch that didn’t run on batteries. Now she wondered how accurate she was since he was not there to confirm it.

  Just then she heard someone clear his throat loudly, and both women spun to witness a scruffy-faced man holding what looked like a silver short sword to the back of Alex’s neck, against his spine. His other hand was firmly gripping a mass of tawny hair on top of Alex’s head. Alex looked furious, and Aurora was afraid he might try something stupid. She leapt to her feet, eyes flashing red and fangs springing into place. The scruffy man just Ahem’d again and indicated to his right with his head.

  Aurora looked to where he gestured and saw five more men smiling broadly at her and Sara. Two of them had crossbows pointed at Aurora. One of them lifted his bow so that she could get a look at the shiny silver head on his quarrel before he lowered it back down to aim at her. Of the other three, one was cleaning his fingernails with a vicious looking hunting knife, and another held an enormous silver knife that looked almost like a machete. It was clear that these men already knew that firearms were not working in the new world, and they had armed themselves more appropriately than Greasy Hair and his pals. She started thinking of the new lead asshole as Scruffy and Scruffy finally spoke up.

  “I figure that taking a Vampire’s head off still works these days, so that’s just what I’m gonna do if you don’t do exactly what I say.” He leered at Aurora up and down, stripping her with his eyes when he said it.

  Aurora approved of this attitude. This might be a lot easier than I thought, she was thinking when Scruffy motioned for her to approach.

  “Slowly,” he said. “You too, Girl,” he yelled at Sara.

  She got up and followed, and when she was close enough, Aurora reached out and shoved Sara directly behind her, putting herself between Sara and the weapons. She slowly walked toward Scruffy and Alex. All the years of unspoken communication between Aurora and Alex paid off in spades at that moment. Alex’s look and posture told Aurora that he was about to make a move and that she should be ready to back him. She blinked at him almost imperceptibly to show him that she understood. Somehow in the shift of expression in his eyes and a glance toward Sara, he was able to impart regret that Sara was about to be put in danger. Aurora’s fierce look in return told Alex that she had no intention of letting Sara be harmed if she could help it.

  Alex used his eyes to signal Aurora and then he blurred into motion, yanking his head forward, losing some of his hair in the process, and rolled in a somersault that spun at the end to leave him facing his opponent. Scruffy’s reflexes were fantastic, and he lunged at Alex with the blade, faster than Alex could regain his feet. He continued rolling in the direction of his momentum, but this time on his back. He grabbed Scruffy, pulling the man over with him and using his feet to help throw Scruffy to the ground.

  Scruffy was ferocious and nearly as strong as Alex. Alex was baffled until Scruffy began to morph while they struggled. Black stripes began to appear through Scruffy’s gold facial hair. His teeth were growing, long, thick and pointed and his ears were tufting. His eyes glowed greenish, and Alex could feel sharp claws starting to dig into the flesh of his arm where Scruffy was gripping him as they grappled. A Were of the Tiger Clan! Alex was stunned. How could a Were be in league with the humans trying to kill them? He didn’t have time to think about it as he was truly struggling for his life.

  Aurora reacted the instant Alex moved. She shoved Sara to the ground and flew toward the five men with Vampire speed. The crossbows let loose, and a quarrel grazed Aurora’s ear as it passed. The silver stung like mad, but since the quarrel was not imbedded, the wound began healing with the same speed as any other. The other bolt missed entirely. She reached the two men on the end closest to her, one had the hunting knife, and one had the crossbow that had just missed. Her fangs were so long that she couldn’t close her mouth, and she hissed her fury at them as she ran up the center between them, snatching the throats of the man on either side and slamming them both to the ground on their backs. The man with the knife reacted fast enough to cut her beneath the arm, across her ribs, even as she tore his throat out with claws she had produced just for the occasion. The other never even knew what hit him.

  As Aurora hit the two men at full speed from the front, she saw a giant black beast hit the other three from the back. They flew past each other in opposite directions like passing freight trains. By the time Aurora stood with the blood of the two dripping from her fingers and her own blood soaking her side, the beast had dispatched the other men. The man who shot her with the silver had no head. It had been ripped from his shoulders and had rolled several feet away. The two others had kept their heads but not their limbs. In the split second she spared to glance at them, she could not distinguish which body parts went with whom. Her own wound was already closing, and the bleeding stopped.

  Aurora turned toward Alex, who was now fighting a half transformed Were-tiger. The tiger was clearly not as practiced as Ryan and was still in the process of trying to change while fighting at the same time. The rest had been human, and she and the beast had dealt with them in seconds. She hadn’t realized any more than Alex had that he was dealing with a Were. Alex was holding his own, and as Aurora watched, he rolled and threw the tiger-man over himself again. By that time, they were well outside the shelter and half way down toward the shore. Sara lay on the ground nearby trying to stay low and out of the way. As Alex tossed the Were, he used Alex’s trick and continued to roll in a somersault until he was on top of Sara. He snatched her from the ground and held the blade to her throat.

  Aurora hissed again in pure fury as the Were-tiger stepped backwards with Sara trapped against him. An enormous black shape rose up behind him and snatched him by the back of the neck. Aurora heard the snap and crunch of bone, and the blade fell to the grass in front of Sara. The body of the Were-tiger collapsed in a heap, and Sara turned to find herself staring into the face of a gigantic black wolf, with blood dripping from his ferocious display of sharp teeth. She fell backwards on her butt in her fear and surprise. She was sure it was Ryan, but the beast stalked over her splayed legs and brought his face within an inch of hers. Suddenly, the snarling muzzle of the beast shrank back in its head, and the fur retracted into skin that was obviously human. In seconds, Sara was face to face with her brother, Ryan. She cried out her relief and threw her arms around his neck.

  Twenty

  They packed up quickly, and no one said much. They were all lost in their own thoughts. Both Ryan and Alex were trying to work out the how, and why of a Were-tiger leading a small group of humans that were hunting Vampires and other Were. Not that Weres and Vampires really cared much for each other, most of the time, but certainly those humans were a common enemy.

  Aurora was cleaning the blood from her hands and side, her wound closing, but as the case had been lately, it was knitting more slowly than was normal for her. The evidence that something was wrong with her and Alex was getting hard to ignore, but she wasn’t sure where she would even begin trying to develop any theories.

  Sara was packing in a daze. She was feeling overwhelmed by the last couple of days. Her head was spinning with the images of the earthquakes, the Vampires, the sex, the blood and the killing. Her own brother was a beast that she barely believed existed before yesterday, and he was responsible for much of the horrifying violence that had surrounded her the last day or two. It was hard to reconcile the brother she loved with the beast that had ripped out a man’s spine just a few minutes ago. She was certain, however, that a large part of his motivation was her protection, and she wondered, uncomfortably, if that made her partially responsible for the deaths. Her thoughts grew morbid and pensive until Aurora touched her shoulder and she nearly jumped out of her skin. Aurora handed
her some jeans she had obviously taken from one of the bodies. They were going to be way too big, but Aurora had found her a belt, as well. Sara shuddered at the idea of wearing a dead man’s clothes, but she remembered the pain of riding in her dress and took the pants with gratitude.

  Alex and Ryan were packing the horses, and as Ryan fastened the crossbow, he had left with Alex, to his saddle, he gave the brooding Vampire a look of censure. Alex didn’t feel he could argue with the young Were as he was feeling the guilt of near failure. He knew Ryan was angry that he had not protected Sara better, and he felt the same about Aurora, as well.

  He felt inadequate and bewildered. He should have easily been able to handle the Were that attacked him, but they had been very evenly matched and he had struggled to stay out of the reach of the silver blade. He cringed when he thought about how he had allowed Sara to be taken. If Ryan hadn’t been able to surprise him from behind, what would have happened to Sara? He didn’t understand what was happening to his body. He had never heard of or experienced anything like this weakness in the past. He knew that after their safety was secured, he was going to have to seek answers.

  Ryan tied off the crossbow to the saddle in such a way that in one swift motion, he could release the knot and access the weapon. The crossbow made him think of how Alex had promised to keep Sara safe and he glared at the Vampire without pausing in his task. Alex looked miserable and guilty. Ryan’s anger almost dissolved in pity until he remembered what a close thing it had been.

  For the second time in two days, he had used a full shift to overpower and slaughter men. This was not how a Were should act, but the situations had been desperate. Weres had not remained hidden from humans so well all these years by ripping them apart on a regular basis, he thought. Ryan was cunning and well trained, and if the need arose for him to have to take a life, he did so professionally using stealth. He limited his changes to subtle shifts that allowed him to access his strength, speed and superior senses. He was a skilled scout and an assassin if need be. Letting his beast loose to create murder and mayhem was not typical of his precise, almost obsessive, control of everything that had to do with his shifting or his profession.

  He knew the other’s thought of him as a little irresponsible, a grinning boy who took almost nothing too seriously. He was happy to let them underestimate him; the advantage was his. The smiling face he showed the world was not a complete fabrication. He actually was easy going in his personal life, but underneath, he was hard and sharp and he rarely missed anything that happened around him. He was also much more intelligent than most people gave him credit for. It amused him to let everyone think he was a simple man and someday it might just save his life.

  Ryan, like Alex, was also anxious to get them secured so that he could gather some information and pass some on. The Were-tiger incident had disturbing implications, and he knew this was important intelligence that he should be delivering in haste, but he felt that he had to see Sara safe before he left again. Things had become extremely dangerous.

  The two more days that it should have taken for them to reach the cabin, became three as they started traveling through the trees and any other cover they could find. It was decided that travel along the road was a little too risky and that it was worth sacrificing speed for safety.

  Ryan scouted ahead, making sure their path was clear of attackers. He returned frequently to check in. He always reported the way to be clear, and they continued as fast as the terrain allowed.

  Once when Alex thought he smelled human blood in the wind, he asked Ryan, “Are you sure there is no one around here?”

  Ryan just said, “the way is clear. Let’s just keep moving.”

  Alex started to think that Ryan was sometimes the reason that the way was so clear, and he began to suspect again that Ryan was more than he seemed.

  They reached the cabin near sundown on the fourth day since leaving the barn. The one room log structure was intact, but little else could be said for it. The decades of neglect were evident, but they were all too tired to do anything about it before they got some rest. After scouting the area, Ryan was confident that no one had been near this cabin in years, so for the first time since the barn, they all slept without posting a watch.

  It took another two days to get the cabin comfortably habitable. The fireplace chimney was blocked by squirrel’s nests and other debris from animal habitation. Evidence of mice and other woodland rodents was everywhere inside. The few pieces of furniture that had been there, were destroyed and had to be burned, with the exception of a couple of stools. The cabin was a log structure with one decent sized rectangular room. There was no power, water or other conveniences. The hearth was large enough to cook over the fire, and there was an outhouse in the rear that Alex couldn’t remember why he had built but figured he must have had human guests at some point. The original structure was over 120 years old, but it had been repaired and rebuilt as needed over the years. The window openings had sturdy shutters closed over them, a reminder of the days not so long ago that the Vampires could not withstand the sun, but there was no glass in the panes. When the cabin was cleaned out and a fire going in the oversized hearth, it was pretty cozy. They had no lack of horse blankets, bedrolls and sleeping bags after the encounters they survived on the way, so they sat around the room on homemade cushions and even built a bed.

  Ryan raised his eyebrows a little when Sara and Aurora built one large bed for all of them, but they had all become accustomed to sleeping together as they had in the barn, with Alex and Ryan on either end, Aurora next to Alex and Sara snug between Aurora and Ryan. While they had been keeping watch at night, sometimes a spot would be empty, but the order never changed.

  Ryan took a large, complicated looking bow and went hunting on the second day. He brought back a brace of rabbits, and they fashioned a spit to cook them on over the fire. Aurora even thought that the cooking rabbits smelled delicious, but she knew better than to try to eat any.

  Out of respect for Ryan’s feelings, Sara let Alex and Aurora feed from her wrist, but did not engage in any of the other pleasures that made the experience more enjoyable. She even waited for him to go hunting before she suggested that they take care of the situation before he came back. Alex and Aurora only needed to feed every few days depending on the energy they expended, and they were both looking a little tired by the time they fed on Sara for the second time each.

  On the third day, Alex explained that he felt he had to go see if he could locate any of the Vampire council and learn what he could.

  “Not only do we need to know what’s happening, but I have a responsibility as a council member too,” he reasoned.

  “What about my responsibility as a council member?” Aurora countered, she didn’t think anyone should leave or at least that they shouldn’t split up.

  Alex touched her hand soothingly. “I think it will be easier for one of us to move swiftly and secretly until we know where we stand.”

  Ryan nodded. “I hate to say it, but he’s right. We need to use stealth now to get what information we can. I am also going to try to contact some resources in the next few days.”

  It was Sara’s turn to protest. “You only just came back!” she complained a little scared at the idea of them all separating. The group had become her security and family in just a few days.

  “I don’t have very far to go, and I won’t be gone long,” he assured her. “Besides I want to go hunting again and make sure you have enough food and supplies until I get back.”

  “Please, don’t leave them for too long,” Alex pleaded with Ryan. “I am afraid that I will be gone for more than a few days. I need to try and locate council members, and that means big cities if anything can be discovered in the rubble.”

  “I will take care of things here. Don’t worry.” Ryan said seriously.

  “What about me?” Aurora insisted. “I am a council member too, and I am far from helpless.”

  Ryan knew that was true after watchin
g her tear out the throats of two enemies at once, but before he or Alex could respond, Sara grabbed Aurora’s arm.

  “Please, don’t go,” she cried. “Don’t leave me alone here.” She seemed about to start sobbing.

  Aurora took the small women in her arms protectively and said, “No, I won’t leave you. It’s okay, I will stay here with you.”

  Ryan felt a twinge of jealousy at the grateful look Sara bestowed upon Aurora. “In any case, I won’t be gone long,” he said again.

  Alex looked relieved all the way around. Aurora would be safe and would have Sara to occupy and protect and Ryan would be around to help protect Aurora, as well.

  “It’s settled then. I will leave in the morning,” he said.

  Twenty-one

  Alex took one horse and left the next morning in a thick fog. The weather was becoming wetter, colder and windier since the Solar Storm. It was just one thing on the list of things he hoped to get information about.

  It was slow going for the horse on the first day, just trying to get out of the rough terrain of the wilderness area, but Alex knew that once they were out of the foothills that he would be glad of the horse. Alex was a long way from the cabin before he heard anyone else around. That made him feel confident that the cabin was remote enough to be safe, and he felt better about his decision to lead them there. That first time he heard someone coming he was able to conceal himself behind the thick undergrowth and use his equine skills to soothe and keep his mount quiet. The person passed by without incident.

  On the third day of his travels, he was letting his horse drink from a spring fed stream when he saw a young man lead a horse out of the trees just a little further downstream. The youth spotted him and tried to mount and flee. Alex moved like the wind, closing the distance and grabbing the horse by the bridle. He reached out and pulled the rider from the saddle and as the man fell, Alex felt the telltale sting of silver as a knife struck out and sliced across Alex’s forearm. A silver knife! This one was an enemy! He ripped the knife from the man’s hand and threw it into the stream. His eyes were red and glowing, and his fangs were glistening in his open mouth. He saw the scared eyes of a very young man, he guessed to be around 19 or 20, and he felt a little guilt at killing him this way. But, still, he plunged his fangs into the artery pulsing in the neck and drank deeply of the blood that gushed and spurted into his hungry mouth. Alex had not hunted like this in over two centuries, and it was exciting and saddening at the same time.