Quintus: #7 (Luna Lodge: Hunters of Atlas)

by Madison Stevens

  "She's my Vestal," Quintus said. "You know there's no choice."

  Vestal? What the hell was that?

  There was no way she was becoming some crazy man's plaything because he had some strange notion of whatever it might be. Maybe it was some weird hybrid thing.

  More than a few disturbing rumors had surfaced on the news about the hybrids of Luna Lodge and women. She didn’t want to believe in that sort of thing, but hybrids were so strange and mysterious, she wasn’t sure what to believe.

  The door opened, almost sending her to the ground. She straightened and looked up. Quintus stood in front of her staring down, his phone still in hand.

  "I’m going to have to let you go," he said. He placed the phone back into his pocket and stared down at her. "You should get more sleep at night," he said firmly.

  His words struck more at home than she cared to admit.

  "That monster in the woods," Allison said, all the pieces starting to click together. "You know what that monster is. I saw it chasing one of your people, so don’t try and feed me any more lies.”

  Quintus nodded towards the living room. "I've made something to eat," he said. "You should probably get some water and food before we really talk."

  This was all too much. Him standing there with his bright blue eyes. It felt like the world had been turned on end, and she was racing to keep up.

  Seeing the monster had been bad enough, but she’d been far away, able to still pretend it was some mystery to be solved and not a solid truth. There was no way she could do that with Quintus.

  Quintus was relieved when she decided to follow him into the living room. He initially struggled with everything he had placed at her feet, but there were so many things he needed to talk to her about. There was no going back now.

  Allison sat down and took several drinks of the water in front of her. She stared up at him expectantly. “Spill it.”

  "The monster is a Glycon," he said. “Are you familiar with the Horatius Group?”

  “Only what I’ve heard on the news. They are some sort of evil company that helps terrorists, and that they made the Luna Lodge hybrids.”

  Quintus nodded. “Yes, they also are responsible for turning our people into hybrids, and they also created the Glycons, but hybrids and Glycons are two very different species.”

  Allison picked up a sandwich and took a small bite. He was relieved to see her get anything in her stomach after fainting. Perhaps more of it was from her not taking care of herself rather than the shock of his revelations.

  She eyed him for a moment as she chewed her food. "And this Glycon, it’s dangerous I take it?"

  Quintus nodded. “The animal deaths, and that man in the mountain were Glycon-related. The equipment we’re putting up will help deter them and possibly keep the citizens safe."

  "Them? As in more than one of those monsters?” She shuddered.

  Quintus nodded again. "At first we thought there was just one and that it was taken care of, but the night that you saw one of our people, we discovered there was more than one. They seems to be wandering the area."

  “I’ve lived here all my life, and we’ve never had anything like this. Even after the Azilians moved in we haven’t.” Allison took another small bite. "Are they here because you hybrids are here?”

  It was the million-dollar question.

  "We have to assume that, but we don't really know," he said. "They've made no attempt to fight with our people unless we engaged them, but it could be that their orders are to stand down. They aren’t all that bright. Someone’s got to be pulling their strings.” He shrugged. “At least that’s how it has been in the past. These ones are a little strange.”

  “And a bestial super-monster isn’t strange normally?”

  “Well, strange for Glycons.”

  Allison furrowed her brow. “Assuming they are taking orders, who would be giving the orders?”

  “We’re not sure. Normally, Glycons work for the Horatius Group, but we have reason to believe these might not be working for the Group. To be honest, we’re just not sure. But that’s one of the reasons we’re so secretive. If the Group knew we were here, they’d come for us, and not just with a few Glycons. They’d come with hordes of them, and troops, and little regard for whoever got in their way until they enslaved us again.”

  Allison set down the sandwich she had been about to take a bite out of. "So you're on the run?"

  It would make them vulnerable to admit they had no choice. They had to place their trust in her and hope that she could be trusted.

  "Our lives are in your hands. We’re doing everything we can to find the Glycons and protect the town, but if you call someone in, it’s not a matter of if, but when, the Horatius Group shows up.”

  Allison sat quietly, thinking over everything he had just told her. When she finally spoke again, the topic wasn't in the direction he expected.

  "What's a Vestal?" she said, leaning forward and watching him intently.

  Shit. Apparently she had heard him on the phone. He’d heard her moving, but didn’t realize how much she’d heard.

  "A Vestal," he said, and stared directly at her. "It is the fated mate of a hybrid."

  She blinked, her face reddening. "I’m sorry, the what?"

  "Hybrids have one chance at happiness," he said, fumbling to find the right words. "There is only one Vestal for every hybrid, and to find their Vestal is amazing."

  He watched as Allison quickly stood, her face now rigid with anger.

  "Get out,” she snapped. “Now.”

  Quintus blinked for a few moments, not quite sure he understood what she said.

  Allison marched over to the door and held it open for him. "I said get out now."

  He rose from his seat and made his way over to the door. "If you could just give me a moment–" He reached out.

  She shook her head and stepped away from his hand. "I've heard quite enough for one day," she said. "Please, just leave."

  Quintus nodded. She needed time. And the only way she would get that was if he wasn't there for her to think.

  "Good night, Allison," he said, and made his way to the truck.

  The door closed behind him, and the sound stabbed at his heart.

  Chapter Ten

  All evening Allison thought about what Quintus had told her. She tossed and turned as she thought about the fact that a whole group of hybrids now lived near Eagle Ridge and what exactly that meant to the citizens. She even wondered what Doris would say if she knew.

  She just didn’t know what the right thing to do was. She could easily call up the state or federal authorities. She doubted they wanted a group of hybrids living in secret away from a place like Luna Lodge.

  That didn’t feel right, though. For all the sensationalism on the news about the Luna Lodge hybrids, they seemed like the victims, and she had no reason to believe this other group of hybrids was any different.

  After all, she’d already witnessed one of them saving someone from a Glycon. That had to count for something.

  The next morning she waited as she wrestled with the questions more, wondering if Quintus would come by. Kicking him out hadn't been the best idea, but she'd had more than she could take. It was too much too soon.

  There were parts of his story she still wasn’t even sure about. The whole Vestal thing was hard for her to even wrap her mind around. They hadn’t spent more than a few hours together, and he was already saying they were fated for one another. Talk about a clingy guy.

  It was like some bad dating game that usually ended up with someone having some really horrible habit that made the other person’s skin crawl. And yet, there was a small part of her that whispered just how right it felt when he said it.

  Allison had never in her life been as immediately attracted to a man, or as strongly for that matter, as she was to Quintus. She could explain it away as being attracted to a man built like a god, but she wasn’t sure if that was true.

  She’d all but
given up at making any sort of decision when a knock came at the front door.

  Her heart picked up at the sound.

  Was it beating faster because she was his Vestal or because he told her she was his Vestal?

  She sighed. Trying to figure out which would only make her more crazy than she already was.

  Allison shook herself and quickly made her way over to the door.

  When she opened the door, she was less surprised and more relieved to find the handsome face of Quintus looking down at her.

  He pushed his sunglasses on top of his head and ran a hand through his hair nervously.

  "I didn't know if you would open the door," he said quietly. “But I had to try.” He leaned his tall, muscular body against the door frame.

  "I've had some time to think," she said, and looked around.

  She was close enough to the road that if anyone drove by they would see enough to spread rumors. Before he’d obviously been doing work, but them just chatting at the door could be misinterpreted.

  It was part of the fun of living in a small town, and the last thing she wanted was to give Doris the chance to talk more shit about her.

  “Come inside,” Allison said, and nodded inside.

  He stepped into the house and closed the door behind them. Allison tried not to lean in as he passed by. Soft notes of sandalwood and pine drifted past and did things to her stomach she wasn’t quite ready to admit.

  Quintus stopped by his handiwork and stepped on it. “Looks like it’s holding,” he said, a slight smile on his face.

  Allison smiled and nodded. “You do good work.”

  He took a seat at the table, and she sat across from him.

  "I'm glad you're not kicking me out again," Quintus said.

  Heat assaulted her face, and she looked down at her hands. "It was just too much," she said. "I needed time to think. You have to understand how strange that sort of thing is. Yes, I’ve heard about the hybrids on TV, but this is Eagle Ridge, and even a foreign tourist is a pretty exotic thing here.”

  Quintus nodded. "And now that you've had time to think?"

  He raised a brow. Allison could see the uncertainty on his face.

  "I need to know everything I can about the Glycons," she said. “I need to be able to help the people of the town. I’ve thought about it. No one will ever believe if I tell them. If I call the state or the feds, even if I ignore that the Horatius Group might come after you, the authorities might not send someone useful anytime soon. A man has already died, and more might if I don’t get this handled quickly, and I need to make sure someone is watching out for the best interests of the town.”

  Quintus frowned. “We’re watching out for the town.”

  This time it was her turn to raise a brow. “And if things go south here? You think your people will stay? Would you stay if you knew the Horatius Group was coming?”

  He was silent for a moment before his bright blue eyes locked with hers. “I’ll stay.”

  Her heart beat wildly in her chest. She didn’t want to have feelings for him, but it was hard when he was staring at her that way and saying those sorts of things.

  “Have dinner with me,” she blurted out.

  It hadn’t been what she intended to say, but as soon as the words were out of her mouth, they just sounded right.

  She waited for him to respond and was surprised when he smiled at her.

  “What are we having?”

  * * *

  Quintus had been surprised she’d even answered the door, and now he was sitting down to dinner with her.

  He looked down at his plate and tried to figure out just what he was supposed to do with the round and white disk of bread that had meat on it.

  Allison placed some lettuce, cheese, and tomato-looking sauce over the top. When she’d finished, she glanced over to him.

  “Don’t you want anything on your taco?” she asked. “Your tortilla looks pretty sad and empty.”

  So that was what the disk was called.

  He looked back down to his plate. One of the biggest down sides to being a hybrid was how much about modern culture they just didn’t know. It didn’t matter how much TV he watched, there was always something that seemed to surprise him. There was just so much diversity to human culture.

  Allison watched him for a moment, and then her eyes widened. “Is this your first taco?” she asked after a moment.

  Quintus shrugged. “There’s a chance I’ve had it before and don’t remember.”

  Allison frowned. “How can you not remember?”

  He squirmed slightly in his seat. Really, he wanted her to know the truth, but he realized that by doing so he was putting himself out there in a way she couldn’t ever understand.

  “When we were under the control of the Horatius Group, many of us were placed in special cryogenic suspension. We’re not sure exactly why or for how long, but when we came to, almost all memory of our lives before were gone.”

  He didn’t even want to look at her and see the pity in her eyes. It was bad enough to feel it rolling off her.

  Allison thrust her hand across the table. “Well, everyone should know the love of tacos.”

  Quintus placed his plate in her hand and watched as she placed the same items she had on his tortilla.

  “Now you just fold it over and pick it up,” she said, demonstrating with her own.

  An explosion of flavors burst in his mouth, and he smiled around the bite he’d taken. This was different from what he normally had. Usually whatever meat he could heat in a pan and a salad.

  They ate mostly in silence. He had been so nervous she might turn him away that he’d hardly eaten much that day. With a full stomach, he pushed his plate away.

  “I’m impressed,” Allison said. “You can pack away seven tacos and still look like that.”

  A soft blush spread across her cheeks. The look suited her.

  More and more, Quintus found himself noticing the soft notes about her. The way she always pulled her long brown hair back off her neck or how she liked to tuck the one strand of hair slightly shorter than the rest behind her ear.

  If he didn’t start guarding his heart more, he’d find himself totally lost in her.

  Allison busied herself clearing off the table, and he followed her to the kitchen with his own plate.

  It was a small room, maybe slightly bigger than his own kitchen, but there were bits of yellow all over the place. It looked like bursts of sunshine and was wholly unexpected.

  “Thank you for dinner,” he said as he placed the plate into the soapy water.

  Allison jumped and spun around toward him. Soap and dishwater splashed his blue shirt.

  “Oh shit,” she groaned and swiped the soap from off the shirt.

  With his lightning speed, Quintus reached out and grabbed her hand.

  Allison spread her palm out against his chest, and he hoped she could feel just how fast his heart was beating. Being near her did things to him he didn’t even think possible.

  “I had a nice night,”’ he said quietly.

  Allison parted her lips slightly with her tongue as she licked them and nodded.

  His eyes fixated on her sweet red lips.

  “Why do they glow?” she asked.

  He leaned forward a little. “They glow when we’re angry or excited,” he whispered.

  “Oh.”

  Her words came out in a soft whisper just before his mouth closed the distance between them.

  He felt the animal in him rage to kiss her with everything he had, but the man in him knew it was too soon. She wasn’t ready for that, even if her Vestal side was pulling at her own heart.

  Instead Quintus slid his mouth against hers, drawing her bottom lip in between his own, nibbling a little as he did so.

  His tongue skimmed the seam of her mouth, and he was surprised when she opened to him.

  Their tongues met in the middle. Just the tips at first testing one another before he slipped into her mouth
.

  Her hands pressed against his chest and slid up around his neck. She moaned against his mouth. The animal in him perked up once again, eager for the chance to be let loose.

  Quintus kept himself in check, always making sure his hands never moved too far off or that his lower half didn’t betray just how much he wanted her at that moment. He didn’t want to push her away after he’d managed to calm her down.

  A loud groan ripped through him when she pushed her hips forward, connecting them in all the right ways. His hands came to her hips, and as much as he knew he should pull away, he found himself grinding back against her.

  There was no way he could resist his Vestal any longer.

  A blinding blue light shone, and white heat pumped through him.

  The two broke apart, and Quintus stared at his arms where she had been touching him before.

  “Your tattoo,” Allison said, her lips red and swollen, but eyes wide in surprise. “I touched your tattoo.”

  He’d heard it before. Something about the Vestals touch when it came to the tattoos.

  Quintus brought her hand to his mouth and placed a soft kiss there.

  “We’re connected,” he said. “Our spirits call out to one another. As I said, being a Vestal is a very special thing.”

  She stared at him for a moment before stepping towards him again. Quintus held out a hand.

  “I think maybe that’s enough excitement for tonight,” he said, and grinned.

  His lower half screamed at him for backing away, but he knew it was the right thing to do. When it was their time, he wanted to know that he had her for more than just a night.

  “Thank you for dinner,” he said, and made his way to the front door.

  Allison was very quiet as she followed him. “Thanks for…”

  The words died in her mouth, and Quintus wondered if she was still thinking about the kiss. He knew he would be.

  When he’d opened the front door, he turned and quickly placed another kiss against her lips before stepping away again.

  “Sleep well, Allison,” he whispered.