by Alice Sweet
“Yes I know, and that’s why I need people like you. Someone I can trust.” Drake nodded, and Autumn frowned, “I just want a chance at a fair fight.”
Drake nodded again, “How many do you have now?”
Autumn Replied stoically, “Right now I have four, five if you join.”
Drake hissed, “Five against his supporters, you will be dead within hours of his discovery.”
Autumn nodded slowly, “Well he already killed the rest of my intended clan, save Galen. I haven’t spoken to him yet, though I doubt he will join, he has no reason for turning.”
Drake asked, “Why did Ivan join then?”
Autumn smiled knowing Drake’s thoughts, “I told you I bonded to him already, and he will not turn on me.”
He huffed, “I would not count on that.”
Autumn frowned, “Well I need him as much as he needs me, even if he is not aware of it himself yet. Besides if he changes his mind then we will all fall. He already knows that he is Mirth’s strongest man, and without him Mirth will be severely weakened. Hell, if we are lucky, maybe Mirth will not be able to get members from other clans to join him to kill me before I awake.”
Drake nodded smiling, “Good idea I will remember to use that as a last ditch effort when they close in on us to kill you.”
She frowned, “I hate this crap.”
Drake smiled, “You are different than I thought you would be.”
Autumn smiled, “Ivan thought the same thing, I wonder what it is?” Then she scrunched up her face and pushed her hair back and huffed, Drake did not answer her. Autumn smiled, “Well I end up looking more like you and Mirth, only darker. And if I remember right, hotter, well at least you seemed to think so.”
Drake stored that in his brain, “I said that?”
Autumn frowned, “No but you thought I was beautiful.”
Drake frowned raising his eyebrow, “Beautiful?”
Autumn smiled, “Well you said, ‘Not disgusting.’ But you looked at me in a way that I don’t think I will ever forget.” Autumn blushed slightly then and Drake looked at her sizing her up again and nodded slowly. Autumn cleared her throat, “Alright well I will give you a call right before I finally go to sleep, and if you are still in you can come. If not I will probably be dead soon after that. You were able to resist me fairly well now, so if you do decide to take the other route, I hope you will not be in too much pain, for too long.”
Drake retorted, “You are letting me go?”
Autumn frowned, “I figured that would make you the most comfortable. I want you to make this decision on your own, without additional pressures. Besides you are easily agitated, and I have another female who hasn’t changed yet with me right now. I don’t want you charring her before she has changed, that would upset my chi right now. So please by all means go clear your head and take your time making your decision.” Drake nodded and turned, disappearing into the night, Autumn waved good bye hopeful that he would come around quickly.
She returned to the diner where Sophia was already happily making out with West. The other two males sat staring off into space their two cups of cold coffee sitting in front of them. Autumn smiled shaking her head at the two at them and then turned to the men at the table, “We can go now” They both stood and dropped cash on the table simultaneously not even stopping to count it. West stood and pulled Sophia along with him her eyes already drooping. By the time they stepped outside Sophia put her hand on her head and dropped like a rock. West grabbed her just before her head hit the pavement and carried her sleeping body to the car his eyes gazing at her lovingly as he asked, “Are you certain that she is mine?”
She nodded, “Yep, so be good to her.”
He nodded loading her into the back seat gently. Autumn plopped into the driver’s seat and headed for the Marina. She looked out her rear view mirror catching sight of two shapes that now followed the speeding car. Then she smiled seeing Drake heading them off and Autumn focused on stopping the pulse to Jessup and Ann. The pulse finally stopped pulling them and she mashed down the accelerator, speeding towards her new plan.
When they reached the marina Autumn located a large boat they promptly stole and put underway. There were no complaints to her plan and after two days at sea Autumn finally laid her head down to rest. As soon as she closed her eyes, the bickering began. Then the world went black and she hoped, no prayed, that she would make another jump, but it was to no avail. Mirth knew where she was and he was probably going to kill her in her sleep and there was nothing that she could do about it. She was going to have to rely on her friends to keep her alive and not her first choices either.
Not that they were not good people, just that the bonds were not as strong as she would have liked. Not to mention the driving force for rallying her reinforcements was Drake, a man that she would have trusted with her life before. But he was a different beast now. Ivan and Mirth had both proven that in Grayton’s visions or whoever he really was, now. Autumn felt it the instant he had pushed his hand through his hair in the car the first time that he was wearing a disguise. The bickering between those two began as soon as they knew she had gone into hibernation.
Ivan began the grumbling and Grayton quickly snapped back, “I followed your instructions exactly. If you had not been so confrontational then she would not have been so protective of Grayton.”
Autumn concentrated all of her energy focusing on their conversation, “This will not be easily salvaged, get Gregory.” Autumn faded off into the blackness and the shadows and the blurry familiarity of her first sleep fell upon her then. The world closed and then reopened again, spitting her out into the wide open space of the unknown future.
Frightful End
The sun touched her skin as Autumn awoke on a bench in the middle of an unfamiliar wooded area, the smell of burning flesh in the air. Autumn sat up slowly her eyes dilating as she sniffed the air looking for danger but she found none, at least none alive. With the exception of the smell that she knew meant that there had been a fight of some kind, hopefully all done as far as she was concerned. As with her previous wakes this one could become particularly unnerving. Then she felt the pull towards the smell, the need to know the origin and the potential threat to her.
Autumn cautiously made her way through the leaves that were surprisingly deep, nearly waist thigh high. As she came closer Autumn realized then that there were multiple burn sights, twelve pillars of smoke rose up from the clearing ahead. Autumn moved to the edge of the clearing and confirmed her original count though her suspicions regarding its occupants were wrong. Then a crack on the ground behind her sent her whirling around to face her assailant, her stance ready to attack.
Ivan stood perfectly still his face calm and collected, though he looked extremely pale and emaciated. Autumn stood up straight then and said, “Sorry love I didn’t hear you coming, my head is still a bit fuzzy.” Ivan nodded and moved in cautiously towards her side though he kept his distance. Autumn did not want to scare him so she held out her hand and he quickly stepped closer and took it. Autumn grinned and turned towards Ivan and asked, “Why do you look sick? I thought our kind could not get ill?” Ivan stared at her slack jawed, “And why are there piles of burning humans and animals everywhere?”
He sucked through his now clenched teeth, “Plague, it affects us all.”
Autumn nodded, “A food chain thing then? You are not sick?” Ivan nodded and Autumn asked suspiciously, “How long since you have eaten love?”
Ivan’s posture changed then, “A month or so….”
She instantly sliced her shoulder and said, “Drink.”
Ivan looked at her in disbelief replying, “I can’t.”
Autumn snapped, “Don’t waste it Ivan.”
He jumped onto her knocking her backwards onto the thick cushion of leaves on the ground below them. She did not struggle as his mouth drank greedily from her, his moaning was delirious joy escaping his body. Autumn smiled and caressed Ivan’s now string
y hair, and said, “So, how long has it really been since you have eaten love?” Ivan finally gasped for air his face completely changed back to its original glory and Autumn smiled even wider, “You look much better love.”
He grinned as the blood dripped from his lips and Autumn experienced a feeling of déjà vu again. Then her mind whispered, blood dripped from his lips as he smiled.
Ivan jerked his head up towards her startled and Autumn smiled cocking her head, “Did you hear that love?”
Ivan nodded his eyes wide and innocent, “What was that?”
“My dark side… You don’t mind do you?”
Ivan eyed her cautiously, “Who is it?”
Autumn frowned, “Autumn, part of me that I keep separate, a darker version of myself, dangerous but it keeps me alive, so there it stays locked up in there.” Autumn tapped the side of her head, “Like a doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, except the only thing that lets it out is my unchecked hunger.” Then Autumn frowned, “Why do you not know that already? And why did I not feel you coming, not even a danger pang, nothing. What is going on here?”
Ivan responded appropriately by backing up slowly with his hands raised, “I am sorry that I deceived you my pet, I had to, and well at least I thought that I had to…” his voice faded off and Autumn watched him closely.
“Who did I bond with then?”
Ivan swallowed hard wiping the blood from his lips as he whispered, “Mirth.” Autumn hissed and slammed her hand into the tree next to her sending it splintering and a good portion flying away from them.
Autumn snapped then, “Where is he?”
“Dead as are all of the others,” he explained.
Autumn stopped and stood erect then and asked, “What happened?”
Ivan answered, “When they came for you Drake and the others they defended you till the death,”
Autumn frowned, her chest tightening, “And Mirth?”
Ivan swallowed, “I killed Mirth myself, he wanted to drain you dry and burn the remainder of you just to be safe. He intended to lock away the ashes and to keep them as a trophy.”
“I guess he really was an evil man.”
Ivan nodded his face turning pale again, “I thought that he might really care for you. During the fighting he was a beast, he used all of his remaining blood supplies to kill all of the invaders. Men who he had thought were his allies, but in the end it was just he and I.”
He swallowed, “I think he would have kept up the shurad but after the battle you called out for me and he came to your side. But somehow you knew and he listened to your mind. Then he knew then that you knew, and that you truly intended on killing him. He cried genuine tears that day and he did not speak for nearly a week. When I pressed him for an explanation he told me the truth and when he tried to begin the transfusions I killed him, both versions.”
Autumn nodded her face hard, “And Gregory?”
“Mirth killed him first; I think he was worried that he was going to drag you through time again.”
Autumn nodded her face still impassive, “Are you sure he’s dead?”
“Yes I burnt the body myself.”
She scowled, “So then this is my real future?” She looked out at the open field again, and huffed, “This?”
Ivan walked over to stand next to Autumn now, “Yes, this is it.”
She huffed again and said, “So is it as bad as it looks?”
He frowned deeply, “No it is worse.”
Autumn snapped sarcastically, “Great.”
Ivan watched her closely now, and Autumn asked her mind wondering back to the story, “Did Gregory say anything before he died?”
Ivan replied flatly, “No, just that he wasn’t the one pulling you.”
Autumn smiled sounding giddy with relief, “Really? Who did he say was pulling us then?”
Ivan replied flatly then, “He was just trying to save his hide.”
Autumn frowned, “What makes you think that?”
He answered, “He said that if we waited until you awoke that we would see the truth.”
Autumn smiled, “He did?”
Ivan snapped irritated, “He was just trying to stall for time.”
Autumn huffed, “If he was the one pulling me then he would have done it before Mirth killed him.”
Ivan frowned, “Well I guess we will never know then.”
Autumn frowned at Ivan and smacked his arm angrily, “Stop being so negative, I am trying to work my way through this, be logical.”
Ivan looked at her surprised, “Be logical? Well, nearly all of our food supply is gone, and we are hiding in the forest near the funeral pyres to avoid capture. If you hadn’t awoken when you did, we would have died within the next few days.”
“How long have I been asleep?” Ivan stared off at the piles of burning bodies and did not respond. Autumn snapped, “How long have I been asleep?”
“Nearly a decade,” He admitted at once.
She looked at him disbelieving now and shouted, “Ten Years! What? No way. I was supposed to sleep for one maybe two months, ten years, no, not ten years.” Autumn frowned looking at her mate, “How long has it been since you’ve eaten?”
“Nearly a year,” he admitted.
She hissed, “Are you serious? We can survive that long?”
Ivan frowned deeper, “You have not eaten for ten.”
She frowned, “What?”
He furrowed his brows, “I tried to feed you, as many ways that I could but your body would not take it.”
Autumn knitted her brows then, “Why do I feel so good then?”
“I think that you are drawing it in from the energy around you.”
She nodded, “Well at least we won’t die love.” Ivan nodded looking somewhat relieved, and Autumn continued, “So why didn’t you just drink from me over the last year?”
“I couldn’t, even when I had my delirious spells. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.”
Autumn stepped closer looking worried, “Delirious spells?”
Ivan looked upset and terribly uncomfortable now, “I couldn’t help myself; I thought you were talking to me. Telling me to…” Autumn tilted her head trying to understand his incoherent ramblings.
Then she broke into a devilish smile, “What did you do to me while I slept love?” Ivan would not meet her gaze though and she smiled gently and slid her hands up his torso and he tightened under her touch. Autumn did not stop though, as she stepped closer pinning him to a tree and then began kissing him softly on his neck, and said huskily, “What did you do to me while I slept love?”
He groaned under her roaming hands then and Autumn smiled wickedly then and repeated her question, “What did you do love?”
Ivan sucked in sharply and replied worriedly, “I tried to bond with you.”
Autumn smiled widely, “Like a regular vessel or the way that the eye does?” Ivan did not answer and she huffed, “I need you to trust me the way that I trust you love.”
Ivan replied sounding ashamed now, “Both.”
Autumn smiled, “Both?”
Ivan closed his eyes tightly and nodded, and then she dropped her hands and he began to back pedal, “I only tried the other way once, I was crazed though, I never would have done it otherwise.”
“I might have actually been talking to you love.” Ivan finally looked up at her and she smiled back, “It’s been ten years for me as well.” Ivan eyed her cautiously, and Autumn smiled even wider, “What was it like love?” Ivan huffed and she smiled again this time playfully teasing him, “Well?”
He huffed, looking agitated, “Warm.”
Autumn smiled wider, “Can we do it again?”
Ivan seemed taken aback by her words, “What? Now…Here?”
Autumn beamed, “Yes, no time is better than the present.” Ivan frowned still trying to determine if she was serious his eyebrow arched high watching her closely. Autumn slid her hands up his chest asking, “Don’t you love me?”
Ivan looke
d at her surprised and whispered, “Yes I do.”
Autumn smiled and leaned into kiss him and then stopped, listening to the sounds coming from the forest behind them, as she said, “Yes I am guessing that you must have kept me safe for ten years.” Ivan looked at her confused now, and he was just about to ask when Autumn replied, “I think I know why I finally woke up.” Then she turned towards her guests putting herself in between Ivan and them.
There were nearly thirty of them, but only three vessels and Ivan was instantly growling. The men stepped out watching them closely; Autumn did not recognize any of them thankfully. Ivan tried to step out but she blocked his advance speaking first, “May I help you gentlemen with something?”
A larger male spat out, “We want the eye.”
Autumn frowned, “Why do you want me?” The man’s eyes enlarged and he stepped forward, she matched his movement. A few more stepped forward, at her step, and she repeated her question, “What do you need me for?”
The male clarified, “You are awake?”
Autumn smiled and looked down at her body, “I am pretty sure that I am.” The man nodded and then they looked at each other for a solution to their problem. She asked Ivan inside his head, Why are they here?
Ivan responded aloud, “They came to take your body.”
Autumn asked him inside his head again, what were they planning on doing with it?
Ivan growled, “Drain it.”
Autumn nodded, “And now?”
“Likely the same thing if they can get it.”
Autumn huffed, “Just Let them try.”
“Don’t tempt them,” he growled back.
Autumn smiled mischievously, “Why not?”
Ivan huffed, “Autumn please.”
“I won’t start unless they do.” Ivan nodded and then the man nodded and backed away from them slowly. The remaining men backed away slowly though surprisingly the humans seemed more reluctant to leave. Autumn smiled and stepped forward letting a low growl escape her lips. Autumn watched as they finally backed off. Then she asked Ivan, “Why are the human’s interested in me?”
“You are the only female breeder remaining.”