Her eyes went to the window watching as Newberg flew passed them it was such a small town that they were on the highway in no time.
“Did you know that I know the exact moment of my birth? I was born at one fifty-two am. I’ve lived in fear of that time ever since I was old enough to know what it meant to me. Now I’m flying down a highway like that time means nothing. One of us has a screw lose, and I fear it may be both of us.”
She looked over to see how fast they were going the speedometer was hanging steadily at one hundred. He wasn’t afraid of speed, and it seemed the police weren’t inclined to stop him since he blew past two-speed traps without slowing down.
The silence in the car was deafening but maybe it was appropriate as they both were doing something irresponsible. Joaquin drove for close to three hours before he reached the closest city. It was such a contrast to where they were. Tall buildings and businesses with neon signs everywhere. Their were fast food restaurants on every corner. She missed the city, but she couldn’t enjoy it now as she looked at the clock in the car. It was ten pm and soon the city would burn.
He stopped the car and came around to her door to let her out. He offered his hand and helped her to stand.
“Neither of us is dressed for a pricey restaurant, but do you like pasta? This is the best place in town for it.” He indicated the restaurant they were standing in front of.
She nodded her head, yes and they went inside.
“Joaquin,” several of the employees as well as the customers called out his name and waved at him.
He walked up to one older man and his wife.
“Boy, you’re a genius. I did exactly what you said. I got rid of the stock that was holding me down and invested all the money into that start-up company, the one they said was doomed to failure. I can retire, five years earlier than I thought I would be able to. Nellie and I are taking a cruise. A cruise!”
“Mr. Peters…”
“How many times have I told you to call me John?” he asked interrupting him. He stood and pulled Joaquin into a big bear hug before his wife stood and got into the picture giving him a kiss on the cheek.
“Thank you, son. Five years to spend together. The time is precious to us.”
Grace blinked hard because she understood more than most how precious time was.
“Who is this beautiful woman you have with you?” Nellie asked.
“Must be his girlfriend.” John smiled at him. “She sure is pretty.”
Grace cheeks heated up.
“She is beautiful. This is Grace; she consented to have dinner with me tonight. Grace, this is John and Nellie Peters. I helped them with some stocks.”
“He's helped all of us with our stocks,” Nellie indicated the restaurant. “That boy has a heart of gold; I’m telling you he’s a keeper.”
Grace smiled and whispered loudly, “I think your right.”
“Remember my words, young lady. Now the two of you move along so you can get something to eat before Rufus back there decides he tired of cooking.”
“I’ll cook for you any day, Nellie,” a voice came from behind a closed door. “All you have to do is get rid of that extra weight you're carrying.”
Nellie laughed.
“I’ll give you extra weight,” John called out, and they all laughed.
They must be close. Grace had never seen a restaurant where the people seemed to not only know each other but like each other. Joaquin led her to a booth. The restaurant was old but in good condition. Their were tables for four on one side and booths on the other side. The wood floor looked like they pushed the tables aside at times and danced. There was a small stage for a band although there wasn’t one playing tonight.
The windows were wide, and they sparkled with the neon light shining on them from other businesses. The employees wore black pants mostly jeans and white shirts with the name Rufus Pasta Shop on the right side of the shirt.
“You come here often?”
“It’s one of my favorite places to eat, and I like the clientele.”
“They seem to like you. So is that what you do? Educate people on stocks?”
“Yes and no, it’s a hobby of mine and I’m good at it, but I never did it for a living.”
“What do you do, Grace?”
“Nothing now, I do odds and ends and wait for my time to die.”
“Hi,” the waiter came over and handed them their menus. “Can I get you something to drink to start you off?”
Grace looked at her menu to see a selection of summertime drinks. “Can I get a strawberry lemonade?”
“Good choice, those taste so good this time of year.”
“I’ll take what Grace is having.”
“Perfect, I’ll go get your drinks and take your orders when you’re ready.”
He walked away and Grace smiled; he couldn’t be more than eighteen.
“Rufus is his grandfather. He’s learning the business from the ground up. I remember when he was barely responsible for cleaning the toilets, and the old man checked him every time. Now he’s a waiter. One day he’ll own this place.”
“That’s what a legacy should be, handing down something worthwhile to the generation after you.”
“Grace, what happens at one fifty-two am?”
“The world explodes. My world explodes, and you and anyone else around me dies.”
“Then I guess we better eat fast so we can get you out of here.”
“What about you, Joaquin?”
“I’m an abomination that should never have survived. My very body is fighting itself because I was never meant to be, and if those I called friends ever found out what I was, they would kill me.”
She lifted her hand and placed it on his. It was stupid, but she never spent time with someone who understood what it felt like to know you were going to hit the wall, and there wasn’t a thing you could do about it.
“Maybe they would care enough about you not to care about anything else.”
He turned her hand over and laced his fingers with hers.
“Maybe or maybe old prejudices die the hardest death and rear their heads at the slightest provocation.”
He was right, of course. How many times had she seen it when things should have been perfect, but then someone said, do you remember when he said this?
That was all it took to have family members choosing sides; she’d seen it more than once in her family. Bitterness and hurt didn’t die easily.
“So you’d rather take your chances with me—a ticking time bomb than admit what you are to your friends.”
“That’s about it.” His hand came up to caress the side of her face. “If tonight’s our last night let’s make it a good one.”
He leaned over and kissed her. Her hands went around his neck pulling him closer as his tongue invaded her mouth giving her what she had avoided over the last year.
A cheer went up in the restaurant causing them to break apart.
“More of that later,” he gave her a wink. “I promise.”
The waiter brought their drinks and took their orders. Grace pulled out her cell phone to check the time. Not too much later, Joaquin, she thought, my time is running out.
Chapter Three
Grace smiled when the waiter brought her food. It was the best thing they had on the menu as far as she was concerned it was a combination of pasta, sauce, and bite-sized pieces of steak. Could a girl ask for anything else?
Well, yeah, she had a list of things but for her last meal, this would do nicely. When the waiter asked her if she was interested in anything on the wine menu she politely declined. Slightly tipsy and the power to burn everything down didn’t go hand in hand. She cringed just thinking about it.
She took a bite and moaned. “This is good.”
“I told you, Rufus has the best pasta around. Consider today family day, but usually there are lines of people waiting outside hoping someone doesn’t show so they can take their place.”
She
took another bite and chewed contentedly before answering. “This is worth waiting in line over. Glad we were able to get in on family day.”
She took a sip of the water in her glass, although she also had a glass filled with lemonade. She was doing the last things she would ever do as a free woman and who knew food was so high up on her list.
“Will you tell me about your family?”
“There isn’t much to tell, my mom was African American, and my dad was Caucasian. They got together before it was a thing because they loved each other. My mom, she knew about the curse on her life, that’s why they got married when she turned eighteen. She wanted some time to raise her children before law enforcement killed her.”
“They wouldn’t kill her; she would simply go to jail, solitary confinement.”
Grace just looked at him until he ducked his head. “Maybe my world is different from yours. When she was twenty-nine, thirty days before she was supposed to turn thirty…I was ten at the time she reported me as abandoned. My mom and dad hung around to make sure I was taken care of then one week before her thirtieth birthday they disappeared. I never heard from them again. I don’t know what happened was she killed, is she still alive? Did my dad die with her? I always thought he would come back, but he didn’t. I’ve been alone ever since.
“I did all the right things because my mom and dad made me promise and I guess I thought they were out there watching over me. I got good grades in school and went to college to study genetics and how to manipulate genes and cells, but it didn't matter, anything I could do wouldn’t cure a curse. That’s one of the reasons I don’t have children. I need this curse to die with me.”
She turned her head to look at the walls that were painted a light green with different plants on them. The tomato plant was her favorite. Thick ripe tomatoes hung from the stems. Life would go on even after it stopped for her.
“Do you remember that feeling you had as a child? The one that said you would live forever and then something happened to make you understand that wasn’t going to happen for you?” he asked her, quietly bringing her attention back to him.
“Yeah, I remember.”
“That happened to me. One day I simply realized I wouldn’t be granted as much time as the rest of my people. You know what? It sucked, but I learned to live with it.”
Grace smiled at him. “It’s part of life, and we all learn to live with it eventually.”
He reached over to take her hand when the fire alarm went off.
“Get out!” the waiters and waitresses were yelling as they started clearing the restaurant.
“We have to get back there.” Grace stood up and stopped when Joaquin grabbed her arm.
“You can’t go back there.”
“I’m the only one who can go back there.” She slid out the booth with Joaquin following. He made sure that the staff made it out of there and practically picked Rufus up and hauled him to the door.
When he walked back into the kitchen, everything had stopped. Grace stood in the middle of the room with fire dancing around her body. She collected little strands that were still trying to burn at the walls or consume the grease to get bigger.
The fire began to approach her as if she was the queen and it owed its allegiance to her. He could see the flames on the edge, the ones that tried to resist as if they had a mind of their own. They burned and crackled fighting her command as the rest moved towards her silently. Some of the flames weren’t going to allow her to control them. They were determined to burn until they were bloated on ash and destruction. Her presence changed as her body became all flame; she dared any random flame to go against her will. The flames moved and spread until they came together as one solid flame. It moved towards her until it engulfed Grace covering her flame with its heat and then she began to absorb it into her body until once again she stood there, her black hair standing on the edges but the fire was out, and thousands of dollars of damage that could have been done was avoided.
“I need some place to go to discharge this flame harmlessly.”
Joaquin nodded and took her out the back door. The firefighters were pulling up and rushing into the restaurant looking for the flames. The staff was screaming two people were still inside. Grace and Joaquin were staying in the shadows until he caught Rufus’s Gaze. He told him with a nod that everything was ok.
Grace climbed into the seat while Joaquin released the parking brake and pushed the car down the street before he got in and took off.
She looked over at him with a smile on her face. “I had fun tonight, thank you.”
He grinned at her, his eyes shining. “You were magnificent, I’ve never seen anything like that, and I won’t ever forget it. Where do you need to go to discharge the fire you took in?”
“A small lake or pond. I prefer a pond; they are easier to monitor.”
He nodded and changed directions heading out of the city until they were in a remote location with a nice size pond.
She got out and went to stand by it, once again feeling sorry for the fish that resided in the pond.
“I always feel sorry for the life I take in the pond.”
“That’s why I brought you here. There is no life in this pond, and your fire will help to purify it.”
She gave him a look for a minute that made his heart pound faster before she lifted her hands and allowed her body to become fire. She poured the flames she took in out and then when she was done she poured out the energy, the fire that her body automatically made until she fell by the side of the pond drained.
“How long are you drained?” He came to sit next to her allowing his shoulders to touch hers.
“Seconds. My body immediately begins to create the fire. I am never empty enough not to hurt someone.”
“How many someones have you hurt?”
“None, but that’s about to change.”
“Walk with me?” He stood and reached for her hand helping her up.
She took his hand and stood, dusting herself off before she looked at her cell phone. It’s my birthday.”
“Not yet we have an hour and fifty-two minutes’ left.
“Yeah, you should leave. This is a remote location. I should be all right here at least for a while.”
“I know, let's walk.” He caught her hand, and they began to walk hiking up the mountainside. He pointed out different trees and random flowers.
“Tell me about your life growing up.”
“I grew up in secret. I don’t think my dad or my mom wanted it that way, but when my dad decided to tell everyone about me, he died before he got a chance. My mom, she didn’t have anyone to depend on so she finished raising me by herself. I needed to be something other than what I was, and it helped that physically I look like my mom but genetically I was more like my dad although I inherited the ability to shapeshift into very large cats from my mom. She used to laugh about it, saying if only her people knew what they could do on this planet they might have come here with her.”
“Where’s your mom now?”
“She’s dead, one of her people caught her out one day and seeing her enraged him. He killed her before she had a chance to flee. “
“How did you find him?”
“I was there, still young with no real control over my powers. Even as she was dying, she was communicating with me. I was to be safe, or her death would mean nothing. I hid for a long time that day. I waited, I learned to use my powers, slower than those around me because I was a hybrid who didn’t know what he could and couldn’t do. Then one day the same male who killed my mom came after me. I rejoiced.”
“You killed him.”
“I did after several weeks of slowly getting him to that point. You can kill anyone you want but not my mother. The price for touching her was a fate worse than death and I made sure he felt every moment before I put him out of his misery.”
“I would have done the same thing.”
They stopped when they came to a large ledge; the fall w
ould be steep, maybe a hundred feet, but she was sure they would survive it. Instead of jumping, they sat with their legs swinging over the ledge.
There was a bed of grass underneath them and a grove of trees at their feet. The moon cast a beautiful shine on the night and the stars lit it up like it was Christmas.
“I’ve been so busy surviving, dreading my birthday that I’ve forgotten the beauty that surrounds me on a day to day basis.”
“It is beautiful up here. You’re beautiful.” He gathered her into his arms, and they laid back to look up into the night sky.
“There’s a little time left Joaquin; you can run, get away. I’ll stay here as long as possible. Please run.”
“Tell me what’s going to happen.”
“At one fifty-two my body will start to become a red hot flame, and it will seek to devour anyone around it. It will seek to devour you, and we will die together lying here watching the night sky.”
“I always wanted to go out in a blaze of glory.” She looked at him, the sadness in her heart nearly breaking him in half.
“I’m dying, Grace; I always knew this would happen. I’ve been blessed to have this many years. My people, we don’t get a lot of choice in our mate. We know her when we see her, and I knew when I saw you. I’d rather die with you than die alone.”
She nodded. “It’s time.”
He pulled her closer into his arms and fused his lips with hers. Grace’s body began to break apart, but he could feel her lips on his. The air began to heat, and he watched the flame surround his body as it began to lick him, devouring him with its greedy tongue, and still he held on.
He talked to her although he knew she couldn’t hear. He told her how beautiful their children would be and how happy their life would be together if they had been given a chance. He encouraged her to die quickly because he didn’t want her to be in pain and then his mind went blank as his body burned.
Joaquin's Saving Grace (Alien Mates Book Five 5) Page 2