Love Beyond Lies

by Rebecca Royce

  With a pop, the room was suddenly filled with every Outsider she knew. Christophe hit the ground and then a flurry of movement and shouting took place. Colin hauled her against him. She closed her eyes. He smelled right.

  She closed her eyes. “Hi.”

  “Hi.” He laughed. “This isn’t funny but it feels like it is. How are you here? We were in a graveyard. I was ready to start digging up bodies to get to you and then we tried again.”

  She pulled back. “I was in the graveyard. And then I was here. I’ve been… changed.”

  Colin paled. “What did they do to you?”

  “They gave me their power.”

  She had to give him credit, he was doing the best he could given what she’d just thrown at him. “To do what with it?”

  “They said I’d know at the time.” She sighed. “I don’t know. I think we need to have a meeting with everyone. Even though what I want to do is go to bed and pretend this isn’t happening anymore. The good news? The shadows are disturbed enough with what is happening that they’re not going to stalk me anymore. In any case, we should meet. All of us.”

  Colin rubbed his eyes. “Baby, I have things to say to you. I don’t want to share you with the group.”

  She tugged at his shirt. “You never have to share me. Ever. But, we have to work with the others. The world is burning.”

  He winced. “Could I feel any more like a shit head?”

  Her grin was slow. She loved him like this. “You might be a shit head. But you’re my shit head.”

  “Very funny. Fine. Let’s have a meeting. Because that always goes so well.”

  Did meetings not go well? She supposed she was about to find out.

  Was it possible silence could speak louder than words? The room was so completely still and no one spoke. Marina finally sighed. “I can’t see the shadow powers on you. I can see Alexa’s demon stink but not you. Whatever they did, it’s not visible even with my third eye.”

  Alexa groaned. “Because gods forbid we go two minutes without pointing that out.”

  Leonardo nodded toward Marina. “Leave it.”

  Marina shrugged. “I was stating fact. Not making a rude remark.”

  “You so were.” Leonardo laughed. “Demon stink? You knew just what you were saying.”

  Alexa threw her hands in the air. “I don’t need you to defend me.”

  “Well, you’re getting it just the same.”

  Were those two ever going to stop? Gia wasn’t sure. She decided the best course of action was to ignore them. She hadn’t been through everything the others had with them. This might even be improvement.

  Gia continued. “I have their powers. That is the ability to… infect a mind, if you will. To take ownership of a body. Now, normally this would be reserved for humans, I think. I’m not clear if it works one hundred percent of the time on humans and creatures like them in other dimensions…the general population if you will…”

  Gabriel held up his hand. “We get it.”

  Okay. That was good since this was all pretty new to her. “Anyway, they are these shadow creatures’ food source.” It was gross to even say that. “They don’t like the word, but they possess the body and then feed off of it until the body dies and from there… they get another food source. Sebastian called them a parasite and that is an accurate reflection. So, they don’t want to lose this one. They want to help.”

  Kal shook his head. “Then why don’t they just help? Why put you through this whole ordeal?”

  Colin ran a hand through her hair and she sighed. That was a nice feeling, knowing he was right there. “They aren’t like that. They want to help but they also don’t want to risk themselves. They think as a collective. They… don’t understand a lot of feelings past need. They wanted to understand love. I’m not sure why that mattered right now, but they decided to try to understand. The only thing was they kept equating love to pain. The idea of loss… I don’t know. I can’t explain it. I just have some of their powers and if the time comes and I can use it on The Father, I will.”

  Leonardo nodded. “That is great. I mean, I hate that you went through that but we have to take any and all help we can. Now, we need a plan.”

  “We need a break.” Marina rubbed her eyes. “Drew and Gabriel can’t keep up with this. They’re going to die. And Eden… she’s not quite right yet.”

  The aforementioned prophet groaned and Gia winced. She hadn’t had time with any of these people yet to catch up. She loved Eden, always had. Marina was right. Eden didn’t look well.

  “The world is burning.” Leonardo turned his back on everyone to walk to the window. “I don’t know that we have time for a break.”

  “Two days isn’t going to save or destroy it,” Alexa spoke to his back. “If we stay away from the demons they’ll be quieter. We could take two days.”

  He turned around. “Okay. If everyone takes the two days. No one runs off to just do one thing or check one thing. No one does that. Then we lose our two days because we have to go rescue. Two days and then we are going to surround The Father and systematically take him down. We can do this. The prophecy is about Sebastian. I don’t accept that we can’t box this guy like we did his wife and daughter. Fuck his confidence. We have the winning hand.”

  And there was the Leonardo that Gia missed. Their leader who always believed. Even when the world burned down.

  Colin

  Gia took a shower and Colin waited in their room for her to come out. He should go in and join her, but he needed to get his heart rate under control and his temper lowered. He wasn’t mad at Gia. She hadn’t done anything but go to sleep. These shadow things had done this to her. He needed to pound on something and he hadn’t gotten to do that.

  Or at least he should have gotten to see Alexa kick the shadow’s ass since she felt she could do that.

  Gia came out wrapped in a towel, her hair in a second one. When they’d taken this safe house a few of them had run out for supplies, things like towels.

  She smiled at him. “I don’t have clothes.”

  “I’m sure we can get you some. You and Loraine are about the same size, right? And should I have not said that? I realize this is one of those things where I probably just stepped in it because you don’t talk to women about…”

  Gia put her hand over his mouth. “Colin, it’s fine. Yes, my guess would be that Loraine and I are the same size. I’d be lucky to be compared to any of them here. And I’m not that thin skinned. The world is ending. Who cares about things like dress sizes?” She dropped her towel. “I missed you.”

  “I missed you, too.” They never talked like this to each other. It was so strange and yet he’d never complain about it.

  “I’m talking about this whole lifetime. Not just the last few hours, although I missed you then, too.” She kissed his cheek. Gia smelled like roses. She always did. Even when she was covered in mud. It was a heady scent and it wafted over him, making his cock hard and body tremble.

  He didn’t overthink what he did next. Instead, he dropped to his knees. He wanted to taste her, needed to have his mouth on her pussy.

  “Colin?” The uncertainty in her voice made him wince. Why didn’t she know that this was where he wanted to be all of the time? He would live and die between her legs and consider himself a lucky man. Screw the world—fuck the universe—he wanted Gia.

  He found her clit with his tongue and he lapped over it. She moaned, her legs shaking. That wouldn’t do. He wouldn’t have Gia fall.

  “Sit,” he told her and she backed up until she sat on the bed. He adjusted and found where he wanted to be again. He tapped on her stomach until she lay back. Using his tongue, he stroked her again and again, lapping over her in a smooth movement. There was a spot he found that made her she shudder more and he concentrated on that.

  “Colin, please,” she panted. “Inside of me.”

  Eventually, he would get there. For now, he wanted her to come, multiple times. His cock was so
hard it strained against his pants. He might not make it to get inside of her. He might come in his pants and he’d be fine with that.

  “Colin, don’t make me beg. This is amazing but I want you inside of me.”

  He would never make her beg. “I love how you taste.”

  He rose, taking off his shirt as he did this. He was big, bulky, scarred, always a mess. And she was perfection. But she loved him. She’d told him she did, and she was…

  Colin, she spoke in his mind as she leaned back on her elbows. I love you. Don’t disappear in that head of yours.

  He pulled off his pants and his underwear. She was right. It was so easy for him to go away into the doubt, he was comfortable with it. But there was no place for those kinds of lies between them anymore. There was only truth.

  He climbed over her on the bed, pressing his weight down on her. She breathed heavily, each suck in and out of air pushed her breasts against him. Her nipples were hard. He loved that feeling.

  “I love you. Okay if I keep saying it?”

  She nodded. “Say it, my love. Say it over and over. And I’ll say it, too until you believe it.”

  Gia was wet. He’d known that because his tongue had been inside her. Still, he took her nipple in his mouth and sucked. She bucked beneath him, her hand coming to his cock to stroke him. He moaned. Yes, he was so fucking hard he could hardly think for it. This woman… what she did to him.

  “I love you.” He lifted his head.

  Gia took his head in her hands. “I love you, too.”

  He pressed inside of her. She welcomed him home. He closed his eyes. In that moment, the years of loneliness rushed through him and finally left. It was possible to have rebirth, and he had it, right here.

  Colin pushed deeper. She was his.

  He lay next to his love, running his finger on a circle over her stomach. Sometimes he could feel energy, how people around him were. This place was pretty darn happy right now. He smiled. Christophe, for example, was absolutely having sex. It was a twin thing he didn’t dwell on. Almost everyone in the house was happy, minus two of them who were probably not going to get to a happy place, ever.

  There was nothing he could do for them.

  “I think everyone might have had the same idea tonight.”

  She winked at him. “I feel a little bit like I’m floating right now.”

  He laughed. “Well, that’s good.”

  “Yes, but it’s a little bit more like my power’s on. Can’t really explain it. I don’t hurt. I’m not using vocal manipulation and I’m not getting visions I have to help Eden with… so I don’t know.” She shrugged. “I don’t care.”

  That was interesting. “Everyone asks me what your power is, what your big power is so to speak. Do you maybe have something else we don’t really know about yet?”

  “I’ve always been so defunct that way.” She rolled her eyes. “Mild powered Gia, that’s me.”

  “Not true.” He kissed her cheek. “So what does it feel like?”

  Gia closed her eyes. “I really don’t care. I’m happy.”

  That was everything. They were happy. It was ridiculous that it had taken this long for them to finally be truthful, and to relate this way together. But at least they were getting to do it for a few quiet moments before everything ended. That was better than never getting there at all.

  Still, his mind fussed at him. Her powers were on? What did that mean? He might never find out.

  Morning dawned late for them and they left the bedroom lazily, only after he procured her some clothes from Loraine. The house was buzzing and the unexpected sounds of laughter greeted him. When was the last time he’d heard that from everyone?

  Kal threw his head back laughing at something Drew said. Colin shook his head. “What did we miss?”

  “Nothing.” Drew patted Colin on the back. “Kal found my joke a lot funnier than I thought it was.”

  Kal lifted his coffee cup. “Everything seems brighter today. Stronger. I can’t really explain it.”

  “I feel it, too. Like this is possible. Like… life might be okay.”

  He felt that way too, but he’d found home between Gia’s legs. Maybe it was just that they’d all gotten laid. Of course, that was a regular thing with this group. Sex with a soul mate was a given. He was just glad to have his own version of it going on.

  She leaned up and kissed him before she headed toward Eden. Gia needed time to reconnect. It was just hard to have her out of his line of sight, which meant he had to follow her, sort of, without being creepy about it.

  Under the guise of being hungry, Colin made his way into the kitchen. He could eat and Gia hadn’t had any food. Colin needed to see to her. The sounds of the ancestors chanting in his head caught his attention. He so rarely heard them but now they were pretty strong. Maybe they liked that he was feeding Gia?

  “Hey,” Jason called out. “Does anyone else feel like they could run a marathon?”

  Leonardo yawned, heading into the kitchen. “Not me. My whole body hurts. I’m an Outsider. I’m not supposed to feel old.”

  “Not me,” Jason tapped Leonardo who jumped in the air like he’d been jolted. “I feel fantastic. I’m the healer here, I’m telling you it’s odd that I feel this good.”

  Leonardo rubbed his arm. “Well, I feel much better actually, thanks Jason.”

  “Yep,” he nodded and walked past Colin heading for the fridge. “Maybe I’ll make everyone pancakes.”

  Okay, this was odd. If no one else was going to… “Raise your hand if you feel wonderful.”

  Everyone in the room did so except Leonardo. Colin wasn’t sure where Alexa was at that moment but he doubted she’d have raised her hand either. This was all making sense to him all of a sudden.

  “Last night, Gia had the feelings that her powers were on even though she wasn’t really doing anything. I’m wondering if we just found her second power.”

  His love turned around, her eyes huge. “I… I made everyone kind of power up?”

  “Well, maybe it has to do with something else. Like… based on what we did. It made everyone want to and they all sort of powered each other up?”

  She winced closing her eyes. “All these generations I never had anything of significance and now it’s coming from sex? Of course it is. This is me.”

  Drew knocked his hand on the counter. “I do sometimes feel like I could share my powers with others, like share my love for Marina.”

  “It isn’t sex, Gia. It’s love. And… maybe it’s because we finally got our shit together.”

  She wrapped her arms around him. “I do love you, big guy.”

  He’d never get used to her saying that.

  Nine

  Gia

  Sex was her gift. Gia couldn’t quite get her head around it. She and Colin had sex for years and it hadn’t amplified anyone’s powers. Only Leonardo could do that and that was because he was basically the equivalent of a battery. Around him, everyone was more than they were otherwise. So why had that changed?

  She stepped outside, watching Colin laugh at something Samuel said. The scene was sort of homey and not one she was used to. They’d always all been family but not exactly each other’s best friends. Now, it was like the fact that they were losing—badly—had bonded this group together tighter than ever. She’d missed all of it by hiding away to protect Colin.

  He looked up as she came out and extended his hand to her, which she took, linking their fingers together. Gia let Colin draw her to him. For a second, she just breathed him in.

  Had the sex become power because they had that miserable conversation where he confessed his doubts? Was that the problem the whole time? He’d never really connected to her because she’d never known that he didn’t believe they were meant to be?

  She had to let these thoughts go. For now, they did no good. “How are you, Eden?”

  The prophet sighed. “I feel better after last night, which I’m told is thanks to you.”

  G
ia’s cheeks heated up. “Little disconcerting to be thanked for sex. Not sure I want to be ordered into it to help the group if that makes sense.”

  Eden laughed. “It does.” She took Samuel’s hand in her own. “Well, I’m blind. Again. But I can see through Samuel’s eyes, which is nice. I’m being ravaged with predictions. When Leonardo agreed to the break I almost threw a fit. I don’t get a break. Why should anyone else? But, I’m glad everyone can rest. Even if I can’t until this is over.”

  My heart broke for her. Prophecy had always been the hardest gift, despite what the Warriors might say. Samuel ran a hand through her hair. “You’ll get through this and after we win, my love, you’ll never have to worry about this prophecy again. The ancestors will have nothing to say to you at all. It’ll be… quiet.”

  She smiled. “Imagine that.”

  Gia leaned forward and Colin shifted his hand to support her back. “I’m here to help now. Like the old days. You’ll see it and then transfer the image to me. I’ll draw it”

  “If they want to tell me about the past, that will be perfect. The problem is everything is very present tense right now.”

  Well… that negated her ability to help. “I stayed away because of the shadow. I wanted to protect Colin and all of you from my mistakes. It looks like I just let you all down. I’m sorry.”

  Eden scrunched up her face. “I think it must have been the right thing to do. If we were supposed to get you earlier, I’d have seen you earlier. The second I did, Colin went and got you. Sometimes our timing isn’t our own. I remember this one time when I was living…” She groaned, grabbing onto her head. “I’ve got one coming in.”

  Samuel rubbed his love’s back and shame flooded Gia. All this time her friend had been suffering and she hadn’t been here. The image must not have been one about the Outsiders past because Gia didn’t see it.

  Colin leaned his head down on her shoulder. “It’s hard to see this time around. She really suffers.”