The Darkening (Page 25)

Please.

She felt his permission to just feel all that she had lost so she did. He caressed her hand at the same time. What surprised her was that as she remembered Jeff’s funeral pyre, Samuel’s presence within her mind became a tremendous comfort.

He even reached for her and pulled her on top of him and held her in his arms as once again she wept for the man she had loved and lost to the war.

Somewhere in that shedding of grief, Samuel withdrew from her mind so that when she stopped crying she felt an emptiness that stunned her. But he cradled her gently, the heat of his male body soothing her. She sighed heavily.

“You loved him.”

“So very much. But thank you for being with me like this. I don’t feel quite so heartsick right now.”

“Good. You’re an amazing woman.”

“No, I’m not.” She chuckled. “I’m just me. I know I don’t have Havily’s style and ambition or Endelle’s flamboyance and power. I don’t see myself fitting in with these incredible women. I’m just me.”

“Then you don’t see yourself clearly, how you picked up and left home to travel at a time when even female ascenders didn’t move around all that much. And then when you married your warrior, how you gave yourself completely to marriage, nothing held back. That’s a great quality to have.”

“But I have to work at it. The reason I traveled the way I did wasn’t just because I thought it would fun or enriching, but because when I almost drowned I became afraid of the world and afraid to live. Traveling was a way to overcome that.”

“But don’t you see, most people don’t even take that step. They stay stuck.

Shit.”

“What?”

“Like me. I’m stuck. This is the first time I’ve seen even a pinpoint of light at the end of this tunnel.”

“Maybe it would be a good thing to at least try a mind-dive with me. I mean, you had a life before being captured.

Maybe you could just work to release those images.” She felt his resolution, however, that he was determined to keep his years of torture from her. So, she let it go.

Instead, she asked him what his favorite food was – lasagna – and a dozen other things that he could answer freely, which he did. He’d been a Militia Warrior since his ascension out of St.

Louis One in 1908. He’d served as part of many civic policing forces throughout North America Two, battling death vampires in a squad of four warriors night in and night out.

He liked tequila, maybe a little too much. He spent plenty of time at the Blood and Bite, but refused to answer specific questions about the mortal women who frequented that establishment. He’d only been assigned to the Phoenix Metro area six months before he was taken.

“I’ve been a warrior all my life.

Even on Mortal Earth, I’d intended on becoming a Marine when I received my call to ascension.” By now she lay on her side next to him, leaning her head on her hand, her elbow on the bed supporting her so she could look at him as he spoke. He still lay on his back, his arm over his head.

“What was that like?” she asked, curious as all Twolings were, born on Second Earth, about the experience of a rite of ascension. “I’d love to mind-dive just to see what it was like for you. Did you have a Guardian of Ascension?” All really powerful ascenders received Guardians of Ascension to keep them safe from the enemy who wanted to either subvert them and use their power or to kill them outright.

He shook his head. “No, not at all.

Nothing like that. I had a liaison officer who was so bored with her job that I—” He cut off his thought.

“What?” she cried. Then she shoved him with her hand. “You bonked her.” He smiled but he looked embarrassed as well. “What can I say?

That pretty much summed up my rite of ascension. I spent three days in the sack with her.” Vela laughed. “She didn’t want more afterwards?”

“No. We both knew it was just sex and besides, I went into the Militia Warrior Training Camp right afterward.”

“Straight away? Not even one question that this was the right path?”

“Nope. I knew what I was. But let me tell you, the day I mounted my wings for the first time was unbelievable.” He turned to look at her, his arm still angled over the top of his head. “You want to go flying some time?” She moaned softly. “I’d love it. I haven’t been flying—” she broke off, took a deep breath, then added, “Not in five years. I mount my wings of course to keep them healthy, but no, I haven’t been flying in a long time.”

“Then we’ll go. Have you ever flown off the Mogollon Rim in Sedona?”

“One of my favorites, catching the currents that stream down all those gullies, and inlets, through the canyon.”

“We’ll do that,” he repeated, nodding.

He was more open than she’d supposed he would be. Then he turned the tables, but instead of asking her questions, he told her what he knew about her from mind-diving. He spoke for a long time as he recalled the images he’d seen.

She laughed at some, was embarrassed by others, let a few more tears fall, and finally got all worked up when he mentioned a couple of her lovers and began growling against her neck. One thing led to another and he was inside her again, thrusting hard and making her groan, whimper, and cry out all over again.

She fell asleep afterwards, not even aware she’d done so.

Samuel woke her up much later by caressing her arm gently and whispering, “It’s eleven thirty. Our chain-smoking host will be back soon.”

Samuel heard Merl calling to him, just as Vela emerged from the bathroom, her thick blond hair, now loose with that wild look he really liked. She wore fresh clothes; a pair of dark blue jeans and a light blue tank. She shrugged into a mottled blue sweater. She wore black flats. He had to restrain a sudden impulse to take her in his arms again.

He cleared his throat. “Merl’s back.” He felt her tense up immediately, aware, just as he was, that they’d be taking their next step right now.

He took her hand. “We’ll figure this out.” He’d been making war a long time, but Vela had no experience at all, which set his nerves on edge. From the brief encounter he’d had with the darkening, the wreckers had power, skill, and deadly intent. And he had no idea how they’d be able to get around them to secure Duncan and pull him out of his Third prison.

But then again, some problems could only be solved one step at a time.