Crux (The Aurora Lockette Series) (12 page)

Finally, she stepped back. She shook the water from her hair, then plucked a bar of soap from the dish. I took it from her, then gently washed every inch of her body.

I cleaned every scratch, every bruise. I washed her hair, then rinsed it out. She leaned against the wall and I was grateful she was allowing my help.

When we finally got out, she
found a clean towel in the cupboard and wrapped it around her. Her eyes were dark and hollow, and her steps faltered. The fatigue had finally caught up to her.

I picked
her up, fluffy towel and all, and deposited her on the bed. I crawled in next to her, pressing our warm bodies together. “Sleep.”

“
I can’t,” she whispered. “We’re all in danger.”

“
Tell me.”

“
I know what we are, and it isn’t pretty. And there’s a cleansing coming, where humanity will be wiped out. We have to stop it.”

She turned to me, cupping my face.
“I’m a demon, Gavyn. That’s what the Gifteds are. We are two sides of one coin, the Shyama and the Gifted. How can you love me?” Her eyes filled with tears.

I calmed the pounding in my chest. I wasn’t sure what
demons really were, aside from pop culture references—big scaly beings of evil with horns and red eyes. My spirituality and divinity were a big tangled mess that I hadn’t sorted out yet, but I knew one thing for sure, Aurora was not evil or bad.

She was a miracle.

“I’ll love you till the ends of the earth, Aurora. I don’t care what label gets attached to you. For me, you will always be light and love, and very soon, I hope, my wife.”

She smiled wide. Her eyelashes fluttered against her cheeks as she
fought sleep. “Asag. The rock demons. They plan to kill us all. We have to stop them.” She clenched the towel wrapped around her frame, as if she was going to rip it off and bounce out of bed, then mercifully slid into sleep. I watched it wash over her face, relaxing her features and deepening her breaths.

I waited until she was in a deep sleep before I left the room. I heard people rummaging softly through the kitchen.

Aurora’s mom was sitting at the kitchen table, wringing her hands. She jumped up when she saw me. I put my finger to my lips to remind her to stay quiet.

She hugged me.
“I’m so glad to hear she’s okay, thank God!” she whispered into my shoulder. “She’s okay, right?”

“
She’s a little bruised up, but fine. Exhausted.”

She wiped her eyes.
“I should go check on her.”

“
She needs to rest.” I left my hand on her shoulder.

Her eyes flashed in a very familiar way.
“I’m going to check on her. Get out of my way, son.” She stepped out of my grasp. “I won’t wake her, don’t worry.”

I smiled, because I
knew it was a waste of time to argue with her. “Yes, ma’am.”

She tiptoed to the door then pushed it open a crack. Her hand fluttered to cover her mouth as she watched Aurora sleeping. I’m sure she noticed how thin and frail her daughter
looked. Maybe she saw the dark circles under her eyes or the healing laceration across her face.

Maybe she was just relieved to see her alive.

I left them alone, keeping my footsteps light as I returned to the kitchen. Dennis, Konstantin, and Carmen were clustered around the table, speaking in low tones.

“
How is she?” Carmen asked. When Dennis and Konstantin noticed me standing there, they stopped talking mid-sentence.

“
She’s a little bruised up and lost some weight, but fine,” I said.

Carmen released a loud breath.
“That’s a relief. We still need to get her looked over by a doctor.”

“
I agree.” I sat down at the table.

“
We need to debrief her, mate,” Dennis said. “Did she tell you anything about what happened to her? What they did to her? Keith?”

I rubbed my hands together, searching for the right words for these people. They were a permanent part of Aurora’s life, and accordingly, mine.
“I understand you need to speak with her, but she needs to rest first. I’ll not have anyone wake her. She is totally and utterly exhausted. There will be no argument.”

Dennis shifted his eyes from Konstantin to Carmen. He glanced at the clock wall, then back at me. These seemingly casual movements were giving his mind time to think through logistics of what I’d asked. He finally spoke
, “We shall wait until morning. And I am ordering additional guard units around this house.”

“
Not too early in the morning,” I said.

Dennis smiled.
“Not too early.”

“
What did she tell you?” Carmen said. “I saw so many things from her, all jumbled together. Her captor, Keith, her fear. I’ve been trying to untangle it all.”

“
There’s a lot, but there was something she wanted to talk to you about immediately. She was fighting to stay awake so she could tell you, but her body gave out.”

Konstantin covered his mouth and looked away

“What was it?” Dennis said. He leaned forward in his chair, body tense, like a tiger ready to spring on its prey.

“
Rock demons. She said something about rock demons killing us all. She mentioned the name Asag. We are in imminent danger. Something is going to happen.”

“
Rock demons,” Dennis repeated. “Didn’t someone pull info on that a couple days ago?”

“
Yes, the researchers pulled some information on that,” Carmen said. “I didn’t read it over, though, so I’m not sure what they found out.”

“
Let me get them on the horn.” He pulled his ever present phone out of his pocket.

“
There’s more, but maybe we should wait until she can explain what she meant,” I said.

“
What is it?” Dennis had halfway scooted away from the table, but he paused.

“
She said she knew what the Shyama and Gifteds are.”

“
Demons,” Carmen said. “I picked that up from her loud and clear.”

“
Yes,” I said. “Two sides of the same coin.”

Dennis pushed his fingertips into the table. He was trying to hide it, but tension pulled his shoulders higher and higher.
“What else did she say?”

“
That’s it. She literally passed out because she was so tired.”

“
Damn it.” He stood so fast his chair almost tipped over. “We need to talk to her right now.”

I stood too, arms crossed over my chest.
“Like hell you do. She’s been through the ringer and she needs some sleep. Leave her be.”

“
Son, this is important. Lives could be at stake. We need to find out everything that she knows.”

I stepped
close, nose to nose, way closer to him than I had ever been. I was in his space. I kept my voice low and calm. Somehow, that made my anger so much more present. “You will leave her alone.”

The air was loaded with invisible
tension. I could feel the energy ratcheting up.

“
Yes, you will,” snapped Aurora’s mom, Aubrey. She had silently entered the kitchen. “She is out in a deep sleep, which is what she needs. She is bruised and thin, which you can’t even imagine the brutality she must’ve faced if she has a bruise. She’s never had one before. She won’t be able to think clearly until she’s out of a serious sleep deprivation and has some calories and hydration.” She pulled my arm back, forcing me to step out of Dennis’s face. “And in case you haven’t noticed, Gavyn and I will kick your ass to heaven and back if you even think about waking her up right now.”

“
Yes, ma’am,” Dennis whispered. He left the room, cell phone in hand. The tension in the air was replaced by the soft tones of his voice as he talked on the phone on the front porch.

Carmen poured a glass of water.
“So that’s what we are? Demons? The yin to their yang?”

Konstantin pushed his sleeves up.
“We are what some culture somewhere has called demons. That doesn’t mean we are forces of evil, like the definition that you and I know.”

“
Maybe not,” Carmen said. “There’s always a balance. There is good and evil, one cannot exist without the other. Maybe we chose the light, or maybe it was given to us, but I don’t feel like a demon.”

“
I don’t either.”

They stared at each other across the table like
they were seeing each other for the first time. Aubrey slipped into living room and I followed. They needed to be alone to digest this new information.

A few minutes later, Dennis returned to the kitchen and
conferred with Konstantin and Carmen in urgent whispers.

“
So what do we do now?” I asked.

“
Nothing.” Aubrey said. “Why don’t you go get in bed with her? Be there when she wakes up. I’m going to sleep out here.”

“
All right.”

I made sure she was settled
on the couch with sheets and blankets. Sentries were stationed outside the house and scattered throughout the neighborhood, so I didn’t fear for our safety too much.

I tiptoed into the room, opening and closing the door quickly so the wave of noises from the house couldn’t enter the room. I peeled off my clothes, down to my boxers, and slid into bed next to her.

She was fast asleep, mouth open, eyelids twitching.

I listened to her even, strong breathing and it lulled me close to sleep. I
scrunched my eyes shut because I didn’t want to sob and wake her, but I was so damn thankful to any and all gods or supernatural forces that brought her back to me.

AURORA

The sun
pierced my brain through my closed eyelids. I’d forgotten that the Shyama had removed the boards from the window. I wondered how Keith was doing today. I hoped he was better.

Keith.

Oh, no.

It hit me like a bitterly cold ocean wave
as I relived it all again: the kidnapping, my captivity, Keith’s death, my reunion with Gavyn, the cleansing.

I struggled to sit up in bed.

“Whoa, whoa,” said that deep voice I’d come to adore. “Where are you going?”

I blinked until my eyes focused on him in all of his hot, sleepy and messy-haired perfection. He smiled at me, hand resting on my back.

“The cleansing! We have to stop it. I need to talk to Dennis. We have to—”

We didn’t have time to talk. I shouldn’t have slept so long. I leapt out of bed, ready to charge into the living room.
“Where are they?”

Gavyn remained in bed,
wearing a goofy grin. “I’m not complaining or anything, but I recommend you put on some clothes before you charge into public view.”

I glanced down. Of course. I’d crashed out in
nothing but a towel, which was still in the bed. I was naked from head to toe, skinnier than I’d like to be, and still a little banged up but definitely me. I picked up the crumpled towel. “What time is it? Do I have any clothes here?”

He leaned far over the bed until he could see his cell phone on the floor.
“Six. Hang tight, I’ll dig something up for you to wear.” He stood up and pulled me tightly to him. “Don’t go anywhere without me, please,” he said softly into my ear.

I relaxed into him.
“Promise.”

The tension melted from my shoulders. We were so damn lucky to be together again. I felt him growing hard against me.

“Sorry,” he said. “Not appropriate. Can’t control it.”

I laughed and pushed him back.
“Not complaining. I’m glad I’m still hot to you with all these bruises and cuts.”

He growled in my ear.
“You are very hot, and when the time is right, I will demonstrate my adoration for every inch of your body.”

Yowzah
. I couldn’t help but push myself back against him.

After he
took a moment to compose himself, he pulled on a pair of pants and a t-shirt, then picked up his phone and stuffed it in his back pocket. “Do not move, please. I’ll go rustle up some clothes. And stay away from the window. I think they’re still trying to get you.”

I relished the lightness in my heart. I shouldn’t feel this good. Keith was dead. We could all die, actually
. But Gavyn was my own personal sunshine, and if nothing else, I now understood that I have to always live in the moment.

I wrapped myself back up in the crumpled towel before walking to the window. The corners and shadows of the world made grey shapes on the ground
in the early morning light. We were surrounded by houses similar to this one. They were no doubt filled with families—mothers, fathers, aunts and uncles—working hard to pay the mortgage, take care of their kids, their lives filled with fears and doubt and happiness. They shouldn’t have to die.