Lissa Kasey - Dominion 2 - Reclamation (10 page)

Roman glared at Gabe, then glanced at me. “Matthew, let Rou go.”
“No! Hes mine! Youve said all along, hes mine!”
“Hes the first male Pillar in history. Anything happens to him and the whole of the Dominion will be after you. The Ascendance needs him to gain equality. Hes more than just a toy. Hes a symbol.”
“I dont care! Hes mine!” He sounded like a petulant child. But he pulled a hunting knife out of his boot and held it to my throat.
“Dont, Matthew,” Sam said, pointing the gun at him now. “Lets just go. You and me. Let Roman have Santini. Let the Dominion have Rou.”
“I dont want you. I never wanted you.” Matthew yanked my head back and forced his tongue into my mouth.
I bit him hard enough to taste blood. He ripped himself away and backhanded me. I fell back, feeling every bit of pain course through me. Blackness threatened to rise, but I couldnt let that happen. Not until Gabe was safe again.
“Get up, Rou.”
My body jerked up like a wrongly wound puppet.
“Take the gun from Sam,” Matthew commanded.
Sam was already shaking his head at me, but I couldnt stop myself from moving. His eyes were wide and teary when I reached him, shocked, but resigned. He seemed to be trying to tell me something, yet I couldnt make out what. I could give him what he wanted from Matthew, if he still wanted it. All that mattered to me was Gabe.
We struggled for the gun. I was too weak to really win unless he let me. It wasnt until he pressed my fingers into the trigger and the gun kicked, that I realized he didnt plan on winning.
Sam tipped backward, dragging me with him. Heat poured over my fingers, and I dropped the gun. Blood ballooned outward from a new hole in the upper left side of his chest. He closed his eyes, throat moving in a painfullooking swallow. Each thump of his heart poured more blood outward.
When his eyes opened again, I knew there was only one answer for him. I pressed my lips to his until he opened to me and I could give him the blood Id stolen from Matthew. He blinked, as though confused. I spit the rest of the blood out, wiped my mouth on my sleeve, took the gun, and struggled to get up.
“Bring me the gun, baby,” Matthew commanded.
I shuffled across the room, back screaming in pain and feeling so tired. Matthew took the gun from me and pointed it at Roman.
“Dont be stupid, Matthew. Put the gun down. You want Rou. Fine. Take him and go,” Roman stood frozen, staring at Sam, who lay unmoving, and Gabe who bled but showed no sign of begging for death yet.
“He wont stay with me until Santinis dead,” Matthew said.
My heart sank into the pit of my stomach.
“That wasnt the deal. Santinis life is mine.”
“Now its mine.” Matthew handed me the knife. “Cut out your boyfriends heart, baby. Bring it to me.”
I moved, tears streaming down my face, making it hard to see. The knife felt cold and solid in my grasp.
Gabe smiled sweetly at me though I saw the pain in his eyes. “I love you, Seiran. Its okay.” He could have compelled me to turn around and kill Matthew. He could have commanded me to run. Instead he just whispered comforting words. “Everything will be fine.”
Roman moved around Gabe and reached out to stop me, but the gun fired twice. Blood sprayed me in one of those terrible rushes like they show in the movies. It blotted out parts of my vision, turning everything into a rain of red. I couldnt stop moving even as the heat fell over me.
Gabe was still whispering comforting things when I kneeled before him and put the knife to his chest. He was covered in blood now, his own and Romans. I gulped, cried, and tried to fight the compulsion moving my body. My hand paused and shook, but this time it was all from the internal fight.
“Its okay, Sei. I love you no matter what,” Gabe told me.
“Damn you! Kill him!” Matthew screamed at me.
He dropped the gun, ran up behind me and slammed my hands forward, plunging the knife into Gabes chest. I felt the crack of bones, the pop of his lung as it deflated, and his gasp of pain when blood filled his airway. Gabes heart beat faster, pumping the blood from the wound around my hands, feeling hot while the core of me felt like ice.
He struggled for breath, trying to speak again. His lips formed a ghost of “I love you.”
Matthew twisted my hands, sending the knife in a deep arc that only ended when Gabes eyes clouded over as his heart stopped. I let my hands fall away from the knife, blood feeling thick, air so thin.
The sound of a gun click was all I heard before Matthew went limp behind me. His weight toppled me onto Gabe. I struggled to push him off. Sam stood there, gun pointed at Matthews still form. He spit out the blood Id given him and leaned over to pull the knife out of Gabe.
The blade slipped out with only a little ooze of blood following it. Blood needed a heartbeat to flow. My very soul screamed, willing Gabes heart to beat again, praying he could heal this.
Sam brought the knife down over Matthews throat, taking off his head like hed done it a million times. The compulsion unraveled, and I could no longer hold myself up. I lay in Gabes lap, expecting to die there. He didnt move. His eyes looked out into the distance with that blank stare I recognized as death. Brock had looked that way in the end too. But hed never been beautiful, not like Gabe was.
“Get up, Seiran. You have to go.” Sam was still moving around the barn, though I couldnt really see him anymore. Suddenly he was in front of me, shaking me. “Damn you! Go!”
Then I smelled smoke. The lantern no longer stood upright, now it seemed to be flickering along a whole row of hay. So I was going to burn after all. I sighed into Gabes chest, kissing his lips, it would be okay. Maybe wed be together in the end.
Sam ripped me away from Gabe and was dragging me toward the door.
“No!” I screamed, feeling myself die with every step away from him I took. “Let me stay with him.” I took every last bit of energy I had and shoved Sam away, landing in an exhausted heap back in Gabes lap.
“Damn it!” Sam took the bloody knife and began cutting the ropes surrounding Gabe.
I watched him waver a few times. The bullet wound probably hurt a lot more than he tried to let on. When the ropes were finally cut, he grabbed us both by the backs of our shirts and dragged us to the door. Strong for a guy not much bigger than me.
“You have to go!” Sam hauled us several yards from the building and dropped me before heading back toward the burning barn. The fire danced on the roof now. The building wouldnt last much longer.
“Sam!” I cried, reaching out to him while trying to keep wrapped around Gabes unmoving form. Sam ignored me. The squishy warmth of my soaked gloves made it impossible to breathe. Yanking the gloves off with my teeth, I felt the copper taste of Gabes blood in my mouth. I swallowed and thought,
from you to me until the sun forever breaks,
watching him, in hopes that he would show some spark of life. His eyes remained clouded. I shut them and sobbed.
When Sam disappeared back inside, the earth slammed into me so hard I lost consciousness, as the barn exploded.

some time, until the prickling weight of the rising sun brought panic into my head. I had to get him to a safe place. My paws dug into the frozen ground. If I buried him, hed be safe from the sun, safe from predators, safe from me.

Blood tainted the dirt as I dug, and I knew it had to be mine. Gabe had stopped bleeding hours ago. Even when I dragged him, he no longer left a metallic-scented trail. Id stopped more than a handful of times just to cry over him. Though as a lynx it was little more than a terrible mewing.

The prickling feel of the sun increased. I really began to panic, digging until I had to struggle out of the hole. Even then it was nowhere large enough to protect him from the coming daylight.

Then I had to laugh at my silliness. Gabe would have laughed too.
I licked his face, put my paws to the earth, and commanded the ground to cradle him deeply. The dirt moved, parting and letting him sink into its embrace like quicksand. I sat on his chest, watching his face as the ground overtook him. More than once the ground flowed up over my paws, and Id wait until it was mid leg to bounce out. I wanted to stay with him forever but couldnt find the strength to just sit down and die beside him.
When he had finally vanished into the ground, I lay down on his grave and slept for a while. Let the sun bake me awake and searched the spot to ensure he was safely out of its reach. After the sun set again, I finally left him in search of warmth as the temperature dropped.
Time passed quickly. I knew how to find him again by the lay of the trees. The earth kept telling me he was safe, though my heart hurt more the further I got from him. I had to talk myself out of going back several times. My body needed warmth and food. Gabes voice whispered in my head, telling me to eat. His faith in me pushed me to keep moving.
Id been running for days as a lynx, somewhere between completely being an animal and being a human. I avoided roads and towns, all the while feeling the pain pressing at me, telling me to run. Though there were times I couldnt even remember what I was running from. The haunting memory of Gabe telling me he loved me just before his heart stopped kept cycling in my head.
The cold came down, with temperatures that had me shivering despite my heavy fur coat. No animals lingered outside but me, so even if I wanted to eat, there was nothing.
At times Id be hit with such a painful flash of memory that Id lose my footing and just lay in the snow for a time. Often the cold and Gabes voice in my head would push me onward. Freezing wind stung my lungs and whipped around me like a ghost on my heels.
Deep into the darkness that had built up in all the cold, I came to a creek. It looked frozen over, snow covering some parts in drifts, others looking almost bare. I followed it for a while, letting the meandering ways of it take some of the weight off my shoulders. It gave me direction.
The howl of coyotes in the distance forced me to change course. I hurried to cross the creek. Three-fourths of the way I felt the crack begin beneath my paws and rushed to reach the other side. The ice broke just feet from the shore, and the shock of the cold water poured over my head, stealing my breath.
I struggled and fought against the current that swept me under the ice and snow. Vaguely, it reminded me of a dog, though I couldnt remember more than a glimpse of it. And then a memory of Jamie falling to a bullet Id shot at him. I let the current pull me for a while, felt it like a cold cradle blowing in the wind.
As my eyes closed for what I was sure would be the last time, I reached for the earth. I willed it to take me as it needed. Use my body to fuel whatever growth of life would be next. But instead of the earth wrapping me up beneath the waters icy flow, it shoved me upward, a great hand of mud and sand. I crashed through the barrier of ice and snow, tumbling several feet to dry land.
Again darkness took me.

W
HEN
I awoke and was moving, the past rode me like the very devil was on my tail. Gabe kept telling me to get up, move, find warmth, find food. I approached an old farmhouse, feeling so tired, cold, and utterly defeated, but willing to do whatever it took to keep him in my head.

When I finally lay in a borrowed bed, human and feeling so fragile, wrapped in a musty flannel shirt, my only hope was that, when I did sleep, Id dream of Gabe, and maybe I wouldnt wake up.

T
HE
sound of someone moving around ripped me out of sleep. I heard footsteps downstairs, sniffed the air, and scented only one person, but other than jumping out the window, the only way out I had was down the stairs. I quietly made my way to the closet, crammed myself into the back of it, and hid.

The person moved toward the stairs. I held my breath as the old wood creaked in protest. Someone was talking, but none of the words made sense. I trembled so badly I was sure whoever was in the house would hear my teeth chattering.

The person moved around the bedroom. There was a rifle near my foot, but I would never pick up a gun again. I heard him heading toward the closet. The handle turned, and the door eased open, but the person was being very careful. After a moment or two, he peered into the closet, crouched down low to the ground.

He looked somewhat familiar, blond hair glowing from the little light that shone through the window. Despite the darkness of the closet, he stared right at me, but didnt move.

Speaking softly, he shifted to sit in the doorway, legs crossed, looking relaxed but tense all at once. He pulled a towel into his lap, and the terrible smell made me so suddenly sad that I just sobbed into my knees. It smelled of Gabes shampoo.

After a time he had curled himself around me, feeling like sunshine and warmth. Hed even pulled several musty old blankets out of the chest at the end of the bed and had us wrapped up in them. He talked for a long time, though I didnt know about what. He just felt warm and nonthreatening. Each time he tried to get me to move, I pulled further into the closet.

Finally he just sat there with me until the sun rose through the far window. He dozed when the first beams of light illuminated his shaggy hair and young face. I hadnt slept more than a wink or two since hed arrived. Now the sound of more footsteps downstairs gave rise to panic.

I yanked the door to the closet closed and pulled the young man into my lap. He seemed startled, but I put my hand over his mouth to keep him from crying out. People were hunting us.

The young man pulled my hand off his mouth and whispered to me several things that I didnt understand. He even cupped my face in his hands and kissed my cheeks. His face little more than a shadow in the dark.

When the door finally opened slowly, the boy was already speaking loudly, hand out toward the door. Several men in uniform stood there, flashlights directed toward us. I trembled, wanting to run but knowing Id have no way of escaping a group this large.

The young mans words became more urgent, and the men backed away. The door was closed again, but I could feel the others near. The young man cupped my face again, brushed away my tears. He kept repeating something, staring at me, kissing my cheeks, speaking, and then doing it again. I had to focus hard on it to muddle through all the noise in my head.