Shadow Borne (6 page)

"He saved her again, all of us, in Africa,
Claire. We were ambushed near the caves. It's a miracle we made it
here, really." Mike rubbed the space between his eyes and
sighed.

Claire was quiet and still for so long that
I didn't think she was going to respond at all, but then her
shoulders slumped and she muttered a resigned curse. "You can bunk
down with the soldiers. Mark," she turned back to her husband,
"would you–"

"Yes." he nodded. "Come on Carl, I'll show
you where the bunkhouses are."

"Thank you." the blonde man said simply and
inclined his head to the rest of us before he followed Mark down
the wide steps of the porch and out into the night.

"What a night." Claire exhaled, hands on her
hips. "Come on, Aries, let's go pig out. I need some serious
comfort food right now. You coming, Mike?"

"Not yet. I want to have a word with Aries."
he told her without taking his eyes off mine. His expression could
only be called tender. Oh man.

Claire paused in the middle of the doorway,
one foot over the threshold. "Oh. Right. Ari?"

"I'll be along in a few minutes." I managed
with a curt nod. The last thing in the world I wanted to do was
face Mike–alone; then again, there was a small–tiny, really–piece
of me that wanted nothing more.

But I had a name for the little voice that
reared her head from time to time. She was dumb bitch Aries and it
didn't pay to listen to her–ever–and with good reason. She didn't
have a lick of sense, plain and simple. She never used her head,
she wanted too much, needed too much. She hurt too much and she
longed for things that were...impossible.

Mike was suddenly in front of me and dumb
bitch Aries was practically swooning; gathering resolve around me
like a cloak, I took her firmly in hand, told her to shut up and
then I shoved Mike's hand off of my face.

"Aries?" His eyes widened.

"If you want to talk then we'll talk but
let's get one thing straight right now. I want you to keep your
hands to yourself."

"You want..." he uttered, still wearing that
same look of confusion. His eyes focused on me intently and this
time they traveled the full journey, from the top of my head all
the way down to the dark boots with the blackened silver buckles as
if he were seeing me, truly seeing me, for the first time. He
paused noticeably over the lace mesh top and cargo pants. I knew
the exact moment he spotted the knife strapped to my right thigh.
His eyes became orbs and flashed back to my face.

That's right, I thought harshly, things have
changed since you've been here last. I continued to defiantly stare
him down and he didn't voice any of the questions that I knew he
was dying to fire at me. Apparently, he was willing enough to humor
me, for the time being at least.

"Okay." After a moment, he nodded. "Okay
then. I've missed you." he added quietly.

"Let's walk down the yard a bit." I exhaled
and wrapped my arms around my waist, shivering a little even though
the night air wasn't particularly cold.

Mike frowned "We're safer here, Aries."

I glanced over my shoulder at him, surprised
by his reluctance to move from the porch, until I remembered Mike
had a tendency to live on the wrong side of paranoia. I didn't
laugh at him or point out that if anything dangerous lurked about,
the porch, especially lit up as it was, provided a dubious shelter
at best. All I said was, "This porch is shining like high noon and
it's beginning to give me a headache."

"Yes, it is rather bright, isn't it?" Mike
looked thoroughly impressed. "I wonder what wattage these bulbs
are?"

"Look," I heaved a sigh, "If you want to
talk then follow me out into the front yard. If not, then tell
Claire I'll see her in the morning."

One muffled curse and a few stomps later,
Mike was striding down the porch steps and into the relative
semi-darkness of the yard.

I walked clear to the edge of the driveway
before stopping and turning around to face him. He came to rest a
few feet away and glanced nervously at the tree line beside us.

"I don't think this is a good idea."

"Relax, it's fine. There are over a hundred
men in the bunkhouses behind the main house and almost three
hundred more clustered in and near the safe houses in the woods
surrounding the property. There's no safer place to be right now
and besides, our fences are still holding strong. Nothing's getting
in here. Not tonight, anyway." I purposely neglected to remind him
that crime of the everyday two-legged average citizen variety was
still alive and well.

Really, petty crime around here wasn't all
that common and residents committing violent crime on one another
was downright rare, even if overall crime had increased
proportionally with the recent population swell. Still, we were
safe enough, I reasoned, so there was no good reason to make Mike
any more edgy than he already was.

He was mute for so long I'd begun to think
he'd given up on his plan to talk to me. But then he ran his
fingers through his hair and the words "My God, Aries, what
happened?" burst forth like a dam breaking.

I wasn't sure if he meant Terlain or me so I
decided to assume he'd been referring to my homeland. It was the
easier question to answer and that was sure as hell saying
something. "This place looks a little different than you remember,
huh?" I shook my head and toed the ground with the tip of my boot
before looking at him again.

"A little?" He gave a short, harsh bark of
laughter. "For a minute there, I thought we'd landed in the wrong
alternate universe." he muttered.

"Are there more?"

"God, I hope not."

"Well." I shrugged. "Anyway, this place is
pretty torn up." I sighed. "It's been a long year."

"When did all this happen?" Mike asked,
gesturing with one hand to the forest and, more specifically, to
what lay beyond.

"Not long after you and Claire and Ashley
left Terlain. Kahn found a way to breach the protective barriers of
the fences. At least, we think Kahn is responsible; so far no one
has been able to figure out exactly how he managed it. But who else
would have, and could have, done such a thing?"

"I don't know. I can't think of anyone right
offhand." Mike frowned.

"Neither can I. Although, I've got to admit
that if our people have a more formidable enemy than Kahn, at this
point I'm not certain I even want to know. But back to the
fences–they began to fail one afternoon just as the sun was
setting..."

I swallowed and gazed off into the woods
beside us. "The fence panels on the Lerna boundary were the first
to go." I bit my lip. "There were a handful of survivors, the few
people who were on the outskirts of town, the northern edge, when
the attack came. Those people had time to run, to get away, but the
rest of them," I broke off, shaking my head and feeling an acute
ache in my throat as pressure began to build behind my eyes. "There
wasn't time to get away."

"Were you there?" Mike took a hesitant step
toward me.

I took a deep breath and retreated a step
and he halted his sympathetic pursuit. I knew I had to get a hold
of myself and fast, it was just that, even after all these months,
talking about Lerna was still a little like ripping the scab off a
partially healed wound.

So I stood there in my combat boots and lace
underwear and focused on one breath in, one breath out until the
bleeding stopped and it was safe to go on. "Not during the attack.
I showed up...after. Tara and Juliette and I were part of a rescue
team that went in the next day, at first light. It was the soonest
anybody could–" I sucked in another lungful of air.

"The only thing we recovered that day were
bodies." I bit out, refusing to feel guilty when Mike flinched at
the brash talk. Lately, some of the other nymphs, and Juliette in
particular, seemed to be constantly chastising me for using what
Juliette dubbed my angry voice.

I knew my tone was bitter right then but
didn't give a damn. Rage beat the hell out of despair any day of
the week. Rage didn't paralyze you in its tenacious grip, it didn't
turn you into a victim so as far as I was concerned, it was just
fine with me.

I thought back to that nightmarish day and
welcomed the anger that rushed clean and bright through my veins,
bringing with it a hot tide of warmth that energized me and shook
loose the last remnants of a fear I'd sooner die than confess.

"God, Aries I'm so sorry. I wish..."

That it hadn't happened?
That you'd been here?
Yeah, so did I.
Once. The words flitted through my mind but I didn't dare speak
them out loud. Instead, I shrugged and rocked back on the heels of
my boots.

"It is what it is.
So...that's how I know the residents of Lerna hardly had time to
panic. People lay in the streets, slumped over their kitchen
tables, on their sofas, most of them were just sort of frozen in
whatever it was they had been doing before the attack. Like they'd
heard a loud noise and then the front door had crashed open and
those–
things
–were
upon them before they really had time to react. At least that's our
theory. We could be wrong, of course, since there aren't any eye
witnesses to contradict us, but only a handful of people showed
defensive wounds on their hands." I shook my head and kicked at a
few leaves that skittered along the ground between us. "By
nightfall, we had evacuated maybe a third of the town when we
realized we weren't alone."

Mike took another small step closer. "What
was it?"

"Retrievers. They were hidden throughout the
town, especially in the residential sections. More bodies." I
added, when Mike raised a brow. "They had been hiding, watching us,
and when the sun set they filled the streets and attacked. Several
search and rescue were killed. There wasn't much to do but run, at
that point."

"Your family? Were they..."

"No." I answered. "None of the nymphs were
harmed that day. We're faster than the dogs." My chin came up a
notch.

"The warriors who met us today said Lerna is
secured now. The beasts don't try to come back?" Mike wanted to
know.

"Retrievers? No." I tossed a section of
black hair over my shoulder. "Once the food supply was exhausted
there wasn't any reason for them to stay and they haven't been
back. The main problem now is the Coatyl. They keep trying to get
into the abandoned houses. But we're holding our own. So far." I
shrugged.

"What are Coatyl?" Mike frowned and leaned
in close.

"Things to stay away from." I retorted.

Over the past several minutes Mike had been
invading my personal space by small degrees and I just now noticed
how close he was standing.

"Okay."

I watched his chest rise and fall with each
breath he took and knew it was past time for me to put an end to
the night and walk away. I didn't at all like the way he was
suddenly staring at me. His eyes didn't waver from my own and I
felt off balance, too warm.

"Goodnight." I said abruptly, spun around,
and began the long trek down the driveway, only to be pulled to a
halt a second later.

"No." Mike's face was harsh in the
moonlight. "Don't run away from me. Please. I need to tell you, to
explain, why I had to leave. Then, if you still want to leave, you
can. Okay?" His expression softened infinitesimally when I tried to
jerk my arm out of his grasp but his fingers didn't loosen. I felt
my temper start to rise.

"I know why you had to leave. Claire
explained that a long time ago. The only thing you could possibly
have to say now is why you stayed away. But I guess I already know
the answer to that question, too.” I said, unable to keep the
bitterness from my tone. “Let go of my arm. Now."

Mike shook his head. "I'm sorry but no, I
can't do that."

"You had damn well better do that." It took
every ounce of willpower I possessed to stay calm and refrain from
screaming at him, the stubborn jackass. "I am seriously beginning
to wonder what the fuck I ever saw in you." I snapped, forcing
myself to save what dignity I had left and not engage in a useless
struggle, but I took some satisfaction in the way Mike's eyes grew
wide, the way his nostrils flared with his sharp intake of breath
at my new-found curse words.

"Well, that wasn't very nice." he finally
murmured and damn him he looked like he was trying not to laugh!
His mocking, bemused expression effectively snapped the last
threads of my control.

Quick as a striking snake, I twisted down
and to the side, and in a matter of seconds the knife that had been
sheathed and strapped to my thigh was in the hand that Mike wasn't
holding–and it was pressed to his throat.

"Let. Go. Of. Me. Now." I thrust my face
close to his and glared at him.

Something flared in his eyes and his fingers
tightened around my arm for an instant before,abruptly, he let me
go.

His dark gaze was shuttered, wary as he
backed up a few steps and regarded me in silence.

"That's right. Things have
changed."
I've changed
. "Don't grab me unless you want me to defend
myself."

"Would you have really cut me?"

"Yes." I said automatically, although I
wasn't at all certain what I would have done. Was it stupid and
dangerous to draw on a man when you couldn't follow through? Sure.
But this was Mike. And the truth was, I probably wouldn't have cut
him, not that I had any intention of telling him that. Let him
think I'd stab him the next time he was fool enough to grab me. It
was good for him.

"Okay." He held up both hands. "I don't want
you to go. But I won't touch you. Alright? Will you stay a while
longer? Stay and talk to me. There's so much I want to say to
you."