Legion

by Catrina Burgess

  My fingers reached out and slid under his shirt. My hands trailed along the smooth skin of his stomach, and I felt hard muscles flex beneath my fingertips.

  Luke’s lips were on mine again. The material of my nightgown slid down my shoulders, and his lips started on my neck. He slowly peppered kisses down along my collarbone. And then his lips traveled lower. I threw my head back as my body tingled under his touch. Shivers of pleasure raced through me everywhere his lips brushed against my skin.

  Luke suddenly lifted me into his arms and carried me toward the barn. He pushed open the wooden door, walked inside, and gently lowered me down onto a pile of hay. Moonlight streamed in from the windows. Luke stood over me, silently watching me as water fell from his hair and drops of rain slid down his face. His eyes were so dark, so full of passion.

  My nightgown was down around my waist. I should have been embarrassed that I lay partially naked before him, but I could only feel desire and such a deep need and longing inside me. The way he looked at me, his eyes burning, his hands curled into fists—he looked dangerous and out of control. I should have been frightened, but I wasn’t. I’d never wanted anyone like this. Never needed someone to reach out and touch me so badly. Needed to feel their body pressed against mine so desperately. If he didn’t touch me soon, I felt as though I might die.

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” His voice came out in a harsh whisper.

  “Yes.” In just that one word I could hear all the yearning I felt. I wanted to taste him, to touch him. I wanted desperately to run my fingers over the taut muscles of his body.

  He sank to his knees in front of me, his hands pushing and pulling the material of my nightgown until I lay completely naked below him. And then his body covered mine. His fingers were everywhere, and where his hands went, his lips soon followed.

  We made love. There was pain, but there was also pleasure. Sensations I’d never felt before flashed over me until I was no longer in control of my mind or my body. I trembled, I arched, I cried out his name. My skin was on fire as a tidal wave of pleasure washed over me again and again.

  When it was over, his body came to rest on top of mine. His head came down to gently lie against my shoulder.

  “Are you all right?” he whispered in my ear.

  “Yes,” I answered, running my hand through his hair. I felt so full of emotion, so overwhelmed by it all.

  * * *

  I was sitting up, looking out into the darkness. Moonlight shone through the barn windows, illuminating our bodies. Luke lay next to me. He pushed himself up onto his side and ran his fingers over my naked skin. His fingertips came to rest on the scars on my thigh. The scars that Caleb had given me when he tortured me.

  “Oh, Goddess, did I do that?” he cried out.

  My hand covered his. “No, no. Those are burn marks I got back with Gage.”

  He sat up, and his face filled with anger. “Gage did that to you?”

  “No. Caleb burned me.” I never planned to say those words to him, but they spilled out before I could stop them.

  I heard a sharp intake of breath. Luke began to move away.

  I reached for him. “Caleb hurt me, not you.” I grasped his hand and pulled it to rest against me, but when his fingers touched my stomach, I flinched. I looked closely and saw tiny burn marks on my stomach. Burn marks on my shoulders, on my hips. Marks where hellfire had flickered against my skin. I hadn’t noticed the fire sliding across my skin, but he must have lost control.

  He pulled his hand back. “I burned you. I burned you like he did.”

  “You didn’t hurt me,” I whispered.

  There was such a look of anguish on his face that I leaned in and kissed him. He tried to move away again. My hands wrapped around him, and I deepened the kiss. I slid my hands through his wet hair, and I kissed him again and again. And after awhile I felt the tension leave his body.

  His lips, his hands became more demanding.

  I pulled his body onto mine.

  His hands slid deliciously along my skin as his lips captured mine again.

  I would not let him turn away from me as I had once turned away from him. There would be no more fear, no more misunderstanding between us.

  Chapter 7

  I was feeling beyond awkward. I sat at the breakfast table, trying my best not to look over in Dean’s direction and blush. I don’t know why I felt so emotionally exposed. Maybe it was the fact that Dean had been watching me like a hawk since I came to the breakfast table.

  Dean and Jamie were sitting at the table with me. Dean was spreading a thick layer of jam on a piece of toast between glances my way. Jamie was eating a bowl of oatmeal. Mrs. Olsen kept popping in and out of the kitchen.

  Luke was nowhere in sight. Images of his hands brushing across my bare skin slid across my mind. I looked over at Dean and thanked the Goddess that he wasn’t a reader.

  Where was Luke? I hadn’t seen him since we parted last night. I could feel raw patches on my skin as they rubbed against the fabric of my clothes, but it was a minor discomfort. He hadn’t meant to hurt me. He’d been carried away with the same passion that had filled my body and my mind. We’d been carried away together. Every time I moved, the tender skin brought a memory of hot touches on flushed skin.

  Dean looked up at the doorway behind me and frowned. “You almost missed breakfast.”

  Luke slid into the chair next to mine. My heart immediately started racing. Our shoulders brushed against each other.

  I forced my eyes up until I was looking into his. “Hi,” I said.

  He gave me a smile.

  “Rough night?” Dean asked.

  I could feel the heat rising to my cheeks.

  Luke gave me a long look before turning toward Dean, “It was an interesting night.”

  I forced my eyes away and grabbed the pitcher of juice sitting in front of me.

  Mrs. Olsen came in from the kitchen once more, this time with a plate of scrambled eggs. She slid it onto the table and looked over at Luke. “Here are eggs. Or there’s oatmeal if you prefer.”

  “Eggs will be fine, thanks,” Luke said, reaching out and grabbing the plate. He spooned a good portion of the eggs onto his plate. Without looking up, he said, “You have been an angel taking care of us, Mrs. Olsen. We can’t tell you how much we appreciate your kindness and generosity.”

  Mrs. Olsen looked pleased with Luke’s words.

  Luke continued, “We’re leaving today.”

  Dean’s head shot up in surprise.

  Luke glanced over at him before meeting Mrs. Olsen’s eyes. “I got some news about our family. They’re making their way here. We’re going to head out so we can meet up with them.”

  I could tell Mrs. Olsen wasn’t happy with the news. She had told me more than a few times how much she enjoyed having us around.

  “I’m glad everything worked out,” Mrs. Olsen said, forcing a smile onto her face. There was a hint of sadness in her eyes. “It’s been nice having you all here. I forgot what it was like to have young people around.” She walked over and gave Jamie’s shoulder a gentle pat. “If you’re going to be traveling, I can make up some sandwiches to take with you.”

  “That’s a great idea,” Luke said.

  The minute Mrs. Olsen left the room, Dean spoke up. “We’re leaving?”

  “Darla’s close.”

  Of all the things Luke could have said, that surprised me the most. “How do you know?” I demanded.

  “I went to town.” He looked around the table and said, “I saw Darla and some of the death dealers from the stronghold milling around.”

  At the news, I could feel the panic rising within me. “Did they see you?”

  Luke reached over and gave my hand a gentle squeeze. “No. I made sure to keep my distance. We need to get moving before they figure out where we are. We’ll leave as soon as it gets dark. We should steer clear of town and stick to the woods.”

  “Do you think it’s safe heading through the wo
ods?” I hadn’t told Dean about the Redeemers. Honestly, I’d done my best to block out the whole incident. My mind flashed back to the burning bodies. The Redeemers had been out in the woods looking for mage-born to kill. And now there were death dealers in town. I don’t know which group scared me more.

  “We have no choice but to make a run for it.” Luke looked out the window. “Those Redeemers’ disappearance won’t go unnoticed. The Redeemers already have checkpoints set up on the roads near town, so we can’t go by road. And we can’t go back toward town, because Darla’s there.”

  Dean spoke up, “Redeemers? I thought we were worrying about Darla and her crew.”

  “We had some trouble in the woods,” I answered.

  Panic crossed Dean’s face. “What kind of trouble?”

  Before I could say anything, Luke quietly said, “We were attacked.”

  “And I’m just hearing about this now?” Dean demanded. “If they know where we are, we need to get out of here right now.”

  “No one knows where we are. The Redeemers in the woods won’t be coming after us.” Luke looked away, but not before I could see the anguish on his face.

  Dean must have seen it, too, because he was suddenly quiet.

  “I promise to tell you all about it later,” I said, begging Dean with my eyes to let it go.

  Dean didn’t press the point, but he couldn’t help but raise another. “Do you really think you’re going to be able to make the long walk through the woods? You don’t look well. Under your eyes are huge black circles, and you look like you’ve lost weight. If we’re going to go away from town, it’s nearly forty miles to the closest city.”

  Luke was looking out the window, and my gaze followed his. The dense trees hid the scene of our fight, but the heavy wall of greenery couldn’t hide the memory. The Redeemers in the woods could no longer hurt us, but there were more of them out there. And Darla and the death dealers were hunting us. I imagined we would see a rush of people heading toward the house at any moment. “How many death dealers does she have with her?”

  “Enough to overpower us if they catch up to us,” Luke said.

  Dean had been quiet, but he spoke up again. “Then we’d better make sure they don’t catch up.”

  Luke and I spent a long moment staring at each other. Darla and her people were coming for us. There were Redeemers out there hunting us. I looked around the table. We could handle whatever was coming our way as long as we stood together.

  * * *

  We’d been walking for an eternity amongst the trees. We’d left Mrs. Olsen’s after dark and walked through the night and into the next day. We walked until I thought I couldn’t walk anymore, and then we walked some more. The trees were huge and dense, a mix of pine and leaved trees that blotted out the sky.

  We’d walked in the shadows of the trees for most of the day. Every time we broke into light, it was a relief, but now it was getting dark again. I shivered. As soon as the sun started to set yesterday, the temperature dropped.

  “We need to set up camp before it’s too dark to see.” Luke was leading our current band of merry men as we trekked through the forest. The only problem was, we were all far from merry—we were cold, hungry, and tired. It seemed we had to go a mile out of our way for every mile of progress we made forward. Wherever the trees opened up enough to give a clear path, dense underbrush grew up to absorb the available sunlight. Even worse, brambles of blackberry bushes grew in huge patches, the long thorns reaching out to snag our clothes as we moved past them. Going around all of the obstacles had taken time and energy.

  It wasn’t just slow going because of the terrain. We had to stop and rest every few hours for me. I didn’t want to slow us down, but I could push only so far before my body hit a wall of exhaustion and I had to rest. I expected the others to be annoyed that I kept such a slow pace, but so far no one had complained.

  “We need to make camp. I’ll see if I can find some wood for a fire,” Luke said.

  Mrs. Olsen had offered to drive us, but when she did Luke had given me a look that made it clear he didn’t like the idea. I turned down the ride and later when I cornered him he told me that as long as we were on foot in the woods he could do a decent job of covering our trail. But once we were in a crowd of people, he didn’t think he had the focus or the power to wipe our trail away. He was still trying to figure out how to use his new power.

  I tossed the bag I was carrying onto the ground and dropped down next to it. I took off my coat, pulled a sweater from the bag, and put it on. When Luke had come back from town, he hadn’t come back empty-handed. On his expedition, he’d gotten some camping gear. He’d also bought some sweaters and coats. At least we each had a few extra layers to keep out the cold.

  Jamie came to a halt a few feet away and huddled down against a fallen tree, squirming. As slight as Jamie was, she had a boundless supply of energy. She wore an oversize, red down coat that hung past her knees. After fidgeting with her sleeves, she looked over at me and said in a small voice, “I’m hungry.”

  My eyes widened in surprise. Those were the first words she’d said since the ritual. Why hadn’t she talked before now? I’d put it down to being traumatized by what had happened—we both almost died that night. But now I wondered, not for the first time, what was going through her head.

  Did she blame me for what happened to her? I had agreed to the ritual, after all. I had been prepared to kill her but at the last moment hadn’t been able to go through with it. A part of me wanted to talk to Jamie about what happened, but I honestly didn’t know what to say. How could I explain what I’d done? As far as I could tell, she had no idea what she really was or how she’d come to be. She thought she was just a regular little girl who’d been through a traumatic experience. What would happen when she found out the truth?

  “There are some sandwiches left,” I said, snapping out of my daze and reaching into my pack.

  I walked over, handed her a sandwich, and then bent down to roll up one of her coat sleeves.

  Dean dragged some fir branches across the ground. In one hand he held the tree branches and in the other, a small axe. We had sleeping bags, a cooking pot, a few steel dishes and utensils, and some freeze-dried food. I had the feeling it wouldn’t be enough. Who knew how long we’d be camping out like wild animals in the woods?

  Dean lifted the axe, and my mind flashed back to Macaven’s sick, twisted party at the mansion. I had used an axe just like it to kill one of Macaven’s henchmen. Before the third death dealer ritual I’d been so torn about taking a life, but afterward I’d clearly changed enough that it was easy to take a life without a moment’s hesitation. The last time I’d seen my mother’s spirit she had said there was still light burning bright somewhere within me, but I knew she was wrong.

  No matter how much I tried to make things right, tried not to let my dark emotions rule my actions, I knew deep down I was now and forever a creature of the dark. I was a death dealer. I’d murdered in cold blood, and I’d let a demon loose. But when Darla had tried to sacrifice Jamie I’d done everything I could to protect her.

  Darla’s words came back to me. She’d told me I only connected with Jamie because she looked like my family. I had to wonder if I hadn’t been able to go through with the ritual because of my conscience, or because Jamie now looked at me with my brother’s blue eyes and my father’s smile. I wanted to believe I’d done the right thing for the right reason. I didn’t know if I could find redemption for the things I’d done, but I was going to try. Try to fight the dark nature of my character. Try to fight the darkness as Luke was doing. My mother’s spirit had told me I needed to find the light inside me. I had to try to find the light. I couldn’t let the anger—the darkness—consume me.

  A little while later, Luke managed to build a fire. I sat in front of it, watching the wood crackle and pop. Spreading my hands, I moved closer. It felt good to be warm, but even with the sleeping bags we were in for a miserably cold night. I knew Luke wan
ted to stay away from town, but it was pure madness to keep wandering around in the woods. When we got close to another town, I would convince him it was worth the risk to go in and find someone to help us get far away, far enough away that Darla would have trouble tracking us.

  I looked over at Luke. He was poking at the fire with a stick. Jamie had settled down in a sleeping bag that lay on a bed of pine boughs. One edge of the sleeping bag was tucked up under her chin. Dean wandered at the edge of the camp, breaking up pieces of wood with his hands. As I watched, he snapped a two-inch thick branch without even seeming to strain. A loud crack filled the small clearing, and Dean looked around sheepishly. Jamie rolled over and pulled the bag over her head.

  Luke looked up at the sky and then over at me. “It’s getting colder. In a few weeks, we might see snow.”

  I made my way to his side. “Is it really almost winter?” The thought that another season had passed while I was lost in the depths of chaos seemed impossible.

  He poked the stick into the fire again, and red ashes floated into the air. “Seems like it was just summer. A lot has happened.” He motioned toward my arms. “How are you feeling?”

  I lifted my sleeve. I could see the line was only a few inches below my elbow. I swear I could feel the venom now, sliding under my skin. “I’m all right.”

  Luke looked down at my arm and then stared back at the fire. “There has to be a way to stop it.”

  “If we could only find Mildred.”

  “You really think the old woman holds all the answers?”

  Before I could say anything, a female voice spoke from the darkness. “Of course she does. It took you long enough to get here.”

  I watched in total shock as Mildred walked into the firelight. Her hair hung down around her, looking like it hadn’t been brushed in weeks. White stray hairs floated around her face as she moved, giving her the look of an unkempt crazy person.