by Jas T. Ward
The glass was starting to crack with each blow against it as she looked into its eyes.
Red. The color that should have been a normal blue, hazel, brown and human, was red like fresh blood. It matched in a strange sickening way with all the blood that flecked its skin and dripped from its fangs. The Eater slammed its fist again and the glass cracked more and now spidering out like a crystal web of weakness. One more hit and it would shatter.
Before that last hit could be struck a bright light hit the van, and for a moment Emma was blinded and disoriented.
Were they dead? Was this the light the movies said to go to when you were? She could still hear Lily and Rose’s panicked screams, and feel their hot tears soaking her new dress she got for the party, so they must still be alive. Or so Emma desperately hoped.
Animal-like noises and yelling were heard outside the van as Emma buried her face into Rose’s soft curls with Lily clinging to her other side.
The van door was thrown open and all three of them let out a scream of fear. “It’s okay, girls.”
Emma looked over, blinking from the light beyond the darkened van to meet a pair of kind and sad eyes, with the most beautiful amber hue she had ever seen, in a face made for romance novels. She would learn later it was Bounce. For now, she was just relieved to see no red in the eyes of the tall man that stood there.
Her eyes went beyond him and her breathing went from its panicked staccato to a slowed one when she saw the heavily armed Recon Relays behind him.
The Grid had arrived.
Reno held her and had started rocking her at one point as she told the tale. Sobs quaked her body and her hot tears fell soft and warm on his arm that was wrapped around her.
He could tell she was drowning in wave after wave of memories, and all he could do was keep her afloat the best he could.
He pressed kisses to the back of her neck, stroked his fingers over her fevered skin, and whispered that he was there when she struggled as if she was stuck helpless back in that van.
Emma let out a ragged, pained breath, and it seemed to take all her strength in doing so. She laid her head back to rest against Reno’s strong shoulder, laying her cheek against his raspy jaw.
“One of the valets survived. He said the Eaters were feeding on them when dad saw it. He could have run. He could have gotten to safety, but instead he tried to distract the eaters and save the valets. Mom was running back to the van when she got taken down. The Eaters didn’t even bite them so they wouldn’t have to feel or know what was going on. It was like they were angry at having their meal interrupted. Dad fought as hard as he could and held his own for longer than most with no training would have. Mom too. But they both didn’t make it out of that parking lot.” Emma closed her eyes with tears clinging to her long eye lashes, her voice full of sorrow.
Reno pressed his lips against her temple and asked softly, “Your brother did though, right?” Emma nodded, but that just started her sobbing anew, and Reno regretted asking about it.
“Physically he healed. He was in the hospital for weeks, healing from stabs and broken bones. But something died in him along with my parents. He was never the same. He became obsessed with revenge. To slaughter every single Eater he could get his hands on. He trained and became an Elite Recon with deadly skills. We begged him to become a sniper if he had to be on the military side, so he could be out of danger, but he wanted to feel the Eaters die. Wanted them to know he was the son of their victims.”
Reno sighed and lifted his head to murmur softly against her jaw. “Revenge is bad. It can eat you up.” He frowned and looked away, sighing. “It’s useless. No matter who you are.”
Emma turned her head to watch Reno’s face as he spoke. There was something there, but she couldn’t quite get what it was; perhaps a glimpse of some shadow of his hidden past crossing those handsome features before it was hidden back away.
Bringing a hand up to cup his face, it was only then that his eyes seemed to focus and snap back to hers. He gave her a confused look like he wasn’t aware his mind had gone anywhere before bending his head down to give her a gentle and soft kiss.
Emma gave into the kiss as she turned to curl up between his legs, a fetal position against his chest, as his arms held her tight. She pressed her ear to listen to his strong heartbeat with her fingers grazing his stamp on his left forearm.
“Ben was twenty-one and by then a hardened Relay and battle tested when he was ambushed along with two Breakers and all of them killed. No survivors. By that time, my sisters and I were no longer staying with the foster Relay family we had been assigned with, and had moved into our family home. I was working at getting mom’s shop started back up and was training under Mr. Hahn. I never wanted to be helpless again.
So I asked Bounce, who I had met for the first time that night my parents were killed, to let the other branches of the Grid learn to fight. I was trained on weapons and self-defense. Nowhere near the level of a Recon or a Breaker but at least...,” her tone hardened as the pain gave way to his beautiful Witch’s strength, “I wouldn’t be taken out easily in a parking lot. I had two sisters to raise and take care of. I was all they had. And they were all I had left.”
Chapter Sixteen
Safe in the Arms
Reno looked down at Emma and knew what telling him all that had cost her. To drag through all that pain in order to pull it to the front was both the bravest and hardest thing to do. He felt like he owed her something too. A return of the effort and a token of trust.
But as he opened his mouth to say something, his head bloomed with crackling pain.
“Do not tell her. Can of worms we can’t afford to open. Think of that kid. If it gets out who you are, who we’re related to in a fucked up way...it’s going to lead straight to that kid. Do.Not.Tell. Lie, buddy. But you better do it good.”
Sundown was right. But beyond all of that, for Emma to open herself up like that and relive it all was a huge thing. And she did it for him.
No one had ever trusted him. Or loved him. Or needed him.
And he would do whatever it took to make sure that didn’t change. It was all he had ever craved in his whole existence. So he would do anything not to lose it.
Lie. Lie. Lie.
“I don’t remember any parents. I don’t know if I had any really.” He forced down his trepidation but it wasn’t a lie so to speak. He didn’t have any parents.
“The earliest memory I have is being locked away. In a dark cold place. I was always alone and could only hear the world outside. But never be a part of it in anything good.”
Emma watched as Reno’s face went almost blank followed by his eyes losing focus, the normally blue light in them fading away as he spoke. Turning to get on her knees to face him, still between his legs, she cupped his face and listened. Hoping he could feel her touch, to let him know just like he was there for her, she was here for him. She asked softly, “How old were you?”
His brows came down as if her question came from far away from a foreign place. “Seven. That’s when I first remember anything. But I...,” he almost said he had a brother and he closed his mouth and his brows came down farther, long lashes hooding his hazed blue gaze, “ had certain skills. I was able to fight and take a lot of pain. So I got used for that. Anytime anything bad had to be done or something brutal, I was let out.” Again, all true in a way.
Emma leaned in to kiss his forehead causing him to blink as if he had forgotten she was there. “So you were always alone?” Her voice was so tender and caring that he felt tears burn in the back of his eyes.
He nodded his head slowly. “Yeah. Mostly. Except when I was let out. But they didn’t want me out for very long. Just do the bad stuff and go back to my hole. And I got really good at it.” His gaze skidded around the room and then rested to look into hers from what seemed like so far away.
“I killed people, Emma. Some innocent. Some bad. Some really bad. But it’s all I was made for. All I was allowed. All I had. So I
was really good at it.” His voice went into a small whisper that was so quiet she could barely hear him. “I wasn’t allowed any good things. I wasn’t allowed anything.”
His words tore at her heart, the emotion and pain behind them rendered it as if it was bleeding. Emma kissed his lips softly and whispered. “How long did that last, Reno?”
She trailed soft kisses down his jaw and let her lips rest against his pulse. It was slow, hesitant against her touch, his skin clammy and cold, as if he back in that place he was held in.
“For twenty-one years. Brought out over and over to just be put back away.”
Emma stilled and let out a soft sound of pain that anyone would have to deal with that, much less the man she loved. She wrapped her arms tighter and combed her fingers through his sweat dampened hair. She felt as if he was on some odd auto-pilot and if she didn’t help him get past it he would get stuck. While part of her wanted to know, yet another part wasn’t sure if either one of them could handle it all.
She moved back to face him with her fingers stroking his cheeks. “And when was that, Reno?”
His eyes closed as his breath quickened. Emma shushed him and kissed his forehead once again. But then the answer came and her heart cracked wide open with the pain of what he had been put through. “One hundred and fifty years ago.”
“Stop it you fool. You’re letting too much out! Snap out of it. You’re letting her lead you where we don’t want to go! Come on! Get your head right!”
He let out a small laugh which only confused Emma as she tried to look him in the eyes. Get his head right? It had never been right. It was never meant to be right. He was walking around as a big, dark secret with Sundown as an even darker, bad split personality. How could anyone be right in the head with all that? How was anyone supposed to function on the normal side of sanity with so much insanity forming and reforming their life?
It was impossible and he knew it.
But as Reno felt Emma’s soft fingertips caressing his face, with her other hand brushing damp hair from his forehead, he knew that he at last had a lifeline. An anchor in a storm that was made up of what he used to be. What he was made from.
Complete and total madness.
Insanity held at bay by pure will and a desperate need to belong. To be loved and accepted as someone worthy to be so. No...not by just someone.
Her. His Witch.
His destined, nothing could stop it - not even him - love. Bounce had said it himself. Nothing was stronger than love. It was the most powerful light on the Grid. It could overtake any dark, wipe it out and burn it away. And as he looked into those beautiful emerald green eyes of the woman he loved and now knew loved him back, for the first time in so many years, Reno knew he had a chance.
Bringing his hands up to cup her face, Reno meshed her mouth with his in a kiss so desperate that Emma lost her breath in a gasp. His hands pulled her tight against him as if to take her in and make them one with just the hold. She had never felt something as raw and overpowering as this kiss. But there was so much more to it.
It was like Reno was seeking a polar center point of reality to be brought back and kept here. As if his mind had almost tipped into that dark cold place he had barely spoke of and only her kiss could drag him back from the edge.
Emma was more than welcoming of that role as she kissed back with as much fervor as he was begging for. Their tongues danced and swept each other’s mouth, seeking the breath of the other for life-saving air. Her hands were fisting his hair to keep him in the kiss as he laid her back with his mouth never leaving hers.
Reno’s hands shook with need as they seemed to be everywhere. Brushing over her breasts, sliding down her stomach, one cupping the apex between her welcoming, parted thighs as it heated and became moist beneath his palm.
His body trembled with desire, his blood boiled with it as his mouth scorched a trail to claim one breast tip in his teeth, his other hand teasing for more heat. Craving more welcoming wet.
Emma cried out in pleasure as his fangs teased her tender skin, loving the mix of erotic pain. Her back arched as he lifted himself over her with his hips grinding against hers as she lifted her own to meet them. His hand tortured her in sweet punishment as his mouth seem to devour her breasts and then move to her neck and reclaim her lips with his.
In a rush, she climaxed beneath his hand. She screamed with the power of it all, his mouth feasting on the sound. His fangs then nipped her tongue before wrapping it with his own.
As the wave was still cresting, he let out a mastering roar that seemed more beast than human and plunged inside the now liquid sheath of her body with his own bowing up to dig his toes into the bed, to thrust inside, his hips rocking against hers as if to climb inside her wetness and never leave.
Both their breaths were a ragged sawing between teeth locked tight with possessing passion as they moved. Her hips rose to each fall of his, as he thrust, and she lifted, to bring him deeper. Emma’s legs came up to wrap around Reno’s waist as he seemed to lose all control in his need and it was all she could do to hold on. He growled with each plunge inside, deep within her silken sheath, and she groaned with each withdrawal.
Emma had never felt anything like this. Their love making before this had always been so tender with him giving so much more than he let her give. But this time was night and day to the previous. Her mind couldn’t keep up as she gave her whole soul up to only the sensations of her body being overtaken by it all.
His touches were rough and forceful. His demands raw in their claiming possession. It was as if he was not only laying claim to her body, but was using it to batter away and obtain her soul. A soul she would gladly give in whatever way he chose.
Reno lifted himself on straightened arms to be above her, his hips moving in a brutal pace, lifting hers off the bed as her thighs squeezed around him. His eyes were shut and his fangs were biting into his bottom lip, piercing the flesh to cause blood to trickle down his chin.
His features were contorted in a pained pleasure as he dropped his head, the blood from his lip falling in a lazy slow-motion free-fall to drip on her creamy pale breasts.
He could feel his release running him down like a freight train and he thrust harder to bring her down the tracks of climax with him.
Opening his eyes to look down at her, his breath caught as if hung in his lungs at the sight of his Witch below.
Emma’s mouth was open, gasping for air with lips swollen from his kisses. Passion had colored her cheeks with the most delectable pink. Her head thrashed on the pillow with its cascading dark curls against the paleness of the linen. One hand was spearing through his hair; her nails cutting into his scalp as her other hand had sunk her nails into his back causing blood to trickle from their grip.
His eyes tripped to the crimson drip of his blood on her breast and he bent his head down to lick it as she let out a scream at that simple touch, her orgasm rocking him to the core as she clenched her wet heat around him.
Emma’s gaze was blurred; she looked up at Reno when she felt him swell inside of her, wanting to watch as passion rendered her lover conquered.
The raw need there started another climax of her own as she watched. Then with a roar, he put his head back as his hips seemed to jackknife into her and his spine curved in his release. Her own scream of pleasure joined his yelling out her name as they both fell over the edge together before he collapsed on top of her and then rolled to the side.
Emma didn’t move and wasn’t completely sure if she could as she panted trying to calm down. Reno rolled to curl against her, putting his head on her shoulder, this time him the one to listen to her heart which was racing just like his.
Panting, trying to find the ability to do more than moan, groan, growl and roar, he wrapped his arms tight around her to tangle their limbs, wanting to touch her and never let her go. His voice came out in a hoarse croak, a jagged whisper.
“Always save me, Emma. No one else can. I’ve never loved anyone b
ut you. I don’t think I can and I don’t want to even try.”
Emma wasn’t sure what that meant as she brought a hand up to stroke his soft hair and then tilted her head to rest her chin on the top of it. “I love you, Reno.”
Reno closed his eyes and whispered. “Say it again.”
She laughed softly and said it tenderly. “I love you. I love you. I love you, Reno. My Candyman.”
He smiled and lifted himself up to look deep into those forest green eyes to search their depths. And then, finding that the emotion there matched the words he had longed to hear for centuries with his name attached, he lowered his head to kiss and whispered on her lips.
“I love you. I love you. I love you, Emma. My Witch.”
Chapter Seventeen
Ah Love
“Why haven’t you stopped it?”
Bounce was sitting in his office with his finger tracing the edges of a Rubik’s cube when he heard Yin Yang’s voice behind him. Had he not been so focused on memories of that cube he would have felt the sizzle of her power when she blurred into the room.
You’re slipping Bounce.
Sighing, he turned to face the beautiful goddess. She was tall and willowy thin with dark, silky straight hair. Her eyes were an almond gold, which stood out against her exotic dark skin, her lips thin on top, full on bottom and a deep brown. Some believed her Oriental. Others Egyptian. Both were wrong. Yin Yang was the creation’s goddess of balance so she was all and she was none.
She just was.
And just like him, she did not answer to any council nor worshippers or religion. She existed as long as one single thing created existed. She was fed by the very nature of all things, not purpose—only creation.
Her power was infinite and even Bounce wasn’t sure of what abilities she held. All he knew was that she could be both benevolent and deadly. Both kind and vicious. And he usually tended to want to be on her good side, because he was smart like that.
