Dawn (Hero Society Book 1)

by Jessica Florence

I groaned when he mentioned the soreness. Of course I had gone through little stages of my life of attempting to work out, and when my legs were so sore it hurt to sit on the toilet, I usually gave up. I was petite, but not toned at all. It was something I was okay with.

  “I’ll help. You’ll get a better stretch that way. Lie on your back.” I almost flopped down instead of trying to control my descent to the mat. One by one, he lifted my legs and pushed them back toward my head. I breathed through everything, including the situations where our bodies were touching.

  Even with him acting like a drill sergeant earlier, I couldn’t help but think dirty things when he leaned in, pressing my leg over his shoulder for good leverage to stretch me further. His face held no emotions, and despite my best attempts not to search for them, I may have tried to figure out who was feeling the lust more, me or him. He didn’t let it deter him from helping me lengthen my body in every possible way.

  My face was thankfully already flushed from the workout, so when I felt a spike of lust from him, you couldn’t see my cheeks brighten with blush.

  “Okay, go shower up. Phillip wanted to see if we can figure out a way to start looking for our mystery man.”

  He stood and held out his hand to assist me in getting up. I gripped his hand, and as he pulled me up like I weighed nothing, I felt a mix of emotions coming from his touch.

  As soon as I was up, he let go and walked off toward the weapons area. My feet moved me to the blessed showers ahead, but my mind was stuck thinking about his emotions. Fear, admiration, lust, and regret.

  My fingers splayed as I pushed the door open, but before I walked inside, I spared Draco a glance and watched as he threw a sharp knife at a target against the wall. Bull’s-eye.

  The more I was around him, the more I kept wanting to learn about the man underneath. He wasn’t the general in my eyes that had lived so long ago. He was lethal, and there was not one ounce inside of me that was scared of that characteristic.

  Before he could catch me staring at him again, I closed the door and bee lined for a shower.

  Twenty-five-ish minutes later, I met up with the boys in the computer room, wondering how we were going to start looking for other gifted people and our mystery bad guy.

  Phillip was sitting at the large desk, looking at all the computer screens, while Draco, who looked like he still wasn’t done working out, stood against the wall patiently.

  “All right, the party has arrived, let’s begin.” I smiled and sat in a chair next to Phillip.

  “For a moment, I thought you drowned in the shower.” My brother winked at me, and I rolled my eyes. It was an amazing time under the spray, and though my muscles still ached, they didn’t feel as bad.

  “I’ve gotten images of people with powers in my head and have been searching for them for over a week now, by drawing them out and running the picture through the system. Facebook pages, Instagram, missing persons files. If there is a match on the Internet, we will find them.” He reached over to a can of soda, taking a sip before continuing on. I shook my head at the soda. Weren’t we supposed to be turning over a healthy leaf now?

  “I’ve found two people already: Josie Lomes and Leon Daniels. Leon is a fisherman who is away for another month at sea, so he is not on the agenda to talk with right now. Josie works at a pet store right outside Seahill city, in Burton. She lives alone, and I haven’t been able to tell what power she has, only that she likes to keep to herself.” He pulled up pictures of two people on the screen. One was a black-haired girl with glasses on her cute, upturned nose and a cat snuggled in her arms. The other was a muscular man, covered in a thick flannel jacket, with short blond hair, and green eyes. He was handsome, for sure, but before I could stop myself, my eyes wandered over to Draco’s form. He was more than handsome; he was hauntingly beautiful.

  “The man in the photos with the stolen powers—his face is too unrecognizable. I’ve tried everything. Unfortunately we are going to have to keep an eye out and wait for him to resurface again. Hopefully we can stop him before he does sizable damage.” I turned my sight back toward Phillip and felt the frustration in his emotions. I understood his pain; it sucked not knowing who was hurting people, and not being able to do anything about it until they start causing trouble again.

  “We should probably go and talk to Josie soon then. Let her know there is a safe place, and maybe she would join our little team.” I tried to make a smile appear on his face, and he gave me his best attempt. With all those images in his head, I knew he would still feel helpless to do something about them.

  “Good plan. I’ll go shower, and we can drive over afterwards,” Draco announced before walking out the door and heading to the elevator. My eyes followed his figure until he was gone.

  I watched Phillip toy around with the surveillance, and tried to understand how I could help in this situation. His emotions were flittering across the map, and I couldn’t get a read on him. He was intentionally trying to throw me off, that I was sure of.

  “You’re keeping something from me. I can feel it. Do I wanna know?” I turned to stare at my brother, all while feeling his nervousness.

  “I’m not sure.” He was being honest, so really it was up to me if I wanted to know whatever it was he was hiding or not. Truthfully, I was torn about it. I trusted him literally with my life, but sometimes I didn’t like being left in the dark.

  “I want to know something. Maybe not all, but just one little piece.”

  “You’re going to hook up with Draco,” he announced, and I scoffed.

  “What percentage of likelihood is that one?” I couldn’t believe his words. Draco had said nice things to me, and sure, I felt his lust on occasion, but he wasn’t going to act on it. He had lots of baggage that wouldn’t let him. Even though the thought of something like that happening didn’t make my insides cringe, it made little butterflies fly around.

  “Ninety-eight. There is a tiny chance you won’t because he dies trying to protect you from something.” He shrugged, and I know he is being a smart ass now. Draco couldn’t die.

  “Are you okay with that?” I quietly asked. For some reason, I wanted his approval on the subject. He was my closest friend in addition to being my brother. I still wasn’t one hundred percent sold on the fact that Draco and I would hook up, but then again, hook up doesn’t mean being together as a couple. It could just mean we have sex. No emotions involved, just a primal urge to fuck. My cheeks heated, thinking about Draco and me together like that. It was not an unwelcome thought, but something in my brother’s eyes told me there was more than just a simple hookup in my future.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Draco

  “I am,” Phillip told his sister, and from the tone of his voice I could tell there was more to his thoughts than just saying he approved of me hooking up with his sister. I already caught the look in his eyes before that said she and I were something more, way more.

  His eyes moved toward me, and I knew he was also giving me his blessing with his sister, without her knowing so. I didn’t even know how to react to this situation. It was strange knowing that something was going to happen in the future, with the feeling that there was nothing you could do to stop it. Should I just grab Rose and take her somewhere, and get it over with? This was nothing I had ever encountered.

  I shook my head. I would still fight it, even if Phillip said it would happen, and then I would try to hold off for as long as I could. She deserved someone better than me; I would train her, protect her, and work with her. But I couldn’t give in to being with her.

  “You guys ready to go?” I asked, and Rose jumped at hearing my voice. Phillip, of course, knew I was there, listening, so he just stood and nodded.

  “Yep! To the Phillip mobile!” He fisted his keys in the air in triumph and started walking toward the elevator. Rose got up slowly, her face covered in a light pink blush.

  “Guess you heard all of that?” She was looking everywhere but at me, embarrassment written
all over her body.

  “I’m not the man for you, Rose. Even if you ignored my warning, I don’t have a heart to give you. It was blown to pieces back in 1942.” She didn’t really need to know that little detail, but I figured it would help my cause in pushing her feelings for me, if she had any, away. I had to keep up a wall between us. Everyone I loved died; she wouldn’t meet that fate before her time because of me.

  “Good thing we are nipping this in the bud then.”

  Her sweet blush was gone, as was all the emotion in her eyes. She covered everything up, and was just as unreadable as I. Or at least she was trying to be. For now we were on the same page, not letting a future “us” happen.

  We walked to the elevator together and found Phillip waiting with the car outside the door of the restaurant.

  Rose and Phillip started talking about family nonsense on the ride over to where our first possible recruit worked. I’d been in this situation many times. Most people were willing to accept their heritage, and wanted to do something about it, at least in the beginning. Later on, once their powers peaked, it was a different story.

  “Okay, here we are.” Phillip smiled and pulled the SUV into a parking spot.

  I was the first out and looked around; there were a few other cars here, but not a lot. She should have an easy time taking a break to chat with us for a few minutes.

  We walked inside and split up so that we could cover more space in a shorter time. The pet store was pretty large. Besides my chickens and cows, it had been so long since I had a pet. Was all this stuff really necessary to care for them now?

  “Dogs do not need hats,” I muttered in disgust as I looked over the dog section. I’d seen magazines where they had dogs all dressed up, but I honestly just assumed that it was just for the photo shoot—not real life.

  “It can be kind of cute, if you have a little dog,” a light voice said from the end of the aisle. My head tilted to the side to look at the curvy woman with glasses and black hair. It was Josie.

  “I prefer the larger breeds.” It was true. When I did break down and owned a dog, they weren’t little things.

  “I’m more of a cat person myself. Can I help you with anything?” She stood from her squatting position, and set the can of dog food on the shelf she was organizing.

  “Yes, I’m looking for Josie Lomes.” I knew it was her, but she didn’t know that.

  “I’m Josie.” She smiled, and the action was strange to me. Normally people were suspicious if I wasn’t familiar to them. Sometimes they weren’t even willing to shake my hand.

  “Of course you are.” I tried to smile and be welcoming; this interaction always went better when I acted normal instead of behaving like a man who was tired of the world.

  “Josie, my name is Draco. I am here with two of my friends, and we would like a chance to speak with you for just a moment.”

  Her lit-up eyes faded, and she looked around with fear.

  “I’m sorry; I don’t think I can take a break right now. Maybe another time?” She was feeling flighty. Shit. Where was Rose? Her calming effects would be useful right now.

  “I’m not here to hurt you, Josie. You and I are alike. We are special. I just want to talk to you about it.”

  Maybe I was out of practice with this whole recruitment thing, or I just didn’t know how to sugar coat things anymore. Either way, I was losing Josie by the minute. Just as she was about to make a run for it, Rose and Phillip appeared. Rose reached out and touched Josie, calming her, and letting her know we weren’t here to hurt her.

  “Just breathe,” Rose instructed, and Josie paused, trying to not freak out. It took a few minutes, but she was visibly starting to calm down.

  “We just want to talk to you, Josie.” Rose smiled, and I could feel her radiance hitting against my walls, trying to reach me without even being intentional about it.

  Josie nodded and mumbled for us to follow her down a hallway. Through the double doors, it opened up into a warehouse. A truck must have unloaded the goods not too long ago for it to look like the mess it was right now.

  “No one will bother us back here; if they are seen, then they will have to actually do work.” She sat down on a stack of boxes.

  Phillip quickly launched into his spiel that he gave me. The dawn of heroes has come, and we need you. It was a good one, so why not use it?

  Josie started nodding along with him, clearly wanting to use her talent for the greater good. Whatever that talent may be. Technically we still didn’t know it yet.

  Just as I thought it in my head, Josie took off the light jacket she was wearing, and then suddenly wings appeared from her shoulders. Large, purple, butterfly-looking wings. Very interesting. A physical manifestation. Flight was a very useful tool in our world.

  “They are beautiful!” Rose was in awe, staring at them. Josie smiled and talked about how she always just felt at peace around animals. She worked here most of the time, and then volunteered at a wild life rescue on the weekends, helping injured animals before releasing them back out to the wild. She was a very sweet and innocent soul.

  “I really hope you think over everything we said, and give us a call.” Phillip handed her his business card, and she took it with eager hands.

  “Thank you so much.” She pulled her wings back in, and put her jacket on.

  “It’s nice to know I’m not alone anymore.” She looked at each of us in the eyes, even mine.

  Phillip said we were going to leave, and I take it that he saw this was the best path for us to travel, giving her time to really think things over more. We walked out feeling victorious, well Phillip and Rose did. I could see their goofy grins that our first try was successful. I, on the other hand, did not get my hopes up. There was still a possibility for failure.

  Just as we were about to walk out of the building, a car hit the bumper of the one in front of it, just outside the door. It wasn’t a big accident; someone just wasn’t paying attention.

  The doors opened, and all three of us were going to see if we could help when Phillip stopped and turned around quickly.

  His eyes were locked in the direction of those double doors.

  “No, no, no,” he whispered, then took off running.

  “Rose, come on,” I told her. She had been too distracted by the accident to see her brother take off. She looked at me and then to where Phillip was. Her eyes widened, and she followed me as we turned and sped toward the warehouse.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Rose

  My legs gave out when I saw the scene before me.

  Phillip was performing CPR on Josie, who was lying on the floor, not breathing.

  Draco scanned the room and started walking around on light feet, looking for anyone else that could still be around. God, I hoped he found whoever did this.

  Poor Josie.

  I crawled over to Phillip and watched as he put everything he had into trying to revive her lifeless body. Her eyes were staring up, with a small tear stain on her cheek. I truly hoped she didn’t suffer.

  “It’s not this one. Can’t be this one,” he repeated as he kept trying to breathe into her. He must have seen different futures for her, and this one was not the chosen future he thought she would have.

  “Phillip, she’s gone!” I cried for him to stop. He looked up at the metal roof and let out a guttural cry. I reached out, trying to see if I could help him, but all I got was regret. He felt responsible for her death, that there was something he could have done to stop it.

  “You can’t choose which future happens. There wasn’t anything you could have done,” I told him but he was letting this eat him up on the inside. When his head came back down, his eyes landed on mine.

  “I need you to touch her.”

  I shook my head no. I never touched a dead person, and I didn’t want to.

  “Rose, we need to see if you can feel their emotions, or maybe an imprint of her killer’s emotions. This is something that can help us solve the mystery of h
er death, and others that happen in the future. I’ve seen you both ways, with this gift or without.” He reached over and grabbed hold of my hand.

  “Please, Rose,” he pleaded and I kept refusing with my head shake. I didn’t want those emotions inside me. I didn’t wanna know.

  “Don’t make me do this.” Tears were streaming down my eyes; this was too much for me already, just seeing Josie, who was the sweetest creature, dead.

  Together he lifted my hand with his, and I powerless to stop him. I knew it was for the greater good, but I was too green for this.

  When he flattened our joined hands on her arm, my body started to shake, as I was flooded with an onslaught of emotions.

  My eyes closed as I tried to sort through everything that was flowing through me.

  “She was elated. Then scared. Oh God, she was so scared.” I was feeling all her emotions as if they were happening to me.

  “I feel her pain, and then delight. I feel sadism, and joy from watching someone in pain.” My eyes flew open, and I jerked my hand away from her, scrambling back like someone shocked the shit out of me.

  I was about to tell Phillip what else I felt when Draco came flying from the air, crashing into a pile of glass aquariums, shattering them.

  Something flew fast over our head and pushed through the metal doors that led outside.

  “What was that?” I screamed and ran over to Draco, who was cut up all over. His arms were bleeding very badly, and I was afraid he would bleed out. Phillip ran over and tried getting Draco to move. He was still conscious for now, but blood kept pouring out of him like a geyser.

  “Rose, go get the car; we need to get out of here now,” Phillip told me in a firm voice.

  “What about Josie?” We couldn’t just leave her like that.

  “I’ll take care of it. Please, Rose, go get the car, bring it around so we can leave.”

  I didn’t like leaving them there, but I did as he said. Grabbing the keys from his outstretched hand, I walked as calmly as I could to the SUV.