Sergius: #4 (Luna Lodge: Hunters of Atlas)

by Stevens,Madison

  Sergius finally slammed into the ground with a hard thud, blood flowing freely from his leg.

  He let out a loud groan and pushed himself off the ground. Not much longer and the damn thing would finish him off.

  That didn’t worry him. It was more that he hadn’t seemed to actually have hurt it back.

  He didn’t care if he died. He just had to figure out a way to take the damn thing with him and save Jade.

  Jade cried as she lay on the ground. She remained weak from the trance-like state that monster had put her in. Her head still throbbed.

  Sergius grunted as a shadowy, blurry form charged from a cloud of smoke and clawed him. As strong as he was, as large as he was, the truth was unmistakable: they were losing. It was only a matter of time before the creature finished him and then her.

  She had to do something, or she was not going to just lose her own life, but the two other lives that meant the most to her.

  She might not be as strong as Sergius, but she had at least managed to fight off the creature’s control. That gave her hope there might be something she could do. She just had to figure out how.

  Sergius collapsed on the ground next to her. A pool of blood grew around him. Unable to walk, she crawled over to him and placed a hand on his forehead.

  “Run,” he whispered to her. “Just run. I’ll distract him. I don’t care if I die as long as you get away.”

  Jade leaned over him and placed a kiss on his lips. “Never.”

  She would never leave him. He was what she needed, and she would do anything to protect him. If they were going to die, they’d die together. She wouldn’t run off if there was even the smallest chance she could help him.

  Jade couldn’t say why or how, but something spoke to her. A voice in her head. Not the monster. Not the horrible thing that screamed inside there before or was trying to kill her and her loved ones. No, something else spoke to her.

  Desperate for a miracle, she listened.

  Touch his tattoo, child. Unlock the true potential of the two who are as one.

  Jade placed her hand over the tattoo at the back of his neck. Whether this was a hallucination, vision, or something else, she couldn’t be sure, but at this point she was willing to try anything.

  A blinding light shot out from where she touched him. The tattoos grew, snaking down his neck and his back and along his arms. The longer she held onto him, the more his tattoo stretched out across his body, and the brighter the light became.

  His whole body glowed now with a blinding blue light. The intense light forced her to close her eyes.

  “What are you—” Sergius began.

  The creature let out a bloodcurdling scream

  “Kill it,” she said. “You can hurt it now, child of Atlantis. Show your true power.”

  The words came out of her mouth, but they were also someone else’s. She could feel the weight of another person speaking through her.

  Unable to keep herself upright, her hand fell away from his tattoo, but Sergius continued to glow.

  Jade collapsed on the ground and panted as exhaustion overwhelmed her.

  Power throbbed through Sergius. Jade had somehow changed him when she touched his tattoo. He wasn’t really certain how or what she’d done, but his wounds had healed, and strength pulsed through him, more than he’d ever experienced.

  The monster screamed again. If he wasn’t mistaken, the voice sounded both angry and scared.

  He watched as the black, blurry formed lunged out at him, still mostly cloaked in a shroud of smoke, but this time he was ready. He reached out his hand and slammed into the monster. The new tattoo that trailed down his arm turned into small spikes that speared the monster.

  A bright blinding blue hole shot its way through the shape.

  The creature howled and let out mighty scream before running back into the outer cloud.

  He had hit it. He had been able to actually hit the monster. The smoke around them faded, and he knew the creature was getting away. Sergius stepped forward to chase after it but stopped when Jade moaned.

  “Sergius,” she called, her voice weak.

  He looked back to where she lay on the ground, her breathing labored and skin far paler than she’d ever been before, even after any of her visions.

  Damn it. What good did it do to fight off the creature if he still lost her?

  Sergius rushed over to her and lifted her in his arms. He had to do something before it was too late.

  He turned around quickly. Something made a noise in the grass behind him. A white cloaked figure stepped out from behind a tree.

  He growled. He’d just fought a strange monster. He had no problem taking on the Azilians.

  Anassa held up a pale hand. “I’ve come to help.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Anassa followed closely behind him in silence as they made their way back to his house. He was unsurprised when Rem, Magnus, and Marcus met them at his door.

  They all tensed at the sight of Anassa.

  “Did she do this?” Marcus said. He stepped forward. “You think you can harm our people, you Azilian bitch, and get away with it?”

  Rem placed his hand on the younger man’s chest to stop him from charging the cloaked woman.

  Sergius shook his head as they opened the door to the house and stepped inside. Anassa lingered by the door, but Marcus shot her a baleful glare.

  “No,” Sergius said. He laid Jade on the couch. “We were attacked by the creature.”

  “What was it?” Rem asked. “A Glycon?”

  “I… don’t know, but definitely not a Glycon. I couldn’t really see it. It hid in this cloud of smoke, or something that looked like smoke. It had claws, and was fast.” He stared at Rem. “The one thing I do know is that it had glowing blue eyes.”

  The gathered hybrids all exchanged meaningful glances. He assumed they realized the same thing he did, that they must be dealing with something related to their people.

  “We were losing until Jade touched my tattoo. Then something happened.” He stepped away from her.

  Sergius watched as Anassa stepped over to Jade and opened her eyelids to reveal that her eyes had rolled into the back of her head.

  “She touched your tattoo?” Rem asked. “What happened?”

  Sergius shook his head. It was hard to explain what he experienced. He still wasn’t sure himself. “One minute, the creature was hurting me badly, and the next minute, I was healed and hurting it.”

  “She transferred her essence to him,” Anassa said quietly, stepping toward Jade.

  The gathered men looked at the cloaked woman as she pulled a blue vial from her sleeve. She uncorked the bottle and tilted Jade’s head up to pour it into her mouth.

  Sergius snatched ahold of her wrist.

  “What the hell are you giving her?” he growled.

  Anassa didn’t look over at him or struggle to get away from his grip.

  “This is essence,” she said calmly. “This is the life force that makes a Vestal. That is what is in the Atlantean blood. She is dying because she transferred that essence to you.” She stared at him. “This is the only way to replenish what you have taken from her. This is the only way to save her life.”

  Taken. He hated that he had made her like this. That he had obviously taken too much. How was he supposed to know what was happening though? There was still so much he didn’t understand.

  He glanced over at the others. They all nodded. Even Marcus didn’t offer any resistance, looking more concerned than annoyed for once.

  Sergius let go of her hand and held his breath as Anassa poured the blue liquid into Jade’s mouth. Her color returned to her face almost instantly. She took in deep breaths.

  Relief flooded through him over her improvement. The other men around him watched them both very carefully.

  “Well, that’s a new one,” Rem said, scratching his eyelid.

  Sergius might have found it funny if he hadn’t spent the last hour being beate
n down by some sort of strange monster and worried that his wife and unborn child were going to die.

  Anassa stood next to Jade and turned to Sergius.

  He narrowed his eyes. The same black smoke that he had seen around the creature also surrounded her face under the hood of her cloak. He found it hard to believe that was a coincidence.

  Anassa held out a bag of brown powder. “She must drink a pinch of this, every day. It will keep the creature at bay and protect your unborn child.”

  He could hear Marcus and Magnus mumble their surprise at the news of the baby. He hadn’t even had a chance to let anyone know before the shit hit the fan.

  Sergius looked over to Rem for his approval. Unsurprisingly, their leader seemed to already know his secrets before he knew them. Rem nodded, and Sergius took the bag.

  “Thank you,” he said quietly to Anassa.

  She might normally be their enemy, but today she was their ally. And he’d even thank the Horatius Group if they’d come and saved his Vestal from death.

  Anassa nodded her head in acknowledgment.

  “Why help us now?” Rem said to Anassa.

  Sergius was a bit curious about that as well.

  “Why not?” she replied quietly. “I know you don’t trust us, but you still don’t understand. We’re not enemies. What we do, we do for the greater good.”

  Rem shook his head. “I think things maybe aren’t going as you expected. I bet that pisses you off.”

  The woman turned to look at him. A cold chill filled the room.

  “I also think you know what that creature is,” Rem said rather than asked. He seemed undisturbed by the cold chill the woman was sending off. “If you’re not our enemy, then you should share your information.”

  Anassa was quiet for a moment and stepped closer to Rem. “The gods and their children have many enemies.”

  “Care to be more specific?”

  “Specificity is irrelevant. Our faith is what protects us.”

  Rem laughed loudly. “Faith? I guess they should have just prayed harder when that thing attacked?”

  Anassa bowed her head again. “We are all of the gods and under the gods’ will. You can deny that all you want, but that doesn’t change the truth.”

  Rem shook his head. Sergius was never sure how much Rem believed in the old gods, but he could tell that even if he did, their leader had little faith the gods knew what the hell they were doing.

  Given everything that had happened to them, from the Horatius Group to the creature, Sergius tended to agree.

  Anassa turned from them and made her way out of the house without another word.

  “Follow her,” Rem said to Marcus and Magnus. The two men nodded. “Don’t hurt or interfere with her. Let’s just make sure she gets back to where she belongs. Whatever else she’s done, she did help us today at least.”

  Jade made a noise from the couch, and Sergius looked down to where she lay. Her eyes blinked open, and he could tell she was struggling to open them.

  Rem patted him on the shoulder. “I’ll be just outside,” he said softly.

  Sergius nodded to his leader and watched as he walked out the door and closed it behind him.

  He knelt beside Jade on the couch. He softly kissed her lips and leaned back to stare down at her.

  “How do you feel?”

  Jade blinked her eyes a few times and nodded. She gave him a small smile.

  “Better.”

  He was glad to hear it. It seemed that whatever the truth of blue liquid, it had done the job.

  Jade moved her hand into his own and gave a small squeeze. “I’m glad you’re better.”

  He rubbed his fingers along the back of her hand. Their connection still burned in him where she had touched his tattoo. As she held onto him, he could feel his tattoo hum just from being near her. It was like having a piece of her with him.

  It only made him love her even more.

  Jade smiled warmly up at him.

  “I love you too,” she said and drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Jade lay resting in her bed. It had been several days since the night in the woods, and although she was still slightly weak from the whole affair, she felt much better than she did. Her strength was slowly coming back, but unfortunately morning sickness had decided to show its ugly face.

  The monster hadn’t returned, in the real world or the dream world, and she wondered if it ever would. They now knew how to beat it, after all.

  The door opened, and she sank down into the covers, closing her eyes.

  “Jesus Christ, that’s a lot of food.”

  Jade sighed loudly and threw the covers off her head. Though she wasn’t feeling great, she was glad to hear her friend Taylor’s voice.

  “We thought you might be sleeping,” Jenna said sweetly from behind Taylor and raised a brow.

  Jade made a face and crossed her arms over her chest.

  “No, I’m just trying to hide from my daily force-feeding,” she huffed.

  Taylor laughed hysterically at her, and it only made her more annoyed.

  “That with this shit is?”

  Jade looked around the room and the piles of plates around the room. Sergius had kept trying to bring her food. It was sweet, but good intentions didn’t always lead to good results.

  The man just wouldn’t stop trying to feed her, and worst of all, he couldn’t cook one tiny bit.

  She had ended up trapped among a mixture of smells and none good. She half-wondered if the morning sickness was just Sergius cooking sickness.

  “Aw, that’s sweet,” Jenna said. “He’s just trying to get you well again.”

  Jade sighed loudly. She was right, of course. He was just trying to get her well. Too bad they were too far from town for delivery.

  Taylor came over and popped down on the side of the bed. She laid a hand on Jade’s stomach.

  “So how’s little sea monkey doing?” Taylor asked.

  Jade laughed at that name Taylor had given their unborn child. She knew it pissed off Sergius with all this talk of Atlanteans, but it was a fitting name.

  “Rachel says all my labs are good,” Jade said. “They also think they may have a lead on a doctor for us. Rachel and Rem have been having a bunch of talks about this.”

  Jenna nodded and rubbed her own little bump. “I told them both there’s no way in hell I’m having this baby without a doctor around.”

  Jade had found that Jenna could be very sweet, but she wasn’t a woman Rem wanted to cross. If he knew what was good for him, he would find a damned doctor.

  It made sense anyway. Their community needed one. They might be smaller than Luna Lodge, but they still needed dedicated medical personnel, especially since they couldn’t seem to keep out of trouble.

  Jade let out a wide yawn. It had been a long day, and she wasn’t really used to having company yet.

  Taylor patted her on the hand and then stood. “We just wanted to check and see how you are doing.” She smiled. “When you’re feeling well enough, I’d love if you came out to visit us on the ranch.”

  Jade nodded. She liked the idea of visiting her friend and having people who cared for her in her life. For so long, she had run away from that sort of life, but it now seemed she would be surrounded by nothing but love and people willing to protect her.

  It was different, unsurprisingly, but most of all, it was wonderful.

  Jenna nodded. “If you need anything, just call.”

  Jade smiled at her friends and watched as they slipped out of the room. She heard the click of the front door as it closed.

  She wasn’t surprised when Sergius came in a few minutes later. He smiled at her from the door and came over to lay down on the bed next to her. She watched as he rolled over and pushed up her shirt to place a kiss on the bare skin there. He lay his head against her, and she smiled as she watched him.

  Jade ran her fingers along his stubbled head. She enjoyed the soothing feel of the pric
kly hair there. Her fingers brushed along his tattoo, and she felt the warm hum it gave her.

  They had talked very little about the voice she had heard that night, the one telling her about the tattoo. Nearly all but Rem were convinced that it had been just her reacting on instinct, but she knew what she heard, and she knew it was more than just her mind.

  Something or someone had helped her that night. What it was, she wasn’t really certain, but it had helped her, and she would be eternally grateful. For a while she wondered if it was Anassa, but even in her dream contact before, the woman had used her own voice and appearance.

  For now, it would remain just have to remain a mystery.

  She’d also wondered if she was done with visions, but a minor one had sapped her strength the previous day. Rem was interested, still concerned about her winter vision, but with no sign of the creature, they all thought she had time to learn to better control her gift.

  Dea had been vocal about how such an ability shouldn’t be feared and how it might help their community. Given the powerful enemies of the hybrids, a lot of people accepted they could use all the help they could get, and anyone who still didn’t like her wasn’t about to mention it with Sergius looming around.

  “What are we going to do?” she asked quietly. “It’s not over, not completely.”

  Sergius looked up to where she was and shrugged.

  They laced their fingers together, and he kissed their tips.

  “We live,” he said. “We just live each day, and we love each day. We leave nothing to chance.” He placed his hand on her stomach. “And we protect our child.”

  She was surprised by his answer. He had been so doting when it came to getting out of bed or doing anything the last few days that she didn’t expect him to be so laidback about this.

  They literally had a monster run off into the woods and no idea if it was ever coming back to finish the job it started. On top of that, they’d had to depend on Anassa to cure her and still couldn’t be sure of her connection to the monster. Everything seemed so up in the air.

  “But what about—” she started

  Sergius sat up and place a finger against her lips.