Dark Tomorrows, Second Edition

by Amanda Hocking; Joel Arnold; J. L. Bryan; Michael Crane; S. W. Benefiel; Daniel Pyle; Robert J. Duperre; Vicki Keire

  Julian stepped into the room, looking strong, well-rested, his face clean shaven. He also had fresh clothes on, a more relaxed outfit of dark jeans and a black and white checked flannel than he usually wore when he was guarding. To say that the look suited him was an understatement.

  “Nice cupcakes,” Julian said, nodding at the pattern on her pajama shirt.

  Flora blushed violently, no darkness to hide in this morning. “What? You haven’t ever seen a grown woman in her comfy-cozies?”

  The smile on his face broadened. “You embarrass easily when you’re sober Flor, it looks good on you.”

  “They look good on me, you mean?” She looked down at herself and wondered if Julian had some sort of pastry fetish he wasn’t telling her about.

  “Not the pajamas, the blush.”

  “Oh.” Right on cue her face heated.

  He rolled his eyes and sat down at the foot of the bed. The mattress lowered under his weight, pitching her toward him. She caught herself from falling face first into his lap with her hands. On his thighs. At this point Flora could feel her pinky toes blush. Gods, I need to get a hold on myself. I am a Hamilton. I don’t cower and I certainly don’t become a pile of silly girl goo in the presence of a hot angel. Julian extracted her hands from his legs and gently pushed her back to the other end of the bed. She noted his complexion was also more red than usual.

  Suddenly, he was all business. “Can you conjure food? If you can’t, I can go into town and get you something to eat. It’s a couple hours walk, though.”

  She shook her head. “I can change clothing. Fauna’s the one that’s good with food. We always joked that together we’d make one damn fine witch.”

  “August and I had the same joke.” He nodded. “Okay then,” he stood up. “You’ll be completely safe here--”

  “I’m sure I would,” Flora stood too, “but I’m totally coming with you. If you’ll just point me to the bathroom, I’ll be ready to go in a jif.”

  Julian walked over to the window and pointed outside. She went over to see what he was pointing at. Down below in the yard there stood a wooden building with a moon cut-out on the door and a water pump beside it. Oh, hell no.

  “Oh, hell yes,” Julian said, reading her shocked expression.

  They set off on the gravel road in the opposite direction than they’d travelled the day before, toward town. “Now don’t get too excited about our destination,” Julian teased. “There isn’t a mall or anything.”

  “Please,” Flora said, rolling her hazel colored eyes. “Like I need a mall.” She reached out and changed the color of his shirt from white and black check to pink and lavender houndstooth. She giggled.

  Julian shrugged, pretending to be pleased with her fashion choices even if they did make him feel less than manly. He’d made her smile and that was nice to see.

  She reached out to him again and changed the shirt back, giving him a once over. “Pastels aren’t for you. You’re more of a classic.”

  If she only knew how classic. “The color of your sweater matches your eyes,” he blurted out before he could stop himself. Gods, Flora was going to be dead in two days, he did not need to be noticing the color of her eyes. It was this place, being home again. Being around a woman he found attractive. Not having been with a woman in over a decade.

  “It does.” She seemed confused. “Do you, uh, like it?”

  He couldn’t even pay her a compliment properly she had him so flustered. “I do.” Julian shut up for a while after that, matching his pace to hers, taking in the familiar scenery of his childhood.

  The Outer Territory was a beautiful, stark place. Golden fields as far as the eye could see, set against a clear blue sky. Every now and then a sparse grove of Elm trees. It was a clean, solitary landscape.

  “It’s prettier here than I thought it would be,” Flora said, gazing across the field to her left. “Is there water over there?” She pointed to a stand of trees up ahead.

  Julian nodded. “A stream. August and I used to fish it for trout.”

  “Can we go check it out?”

  “If you’re not too hungry. We’re still a little ways from town.”

  She stepped into the field and started walking in the direction of the trees. “I’m fine,” she said over her shoulder.

  He followed her through the tall grass. “Put your hands out,” he said, demonstrating, letting the grass brush against his palms as he walked. She did it without questioning him. “Simple pleasures,” he muttered by way of explanation. Flora nodded her head.

  “Do you have a speech?” she asked.

  “Pardon?” he said, even though he knew what she was talking about.

  “Something you say to your charges before the procession?” She grabbed a handful of grass and pulled it out of the ground, holding it to her nose and breathing deeply.

  “I do. Would you like to hear it?”

  “Soon enough.” Flora turned to face him, walking backwards. “Did you learn it from August’s Guardian? It seems like the kind of thing that would get passed down through the ranks or something.”

  Julian shook his head. “August didn’t have a Guardian.” If he was going to confide in someone, he supposed confiding in a woman that didn’t have anyone to tell was a good choice. Still, he was walking a fine line with her when it came to family secrets.

  Flora turned and walked alongside him. “How come? Weren’t your parents afraid something would happen to him?”

  “My parents...they were both second children, both close to their Sacrifice siblings. When they married, they agreed not to have children. They were against producing a Sacrifice.”

  “And then your mom gave birth to twins.”

  He nodded. She understood. Julian continued on, “One child they had to give up to the Gods, another identical looking child to serve as a daily reminder of their loss.” They’d arrived at the banks of the stream.

  Flora sat down on the ground, took off her clunky black boots and socks and plunged her feet in the ice cold water. “Simple pleasures,” she said, smiling up at him. “Keep talking, I want to know about you.”

  Julian shucked his shoes and socks and joined her on the ground, dangling his feet in the water. “So, they moved us here to the Outer Territory and hoped that no one had followed. That the Gods wouldn’t demand their Sacrifice.”

  Her eyes grew wide. “Did August know that he was a Sacrifice?”

  “Yes. My parents didn’t keep anything from us. If he was discovered and had to perform his familial duty, they didn’t want him to feel betrayed by our family as well.”

  “Good. Because that would be the worst fucking surprise ever.”

  Julian dipped his cupped hand into the water and took a drink, giving himself a moment to think. Which would be worse, he wondered, telling her about her own family betrayal or letting her go to her death falsely believing she was doing what she was destined to do?

  Flora watched Julian drink the water from his hand and wanted to be that water. Only stupid Gods would require their Sacrifices to be virgins, and at this moment being a virgin was bothering her more than the dying was. This man, this Guardian Angel she was sitting next to, was opening up to her, instructing her to feel the damned grass on her skin and she was so overwhelmed by his sweetness and honesty, she could hardly contain herself. The cold water on her feet was helping a little bit, but not nearly enough to keep all of the oh-so-wrong thoughts she was having about him from tickling her brain.

  Usually Flora would have required half a bottle of good vodka before considering making any kind of move on a Guardian. It was done, Guardians and Supernaturals hooked up all the time, but not by her and certainly not by Julian. That was under normal circumstances, though, and developing strong feelings for someone two days before you were going to die was not usual circumstances. Two more questions. She would give herself the length of two questions and answers to get her nerve up and then she was going to kiss that irresistible mouth of his, blushing
and embarrassment be damned.

  “How did you become a Guardian then?” she asked.

  Julian lay back on the bank and slung his arm over his eyes. “Three years after August’s sacrifice The War began and I enlisted. My parents didn’t need me to help on the farm, really. They’d hired a few men to help with the extra crops it was producing because of the Gods’ favor.”

  “I’m sure they didn’t want you to go.” That wasn’t a question, was it?

  “They didn’t and they did. My mother, especially, was afraid of losing another son, but my parents also didn’t want to stop me from choosing what to do with my life.”

  “So...you died, obviously.” Definitely not a question.

  He took his arm off his face and propped himself up on his elbows. “I died eight months into my service, had my throat slit, never saw it coming.”

  Flora could feel him glance at her neck. He knew what kind of pain she was in for, then. That made her braver. “How did you convince the Gods to let you become a Guardian?”

  “It was luck.” He turned his gaze back toward the water. “I was standing in line waiting for my Afterlife assignment, hoping that maybe I’d get something in the way of carpentry or farming. Some people get assignments to do things they have no affinity for. But like I said, I was lucky. With all of the people dying in The War, the Gods’ record keepers were behind and no one knew I was a witch. When they asked me if I wanted to be a Guardian, I immediately agreed, happy that I could be alive again and that I could visit my parents from time to time.” He looked Flora in the eye. “Glad that I could give back to Sacrifices in my own small way.” Julian stared at her, studying her face.

  Before Flora could let the blush he was causing fully take over, she licked her lips and leaned into him, pressing her mouth to his. When he didn’t resist, returned the kiss even, she deepened it. She pushed her tongue in between his lips, touching his. In response, Julian wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her on top of him. Keeping his arm around her, he slid his hand down, letting it rest on her rear end.

  Flora had other ideas. She spread her legs, straddling him and sat up. She began taking off her sweater, but Julian’s hands stopped her, grabbing her wrists.

  “Let me,” he said, his voice husky. He peeled the light cashmere fabric from her body, tracing his pinkie fingers across her skin as he went, making her shiver. He gave one final little tug and had the sweater off over her head, her ponytail loosening. Flora reached back to take the elastic out, but Julian stopped her again. “This is my favorite part.” He gently pulled on the band and her hair spilled down over her shoulders. He sighed.

  She had to admit, she thought that was a little weird. Then it occurred to her, “How old are you really?” she asked, smiling down at his lust clouded eyes.

  He grinned, embarrassed. “Old enough to get turned on by taking a woman’s hair down.”

  Flora slid her bra straps off her shoulders and bent over him. “So, what does something like this do for you?”

  Julian took his feet out of the water, tightened his grip on her hips and rolled her onto her back. “Are you sure you want to know?” he breathed, kneeling next to her, grazing his fingertips over her flat stomach.

  She laughed deep in her throat.

  I should not be doing this. And yet, there he was, his tongue tracing along the tops of her breasts, unable to stop. He moved lower, taking one of her hard nipples into his mouth, teasing the other with his thumb. She brought her hand up in between his thighs, rubbing against him with her heated palm. Scary for a non-fire user, incredibly arousing to someone like him. It was too much. “Easy, Flora.” Julian took her hand and pinned it above her head with his.

  “Sorry!”She just laughed again and went for the zipper on his jeans. He moaned. She had no idea what she was doing to him after a decade without any sexual contact. He needed to control the pace of this thing that was happening with them or it would be over in a matter of minutes. He pulled her hand away from him and tried to capture it next to her other one.

  She shook her head, panic rising in her voice. “Too...sacrificial. Please let me go.”

  Oh, Gods. He immediately let go of her hands and sat back on his heels. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have even--”

  “Don’t you dare say you shouldn’t have been fooling around with me. We both wanted it. There just wasn’t time to set up ground rules.” She put her bra back on and reached for her sweater. She had grass in her hair.

  Julian’s groin ached something fierce. “Ground rules?” He stood, hoping that would help circulate the blood away from his crotch and put some feeling back in his legs.

  Flora stood too, tugging her sweater down. “You know. One: I won’t use any fire because I can’t control it when I’m distracted.” She wiggled her fingers at him. I hate that rule. “Two: no holding my wrists and ankles down. Three: my virginity stays intact.” She grinned and tossed him his shoes, then started putting hers back on.

  He bent to tie his laces. “Well, the virginity thing goes without saying. Your use of fire...not scary in the way you thought it was.” He cleared his throat. “Holding your hands down? That didn’t occur to me, but of course that would cause you to panic. I’m truly sorry for that.”

  “I know,” she grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the gravel road to town, looking back at him over her shoulder. “We’ll do better next time.”

  “Next time?” he asked, his legs going wobbly. May the Gods have mercy on my reinstated soul.

  Julian had been right about town, it wasn’t much. There was a survivalist store that sold guns and ammunition, knives, water filtration systems, and other things required for life in the Outer Territory. A gas pump sat outside the storefront, not a single vehicle around for it to fill. On down the road was an outdoor market where the more permanent residents of the area, like Julian’s family used to be, sold local produce.

  A gruff looking man with a beard that hung down to the middle of his chest greeted Julian with a powerful back slap. “Good to see you. It’s been a while. Seems your color has improved since leaving the city.” He gave Flora a once over that made her skin crawl. “Or maybe it has something to do with this fine young woman. I don’t recall you ever having company in all the years you’ve been in the Territory.”

  Julian put his arm around Flora’s shoulders and moved her away from the older man’s fervent gaze. “Daniel, this is my friend, Harmony.”

  Flora nodded her head and smiled her sweetest smile, figuring that Julian had good reason for lying about who she was. Anyone out here could be working for the Fitzgeralds, after all. She dared a glance at two scraggly men standing behind Daniel giving her an eye-full.

  “What do you say, honey, does any of the fruit Daniel’s selling appeal to you?” Julian asked, his eyes pleading for her to play along.

  Flora perused the stand. Everything looked good. She hadn’t realized she was so hungry. “I’d like a couple of apples, sugarwings, if that’s okay with you.”

  “Sure,” he squeezed her shoulders hard. What? Was sugarwings too much? “Two apples for Harmony and I’ll take some pears for myself.”

  Shit. Angels didn’t need to eat and she’d unwittingly just given away Julian’s true identity. She smiled even harder at Daniel, hoping she could distract him from the conversation. He leered at her chest and stroked his beard. Her tactic seemed to be working.

  “The apples and pears?” Julian said, sliding his hand down Flora’s back and grabbing her ass. “We’re in kind of a hurry.”

  Daniel grinned lasciviously, showcasing his mouth full of rotten teeth. “Gotta keep yer energy up.” He winked at her. “I get it.” He plucked the fruit from the wooden crates it was stored in and put it in a brown paper bag. “Have fun. Do everything that I would, ya hear?”

  Julian took his hands off of Flora long enough to pay for the fruit and then steered her away from the stand, his arm around her waist.

  “It’s not safe here, I shou
ld have come alone,” he whispered in her ear, nuzzling her neck. “We’re going to go behind that abandoned building over there and transport. Now laugh.”

  Flora laughed her best flirtatious girl laugh and tucked her head into Julian’s chest, letting him lead her behind the vacant storefront. With one hand he pushed her up against the weathered wood of the building and scanned the landscape.

  “I’m sorry I called you sugarwings. That was so stupid. I didn’t know your being a Guardian was a secret,” she whispered, sure he could feel how fast her heart was beating through his hand on her chest.

  “Its fine,” he said, his voice low, his eyes still surveying their surroundings. “I’m the one that messed up. I counted three unfamiliar faces at the fruit stand, any of them could have been contracted to kill you and I just paraded you right in front of them.” Satisfied that no one had followed them, he took his hand off of her and covered her body with his. Pressing her closer to the building, he unfurled his wings. “Here we go.”

  “Not so fast, angel.”

  A shot rang out at close range, ripping through the top of Julian’s right wing.

  He fought against the debilitating pain, focusing instead on protecting Flora, blocking her from view between his uninjured wing and the building. He turned his torso toward Daniel, and was met with a pistol butt to his forehead. Blood seeped into his eyes, but he held firm. Shrugging his arm out from under his injured wing, Julian reached out with amazing speed and took hold of the gun barrel. Wrenching it from the old man’s hands, he backhanded him across the jaw. Daniel swayed sideways into the building and then slid to the ground.

  Flora dropped the bag of fruit.

  What Julian needed was a plan. One: Find out what Daniel knew about Flora. Two: Kill Daniel. Three: Get Flora back to his house.

  “Don’t move, Flor,” he cautioned.

  He felt her nod her head against his side. Julian stepped away from her and grabbed Daniel by the beard, yanking him to his feet. “Talk, now, you disgusting old fool.”