by Amy Braun
Not anymore.
I could see the danger now, the ruthless undertone that Sawyer controlled. Seeing that I understood his meaning, he gave me a piece of advice.
“I’ll let you stay as long as you want, Gemma, under one condition.”
I waited for the hammer to drop. It fell hard.
“If you ever hurt Nash again, there is nowhere you can hide, no stone I won’t turn over to find you and make you pay.”
I believed him. I wondered if Nash was the first person in Sawyer’s life to have cared about him without judging who he was. Nash must have known, and it didn’t seem to bother him. He saw the person, not the past.
Could he do the same for me?
I nodded at Sawyer, my silent promise that I would never break Nash’s heart.
It wouldn’t protect mine, however.
***
My body wanted to take Sawyer’s advice and rest. But my heart and head had other ideas. Terrible ideas, but once they were fulfilled, I could get some sleep. Probably on a pillow soaked with tears, but at least it would be sleep.
I found Nash on the deck of the Dauntless an hour after Sawyer left me to brood. The rainy season was coming to an end, and Nash was busy moving ropes and grappling hooks from the side of the Dauntless, which had likely been left there in case of emergency. He was intent on his work, and I didn’t think he would notice me until I was right beside him.
I was wrong.
He froze when he saw me, a ripple of shock crossing his face before his emotions were masked.
My heart ached at the tall, dark sight of him. Bruises dotted his face and wrists, yet he was still the most handsome man I’d ever seen. Not in the traditional sense that Sawyer was, but in the softer, subtler, stronger way that was rarely seen. One where his kindness and compassion shone through, filling his eyes when he smiled. My heart squeezed when I thought about not seeing that smile again.
Nash dropped the ropes in his hand and started to walk toward me.
A lump formed in my throat. I wondered if he helped Sawyer carry me from the Academy. If he’d tended my wounds and given me new clothes. If he’d draped the blanket over me so I stayed warm. I couldn’t imagine Sawyer doing that for me, so it must have been Nash. What was I supposed to say? How could I ever make up for how badly I’d hurt him?
Tears stung my eyes as he closed the distance between us. I didn’t deserve to look at him, but my eyes refused to go anywhere else.
He was right in front of me. “Nash, I––”
His fingers slid into my hair and held my head. He dipped his chin and put his lips against mine.
For a second, I was confused. He wasn’t trying to hurt me or push me away. He was kissing me.
The instant I felt the tenderness of his hand in my hair and the gentleness of his kiss, I repaid the favor. My lips crushed his, opening wider to taste as much of him as I could. I pressed myself to his chest and placed my hands on his muscled biceps. His warm, earthy smell became the very air that I breathed. I couldn’t get enough.
Nash broke the kiss. I almost cried.
“Nash, I’m so––”
His hand slid from my hair to my cheek. His thumb stroked my lower lip. I could barely remember how to breathe, let alone speak.
“Don’t say it, Gemma. There’s no need.”
I blinked. And I thought Sawyer’s offer for me to stay was inexplicable. “But I––”
“I know what you did,” he interrupted, no trace of malice in his voice. “I was there, remember?”
He grinned, but I winced. His other hand found my waist and pulled me to his strong, sturdy chest.
“I get it, because I’ve been there. I’m not mad, because I knew you would come back. I never doubted that.”
“How?” I whispered, my voice straining with emotion.
Nash smiled, in that perfect way that made him the most beautiful person in this broken world. A person worth loving.
His thumb moved from my lip to my cheek, stroking my skin like it were made of glass. The look in his eyes was breathtaking, as if he saw me the same way I saw him.
“Same way I knew you would come up here. You showed me the real Gemma without ever realizing it. She’s beautiful, strong, funny, and won’t back down from a challenge. She’s a good person, no matter what she thinks.” His strong hand slid into my hair, cupping the nape of my neck. “I’ll show her to you, if you let me.”
Good men like Nash didn’t exist in this world anymore. Daily life tore the decency from their hearts and left a dark shell behind. Nash was stronger than most of them, but he would slip eventually. Everyone did.
Unless he had a reason not to.
I kissed Nash full on the lips, letting loose every desire and dream I had with him at the center. I knew there would be more.
When I ended the kiss, he was the one left breathless.
“Well then,” I purred, giving him a saucy grin. “Maybe we should start the lessons.”
THE END
CRIMSON SKY
A Dark Sky Novel
Amy Braun
Crimson Sky, a Dark Sky novel by Amy Braun
© 2016 by Amy Braun. All rights reserved.
This is a work of fiction. Any names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locations is entirely coincidental. No part of this book may be reproduced in any written, electronic, recording, or photocopying without written permission of the author.
Cover Design: Deranged Doctor Design
ISBN: 978-0-9938758-4-7
Chapter 1
The sky used to hold hope for me. Now it only held terror.
My legs ached with every movement, but I didn’t have time for pain. If I stopped to feel it, they would catch me. They would stab their onyx claws into my back and drag me into the ground. They would plunge their needles into my neck to drain all the blood in my body, and no amount of screaming would stop them–
Damn it, Claire! Don’t think about it! Move!
Thinking of my own horrible death was exactly what I needed to run faster.
We’re almost there, I told myself. Close, we’re so close–
A piercing scream came from behind me, startling me so badly I nearly tripped on the rocky ground. I shouldn’t have glanced over my shoulder, but I had to know how close the Hellions were, and who they had grabbed.
Gordon had been taken down, one of the Hellions pushing him into the broken concrete, putting its knees in his back and trapping him. The monster didn’t hesitate, crunching its body down and stabbing the pointed needle of its respirator into the back of Gordon’s neck. My partner screamed as the blood was sucked out of him, feeding the Hellion.
Two more of the monsters charged out from beyond a cracked slump of white stone. They didn’t glance at Gordon or the feasting Hellion. They wanted us.
I hated that daylight didn’t slow them down anymore, and wished they hadn’t learned how to cover themselves from the sun. In the beginning, they only came at night, descending from the Behemoth in their quick raiding skiffs and taking anyone they could snatch in their claws. It was horrifying– it always would be– but we’d been able to predict them.
Now they were prepared. They dressed in black jumpsuits with blood-red buttons along the left breast. The heavy boots, leather gloves, and round helmet almost made them look like the old Sky Guard, aside from the black gas mask with two black bulging glass goggles that made their eyes resemble an insect’s.
A black respirator with a pointed needle on the end covered the Hellion’s mouth, their tool for drinking blood during the day. I’d never been stabbed with one of those needles, and intended to keep it that way.
Kevin sprinted beside me, but he was panting heavily. He’d drawn his flintlock when the Hellion skiffs appeared and found us, but hadn’t fired a single shot. I wished he’d give me the damn thing. I wasn’t a swashbuckler, but at least I would put up a fight, or distract them
so–
Distract them.
No time like the present.
Still running, I reached for my utility belt and took out a glass tube. I quickly unscrewed the caps on the top and bottom. Then I turned, arched my arm, and launched the flashbang. I knew the Hellions heard the clicking of the flashbang as gears and cogs spun rapidly inside the tube, powering the wires I’d connected to the fluorescent light. The Hellions skidded to a stop, covering their faces as the flashbang crashed onto the ground and shattered. White light flashed behind me and the Hellions roared their fury. I kept running, knowing I only had seconds before the artificial light faded.
But we were at the entrance to the underground. I never thought I would be so happy to see a sewer drain my whole life. I skidded to a stop along the dust and rubble, dropping to my knees and pulling the manhole cover. My arms strained with effort, but I moved the cover enough to slip down into the tunnel. Now I could lose myself and get back to–
Crack!
I jumped at the sound of a pistol being fired. I looked up and saw that Kevin had fallen. He flipped onto his back and shot at the Hellions catching up to him. All three of them, since Gordon was now lying on the dilapidated street in a motionless, bloody heap.
I hadn’t even seen him fall. Hadn’t even heard him. If I had, I would have done something. I didn’t like that he was sent on this mission with me since he constantly looked at me like I was a piece of meat that needed to be devoured, but no one deserved to die the way he was going to die.
But I was out of flashbangs, and my only other weapon was a pocketknife. Completely useless against something as strong as a Hellion.
I looked at the manhole cover in my hands. I could pick it up, use it as some kind of shield, or battering ram. I tried to lift it, but my arms were thin, frail from so little food–
Bang!
Another shot from the pistol. I tried to lift the manhole cover, finally hefting it off the ground rather than sliding it. I looked up.
Kevin fumbled with the flintlock, trying to get another shot out of it. But the Hellions pounced on him, pinning his arms and legs. Kevin tried to fight, but gave up and screamed when the Hellions began stabbing him with the needles on their masks.
I cringed and looked away, knowing there was nothing I could do. I couldn’t even end his suffering. Anything I did would just get me killed, and there was someone in my life that needed me. If I died, Garnet would make her suffer in ways I didn’t dare think about.
Abby. Think about Abby. You couldn’t save Gordon. You can’t save Kevin. You can protect Abby.
Thinking about her didn’t take the guilty sting from my heart, or the disgust I felt as I saved myself. It wouldn’t take their painful screams out of my head. Wouldn’t save me from the nightmares.
With a heavy, pounding heart, I concentrated on sliding into the sewers, dragging the manhole cover with me. Before I closed the cover above my head, I caught a glimpse of one of the Hellions as it looked up.
This one was bigger than the other two, broader and taller. It paused from its feeding to look at me. Which meant it was smarter, too.
I snapped the manhole cover closed and climbed into the sewer. I fumbled my way down the ladder rungs, unable to see in the pitch blackness now surrounding me. My boot slipped through empty air, telling me I’d reached the bottom. I dropped into the tunnel, sending a jolt through my sore legs, and started running blindly. I had to keep moving in case that large Hellion decided to act on impulse and hunt me down.
I didn’t have a Hellion’s night vision, so I reached for my belt again. My fingers floundered until they nudged across another glass tube, slimmer than the flashbang. When it was closed, my handheld torch fit soundly on my belt. When the ends were pulled apart, it was a clear tube no longer than my forearm, though half as wide. As it was pulled, the gears inside spun together and snapped around a conductor that created a dim light. It was almost like a flashbang, but far less explosive.
A dull yellow glow filled the tunnel as I pulled the torch apart. The runoff from the sewers was dry now, but the sour smell of human excrement clung to the walls. The torch’s light illuminated almost the entire tunnel, but it took me a few minutes to figure out where I had to go.
The underground stretched all throughout Westraven, and was our only safe place since the Hellions took control of the sky and our lives a decade ago. I had been eight years old when they appeared, shrouded by smoky clouds and illuminated by angry lightning. Even ten years later, I couldn’t forget the thunder that exploded through the sky, signaling them to descend in their hellish skiffs to steal anyone they set their eyes on. Those who resisted were slaughtered, torn to shreds by demons with black, razor teeth, onyx claws, and blood-red eyes.
The Sky Guard had been no match for them. Neither had the freebooting marauders. The Hellions came too fast and too quickly, raining fire and death over us, forcing us into the tunnels to escape.
But there was no escaping, because while we’d been struggling to survive in the dark, they had been creating barricades around the city, making it impossible to leave to other parts of Aon. We hadn’t heard anything from other parts of the country, so we had to assume that they were under attack as well. It was impossible to know if anyone had survived, or if we were the last city with living residents. Ten years was a lot of time for genocide.
We were trapped like mice, starving in the dark until we became desperate enough to risk higher ground, where the hungry cats waited to pick us off.
I looked over my shoulder, checking to see if the Hellions were following me. But there was nothing visible at my back. No sounds other than my own footsteps. I slowed down, asking myself the same question I’d asked so many times before:
Why didn’t they finish us off?
The Hellions knew that most of us were underground. They knew we were easy to hunt, attack, and kill. They never tired of taking us. If they were so intent on our destruction, why hold back?
I shuddered. I didn’t want to know what the Hellions final plan was. I simply wanted to avoid it as much as I could.
I continued to walk in the dark. The tunnels of the underground were pitch black until you came by one of the small colonies, which were lit with torches and weak fires. Our locations were obvious if the Hellions ever decided to launch an attack in the tunnels.
But they never came down. They waited until we were on the surface to kill us.
I shook the thought from my head. There was no point in figuring out why the Hellions acted the way they did. They were monsters that saw us as one thing, and one thing only:
Food.
Reasons didn’t matter anymore. Survival did.
Though it didn’t mean that mistakes couldn’t be made.
He heard me before I heard him. I barely passed the turnoff that would lead me to Garnet’s colony when the wide barrel of a blunderbuss swung into my face.
I stopped and held up my hands, though I knew the guard wouldn’t shoot me. At least I hoped not. Given how hard he was scowling, he might allow his finger to “slip” on the trigger and give me a dozen-grapeshot-welcome.
“Shut that damn light off,” he growled. He had a glass lantern dangling from his hip that gave off less light than my own torch did. I might as well have been shining the sun down here. He was incredibly dirty, even for a scavenger that lived in the sewer.
