by E. J. Mellow
Crouched in the tall grass, Dev moved his attention away from Molly to the bag by his feet. Ruffling through it, his fingers brushed against a Trapper ball, and he plucked it up. It would do perfectly. “I think we’ve come to understand that you have some sort of power to manipulate physical objects,” Dev began. “You can cause their scientific properties to change or materialize with your thoughts.” He stood while palming the round object. “Would you say that accurately describes what you’ve learned you can do?”
Molly nodded but otherwise remained quiet, her gaze directed to what he held.
“Good,” Dev said. “Now I’m going to test your reflexes and creativity by not telling you what this is before I activate it.” He displayed the Trapper ball, and its smooth black surface winked under the passing stars.
“Can’t we start with the basics…like wax on, wax off?” she asked, shifting slightly.
Despite not understanding how waxing was the basics for anything, Dev still felt the need to reassure her. “Seeing how well you responded to my earlier tests, I think you’ll do fine. Plus, this one wouldn’t hurt you even if you weren’t able to work around it.”
“But how do I know what to do? I don’t even understand how this…power works. What’s its purpose? What are its limitations? Stuff like that.”
“And we won’t know any of that unless we test it, will we?” Dev asked with a wry grin and watched as her shoulders slumped slightly with her apparent defeat. “Okay, let’s do this,” he said and took a step back while pressing a button on the device in his hand. It came to life with a whirl. “Remember to access whatever you felt yourself using last time,” he called out and, with no further warning, launched the ball into the air.
Dev heard Molly’s breath hitch, and he watched as the ball rose to its full height before abruptly bursting apart, revealing a black net. The mesh object soared toward her, and he stared transfixed as Molly’s features puckered with acute concentration a second before the Trapper ignited into violent flames. Quickly and efficiently it burned away, leaving only soot to slap across her face and body.
In all of Terra… She was absolutely incredible!
Riding high with adrenaline, Dev pulled out his Arcus and had two flaming arrows nocked and ready in his hands.
In the distance, Molly paled. “Uh, don’t you think you’ve advanced a bit too soon!?”
“Nope” is all Dev said before pulling the string back and releasing.
The arrows shot forward, two torpedoes locked on to their target, and abruptly the air erupted with another heady scent of Navitas. Almost too quick to see, a translucent barrier enveloped Molly. And just like before, the flaming tips hit up against an invisible wall only to collide with the ground behind her. The land moaned with the impact, shaking free leaves from the nearby tree and rocking Dev unsteadily on his feet.
Slowly the air dissipated back into its normal fragrance of night, and with it Molly’s body drooped. Whatever energy she had to quickly manifest to create her protection seemed to take a toll on her physical strength. Her eyes were unfocused as she stared at the ground, and for a moment Dev worried she was hurt, but then she looked up, her gaze coming alive with barely contained wonder, and a heart-stopping grin broke across her face.
“I think you’re having too much fun trying to test me,” she called to him.
Dev held in a laugh. “I wish you could have seen yourself. I could almost see the field you made around your body. It was amazing.”
She swayed back on her heels with delight, her complexion flush from exertion, and he had to work hard not to be overtaken by her beauty. She was intoxicating like this, her exuberance brightening the very air around her, and even from this distance it lit a spark in her dark eyes that rivaled the very light of the shooting stars above. Swallowing, Dev forced himself back on the task. “Okay, let’s try something else. Can you try to create environments? Like you did that first night with the beach?”
Molly tucked in her chin, a blush quickly growing on her freckled cheeks, and Dev wondered what he had said that caused her such embarrassment. Whatever it was, he couldn’t deny the pleasure he felt from evoking such uncharacteristic shyness. Just as he was going to push her on the matter, their gazes locked, and a strange undercurrent of energy reached out to him, momentarily rendering him paralyzed. His head swam as the world around them shifted and warped until, like a flick of a taught string, it snapped back into place, leaving an entirely new scene. Ocean waves hit up onto a shoreline, and a sun burst to life high in the sky, baking the sand beneath their feet. With an excited holler and movements not entirely his own, Dev found himself in front of Molly and lifted her into a hug, eliciting a soft squeak of surprise.
“Do you know how amazing you are?” he asked as he gently placed her back down, the soft grains crunching under their boots. “I don’t know why you came here, what wonderful thing brought you here, but my life will never be the same.” The words tumbled from his mouth without thought.
Her eyes were like endless pools of night as they stared up at him, all her emotions available to see, ready to be plucked up. He realized with abandonment that his must be just as easily discerned.
“My life will never be the same either,” she said, breathless, and his hands tightened around her waist, the closeness of their bodies fully realized. But this time he did nothing to push her away. The honeysuckle fragrance of her skin mingled with the saltiness now permeating the air, and Dev watched with a potent mixture of pain and desire as she moistened her full lips and swallowed. In all of Terra, how would he survive her? Pulling her even closer, Molly’s name slipped from him in a desperate plea. He shouldn’t do what he would next, shouldn’t allow it to happen, for he knew once it did, there was no going back. She would have him, free will and all. And the decades of his careful construction to once again be his own master would be nothing but a shadowed memory. But even with all that swirling, he was helpless to stop himself, and with a determination set in a precarious new direction, he finally did what he wanted to do the very first moment he saw her.
He kissed her.
Molly’s body shivered with the contact, an internal wall momentarily falling, and when her lips parted, inviting him in, every ounce of his dwindling composure snapped into a thousand pieces. She tasted like the richest of fruits, her skin softer than the finest market silks, and her body was like fire under his touch. With the sound of her small moan, the world disappeared and gravity was forgotten. Dev was reduced to nothing but a flame of want and need, his intentions purely to claim.
Ripping off the Arcuses strapped to both their backs, he laid them on the warm sand, desperate to find her mouth again. He had thought such desire was forever lost to him, ripped from his hands unjustly, so to have it erupt forth left him quaking with fear and excitement. It made him feel alive deep within his marrow—too good to be true.
Molly’s hands raked along his back just as his fingers entwined in her thick hair and dug into the sand around them. He kissed and sucked and licked his way down her graceful neck to her collarbone, and on the sound of her sweet sigh there was an abrupt burst of light, and an energy filled the space. Like a popped bubble, their island rippled away, revealing the soft grass and constant night that had always existed under her illusion. But Dev didn’t reacted to the change, too busy exploring the planes of her body, and oh what valleys and dips Molly had. His hands yearned to learn every inch, and they languidly roamed, kneaded, and gently caressed, revering the beauty beneath. His movements seemed to spur Molly into her own transfixion, for her touch was just as desperate, just as demanding, and with an aggravated tug, she tried ripping his shirt off. At her impatience, a soft smile formed on Dev’s lips, and he eased off of her, removing it in one pull. The cool night air slapped across his bare skin, attempting to douse the fever burning its way across it. He gazed at Molly strewn on the ground, her ebony hair pooling around her and the delicateness of her limbs spread wide. Unexpectedly, he found himsel
f wondering if she lay like this for the other man in her life, the one he tried hard to avoid thinking about. The blinding spike of jealousy he felt at any mention or indication of this man’s existence should have been his first warning that this woman was too dangerous, an already high liability to get involved with. But then she did things like place her soft hands on his abs and smooth them across his chest, which left him dumb and helpless to think of anything but his need for her.
With a grunt he lifted Molly to straddle him, her weight on his lap the only thing that grounded him to this world. Her kiss-swollen lips found his, and her nails raked up his shoulders as he wrapped his arms securely around her small waist. “Molly,” he said gruffly. “Molly.”
In response she ground herself against him, and his eyes briefly fluttered closed. How would they ever bring themselves to stop?
Just as his thoughts soared, he felt her body stiffen, her fingers stilling in his hair. He inched away and looked into her face, seeing her brows come together with confusion. She glanced around, clearly perplexed, and when her gaze returned to his, an acute anguish filled it. No, he thought. Not now.
Molly’s mouth popped opened with a silent gasp, and she reached for him, but just as he pulled her close, the space between them warped, and she abruptly blinked into nothing—his arms ending up wrapping around himself.
His body instantly cooled with her sudden absence, like a gust of wind tunneling through his chest, emptying the hole that was just beginning to refill. With a pained groan, his head dropped into his hands.
Seconds ticked into minutes and then into hours, Dev not able to find the strength to stand until his duty—the one thing that always forced him to get up and move—brought him to tug back on his shirt and return to the city.
That night, traveling the zipline brought him no pleasure, nor did it help in clearing his head, for he realized darkly that even if Molly didn’t want to, she would always end up leaving him.
— 10 —
HIS PACE WAS quick as he moved through the street, barely keeping himself from running down the clog of pedestrians that always filled City Hall Square. He silently cursed every single one of them, for he was already late, and their lazy saunters did nothing to help that. But it wasn’t just the sluggish civilians that accounted for his foul mood—no, it was also the daunting discussion left swirling in his thoughts from the most recent Council gathering. It was almost assured now that a war in Terra was imminent. It was merely a matter of when. This century, Dev thought, had not been kind to their world. It felt as though their numbers had just replenished, when another threat hit, a constant pounding on their fragile populous of life. What was happening to cause such hate and violence to repeat so often? And was it Terra’s or Earth’s doing? These were the questions that had the gathering dragging on and what left Dev frustrated, because to him the answers didn’t matter. Either way, Terra would have to fight first. They always had to. What he did care about, however, was whether a certain someone would be willing, or even able, to help when they did.
“For Terra’s sake, Dev, slow down.” Aveline chased on his heels. “You’d think we were running towards battle.”
Her alabaster profile filled his periphery. “You didn’t need to come with me,” he said while weaving through another thicket of people.
“And get reamed out by Alex again for splitting up our rounds? No thanks.” She grunted as she squeezed through the same group. “As much as I’ve been enjoying our partnered sabbaticals, they’re not worth it. Or have you forgotten how he turns into a spit-talker when he’s mad?”
Dev held in a grimace at the memory.
“Yeah, exactly,” Aveline said before grabbing hold of his arm. “But seriously, let’s not race to our rounds.”
“Why? Scared you’d lose?”
She scoffed while releasing him. “Lose your dignity for having been beaten by your younger partner, perhaps.”
“Considering you can barely keep step with me now, I find that arrogance rather misguided.”
“Well”—Aveline raised a sardonic brow—“I did learn from the best.”
He laughed at that, something he hadn’t done in a long time, and the realization of why brought his features to sober.
Aveline frowned. “What happened?”
He turned to her just as a woman on a skateboard zoomed past, and he held out a hand to keep Aveline from getting hit. “Nothing happened,” he said, lowering his arm.
“You’ve been moody lately.” She straightened her shirt that got pinched from his grasp. “That only seems to happen after you’ve seen her.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Dev said before turning down a side street that led to the closest zipline platform. Sadly, the last person he felt he could confide in about Molly was Aveline. He loved Ave and found it endearing that she displayed such fierce protection for him—a behavior he knowingly mirrored when dealing with the men in her life—but it generally left a gap in confidentiality when it came to matters of the heart. Not that Dev had known this previously, given that when it came to his…more physical female relations, the heart was rarely, if ever, involved.
“Well”—Aveline crossed her arms—“that’s an obvious lie.”
Dev remained silent as they waited by the building that would deliver them to the platform above. The structure was made out of thick iron bars that crisscrossed and zigzagged all the way to the top, the center hollowed out for the elevator to travel through, and a staircase wound along its exterior. Dev wondered if climbing the twenty floors would be quicker as he took in the cluster of other Nocturna and Vigil waiting close by.
“Fine, don’t tell me,” Aveline said irritably, “but please stop tapping your foot, and relax. It’s not like another patrol will see her if she’s waiting. Their shift ended a while ago.”
“It’s not our people I’m worried about finding her.”
“The Metus?” Aveline said and then lowered her voice when a nearby group shot them a curious glance. “But you heard what they said at the Council meeting. Even with their growing numbers, they’ve only been coming close to the southern part of the city. Anytime we’ve seen them on our rounds, it’s been much farther out then the northern tree. She’ll be fine.” Aveline stood to the side as the lift finally appeared and a stream of people emptied out. “And even if she did come across one, haven’t you been raving on about how she can help?” she asked as they took a spot at the back of the car.
“Yes, but I haven’t gotten to any of that with her yet. She doesn’t even know what they look like, for Terra’s sake.” He frustratingly rubbed a hand over his cropped hair. “And from what the Council just reported, they’re behavior has been erratic. We can’t rely on what we have in the past to hunt them. Who knows what would happen if…” His words puttered out as a chill went through him.
“Oh, then yeah, I’d be worried,” Aveline said, and Dev shot her a glare. Her expression quickly fell into a playful smirk, seemingly pleased to finally be on the other side of their provoking banter. Dev was anything but amused as he ground his teeth together and clenched and unclenched his hands. Could the elevator take any longer?
“Well, don’t give yourself a hernia,” Aveline chided. “I was only kidding. If anything, she’s probably sitting, thinking of you and dreaming up little heart bubbles to come out of her hands or something.” She rolled her eyes. “I even bet three of Elario’s éclairs that she’s bored out of her mind, safe and sound.”
As soon as Dev’s feet touched down on the northern wall, he knew something was wrong. He could always smell them before he saw them, and he and Aveline shared a worried look. The thick pungent odor of rot encircled them even from atop the platform, and with his pulse hammering, he took hasty steps forward just as a scream split the air.
“Molly,” he choked out and rushed the ledge. Sweeping a frantic gaze across the endless field, he immediately locked on to a giant glowing form in the distance. It stood seven feet tall wi
th burning skin dripping and shifting under the starlight, its sole focus on the prey not fifteen paces away. Dev’s blood turned to ice as he took in Molly huddled in the tall grass, a mere speck compared to her opponent. Her black-clothed body was hunched, afraid, and Dev knew to any Metus it was the behavior of an easy kill, a quick life to suck dry. It took every ounce of his century of training to not stay paralyzed at the sight and move into action.
But as he transformed his Arcus into a bow, readying to retrieve his arrows, the Metus had already clawed out a piece of its flaming flesh and was pulling back to throw.
“No!” Dev shouted just as the fireball hurled forward, all sense of reality lost as he was forced to watch the fate of Molly from a distance. His breathing stopped, as if to prepare his own death that would surely come after hers, but then, like a fissure of energy, there was a distinctive gasp that radiated the land, and Molly’s posture straightened as her arms shot forward and rivulets of water abruptly gushed out from each fingertip. Dev’s jaw grew slack as he watched the high-pressure blast douse the approaching fireball into nothing, sending the Metus scurrying out of her range.
By the elders…
A frustrated wail brought his attention back to the deformed monster, who was preparing to attack again, but this time Dev was quicker, and without another thought, he had three flaming arrows nocked in his bow. Just as the creature lunged, he released, and they flew deadly true as they pierced the Metus’s chest, pushing it back a step and filling it with the blue-white light of the altered Navitas. The nightmare screamed a final curdling cry before it was cut short by bursting apart, bits of burning flesh raining down to cover the ground below.
