by C Cato
Sonya stayed on her feet, and Cole stood with her as the others waited just outside the door on the porch.
“I’m sure you would like an explanation, but can we take care of our injured first?”
Celene nodded once.
Ditre brought the clothes they’d used for plague protection from the kitchen along with water in a bowl. Sonya cleaned and wrapped Soren’s burns. Without even an aloe plant, it was the best she could do. Since he’d heal soon, it was more for comfort, anyway. When he was sitting on the stairs, Risa by his side, Sonya addressed the others in the room.
“This is going to be hard to believe—”
Titus snorted. “You mean as hard to believe as the living light show we just witnessed?” That got a chuckle from all the husbands, and Sonya relaxed a hair.
“Fair enough. Then I’ll just come out and say it. We are all over 200 years old. Put in stasis and then locked away.”
There wasn’t a closed mouth in the bunch. Alex was the first to recover, suspicion replaced with awe. “That’s impossible. Isn’t it?”
“Yes and no. We are all enhanced. Modified. We are called Sentinel.”
Celene’s hand flew to her mouth, and the men all exchanged glances. “It can’t be. It’s only a myth. A legend.”
“There were stories from an ancient book. The Valkyrie believe that the answer to our dwindling population can be found in locating the last hiding place of the Sentinel,” stated Titus, sounding like he was reciting a childhood story.
“A book? What did it look like?” asked Sonya.
“Not many have seen it,” said Celene, now recovered from her shock. “But I know someone that might. We could send word to him.”
Sonya advanced another step into the room, afraid to move too fast. Celene offered a weak smile and gestured for them to sit.
“Please, Sonya—all of you—come sit. Eli was right before. You’ve done nothing but help us, it’s wrong we return the favor with fear and shunning. Now, we learn that you are the very legends, we had been sent to hunt all those years.”
She lowered herself to the floor. Cole sat to her right and Ditre to her left. She tensed with a rising theory. “Hunt? Did you use people to hunt us down?”
Celene exchanged another round of glances with her men. They all shook their heads or lifted shoulders. “We are not aware of this. When I was still a Valkyrie, they would send us out in small hunting parties to try and find the ruin that held the Vault.”
“Vault? Shit! Does that mean they have a journal?” said Soren, his voice strained.
“How else would they know that? It was a secret facility. They weren’t going to know what Ian and I named it unless they had something from Ian.”
“Who were these people? When did you see them?” asked Elijah.
Sonya explained about their near miss at the camp and finding Keet.
Celene’s mouth opened in a small O. “No. That can’t be. How would she have found them?”
Sonya leaned forward. They knew something! “You know what these creatures are?”
Alex placed his hand on Celene’s leg. “She has said too much. We are sorry, but we’re sworn to secrecy. It isn’t our place to divulge.”
Celene shook herself and blinked, a soft pink flush coloring her cheeks. “No, but we can take you to the wall. There will be answers for you there.”
“We should warn the others,” said Elijah, plucking Elise from her mother’s lap.
She played with his long braids. There was something so sweet about seeing the small girl cradled in her grizzly father’s arms.
“I’ll go tomorrow. Shouldn’t take me more than four days to reach our neighbors and get back. Then we can all go north.”
Elise bobbed her head as if that was the most reasonable thing she’d ever heard. “We should protect them, Momma. They need family.”
A breath hitched in her throat. In that instant, Sonya loved that girl.
“You are very right, baby,” said Celene, a smile curving her perfect Cupid’s bow lips. “Come with us. We will leave as soon as Elijah returns.”
“In the meantime, could you teach us more about your world,” said Sonya, hating the sound of that. It made them sound like aliens from another planet. “We just aren’t prepared.”
“Of course, we will help you with whatever you need. Now, I think we should go to bed. I and my husbands are still weak from sickness and need more time to grieve our fallen husband. In the morning, we can help you with what you need to know.”
“Excellent, I’m really interested in learnin’ how to use those swords you have,” said Cole. He slipped his hand around Sonya’s and threaded their fingers together.
Celene stared at him as if he’d grown another head. “Cole, it takes years to master the sword.”
“For most,” continued Sonya “In theory, we’re able to absorb knowledge on weapons and combat quickly. We haven’t tried it yet.”
“All of you have this ability?” Alex still sounded skeptical.
“Looks like we’ll have lots to share tomorrow,” said Cole, with a wicked grin that was infectious. The husbands all appeared excited at the prospect.
They all rose, and Sonya took that as their cue. With the barn gone, they would have to sleep on the floor in this room. Risa, moving slowly, had already picked up the two packs that had been saved from the porch to drag out the two remaining sleeping bags other than the one Cole wrapped Elise in. Celene’s men and daughter shuffled upstairs, past Soren, who squeezed out of the way. Celene paused at the first stair. “You are welcome to use the second bedroom, if you like. We have all shared a bed before. It won’t be a hardship.”
Relief flooded her like warm cocoa on a cold day. Sonya had not been excited about another night on a hard surface. She may heal quickly, but it did nothing for a restful night’s sleep.
Falling into a warm puppy pile with the others on the bed, Cole pressed tightly against her back, and she smiled. For the first time since she’d woken up, she felt there was some hope for their future.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Sonya
Sonya was not thrilled to be up at the crack of dawn to see Elijah off, but as the family said their good-byes, she found herself shivering in the early morning mist. The storm from the night before had blown over, and the sun peeked through the clouds, illuminating the total devastation of the barn.
Sonya watched with curiosity when not only Celene, but the other husbands all gave Eli a passionate kiss. Momma had done a good job sheltering her from the many ways people loved each other, but how could she have gotten to 47 and not know how this worked? She cast a surreptitious glance at Cole. She imagined him kissing Keet and bit her bottom lip with the agonizing ache the image caused.
When Elijah had trekked through the crack in the cliff wall, they all returned to the house. The family went to the kitchen to work on breakfast together, and Cole and the other Sentinels offered to help. Sonya didn’t want to seem ungrateful, so joined them, but it only took one small stove fire for them to banish her to the living room. She had no domestic skills at all.
Since she found herself alone, she took advantage of it to learn more about the device in her head. Plopping down on the couch of pillows, she found a comfortable position on her back and folded her hands over her sternum.
Halo?
Standing by
The words blinked in front of her eyes, superimposed over the room. She reached for it and felt stupid as soon as she did. Having the split vision was giving her a headache, so she closed her eyes. The words were still there in bold red.
Weapons system
Access Code
Stumped, Sonya could only stare. Access Code? What could it be? She tried all the words they’d deciphered so far, but none of them unlocked the files.
Think Sonya. This is Ian. Brilliant scientist, but not very creative when it came to passwords. The man had used the password 12345. He would’ve gotten hacked long before if not for automa
tic password generators and computers saving logins. This wasn’t any old computer though. It was her head. Without external access, the only ones that could open these files are the Sentinels. That meant he probably hadn’t put much effort into the password.
Sunny
His nickname for her. It used to make her smile but now made bile rise in her throat. She’d trusted him. Sonya pressed her hand to her stomach, but it did nothing to ease the pain.
Access granted
Weapons System menu:
Skill set archive
Learning mode
Safe mode
Combat mode
Offensive
Defensive
Auto
She decided to steer clear of combat mode. The last thing she needed was to become some mindless killing machine. Instead she chose:
Skill set archive
A list of things slowly scrolled by, and she saw something that she almost missed and raised her eye. The selection scrolled back to center.
Not bad. If I didn’t think you were such an asshole now, I would praise your ingenuity Ian.
If the words hadn’t been on her eyeball, she would have done a double take when she saw the listing that had almost gone by.
Games menu:
Seriously! You installed games in my head like a damn operating system?
Out of morbid curiosity, she chose the menu and snorted.
Games menu:
Solitaire
Minesweeper
Pac-Man
Sonya snorted again.
“What’s funny?” asked Cole. He placed something warm in her lap, and she opened her eyes after banishing the menus.
She dropped her gaze to find a plate filled with a fluffy egg omelet and sat up to curl her legs under her. She picked up her fork to stuff some in her mouth. Her eyes closed as the texture and taste hit. There was a spice of some kind. It wasn’t pepper, but it did add some kick. Mushrooms gave it a smoky flavor.
“Yum,” she said around her mouthful.
“Glad you like it,” he said.
She opened her eyes, when the cushions next to her depressed with weight. Cole sat beside her, digging into his own heaping plate. His knee overlapped her own, and they were alone. Loud boisterous laughter came from the kitchen. The contact between them sent little tingles along her skin and made her think of their time on the stump. She scooted closer.
Inhaling breakfast, she released a loud contented sigh. Cole took her plate and stacked it with his own on the floor and twisted on the couch to fully face her. “Funny?”
“Oh, right. I was teaching myself how to use the Halo net. Ian equipped us with games.”
“Really? Anythin’ good?” They shared a laugh, but his gaze transformed into something more heated. She inclined closer when he brushed his fingers along her jaw.
Sonya wanted to melt into his arms, her body loosening up more than it had in years. Cole put her at ease and set her on fire at the same time. She savored the growing heat in side as it spread. She slid a hand up his thigh, and quirked a smile when he sucked in a breath.
Elise bolted into the room and Sonya snatched her hand away, effectively killing the mood. Cole chuckled and handed their plates to the girl so she could take them back to the kitchen while Sonya showed him the trick to opening the menu.
He frowned as his eyes became unfocused, and his pupils tracked the words he was reading. Resting her arm on the back beside his, she propped her head on her closed fist and curled her leg up underneath her. There was a pulsing glow in his eyes. It was a beautiful effect that made them shine like sparkling gems.
“Hmph,” he said, blinking a couple of times.
She smiled up at him, and he leaned forward to give her a peck on the lips.
“Find anything interesting?”
“Some. The physical weapons will be useless. We don’t have guns, but hand-to-hand techniques could prove interesting.”
“Hand-to-hand? Do you mean martial arts?”
He glided his fingers along the outside of her arm until he reached her neck.
Sonya closed her eyes at his touch.
“Mhm. We should try some things out.” His fingers kneaded the muscles of her shoulder and the fire he’d created before, progressed to a three-alarm fire.
“Cole!” Elise jumped into his lap, and Sonya winced in sympathy when he groaned and curled around the girl in response to her vicious stomping of his genitals.
“Elise! What have we told you about that?” scolded Rolly, from the stairway.
“Sorry,” she said, scrambling down from his lap. His eye twitched.
Risa and Ditre wandered in from the kitchen and pulled up chairs. There was no real organization to the room. People just seemed to sit or lay down where it was the most comfortable.
Cole scooted over, leaving little room between them. His hot, large hand cupped the back of her neck and every muscle in her body relaxed. Elise squirmed her way into the nonexistent space.
Is this what kittens feel like when their momma carries them? If so, it was no wonder they were so docile.
“Sonya accessed the weapons system.”
Risa punched Soren in the arm.
Rubbing it, he took up a spot in front of Sonya on the floor.
“Pay up, asshole!”
Celene watched the exchange warily. “Have we missed something?”
“Soren is our unofficial tech guy,” supplied Risa. “Thinks he’s the smartest thing out there. I bet him that you would figure out how to crack the system before he did.”
“It was fucking password protected,” he grumbled. “Anyway,” he said, his smug smirk returning. “I left my wallet in my other pants… 200 years ago.”
Cole’s hand tightened slightly on her neck as he laughed at them. Sonya tried not to make any noise, but a moan rumbled deep in her throat as his fingers sent molten waves of heat rippling through her body.
Risa snorted. “Well, now. Happy to see you two are getting along. Wasn’t so sure after the wood pile.”
Soren barked a laugh, and Ditre smacked him in the back of the head than sat beside him.
Elise whipped her head back and forth from Risa to Cole. “What happened?”
All the heat he’d created redirected to her head.
“Enough, Risa,” admonished Cole. “Nothin’, sweetheart. I was just teachin’ Sonya to cut wood.”
“You’re no fun,” Risa said with a mock pout.
In truth, Sonya didn’t mind the teasing. It made her feel like one of the team.
“Now that we have access, we should try it out. I would feel much better knowing what shit he shoved in our heads,” said Ditre.
Celene and her husbands had been following the exchanges like a tennis match. “Someone is going to have to interpret, for us,” said Celene, throwing her hands up. “We don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“Outside,” said Cole. “It would probably be safer for a demonstration out there.”
Sonya shivered at the cool air that brushed her neck when he removed his hand. When he stood, he offered his hand and helped her to her feet and didn’t let go. If this was his wooing, it was working. She ignored the knowing smiles from his team and followed him outside. The rain had left giant puddles in the ground making it appear more like a swamp than a yard.
“Come with us,” said Alex, walking around the porch to the side of the house. “We practice in the back.”
Cole laced their fingers together and held her hand close to his side as they went around back. Their destination was the building beside the bathhouse. Sonya wasn’t expecting the amount of light inside. The roof had a series of skylights. No room left for shadows on a rainy day. The floor was hardwood, but a much finer quality than the wood floors in the house. Weapons lined one wall in the long open space. It had to be twice the size of the bathhouse, if not more.
Soren and Risa had drifted to the weapons, and he’d pulled a sword from the wall. Compared to the o
ne Sonya had seen Celene holding when she was delirious, it was crude. The metal surface painted, so she couldn’t tell what it was made from, but it vaguely had the same shape as the one Celene had.
“This is different from what those women are using, isn’t it? Celene isn’t yours different? But why use swords as all, why not guns?”
Alex lifted the sword out of his hands and put it back on the wall. Was it rude to touch them? “Industry died when most of the population did. The guns began to disappear a hundred years ago. I’ve heard the Valkyrie have a store of them in Central Haven, but don’t have the ammunition to use them. It’s only a rumor though.”
Celene leaned against the weapons rack. “Mine are different because they are from Haven. The women who make those are skilled artisans. The other version are made by one of our neighbors with metal he can salvage. Now quit stalling. Demonstration?”
Sonya smiled at her tenacity. “Ian, my partner and cocreator of the Sentinels, created a weapons’ system that he put in our heads. We didn’t know it was there or how to use it.”
“Don’t know what it does either. Could be dangerous when we activate them fully,” said Cole, glancing at Elise who sat on Rolly’s hip.
He got the message. “Why don’t we go inside for a little while, monkey? We can play Mancala.”
“I wanna see!” she said, squirming to get down.
Celene shot her a glance that had her quiet and subdued in seconds.
Sonya needed lessons on how to do that. When Elise was safely away, Cole pulled Sonya into the middle of the floor.
“Let’s start easy,” he said, letting go of her hand. “You don’t have any kind of combat training, right?”
“Nope,” she said. “I’m the least badass of the bunch.”
His lips twitched. “That’s relative, and not for long. Activate judo. Stay in safety mode.”
She did as he asked, sucked in a breath. Every twitch of muscle and stretch of ligament was apparent to her hyperaware brain. They sang with energy and readiness. Her hands and arms lit up, and the light glowed through the light-colored linen pants and top she wore. Involuntarily, her hands curled into tight fists, and her feet shifted outward, widening her stance. She was a passenger in her own body.
