River
A good hour passed with Hunchy trying to stay as still as a statue and Kobal glaring at the road like it was the enemy. The tense silence was starting to grate on my nerves when I finally decided I should stop calling him Hunchy. “What’s your name?” I asked the man beside me.
He flinched at my voice. After all this time, I should have been prepared for others’ reactions to me, but I wasn’t as his flinch caused me to recoil. Turning toward the window, I fully expected him to pretend he hadn’t heard me as I tried to shake off the lingering pain his reaction had caused. They hated me so much that they even hated the sound of my voice.
I lifted my hand to rub at my temples while trying to ignore the man at my side.
“I’m First Sergeant Sue Hawkson,” he said from beside me.
My eyebrows shot into my hairline when he spoke to me. “Sue?” I asked in disbelief, certain I’d heard him wrong.
He flinched again, but I realized it wasn’t my voice causing his discomfort. It was my question. Turning toward me, his indigo eyes relentlessly held mine. “Yes.”
I closed my mouth and blinked at him a couple of times. He had the weirdest name I’d ever heard for a guy, but who was I to judge? I was the descendent of ‘Don’t call me Lucifer’ Satan.
“And I thought my mom made an odd choice with River.”
His full mouth actually quirked into a smile. “My mom was worse.”
“What’s so wrong with Sue?” Kobal took a break from glaring at the road to glare at us.
Sue’s shoulders shot up to his ears as he leaned away from Kobal. I bit back a laugh at the motion clearly meant to protect his head and neck. Kobal must have recognized the same thing as he scowled at Sue before turning to focus on the road once more.
“Sue is usually more of a girl’s name,” I explained.
“Let’s not sugarcoat it. Sue is a girl’s name,” Sue replied.
“Why would your mother name you after a woman?” Kobal demanded, ever the one for tact.
Sue relaxed enough to let his shoulders down in a shrug. “She was a big fan of Johnny Cash.”
Now he’d lost me. I stared at him questioningly, hoping he would explain further, but unwilling to push him in case he stopped talking.
Sue ran a hand over the stubble on his head before speaking again. “One of his songs was, A Boy Named Sue.”
“Oh,” I said. “I’m not sure I know that one.”
“The father leaves, but before going, he gives his son the name Sue to make him tougher,” Sue explained. “My father was killed in a plane crash before I was born.”
“I’m sorry.”
He waved a hand dismissively. “Years ago.”
“I do remember that song a little.” I smiled at him, happy to have a human talking to me again. “So your mom believed the name Sue would make you tougher?”
“She did, and like I said, she loved Johnny Cash.”
“Why didn’t she name you Johnny then?”
He released a snort of laughter. “I’ve asked myself that same fucking question many times over the course of my life.”
“I guess I can see her reasoning on it if she believed the name would make you stronger.”
“Can you?” he inquired. “Because I can’t. Most people call me Hawk, because of my last name, but having the name Sue was a lot of fun in grade school.”
I bit on my lip to keep from laughing and leaned against the door of the truck. My gaze fell on Kobal’s white knuckled grip on the steering wheel as he stared between the two of us. He looked almost comical, crammed inside the vehicle. His head was bent to avoid hitting the roof, and if he’d had horns, they probably would have dented the roof if not pierced through it. His knees brushed against the bottom of the steering wheel.
“Where are you from?” I asked Sue.
“Falmouth.”
“Really?” I perked up when he said the name of the town next to the one I’d grown up in. Not only was he talking to me, but he would also remember our home and the ocean. My fingers slid over the shells on my necklace as memories of the briny scent of the ocean water teased me. “I’m from Bourne.”
He broke into a wide smile. “Neighbors. We used to kill you guys at baseball in middle school.”
“Before my time,” I said. “After the bombings, I took care of my family, so I didn’t get a chance to go to school again for long, much less play sports.”
“That’s the whole reason I volunteered when I could, so my mom and little sisters would be taken care of. My stepfather died of cancer when I was fourteen. How old are you?”
“Twenty-two, you?”
“Twenty-five.”
We fell into a conversation about home and what we missed the most. We talked of what things were like before the war and how awful those months after had been when uncertainty and chaos ruled. I couldn’t believe how good it felt to talk to someone who understood what it was like to leave home, to be here.
Kobal didn’t speak or look at either of us, but I knew he listened to every word as his body became more rigid and his grip tightened on the wheel.
***
Kobal
Sue had been unmoving, barely blinking or breathing since River’s head fell onto his shoulder an hour ago. He looked like he might try and burst through the windshield to get out of here as he struggled to decide what to do with her and me.
I would have found his dilemma and the expression on his face almost amusing, if the idea of her touching him didn’t have me so on edge. Instead of laughing, I was trying not to shove him through the back window so I could have her head on my shoulder.
He seemed to understand the jeopardy he was in. I could hear his heart jackhammering in his chest, sweat beaded his forehead, and the pungent aroma of fear wafted from him. He hadn’t moved an inch the entire time she slept propped against him, too afraid to touch her in order to push her away.
I could clearly recall how it felt when she’d rested her head against me in the past. The warmth and suppleness of her body, the smell of lemons and fresh rain that drifted from her silken skin had all become a part of me. Scents had always been something I was acutely attuned to, and in all my years, I’d never smelled or experienced anything as magnificent as River. Her body moving beneath and over the top of mine had been the most exquisite sensation I’d ever felt in my fifteen hundred and sixty-two years of existence.
Having her hand over my heart and her lying beside me trustingly had been humbling. She was the only woman I’d ever slept beside for the night, the only woman I ever would. Being inside of her and claiming her had changed something within me, and then I’d lost her.
Fuck!
I jerked the wheel into a clearing at the top of a hill and put the truck into park. I’d planned to stop here for the night anyway, but now I needed out of this vehicle. River lifted her head from Sue’s shoulder. She blinked at him before jerking away. Her face flushed as she wiped at her mouth.
“Sorry,” she muttered.
Sue gave a brisk nod as his gaze went longingly toward the door. I thrust my door open and climbed out of the cramped vehicle. I’d rather lift it up and heave it onto its side than get into it again, but unfortunately we needed it.
“What are we doing here?” River asked when she climbed out the other side of the truck.
As her eyes searched the horizon, a tremor ran through her and she circled her arms around her waist. I glanced over the burned out city below us. It was a half a mile down the hill, but close enough to see that it sat in ruins. From our vantage point, we’d be able to see anything that might come at us.
I’d seen the city before, but seeing it through her eyes, I realized it would be frightening and sad. The nukes may not have been dropped in this area, but there had still been bombs, fires, and battles waged throughout it. The few buildings still standing were crumpling beneath the years of neglect and weather they’d endured.
What remained of the buildings was gray or black with soot and fire damage, but in and around the roadways and debris, grass had bloomed, trees had taken root again, and life was returning. Deer moved amid the rubble, munching on the grass as they went. I knew other, more treacherous animals lurked amongst the buildings too, but for now, the deer were safe to venture out.
“Time to call it a day,” I told her.
“Will the revenirs be in that city?” she inquired.
I pulled my attention away from the fading sunlight glinting off some of the smoke-stained windows to look at her. “They could be, but I doubt it.”
“Why is that?” Sue inquired.
“The animals are still alive. The revenirs would have fed from them without humans present. Without a life force to feed from, even revenirs die.”
“So does that mean there could be a bunch of rotting, mummified animals out there looking for a life force too if the revenirs fed on them?” River asked in a choked voice.
“No, only demons reanimated before and now humans. The animals of Hell, such as the madagans, simply died after the revenirs fed on them. They were not strong enough to reanimate.”
“Good news,” Sue muttered.
“Are we going through there tomorrow?” River asked and waved a hand at the city.
“We are,” I confirmed. I’d traveled this way the last time I’d returned to the unnatural gateway years ago. This trip wouldn’t be easy, and I knew there would be more than a few detours, but this was the most direct route to the gateway right now.
Walking to the back of the truck, I pulled out a sleeping bag for River. “Follow me,” I said to her.
I could see her stubborn streak rising with her chin. She didn’t argue, but instead turned toward her new friend. “I’ll see you later, Sue.”
“Call me Hawk, please, everyone else does.”
My teeth ground together when she smiled at him, but I remained unmoving as she walked toward me. “I can find my own place to sleep for the night,” she told me.
“I prefer you away from the humans.”
Hurt flickered through her eyes, but she walked beside me toward the trees. “I’m human.”
“You know that’s not completely true.” I didn’t know how I managed to keep making her madder, but the look she shot me said she would have gladly driven my nuts into my throat.
Good thing she hasn’t completely mastered wielding the flow of life yet.
“I know I’m more human than not. I care, I have compassion, and I love,” she replied.
“Demons love too.”
“I don’t think it’s in the same way.”
“No,” I growled, “it’s deeper, more intense, and a bond created for eternity. Is that how humans love?”
“I’d like to think so, if they didn’t die or…”
I stopped walking to face her when her words trailed off. “Or what?”
“Some leave or are forced to leave. Some… change and become something completely different.”
There it was, what I believed to be the root of this rift between us. Lucifer had gotten into her head when she’d dreamed of him and turned her fears against her. I could not wait to kill that prick.
“I can assure you, I’m never going to leave you,” I told her. “Or change.”
Her brow furrowed. “I didn’t say you were.”
“But you will leave or change?”
“Time will tell,” she murmured. She tore her eyes away from me and looked around the place where we stood. “Is this where I’m supposed to sleep tonight?”
Frustration warred within me. I wanted to shake her, to demand she talk to me. At the same time, I wanted to draw her close and hold her. However, she’d purposely changed the conversation, and pushing it would only cause her to withdraw from me further. I ran a hand through my hair as I turned away from her, deciding to let it go, for now.
“No.” I started walking again, leading her toward a copse of trees that would keep her more sheltered than the humans settling into the clearing.
“Being segregated from them isn’t going to help them trust me,” she said.
“But it will keep you safe.”
“They’re not a threat to me. Eileen was a fluke. She was obsessed with you and saw me as an obstacle to being with you.”
The reminder caused my fangs to lengthen. It had been my past with the human that had nearly gotten River killed, but I’d never promised the woman anything, or ever offered to further our relationship to anything beyond our one sexual encounter.
“Her sense of reasoning was flawed,” I told her.
“Maybe your sense of reasoning is flawed,” she retorted.
“Sex was the only thing between us.” I hated her involuntary wince from my words, but there was no denying what had happened between Eileen and me.
“She disagreed.”
“She was an idiot, and if she hadn’t tried to kill you, she would still be alive.”
“We’re so different,” she murmured.
“We are,” I confirmed. “Your compassion for a woman who would have gladly seen you dead confounds me. I will never understand it, but I accept it.” Her head tilted to the side as she studied me. “You have to accept that anyone who is a threat to you will meet a violent death by my hand, no matter if you welcome me into your bed again or not.”
Her eyes darkened at the reminder of what we had once shared. She instinctively swayed toward me. When I pressed closer to her, her breath caught and she bit on her bottom lip as her head tilted back to watch me. The scent of her arousal caused my cock to swell.
“He’ll use me against you,” she whispered.
“No one will get the chance to do that.”
“I could become like him.”
“That’s a lie. Don’t you ever believe it.”
Her hands lifted toward me before falling back to her sides. She shook her head and took a step back.
“River—”
“Kobal!” The shout drew her attention away from me and toward Bale as she strode across the grass toward us. I opened my mouth to tell Bale to leave us, but her next words stopped me. “Something has been spotted on the horizon!”
I gripped River’s arm, pulling her protectively against my side as I walked with her out of the trees and back toward the hill where the demons and some humans had gathered. I stepped in between Bale and Corson as I searched where Bale pointed into the city. An icy chill ran down my back when I recognized the creatures on the horizon.
“What are those?” River breathed.
“Lanavours,” I grated from between my teeth. “The third seal has fallen.”
“Nightmares now walk the earth,” Verin said. “Which means the second seal has also been set free.”
“Shit,” Corson muttered. “Not good, this is not good.”
No, it most certainly was not good, considering what had been locked behind the second seal. I glanced at the hellhounds on my arm. I still felt no severing in the connection between myself and any of the hounds, but I had to get to them soon and find out what was going on. Find out how something was getting by them to break the seals I’d left the hounds behind to protect. If River could close the gateway, I’d return to Hell after to seek out the answers eluding me now.
“Are we in danger here?” River asked.
“No, not if we stay out of sight,” I replied. “Go join the humans and get some food. I must establish a guard. Shax, go with her.”
“You know,” she said quietly, “ordering me about is not sexy and it’s certainly not endearing. I also don’t need a bodyguard.”
With that, she turned on her heel and walked away. I bit back a groan. Every step I took forward with her seemed to result in two steps back. Shax hesitated as he looked between the two of us.
“Go,” I commanded, knowing she would resent it but unwilling to leave her unprotected.
He nodded before following after her. River strode over to where the humans had gathered to watch the lanavours moving through the fading light illuminating the city. Shax shadowed her.
Turning away, I scowled at Bale and Corson when I found them snickering as they tried to hide their laughter.
“Tact,” Corson said to me.
“Fuck tact.”
“Yes, but tact would probably get you laid again.”
Corson backed up, his grin vanishing when I stepped closer to him. I was more infuriated that he’d talked about River in such a way than his flippant attitude.
“Easy,” Morax counseled as he stepped in between us and rested his hand on my chest. “He doesn’t understand the bond, Kobal. With luck, he will one day.”
Corson glared at him before his eyes darted toward me. Morax nudged Corson back with his shoulder. “This isn’t something you screw with, Corson,” I heard Morax whisper to him. “I don’t know how he’s keeping it together now.”
I had no other choice but to keep it together.
I focused on the city again and the creatures moving along the far edge of it. We’d have to do everything we could to keep the humans far from them. I’d seen what these things could do to a demon. What they would do to a human was something I couldn’t think about, not with River so near.
“Should we go another way?” Corson inquired.
“They’ll probably move on before morning,” Bale said.
“I think they’re moving on now,” Verin replied. “There are less of them already.”
“There are,” I agreed.
I’d kill them all if they came this way, but the lanavours could inflict a lot of damage before I was able to destroy them.