Dark Creations: Hell on Earth (Part 5) (15 page)

Amber felt the girl’s arms tighten around her, her grip nearly as vehement as her protests.  She rubbed Jackie’s back soothingly and spoke in a calm voice.

“Kyle, I’m here to help you,” she said evenly.  “I wouldn’t have done what I did before if I wanted to hurt you.”

“Yeah,” Jackie added but her brother remained unconvinced.

“How am I supposed to believe anything you say?” he blustered.  “You won’t even tell me what the hell is going on.”

Amber released Jackie and turned so that she could face Kyle.  Without thinking, she grabbed him by both arms and stared into his eyes.  Ordinarily, she would not have attempted something so bold.  But she needed to convey that she was about to share important information with him and had just recently discovered that touch held more power than she ever dreamed it could.  She felt him tense beneath her fingertips, resisting her touch at first, before he relaxed considerably.  He seemed to understand that she was about to share something important with him.

“Kyle, there is a madman named Lord Terzini, and he is planning to take over the world.”

Kyle paused a moment, his face unreadable, then laughed out loud. “I know I’m only eighteen, but I’m not an idiot.  Jeez!”

“What do you mean
?” she asked genuinely confused by his reaction.

“I thought you were going to be honest with me,” he said with acid in his tone. “C’mon Amber, a madman trying to take over the world.  Really?  And his name is
Lord Terzini
,
no less.  Couldn’t you come up with something better than that?  That sounds more like a science-fiction movie than real life.”

Amber gripped his arms tighter, frustration getting the better of her. “What about the creatures you watched devour the bodies we put in the street.  Do you think I made that up?  Did it look like acting in a science-fiction movie, or was that real life?”

Kyle pursed his lips and looked as if he were trying to come up with a biting remark, but came up empty.

“Whether you like it or not, you are going to have to trust me,” she said.  “This is not a game and it is not science-fiction.  This is real.  What’s going on here is something no one would believe if they didn’t see it themselves.  But you have seen it.  You saw one of Terzini’s teams storm your home and kill your parents, and you’ve seen the hunters.”  She had not mention
ed his parents to hurt him, only to solidify that he had, in fact, seen it happen, that all that was happening was real.  “Teams have stormed every home in this town, and they will not stop until every human being in the world is dead.”

“
Everyone
in my town is dead?” he asked unable to hide his devastation.  “My friends, my teachers,
everyone
?  That’s not possible,” he said tightly, but the conviction he’d boasted seconds earlier had faded from his voice.

“It is possible, and it is happening,” she said softly and released his arms.

He looked down at his arms where her hands had been with disgust.  His expression caught her off-guard and made her feel as if she’d been punched in the stomach.

“Why were you aiming your gun at us when you got here, by the way?” he asked her heatedly.  He seemed hell-bent on fighting her every step of the way.  While she did not blame him, she did not appreciate his eagerness to argue, especially since she’d done nothing but worry for him and his sisters. 

“I thought you’d been,” she started to answer his question, but faltered.  “I thought there might be Hunters down here, and that you and your sisters had been,” she tried again, but couldn’t bear to finish her sentence.

“Eaten?” he said and raised his brows.

“Yes,” she lowered her voice and hoped he would, too.

“How would they get in?” he asked and did not lessen his argumentative tone.  “They can’t open doors, can they?”

“They don’t have thumbs, but trust me when I say, they are
very
persistent beings.  Very hungry, and very persistent,” she warned him.  “If they want to get in, they will,” she said and decided not to mince words.

“And we are the only meal they eat,” he said less huffily and shuddered at the word “meal.”

“Yes,” she whispered.

Kyle turned and looked at his sisters.  “So me and my sisters, we’re just sitting ducks, aren’t we?”

“No,” She said and reached out and touched Kyle’s arm for the second time.  The feel of his skin beneath her fingertips elicited a hypnotizing, warm sensation that eased up her wrist and arm and circled her body.  She’d never experienced anything like it.  She looked up to find a pair of hazel eyes watching her and felt her breath catch in her chest.  His eyes were a landscape, the perfect combination of earth, lush fields, golden sunlight and clear skies.  She wanted to stare into them longer, to see what she could learn from the scenery hidden in their color, but he looked at her hand then to her face, his expression icy.  She dropped her hand, embarrassed, and looked to his sisters while she finished her sentence.

“I will not let that happen.  I will protect you from the Hunters.  I promise,” she said and felt her cheeks burn.

“How?  How can you possibly do that?” he asked without resentment and raked a hand through his dark-brown hair.  She was taken aback by his sudden mood change and wasn’t sure how to proceed.

“I don’t know yet, but I will figure out a way to get you out of here.  I will not let anything happen to the three of you, and if the hunters get in my way, I’ll put them down” she said with confidence.

Kyle surprised her by smiling.  His was a weak smile, but a smile, nonetheless.  The dimples at the center of both his cheeks, along with his kaleidoscopic eye color and slightly mussed hair lent him a boyish look.  He was attractive, though she had not noticed just how attractive he was earlier, during the chaos of their initial contact.

Now, however, seeing Kyle smile for the first time, clad in a member-issued uniform, she noticed that he was tall and strapping, that he could have easily been mistaken for one of her kind.  His dossier had stated that he was eighteen.  His body certainly looked adult enough.  He was lean and muscled with the build of a swimmer. 

She could not pinpoint what she liked best about his appearance, his capable frame or his boyish face that contradicted it, just that she liked the look of him. 

“What are you smiling about?” she asked him.

“Well, it’s just that, you know, you’re a girl, and those things are monsters.  Hearing you say you can put them down, I don’t know, it sounded nutty,” he answered.

“So you smiled because you think I’m nutty, as in crazy?”

“No, not really,” he fumbled and streaks of scarlet touched his cheeks.  “I mean kind of, but not as mean as you’re making it sound.”

“Huh,” she replied and could not mask the obvious disappointment she was feeling.  He doubted her abilities, a first for her as well.  Even her own kind knew of her abilities, that she was a superior fighter, a feared adversary.

“Wait a minute.  Why am I joking around with you?” Kyle stunned her by saying.  His demeanor had changed, his features hardened.  “I keep forgetting you’re one of them, you’re people killed my parents.  And you had me feed them to those mutant dogs!”

He was clearly angry again, and his anger was justified.  Nothing he’d said was untrue or inaccurate.  A twinge of pain darted through her core and lingered in the vicinity of her heart.  She’d wanted to allay his fears, not provoke him.  She could see the agitated pulse in the side of his neck.  His carotid artery shared with her just how much she had provoked him.  And she had nothing to say to make the situation better, to make him feel better.  Everything he’d said was correct.  He was right.  And she had no defense.

“Kyle I’m sorry, I should have stopped them before they killed your parents, but I was frightened and didn’t think I could go against the orders given to me by Lord Terzini.  It wasn’t until I saw you protect your sisters that I realized that I couldn’t be part of it any longer.  I have no excuse.  I was a coward and should have stopped them.”

Kyle stared at the floor for a moment.  She worried she’d
only made matters worse.  She had no idea what was going on inside his head until he looked up and met her gaze.  Tears filled his eyes and they lightened in color, the green and blue eclipsing the soft brown and gold.  She felt the twinge in her chest intensify.

“I don’t know what to say,” he said and cried silently.  “Most people who do bad things don’t just concede the point.  They try to make excuses; try to blame anyone but themselves.”

“I have no excuses, and I blame no one but myself,” Amber said honestly.

“I don’t know if that makes things better or worse.  I know I should be mad at you or want to kill you or something, but I’m not.  You’re honest and I find myself feeling bad for you and I don’t know why.”

He looked genuinely torn, genuinely pained.

“I don’t know how you’re supposed to feel either,” she said and shifted nervously.  “Do you want to kill me?” she asked quietly and dropped her eyes to her feet.

“No, that’s the problem.  Any sane person would want to kill you.  But not me!  No!  I’m so messed up, I kind of, I don’t know, I kind of
like
you,” he said and his cheeks turned a shade of crimson. 

“Like me?” Amber surprised herself by echoing.  No one had ever
liked
her before.  The idea of it sent a thrill of excitement through her belly.

“Yeah, I know.  Who sounds nutty now?” he said in a self-depreciating tone.

Amber wanted to tell him,
“No, please don’t say such things.  Like me!  Please!”
but didn’t.  She did not know much about forging relationships, but knew that taking the pathetic route, begging specifically, was not the right approach.  Instead, she mumbled timidly, “I guess we’re both nutty then.”

“Yeah, we’re some pair,” he said uncomfortably and transferred his weight from one leg to the next.

She knew she should not feel as she did, that she should not feel like smiling while bouncing on the balls of her feet and clapping.  But she did.  She could not help herself.  Kyle liked her, he’d said so himself.  He was the first person to ever express any kind of emotion for her other than lust.  And she loved it.  The twinge in her chest disappeared, replaced with a fullness brimming with elation.  Up until the current moments, her existence had been filled with rape, violence, terror, destruction and death.  All had dwelled within her, united in an aching colony like a cancer, killing her slowly.  Most days, she’d found it hard to breathe, the weight of her dark passengers too great to bear, but not now.  Right now, she was enjoying the feel of weightlessness, of joy.  And that joy fortified her resolve.

“Kyle, I will get you out of here somehow.  And I will keep you and your sisters safe.  You have my word,” she promised. 

Kyle stared directly into Amber’s eyes and said, “I believe you.  I’m not sure why.  Maybe I’m having a breakdown or something.  But I believe you.” 

“Good,” she said and fought the overwhelming urge to smile goofily.  “Okay then.  Um, I have to leave you again, but I am coming back.”

“Whoa, whoa, you’re leaving us
again
?” he asked incredulously.  “How can you keep us safe if you’re not here?”

His words stung.  She did not like the idea of leaving any more than he did, but had to.  She needed to avoid any kind of suspicious behavior.  “I’ll be back before nightfall, Kyle.  I swear.  I don’t like this either, but I’ll be back before it gets dark.”

“What happens when it gets dark?” he asked.  “Do I even want to know?”

Amber hesitated before answering.  She would not lie to him.  “That’s when the Hunters become more restless than ever,” she said through her teeth and knew all too well how their restlessness frenzied their need to feed.  “You will be okay until then,” she assured him.  “And
I promise I’ll be back by then.  But while I’m gone, you have to stay down here and keep the uniforms on,
please
.”

“Where are you going?”

“I have to do an assignment for Lord Terzini.”

“An assignment?
” he asked with trepidation.  “As in you’re taking a team to another house type of assignment?”

“No, nothing like that
,” she assured him.  “I have to go and check out a farm in a neighboring town.”

“After everything you did today, do you really have to?  I mean, haven’t you gone rogue already?”

“I get what you’re saying, but right now, we’re the only people who know I’ve gone rogue,” she gestured between him and his sisters.  “If I don’t go and check out the place I was assigned to check out and report back, there will be suspicion, suspicion that could get me killed,” she answered honestly. 

Amber swore she saw a look of concern flash across Kyle’s features at mention of her getting killed.  He’d said he liked her, but dare she dream that he cared for her well-being also?  Did caring fall under the umbrella of being liked or was it a separate entity entirely?  She wondered.  Both were welcome. 

Kyle features clouded.  His concerned expression switched to one of unhappiness, and unhappiness quickly gave way to frustration.