Fierce Dawn (24 page)

Astrid got up, nodding to Holly. Holly smacked Lyric in the gut as she left the floor, Astrid taking her place.

“
Flirt,” Lyric called after Holly.

“
How in the world can humans not notice fire and transporting and a man moving so fast he’s a blur?” Her eyes held to the scene. Astrid approached Lyric with eerie coolness.

“
The human brain is at an evolutionary stage of protection from pain. That which it cannot explain, it dismisses. Or gives it a story. And we aren’t meant to stay in this realm. The less we do, the less we put at risk. To both realms.”

“
Where is the other realm?”

“
Parallel to this one, masked by an energetic line, anchored by vortexes. It’s basic quantum physics.”

Vortexes and energy. Sure. Real simple. Sadie put it on a mental waiting list along with a few dozen other facts she didn’t comprehend and watched the face-off.

Joining them at the sofa, Holly playfully bumped her hip against Elijah. “Elijah, you make humans sound like dumb animals.” She smiled too warmly at Sadie. “Don’t worry. Humans aren’t stupid. Just different. And you never know, one day….”

Astrid came to a stop in front of Lyric, reached out and trailed a finger down his jaw line. Lyric winced. “You’ll have to try harder than that, m’dear. The thing about going vampire and back again, it desensitizes the heart.”

Lyric’s eyes narrowed on Astrid. Her lower lip trembled but she didn’t back down. Then Lyric gasped, falling to his knees. Astrid smiled wickedly, patted him on the head
,
then returned to the sofa. Sadie exhaled her held breath and made a mental note to never cross the healer.

“
Your turn,” Holly said to Sadie.

Her chipper tone grated Sadie’s nerves, but she returned the smile and strode to face Lyric, despite the quake in her knees. They hated her. They saw her as weak.

“
Don’t worry, sweetling,” Lyric said. “I’ll be gentle. I promise.”

Sadie took the one form she knew. A kickboxing pose, legs apart, fists up. She ignored Holly’s muffled giggle from the sofa. She might not know how to shoot flames
,
but she knew how to punch and kick. Lyric merely stood there, staring at her in a strange
,
intense way she was beginning to recognize.

The earlier image of the beach flashed back into her mind. The sun, the breeze, Lyric about to whisper in her ear. Sadie blocked it, refusing to hear him, ignoring the tingle behind her earlobe. She fought back the only way she could guess at, by conjuring her own image. She recalled yesterday, Elijah’s mouth on hers, his hands gripping her ass, the smell, the sound, the feel of his rock hard
—
.

Lyric clapped loudly, a chortle of laughter peeling through the air. “Well done,” he said. “And a brutal choice, I might add.” He gave a shiver of repulsion. “Now how about a little skirmish?”

“
She should rest,” Elijah called.

“
I’m fine,” Sadie said, not taking her eyes off of Lyric. “A little achy is all.”

“
I’ll say,” Lyric said so low it was almost a whisper, the intensity returning to his gaze.

“
Flirt all you want,” Sadie said. “You don’t fool me for a minute.”

Lyric grinned. “No? And what makes you think I’m faking it?”

She had no idea. But she wasn’t about to admit as much. “Is this the skirmish? Or are you going to actually teach me something? I mean, that is what all this demonstration and bravado is about, isn’t it?”

“
You asked for it,” Lyric said and, in a blur, came after her.

Sadie didn’t see him make contact. Instead, her chest smashed with blunt pain. His forearm, would be her best guess. And within milliseconds, Sadie lay on her back, staring at the ceiling, grappling for air.

A whoosh breezed past. Somewhere behind her glass crashed. Had Lyric hit it? Sadie flinched, covering her eyes and rolling as a spray of shards rained down.

“
Lyric,” Elijah growled from up high. “I warned you.”

Lyric laughed. “She took it like an immortal, Elijah. She’s not as fragile as you think.”

A wave of pride ran through her as she got to her feet and shook off the gut blow. “I’m okay.”

Elijah brought Lyric down from the upper window ledge, the glass there gone, and released his throat. Lyric chuckled. “She’s all yours,” he said, before snapping a jab at Elijah’s throat.

Rubbing the area but looking far less pissed, Elijah faced her. “Let’s try to recreate the pulse you shocked me with, alright?”

“
I don’t think I can. This may sound weird
,
but I think the shocks turned inward.”

“
Hmm. Okay. Let’s focus on defensive moves, on predicting my attack.” He assumed a battle stance. “Try to feel for me coming.”

Once he stopped the exercises, she couldn’t say how much time had passed. Neither did she realize that Lyric, Holly and Astrid had left them at some point. He walked her back to the bedroom, softly closing the door. “How do you feel?”

“
Fine,” she said, truthfully. “Anxious. I feel like I don’t have time. I need this to happen faster.”

“
I don’t want to push you too hard.” He leaned against the closed door, crossing his arms. “But I have to admit, I feel it too. If our location does get compromised, or worse, I’ll feel better knowing you’re prepared.” He pushed off from the door. “I worry about pushing you and conversely, I don’t want to leave you vulnerable.”

Her belly flipped over. Sadie sat on the bed and found herself unable to meet his gaze.

“
If I share too much, I could damage your transformation. If I give you too little…mine is such a different world, Sadie.”

His weight moved hers as he sat a foot away on the bed. Familiar attraction drummed through her. She couldn’t find her voice. His finger grazed her neck as he brushed a tendril of hair from her shoulder. She turned to him. “I know it’s different and this might sound bizarre, but all of my life, I’ve felt like some sort of transplant into a life I wasn’t meant for. And now, with all of this coming down on me at once, it feels completely…normal isn’t exactly the right word…and right doesn’t fit…I don’t know what I mean. That I can handle this. Lyric is right. I’m not so fragile.”

“
I know. I see the fight in you. And you’ll need it, full force, every day.” He contemplated his hands. “I didn’t want to believe Holly at first. She’s the one who first sensed this change in you, you know. Not me. But I promise you, I’ll see you through this. I should let you rest. Maybe later we can try reading some objects, or more technique, if you’re up for it. Or, you might have more questions.”

She expected him to leave, hated that he would, searched her heart for that audacity he’d liked so much. If only he would look at her. The seconds weaved in and around them. Every breath seemed to string him closer to her, her pulse acting as a stitch, her hope a rhythm. She wanted him.

“
Elijah?” her voice cracked.

His eyes met hers and the intensity there caught her unaware. Her breathing hitched. He leaned closer, his hand trailing a line down her jaw. His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down.

“
I should leave.”

Was he asking her?

“
Don’t leave.” She swallowed and forced the words out. “What if it hurts again?”

He closed his eyes. She braced for rejection over he
r
flimsy lie. Then he was kissing her, rough and swift, his lips melding to hers. She responded in kind, thrilled and hungry for more. Her hot need reawakened below her navel, between her thighs, aching in her deepest core.

Elijah pulled her onto his lap. She gasped, feeling his hard cock. She gyrated her hips, searching for satisfaction. His jeans were in the way and his stupid shirt. His hands held her hips but didn’t move. Sadie whimpered, tugging at his shirt. She needed his bare skin and craved his touch. She pulled his shirt off and tossed it aside. How far would he let her take this?

As though in answer, his hands cupped her breasts, his thumbs grazing her hard nipples. Within a blink, he moved her body supine onto the bed, his above, hovering, radiating erotic heat. He pulled her shirt off. Her bra followed and before it could hit the floor, her nipple was in his mouth. “Oh, God,” Sadie gasped. Pleasure shot through her. His tongue danced wonders over each nipple, his hands stroking, driving her need higher.

“
Elijah,” she gasped, lacing her hands into his hair.

“
Sadie,” he said, pulling away.

She hated the broken contact and clutched all the tighter to his shoulders. But he pulled back further. “Not yet,” she said. Swirling blue depths met her gaze.

He whispered her name. “Sadie?”

She pulled herself up and kissed his neck, tasting the salt of his skin. Not yet. She wouldn’t let him stop. She straddled him, wrapping her legs around him, tugging at the fly on his pants. “Sadie,” he said again, his voice husky.

“
Not yet.” She couldn’t let him stop. She reached her hand down his pants and grasped his hard, hot length. Elijah groaned. His hands dug into her hips. God, he was so big, so hard. She ached for him.

She arched her breasts against his chest, stroking his cock, kissing his neck. “I want you, Elijah.” His body throbbed in her hand in answer. But
inch by desperate inch, he pulled away.

“
I’m sorry,” he said. Regret shone bright in his eyes. “Sadie, we can’t. It’s too risky. You can’t imagine the ecstasy I’d love to give you right now.” He pulled on his shirt. “You must understand. If we consummate this passion, the repercussions could be devastating.”

“
How?” she asked, hating the clog in her throat, the need coursing through her.

“
You’re no longer human but not quite non either. Lust, love, it works differently in the realm you’ll become a part of. You’re caught in between. I can’t be sure what joining will do to you. How it will affect your pain—or your transformation.”

At least he had the decency to look to be in as much frustration as she was. He moved to leave but paused. He bent and slowly kissed the tip of her nose. “Rest.”

Talk about torture! For another twenty
-
four hours, no shudders came. Sadie might have preferred them. No more kisses. Sadie vowed then and there, next time, she’d finish what they’d started.

~ ~ ~

Chapter Seventeen

The pain mostly gone, Sadie could roam Elijah’s bedroom, peak out the window and stare at the Superstition Mountains and dread facing Astrid yet again.

Astrid didn’t like her. Yet she checked on her several times a day.

Her fifth day at the safe house, a day since she’d last seen Elijah, Astrid came in around eight p.m.

“
Will Elijah be back to see me soon?” Sadie asked, lying back for an examination.

“
I’m not sure,” Astrid said, pressing Sadie’s abdomen, her eyes vacant.

Sadie pressed on. “I’d like to see him. As soon as possible. Can you tell him that?” She shouldn’t have let him leave in the first place. She could have seduced him. She’d held back.

Astrid pushed against Sadie’s palms, watched, pushed, her frown deepening. “Roll onto your stomach?”

Sadie turned over, wincing. “Why do you hate me?”

No answer. Astrid pressed her cold hands to Sadie’s lower back. The muscles there jerked
,
sending twinges of pain through her. Sadie sucked her breath in.

“
Sorry about that,” Astrid murmured, her hands moving upward.

At Sadie’s shoulders, Astrid’s exploration sent sharper pains through her. Her indrawn breath hissed out. Why wasn’t this getting any better? The shuddering had passed, yet her shoulder aches grew by the hour. Astrid felt the need to poke at her scars. Sadie considered jerking an elbow back in hopes it would connect with the healer’s stomach.

“
The epicenter is here, is it not?” Astrid asked, poking her fingertips into the soft muscle between her shoulder blades. Her mother had called the area
‘
heaven’s gate.
’
The pain there burned like hell. Astrid traced Sadie’s scars, making the crescent reminders of her breakdown sting.

Sadie nodded quickly, unable to speak. God, this sucked.

The night she’d cut the crescents into her own flesh remained a blur. She only remembered the slow, seeping thoughts that grew more and more frequent after her mother had died. So frequent that they consumed Sadie.

Something inside of her wanted out.

Sadie remembered blood, the dull steak knife covered in it. She remembered the relief the cuts gave her. And Heather’s terror upon finding her bleeding on the kitchen floor. Heather and Sadie’s roles reversed. Heather became the caretaker, Sadie the child.

Astrid squeezed and poked. Sadie bit down.

Where was Elijah? Probably avoiding her after that last kiss.

Heather and Jen would be worried out of their minds by now. She could almost hear Heather filing a missing persons report. “She’s off her medications,” she’d be telling the greater Phoenix area. Jen, trying to explain that she didn’t know any better, that she wanted Sadie to feel normal. “She’s been doing so well. She went out with me.” What would Dr. Meyers say? “Perhaps it’s time we re-visit the idea of a group home.” Worse? An asylum? Sadie imagined the local news caption “Have you seen this woman?” and a photo from her breakdown. Looking completely insane.