Scarlet Dusk (26 page)

Zane groaned.

It was a step up from vermin.

Maledictus was
officially
raising the dead!

He retched at the sight, imagining an army of naked grannies missing chunks of skin scuttling around.

“And I thought he was disgusting,
before…
”

The old-corpse chattered at him before finally bellowing a strange, gyrating growl.

Two sets of twin vocals replied behind him.

Turning, Zane
watched as several more dead bodies lumbered towards him, and he finally turned to Raith and Isaac, whose faces—ones of disgust and disappointment—mirrored his own.

“Destroy them,” he ordered, shaking his head and feeling no pride in what had to be done.
“They are already dead!”

The two therions quickly snatched up one body each and went to work dismembering them in their own, personal preference.

Zane, sighing—again—turned to Golem impersonating elderly corpse, “Sorry, Granny, it ain’t personal.”

None of the three could take any pride in what they’d accomplished, still burdened with the awareness that Maledictus
had
escaped. Zane, however, wiping the blood from his katana and sheathing it, was already beginning to think of—

Zane, the others are taken care of! G
et up here and he—

Before Zoey even finished her auric message to him, Zane had already rushed up the stairs
—ignoring his body’s screaming muscles and burning exhaustion—to the bathroom, where he scooped up Serena in his arms and held her so close to him it hurt.

“S
erena! I’m so sorry… I tried; I tried to find you. I looked every—”

Serena ran her fingers across his face, smiling as her fingertips met warm flesh and blood. “Shut up and kiss me, Zane… I’ve waited too long and fought too hard for more misery.”

He didn’t need to be told twice.

Leaning
down, he pressed his lips to hers.

As the kiss parted, the two of them seeming suddenly lighter with the passing of the act, Serena smiled up at him.
“I was so afraid. I was… I was worried we would die without you finding out.”

“
Find out? W-wait… did you say ‘we’?” Zane blushed.

“I’
m pregnant, Zane,” Serena beamed. “You’re going to be a father.”

~
ONE WEEK LATER~

“SERENA, SHOULD WE REALLY BE DOING this with your condition?” Zane called out as he fought to catch up to her.

“Just
try
to stop me!” Serena grinned, jumping off another rooftop and scaling up the ladder before hurling her body onto the neighboring rooftop. Still hauling in a full sprint and using the momentum of her consecutive jumps to propel her further and further to each new rooftop.

She was free!

Truly free!

Jumping on the ledge of a building, she paused to let Zane catch up and
took a deep breath of the crisp night air. As Zane jumped to the ledge beside her, she smiled over at her lover. He grinned at her, shaking his head as he sat back against the edge of the building’s roof and let his legs dangle over the edge.

“You know, this parkour thing…
I
am
still getting used to it,” he shook his head, chuckling. “You think that
maybe
you can cut me a break and—you know?—
not
move so fucking fast?”

She smirked, winking at him, “You’ll never learn that way, baby; you gotta feel
forced
to keep up, or else you’ll never feel driven to even try. Trust me, it’ll come eventually.”

“Uh-hu
h,” he sighed, shaking his head, “This coming from a natural who was trained by a parkour-pro rogue, my confidence is an overflowing cup. Hoo-fucking-ray!”

Serena smirked, “You know,
technically
it was
your
aura inside that parkour-pro’s body at the time.”

“Now that’s not fair,” Zane scowled. “It’s obviously the body! Just look at Raith! This parkour shit wasn’t a thing—least I don’t think it was—when he was in his original body, but the moment you put him in Mister Parkour-pro he’s bouncing around the walls like fucking Spider-Man! It’s obviously not the driver in this case, it’s the vehicle. And, while we’re on the subject, a
re you sure it’s alright to be doing all this bouncing and running when you’re pregnant?”

“The baby is fine, Zane!
He’s barely a bump in my belly yet,” Serena sighed, absently rubbing her still-flat stomach, “The only condition I should be worried about is a lover who can’t keep up!”

“He?” Zane grinned, “Were you hiding something from me?”

“I
may
have been,” Serena smirked, “Damn! I was hoping to surprise you with that!”

“How lo
ng have you known?” Zane raised an eyebrow.

“A few da
ys now. I don’t know, I can just sort of
feel
it, y’know?” Serena smiled.

He nodded and scooched
closer to her, wrapping his arm around her.

“I’m so happy to have you back
,” he whispered. “I was a total fucking wreck without you. I swear, I was so close to just starting an all-out assault on the city; kicking in every door and ripping everyone inside-out until I found you.”

She giggled at that, “Only you could make mass genocide sound romantic.”

“I doubt that,” Zane confessed. “Plenty of charming-yet-sick fucks out there. We have our own union and everything.”

Serena laughed, “Don’t make it sound
that
easy. Maledictus certainly can’t woo me with his filthy mouth.”

“I’d fucking hope not,” Zane faked a gag.

Serena smirked over at him, “You wanna know something
else
I can still do in my ‘condition’?”

Zane looked over at her, raising an eyebrow. “I have a few guesses.”

Serena winked, “The first few don’t count.”

Her lips slammed against his then, and suddenly free running across rooftops sounded like the
least
painful activity of the night.

This, however, was a contact sport he was
more
than apt at participating in.

He groaned, lovi
ng the taste of her and relishing in them being together once more and pulled her tighter to him.

Finally.

Things were finally coming together.

She ran her hands down his chest
, and Zane groaned, looking down at her and grinned. “You want to do it right here, huh?”

“No one can see
us,” she smirked, then immediately faked a pout. “Plus, it’s been too long, Zane!”

“Too long? It’s been less than three hours!” Zane chuckled, looking over, “Do you realize that you use something to the tune of ‘here’s a nice pregnant activity’ or ‘I’m not too bloated to do this one’ or ‘Wanna know something else I can still do?’” he said with a laugh. “You being pregnant has made you hornier than ever! You almost fucked me in the car the night we brought you back to the clan.”

Serena raised an eyebrow, “Are you complaining?”

“Hell-fucking-no!” Zane shook his head, “I actually am loving every minute of it and hope to see if it’s possible to double-impregnate somebody.”

“Oh?” Serena chuckled.

Zane nodded, “Yup. I just wanted it recognized that you playing this ‘it’s been far too long’-game won’t hold up; that is perjury, and it is
wrong
!”

Serena sighed, “Will you shut the hell up and fuck me on this rooftop already?”

“Yes, ma’am!” Zane pulled her to him then and kissed her again.

She moaned, loving the feeling of him against her and the urgency began to grow.

Using her aura, she ripped Zane’s shirt off and he looked down at her, his eyes blazing with just as much passion as she felt.

“That was one of my favorite shirt
s,” he smirked.

“I’m not sorry
,” she smirked, pulling him across her body as he reached up and began to rub her breasts through her shirt. She moaned, arching up more against his touch and he groaned in her mouth as she wrapped her legs tightly around his waist.

Zane groaned
and began to pull the remainder of their clothes off with just as much urgency as she’d ripped off his shirt. She ran her hands across his chest, taking more attention with his tattoos, his now-
normal
tattoos.

She smiled running her ha
nd down his torso, following the “landing strip” where his torso met his thighs to guide her hand to his shaft and smirked, wrapping her hand around him.

Caught in the addictive rhythm, she lost track of time as she played.

“F-Fuck! Serena!” Zane clenched his teeth, “If you stroke me anymore I’m going to lose it!”

“Then lose
it inside of me,” she moaned, directing his shaft to her entrance. “I can’t wait any longer, Zane!” She pushed up, pushing his length inside her. “Now make love to me, or I swear I’m going to just tie you up and take all reigns!”

“That doesn’t sound
so
bad,” he groaned as she began to slide down, taking all of him into her.

Serena
cried out and arched back, letting herself become one with her lover.

Together, the two were unstoppable.

Serena felt
true
love she had never known was possible before. All the past lovers she had were all there to lead her to
him
.

She cried out, allowing her to climax to take her over the edge and looked into Z
ane’s eyes as he followed right beside her. Pressing herself against him, she kissed him passionately as they both saw fireworks go off behind their eyes.

Together.

As it was meant to be.

“I love you,” she whispered against his sweat-soaked chest.

“I love you too,” he smiled, falling beside her and she grinned, snuggling against him more.

“Do you think we woke anyone up with our moans?” she giggled.

“Shit, I hope so,” he smirked, leaning his head against hers. “I’d be kind of disappointed with myself if I didn’t. I’m sort of hoping we also corrupted a youth.”

“Oh, you naughty boy!” she smirked. “Is this the new Zane I am seeing here?”

“I don’t know, is this the new Serena I’m seeing?” he smiled.

“Here to stay,” she winked, beginning to collect her clothes and dress. He followed suit, throwing on the shirt she had ripped.

She looked over, realizing the shirt was more vest now. She had ripped it clean down the center of his chest and she grinned.

“Wha
t are you thinking?” he asked.

“Just that
I made a fashionable improvement of that shirt,” she laughed.

“Only
you
would think
this
an improvement!”

“Is it not?” she purred, moving closer and running her hands across his chest.

“Careful,” Zane growled, leaning down and whispering in her ears. “I’m close to bending you over and taking you again!”

“Catch me and you’ve got yourself a deal!” she giggled, skipping past him and jumping off the ledge.