Bryn Morrow (9 page)
She ran to him.
“The polymer is burning off, and the sun is up. You have to go back.” Bryn kept his eyes shut against the burning rays. His skin felt like it was melting. The polymer burned like flame.
Celeste cried and tugged at the chains holding Bryn in place. They were iron, and there was no way she could cut through them in time to save him. She kissed his lips. “How can I? I’m not asleep.”
“You don’t have to be asleep to go back. You have great power, Celeste. Trust yourself.” Bryn’s face was smoking, and he convulsed in pain. “I have only moments. It's too late for me. There's only one way we can be together.”
“How, Bryn? It’s just a dream.”
“It’s not a dream, Celeste! It never was. You have to go back and save me… there.”
She sobbed and kissed him again. “I’ll try, Bryn. I’ll try to save you.” She held his melting face in her hands.
“You must go back further than you ever have. A few seconds before you first saw me.” Bryn’s skin cracked and purple-red blood oozed from his veins.
“I will try.” She embraced him. His blood stained her white nightgown. His skin was like hot sand.
“Thank you, my love. If I never see you again, remember that the last thing I said is how beautiful you are, and how much I love you.” He cried out in pain.
She closed her eyes and visualized the first time she had seen him. He had been crawling out of a smoking crater after being hit by a meteorite. As the scene appeared before her, she willed herself further back. Time didn’t want to cooperate. It felt like she was wading through amber. The stars in the sky flickered and went out. The crater disappeared, and the flaming ball of rock shot up out of the ground. Bryn was running backward through the woods. Time slowed.
The vision flickered on and off like a strobe light. Celeste pushed back and reached out. Time bit at her with razor-sharp talons.
Chapter 31
Simon walked up to the base of the black monolith and looked at Bryn’s body. He touched the desiccated corpse, bound by iron chains. It was cracked like dried sand at the bottom of a riverbed, and Bryn’s face was contorted in pain. His mouth was open in a silent scream. Simon laughed.
“You killed Bryn and Celeste. You should be very proud.” Jason limped out from behind Trium Rock. His left leg was in a cast from the knee down and his left hand was in plaster up to his elbow. He was carrying a weapon in his good hand. The sun had set, and dusk was settling in. The air smelled like burnt skin and broken dreams.
“What does it matter to you? They deserved to die.” Simon stood with his arms crossed over his chest.
“I loved her. She didn’t do anything to you.” Jason wiped tears from his eyes and bent down to pick up Celeste’s white nightgown. It was torn and stained with blood.
“She loved him, and he was weak. We were destined to rule this world.” Simon raised his arms toward the night.
“She said you were immortal,” Jason walked backward and shouldered his weapon. He propped the front of it up on his cast and lined up the scope.
“I am.” Simon lowered his arms, fingers pointed toward the ground. He bared his teeth. “I will drink your blood. After I rip your head off.”
“Yeah, right.” Jason chuckled. “I’ve got nothing to lose, motherfucker.”
“What are you carrying, mortal?” Simon’s eyebrows lifted with curiosity.
“This?” Jason laughed. “It’s a Russian RPG. Recognize it?”
Simon’s eyes widened. “You can’t kill an immortal.”
“Funny you should say that as you’re standing next to a dead one.” Jason pulled the trigger.
The blast caught Simon in the chest and blew him back into a stand of trees. He went straight through four of them and ended up on his back, stunned. His shirt was burned off, his skin blackened and his eyes burned out.
“Did you feel that?” Jason stood over the latent, grinning.
Simon’s eyes grew back, and he blinked. He reached out his hand, and a branch skittered across the ground into it. He closed his blackened fist around it and swung it at Jason, knocking him off his feet. “I told you.”
Jason scrambled backward on the ground, then got to his feet. He pulled a flask filled with gasoline out of his pocket, unscrewed the top, and poured it on Simon. “You might heal fast, but let’s see if you can heal while you are burning.”
Jason pulled a box of wooden matches out of his pocket, struck three on the side of the box, and tossed them on Simon.
Foom!
He went up in flames like a dry Christmas tree in January.
Simon screamed, pulled himself to his feet, and ran for the lake at the other end of town. His hair was burned off and his skin bubbled, but he was still able to run like an undead gazelle.
Jason walked back to his car, wincing. Shooting pains ran up his leg. The cast was cracked down the side from Simon knocking him down. He could feel the bones grinding together.
He gunned the engine, shifted into gear, and raced down Lake Drive after the flaming vampire. Simon was fast, but Jason’s car was faster. Cars coming the other way screeched, went off the road, and ran up on the curb. Jason hugged the center line and followed the flames.
Simon fell to his knees at the edge of the lake. His body was blackened. Smoke rose from his skin. He fell into the water, and the flames went out. Acrid smoke formed a cloud above him.
“Come here, little vampire. I made something for you.” Jason’s voice was chilling.
Simon looked up, but he couldn’t see. His eyes had melted. His body was trying to regenerate, but it was badly damaged.
“I’ve got you. Lay down here.” Jason grabbed Simon and placed him on his back on the wooden platform. Then he strapped him down with iron manacles over his ankles, wrists, neck, and torso. “I made you a raft.”
“When I heal, I’m coming for you.” Simon’s voice was barely a whisper through ruined lips.
“I don’t think that’s going to be a problem. It will take you hours to heal. And then you will have to break free of these shackles. And by then, the sun will be up.”
“I will kill you and your family,” Simon promised.
“Welcome to the River Styx, asshole.” Jason waded out into Lake Saul, pushing the raft in front of him. Simon was bound to the sturdy wooden beams with chains and iron straps. He was lying on his back, his body burned black from the flames. Simon’s eyes were starting to grow back, but his skin was still melted.
Jason waded out as far as he could and gave the raft one last push. The current took it.
Chapter 32
Celeste floated in front of Bryn as he ran. Tears ran down her face. She pushed through the jagged tear in time as it bit her flesh. She was covered in blood and stricken with pain. The flaming chunk of rock from space was approaching, but it hadn’t hit yet. Bryn was running for his life. Running in the same direction he always ran: the direction that had taken him to his death.
She screamed and willed herself back. Back to him. Back to her love. Her heart was exploding. Every nerve screamed at her. It had to be now, or it would never be. It had to be now!
Celeste burst through the rift and hit Bryn in the chest, knocking him to the ground. “Stay down!”
The meteorite shot overhead with a thunderous roar and hit the ground ahead of them. The explosion was incredible. Dirt and branches rained down, and a huge crater opened in the ground. Celeste covered Bryn with her body. Her skin was on fire and pain clouded her vision.
He was on his back, on the forest floor, his eyes wide with fright. “Who are you? Why are you bleeding? And naked?” he asked.
She felt his chest with her hands and put her lips near his. “You’re alive! You’re breathing!”
Bryn nodded, taking in her beauty. Her dark skin was bloody and pale hair framed jade eyes. He clutched her face. “Who are you? Why did you save me?”
“My name is Celeste. I’m from the future. And you’re in love with me.” Celeste leaned down and kissed him. His breath flowed into her like sunshine, and his heartbeat was strong against hers.
Afterword
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