Reap & Redeem (15 page)

The fire crackled and popped, and then winked out, leaving her alone in the growing darkness with Kylen and one more bottle of wine. The vacuum of silence was overwhelming as she leaned forward for the bottle. She was reasonably sure she’d succeeded quite well in fulfilling #52, but her anxiety about making a request of Kylen—about being alone out here with him—demanded more fuel.

As she fumbled for traction on the wine bottle, she lost her balance and fell forward. Kylen flashed in front of her, pulling her away from the fire just before she fell onto the smoldering coals. Blue sparks raced up her forearms where his hands were touching her flesh. Her head was fuzzy and swimmy, her legs unsteady beneath her.

“Oops. I guess maybe I’ve had enough?” She shivered.

He looked amazing in the moonlight, which made his hard features seem softer despite the scowl on his face. His blond hair all but glowed in the darkness, and the desire to touch his face was so strong she curled her hands into fists to resist the impulse. She couldn’t help but wonder what his smile might look like.

“Yes, you have. You need to go inside to bed. You’re cold.”

“No…I mean, yes, I am cold, but I’m not going inside to bed. You read my list. Tonight is #55. Do you remember #55?” Emboldened, she reached into her shirt and down her sports bra, retrieving the list. Unfolding it with meticulous precision, she turned it toward his face and pointed to #55.

“Sleep under the stars on the fall equinox.” She wobbled again. “And that’s what I’m going to do.”

“You can’t sleep out here. You’ll freeze to death,” he said, keeping his fingers curled around her forearms.

“Well, that would certainly speed things up.”

He frowned at her again. Did the man have any other expression?

“Sit,” he said. “Don’t move. I don’t want to find you up in flames when I come back.”

Pushing her back into the camp chair, he hesitated for a moment, and then pulled her to her feet again, scooting the chair another three feet away from the coals. “Sit.”

She complied, feeling like a chastised dog. Seriously, she was fine.

Drunk, but fine.

Leaning her head back against the chair, she looked up at the night sky. Now that the fire was down to a few glowing embers and her eyes had finally adjusted to the darkness, stars started popping out of the sky like jewels dangling from invisible chains. She blinked. It was almost as if she could pluck one from the sky. Reaching up, she batted the air above her head in a half-hearted attempt.

“What the hell are you doing?” Kylen asked, appearing beside her with a sleeping bag and an armful of blankets.

“There are so many stars…”

Kylen looked up at the sky, and then back at her. Either that or he was rolling his eyes at her, which seemed unimaginable even in her drunken state.

She watched as he dropped the sleeping bag, and then spread the blankets on the ground beside her chair, well away from the fire.

“If you’re sleeping outside, you’re going to need this.” He unfurled the bag on top of the blankets and unzipped it.

He moved in front of her and stood there, towering over her. She stared up, up, up his torso. He’d pulled on a black fleece, which completed his dark ensemble.

The man in black
. She giggled again.

“What now?”

“Is black the only color you wear?”

“Yes.” He reached for her hands and pulled her to her feet. She rose too quickly for her head to catch up, so she wrapped her arms around his waist for balance. He stiffened in her hold, his entire body as rigid as a mannequin’s, and stared into the forest behind her, purposely avoiding her gaze. She admired the sharp angle of his jaw and chin, and then leaned in for a more thorough ogle.

The wine was making her brave…or stupid.

Didn’t matter.

“You’re very handsome,” she said, expecting him to push her away.

“You’re very drunk.”

“Yes, I think I am. Another list item successfully accomplished. After tonight, I’ll only have ten left.”

He crinkled his forehead, his lips forming a tight, white line, and then looked down at her.

“Nine.”

“Nine?”

“You’ll have nine things left on the list after tonight.”

Confused, she tried to process what he’d said with her wine-drenched brain.

“Make the best dessert ever. You did that. #51.”

She felt a slow smile extend across her face as her heart raced in her chest. “You think so?”

“Ruth said so.”

“But do
you
think so?” she asked, all but begging him for the compliment.

“Yes.”

The electric blue sparks arced between them again, and she felt his energy flowing into her, filling her with light. It wasn’t painful or unpleasant. It never had been. But it was surprising and unexpected each time.

She swooned, and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her against his hard body. A sudden heat built between them, and she pressed her lips to the hollow of his neck. Kylen scooped her into his arms and carried her over to the makeshift pallet in the grass. He lay her down on the sleeping bag, hesitated for a moment and then backed away from her, looking more than a little spooked.

Confused, she asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. You need sleep.”

“What about you?”

He lowered himself into the camp chair where she’d been sitting, crossed his arms over his chest and stared at the now nonexistent fire. “I’ll keep watch.”

“Watch for what? Deacon said we were safe inside the perimeter, and I don’t plan on sleepwalking.”

“You have a way of finding trouble.”

She smiled. “Deacon seems to think so, too.” She snuggled down into the sleeping bag, lying on her back so she could look up into the sea of stars. “He doesn’t want to let me leave tomorrow to complete my list unless you’ll go with me. To protect me.”

Silence. Crickets. More silence.

She closed her eyes, willing him to respond. “Did you hear me? Will you go with me?”

Her voice sounded desperate even to her own ears. It felt like he held her future in his hands, like he’d be the difference between the success or failure of her mission. Yet another aspect of her life that was not under her control.

“Kylen…please.” She hated pleading, but it was the only weapon she had left.

She wouldn’t ask him again. Assuming she had her answer, she rolled away from him and closed her eyes. A tear slid down her face as she curled her knees up into her stomach, the ground cold despite the sleeping bag and the blankets underneath.

What felt like hours later, as she was finally drifting off, she heard Kylen rise and walk toward her. His steps crunched in the dry grass, but she stayed perfectly still, feigning sleep. She felt him draw another blanket over her. And then he did something unexpected—he reclined on the ground beside her.

She debated for only a moment, and then pushed herself against his stony length, soaking up his warmth. His blue energy flowed into her even through the many layers of cloth, seeming to saturate to her very soul. He was like a human electric blanket, and the heat between them seemed to promise so much more than a warm night under the stars. There was something between them, and even Kylen couldn’t deny it. Otherwise he never would have joined her on the ground.

He stayed as still as the dead behind her, feeding her with his energy and light.

She knew his answer. He would take her. He would protect her. Now it was up to her to follow through on the last items on the list.

Chapter Nineteen

As the birds began to wake in the morning woods, Kylen opened his eyes to the first rays of pink light streaming through the opening in the trees. The sky was vibrant with soft layers of violet, pink and orange. He didn’t know if he’d ever seen a more beautiful sunrise. Certainly not in the past four months while his vision was grayed out. He only hoped the colors would last this time.

The fact that Olivia lay curled against him, her snow-white hair fanned out behind her, made his heart feel slightly lighter, almost buoyant. Good God, he was going soft.

Get a grip.

He rolled out from under the blanket and stood, staring down at her. At least Deacon hadn’t come out to look for her yet. He didn’t care to explain why he’d spent the night in the backyard with her. The questions would never stop. He headed behind his trailer to relieve himself, and then went inside to brush his teeth. That was pretty much the extent of his personal maintenance routine these days.

Once inside the trailer, he decided to change into a clean set of clothes since his smelled like campfire smoke. Not that he minded, but…
whatever.
As his stomach let out a loud growl, he realized with surprise that he was starving. Olivia had drained a lot of energy from him over the course of the night. She still didn’t really know what was going on or how he was prolonging her life. Hell, he didn’t know much more than she did. All he knew was that every time they made any sort of contact, she drew energy from him like a current…without him even
trying
to juice her.

Well, as long as she needed him, he would help her.

He slid a fresh T-shirt over his head and tucked it into his black fatigue pants. Sliding his belt through the loops, he realized he needed to buckle it one notch looser. He’d been eating a ton lately. Or at least much more than he had been over the past few months. It looked like he was finally filling back out.

Rolling up his pants one leg at a time, he strapped a sheathed push blade onto each calf. He would have liked to wear more, but he’d discovered that it sent the locals into fits of panic when he walked around in the daylight that way.

Whatever.

He wasn’t about to go anywhere unprepared.

Adjusting his belt yet again, he found himself thinking about how wispy-thin Olivia was. He’d watched her consume several good meals over the past couple of days, but it was going to take a lot more than that to get her to a healthy weight. Six meals a day, seven days a week, and a steady supplement of blue energy and maybe… Then came the sickening realization: time was the one thing she didn’t have.

A timid knock at his door spun him around.

“Kylen?” Olivia asked.

He cracked open the door, and she stepped back so that he could swing it wide enough for her to come through. She entered timidly, like she was slightly disappointed with the whole thing. He looked around his trailer, trying to see it through her eyes.

Yep, it was pathetic.

His entire life fit into one hundred and ninety-two square feet.

She sat on the edge of the big bed and folded her hands in her lap. “This is nice,” she lied.

“It’s a dump. But it’s mine.”

“Well, it certainly requires minimal maintenance. You could use some curtains, though.”

“Yes.”

“Thank you, Kylen.” Olivia looked down at her hands.

“For what?” he asked, confused.

“For sleeping with me last night. For recopying my list. For helping me complete it. It means a lot to me. You’re the only one who even knows about it.”

“I didn’t
sleep
with you.” And he hadn’t. He had just lain there beside her with a rock-hard cock and bad intentions, looking up at the stars as they slid across the sky. All. Night. Long.

“You know what I mean,” she smiled coyly. “So, when can we leave? I’d like to get started early.”

Kylen ran a hand through his hair. “Breakfast first. Yes?”

“Sure.”

“Then I thought maybe I could help you with another list thing.”

Olivia swallowed hard, her eyes big as cue balls. “Which one?”

“Number 56.”

She smiled. “Learn to use a weapon? What did you have in mind?”

Kylen turned and reached behind the neat stacks of black clothing on the top bunk, retrieving a long scabbard. He drew the scythe from the sheath carefully, and then flicked his wrist, brandishing it with a flourish.

“Oh my!” she squealed with delight. “Yes, that will work!”

Olivia reached for the weapon but he kept a firm grasp on it. She traced her thumb across the engravings on its handle. “It’s beautiful. Is it old?”

“Very.”

“Where did you get it? It looks like something out of Dungeons and Dragons.”

“It’s Valkyrie-made.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means it’s valuable. So don’t break it.” Kylen folded the blade and slid it back into the scabbard, placing it behind his wardrobe. He hadn’t even looked at it since stowing it on the bed a few months ago. He told himself it only made sense to let Olivia use it. The weapon was stronger but also more lightweight than the scythe he carried himself. It was a woman’s weapon. It had been Kara’s and the demon had kept it as a souvenir, a taunt really, but Kylen had secretly found it a comfort and shielded his need for it in his heart. The weapon was his only remaining physical connection to Kara.

“Are you going to let me use it?”

“You have to eat breakfast first.” He walked to the door and pushed it open. “After you.”

* * *

Raised voices in the house brought them both to attention. Kylen drew the push blade from his leg sheath and shoved Olivia behind him as he entered the house through the laundry room, making as little noise as possible.

“Why did you wait so long to tell me?” Deacon thundered. “Dammit, Ruth, you’ve been putting yourself in danger. You’ve been putting the baby in danger.”

Kylen came to an abrupt stop at the word
baby
and surveyed the room. Nate sat on the couch, his hands pressing into his knees as if he were trying to hold himself down. Ruth was standing in the doorway to her bedroom, hands on her hips in defiance. The words
domestic disturbance
came to mind, and Kylen wanted to bolt for the trailer more than anything in this world or the next.

Olivia put a gentle hand on his back, and he felt the spark of her touch. They stood frozen in place together. Not sure whether to stay or go.

Deacon loomed over Nate, his finger pointed out like a weapon. “And you’re no better. You’ve known for how long? You’re a
medical professional.
This isn’t a game. Our job—our lives—are not conducive to creating or sustaining life. Or haven’t you two noticed?” He directed his anger back at Ruth. “I don’t even know how this happened. We’ve both been traveling the consecrated subway constantly…
carrying souls…
” He shook his head like he was trying to shake some sense into it. “It shouldn’t be possible to conceive a child that way. It hasn’t been done before. There’s no telling what horrors we’re in for now. Good God.”