Sergius: #4 (Luna Lodge: Hunters of Atlas) (7 page)

A higher purpose. She’d heard that several times before as well. What the higher purpose was, Anassa never let anyone know. Or at least not her or the women it might involve, even as she let their minds and personalities be warped.

“You know what that thing was that came after me, don’t you?”

Anassa sighed, which surprised Jade. Usually the strange woman was so collected. She never seemed to let much bother her, but this thing was different. Jade wondered if it was outside her control.

“I understand. I understand in ways your new friends never will. What you encountered is also a part of the stone, and it also has a role to play in this world.”

Despite her words, Jade could hear Anassa’s hesitation in what she said. In the end, she might have known that the monster was going to come, but maybe she was doubting the monster had some deep role to play in their alleged higher purpose.

“You have to understand,” Anassa continued. “You’re running out of time. Even if you think you can handle it now, you won’t soon.”

“It’s growing isn’t it?” Jade asked quietly. “Getting stronger.”

“We can protect you,” Anassa said again. Concern filled her voice. “Let us protect you. They can’t protect you. They can’t even protect themselves.”

“I’ve got Sergius to protect me.”

“They hide in the woods because they are afraid. Fearful men can’t protect you from something they don’t understand.”

It was just going to be the same thing over and over. She wasn’t going to get anywhere with Anassa, so she turned to walk away.

A cold, viselike hand gripped her arm. The touch chilled her to the bone.

“You must see to know,” Anassa said, her voice low and menacing. “You must know what awaits.”

Jade struggled to pull away from her but couldn’t seem to free her arm.

She shivered as the ocean waters surged around her. The cold, salty water grew higher and higher. The more she struggled to free herself from the crazed woman, the higher the water rose.

Suddenly she was falling deep into the abyss of the ocean. Her lungs screamed for air, and she struggled to make her way to the surface, but nothing seemed to help.

Jade fell deeper and deeper into the dark waters. Her limbs grew limp.

Just before she faded away, a bright light shimmered off in the distance on the ocean floor, a light so bright she struggled to bring her hand up and cover her eyes from the sight.

* * *

Her eyes sprang open as Sergius shook her awake. He was standing over her with Rem. They both watched her with worry.

Jade took in deep breaths and tried to calm herself. She couldn’t say what she saw. She wasn’t even certain what she saw.

A bright light on the ocean floor that called to her sounded insane. Yet that was exactly what it was. It made her feel oddly at home, and the contents of her dream wasn’t going to go over well with either of the men.

She didn’t want to deal with it. Not now. There was just too much to take in.

“Did he come to you again?” Sergius asked quickly as he knelt down beside her.

Jade shook her head. “No, it was just a dream.”

He frowned. “Just a dream? Are you sure? You’ve already shared dreams with… others.”

“This one was just regular, stupid dream stuff.” She sighed.

Rem stared hard at her, and she wondered how much he actually believed, but he nodded.

“I’m just tired,” she said quietly to Sergius.

He nodded and placed a hand at her back. His touch comforted her.

“You’ll stay with me,” he said firmly. “I’m going to keep you safe.”

It was exactly as she’d said to Anassa. Sergius would protect her.

Jade tried not to blush, after everything that had happened she shouldn’t be thinking about the hot dream she had previously with him, but that still came to mind.

Rem and Sergius believed her. That helped ease the craziness of the entire situation, especially since she didn’t know how she would deal with things if Sergius hadn’t accepted that they’d shared a dream.

“You’ll take these,” Rem said and handed her a bottle. “Our doctor contact suggested they may help to keep the dreams at bay.” Jade looked down at the bottle in her hand.

“Sleeping pills?”

Rem nodded. “They should help.”

Sergius reached down and helped her stand from the couch.

“I think we should get you home,” he said softly.

Jade leaned into his side was glad for the comfort of his arm. Too many things were happening too quickly, and she felt like she was racing to keep up.

They stepped towards the door but stopped when Rem stepped between the door and themselves.

“If you have any other visions, you find me.” He stared hard at her, and Jade nodded. “This isn’t just about you anymore, but about all of us.”

He stepped out of the way, and she and Sergius made their way out of the small house into the bright morning sun.

Jade tried not to look around as she walked to his cabin. She was sure the people of the compound were watching them as they did, likely whispering about her latest strange episode.

She was glad when they made their way up his steps and into the quiet solitude of his house.

Sergius stepped into the kitchen and came back out carrying a glass of water. He held the sleeping pills in his other hand.

“I think it would be best,” he said softly, “if you take these and get some sleep.”

Jade complied. She looked up to his face after. Sergius stood, waiting for her, and she debated telling him what she had seen in the last vision and the strange light at the bottom of the ocean.

But telling him that might result in him looking at her like the others had been looking at her. Even if he accepted the strange dreamscape, that wasn’t the same thing as accepting everything about what had happened, especially if Anassa was involved.

Her heart just couldn’t bear to have that happen. She needed time to process the events.

Jade gave a weak smile and made her way over to the couch.

“Take the bed,” Sergius said. “I’ve got some patrols to do anyways. You will be completely safe in this house.”

Jade stared at his unflinching eyes and knew the Sergius would do what he had to in order to keep her safe. She blushed and averted her eyes from him. His kindness was almost too much for her.

“Thank you,” she said.

Tired and exhausted Jade made her way to his bedroom. Not caring about propriety, she shed her clothes on the way to bed and slipped into the warm covers. It was only a matter of moments before she closed her eyes and was sound asleep again.

Chapter Ten

It was late in the day when Jade woke up. The sun had just started to set, and its golden warmth filled the bedroom. She snuggled down deeper into the covers and groaned, exhaustion still weighing on her.

Her sleep hadn’t been near long enough, and she felt like she could go back to sleep for another twenty hours.

Still she needed to see what was going on, to check on if Dea was okay, and if they caught that thing that attacked them.

Jade peeked out from the blanket and sighed loudly. Her stomach rumbled as the scent of pasta filled her nostrils.

She sat up and blushed a little, realizing she was in her panties and bra. She’d been so tired in the morning that it didn’t matter, but now she realized that she had been sleeping in Sergius’s bed with nearly nothing on, pushing her waking reality a little too uncomfortably close to her dream reality.

She slipped out of bed and went to find her clothes from yesterday. They were folded neatly in a chair. A bag sat next to the chair.

Jade arched a brow and unzipped the bag. She was surprised to find her tooth brush, hair brush, and toiletries inside, along with a few pieces of clothing from her house. She blushed a little thinking about Sergius bringing her clothes. It was both sweet and intimate.

She pulled out a fresh pair of panties and matching black bra, along with a black tank and pink and black pajama bottoms. She wasn’t going to worry about wearing pajamas since it would soon be night again, and, at this point, she was really more concerned about comfort than anything else.

She grabbed the bag and stepped into the bathroom. Inside she was surprised to find a towel laid out for her. A little shower would help both with her fatigue and sweaty body.

Jade turned on the hot water and stripped her undergarments away. Carefully, she took off the bandage on her arm and tossed it in the trash. She grabbed her toiletries from her bag and placed them inside the shower and then stepped into the hot spray.

She groaned a little as the warm water beat on her back. It felt good to have the spray massage her.

She slowly lathered her body and washed her hair, all the while thinking about everything that happened the last twenty-four hours. From the monster to Anassa, it all just seemed a bit overwhelming at times. Almost insane.

But she had to make some sense of it all. Right now nothing seemed to fit in place, and she needed it to, before she started losing control, or even her sanity.

She bit down a laugh. Not that many weeks ago, her main concern had been paying her bills and debts. She never imagined that she’d end up involved with not only the hybrids, but strange powers.

The stone. Jade shook her head. Well, at least Anassa had provided an explanation for why this was all occurring. She’d touched it, and it’d changed her, slowly giving her the insight and abilities that had led to her dream adventures.

Understanding why she had changed provided some small comfort.

She rinsed off the last of the soap and shut off the water. The cool evening air had already seeped into the house, and she shivered a little at its touch.

Jade stepped out of the shower and toweled off. She slipped on her undergarments and then the black t-shirt and pink and black pants. When she opened the bathroom door, the smell of pasta filled the air, and she felt her stomach rumble again. She wondered if she ate in a dream if she’d not feel hungry.

Jade opened the bedroom door and stepped out into the living room. She could hear Sergius in the kitchen and quietly made her way around the corner.

“I hope you’re hungry,” Sergius said with his back to her. He glanced at her over his shoulder. He froze in place.

Jade glanced down at herself confused before running her fingers through her dark black hair and nodding. “I thought you didn’t cook.”

Sergius turned around. His beautiful blue eyes stared right at her.

“Dea made lasagna for us,” he said quietly. “She feels bad about how she treated you before.”

Jade was surprised but was happy to know the other woman was all right. Still, Dea had made it very clear that she wasn’t fond of her, but then events last night had changed everything for them. Now they were all in this together.

Anassa had been right about one thing. She’d been told the hybrids were hiding from the Horatius Group, and she’d heard enough on the news about the attacks on the other hybrids of Luna Lodge to understand how dangerous the Group could be.

A small group of people being hunted by a ruthless, powerful group had all the reason in the world not to trust an outsider, and so she found it hard to blame Dea for being suspicious.

Jade also realized that her powers must have been manifesting long before her first vision. What she’d chalked up to intuition had unnerved the others. She couldn’t blame them, given how much the situation now unnerved her.

“She brought over some wine as well,” Sergius said and held up two glasses. “I thought we could have it with dinner.”

Jade noted how he had set the table in the corner of the room for two people. He’d gone to some trouble of making it look nice, and despite the mismatched flatware, the gesture was very sweet.

She stepped over to the table and pulled out a chair to sit down. Sergius set a filled glass in front of her, and she sipped on it as he brought over the hot pan of lasagna.

She watched him as he cut into the steaming food and dished some onto her plate and then on his own.

Sergius sat across from her and gave her a small smile as he sat down.

She knew she was hungry, though she didn’t realize how much until she had nearly finished the whole plate of lasagna without even speaking. Sergius stood to cut another square for her and placed it on her plate.

“These visions and dreams seem to take a lot out of you,” he said quietly.

Jade stopped in midair with her fork and looked over to him. She knew they were going to talk about it at some point but hadn’t expected him to be so matter-of-fact about it when he did.

She ate more slowly now, taking time to study the man across the table from her.

“It’s like it takes everything out of me,” she said. Jade shook her head. “Afterwards it’s like my batteries have been drained.”

Sergius nodded, continuing to eat his lasagna.

When she finished her second helping, she sat back in the chair, her stomach full and happy as she sipped on her wine waiting for the man to finish.

It was a comfortable silence. Something she wasn’t really used to with strangers or anyone really. Friends had been difficult to keep, and she certainly didn’t have any family that she could be like this with.

Sergius stood and cleared off the dishes. Then he put some foil on top of the lasagna and placed it back in the fridge.

He stood next to her and poured a little more wine into their glasses. Then he picked up his glass and nodded into the living room.

“Let’s move over to the couch so I can check your wound,” he said quietly.

Jade picked up her glass and followed him over to the couch. She sipped a bit more and relaxed into the soft cushion.

She noticed that he had some peroxide and bandages set out on the table.

He examined the wound, his body directly in front of her and his head almost too close.

“I think we have to talk about that dream,” he said softly.

Jade stiffened in his hands at his words.

He couldn’t possibly know about the dream with Anassa. There was no way. He wasn’t present at all.