Chapter Six
––––––––
AMAROS CHOSE THE ROOM Zoe had parked in front of, so they could make a quick escape if they had to.
Zoe ate a quick meal, took a rapid shower, then changed into jeans and a t-shirt.
The warrior gave her new outfit a disapproving frown.
Clearly, he liked dresses better. That was too bad, because her days of dressing up as the town prophet were over.
“Wake me up if anything happens,” Zoe requested, choosing one of the two single beds. A gap of several feet lay between them, yet the room felt tiny. Amaros’ presence was overwhelming in such a small area.
“Will it bother you if I watch the TV?” he asked.
“Nope,” she replied, lying down on the covers. “I can tune the noise out.”
He switched the TV on, but kept the volume low as he sat down on the other bed. She fell asleep to a news report of the strange phenomenon that had occurred all over the world.
Zoe’s dreams were disturbing, which wasn’t unusual.
This time, the scenes of chaos and mayhem that played out were happening currently, rather than something that would happen in the future.
She witnessed atrocities that would have made her weep in rage if she’d been awake.
Thankfully, most of the children and teenagers had been raptured.
Only the truly evil ones had been left behind.
There wouldn’t be any innocent babies or small kids out there who would starve to death, which was a relief.
Switching from city to city in her sleep, she saw adults and the few teenagers and kids that were left committing crimes in broad daylight.
With the world in upheaval, what was left of law enforcement couldn’t cope.
Everyone who’d had a pure soul, or a gray soul who’d followed the rules, were gone. Only the dregs were left.
According to Pastor Robert, some people would be converted into believers in God after the First Resurrection.
New churches would be formed and some souls would be saved.
The opposite would also occur. Evil people would become far worse.
They would make life a misery for as many survivors as possible.
Zoe woke up in the late afternoon feeling full of sorrow. She was weighed down by the dark deeds she’d been forced to witness.
“Are you ready to leave now?” Amaros asked.
Reminded that she wasn’t alone, she tried to pull herself together. “Give me a few minutes,” she requested. She was hungry, thirsty and needed to use the bathroom.
The toilet seat was down, which was a surprise. Checking her supplies when she foraged for food, she realized nothing was missing.
“Don’t you need to eat?” she asked after eating a few cookies and washing them down with water.
“No,” Amaros replied. “The Knights of Order don’t have all of the same biological urges humans like you do.”
Gathering her belongings, she stuffed her car keys in her pocket. “I thought you said I was a cambion,” she said. “Whatever that is,” she added, prompting him to explain himself.
“Cambions are half human, half demon,” a voice said from outside.
Amaros spun around and snatched the door open, breaking the lock in the process.
He glowered at the small teenager who was leaning against Zoe’s car.
Her outfit was eclectic to say the least. She wore black tights beneath ragged shorts that looked like they’d been jeans once.
Her oversized red t-shirt almost came down to the hem of her shorts.
Her sneakers were covered in colorful badges from cities all over the US.
Her short hair had been dyed green, blue and pink.
She was casually cleaning her fingernails with a penknife.
“Who are you?” Zoe asked, peering at the girl over Amaros’ shoulder. He didn’t have a weapon, but she knew he didn’t need one. His hands and feet were lethal enough.
“I’m Gracelyn Doblin, or Grace for short,” the teen replied with a sunny grin, putting the penknife in her pocket. “Are we going to hit the road soon? Things are getting dicey on the interstate.”
“You’re a cambion,” Amaros realized, eyeing the tiny girl.
“Duh,” the teen retorted with an eyeroll. “My pops knocked up my mom and took off, but he told her all about how evil he was and how his kind would rule the world one day.”
“I thought you said angels and demons don’t exist,” Zoe said accusingly as she stepped around him.
“Whatever we are, we aren’t normal humans,” Grace pointed out.
Zoe could sense the kid was different even before she closed the gap between them. Grace had the same low hum of power Zoe had always felt coming from herself. “Do you have visions, too?” she asked.
“Nah,” the teen said with a shrug. “My skills don’t run in that direction.”
“What can you do?” Zoe queried, curious and beginning to get excited. Maybe she wasn’t the only freak out there after all.
“I’m good at ‘finding’ things,” Grace said with audible quotation marks, then held up the keys that had been in Zoe’s pocket a minute ago.
“How did you do that?” Zoe asked, snatching them back. She was careful not to touch the newcomer. God only knew what sort of visions touching someone like herself would trigger.
“I can sense things that are important to people and kind of will them into my hands,” Grace explained.
The keys were the only things Zoe had that tied her to her home. While they weren’t valuable in a monetary sense, she didn’t want to lose them. “Where’s your mom?” she asked, looking around and not seeing anyone.
“She’s dead,” Grace said, voice now sounding flat. “I’m way better off without her, so don’t feel sorry for me,” she added before Zoe could say anything.
“She wasn’t raptured like the others?” Amaros asked.
Grace made a noise of derision. “As if. My mom was almost as evil as the monster that spawned me.”
“We need to get moving,” Zoe said as her intuition nudged her. “We can swap stories on the way.”
“I’ll need to scan her soul before she can join us,” the knight said.
Instant and unwanted jealousy twisted Zoe’s insides. She didn’t want the warrior to touch another female, even if she was just a kid. “Is that really necessary?” she asked, trying to keep her tone neutral even as she pushed her idiotic jealousy away. “She’s what, fifteen years old?”
“I’m eighteen,” Grace corrected her. “I just look younger than I really am.”
“Every time I’ve encountered your kind in the past, they were as evil as their sires,” Amaros told them both. “This time, they can apparently swing towards Order or Chaos.”
Zoe kept in her further protests as he held his hand out. Grace didn’t hesitate to grasp his fingers. She grimaced when she felt him rummage around in her soul. “Do I get to go with you, boss man?” she asked when he let her go.
“You can join us,” Amaros said begrudgingly. He flicked Zoe a look and she interpreted what he wanted her to do.
“I’m Zoe,” she said and held her hand out. “He’s Amaros. Welcome to the team, Grace.”
Grace took her hand and Zoe was hit with the girl’s entire life story in quick flashes. Gasping in reaction, the teen yanked her hand away. “Rude much?” she snapped in annoyance. “You should give a person some warning before you invade their privacy like that.”
Deep sympathy for Grace’s plight had Zoe blinking back tears. “I’m sorry,” she said and meant it. “Can I give you a hug of apology?”
Grace looked at her warily. “I’ve never been hugged before,” she said doubtfully. “I don’t really see the point of it.”
That broke Zoe’s heart and cemented Grace’s place in her life. “It won’t hurt, I promise,” she said and held her arms out. “I won’t invade your privacy again.”
Grace stepped forward and stood there stiffly as Zoe put her arms around her. Mary Zayden had been strict and highly religious, but at least she’d loved her daughter. Grace’s mom had been the opposite.
“That doesn’t feel so bad,” Grace said, relaxing slightly. Her arms went around Zoe and she leaned her head on the taller woman’s shoulder. “It’s kind of nice, actually,” she said.
Amaros cleared his throat a minute later, reminding them that they had to get moving. Zoe knew her eyes were shining with tears, but both of her companions pretended not to notice how emotional she was.
“Can I drive?” Amaros asked as Grace retrieved the backpack she’d hidden behind the car.
“I don’t know. Can you?” Zoe retorted.
“Fate gave me all the knowledge I require to exist in this era,” was his cryptic response.
Shaking her head at how strange her life had become, she handed him the keys. “I guess Grace and I can teach you,” she figured.
The knight didn’t need any instructions from them. He adjusted the seat, then smoothly started the car and took off.