Chapter Twenty-Three
––––––––
OAKLIE’S SLEEP WAS restless when she went to bed.
Arkas had chosen to sleep on the couch and guard the lower floor.
She was glad to have some distance between them, but made her bedroom door impenetrable anyway.
The knight might seem noble in spirit, but she barely knew him and she didn’t fully trust him.
Her attraction to the warrior was troubling.
She’d never felt this kind of desire before.
His image kept popping into her mind as she tossed and turned.
Falling asleep eventually, she dreamed about sculpting the fallen tree into Arkas’ likeness.
His flawless face and body loomed over her when she was done.
Tracing the muscles of his chest, she pressed her palm against the engraving of the sword and wings.
Her hand jerked back when the wood turned to flesh.
He captured her hand and pressed it against his chest again.
Color flowed into his body, turning his skin tan. He smiled at her and her pulse sped up.
Arkas bent to kiss her and she rose on her toes to meet his lips. A crow cawed right outside her window, snapping her awake. “Damn it!” she hissed quietly, then realized it was dawn. Groaning that she still felt tired, she threw the covers back and got dressed.
The knight was ready to go when she finished using the bathroom and carried her gear downstairs.
She’d locked the house securely, so he hadn’t been able to place his belongings in the truck yet.
“The rain has stopped,” he said. “Let’s hope we won’t run into any storms during our journey to Manhattan. ”
“We probably will,” she said dourly, checking her duffle bags to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything.
“Do you have my sculpture?” Arkas asked.
“You mean my sculpture you made of me?” she shot back, then patted one of her bags. “It’s right here,” she told him.
“I’ve got my stag,” he said with a grin, hefting one of his backpacks higher.
Grumbling beneath her breath, she didn’t bother to eat breakfast. Her stomach was churning with nerves about leaving her home. There was a good chance she might never return if something went wrong during their trip.
Arkas preceded her through the door, holding a rifle ready when she opened the barrier. She locked it behind herself, then activated her personal form of security measures.
“What did you just do?” her sexy companion asked, shivering slightly.
“I made the entire house impenetrable,” Oaklie replied. “The wood is now so dense that no one can cut it or burn it. I’m not sure if explosives would even be able to blow a hole in the wood.”
“That’s kind of amazing,” he said in an almost disturbed tone.
“I’ll do the same thing with the fence, once I drive the truck out of the yard,” she said.
“I’ll stand guard while you’re doing your thing,” he offered, following her to the truck to place his bags on the back seat.
She tossed her gear in as well, then snagged a bottle of water and some energy bars from one of the boxes of food.
She put them in the glovebox, then drove towards the gate.
It swung open and she left the yard and parked in the dirt driveway.
Arkas loped out of the yard. He stood with his back to her, sweeping his gaze from side to side as she used her power to close the gap. She strengthened the defenses and added a nasty trap as well. “If anyone tries to break in, they’ll wish they hadn’t,” she said with a smirk when she was done.
“Why?” Arkas asked.
“Try to approach the gate,” she suggested. “But don’t get too close,” she warned him.
Eyeing the gate warily, Arkas approached it like it was a venomous snake.
He stopped a few feet away and stretched out his hand.
A sharp spear immediately shot out, stopping just short of skewering his palm.
“Nice,” he said with a grin. “Thanks for the warning,” he added as it receded back to merge with the fence again.
Oaklie was proud of her efforts and didn’t feel as drained as she usually did. “Let’s get going,” she said through her open window. “We’ve got a long journey ahead of us.”
Arkas strode over and climbed in next to her. He slouched down and stretched his legs out as far as he could. He’d already moved the seat back to accommodate his ridiculous height.
While she didn’t want to leave her home, destiny compelled her. Oaklie knew leaving with Arkas would be the only way she would find out what her true purpose was. There was nothing holding her back, since her family was gone and everything on the property had died.
Her dad’s truck was newer than the rusty one she was driving, but it had been his pride and joy. It would have felt wrong to use it during their dangerous mission.
Following the route she’d traced on an old map, Oaklie reached the interstate. “It looks clear,” she said in relief.
“Didn’t the Rapture happen in the middle of the night?” he asked.
“Yeah, but there are always vehicles on the highways night and day,” she said.
“Lots of people still would have been on the roads even at midnight when the Rapture struck. The gold comet I saw a few days ago landed at midnight, too, which was weird. It looked like it landed somewhere close to town, but I didn’t hear the collision. ”
“That was me,” Arkas said with a grimace. “I landed in a lake.”
“You arrived on Earth in a comet?” she asked skeptically.
“Knights of Order always appear as gold meteors,” he said. “Soldiers of Chaos appear as red ones.”
“Of course they do,” she said, then shook her head.
He’d told her his enemies had a red tint to their eyes that reflected their affiliation with Chaos.
She’d seen the tattoo of the sword and wings on his chest when he’d sat in front of the fire in just a towel.
Apparently, all of the knights had similar tattoos on their chests or shoulders. It signaled their allegiance to Order.
She drove for a couple of hours before they ran into their first problem. “I knew it,” she groaned when she saw a pileup in the distance. A huge truck had tipped over, blocking the way. Cars and pickup trucks had slammed into it. One had caught on fire and the entire pileup had become engulfed.
“I see a ramp over there,” Arkas said, pointing to an offramp just ahead.
“I’ll have to take it,” Oaklie said, then slowed down and exited. It would delay them each time they had to detour around accidents, but there wasn’t much they could do about it.
“When do I get a turn to drive?” Arkas asked as she drove along the far smaller road that ran alongside the interstate.
“You’ve never driven a day in your life before,” Oaklie reminded him. “You’ve never even seen a car before you arrived here.”
“I’ve watched you drive long enough to know what to do,” he said with a scowl. “Besides, Fate imbues us with all of the knowledge we need to function in each new era.”
“Fine,” she said with an eyeroll. “You can have a turn when I stop for lunch.”
“I can’t wait,” he said in anticipation, then returned his attention to watching for trouble.
“All men are the same, even if they’re from another dimension,” Oaklie realized. “You all want to be in control all the time.”
“That’s not why I want to drive,” the warrior protested.
“Why then?” she demanded.
“It looks like fun,” he said with a shrug.
“I’m sure my brothers will all want to try the new inventions humans have come up with.
Technology like this didn’t exist in the past. It’s mind blowing to see all of the modern devices humans use so casually.
People in past eras would have been terrified by something as simple as a toaster. ”
Oaklie laughed at that concept. “I guess you’re right,” she conceded. “Besides, it’s dangerous for me to try to drive the entire way to New York by myself. Even cambions get tired.”
“You can rest while I drive, female,” Arkas said, tone softening protectively. “I’ll take care of you.”
She didn’t know how to respond to his promise, so she opted to say nothing at all.
He kept showing her a softer side of himself that was as endearing as it was disturbing.
He’d been created to destroy his enemies before returning to the Void to be put back in stasis once more.
There was no hope of a future with him, but she couldn’t stop wondering what it would be like to have a man like him watching over her forever.
Oaklie shook off that idiotic thought. Arkas would be a temporary blip in her life and nothing more. She had to remember that and ignore her growing feelings for him.