Chapter Three
––––––––
“UGH, THAT WAS THE WEIRDEST dream I’ve ever had last night,” Bria said, rolling over to check the time.
It was half an hour after dawn, so she’d slept in a bit.
Still feeling slightly groggy, she froze in mid-yawn when she sensed someone was in her house.
Alarm had her shooting to her feet and the last vestiges of sleep vanished.
The events from last night hadn’t been a dream.
It had really happened and it seemed the naked, badly injured stranger had survived.
“Now what?” she whispered, feeling anxious and out of her depth. Even from the end of the hall she could sense his soul was white. He would be in a lot of pain when he woke up and she didn’t have any medication to give him. “How the hell did he even survive that shark bite?” she murmured.
“I heal very quickly, cambion,” the stranger said without raising his voice. “Just as you do,” he added.
Bria went rigid with shock this time. How had he heard her from the living room? He’d called her a cambion, but she had no idea what that was.
“My name is Urzra and I’m a Knight of Order,” he said. His voice sounded far too cheerful for someone who’d narrowly avoided death. “I owe you for rescuing me,” he went on. “But I was hoping you could answer some questions for me.”
Bria was torn between hiding in her room and answering his questions so he would leave. “I’ll be there in a minute,” she said. “I just need to use the bathroom.”
“I’ll go outside to give you some privacy,” he said, then she sensed his presence receding.
She grabbed some clothes and glanced into the laundry basket when she entered the bathroom.
The clothes she’d worn to rescue Urzra were still damp from the sea spray.
Locking the door, she used the toilet and took a quick shower.
She towel dried her hair, then brushed it.
Bria knew she was delaying the inevitable and forced herself to leave the bathroom.
Urzra was standing near the vegetable garden when she glanced out through the back door.
Wearing the blanket like a towel around his waist, his hands were on his hips.
His body was lean, but heavily muscled. She remembered seeing a tattoo on his chest when she’d pulled him into the boat, but she hadn’t gotten a good look at it.
“What the hell is a Knight of Order?” she murmured, then headed to the kitchen. She sensed the stranger approaching just as she opened a jar of pickles. “Are you hungry?” she asked. Pickles weren’t exactly normal breakfast food, but she liked them.
“Knights don’t require food or beverages, female,” he said with a smile.
Her breath caught at how handsome he was.
Urzra was a giant of a man, at least to someone of her size.
She put him at about six foot four. He had shaggy dark brown hair and dark blue eyes that were regarding her in admiration as if she was stunning.
“Everyone needs to eat and drink,” she argued. “What are you, an alien?”
“Yep,” he said, then leaned against the kitchen counter. “Don’t you know anything about us? Didn’t your sire teach you to hate his enemies?”
Bria frowned as she stuck a fork into the pickle jar to spear one of them. “Maybe I’m still asleep and this is all still a weird dream,” she figured.
“What’s your name, cambion?” Urzra asked. He crossed his arms, which emphasized his pecs. The tattoo was a sword with delicate looking ink that looked a bit like wings on each side of it.
“I’m Bria Janke,” she said. “What were you doing naked and at sea? Did your boat capsize?” It had been a calm night, but accidents happened.
“Did you see a gold comet last night?” he asked instead of answering her.
“Yeah,” she confirmed, then took a bite out of her pickle. She took a seat at the small dining table. His eyes locked onto her mouth and the blanket began to move. Bria almost choked when she realized he was getting hard again. “You’re not going to try to molest me, are you?” she asked warily.
“Of course not, female,” he said indignantly, taking a seat across from her. “Knights of Order follow a strict code, unlike the Soldiers of Chaos.”
“Why don’t you pretend I have no idea what you’re talking about and give me a brief rundown of your history?” Bria suggested.
Urzra slouched in the chair with his elbow on the table and rested his chin on his palm.
He launched into a fantastic story about two alien factions that had been warring in a five-thousand-year cycle ever since the Earth had been created.
Bria got up to make coffee, wishing she still had cream to put in it.
Alas, dairy products were a thing of the past now. So was sugar.
“You don’t believe a word I’m saying, do you, Bria Janke?” Urzra asked.
“Nope,” she replied, twisting the lid back onto the pickle jar. “Would you believe me if I told you that story?” she asked.
He let out a small sigh and slumped back in his chair. “What if I conjure up my sword? Will you believe me then?”
“Maybe,” she said with a shrug. He held his right hand out and a long sword made out of gold and silver appeared. Huge diamonds were embedded in the hilt. Bria goggled at the sight. “Holy crap!” she exclaimed in shock. “How did you do that?”
“I’m not sure,” the warrior replied, making the weapon vanish again. “All knights and soldiers can call on their swords at will.”
“You didn’t limp when you entered the house,” Bria realized.
“I’ve healed completely,” Urzra said. He stuck his right leg out and pulled the blanket up, revealing his long, muscular thigh. “See?” he said, urging her to take a look.
Her shock grew when she didn’t see a mark on his perfect skin. “Is this really real?” she asked plaintively. “Or have I lost my damn mind?”
“Your mind is intact, cambion,” the knight said solemnly. “Now it’s your turn to tell me your history,” he said expectantly, pulling his leg back under the table again.
“I don’t have much to tell you,” she said uneasily. “I moved here six years ago and I’ve lived here on my own since then. Everything went to hell after the Rapture, but I grow my own vegetables and have stored enough to last me through winter.”
Urzra gave her a slightly chiding look. “Where is your mother? Who sired you? Why are you living here all alone and what the hell is the Rapture?”
She could see she wasn’t going to get away with being evasive.
Maybe if she told him what he wanted to know, he would leave and she could go back to her normal life.
“My mom kicked me out when I was sixteen,” she said.
“I don’t know who my father is and neither did she.
I’m living here alone because I prefer my solitude.
The Rapture was an event that saw half of the population vanish overnight.
God took everyone who had a good soul as far as I can determine.
The TV and radio broadcasts stopped shortly after the Rapture, so I haven’t heard anything for the past eight months. ”
Urzra was looking at her in confusion. “Have you seen any other comets or meteors?”
“I’ve been woken up a couple of times by gold comets,” Bria confirmed. “I also saw a bunch of red meteors heading straight for Manhattan, or the nearby area a couple of weeks after the Rapture.”
“That was the Soldiers of Chaos arriving,” he said. “The gold comets are my brothers. Amaros and Camriel are usually the first to arrive. I wonder why it’s taken Fate so long to release me from the Void.”
“You said one of your enemies is my father,” Bria said. “Why do I get the sense that that’s a bad thing?” He’d explained that cambions were created by soldiers impregnating human females during his tale.
Urzra grimaced and seemed reluctant to answer her. “The soldiers aren’t like us,” he hedged. “They work for Chaos and do the entity’s bidding, just as we follow Order’s commands.”
“And?” she said in exasperation. “Do they have tentacles? Are they eight feet tall? What is it about them that’s so different from you and your squad?”
The hulking warrior slid down in his chair almost as if he wished he could disappear beneath the table. “They’re evil,” he said so quietly she barely heard him. “And so are cambions, usually,” he added.
Bria flinched and had a flashback to the last time she’d ever seen her mom. “You think I’m evil?” she asked, voice going thin with her suppressed emotions.
“I know you’re not,” he said, sounding like he was being sincere. “I can sense your soul is gray, female,” he told her. “You’re the first cambion I’ve met that I haven’t had to kill immediately.”
Horror rose along with her innate power.
Bria needed him to leave before her memories overwhelmed her.
Delving into his emotions, she sensed his attraction to her.
Her magic infused him and his eyes glazed over slightly.
“You’re not interested in me,” she said, gripping the edge of the table hard.
“You’ve got your answers, now it’s time for you to leave. ”
For some strange reason, she felt far stronger than usual.
She couldn’t compel people like a hypnotist, but she was adept at getting her own way.
Urzra rose to his feet and tucked the blanket more tightly around his waist. He gave her a courteous nod, then strode towards the front door.
He unlocked the deadbolt, let himself out, then she sensed him receding from her radar.
Shoulders slumping, Bria put her hands over her face. “I’m not evil,” she said. “I’m not. I’m a good person who sometimes has to do bad things.”
Guilt and self-loathing warred within her as she shoved her memories and her emotions to the back of her mind.