Sergius: #4 (Luna Lodge: Hunters of Atlas) (2 page)

Talking. Too much painful talking.

The last two weeks had been nothing but meetings. Meetings about the Azilians. Meetings about Jade. Meetings just for the sake of meetings as best he could tell.

Lately, it seemed like sitting around and babbling about crap was the only thing they could accomplish.

The last of the people coming stepped into the room, and Sergius followed behind. He stood a good head taller than anyone else in the room. A few of the other hybrids moved away from him slightly. Their unease around him was clear.

Sergius knew he scared them. He was large, even for a hybrid. Their reactions didn’t offend him.

It was just the nature of things. Complaining was pointless.

He stepped back toward the corner of the room to make them feel more comfortable. A small sacrifice, but a necessary one.

“If I could have your attention,” said Rem, their leader. “I’d like to get this shit over with so we can move on to the good stuff.”

Sergius stifled a snicker. Rem was never one to mince words.

“I know we’ve been over the issue with Jade a number of times, and I’d like to just put this all to rest.”

“She doesn’t belong here,” a woman said from nearby, Dea. “We can’t trust her. She’s probably a spy for the Azilians. We have to think of our safety.”

Rem stared hard at the woman. She shrank back a bit, knowing that her leader disapproved of what she’d said. After all, Jade wouldn’t have been allowed to join them without his permission. A criticism of Jade was, in a sense, a criticism of their leader.

“Jade belongs here as much as any of us do,” Rem said sternly. “She is a Vestal. She’s meant to be with us, and her home belongs with us. We share the same past, present, and future.”

Sergius nodded. His heart swelled at his leader’s words. She did belong with them. Or more aptly, she belonged with him. If he was a part of the community, then she was as well.

“But she knows things,” Dea said, shaking her head. “This isn’t just about her being a Vestal. She knows things that shouldn’t be known. If she is a spy, she’s using that against us. The Azilians are dangerous, and the Horatius Group is still out there.”

Murmurs swept through the room.

Rem glanced over to Sergius. They had heard this before from several people now. Jade had a gift. A gift that none of them had seen before.

It wasn’t unprecedented. There was a Vestal at Luna Lodge who had an unusual, if not unique, gift. She could sense the emotions of others around her. Even though they were far from Luna Lodge, the mere existence of such a Vestal suggested that it wasn’t impossible for Jade, or any other Vestal, to have special powers.

In truth, their knowledge about Vestals was very limited. The Horatius Group had spent less time learning about the women they were using than the hybrids they held, and they hadn’t exactly been eager to share what they knew with either the hybrids or the Vestals.

Because of that, for all Sergius, or any other hybrid, knew, the Vestals might have unlimited potential, maybe even more than the hybrids.

And although he would never voice it out loud, Sergius believed the tale they had been told concerning their ancestry being linked to the lost city of Atlantis. To him, the idea of being Atlantean didn’t really seem so far-fetched.

Either way it didn’t really matter. They weren’t human. At least not totally. And even their known gifts had far surpassed what the Horatius Group had originally anticipated from their experiments.

He shifted his feet side to side, uncomfortable with the path the conversation had taken. All it would take is one person to decide to do something about Jade, and the tide would shift. The hybrids didn’t exactly specialize in handling their problems with diplomacy and talk.

It didn’t matter. He didn’t care if Rem himself turned on Jade.

He would fight for her. He would die for her if needed. But it still might not be enough to save her.

“I’m just saying,” the woman continued, “that this woman… well, we can’t trust someone who came from an enemy with strange powers. Maybe even evil powers.”

Rem laughed loudly, startling a few in the room. “Are you calling her a witch?”

Several people looked away from their leader, unable to hold his gaze while he mocked them without mercy.

“Whatever gifts Jade possesses,” he said, “are gifts that are of benefit to our people.” He stared each person in the room down, not breaking eye contact as he did so. “Right now, you’re acting no better than the humans who have attacked Luna Lodge. There is no such thing as normal.” He shook his head. “None of us would meet the standards of normal, especially given our heritage. And I will never look down on someone who is extraordinary.”

Extraordinary. It wasn’t a word Sergius would associate with their people, but he knew Rem was right. They were extraordinary. Possessing something no one else could was useful.

The tension eased from the room as people turned their questions to those of the goings on of the compound. Complaints about chickens, wood for the winter, or even their meat rations.

He was glad for the shift. The more they let Jade adjust to her new life, the more they would come to like her. He was just sure of it.

He stayed quiet as people in the room spoke about their issues and dilemmas. He had no issues really. Or at least none he chose to speak aloud. Soon the number of speakers dwindled. There were fewer questions. The meeting was all but over.

Rem caught his eye again and nodded to him. After the meeting they needed to talk.

Sergius stepped over to the side of the wall as the people in the room filtered out once again. He was glad to see them go. Although they were his people, there were times he wished they weren’t, especially when they were being as close-minded like the woman who’d spoken out against Jade.

When it was just he and Rem left in the room, Sergius stepped over toward the other man.

“They will get used to her,” Rem said. “The tensions with the Azilians just have people scared.”

Sergius shook his head. He hoped that was true.

“They may,” Sergius said. “But it won’t be anytime soon.”

They both knew their people could be stubborn in many ways and at times somewhat old-fashioned.

“Watch her,” Rem said. “This is all new to her. And she isn’t receiving the warmest of welcomes.”

“Always,” Sergius said. “I will always watch her.”

Rem stared at him for a moment. He didn’t need to hide his feelings for Jade. Rem had been there at one point, experienced the same longing, and he’d had to fight to get his Vestal.

Rem clapped Sergius on the shoulder and gave him a warm smile.

“Don’t just watch her,” Rem said. “She needs to know. You need to show her.”

Sergius nearly laughed. He could barely get close to her, let alone show her his feelings. No, he would do things his way. He would wait, and when she was ready, she would come to him.

Jace stepped into the room. The younger man reminded him of himself, not that he could remember his younger self, but if he could, Sergius was sure that Jace would be the spitting image.

He quickly walked over to Rem.

“Magnus said to report,” Jace said. “Still no movement from the Azilians.”

Rem scraped a hand along his face. It had been two weeks since they had rescued Jade, and there was nothing. No movement whatsoever. All the trucks that had been coming in previously were at a standstill.

They had not even seen the van of women traveling to the shed leading to the area where they knew the blue stone was being kept. It was as if the Azilians had gone into hiding.

It seemed like such a strange thought, that they would even need to go into hiding, given the power of the stone. But something was happening behind the walls of the Azilian compound.

Rem looked over to Sergius, who really had no help for him. Then he looked back over to Jace.

“Keep making reports. We know they’re up to something. The question is what.”

Jace nodded, his orders clear.

“Who’s on watch now?” Rem asked.

Jace grimaced for a moment. Sergius could take a guess at who was on watch.

“Marcus.”

Despite how reckless the young hybrid was, he was still one of the best for watch patrols. He took his duty damn seriously.

Plus, having him at the line meant he wasn’t there for the meeting, and Sergius was glad for that. Marcus had been known to express his dislike for humans in general, despite the fact that a certain coffee shop owner in town seemed to have caught his eye.

Not that Marcus would ever admit that.

“Ask Magnus to speak to Lara about things in town. Someone has to know something.”

Jace nodded and turned to exit the room.

Sergius watched the young man leave and then turned to Rem.

“And what will we do if we do find something?”

Rem was up to something. Sergius had become used to the fact that their fearless leader always seemed to have a backup plan, one he liked to keep to himself until they needed to use it.

“Right now we deal with what is in front of us.” Rem glanced out the window across to where Jade’s cabin stood. Sergius followed his line of sight. He turned back to Sergius and gave a small smile. “I think that’s all we can do for now.”

Chapter Three

The entire situation was stupid. Jade didn’t even know why she was waiting outside the meeting house. It wasn’t going to make much difference in the grand scheme of things.

But she still couldn’t stop herself from wanting to know what was being said about her inside the secretive place. She couldn’t imagine it was that good, given what they were saying where she could hear them.

This spot, she’d found, was the best to pick up bits of what was happening. They may have blocked her from the meeting, but it wasn’t stopping her from learning about it later.

Her future was on the line. She deserved to know what might be coming her way.

Jade hid behind a tree. It didn’t block her from anyone as they passed by, but she felt protected by the branches.

A few hybrids glanced her way. Their keen senses were able to pick up exactly where she was. Something she had come to find could be both helpful and an annoyance.

She moved farther behind the tree so she didn’t have to see them as they passed. The hybrids moved on, uninterested in her for the time being.

Aside from Dea, the one woman who seemed to target all her hate at Jade, most of the hybrids had been fairly nice. They were standoffish and aloof, but so was she. Jade assumed they were reflecting her own behavior.

Still, it was hard to trust people who had fairly consistently over the past few weeks met to talk about her.

She peeked out from behind the tree and watched as Sergius stood in the door, watching over people as they left. His large frame took up most of the space. It was hard not to focus on him when he stood there looking amazing.

A flash of white erupted from behind her eyes. She felt her body floating as warmth swept over her. The sensation was like floating in a giant bath.

The world slowly around her came back into a sort of hazy focus. The edges of her vision rippled like she was staring at the whole thing through clear gelatin or a pool of water.

Everything was just as it had been before the light. She was standing in front of the meeting house waiting to hear something. Sergius was standing in the doorframe, watching over people and waiting for Rem to stand next to him.

She watched, frozen in place, as he stepped forward. Something pulled at her, and she couldn’t really understand the sensation. Like what he was about to do was wrong, but all he was doing was going down the stairs.

His large boot hit the first step, and a loud crack echoed through the air. She watched as his foot fell through the wood in seeming slow motion. He cried out in pain, and she could see by the way he was holding himself that the fall had badly hurt him.

Jade lurched forward and found her feet were glued to the spot she was in. She wanted to go to him, to offer some sort of comfort for his pain.

Nothing she did would allow her to move from where she stood. She opened her mouth to call out to him, but then the world shifted again.

The edges of her vision blurred. Everything shifted back into focus. Only now Sergius was still standing at the top of the stairs and not injured in any way.

She leaned hard against the tree as the waves of nausea and dizziness swept over her.

Rem appeared next to Sergius, and she just knew what would happen next.

Jade ran despite the wobble in her legs and the pounding in her head. She had to do something. Anything.

“Wait,” she shouted. “Don’t step down!”

Sergius glanced around quickly, scanning for whatever the threat might be. He looked back to her, and she knew he must think she was crazy. It didn’t matter what he thought, as long as he didn’t take that step.

“What are you—”

“You just have to trust me,” she said, holding up her hands.

Rem opened the other side of the double doors. He looked down to the second step in front of Sergius and then back to her, before nodding to him.

Sergius blinked and then held onto the banister as he tested the step below. The wood gave way with a loud crack just like she had heard in her vision.

He brought his bright blue eyes back to where she stood. She looked down quickly. The danger now averted, her body very near collapsing, she didn’t want to see the disgust in his eyes. This only proved what all those people thought. She was a freak.

Sergius was confused. How did she know about the step? Maybe she had seen the weakness. It was possible, although he wasn’t sure he really believed that.

“That was a good call,” Rem said to her.

Jade looked anywhere but at either of them, fidgeting and nervous. Why would she be so concerned about stopping them from getting hurt?

She shook her head. “It was nothing really.”

He watched as Rem took her in for a moment, as if he were seeing everything she was trying to hide like she was an open book.

“I think if something like this happens again,” Rem said, his tone reassuring. “You should come to me to discuss it.”