When Lightning Strikes (Lightning Series Book 1) (6 page)

She relaxed a little. This was a teacher at her school. They did background checks, right? Maybe she should trust him. He had pulled her away from a man trying to shoot her. Or maybe the man was trying to shoot him.

Behind her, the door pushed open. She fell down, and a hand grabbed her hair. The gunman started to pull her back inside the building. She screamed and kicked, blocking Mr. Black from helping her.

This time the gunshot was so loud her ears rang. She couldn’t hear anything for a few seconds. Mr. Black ducked down below the concrete entrance to the kitchen.

“Stop fighting me!” The man inside yanked at her head. “Stop, or I will shoot!”

Julie stopped thrashing. She tried to get a hand up on her head where the man was tugging her hair. Her one gloved hand kept slipping off the man’s hand, but she wanted him to stop.

Mr. Black peeked his head above the concrete, and their eyes met briefly. Even though hers were watering with pain, she could see the fury and fear sketched across his face. There was a set determination to his jaw, and she knew that he wouldn’t let this man take her anywhere.

He was afraid for her.

The gun went off above her again as he ducked back down.

“Stop it, or I’ll shoot her!” The man’s voice was filled with panic.

Her hand finally touched the callused one holding her hair.

Something inside her seized up. All of her energy tightened into a ball. Then all at once, it released, and the alley was lit up with a brief flash of white light. The hand on her hair dropped as the man cried out and fell back into the building. The door clicked behind him. A faint whiff of burnt hair tickled her nose.

Had she zapped him somehow? She toppled forward, falling to the front of the concrete pad and bumping her head on the side railing. She was so tired and could barely keep her eyes open.

Mr. Black jumped up onto the pad. “Are you okay?”

Julie nodded, touching her head with her left hand. A little spot of blood wet her fingertip. Her ears were ringing. “I think I’m okay.”

He opened the door to the kitchen and crouched by the man lying inside.

“He’ll live. You dazed him.” He looked at her for a moment as if he expected her to respond. Instead, she stared at him blankly. He looked down at her hands. She was too tired to care about any of this right now. Her head ached. “Hang on. I have a trick that may help.”

Mr. Black crouched in front of her and took her gloved hand. He carefully peeled each glove tip from every finger. The satin slid it off her arm effortlessly.

She shivered, feeling like he was exposing more than her bare arm. Carefully he took her hand in his own. Cradling it, he looked into her face. His wide blue eyes seemed to pierce into every corner of her mind.

This was the first time he had touched her skin. His gaze was intense. She looked back down and shivered as his rough thumb traced the inside of her palm in a circle. A warm tingling spread from her arms into the rest of her body. All the hair on her arms stood on end. She was warmer and stopped shaking.

“You will be okay, Julie,” he whispered. She glanced back at him, her eyes meeting his again.

She blushed. He was still staring at her, like he had never seen anything like her before. Like she was the most fascinating person he had ever met.

An unfamiliar voice broke the spell. “You were right, Black. She may have more wallop than you.”

Another man walked toward the platform where they stared at each other. He was shorter, with kind eyes and short hair. He might have been cute if he wasn’t standing next to Mr. Black, who was so good looking that it overshadowed the other man’s features. He looked confused as he got close. “Black? Should we call it in?”

His grip tightened on her hand briefly. He looked at the man who was speaking and back to Julie. He shook his head. “They will figure it out soon enough. That attack two weeks ago has woken up what she had hidden. It will come out again. Let her have a few more months of peace, to keep her dreams.”

He squeezed her hand again as if to comfort her. She cocked her head to the side.

What did he mean—‘to keep her dreams’?

“Her family is moving.” He continued ignoring her. “She’ll be safe enough. Once her Tribe figures out what she has, they’ll report it. She will be recruited, like me.”

The man cleared his throat. “Isn’t that a bit dangerous?”

“I’ll keep an eye on her until she moves. No one will be able to get at her in a few days anyway. Her family has to move back now because of her brother. We may even be able to draw out whoever is sending these agents too.” Mr. Black shrugged. He still didn’t look at the man standing below them.

“I didn’t mean dangerous for her. I meant what if she hurts someone?”

Julie’s eyes widened in surprise. The words penetrated the fog of sensations from Mr. Black holding her hand. She wouldn’t hurt anyone.

He tore his gaze away from Julie for a second to glare at the man speaking below them. The man took an involuntary step back.

“Okay.” He held his hands up. “We do it your way. Screw the rules. They have never done my kind any favors.”

“As if your kind would pay any attention to rules. She has only used it for self–defense. I don’t think that she will have to worry about that where she is going.” He caught Julie’s gaze again. It was like he was trying to memorize every part of her. She blushed redder. His rough thumb pressed into her palm, and she shuddered again. It was like he was casting a spell over her. He smiled.

“Whatever. This is a problem for your people.” The other man shrugged. “You have to answer to them, not me.”

The shorter man seemed to notice how weird his friend was acting. Now he was staring at Julie too, eyes widening as he saw Mr. Black’s intense stare and his thumb stroking the palm of her hand. As if there was nothing else in the world but this girl at this moment.

“If we are going we need to leave soon.”

The sirens in the background had stopped now. Around the corner of the building on the other side flashes of blue light lit up the building on the opposite side of the street from the hotel.

Mr. Black sighed. “Julie.”

He pulled them to their feet, pulled her into his arms, and gently tipped her head back. They stood a foot apart, but his other hand came up to cup her chin. His roughened fingertips stroked her cheek, like she had imagined doing to him. Her eyes remained locked on his.

Kiss me.

Slowly lowering his mouth to hers, he lightly brushed his lips against her slightly slackened mouth. She felt a shudder flow through both of them. Warmth spread from her lips, tingling along every limb to her fingers and toes.

Julie felt more alive than she had ever before. She wanted to press herself against this man—this stranger—and never let him go. He pressed his lips a little more against hers before breaking apart, his breath ragged with effort.

“Julie.”

She put her hand up to touch his face.

His eyes closed, and he sucked in a breath. “It’s Lucus. Luke.”

He let a fingertip stroke down her throat. Goose bumps broke out on her arms and legs. They both shuddered. The feeling of being near him was overwhelming.

“Uh…” The voice below them broke through the spell again. Julie glanced down at the man in irritation.

“I’m sorry about this.” Luke’s words were hesitant. She looked back at him, her eyes crinkled. “But you will understand one day. It is for you that I’m doing this. You deserve the time I never got.”

Her eyes locked back onto Luke’s. Fear, wonder, longing, and regret were in his gaze. She tried to tug her hand away from him, but he didn’t let go.

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to make you forget about tonight,” he said softly. “You will remember it in the future, but I want you to have some time to grow into this without being forced. I want to give you time with your family. Time to be young. You are still young.”

Julie bristled at the young statement without focusing too much on the other parts. “I’m not that young.”

He laughed. “I’m not that old.”

His thumb stroked over her cheek. She burned with the desire to kiss him again and started to lean into him. He smiled, eyes glinting with the knowledge of what he did. She stopped leaning in, flushing.

“I’m only two years older than you. I feel older. I would like to spare you that if I can.”

“Uh,” the other man cut in again. His voice sounded apologetic, but Julie wanted to scream at him. “Black, I’m beginning to understand how you must be feeling, but we gotta go. They will start searching through the hotel soon.”

Luke sighed. He nodded to his…friend? Partner? “Fine. Fine. Why does everything have to be so complicated?”

“You make it that way, my friend.”

Despite his obvious irritation, when he put his other hand to her face, it was gentle. Her skin felt like it was on fire wherever he touched her. He was acting like she was a treasure, something he was scared he might break. His eyes met hers again, full of regret, and hers widened in response.

“I promise I will see you soon. My friend and I have some things that need to be taken care of first.” He kissed her again fiercely, like he was staking a claim on her. His lips crushed against hers briefly.

A wave of heat flowed from her mouth to her toes. Her whole body leaned into him, never wanting the feeling to go away. Her hands moved over his chest and arms, trying to get a better feel of him. Distantly she knew that the other man must be watching all of this, but she didn’t care. Nothing mattered except Luke.

He broke off abruptly, his mouth barely above hers. She drew in a sharp breath. The inch of separation was painful, like there was an ocean between them. His ragged breath against her cheek told her he felt the same way.

“This won’t hurt.” He smirked. “Dream a little about me. I’ll be with you soon.”

She opened her mouth to respond. He was going to leave her. She couldn’t bear it. The light in the alleyway burst, and everything went dark.

♦

Chapter 5: Moving Memories

≺≻

J
ulie swayed back and forth. Her head felt light, like something was missing. She was having trouble waking up. The dizziness nauseated her.

“Julie Marin?”

“Yes.” It took effort to put the words together. A white light kept flashing in her head, and she realized that it was coming through her closed eyelids.

She opened her eyes. She was in the middle of a dark alley. A police officer was squatting over her. Behind her, blue and white lights flashed from his car.

“Are you Julie Marin?” the man asked again.

She opened her eyes to see who was talking. It was a young man with a crisp haircut in a neatly pleated uniform.

“Yes.” Her words came out in a rasp. “Where am I?”

Had it happened again?

She sat up abruptly, swaying back and forth. She was so tired.

The officer leaned down to put a hand on her arm to steady her. The swaying stopped. She gulped back the bile that rose to her throat, and her heart beat erratically. She didn’t want to stay here. It was too much like the last time.

“I’m a police officer. My name is Brian. We have been looking for you. Please stay still until the paramedics can check you out just in case.”

The radio on his shoulder crackled.

“Hang on a sec.” The man pressed a button on the radio and leaned over to speak into it. “Captain, I found Julie Marin. Request an ambulance. We are behind the hotel in the service alley.”

“Copy, paramedics on the way.”

“I think I’m okay.” She tried to stand. “I want to find my brother and go home.”

“I understand, but it is procedure to have anyone checked out who was unconscious when we find them. Especially when we are responding to gunfire at a school event.” The police officer tried to hold her down.

“What?” She tried to push his arm off of her. “Is my brother okay? How about my friends? How about Ethan? Would you let me stand up?”

“Everything is okay. Everything will be all right. Can you sit back down?”

“No.” She pulled her arm free and stumbled to her feet. Her torn dress caught under one of her shoes and ripped a little more. She wobbled, flailing her hands.

The police officer caught her as the sheer violet material that layered the top of her skirt tore free and drifted the ground. “I wish you would sit back down, miss.”

“Look, I was just attacked by a man in an alley.” Her stomach churned. “I don’t want to stay here.”

“Do you remember what happened then? Do you remember what the man looked like?” He tightened his grip as he looked around the alleyway, eyes wary.

“Dead.” She said hoarsely. Her voice rose higher as she spoke, and her heart raced. “The man is dead. It happened about two weeks ago. I don’t know why I’m here now, but I want to leave.”

Understanding came over his eyes. “You’re that girl that had lightning strike the man attacking her aren’t you? Geez, you have had some bad luck lately.”

He patted her arm to calm her and kept a firm hold of her with his other arm. “It will be okay. No one is going to hurt you. A suspect has been arrested and is in custody. You’re okay. You’re safe. Let’s move to the end down here. Will that make you calmer? All you will need to do is give a statement to a detective. Then you should be able to go home.”

“I honestly don’t remember anything except leaving to go to the bathroom. I don’t know how I got out here. I hit my head or something.”

She touched the side of her head away from him where it felt wet in the slight breeze. Her fingertips came away wet and looked darkened in the dim light. The flashing lights showed her fingertips to be bright red.

That had to be why she felt so tired.

The officer frowned as he also looked at her fingertips. She leaned over and vomited. It splattered all over his boots.

“Oh shit.” He tried to hold onto her and dance out of the way.

An ambulance sounded a couple beats of its siren. The officer waved them over quickly. The paramedics came up the alley, checked her over, and walked her back to the ambulance.