The War for Mare (The Fall of Man Book 3) (11 page)

Iry did.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over
me.”

Iry bit his bottom lip and shook his head
with a smile.

“I need… I need to bathe.”

“Go right ahead… and drink your juice.”

I started to get out of bed then realized I
was nude. “Cover your eyes.”

With a laugh, he placed his hands over his
eyes.

I slipped from bed and darted to the
bathroom. I glanced back and noticed he had separated his
fingers.

“You’re peeking!”

“I can’t help it. You’re beautiful.”

His words made me pause in the doorway of
the bathroom. I flushed, and before I could be drawn in anymore, I
hurriedly shut the bathroom door.

It had taken
days, not hours to get back to Angeles City. We were all ready to
go, and had made it about twenty miles into the desert when the car
just died. I wanted to scream. Not only were we stuck, we had to
walk back to Hopeland. By the time we got there, I was beyond
dehydrated. My face was burned from the sun and my mood had
worsened. Especially when I heard it was going to be another day to
fix the vehicle.

“Just relax and enjoy Hopeland,” Snake told
me. “Quit getting yourself so excited.”

“But Nito is in Angeles City.”

“What can she do?” Snake asked. “She has no
powers.”

“Are you forgetting what she did to us? To
Vala? She killed Marie.”

“I didn’t forget,” Snake said, “but I’m not
letting it drive my emotions. It’s wasted energy. Go play air
hockey.”

Had it not been for Brea, I probably would
have started walking across the desert toward Ancient City. If I
couldn’t go to Angeles City, then I would go to Vala. Brea
convinced me otherwise.

More than likely I would be killed before
ever reaching Ancient City. There was no shelter, no safe haven if
the Savages came. Just because Hopeland didn’t see Savages, didn’t
mean they weren’t out there.

Brea was right; I had to focus. I had to get
back to Angeles City, find Nito, expose her, take down the Savage
camp, and go get Vala.

Finally, the car was fixed and we began our
return trip home. They dropped us off outside of Ventura Place.
We’d have to walk the rest of the way there and would reach Angeles
City just before nightfall.

Traveling through Ventura, I was surprised
by the amount of Day Stalker bodies. They had battled them there.
Of course, I had left in the middle of it, but obviously we
prevailed. I didn’t see any signs that our people had died. Then
again, I didn’t see any of our people either.

I started worrying. What if Nito had done
something? Caused something? She was powerless, yes, but even
without supernatural powers she could be a monkey wrench.

I expressed my concerns to Snake, who didn’t
seem too worried.

“It’s Nito. You heard Burt; she stood out
like a sore thumb. I trust Davis. I’m sure he has figured it out.
We’re rushing and worrying for nothing.”

“You think so?”

“Yes, Davis is a smart man,” Snake said.
“Nito is long gone, nowhere near Angeles City, if she isn’t already
dead.”

Jenny had the
strangest reaction to my socializing with Davis. I learned
something new about female human friendship. It was a strong bond,
a possessive bond, filled with jealousy and control. I wasn’t sure
that I liked that at all, but since I was still new to learning the
female friendship ritual, I went along with it as if it were
perfectly normal.

“You’re going to see him again?” Jenny
asked. “We had plans this evening.”

“I am sorry, Jenny. Davis is teaching me. I
was released from reconditioning early.”

“I can teach you, Madge. Let me teach you.”
She placed her hands on my shoulders.

“You were with him yesterday and the day
before.”

“I made no progress.”

“That’s because it’s Davis. He’s going to
give you the short version of it. He’s not thorough.”

“What am I to do? He makes me
powerless.”

“You can start by taking off that life
jacket.”

I gasped. “I cannot! Davis placed this on me
and said to leave it on.”

“He would do that to you, knowing how naïve
you are.” She threw out her hands. “Fine. Go. Get it out of your
system.”

“Are you angry with me?”

“More so hurt,” Jenny said. “I wanted to be
the one to bring you back. To recondition you the right way.”

“And you shall. I will tell Davis tonight
that you are taking over the reconditioning.”

“Really?” Jenny smiled. “Thank you.” Then,
surprising me with an aspect of human female friendship that I did
not understand, she leaned forward and kissed me on the lips.

I had never seen anything like that on the
television, though I didn’t get much further than
Full
House
. So as not to appear ignorant to their practices, I
pecked a kiss to her and said my goodbye.

There was much to do to get ready for the
evening with Davis.

I was excited. We had gone fishing the day
before and he even said he was starting to like hanging out with
me. I made him laugh. Finally, it dawned on me that I perhaps was
missing my cue. He kept telling me ‘maybe later’ when I offered
myself.

Was
I
the one to determine the
later?

It was time.

He invited me over to his place to watch
what he called movies. He wanted to teach me the social customs of
the more modern world but I decided I would teach him. I had taken
old draperies and made a skirt that rested on my hips and used the
life jacket as the covering for my breasts. I hoped he didn’t see
that as a disrespect to his gift of intention.

Suffice to say, I believe Davis was taken by
my dance. He stood there, not moving, transfixed upon me.

“What... what are you doing?” he asked
me.

“It is maybe later.”

“Excuse me?”

“I offer myself to you often. You always
say, ‘maybe later’. I am making this maybe later.”

“Madge…”

“I am doing the dance of seduction.”

“I can see that.”

“Is it working?”

“It would work better if you took off the
life jacket.”

“I cannot do that, you gave this to me.”

Davis cleared his throat. “Fine. Then I
will.” He stripped me of the life jacket and I wanted to cry. He
was taking away his commitment. At least I thought so, until he
grabbed hold of me and took me in his arms.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been with a
woman. You’re kind of different, Madge. I like different.”

There was a scent to his body that I never
experienced with an Ancient man. A strong scent that engulfed us
both. I awaited his next move. I had been with human men, but it
was merely for sport. On my terms, what I wanted. Never had I been
with one that I wanted and needed to be with.

He pulled off his shirt and wrapped his
strong arms around me, flesh to flesh, pulling me against him. Then
Davis brought his lips to mine with a strong passion. Just as I
believed I was going to melt into his wishes and demands the moment
ceased the second the young male voice called out.

“Stop! Davis, stop.”

“Damn it,” Davis whispered and turned his
head. “What, Tanner?”

Tanner?
I shifted my eyes and saw
him. The young man. The Mare’s young hero.

“You don’t know who she is,” Tanner
said.

“I’m trying to. Can you please go—”

“No. Davis, just stop. ‘Cause if I leave
here you’ll end up doing a lot more than you wanted to do… with
Nito
.”

“What?” Davis asked.

“That’s Nito.”

Davis released me and stepped back. I didn’t
want to look at him. I didn’t have to. I had been exposed in more
ways than one.

Susan was still
alive and in the Ancient City. Placed in a prison that was part of
the old world, her execution was set to happen in one week. I did
not understand why it was a punishment to die. In my opinion, a
true punishment would be to never see the light of day, breathe
fresh air, be around others. Death was a gift. I believed the Gods
were forgiving and Susan would find her afterworld salvation.

However, in case she feared damnation, I
would give her a chance to at least redeem herself with me. Not
that my forgiveness or redemption meant anything to the Gods.

Without Iry’s knowledge, I made my way to
the prison. It took a lot to convince them to let me see Susan, but
the guards eventually allowed it.

She seemed generally pleased and relieved to
see me. On the other side of a cast iron barred door, she stood
from her bed. “Vala!”

“Hello, Susan.”

“I’m so sorry,” she said. She walked to the
bars and grabbed them. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what came over
me. I don’t know how I got to that point. All that remains in my
memory is the knowledge that I took your blood. I don’t even recall
turning it over to anyone.”

“What do you remember of the last
night?”

“Nothing. I remember placing the throng to
you and then I was here. I swear to you,” she said emotionally. “I
swear to you I wouldn’t do this.”

I believed her. She was different than the
night she was arrested.

“Anubis is powerful. What do you know about
the queen?”

“Nothing. What queen?”

I searched her eyes for signs of deception
and I found none. “When they arrested you, you were raging about an
impending attack. You said that the Savages were coming to wipe out
man and the Ancients. Do you remember that?”

She sobbed once and lowered her head. ‘No,
I’m sorry. If I did, Vala, I would tell you.”

“I will speak to the king about you and ask
him to spare your life.”

“You don’t need to do that,” she said. “I
committed a wrong, and whether I was in control or not, I am
guilty.”

“I can sympathize because I know what I have
been dealing with. Thank you.”

Head still lowered, Susan nodded, and then
as I walked away, her eyes widened and she lifted her gaze.
“Vala?”

I stopped and turned to look at her.

“The Feast of the Dead,” she said sudden
clarity. “The Feast of the Dead. That’s it, that’s when they come.
It will be a full moon during those three days and—”

“And the Savages are more powerful then.
Thank you.” I rushed from the prison, I needed to find out more and
before I left, I slipped into a small room with a desk, shut the
door, and closed my eyes.

I couldn’t find Anubis, but I was able to
travel to a place I had been before, I knew. Breathing in control,
I set my destination on the Savage Camp, the one I discovered when
the Savages took Sophie.

At the very least, I could see if there were
more, what they were doing. It was daylight and they’d be hiding
inside. The projection didn’t take long, and before I knew it, I
had arrived.

It was empty.

I did not see a single Savage. There were
overgrown ruins of buildings, they had to be inside. Using what
travel time I had remaining, I began to search. However, there were
none. Nowhere I looked did I see a Savage.

They were gone.

I returned from my projection, maybe a
little faster than I should have, and raced from the prison
building. I needed to find the king.

<><><><>

The kingdom guard blocked my way. “Your
Highness, she won’t take no for an answer.”

He kept bodily stopping me and without
thinking, I waved out my arm and he flew to the side.

“Mare!” the king scolded. “You shall not use
your powers in this court! How dare you—”

“They’re gone, Your Highness.”

Yaku the seer was standing in front of the
king’s throne. He turned around. “The Mare brings urgent news.”

The king gave a queer look to Yaku. “Really?
It doesn’t take a gift to know that.”

“They are gone, Your Highness,” I said,
approaching the throne. “I went to the camp and—”

“You were told not to do that,” the king
said. “Anubis—”

“Not his camp, the camp of Savages I found.
They’re gone, all of them. They are massing. I feel it.”

“Your Highness,” said Yaku, “this is what I
have been telling you. My vision shows a black wave of death
overcoming our city. I hear screams and cries, annihilation
everywhere.”

“Death to humans and Ancients,” I said.
“That was what we were warned. We need to do something to prepare,
to fight, and to live. We need to move now.”

“When does it come is the question,” the
king said. “There is no way to properly prepare or defend without
any knowledge of when the attack is coming.”

“The three nights of the Feast of the Dead,”
I told him

Yaku looked mortified. “That is in less than
a week!”

The king sunk into his throne. “What do we
do? Our warriors are mighty but not enough.”

“We join forces,” I told him. “We go to
Angeles City and join forces. We humans want to save our world, now
is our chance.”

I wanted to vomit.
It was bad enough walking in and seeing Davis in a near intimate
position with someone, but to see that it was
Nito
? How did
he not know? Then it dawned on me, he had never seen her.

“Stop!” I shouted, halting their moment and
then I told him her identity.

“Well,” Snake exhaled. “Another minute and
this would have really been awkward.”

“How can you joke at a time like this?” I
snapped.

“What else is there to do, Tanner?”

“Hold it,” Davis said. “She’s human. Nito is
an Ancient.”

“Not anymore,” I told him. “Ask her. Of
course she’ll lie.”

“Is this true?” Davis asked her.

“Yes,” Nito said. “I was banished from the
Ancients and placed in human form to find redemption. What I found
was—”