Chapter 25
Derek called a meeting of all the bases. People I’d never met were piling into our base by the hundreds. When things started to slow down, there had to be close to a thousand of us there.
I stood near a wall, shocked at the size of our army. I was starting to feel an extreme sense of foreboding. How many of these people would die in the fight? That girl over there who was barely five feet and clearly less than 100 lbs, would she even have a chance?
Sparks of electricity danced up and down her arms as something Derek said made the crowd shout in anger and agreement. Her face contorted in rage and…excitement as she clearly thought about killing someone. Probably Caine. Or maybe one of the pretty boys in his army.
Okay, maybe she had a fighting chance.
I looked away from the girl, not wanting to see such an innocent face distorted by a longing for bloodshed. Everywhere I looked I saw similar expressions. Everyone was well trained and eager to fight but not a single one of them knew what the cost was going to be.
The group of us from our base were all leaning against the same wall near the front of the room. I was standing next to Stephen and Will with Sam on the other side of Will. James was on the stage next to Derek, fielding questions whenever need be. He looked heartbreakingly handsome as he answered everyone’s queries in a businesslike tone. I wanted to grab his hand and run away from there before it was too late.
“You’ve all been trained well,” Derek said in a clear voice, addressing the crowd. “You are all prepared for this fight and I have every confidence that we will win. We have intel that Caine will be launching his attack tomorrow night and when he does, we will be ready for him!” The crowd cheered and I wanted to cover my ears.
A few people’s voices rang out above the crowd. A tall man with a beard yelled, “Caine is going down! Tomorrow is going to be a shit show!”
A thin woman who was average height with spiky black hair shouted, “I’m going to enjoy this!”
A few other people mentioned how “fun” it was going to be when they finally got to fight and I felt my heart beat pick up at their words. Fun? Was it going to be fun?
“What is your problem!” I shouted and suddenly all eyes turned to me. I felt energy crackling along my skin as I stood there, shocked that the words had come out of my mouth.
“Cass,” Sam hissed at me. “What are you doing?”
Um, yeah, I have no idea.
“What did you just say, little girl?” A heavy set woman who was fairly close to me asked, rage in her eyes.
Rage. Oh yeah, that’s what I was feeling right now. Rage that was causing the floodgates of my powers to open up making my hair lift away from my skin.
“I said, what is your problem?” I repeated.
A few people scowled at me but I just took a step closer to the crowd.
“Who the hell are you?” someone asked.
A few people who were more sensitive to my powers actually took a couple steps away from me, fear in their eyes. They were afraid of me? I’m an 18 year old girl. Wait until they met Caine.
“Do you not realize that this is war? This is not a time for fun!” I shouted, feeling my control over my emotions slip. “Some of you, maybe all of you will die! Do you not get that?”
The room was utterly silent. No one really knew what to say to that. I was beyond caring. I moved onto the stage so I could see everyone. A few people whispered my name and I think word got around of who I was. I ignored everything except for the anger churning in my gut.
“Caine is twisted and sick and he will use any sign of weakness against you. If you are about to go into this fight without a thought to yourself or the people around you, then you might as well leave now,” I stared at the crowd and a few people looked away.
“If you have the misfortune of coming face to face with Caine, I can personally guarantee you that every single muscle in your body will clench and your most basic of instincts are going to take over. You are going to want to run away no matter how big and strong and powerful you think you are.
If you think you can handle this fight,” I continued, my voice quiet but strong, “good. We’re going to need you. But if you’re going in there thinking to be a hero, to gain some glory then, get out now.” I said, jerking my head towards the door. Nobody moved and after a minute, I nodded and left the stage. I walked out a side door and once I was far enough away, I leaned against a wall, sliding down it until I was sitting on the cool floor.
“Hey.”
I looked up to see James standing over me, a concerned look on his face. “Hey.”
“You okay?”
I shrugged. “Not really.” I sent him a weak smile, trying to convey my feelings of hopelessness and fear.
He sank down to the floor beside me and placed a hand on the side of my head, pushing it onto his shoulder. I sighed as I took comfort in his presence, loving the feel of him next to me. Loving him.
“That was pretty intense,” he said quietly.
I nodded against his shoulder. “They were pissing me off,” I mumbled.
He chuckled a bit. “Yeah, me too.”
We sat there for a bit, holding hands and leaning against each other. It felt so good and I wished that we were just two college kids, falling in love, not some freakish, magic wielding warriors doomed to die in an epic battle between good and evil. It’s just too much pressure for you average eighteen year old. James was a bit older I think so maybe he was taking this better.
Wait a minute, did I not even know how old he was?
I leaned back and looked at him. “What?” he asked.
“How old are you?” I blurted.
He grinned. “You don’t even know how old I am?” I shook my head, scowling. “I’m 20,” he replied, brushing a strand of my hair behind my ear. He did that a lot. I was beginning to think that he just liked touching me.
“I’ve always wanted to date an older man,” I mumbled, resting my head back on his shoulder.
He laughed a bit, tightening his hold on my hand for a second before saying seriously, “Is that we are, then? Dating?”
I stiffened but didn’t raise my head. “Well, I think it’s kind of a bad time to make any relationship decisions right now,” I said, trying to inject humor into my voice and failing. “On the brink of war and all that. There’s kind of a lot on my mind and I wouldn’t want to rush into anything.”
“Okay,” he said quietly, pulling my hand into his lap and using his other hand to lightly run his fingers over my arm, sending tingles to my toes. “Just so you know, the timing doesn’t really matter to me. I want you in my life, Cassandra. I love you.”
I nodded against his shoulder, not trusting my voice. Warm pools of tears gathered in my eyes and I blinked furiously to get them to go away. We were quiet for a long time after that. He continued to draw little patterns on my arm with his fingers making my heart beat faster and I tried not to cry.
We eventually moved to my bedroom where we talked until I fell asleep. He told me everything about himself, what he remembered of his father, everything about his mother and how he felt about her and how he felt about seeing her again. He even told me why he hated Jack so much.
He said it all started when they were kids and Jack took his favorite toy truck and smashed it against the sidewalk when James was ignoring him. They got into a fist fight and didn’t see each other again until Jack showed up for training at the base a couple years back. For some reason, they just never really got along. James confessed that he may have been harboring a bit of a grudge for the truck incident and Jack seemed to like having someone to argue with.
He told me stories that made me laugh and I confessed to him all my nerdy secrets. He didn’t mind. He said he’d always had a thing for nerds.
There was a bittersweet feeling in my chest as I fell asleep that night. I was wrapped in the arms of the man I loved and I knew that it would be the first and last time that we spent the night this way. As I slowly lost consciousness, one more thought drifted to the surface.
Looks like I’m going to die a virgin after all.