Authors: Elaine Lowe
“Hell you will!” coughed Diggins. He was barely standing, his back arched in pain and an inhuman grimace on his bloody face as he held a twenty-two caliber pointed at Alan before turning it toward Sophia and then toward the unconscious June. “I’m taking all of you out for this crap. Nobody hurts Hugh Diggins and lives. Nobody!”
It was true. Seeing clearly for the first time, the bonds that held the others in the room tied together were completely absent from Diggins. There was an emptiness around him. At another time she might have pitied the man. But now she would make him finally feel pity.
She filled herself up with the sharp pain of her worry for Daron, the righteous wrath of June and the misery of a thousand souls within five hundred yards. All of the suffering of the multitudes packed into Hell’s Kitchen and failing to find a way out spiked into her and then through her. She pushed, as Daron had once with Hester. She took all of what she felt and poured it into the emptiness around Hugh Diggins.
The darkness cut visibly through the dank steamy air, hitting Diggins like a physical blow. His arms flew backward and the gun fell out of his hand. Then he crumpled, the combination of physical and emotional pain too much to keep him upright any longer. He fell, twitching on the floor and clutching his head like a man possessed, all the ghosts of his past come to haunt him. With a wrenching cry he stopped moving, his nails digging into his skull hard enough to draw little rivulets of blood to add to the scratches June had given him. He was broken.
Sophia drew a shaky breath, tears running down her face with the full impact of what she had done. If Diggins wasn’t dead, he would never be the same. Daron groaned, trying to pull himself upright. Sophia sent a whispered word of thanks to the heavens and scrambled on hands and knees to see how bad he was, planning to send Alan to check on June. Then, she had to figure out how the hell to get them all out of there and into the tiny car—if the car was still there. And how not to lose consciousness, when her vision was rapidly dwindling to a long tunnel.
“Hey, you lot down theres!” A thick brogue called down from the gaping hole in the ceiling where a hidden trapdoor swung open. “Are ya havin’ a bust-up or a party hereabouts?” The dark-haired youth inhaled deeply the smell from the buckets of sour mash Alan had overturned in his attack on the still. “It smells like a party and looks like a brawl. Just me favorite sort of fun! Are you lot looking for company?”
What the hell? Was this kid more trouble? Suddenly, she recognized the burly fella as one who had followed her in the first few days after she’d discovered the group in the park that spring morning. “Tommy? Are you Tommy?”
“Tommy’s the name and trouble’s me game.” He squinted down into the darkness and suddenly turned serious. “S’that Daron? Is he hurt? I saw the pharmacy fellow’s pretty car out front as I was walking home with some mates from the bar and chased off some kids that were botherin’ it. Heard a riot a’ noise and thought it might be best to investigate. I’m not drunk enough yet not to be lookin’ for trouble.”
She breathed a sigh of relief, she had help now and wouldn’t have to get everyone in that tiny car. “It is Daron and he is hurt, I don’t know how badly. We’ll have to get him somewhere safe with better light, even better to the hospital.”
“Right. Best call Irene then, she always knows a fancy doc to call who’ll stay quiet for a bit of blunt. And there’s a carpet truck out here we can hotwire easy as you please. How the blistering hells do me and me boys get down there?”
Alan shouted up directions from where he cradled a befuddled June in one arm and a sniffling Hester in the other. Sophia crawled forward a few more feet, finally able to turn Daron over and see the weeping red of the wound in his side. He was still breathing, for which she was grateful and he groaned loudly and captured her hand in his when she tried to examine the wound further.
“I’ll live,
ashavi
, have no fear.” The words were said in a whisper but that and the sure pulse of his life force calmed her enough that she let consciousness slip away, falling into a warm black pit where there was nothing but the sureness of Daron’s hand in hers for the rest of her life.
Chapter Twelve
The sky was mostly clear, an auspicious beginning for the month of May. The sun was just setting and the sky was blushing from orange to pink to deepest blue, the wisps of clouds remaining in the sky stained lavender. The moon was just rising, winking down like a brilliant silver eye.
Central Park was crowded, the first warm day of the year bringing out the masses to play. Lovers strolled hand in hand, older children played ball on the wide lawns and mothers basked in peace for a few more minutes, delaying dinner so their children could work out the pent-up frustrations of a long cold winter.
His ragtag family was sitting in a secluded grove, far from the playgrounds and lovers’ lanes. They sat around a small fire, greeting May Day in the old way, the fire small enough to avoid censure from the lackadaisical park police. It was probably the last time they would all be together, though the ties that bound them would not fade with time or distance. They’d still all get a box of Giuseppe’s cookies at Yuletide, or a snapshot of Michael as he grew tall and strong with his mother’s love. For now though, they held tight to their proximity, not wanting to go home just yet and break the spell of the lovely afternoon.
Ixchel sat with little Michael perched on her lap, cooing to him in singsong Spanish while Irene looked on, a winsome smile on her face. Carlos and Giuseppe spoke in a wild mix of Italian, Spanish and English, debating in wise tones what made a good cup of coffee. June had Hester on her lap and gazed into the fire with contentment. Alan had an arm wrapped around June’s shoulders and a new air of confidence in his bearing. This was now his family too and no one could dare tell him otherwise.
Mary was quiet, her wizened face looking out at this little hodgepodge of New York with eyes that had seen the best and worst in the faces of mankind. And she still embraced life with enough passion to have greeted six great grandchildren the day they came into the world. She raised her eyes to the heavens, peering through the haze over the city to watch for the first sparkling star of the night to appear. It was almost time for the young and the old to clear out and leave this little bit of wilderness to those in the prime of life to pay homage to the old ways once again.
Daron looked out on all of them with a calm and quiet sadness. He would miss every one of them but would carry them with him always. Without them, he could never have won the woman who owned his heart. From the shelter of the trees, he watched Sophia laugh at some comment Tommy had made that made a blush stain her cheeks. Daron wondered what would cause his wild woman to blush and what each of the crowd had told her about what was to come on this night.
It was time for the chase to end and that which had been separated by a lifetime to unite. The Spring Dawn is courted by The Hunter and when mated they bring forth the bounty of the year. Daron chuckled to himself, wondering in their rocky courtship, who was Hunter and who was hunted?
Tonight, there was no question. He could feel the blood pumping through him, readying himself for a chase. She was so incredibly alluring. Her hair was untamed, starting to curl in mahogany waves as she let it grow out of its sleek city bob. Flowers had been woven through her hair as a crown, set just slightly askew in a way that made it entirely her own. Her dress was a comfortable green cotton but it let her curves finally ride free of the restrictions fashion placed upon them. Her feet were tucked up under her and he could just make out the tips of her bare toes tickling the grass.
He remembered the feeling of those toes between his fingers, the look of bliss upon her face as he rubbed her aching feet with his thumbs. She’d run herself ragged in the last few weeks, taking care of him as he recovered from that shotgun wound. The doctor Irene had brought into Sophia’s little apartment had gotten out all of the buckshot and had told him how lucky he was that the shot had only grazed him and he hadn’t broken his ribs, punctured a lung or worse. In truth, with Sophia’s powders and poultices, he could barely feel an ache unless he exerted himself a great deal. And she hadn’t let him. She’d actually tied him to the bed and forced him to watch her packing up her things while completely naked. It had been a cruel punishment for his clumsy attempts to help ease her burden but she’d taken his cock into her sweet mouth and sent him over the edge as a reward once he swore he would keep to the bed and not try to help. She was his wild woman and he looked forward to moving to this forest of hers in Ohio, where he could make her scream out her pleasure without worrying that the neighbors upstairs would start thumping the floor in an effort to get them to stop.
But she’d done more than pack her things. She’d gone to pack his as well, though that was a simpler task as he owned little. Then she’d helped mind Hester while June prepared for her new life and blossomed as her worries had been lifted from her. Sophia even helped with the upkeep of his building and gone so far as to argue with the old stuffy manager Mr. Tigg that Tommy would make a fine replacement as caretaker. Add to that her rounds to all of her “patients” from the drugstore to make sure they had a good supply of herbs for their various ailments had rendered her exhausted. Her powers had yet to return to full strength and they would not return until she got some rest.
Still, in all the hustle and bustle that he’d heard secondhand from Tommy and June and Irene as he recovered, Daron knew she was happy. He could see it in her eyes when they woke up in her bed in each other’s arms. Even all the goodbyes had been good for her soul. She’d told him that everyone was sorry to see her go but they’d told her they’d never seen her looking so good and they were happy for her. Daron could tell it was good for her to learn how important she was to people, how she needed to see the good inside her could make her stronger not weaker. She was ready to be his partner in every way and Daron embraced the coming darkness of night when he could take her completely as his own.
It was the most auspicious day for a wedding. Even if it was a very different kind of wedding. Surely they would have to fix the American legalities of it somewhere and sometime but that didn’t really bother him. He didn’t really think it bothered Sophia much either. What would occur tonight would be a great deal more rewarding than wearing uncomfortable clothes and standing in front of a crowd while a priest or minister droned on endlessly. Their marriage would be wrought by themselves and the heavens, in the splendor of nature.
During his musings, dark had fallen and the firelight made the faces of those he loved glow with a touch of excitement. Sophia was obviously excited and a bit nervous and most likely worried that he would somehow manage to open his wound. He had no such qualms. Tonight, he would be the Hunter.
He pulled the brown leather mask over his eyes, hiding his face in the customary manner of the May Day revels. He smiled a bit, wondering what the police would make of him if he should be caught on the hunt for his bride tonight.
When the first star flickered into hazy view in the night sky, Mary Pinckney made her way to her feet, assisted by Tommy and Alan. Her eyes flickered to the trees and made out the shady figure waiting there. All of the group stood up around their little fire, waiting for the unspoken tension to be broken.
“We gives thanks, oh mighty Heaven, for your bounty ta us in dis lan’. ’Tis time for promises done be filled and journeys to be commencin’. We pray not to be forgettin’ those who is in our hearts.” She looked around taking in everyone with a small smile and a sparkle in her eye, giving her benediction to each. A breath of wind fanned the fire before them so its light seemed to completely encompass her in a reddish glow. She raised her arms over her head and her voice rose slightly, taking on a deep resonance. “As de year turns an’ de seasons do change, we walks from one part o’ life ta nother, will ye or nil ye. ’Tis High Spring and de time for courtin’ dance be over. Time for the Hunt to begin.”
Tommy stepped closer to the fire, holding a small carved horn in his hands. “I call the Hunter. Come forth and lay claim to your pretty bride!” He winked at Sophia and then raised the horn to his lips to play a long low note. Again the fire seemed to roar to life and Daron took his cue to step out of the shadows and into the firelight.
Sophia smiled at him, taking in his dark clothes and the leather mask with an amused smile and a raised eyebrow. She dropped him a pert curtsy and then blew him a kiss before scampering away into the woods, her laugh ringing out into the night.
He made to follow her but was surrounded by all the others, shouting their congratulations and skipping and dancing around him holding long ribbons of fabric that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. This may be part of ancient traditions in some parts of the world but it was one he could have done without. He was eager to be after his bride before she got too far away for him to sense with ease. Not that he truly thought she would run far from him but Central Park was not the safest place for an attractive woman after dark. Especially one expecting to be chased and caught!