Lexia (The Deadwood Hunter Series) (18 page)

Lexia woke screaming, drenched in sweat, her heart trying to beat right out her chest. A fierce growl sang out into the dark night and she gasped jumping away. “Lex? What’s wrong? Lexia talk to me.”

“Y...You growled at me.”

He chuckled. “Not you, love, you were screaming, it ... just slipped out, thought someone was trying to kill you with all the racket you’re making.”

“Sorry ... bad dreams.”

“Get back in bed, you’re shaking.”

Lexia hesitated but climbed back under the covers. She was now very aware that she only wore his t-shirt; it smelt of him. God, he saw me naked! He dressed me. Ggood job, Lexia, the first time he sees you naked and you’re a blubbering mess!

“What you thinking, Little Wildcat?” he said, his voice barely a whisper.

“Lots of things. Like why you are suddenly being nice to me and what I’m supposed to do next? My dad… before he…” she took a deep breath, “before he died, he told me to get a box in his closet.”

“You realize the Hunters will be watching your house? They expect you to come back.”

“I have to get what he left for me, information on who I am. Please, Lincoln,” she whispered.

“Sleep, Lex. Sleep.”

She felt annoyed at him for talking to her like a child but his voice was so hypnotic and she found her eyes closing as his voice brushed her neck, “Shush, I’ll keep you safe, sleep.”

She fell into a deep sleep dreaming of a black panther with Lincoln’s eyes.

*******

When Lexia woke again the sun was high in the sky and beams of light played across the floor through the wooden slats of the blinds. For those first few moments as her memory caught up, everything was alright. She noticed Lincoln’s arm wrapped around her shoulder and his hand in hers, their fingers entwined. His leg was also wrapped around her and even though she was sweating from his heat, she didn’t want to wake him because right there in that moment she felt safe, everything felt right in the world. This could just be any other morning and Lexia held onto that thought, held onto his hand because the moment her memory reset, her world would come crashing down.

He seemed to have sensed that she was awake. His eyes half opened, staring into hers; her breath caught at the beauty of them, but then the magic broke as he realized she clasped his hand as if her life depended on it. Really, to her, it did because as soon as he let go, her dad’s face would haunt her; his final words would whisper around and around in her head.

“Good morning, Lexia. Can I have my hand back?”

She stared at him a minute more noticing the faint laugh lines around his mouth; he smiled at her now, amused that she still wouldn’t let go and his eyes seemed to sparkle.

She blinked and let out her breath. As soon as she released his hand, an empty, dead feeling settled in her stomach, twisting at her insides. Suddenly she couldn’t just lay in this strange bed with a man who had tried to kill her. If she didn’t move and do something soon, the blackness that circled her would drag her down and she feared she would never return.

Rolling out from under him, she shot off into the bathroom needing space to think. She closed the door as his voice drifted through, “Where’s the fire, Wildcat?”

Her clothes were still piled on the floor from the night before. Lexia picked them up and put her underwear back on—gross! But she didn’t want to be walking around Lincoln’s home without any.

 Then she picked up her jeans and let out a strangled, “God the blood!” cry and a single tear ran down her cheek.

“Lex?” A soft knock came at the door.

She didn’t move as images tumbled through her mind. The door creaked; Lincoln stood in the doorway with concern in his eyes.

“I have no clothes ... my father’s ... blood. I have nothing.” She looked at him trying to keep in the sadness that was eating away at her soul.

Walking to her he wiped the tear from her cheek. “I’ll get you some clothes. You have your life, Lex, your father would want you to live.”

He’s right, he would want me to live, he kept me safe from them so I could live and now he’s dead... They will pay for what they’ve done...

Her mood shifted from sad to angry. “They can’t get away with killing him. I need to go home and get that box; I need answers, I need to understand all of this.” Lexia pulled away from Lincoln, her clothes long forgotten.

“Okay, Lexia, wait. You can’t just storm up to the house, the Hunters will kill you.”

“Let them try,” she snapped, eyes glowing gold as she stormed from the bathroom.

Lincoln leapt on her, pinning her to the floor. She struggled under his hold, but couldn’t shift him.

“Now Little Wildcat, the time for revenge will come, but right now is definitely not it,” he growled at her.

“Let me go, Lincoln!”

“No, love. If you were truly ready, I wouldn’t have been able to pin you down. You have so much potential if you just learned to use your Hunter side.”

She stopped struggling beneath him; he was right, she was weak.
How am I ever going to kill all those highly-trained Hunters?
Her stomach lurched again, pain twisting her insides.

“Let me up,” she said, defeated.

“Lock your anger away, Lex. When the time comes, let it fill you up and that will be what gives you an advantage over them. They’re pure Hunter but they don’t understand what it means to love; they have nothing to fight for, that’s their weakness.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll go into town and fetch you some clothes then it’s time to stop fighting the Hunter within you,” he smiled. “I hope you’re ready to have your ass kicked.”

“Ha ha, Linc! I nearly had you once, remember!” she said to him as he dropped to the first floor. She climbed down behind him.

“Nearly being the important word! Now stay,” he said, jumping down to the forest floor. She ran to the edge and called as he ran off, “Hey Lincoln, you realize when you’re back I want to hear all about what you are and what you know.”

She couldn’t see him for the trees but his laughter sang out into the forest behind him, “Sure, Lex.”

As soon as his laughter stopped, she started to tremble. Lincoln, with his larger-than-life presence, his jokes, and smiles had been keeping the pain away, but now he was gone and all that was left was emptiness. The shroud of darkness surrounded her and she dropped to the floor, whimpering. Images of her dad broken, lifeless, bombarded her mind and she clutched her head begging them to stop. “Dad,” she cried, curling into a ball sobbing uncontrollably on the floor. Lexia clutched at her chest as her sanity slowly crumbled away; her whole body started to shake as shards of pain stabbed at her heart.

Eventually Lexia’s tears ran dry and the violent tremors that struck her body stopped. A dull emptiness filled her and she became unaware of the world around her. It was like her mind had shut down in order to cope. Lexia was just an empty shell, she’d left her body because being in it was just too much for her to bear.

When Lincoln walked into his home hidden within the depths of the Black Hill ranges with bags of clothes in one hand and culinary treats in the other, he found Lexia curled into a tight ball on his living room floor; her small frame trembled and soft, broken whimpers left her throat.

Bags forgotten, Lincoln ran to her side dragging her stiff, numb body onto his lap. “Lex, baby, Lexia…” he whispered over and over, stroking her face and hair but she never responded.
I should have never left you...

He held her gently, rocking her as she cradled against his chest but the pain she felt was too great and he had no idea what to do. Lincoln lifted Lexia into his arms and carried her up the ladder and into his room. As he placed her on the bed she rolled over gripping his pillow hugging it against herself. Laying behind her Lincoln wrapped himself around Lexia, she never said a word but eventually he felt her limbs relax as she drifted to sleep.

Lexia laid there for days only getting out of bed to use the toilet. He fed her and never left her side for long but she’d let the darkness claim her until she felt no more pain, no more sorrow. Lexia was just a broken empty shell and he didn’t know how to get her back.

Time lost all meaning, days turned to nights and still she laid there lost in the endless darkness of her mind; she’d retreated so far into herself that he now wondered if she would ever get out.

Lexia thought she could hear a honey-smooth voice calling her name, but she could never quite reach it; just as she neared the surface it floated away out of her grasp and the darkness swallowed her once more. Her subconscious taunted her giving images of her father’s body, the blood pooling out around him. Then there was the golden-haired mother she would never know, every image a reminder of how alone she was. There was no one to pull her out of this void she was trapped in, no one in the world cared how lost she had gotten.

But then an image floated through her mind of a black panther with golden eyes. He cared, didn’t he? She grasped at this light of hope; there was someone who cared and he’d saved her once!
But where was he now?

Lincoln had let Lexia be for the first few days, he’d stayed with her so she wasn’t alone as she mourned the loss of her father. He’d tried to reach her a few times but she seemed too lost in her sorrow to come back. But now five days had passed and as he stared at her beautiful sad face, he wished he had done something sooner, this couldn’t go on any longer.

“Lex, Lexia... It’s time to come back now,” he shook her gently but still her eyes wouldn’t focus on him. “Damn it, love, come back!” Still nothing.

Lincoln pulled Lexia into his lap and cradled her, he felt her snuggle into his warmth. He ran his fingers through her soft wavy hair, speaking softly into her ear, “That’s it, baby, I’m here, it’s time to wake up now.”

She turned into his chest, sobbing. “It’s okay, Lex, let it out, you can’t keep all that pain in. I need you to fight, Lex, you need to fight this so we can find out why he was killed. Mike wouldn’t want you to just give up would he? Come on, Lex, show them what you are, let’s get your revenge.”

Revenge.
The word whispered through her mind breaking the darkness. She turned her head focusing on the face of the man who held her so gently.
Lincoln.
Slowly it all came back to her from the first time she had killed vampires to watching her dad die.
Yes. Revenge!
She held onto him using his raw, living heat to anchor her. She could deal with this pain, she was strong, she was a Hunter.

“It hurts.”

“I know, Lex, and it will never go away completely but with each day that passes the pain will become less.”

“Why are you helping me?”

“Because I care about you, Lex, and I’ve spent my entire life hunting those who take innocent lives. I’ve been waiting for the moment the Hunters returned.”

“I don’t know where to start, I’m too weak.”

“I’ll show you how to be strong and I’d start with a shower.” He flashed a Lincoln grin and just like that a little bit of hope, light, replaced the darkness within her.

She wiped at the tears that still ran down her face and looked down at herself still dressed in Lincoln’s t-shirt.
How long have I been in bed? God I stink!
Jumping from his arms she ran to the bathroom feeling self-conscious.

“That’s the Wildcat I knew,” he chuckled. “I’ll be downstairs making food... will you be alright?”

Silence. Then a faint whisper, “Yes.”

When she climbed down the ladder, cleaned and wearing new clothes, Lexia felt lighter, the darkness had lifted a little. The pain, the grief would always be there but the moment her feet touched the first floor and Lincoln looked up and smiled at her she knew it wouldn’t rule her life. With every smile and touch Lincoln filled the gaping hole of pain in her heart and filled it with light, hope; he had an aura around him that was filled with energy, with a love for life and anyone that was in his presence felt it.

He was in the kitchen cooking so she left him to it, taking the time to wander through his home taking in the details that told her things about the panther that fascinated her so much.

She was quite surprised at how nice his home was considering it was out in the middle of nowhere, she guessed it was powered by generators. The main floor consisted of a small kitchen, which seemed even smaller now when Lincoln stood in it. He was bent over the stove, his lean muscles flexed over his shoulder blades as he stirred whatever he was making.

She dragged her eyes from his back, focusing on the kitchen doors. They were made from rustic wood; he seemed to like everything natural, a little wild. An island sat in the middle with tall chairs around the bench where he now placed plates for the food.

The living room had huge windows across both walls making the most of the view; vines and branches crawled around the outside and the veranda, blending the house perfectly into the forest. The wooden floors were covered in several thick rugs; he liked soft things. Two large sofas sat in an L-shape, huge green throws hung over them bringing the forest colors inside. There was no TV, just a sound system and a collection of CDs stacked up.

Upstairs was the bedroom and bathroom, he’d kept the furniture simple just the huge bed covered in silk sheets. A lazy boy sat in the corner looking out another huge window, this one had a wooden blind hung in it. The bathroom was simple and modern; the walls were all tiled in slate, a huge bath sat against one wall with a shower above it.

Lexia decided she loved it, he had blended the modern features perfectly with the forest and everywhere you looked there was something soft to curl up into. Lexia smiled walking back into the kitchen to find Lincoln serving up their food.

“Eat,” he said, smiling.

For a while they sat in silence but eventually Lexia couldn’t keep her questions back and she broke the silence, “What’s a Shifter?”

He looked up meeting her eyes, they appeared guarded and she was sure she saw the panther flash in them for a second before he spoke, “A Shifter is someone with the ability to shift into an animal.”