Page 4 of Justice

“Well, what was it like to live?” Her foot drew a circle in the dirt; then, she used her toes' tip to draw eyes and a mouth of a smiling face.

“Hard, but I think I had it better than Oak and Sterling. I had a wonderful family. We lived there.” I nearly choked out, as my finger pointed to the house in the distance. Her eyes followed to the house far into the horizon, at the furthest corner of the street. “Back then, there was more space between the dwellings and the land went further back into fields. We had a barn toward the back, and when we were young, Sterling, Oak, and I used to sneak around and hid in there.”

“What happened?” Her fingers found mine and intertwined. “I mean between the three of you?”

My chest heaved with a silent laugh. “A girl. It was why we were turned. In a way. We were duking it out right behind James’ barn during a harvest party.”

“You loved her?” Her fingers squeezed.

“I thought I did. I think Sterling and Oak thought so too. I spent so many years after comparing women to her beauty. More than I would like to admit.”

Liberty watched the house, taking in all the details of my former life. “What changed?”

“I saw you.” It was a sappy statement, but true. I mooned over a woman who died so long ago; her memory should have long but faded. But it hadn’t, and I don’t think that had to do with my lust, I think it had to do with my obsession of losing a life and gaining an eternity.

She turned her head away, keeping her face out of my view. “I bet you say that to all the girls.”

“Nah, I rarely make it far after admitting my love for blood,” I teased, and the smile I was rewarded with stole my breath away.

“Do you think he will find what he is looking for?” She finally asked, and I knew the question was heavy on her mind. Hell, it was heavy on all of our minds.

“We have no other choice than to find what we are looking for. If we don’t, what would that mean for you?” I sighed. Death, most likely. Greta wanted her dead, and if we didn’t find a way to stop it, I suspected she would continue trying until she was successful.

“Do you think –” she paused and licked her lips, “– do you think I’ll survive this?”

“Babe, with us around? Of course.” Though honestly, I wasn’t nearly as confident as I sounded. The three of us intentionally isolated ourselves from this world, keeping our distance and living as normal of a life as we possibly could. But look where the effort got us. Whatever the journey in front of us was, I knew it would be touch and go. Rocky. Okay, I’d admit it – we were about to enter a fucking shit show.

“Why is this happening?” Liberty sounded so defeated when the question left her, and I wished I could comfort her more than just holding her hand. I got it. This world was a lot to take in, especially for a freshly turned or – or sort of turned – vampire. Still, I didn’t have more answers now than I did yesterday.

“Hey, if this didn’t happen, you totally wouldn’t have had some hot three-to-one sex, and I know you favored that.” Hell, even I favored that. I didn’t even give a fuck that my childhood friends were sharing her with me, though I could do without their orgasm sounds etched into my brain.

“That’s true. But I would have been none the wiser, either.”

“Hmm, you have a point.” I nodded. “But the way you worked with the three of us, I suspect your body would have missed what it never got.”

She blushed, a color that looked so fucking alluring on her I couldn’t help but reach up and rub my thumb along her cheek. She bit her lip as she watched me before saying, “I imagine you are right.”

Behind us, we could hear the door slam shut and the heavy footsteps of who I could only assume to be Oak coming to search for us. He couldn’t stand it, I knew. Couldn’t stand the fact that I had her attention, that I took her out of that place, that she would rather share us all than picking just one. Than to pick just him.

His steps got closer, and when I knew he was within earshot, I spoke to him, “It kills you, doesn’t it? To have her out here with me while you’re inside. I told you I would keep her safe.”

I turned slowly, looking at him over my shoulder only to be met with gleaming eyes of excitement and a look of anticipation on his face. When our eyes locked, he didn’t bother to acknowledge my previous statement. Instead, his words rushed out so fast, and in a such a tumble, I nearly missed them. But what I did manage to hear had both Liberty and I jumping off the bench.

“We’ve found it.”

Chapter 3

OAK

My hands were shakingas I opened the door for Ellis and Liberty to enter the house. I was so excited to share my findings with them that the slight ping of jealousy hardly distracted me. When I first held the book, I thought that though it was interesting, the chances of it having anything useful were practically impossible. The book was ancient, older than any other in this library, but James writing in the margin of books wasn’t that uncommon. I would dare anyone to find a book here without his writing scrolled on the side.

But once I saw it, saw what utter importance the book in my hand contained, I could hardly swallow, my throat felt clogged, my air short. “I didn’t think we would find anything,” I admitted the words out loud as I rubbed my palms on my thigh, Liberty’s eyes watching the movement, insatiability dancing in her eyes. She licked her lips. “But you found something useful?”

I sat down on the old wing chair and pulled Liberty into my lap while Ellis picked a spot on the ottoman. Sterling sat on the couch a few feet away, skimming through the book himself. “So first, I would like to clarify that James also suspected you are the girl from the prophesy. Honestly, I wouldn’t doubt it. Now, what we don’t know is how you will come about this leadership.”

“I don’t want leadership; I just want to not fear for my life.” I squeezed my arm around her middle and kissed her shoulder.

“I’m aware, mo chuisle.” I gave her another kiss on her cheek. “However, we can’t control fate.”

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