The silence was broken up by the soft breathing coming from the other room. His brain seemed to hum listening to it. There was no strain on his senses the arrays saw to that. Apart from that there were the creaks and small groans of the house, further outside the ones from the barn. The wild life was hunkered down keeping safe from the storm.
Only now after everything had happened had Evan allowed himself to feel the weight of his exhaustion. The stress was leaving his body slowly; it was more complicated than that. The stress of finding her was gone. Only to be replaced with the stress of how long it would take her to wake up. How was she going to react to what had been a violation of her personal space.
After dressing her wounds and tucking her into the bed he had cleaned up the room and then cleaned up the bathroom. One could say out of boredom but more than anything it was a sense of duty, a way of honoring his family, his mother especially.
A place for everything and everything in its place, his mother would always say.
When the bathroom was cleaned he moved to the kitchen and washed the items he had used. Straightened that up and ate his meal, a simple sandwich, he wasn't that hungry. However going through the supplies he realized his bread was running low. Quietly, which was the way he did everything, he gathered the items he would need to make the next batch of bread. Looking up to the ceiling in the direction of his sister's room he decided on a different recipe.
After everything was mixed and the oven, grateful his parents had kept his grandmothers wood burning stove out of misplaced nostalgia, was heating. He set the bread covered with a tea towel on the countertop next to the warm oven to rise. Again he cleaned up the area with scrupulous attention to detail.
While he worked he thought about the girl upstairs. Lauren was taller and perhaps had finer features but Cassie had a fire in her, call it the will to survive and do what was needed to be done and that gave her petite frame a fierce edge, a different sort of beauty.
As he molded the individual rolls with his hands he thought of the feel of her body. The smell of lilacs had seeped into his clothing as he had moved her from one place to the next there was even the powder smell of the lotion but even below all that there was her own scent and it was making it harder to concentrate on the task at hand.
At last the last of the rolls was in place. He lightly coated his hands with oil and patted each roll then left them to rise a little longer. On the stairs he warred with his thoughts, he was only checking on her because she had been shot, the room was probably cold, what if she was awake and needed him. Pausing at the door he listened. Then he walked in.
Her scent filled the air and it made his body tingle, in that hair raising way when you walk too close to a live wire, or as the hum of electricity. He watched for a moment her chest rising and falling with her even breathing. His jaw clenched as he remembered the feel of her body in his hands. The hairs on the nape of his neck tingled, he turned around.
The glass eyes of the bear were fixed more on Cassie's position. I was leaving, he thought to himself.
I bet you were…
The thought from the bear trailed him. No wonder she had kept the damned thing, it was almost like having a companion, even if it was a tad judgmental, damned Bear.
At long last the bread was finished and he climbed the stairs once more, stopped to listen at the door and continued down the hall to his own bed room. Inside with the door closed he unbuttoned his flannel button up, folded the cloth in half and draped it over the back of the chair. He took off his boots sliding them under the chair and unbuttoned his jeans pulling them halfway down his legs before balancing on one foot working the other one out of the denim material and repeating the process for the other side, folding the garment and placing that in the seat of the chair.
There were no physical markings of any kind on his physique. The arrays managed that, if he were to ever nick himself with a razor, there would be no signs left to tell the tale. The twelve systems constantly repaired and recycled cells. He eyed his physical appearance in the long mirror next to the chair, it had been his mother's mirror, and vaguely wondered what Cassie might think of his physical form.
Lauren and he had been together since they were children but as they grew older and into their bodies and the feelings they had for one another, it hadn't been lost on him how she would react when other girls, especially girls she considered more attractive than herself, would notice him. In time as she realized he wasn't going anywhere this behavior of hers became more relaxed but he would catch her with smug smiles, if he held her in his arms and kissed the top of her head when others were around. Especially with other women, it amused him, then. Now, he was curious to see if Cassie might respond the same way to the visual stimuli.
He walked away from the mirror and into his bed. It wasn't hard to miss how his own body reacting to the stimulus that her name invoked. Cassiopeia
Closing his eyes his mind was assaulted by the face of the woman in question, in perfect detail. As if during his time with her all his mind did was absorbed and file away her image. From the first times he had snuck into her tent, all the times he had followed her movements through the scope on the rifle, and all the new detailed information he had been given up close earlier in the evening. It was infinitely more difficult now since there was a tactile element to the memories, the feel of the heat of her skin, the softness, the accents of the various scars, and the tight feel of the muscles. She looked so small, he wondered what it had been about her that caused him to run away, those were his thoughts as he studied the light smattering of freckles across her cheeks and nose. Their only other intimate acquaintance had been through the long range scope.
He pressed the palms of his hands against his eyes, it was her eyes. That, perhaps, and the combination of knowing what was in her soul having read through her journal when she left her camp unattended. Letting out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding he shifted his body uncomfortably. He had other tactile memories that were assaulting his senses, Lauren and one other, the thought of which almost helped out his current predicament. That one time had been out of loneliness when he had been awoken only to find himself in a position of knowing everything you had lived was a lie, your very existence was other.
To wake up and know that you were the only one of what you were lost in a sea of mundane humans going about their daily lives, underwhelming existence unaware of the plight of one lost among many. He couldn't bear it. It was not a life he would have chosen for Cassie. She was one out of none, he was none among many. Then he had been led to Grace. As other as he was. She had come to him and it was only that once…this lifetime anyway. He pushed the unwanted thought from his mind.
The wind continued its torment of the trees outside. Crying out its loneliness and Evan sympathized closing his eyes and letting the sound wash over him.
…
He knocked on the door once and went in. The room was bathed in a soft glow from the lamp on the bedside table. She had her back to him. He walked to her wrapping his arms around her frame trying to protect her from everything that might be coming.
Closing his eyes he breathed in her scent setting off a dull ache in his groin that made him grip her more tightly to his body. He buried his face in her neck her scent intoxicating him. Unconsciously he realized all at once he was rocking his hips into hers as he held her hips firmly in his hands. The sigh he heard escape her further fueled his need and desire. The pulse in her neck was quickening.
He held back for a moment and she turned in his arms sat on the bed and scooted her whole body up onto the bed out of his reach. Her eyes held his as he climbed on to join her. Something about her gaze made him ask, "Is this ok?" What would he do if she said no? He would respect her of course but he didn't want to push her into something she wasn't ready for.
His body tensed holding the rigid position he was in, waiting for her to release him. The lips he was so intently focused on parted ever so slightly as she nodded her head and breathed "yes."
It was as if a spring loaded trap had been released and yet he maintained his rigid position taking her in. She looked so young, so innocent in the cotton nightgown, her golden hair in a wavy halo around her shoulders. He could sense her arousal through the arrays, feeling the heat radiating from between her legs, at her breasts making the night gown pucker, and at her mouth the flush tinting her lips and cheeks giving her an ethereal glow.
The tightness in his own boxers was becoming frustrating, quickly he adjusted himself. His own needs would be satisfied in due time for now he wanted to explore the stars before him. He started at her feet running the palms of his hands slowly up her ankles to her knees. His heart clenched as he reached the bandage, fate, he thought as he slowly put his lips to the skin that wasn't bandaged. Gently he moved on running his hands under the night gown up her thighs. Noting everything her body had to offer him. Kissing slowly up the thigh as his hands massaged her hips wrapping around to her back and then pulling her to him he kissed her deeply. Her sharp intake of breath sent a wave of electricity through him, she had not been expecting that, her body had tensed and then relaxed almost immediately as she reflexively buried her hands in his hair with a small contented moan and her hips started rocking in time with his own motion. Pausing he pushed up the nightgown and she wiggled herself out of the garment, he surveyed her figure in the glow of the lamp, his erection uncomfortable from where he'd tucked it into the elastic of his shorts.
He groaned when he pressed himself to her to kiss her. He had not been anticipating the need in which she returned his kiss, adding to his pleasure and his discomfort. She tugged on his lower lip gently with her teeth and then his tongue was exploring her mouth she was his equal, holding his head tightly with both her hands gripping his hair and then moving to his chest, he felt his heart beat against her palms, if steady only so because of the twelve systems. When her arms returned to his hair and she wrapped her legs around his torso, he gripped her with one hand got off the bed pulled the sheets and blanket back with the free arm and sat back down on the edge, feeling her moisture through the offending fabric of his boxers, which reminded him, he stood up once more and managed to slide them off while not losing grip on his prize.
This time he laid her back in her original position, lowering himself to kiss her, maintaining eye contact with her blue eyes. "If you want me to stop"- She didn't let him finish as she put a finger on his lips to silence him, with that he opened the drawer and slipped a small packet into her hand. He saw her eyes dart down, and her face turn pink, as her eyes came back to his. "When you're ready," was what he said by way of explanation. Cassie nodded.
Back on the bed he started a hot trail of kisses from her neck working his way back to his original destination. At her breasts he took her nipple into his mouth again the sound of her surprise, the subtle tensing then the way her body relaxed was a drug to him he had yet to know he was missing. He teased the hardened nub with his teeth watching her. His free hand was teasing the soft hair of her mound warmed by the heat radiating there. The outside was moist with her arousal. He felt her body as he brought the hand back to where his mouth was still teasing her nipple.
She rocked her hips against his erection and he wasn't sure how much more of this he could take. Wetting his finger he rimmed her entrance, smirking as her eyes opened to the new sensation and she found him staring at her amused. Then it was his turn to be shocked as gripped his cock firmly in her hand, her own smug expression mirroring his from moments before. To even the score he inserted his finger in her wet entrance. Her gasp mirrored his as her muscles clenched and unclenched, she matched his rhythm and he crushed his mouth to hers leaving them both breathless in a few moments.
Her hands raked his back and hips as she wrapped her legs around him pulling him in closer. He stopped just short of his prize and was amused by the fierceness of her glare when she realized he wasn't coming closer. Slowly he shook his head and chuckled when it dawned on her hand frantically grasped for the foil packet and handed it to him. His eye brow came up on its own questioning her meaning, noting her cheeks blushing once again. "I've ne… I …um…" Stuttering as she tried to explain and failed.
"You've never put a condom on?"
Frantic head shake.
"I see." He took it from her and deftly applied the barrier, he didn't want it but Evan being and not being many things, he wasn't irresponsible. She watched with wide eyes as he lowered himself. "Are you ready?" He whispered kissing her neck, feeling her nod and whisper again the word that sent shivers through him, "yes."
He moved to her opening with his mouth one last time and the back to her positioning himself at her opening having to improvise with lubrication.
"Cassie, look at me." He said it softly, as her eyes locked with his, he penetrated her.
The intimacy of her soul and the tightness of her clenching nearly sent him over the edge but he held still allowing her time to adjust to his size, her eyes wide, not with fear or pain but with the intoxication of the moment. Slowly as before he felt her body relax into him again that nearly taking him over the edge, but he wasn't going to end before he started.
His mouth found hers, exploring this part of her body, he held her face in his hands and brushed a stray hair from her forehead. He kissed her neck and felt her beginning to rock her hips in time with their motion, he matched her pace, feeling her throb as their rhythm increased catching the wave that would take them over the edge. They both were breathing ragged, perspiration heightening the movement making it easier their bodies were in their own sync. He could sense the end was near for him for her she was shaking her body shuddering in its first wave, followed by another, and another, and another sending him crashing with her on the next. Spent
They lay there intertwined pulsing as he physically came down from the stars she had taken him to. Gradually her breathing became even and when he was sure she was asleep he kissed her once more and wrapped the blanket securely around her, he kissed her softly on the lips and got up to go to the restroom.
Absentmindedly he removed the condom and then relieved himself. It wasn't until he was washing his hands that he got a shock, where had the blood come from? And then almost immediately he chastised himself, it had been her first time.
Are you sure about that Evan?
He looked up to see Lauren hanging in the shower. Eyes milky white glass dead, unlike the bear.
Sure you didn't feel a punch in your heart for your precious Cassie…
He turned; there was nothing yet the blood felt frozen in his veins.
"You killed her. Shot her like the worthless human she is, bravo, although I don't understand you banging her, ewwh, human."
Evan wheeled to the door, nothing. In the mirror however Grace was putting her rifle together.
"No, I don't need to. Remember Evan, you've taken care of it." Grace was laughin, "You killed her."
"She's right, you know, even though I hate her for what you both did. You were supposed to love me forever."
Evan ran from the bathroom to the bedroom. His heart skipped when he saw Cassie. She was in a pool of her own blood. He looked to the knee, there was no bandage, he looked back to her face, there was a dime sized black hole staring at him from her forehead, her eyes were open reflecting the stars above.
He was looking at her freckled through the long range scope, the sound of the rifle blast rocked him, in the distance Cassie, short not for Cassandra or Cassidy, Cassie for Cassiopeia crumpled to the ground, blood exploding around her soaking the back pack severing the silver strand connecting her to him. A hand descended on his shoulder. Evan spun around.
"Well done soldier, " Vosch applauding his kill. "Son, no need to worry, she was only human."
He dropped the rifle, what had he done?
What you needed to do…
Evan bolted upright in his bed throwing off the sheets and pillows which had tangled him. His heart was hammering in his chest. What the fuck…
Squeezing his eyes shut and pressing the heels of his palms into his eyes he used the arrays to listen and he latched onto the sound of the breathing, it had changed.
The morning light was streaming in through the South window meaning the storm had blown itself out. He got up and dressed quickly as he did snippets of his dream returned and made his chest ache as though he had lost something precious.
He stood silently at the door. Waiting.