Page 45 of Night Fury
Luke nodded. “I agree with you, but unfortunately that’s the pressure they put on him. When I go to The Council today, I will re-petition them to share the responsibility of our mate bond and of anything that happens now that you’re a vampire.”
He kissed her head. “I trust you. You’re doing well with your cravings, strength, and speed, but it’s just something that must be done. It will also be a way to prove to them that I am taking more responsibility with our circle, like we talked about, and help Greg to not worry as much while Dani is pregnant.”
Johanna’s hand slid from his shoulder up to the back of his neck as she massaged his skin. “It’ll be good for him. And for you too, I think.”
He kissed her head. “Yeah, it will be.”
* * *
Luke had a huge smile on his face as he drove back to their house. The meeting had gone well. He had believed it would, but as this was his first time implementing himself in The Council’s dealings, he had been nervous.
But much like Johanna had suspected, that wasn’t the real reason he’d gone. Luke needed to access The Council’s archives. According to Johanna, her family had participated in past vampire wars and killed their fair share of them. The Council had files on every war and the participants, whether they won or lost, and Luke wanted to use that to find Johanna’s family.
Something in his blood sang when he opened their folder. If that wasn’t enough, Johanna had told him she looked the most like her grandmother, and she was right. They had been nearly identical in their twenties.
He only hoped that when he showed his sunflower, it would make her happy. She hadn’t spoken about her family in quite some time, but every so often he’d catch a sad expression on her face, as if she were missing something or someone. While Johanna hadn’t said anything negative about her family and it was clear she loved them very much, he didn’t know them and wasn’t sure if he was doing the right thing. Still, Luke reasoned it was only right to at least try. After all, Luke planned to ask them for their blessing to marry Johanna, and he couldn’t do that if he never found them.
But as Luke pulled up to his and Johanna’s house, his joy faded away. Something was wrong. There was a heavy weight in the air, so stifling that as he exited the garage, he crumpled to the floor.
He realized immediately that it was Johanna. This was the same pressure she had used when she held him down in the cave, only now it was ten times worse, wide and crushing. Luke didn’t understand what had happened, but he knew he had to get to her. He had to keep her safe.
He couldn’t walk or even crawl to find her, so he dematerialized into shadow. Even then he could still feel her power. He searched for the shadow of other items and used them to propel himself forward and throughout the house until he found her floating above the couch, dangling by her waist as if held by an invisible string.
His senses told him no one had entered the house, nor was there anyone in the surrounding area. So what had triggered her to use her power like this?
Luke blended into Johanna’s shadow. He reached for her but was only met with pain. His arm felt as if it had been crushed under a steamroller, but he didn’t care or acknowledge the agony he felt. He would heal, but his mate was in danger and nothing would be right in the world again until she was safe.
“Johanna!” he screamed out to her.
The unbearable weight that held him down dissipated, pulled back into Johanna so fast that it created a vacuum effect, knocking objects and tossing pieces of furniture as if they were nothing. Her power hit her like an internal combustion, and she began to fall through the air.
Luke materialized and caught her, cradling her in his arms as he settled her on the couch.
“Johanna?” he called, but she still didn’t open her eyes. “Come on, sunflower, don’t do this to me again.”
Still, no response.
“Baby,please,” he begged, cupping her cheek. “Please, I need you.”
Her eyelids fluttered and she looked up at him, but it wasn’t the stare he was used to. She looked at him like it was the first time she was seeing him, truly seeing him, and he realized then what was different. In her eyes he saw pain, agony, and heartbreak. Darkness roamed there freely, only clearing when a small ray of hope rushed to the surface as she finally focused on him.
“Luke?”
“Baby, I’m right here. I’mrighthere,” he said, trying to convince them both that everything was alright, that there was no reason for the sudden, frantic beating of his heart.
Then her eyes watered, and she sobbed. Her arms wrapped around his neck so tight that she would have choked him if he were human. She cried his name over and over, the only word among her screams and heartbreaking wails.
Luke held her to his chest, his heart breaking just as much as hers seemed to be, because it suddenly all made sense. This wasn’t because he’d been gone for a few hours. She clung to him as if he’d been gone for days, for months, and there was only one realization that he could come to from her reaction.
She finally remembered everything.
* * *
The next few days were difficult for them. Johanna had regained her memories, and they had wrecked her. The first day she had allowed him to hold her while she cried. She barely ate unless he forced a cup of blood into her hands, and she wouldn’t sleep unless he held her so close that she could barely breathe. Only then did she seem to feel any sort of peace.
The next day she was trying to conquer the world. She asked him to call his family so she could relay the information she had about Zachariah and his inner workings. Johanna never once brought up what happened to her while she had been held captive, but he knew she remembered. She’d closed her mind to him. He felt robbed of their connection, but Luke knew it wasn’t for her benefit. It was for his. It was obvious in how she recounted her story, in the pauses, deep breaths, the small shudders and flinches she unconsciously made even while he stood behind her and held her.
His presence didn’t seem to be enough to take away the pain she felt. Luke knew it was irrational to hope it would be, but it stung nonetheless. The only thing that counteracted his shattered pride was watching Johanna’s perseverance, and he hated that as much as he was honored by it. Even while she was hurting, even while she seemed to be dying inside, she put all of that aside. Her sole purpose was to help them win this war and save as many tortured immortals as she could.
