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    Love Beyond Time

    Page 7
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      66

      Love Beyond Time

      Rebecca Royce

      What good was anticipating what was going to happen if

      you couldn't do one damn thing to stop it? He shrieked his

      command to halt, even tried to physically stop Nathan by

      throwing himself at him, but ultimately it became a matter

      of timing.

      He couldn't protect Isabelle and prevent his friends

      from being hurt at the same time. Amazingly, it wasn't even

      a choice he had to consciously make. His body reacted for

      him, and Kal threw himself with all of his will on top of the

      woman next to him just as the bullets started flying.

      The chanting singsong music that Kal knew as well

      as he knew the sound of his own heartbeat began pounding

      in his ears. The chanters let him know that this was a

      justified moment and that he was acting as he ought to

      behave.

      In a move, that given all of the things he had seen in

      his life shouldn't have surprised him and yet still did, the

      police officer arriving on his motorcycle pulled out his

      second revolver and continued shooting at the small crowd.

      Nathan, the most exposed, was hit first. His body stalled

      mid-run, blood exploding from his chest. Kal knew he was

      instantly dead. He could almost smell Nathan's soul leaving

      his body.

      In their shock, Doug and James did not hit the

      ground quickly enough and each took several rounds into

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      Love Beyond Time

      Rebecca Royce

      their fragile flesh as well. He could smell the stench of

      death on them too. Death had always had an odor to Kal—

      as a person who had been designed to kill and destroy his

      enemies, he could tell the second something was dead,

      whether it was animal or human, and he knew his friends

      had left for their next plane of existence, whatever that was.

      Kal could feel the blood rushing through his body

      and pounding in his head. He had told Veli he would

      protect Isabelle but that had nothing to do with why he felt

      so compelled with every part of his body screaming at him

      to do so. He knew that even beyond Veli's command he

      would somehow protect this woman until he had no breath

      left in his body.

      The shield he had instinctually placed around their

      bodies ebbed and pounded as he moved, not wanting to

      release his charge to danger. It had kept any bullets from

      coming anywhere near them. He was keenly aware that it

      hadn't saved his friends. Guilt, like a hard, cold blanket,

      formed around his body and made way for anger to push its

      way out of his veins. Wasn't he supposed to be a protector

      of humans? He knew he'd have to face those demons later

      but at that moment he could no longer deny his very nature.

      He was born to be a warrior and the only way he

      knew how to protect Isabelle and end this disturbance was

      to simply put an end to it. It wasn't going to be pretty and

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      Love Beyond Time

      Rebecca Royce

      Kal hoped she wouldn't hate him for being a monster.

      He stood up, removing the barrier from himself but

      not from Isabelle. Behind him he heard her smack her hand

      on it and he was impressed that she even knew it was there.

      Plenty of Outsiders wouldn't have been able to feel it so

      acutely.

      Silently, he called the elements to him as he raised

      his hand to the sky. Electrical current tumbled down,

      piercing through his body but it didn't cause him pain.

      Instead the rush was familiar and exhilarating. Every hair

      on his body stood at attention and a grin came to his mouth.

      The familiar chanting of voices unseen plowed into his

      head. His body began to slowly shake as he channeled the

      power from him into the man who had ceased to be a being

      of any worth to Kal.

      In that moment, the creature on the motorcycle was

      evil personified. Maybe he was just a pawn to the Darkness

      but he wasn't going to be gentle with him. Kal would treat

      him like he was the Darkness itself.

      That man, possessed or not, had just killed three of

      his friends and was now threatening the life of the petite

      woman whom Fate had placed into his keeping. Or if the

      strange voice was to be believed, belonged to him. Besides,

      Veli had always told them that in order to be possessed by

      the Darkness, you had to be willing to accept it inside of

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      Love Beyond Time

      Rebecca Royce

      you. This man might be wearing the costume of one of the

      most honorable professions on the planet, but he had made

      a decision and that decision was going to cost him his life,

      not that of Isabelle.

      Bullets flew everywhere but they felt like gnats to

      Kal, as they did not hit him or break his personal shields.

      He snickered. In the ecstasy of the energy surge he hadn't

      even realized he'd raised a barrier around himself. His

      body, of its own volition, had taken on a protective armor

      encasing both him and Isabelle in its safety. As time

      seemed to change into slow motion, it occurred to Kal that

      he was more powerful than he had ever been before and he

      felt fantastic.

      Kal had his own rules when it came to morality and

      now it was time for a little eye for an eye action.

      The police officer fell from his bike, fire pouring

      out around him as he slowly began to turn to dust. The

      current that flew out of Kal should have easily roasted a

      normal human being in a matter of seconds, and it was an

      indication of the supernatural powers in the other man that

      he had lasted as long as he had against Kal's fury.

      Silence descended on the street. Kal had been in this

      position before. The best way he could describe it was that

      the universe paused to account for what had just happened.

      His breathing was shallow and his hands shook violently.

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      Love Beyond Time

      Rebecca Royce

      He knew what he needed to do. It would be all about the

      struggle now. The tension to win against the rising rage

      inside of himself. The need to calm down and face the

      woman beside him, who must have been out of her mind

      with fear. Kal fell to his knees, his hands over his ears. He

      could hardly hear anything over the deafening chanting that

      was taking place in his head. Breathe, he tried to tell

      himself, breathe. Why couldn't he get it? Where was the

      control?

      Sweat dripped down his forehead, across his cheek

      and fell to the ground. He was lost; he wasn't sure he would

      ever come back. Rocking back and forth, he wondered who

      would protect Isabelle when he was gone. All coherent

      thought left his mind. In that moment, he felt the energy of

      the earth taking his soul.

      71

      Love Beyond Time

      Rebecca Royce

      Chapter Five

      Pushed back on her rump on the hard concrete of

      the strangely deserted highway, Isabelle knew she should

      be te
    rrified. She supposed she actually was terrified, maybe

      even in shock. After all, she had just seen three men

      gunned down in front of her and the fourth man, who she

      had been secretly fantasizing about, had suddenly become

      something out of a teenage cult movie, with strange

      abilities and voltage flowing out of his body.

      But the truth was, she felt pretty okay.

      When Kal had stood up she had heard the strangest

      melody in her head, a chanting almost, of voices she

      thought she recognized from somewhere. It had seemed

      natural; as if she had known all along that Kal could do

      these things and her own body had called out from inside of

      her to participate somehow, to help him and to make him

      stronger. She hadn't known how to fulfill its demands as

      every pore on her skin stood at attention and her eyes got

      moist, not in terror or sadness, both appropriate emotions,

      but in awe and approval. Remotely, she wondered if she

      was a sadist.

      A shiver travelled up her spine. She knew the

      danger wasn't gone and they needed to keep moving. She

      wasn't going to question her instincts; they had kept her

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      Rebecca Royce

      alive this long and at least she wasn't hearing voices.

      Kal stood up off his knees directly in front of her.

      Silent and unmoving, she could only guess at the battle

      raging inside of him. Did this type of thing happen to him

      all the time? Did he have a shut off button that let him go

      back to behaving normally so he could help her get away

      from whatever had just happened? She should be shaking-

      in-her-boots frightened of him, but all she wanted to do was

      soothe him and help him cool down.

      Walking quietly behind him, she placed her hand on

      his arm gently, moving like she might do with a hurt child,

      or a wounded animal. Something inside of her was calling

      to him, begging him to return from wherever he had gone

      and come back to where she was. She would deal with

      these strange instincts that possessed her later, she thought.

      For now she had to go along with whatever was happening

      and hope that it was the right thing to do.

      "Kal," she exhaled. "Are you alright?"

      He whirled around suddenly, a strange magnetic

      glow coming from his eyes as he gripped her arms and

      pulled her to him. The strength in his hands pressed down

      on her flesh and she tried not to flinch, understanding that

      he didn't know what he was doing and would control

      himself if he could. She knew deep down that whatever

      was happening, this would not end in his hurting her.

      73

      Love Beyond Time

      Rebecca Royce

      "Did you get hurt, Isabelle? Did a bullet hit you?"

      He shouted at her, his voice filled with a strange timbre that

      made him sound hoarse and powerful, like the sound of a

      broken television speaker. He seemed to be speaking to her

      on two different octave levels.

      "No, Kal, no bullets hit me. I'm not hurt. You saved

      us. Come back now, I think we need to keep moving. I

      don't think we can be caught here. No one will believe us

      and your friends are dead."

      She hoped that her words were reaching him,

      although his eyes remained the same and there was no

      evidence he had heard her. He pulled her even closer,

      forcing her body against his. She could feel his heart

      beating in his chest and the perspiration on his body. He

      seemed to have become electrical energy itself as his mouth

      came suddenly down on hers, claiming it as his own.

      Something inside of her that she had only hoped existed

      came alive in triumph. Yes, this was what she'd always

      waited for.

      Isabelle could no longer be rational at all. Coherent

      thought had left her body, possibly for all time. All she

      could do was react to the feel of Kal's mouth on hers. He

      had surprisingly tender lips, although the rest of him didn't

      feel tender at all; he was all hard muscle and strength.

      Sparks flew between them but they didn't hurt her and only

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      Love Beyond Time

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      added to the arousal that was hitting her everywhere.

      The chanting began again in her ears. She knew she

      would never be able to kiss anyone else again and feel

      anything at all. The truth was she wasn't sure she had ever

      felt anything kissing anyone else in the first place.

      His mouth pulled back and then met hers again. It

      was more erotic than anything else had ever been. Her

      blood pulsed through her body, matching the rhythm of his

      kisses and the singsong chanting began getting louder as he

      deepened the kiss. All lack of sexual experience aside, she

      felt like she knew exactly what she was doing. She was

      sure she knew how he liked to be touched, how he liked to

      be handled. At that very moment he had become the man

      she dreamed about for her entire life. She dug her

      fingernails into him and pressed, if it was possible, even

      closer to his core, wanting to taste every ounce of him even

      as her mind begged her to slow down.

      Desperate to not be forgotten, Isabelle's good sense

      was struggling to be heard.

      This had to be some sort of reaction to what had just

      happened to them. She was in shock; she thought suddenly,

      and had lost all sense of reality. She didn't even know what

      had just happened. How was it that she was accepting this

      as if it was normal? What was going on?

      Kal's body stiffened as if he had felt the slight

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      Love Beyond Time

      Rebecca Royce

      resistance happening inside of her. Part of her wanted to

      beg him not to stop, not to release her from what she had

      been waiting for her whole life, but the other part was

      relieved, hoping if she could get some distance, she could

      get some clarity about what was going on. She slowly

      pulled her mouth off his, feeling her lips tingle as the fresh

      air hit them. They were both breathing heavily and her

      hands trembled on Kal's arm.

      "I'm sorry, Isabelle." Kal exhaled, starting to sound

      like himself again, if a little guttural. "You must be so

      confused, so terrified, and I'm afraid you are right, we do

      need to get going."

      Isabelle felt her feet hit the ground beneath her and

      she realized that she had been off the ground. She hadn't

      been aware of that rather large fact. He had literally been

      holding her entire body up.

      Isabelle watched as Kal scanned the scene around

      them, emotion starting to show in his eyes as he looked at

      his now deceased friends.

      "We don't have time now." Isabelle poked him in

      the chest and then widened her eyes as she looked down at

      her outstretched finger. "But when we are safe you are

      going to explain to me what is going on, what just

      happened, and why I am not shaking in my boots with

      fear." Or why I'm shaking with lust when I should be


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      running away screaming, she thought but didn't say out

      loud.

      * * * *

      Kal looked up, shocked at the woman in front of

      him. She had shown more courage than he could have

      imagined possible and now she was ordering him to move

      on. Generally speaking, no one ordered Kal around so he

      was slightly surprised by how easily he responded to her.

      "You're right," he answered, feeling amused and

      quite certain it showed on his face. "Let's go. Get in the car.

      I'll change your tire and we'll get moving. We need to get to

      my family. They'll know what to do."

      He bent over the tire, finishing the job she'd

      obviously started earlier. Veli, he called in his mind, tell

      Leonardo, Marina, and Charma that we need to meet on

      the island. It's serious.

      We're all there already, Veli answered simply.

      Marina says that she feels a strange pulsating in the air

      that she thinks is coming from your power. What

      happened?

      I've had to put down an enemy, Kal answered

      gravely. When had they started using that disgusting phrase

      to describe what just happened? He would have to speak to

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      Love Beyond Time

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      Veli about finding a different way to describe the killing of

      one's enemy in battle. Putting someone down sounded like

      they were talking about euthanizing an animal. Veli had

      always preferred that they dehumanize their enemies but

      that particular phraseology was maybe going too far.

      Isabelle is remarkably fine but I've lost three of my friends

      in the occurrence.

      Get her home and worry about the collateral later.

      They aren't collateral, Veli, they were human beings

      and friends of mine, who had dreams and families and who

     


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