Read Online Octavia's War by Tracy Cooper-Posey - Free Book Online
Authors: Tracy Cooper-Posey
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tossed the snakes nearly twenty yards away, where they snapped into hissing s-shapes and writhed away. “There may be more of them in the far back reaches. They won’t bother us if we stay in the front part.”
Ángel swallowed. His eyes were big.
“Snakes don’t like my kind,” Remmy told him, with a small smile. “Most creatures do not. They tend to hunker down and wait for us to pass by. Those won’t dare return to the cave until we have left.” He nodded toward the six he had tossed.
“Suits me,” Octavia said. “I just want to sit down for a while.” She headed for the narrow fissure that was the entrance to the cave.
It took Ángel longer to step inside and even then, his gaze kept darting around the cool, shadowed interior.
They settled down on the hard, flat rock. Octavia put her back against the rough wall, protected by the denim jacket. She was too tired to care that the wall wasn’t a pillow. After a while, she closed her eyes. She wasn’t hungry enough to stay awake, either.
* * * * *
Ángel sat cross-legged in the middle of the cavern, watching dust float in a narrow shaft of sunlight pushing through a crevasse in the wall. The light shone on the rocky floor, showing ochre stone worn almost smooth from centuries of animals passing over it.
Octavia was already asleep and he envied her. They had both been up all night and tiredness was making his bones ache.
Only, he didn’t think it was just tiredness gnawing at him.
“You can feel them, can’t you?” Remmy said, lowering himself down to sit next to Ángel. He didn’t cross his legs. Instead, he thrust both legs out in front of him and leaned back on his arms. “It’s eating at you. Clawing at your mind.”
Ángel sighed. “There is much to think about.” He nodded toward Octavia. “The way she handled the gun. Taking them down. I thought I was to be the hunter.”
“You are,” Remmy said easily. “You are developing all the senses. Heightened hearing, improved vision, faster reactions…and your animal instincts are growing. That is why you are restless.”
“I thought it was the snakes making me twitch,” Ángel confessed.
“Them, too. I suspect you could pluck one from the ground and wring its neck before it did much more than raise its head. Your reactions are speeding up. Hers, too.”
“Then Octavia is to be a hunter as well?”
“Octavia is to be something else altogether. A fighter, I am guessing.” He was studying her. “She took flawless advantage of every element, without thinking about it. She used the weight of the gun to move it into place. She used the inertia of the vampeen against them. Economy of movement, anticipation, use of externals…it was perfect.”
“You sound as though you’ve done more than your share of fighting, too,” Ángel said.
“I have, alas. Evil is universal.” Remmy’s hand rested on Ángel’s shoulder. “Your family is but a tiny outreach of a blight upon the whole world and beyond it, too.”
Ángel sighed. “I think we should stop calling them my family.”
“What should we call them, then?”
“Whatever you like. The Garcia cartel. The enemy.”
Remmy’s hand dropped from his shoulder. “I would offer my condolences, except I know you separated yourself from them many years ago.”
“I stopped being my father’s son the day I learned that he killed my mother because she wanted to move to America.” Ángel shrugged. “It’s over and done with,” he said flatly. “I found the exit. Now it’s time to move on.”
“I begin to see why you accepted the idea of the trinity so readily.”
Ángel looked at him. Remmy was sitting opposite him and it was easy to see his face. The cave was not dark, not with the shaft of sunlight and daylight spilling in from the opening. It was filled with hues of red and yellow from the rocks under them and around them. So now he could read Remmy’s face. “That wasn’t all of it,” he said.
Remmy nodded. His gaze
Ángel swallowed. His eyes were big.
“Snakes don’t like my kind,” Remmy told him, with a small smile. “Most creatures do not. They tend to hunker down and wait for us to pass by. Those won’t dare return to the cave until we have left.” He nodded toward the six he had tossed.
“Suits me,” Octavia said. “I just want to sit down for a while.” She headed for the narrow fissure that was the entrance to the cave.
It took Ángel longer to step inside and even then, his gaze kept darting around the cool, shadowed interior.
They settled down on the hard, flat rock. Octavia put her back against the rough wall, protected by the denim jacket. She was too tired to care that the wall wasn’t a pillow. After a while, she closed her eyes. She wasn’t hungry enough to stay awake, either.
* * * * *
Ángel sat cross-legged in the middle of the cavern, watching dust float in a narrow shaft of sunlight pushing through a crevasse in the wall. The light shone on the rocky floor, showing ochre stone worn almost smooth from centuries of animals passing over it.
Octavia was already asleep and he envied her. They had both been up all night and tiredness was making his bones ache.
Only, he didn’t think it was just tiredness gnawing at him.
“You can feel them, can’t you?” Remmy said, lowering himself down to sit next to Ángel. He didn’t cross his legs. Instead, he thrust both legs out in front of him and leaned back on his arms. “It’s eating at you. Clawing at your mind.”
Ángel sighed. “There is much to think about.” He nodded toward Octavia. “The way she handled the gun. Taking them down. I thought I was to be the hunter.”
“You are,” Remmy said easily. “You are developing all the senses. Heightened hearing, improved vision, faster reactions…and your animal instincts are growing. That is why you are restless.”
“I thought it was the snakes making me twitch,” Ángel confessed.
“Them, too. I suspect you could pluck one from the ground and wring its neck before it did much more than raise its head. Your reactions are speeding up. Hers, too.”
“Then Octavia is to be a hunter as well?”
“Octavia is to be something else altogether. A fighter, I am guessing.” He was studying her. “She took flawless advantage of every element, without thinking about it. She used the weight of the gun to move it into place. She used the inertia of the vampeen against them. Economy of movement, anticipation, use of externals…it was perfect.”
“You sound as though you’ve done more than your share of fighting, too,” Ángel said.
“I have, alas. Evil is universal.” Remmy’s hand rested on Ángel’s shoulder. “Your family is but a tiny outreach of a blight upon the whole world and beyond it, too.”
Ángel sighed. “I think we should stop calling them my family.”
“What should we call them, then?”
“Whatever you like. The Garcia cartel. The enemy.”
Remmy’s hand dropped from his shoulder. “I would offer my condolences, except I know you separated yourself from them many years ago.”
“I stopped being my father’s son the day I learned that he killed my mother because she wanted to move to America.” Ángel shrugged. “It’s over and done with,” he said flatly. “I found the exit. Now it’s time to move on.”
“I begin to see why you accepted the idea of the trinity so readily.”
Ángel looked at him. Remmy was sitting opposite him and it was easy to see his face. The cave was not dark, not with the shaft of sunlight and daylight spilling in from the opening. It was filled with hues of red and yellow from the rocks under them and around them. So now he could read Remmy’s face. “That wasn’t all of it,” he said.
Remmy nodded. His gaze
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