The mountain lion drew back, and hissed, flashing long sharp teeth. They circled each other. Nox rolled his shoulders and bared his teeth. Saliva flooded his mouth, his jaw popped. Shivers ran down his spine in anticipation.
With razors extended on each massive front paw, the mountain lion leaped. The full weight of the animal smashed into Nox’s chest. Its claws tore long gashes across his ribs. Bones snapped and flesh ripped. Dark red blood, almost as black as the Anubis hardly flowed before the wounds knitted, and Nox’s bones realigned.
He rolled away, and the big cat watched Nox. Its calculating stare a window into the workings of its mind. It did not understand what it saw. Nox had seen the same realization on the faces of men when their attempts to kill him failed.
This man who was not a man was not of this world. He did not belong. And they feared the hell he’d crawled out of.
Nox shot forward; the cat twisted to make a retreat. An unnatural quiet snapped into place. The mountain lion hung suspended, the debris underfoot frozen with the wave of soil it kicked up. Nox sank his grip into the back of the animal’s neck as he returned to the natural flow of time. The cat jerked in his grip, taking out a chunk of his thigh. It fell back, and Nox followed. Powerful hind feet flayed open Nox’s gut, the pain a lightning bolt of adrenaline fueling the Anubis. The cat landed on its side, and Nox’s descent bowed the cat off the ground again. It was too slow to recover. Cartilage and bone crunched in his grip.
Nox landed, releasing his hold, and the cat lay unmoving with its head twisted all the way around. A stunning animal who’d gone from alive to dead within seconds.
The only comfort he could take was the Anubis had let it die quick, and Luca would not be here to see what it did next.
*****
Luca packed up everything before turning in. It was the first time, in a very long time, he could remember staying up so late. He was tired when he lay down, but he wasn’t exhausted in the way he’d associated with the leukemia.
But it meant nothing. Soon his immune system would be too weak to fight off disease, and a common cold could end his life.
Luca followed the valleys creasing the fabric of the sleeping bag with his finger.
He would have been a liar to say he wasn’t afraid, but he was also grateful, no matter how bizarre the circumstances, he’d gotten to experience something, someone unique.
And if anyone was unique, it was Nox.
What would happen to him when Luca died? Who would help Nox keep control? If he couldn’t, would the Anubis really kill innocent people? And if it did would the people who made Nox kill him or take him back to where he’d escaped from?
Worse, what would they do to him?
Luca’s eyes burned, and he wiped away the tears threatening to fall. He didn’t want to think about those things, but he had to, and when Nox got back, they needed to figure out what to do if Luca should suddenly get sick and….
He exhaled a shaky breath and closed his eyes.
It was hard not to think about what could have been. And more impossible to keep from dreaming about it. Not just what life would be like if he hadn’t got sick, hadn’t lost Koda, or their parents. But what life might have been like if he’d met Nox under different circumstances. The man probably wouldn’t have looked twice at Luca, given their age differences.
And if they’d been closer in age and stumbled upon each other? Where? While in college? Or a mall or library?
What did Nox look like ten years younger? And would Nox have noticed him?
Luca would have noticed Nox. Anyone with eyes would have noticed him. The man filled up the room just being there.
Would they have dated? Would they have just been friends? Would they read the same books? Like the same foods?
If Nox had any of the culinary tastes at twenty as he did now, there wasn’t anything the man wouldn’t eat. Luca was pretty sure if things had been different, if given the chance, against all odds, they would have found each other.
Because they fit. In some weird messed up way, they were two puzzle pieces making a whole.
No matter how silly that sounded, Luca let himself believe it.
Somewhere between a picnic on the beach and finding jars of rainbow caterpillars inside glass balloons, Luca’s dream bled from technicolor to white noise filled with a pulsing energy.
A dark power. An inhuman strength. Life and death woven together tangled in ebony.
A thump resonated through the remnants of sleep, dragging Luca to the surface. He raised his head.
The van shook. Empty water bottles tumbled from the open bag of trash.
“Nox?”