Page 15 of Amaros

“Way to break the news to us, dude,” Grace said to the knight with a scowl.

“I thought you knew,” Amaros said defensively.

“How could we?”the teen exclaimed, waving her hands around.“Zoe didn’t know anything about our kind.Not even I knew I’d never be able to have kids.”

“I handled that badly,” the warrior said, back ramrod stiff.“I apologize to you both.”

“You messed up,” she said in derision.“Big time,” she added.

Zoe didn’t even spare him a glance.Her fury and hurt were still simmering just beneath the surface.

Amaros folded his arms over his chest and stared out through the window, valiantly keeping his mouth shut.

“Hang on,” Grace said after the awkward silence stretched on for a few minutes.“Your enemies are just like you, right?”she asked.

“We are very similar,” Amaros said, clearly confused by the question.

“Then Zoe can still have a kid,” the teen said with a wide grin.“She just has to get one of your knights to knock her up before you win the war and you all leave our world again.”

Zoe glanced into the rearview mirror to see a strange look in Amaros’ dark eyes.His mouth was open, but nothing was coming out.He almost seemed to be outraged by the suggestion.

“Zoe and I are proof that your kind can impregnate human women,” Grace pointed out enthusiastically.“I bet you’ll be able to get us pregnant, since we’re half whatever you are.I mean, you could probably do the job yourself, but I’m pretty sure your chances of seeing Zoe naked are somewhere between zero and nada right now.She can sleep her way through your entire unit until one of them gets her preggers if she has to.”

“Over my rotting, maggot infested corpse,” Amaros said vehemently, face flushing at the notion.

“The Knights of Order think we’re unclean,” Zoe said flatly.“We were sired by their enemies, so I’m sure they’d rather sleep with anyone but us.”

Grace gave the warrior a glare that they didn’t measure up to his standards.“Have you left a bunch of kids behind after you’ve fought in your battles?”she asked.“Maybe Zoe can find one of your descendants and hook up with them, since they won’t be fully human.”

“My knights and I ensured we didn’t procreate with any females we spent time with,” Amaros said, uncomfortable with the topic.“We all saw the monsters our rivals created.”

“See?”Zoe said in vindication.“We’re monsters to them, Gracelyn.”

“The cambions that Chaos’ soldiers sired were inherently evil,” Amaros said, sounding defensive again.“We couldn’t risk our own offspring turning out evil as well.”

“So, you killed the women you slept with before they could fall pregnant?”Zoe asked, anger rising again.

“Of course not,” he said, now annoyed.“We can sense when females are fertile.”

“Ugh, I don’t want to hear the details,” Grace said with a shudder.“Now that the drama’s over, I’m going back to sleep.”She put her backpack against the window to use it as a pillow.“Seriously, though, you should hook up with some of the other knights when we find them,” she suggested to Zoe.“It could be your only chance to have kids.”

Zoe glanced at Amaros to see he was glowering at the windshield.“Maybe I will,” she said, hiding her smirk when he cut a glare at her.

Eventually, the warrior relaxed enough to resume sleeping.Either that, or he was an exceptional actor.This time, Zoe didn’t voice any of the thoughts that flitted through her mind.Her grief at losing her mom and the world falling apart had been bad enough.Knowing she would never have kids was rancid icing on the turd that her life had become.

Driving all night again, Zoe swapped over with Amaros at dawn and told him to keep driving northeast.She sensed they were still a long way from their destination.Like her, he knew better than to approach large cities.Even small towns were in chaos as they skirted around them.

Several times, she was woken by shouts.She opened her eyes to see bodies lying on the streets, or hanging from lampposts and trees.Buildings were burning in some places.Others had merely been trashed by looters.

Nightfall was approaching the next time they had to stop for gas.Zoe’s car had a small tank and the trunk wasn’t large enough to store much gas in it.It hadn’t been a problem before.Now she wished her mom had bought something far larger.

“There’s going to be trouble this time,” Amaros said grimly, slowing down before any of the humans could spot them.

“This should be fun,” Grace predicted with a wicked grin.

A dozen men were patrolling the gas station.All were armed with various guns and knives.Almost out of gas, they had no choice but to deal with them.

“I’ll take care of them,” Amaros said confidently, then pulled over and climbed out.