Walking into the room, the guy’s sharp brown eyes immediately fell on me, his voice coming out gruff.
“Who the hell are you?”
I thought about how to respond for a second, deciding to just be blunt. “You the Sheriff?” I asked simply.
Instantly, his brown eyes widened in shock, only for them to narrow.
Suddenly, I couldn’t move. I could barely breathe. And in response to the unexpected sensation, my astral limbs shot out like lightning, wrapping around his arms, his one leg, and winding around his face to cover his mouth and eyes.
Yet I still couldn’t move. I could kill the guy right now if I really wanted, but my physical body wouldn’t budge an inch.
And then, I heard the door close behind me, only for a thin pale hand to appear in front of my face, covering my eyes, and the sensation vanished completely.
“Keep your eyes closed,” Winter demanded.
I obeyed, focusing entirely on my second-sight as I watched her hold his gaze, entirely unaffected by whatever I’d just experienced. His sudden shock at her appearance rapidly transitioned to horror, as he began struggling against my astral limbs, his neck bulging as he tried to yell for help.
But other than a muffled groan, nothing else managed to escape. Certainly, nothing loud enough that could be heard through the door.
But shit, this was really the guy. It had to be him.
He reacted when I asked if he was the Sheriff, and he was obviously trying to do something to me. But even still, I couldn’t get the sight of his middle-aged kids, and what must be his great-grandkids, out of my head.
This man had a family.
Was he really the one responsible for all of this? For almost killing Lexi at the airport? For killing Lily at the mall? For nearly killing Lexi and Heidi both at the theater?
This was the guy? This helpless maimed weak man lying in a hospital bed, just waiting for the day he died while is family occasionally came to visit him? This was their dad , and their great-granddad .
And yet, this was the Sheriff?
In response to my hesitation, Winter spoke up.
“It’s alright, Sam,” she said sympathetically. “Just hold him down for me.”
I focused my second-sight on her in surprise, watching her bend over and begin pulling up the pant leg of her jeans, revealing a four-and-a-half-inch pouch strapped to her furry ankle with the flattest pocketknife I’d ever seen inside.
She then stood up and used both hands to pull out the razor-sharp four-inch black blade, with it clicking ominously into place, only for her to begin walking over to the guy’s left side with an empty expression. When she reached his side, locking eyes with his panicked gaze, she very gently tugged on his gown a little, revealing his bony upper chest, and placed the blade over his heart. She ignored his muffled and urgent groans as she positioned the tip between two ribs.
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
“Hey, are you sure?” I asked seriously, watching her slowly begin to push the blade in, with a vacant expression in her pale eyes. The man was basically screaming now, except that it was completely muted.
Yet, despite everything, I felt like I should be the one to do it, instead of her.
“Of course I’m sure, Sam,” she replied in an empty tone, continuing to slowly put pressure on the blade until it was inside the body as far as it would go.
The man’s tense muscles went limp. Then, after a few seconds of watching the life leave his eyes, she finally looked up at me, her tone emotionless.
“After all, in a pride, the alpha protects the females.” She paused. “But the females usually do the hunting.”
18: Devastating Curses
Lily Dodson
April 20, 2735 – Current Day – Evening
Lily sat on the couch in the downstairs living room, her bare feet up on the slick surface, while Freya and Rose were putting Eden in her crib. Since it was Saturday, and they knew Rose was worried about her daddy, they’d probably just let the young girl watch over her little infant sister for a while, instead of making her go to bed.
However, Lily was focused on something else at the moment, staring at her phone as she mentally kicked herself in the butt.
Freya came down the hallway and glanced into the empty kitchen, before focusing on Lily resting on the couch, walking over to her with a reassuring smile. Lily tensed slightly, her heart skipping a beat, when Freya then leaned over, showing way more boob than Lily would have preferred at the moment, and planted a gentle kiss on her temple.
Beyond the one time, Freya hadn’t bitten Lily in over a week, nor had she requested that Lily spend time with her without Sam. But she was still nervous about it coming up again. She’d do it, of course, but it was still awkward.
And certainly, Lily had seen all of Freya naked, but there was a time and place for it. Outside of certain circumstances, she felt weird about it.
“Something wrong?” Freya asked, moving to sit down next to Lily’s feet.
Lily tried to swallow the lump in her throat. “Umm, yeah. I sort of made a mistake.”
Freya was immediately concerned. “What happened?”
“Well, Nancy has been wanting to catch up, which I’m fine with, but I don’t want her to see me without my implants, because it would bring up too many questions. However, she just messaged me again after a few weeks, and I accidentally told her we were really busy with the new baby and all. And now she’s all excited and wants to meet her.” She grimaced. “I’m sorry. I know we were trying to keep it a secret. I just wasn’t thinking.”
Freya rested her hand reassuringly on Lily’s foot, gently rubbing her smooth skin. “It’s alright. Eden doesn’t really have a normal superpower, so we could just claim that growing fast until she reaches a certain age is her ability.”
“Oh.” Lily thought about that. “Okay, yeah. I mean, that does sound a little weird, but I think Nancy would buy it. And I mean, not that it really matters. It’s just Nancy. She just loves babies and is excited for us.”
Freya smiled warmly, only to stiffen slightly.
Lily was confused by her reaction until she realized someone was urgently running down the stairs, which she didn’t hear until they got over halfway down.
It was Lexi, her phone in hand.
Both women focused on her with concerned expressions.
“They got him,” Lexi announced, her purple eyes wide, like she couldn’t believe it herself. “My boss just called and said it happened a few hours ago. They really got him. The terrorist after me is dead.”
❖ ❖ ❖
Sam Archer
April 20, 2735 – Current Day – Evening
After retracting her knife from the Sheriff’s chest – with the wound surprisingly leaking very little blood, since there was no heartbeat to push it out – Winter proceeded to wash it off in the bathroom, only to dry it and put it back in its pouch on her ankle. She then told me on the way out to lock the door with my astral limbs, since the door had a deadbolt that required a special type of key to actually use – not any kind of key you’d be able to purchase by normal means.
I assumed it was designed so they could lock doors on floors that weren’t being used.
Once that was done, Winter wrapped her arms around my waist, and took us toward a stairwell to make our way down to the first floor, going an entirely different way back to the main entrance.
Once in the massive lobby, she pulled out her phone while we walked to make the call. Her message was simple.
“We got him. Room 726.”
I could just barely overhear Jackie’s voice, due to the proximity of our heads.
“Shit. You’re serious? Okay, we’ll call the local police and give them instructions to secure the scene. Shit. I can’t believe this. Okay, I got to go. Calls to make.”
She hung up.
Winter deposited the phone back in her pocket, and we continued to walk back to the car in silence, our pace casual. Once we re
ached the vehicle, she separated from me and climbed into the passenger’s seat, her expression still empty.
I proceeded to get behind the wheel and backed the car up, making our way out of the garage. She was now kind of slouched in her seat, her butt almost at the edge, her knees spread apart, pressed against the dash.
Neither of us said a word as I pulled onto the interstate.
I honestly didn’t know how I felt right now. I was trying not to feel. Not to think. Because I’d just witnessed her kill emotionlessly, with no remorse at all. It was unnerving to think there was no regret or hesitation.
A cold-blooded killer.
It needed to be done, and yet, the way she did it really bothered me. Not that I would have been any nicer, although I might have done it a lot faster. Then again, when I thought about what this man was actually responsible for, there was a part of me that wanted to torture the bastard.
Yet he already looked so helpless.
I supposed appearances could really be deceptive. And I supposed what she did just now was what I’d have to steel my nerves for as well, in order to keep my family safe. Certainly, this wasn’t the first time I’d taken someone’s life, but this was my first time experiencing a killing like that .
Putting the car in autopilot again, and leaning my head back, I stared into space for a few seconds, just trying to figure out what we were supposed to do now. I assumed that Jackie would want us to come back and give her a debriefing of what happened. Probably Winter would have to provide them with a written report too, since she was the one who identified and killed the target.
Shit! What in the hell did I even do?!
Nothing! I did absolute shit!
Glancing at Winter, feeling apologetic now, I unexpectedly stared at her in shock when I realized she had tears silently streaming from her pale green eyes.
“Hey,” I said gently, only to receive no response. She was just staring straight ahead with that same empty expression, minus the tears.
And then it hit me.
I thought again about what I’d just witnessed, watching her push the knife in slowly as if…as if…
As if jabbing the knife in him would be like ripping a bandage off – as if doing it slowly made it easier …
On her .
Shit!
“Winter,” I said in shock as it all finally dawned on me. “Can you feel it? Can you feel people dying? Their pain, their terror, their panic?”
“It’s fine,” she said in a monotone.
Shit, I couldn’t believe it! How could I not have known?! I should have known! Dammit, I should have been the one to do it! I just wasn’t ready to come face-to-face with the fact that evil people had families ! Families who they might love, who might love them back!
But that didn’t make them any less evil! That didn’t make them any less dangerous!
Shit!
A wave of sorrow immediately washed over me, almost suffocating me. But we were still linked. She was still latched on. And in response, that same sorrow washed over her, a crippling agony twisting her face as she rapidly fell apart.
Just like that, her exterior crumbled.
Suddenly, it was like she was having a panic attack.
Her body began shaking, her chest began hitching, the tears began flowing, with her literally beginning to sound like she was choking as she started hyperventilating.
Panicking at having just experienced her own death.
Without hesitation, I pushed my seat back, only to reach over and grab her with both my arms and astral limbs, twisting her around and pulling her into my lap, holding her as tightly as I could.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, the sound of her sobs crushing my heart, which I knew was only making it worse for her. “I’m so sorry .”
She finally wiggled her butt between my thighs, forcing my legs apart to lower herself to the seat, and buried her head against my upper chest, her black hair shoved up against my chin, sobbing and whimpering incessantly. I did my best to control my own emotions while she cried, just holding her tightly, but it was difficult.
Shit. I should have known. I shouldn’t have hesitated.
Although, now that I thought about it, would it have even mattered? After all, whether I killed him, or she did, she would still be able to sense his thoughts, along with his associated emotions. And here I’d thought she was a cold-blooded killer.
Instead, she was just doing everything she could to keep it together while she did what needed to be done. To protect us.
By the time she finally began calming down, we were already almost halfway back home – yeah, two hours. She sobbed uncontrollably for two hours. The worst of it was only in the first ten minutes, but she continued to cry even after that.
And I couldn’t blame her. I sincerely had no idea what it would feel like to die – or more specifically, what it would feel like to be killed when you wanted to live. But obviously it was traumatizing. And I imagined that the trauma of being killed was why she inserted the knife so slowly, because her own desire for self-preservation was fighting her every step of the way.
To kill him was to experience killing herself, making each millimeter a fight against every fiber of her being.
And in my opinion, even while she was sobbing now in my arms, I felt like what she’d done was actually more badass and braver than if she’d killed him in cold blood. A self-sacrifice, to protect others.
Still, very traumatizing though.
By the time she did begin settling down, it was more like her body was just done , rather than her truly being over it. Like she was just too exhausted to continue. A random uncontrolled sob would still hit her every few minutes, but otherwise she just stared into space, her head resting against my shoulder since my chest was soaked with tears and snot.
She didn’t budge an inch otherwise.
At least, not until her phone began vibrating in her pocket.
She pulled it out without looking at it, only to focus on the screen and answer, immediately putting it on speakerphone. However, she didn’t give any kind of greeting.
It was Jackie’s voice that spoke up.
“Winter?”
“Yes.”
There was a deep breath. “Shit, you really got him. Now that we have his identity, we’ve been able to trace his previous locations to potentially over two dozen other unsolved cases spread across the last ten years, many of which we had no idea he might have been involved in, since the brainwashed perpetrators won’t talk. And that’s just the obvious ones after a couple of hours! The bastard usually only told his victims, through his brainwashed puppets, that he was their ‘assailant via proxy’ just before they were killed, which meant we had a lot of homicides that we didn’t know who was truly responsible for. But his previous locations overlap with a ton of perpetrators he likely used, just like this case. And who knows what else they’ll uncover, as they continue to look into it. Not to mention, now that he’s dead, it’s even possible those who were brainwashed will start talking.”
Winter didn’t respond.
“Everything fine?” she asked. “Are you on your way back? Our guys said you weren’t there when they arrived.”
“Yes.”
Jackie paused. “Sam is there, right? Can I speak with him?”
“I’m here, Jackie,” I said automatically. “Just driving. We pretty much left right away. I didn’t even think about staying to talk to the police or anything.”
“No, that’s alright,” she replied. “When dealing with the local police, sometimes it’s better that they don’t engage with our undercover supers. Otherwise they might mishandle the situation, since they basically have a homicide on their hands, with the potential perpetrator walking right up to them and saying hello.”
I scoffed. “Lovely. I can only imagine.”
She chuckled. “But hey, it sounds like you guys did an amazing job. Well done, Sam.”
I hesitated. “Thanks,” I replied simply, deciding not to cla
rify that it was all Winter.
“And this just means that Lexi doesn’t have to worry anymore. With the situation resolved, she can go back to living her normal life. And Ms. Fowler can be free to do as she pleases now as well.”
Winter flinched in my arms, the phone trembling briefly in her hand.
“Right,” I agreed hesitantly. “Although, I still need to use the S-CIA’s resources to take care of a couple other problems before I can fully relax.” I paused. “Might also need to hire Ms. Fowler to continue helping, at least until I’ve been billed for a few hundred intelligence hours.”
Winter flinched again.
Jackie was silent, realizing what I was implying – that there was still a threat. One that might require a decent amount of time and energy to resolve. “I see. Okay, well, I will try to strong-arm them into making you a priority then. After all, we do owe you a thousand hours before the end of the year. And I apologize for them refusing to schedule with you sooner.”
“I understand. But now that this problem is solved, maybe they can spare the time.”
“Yes,” she agreed. “I think I’ll work on making sure they make the time. Thanks again, Sam. And tell Winter I said thanks as well.”
“Will do,” I agreed.
She hung up.
Winter slowly returned the phone to her pocket, but didn’t say anything. I didn’t either, still just holding her against me.
Finally, after a moment she spoke up.
“I don’t think your females will appreciate you offering to keep me around for a while longer.”
I shrugged. “We sincerely have an issue that only you might be able to help with,” I replied. “I’m sure you’ve heard enough of our passing thoughts to have an idea of what’s lurking in the shadows of our lives.”
She nodded.
“And really, you just being around isn’t really the issue they would have. If they even did have a problem with it.”
She nodded again. Then, after another short pause, she carefully climbed out of my lap, and settled back in her seat. I wasn’t necessarily implying that she needed to do that, but it probably wasn’t best if I continue to keep her in my lap when she seemed to be doing better now.
The Powerful Pride of an Immortal (Immortal Supers Book 4) Page 28
