by Celeste Raye
“You’re alive.”
He was shocked, and Vanessa remembered that the poor kid had already watched his mother die. Shane had opened up about it a little bit, and it wasn’t hard to imagine that he had been sure that it was going to happen again.
“Yes.”
“And the witches?”
“It was just one. I think I got her. It hit her in the chest, and she went down.”
“They are never alone.”
Shane’s eyes were so clear. He had been right before, so she grabbed his hand and moved him closer to the root cellar. It was the only place where he would not be found. It was hard to find, and Vanessa wouldn’t have even known about it if she hadn’t gotten potatoes out of there for a soup.
When she had him comfortable, Vanessa promised that she would be back, once she figured out if he was right or not. It would have been stupid on her part not to believe him. It didn’t matter why Shane knew all of the things that he did, just that he knew.
She heard movement coming from the front door. Vanessa moved to the hallway, where she could see whoever came in and would still have cover. Vanessa was clinging to the gun.
The door rattled for a moment, and then the knob started to turn. Vanessa held her breath, waiting to see what would happen next. She was sure that it was going to be the witch that she shot, or another one that Shane was convinced was around.
Vanessa gasped when the person came through the door.
“Scott! Thank God you are here! Get in here. There could be witches out there.”
Chapter Ten
Scott didn’t know what to think when he walked in. The door was locked, and when he finally got the key in the hole and opened it, his babysitter came out of nowhere talking about witches.
At first, he thought that she was joking around. She didn’t look scared, and she said it so matter-of-factly, but then he saw something that made him realize she was dead serious. He closed the door behind him and looked at the gun that his nanny was holding in her hand. His nostrils flared, smelling the gun powder.
“What is going on? Is that a real gun?”
“Yes, there are witches out there. I shot one of them.”
“Where is my son?”
He was looking around, waiting for his son to pop up like she had. When Shane didn’t, Scott started to go back into the panic. Had he been taken again?
“He is in the root cellar. I knew that they couldn’t find him there. He’s safe. I think I killed the one, but Shane was convinced that there were more, so I believed him.”
Scott felt a little relief but wanted all the information. He went in the direction that Vanessa sent him, where she had shot the witch. He told her to go into the cellar with his son and that he would be back as soon as he could. Scott was kicking himself for leaving, even if he did get more information on the witch that was in charge of it all.
The witches that wanted Shane had used that to their advantage, and it made Scott wonder if they had been watching, waiting for him to go and give them an opportunity. He took off, trying to figure out what was going on. He had no clue that things were so dire, but now he was starting to realize that he had been looking at things all wrong. Again.
He went to where Vanessa said she had shot the witch and he believed that she had done just that, but he didn’t find a body. He found a bullet that had hit something, bloody on the ground. His son was probably right, and there was another person. That other person had retrieved the body and then took off.
Changing to his true form, Scott started to smell the witches, and there were two. He could tell where the other one had been waiting in the bushes. He knew that he was lucky his nanny had done such a good job of getting the witches to leave. She had wounded one, possible mortally, but also scared the other one off. It bought them time, time that they were going to need.
He didn’t find any other proof. There was a trail, and he wanted to follow it and see where it led, however, Scott had family that was scared in the house, and he had to get them away. He wasn’t sure where they were going yet, but he knew that they were getting out of there. They knew where he was, which wouldn’t have been very hard to find out.
Scott wanted to kick himself for leaving. He should have listened to his son. Shane had been clear about what he thought was going on and Scott had ignored him.
That was a hard pill to swallow.
As Scott was making it back up to the house, he didn’t know what to say. He owed Vanessa everything for keeping his son safe.
The witches had left, but that didn't mean that they were necessarily going to be gone for long. They wanted Shane for one reason or another. He knew that he had to get his son as far away from there as he could.
The two were nowhere to be seen. He looked around for a moment and remembered that Vanessa had said that they would be in the cellar. He had forgotten all about it, too worried about what he hadn't learned from going outside. There was no question that it was the Franklin Organization behind it all, but there was a huge question as to why. Were they trying to get all of the people back that were taken from the compound?
When he opened the root cellar, his son launched into his arms and Scott could tell that he was nervous. The boy was shaking in his arms, and he felt bad for a moment. He was supposed to be there, and he had left. None of it would have happened if he would have stayed like Shane had asked.
“I told you that I didn't want you to leave, Dad.”
That just broke his heart a little bit more, and he agreed. “I am so sorry that I left, son. We are going to get out of here and make sure that they can’t find you. I should have been more cautious.”
“Where are we going?”
He looked over and kind of shrugged, because he really didn't have an idea. Scott only knew that they were not safe any longer and there had to be somewhere better.
“I guess we're going to go for a little road trip. Are you guys ready for that?”
The question was more to Vanessa because she was the one that didn’t have to go along with it. He wanted to make sure that she was willing to go as well.
“I think your father is right. It would be best if we got out of here for a little while and then we wouldn't have to worry about the witches knowing where you are.”
Scott was relieved that she was going along with that. For one reason or another, his son was listening to her better than he was listening to him. At the end of the day, as long as Shane was safe, it didn't really matter who was right and who was wrong.
He would not be able to forgive himself if something happened to any of them. After everything they'd been through and everything it had taken to get Shane back home, Scott wasn’t going to take any chances.
She had agreed to the new adventure, and they tried to make a game out of it. They talked about where they could go and, in the end, they gave Shane the option of the first stop. He unsurprisingly wanted to go camping. It was something that the two of them had done together. His wife had never been too into the outdoors.
“Well, that sounds like a great idea, Shane. Why don't we get some stuff together and then we will be able to leave? I think the sooner, the better, don't you?”
Shane was serious for a moment and then agreed.
“Yes, they're going to come back, and I don't want to be here. I hope they can't find us again for a while. They are going to ruin our camping trip.”
Scott had a moment of indecision that came over him. He wanted to believe that everything was going as planned, but it wasn't at all. Something was happening, and he had learned very quickly that he did not have control of the situation. The fact that he was listening to his ten-year-old and taking advice from him should have made it clear that he had no idea what was going on. He was in the dark, just like he had been for all the time that Shane was gone.
They put everything in one of the black SUVs in the driveway and Scott got behind the wheel of the vehicle. Camping sounded like a good idea, but not in tents. He wanted
them to have the safety of walls around them, and he knew just the place. He wanted to regress deep into the woods, where nobody would find them. Especially not the witches wreaking havoc in their lives.
Vanessa looked nervous next to him, and she hadn't said much for a while. He wanted to ask her what she thought about it, but Shane was in the back, and he was paying attention to everything. Scott hoped that he got a little bit of sleep soon so that he and Vanessa could have a real conversation. It was becoming clear that they desperately needed to have one. He wanted to know exactly what happened with the shooting and where she got the gun. Why she brought it.
Scott was full of nothing but questions, and he really wanted some answers.
Chapter Eleven
“So, what does the witch look like?”
Vanessa shrugged because it was hard to say one way or another. It hadn’t been long she was looking at her, and she was quite a bit away. There wasn’t anything much that stood out to her.
“I don't know; she just looked like a young woman, maybe even a teenager. I noticed that everything around me was quiet. All the bugs, the birds, the bees. And then, I don't know, I just knew that something was coming. I got Shane out of the water, and he knew almost immediately what was going on. He said something about them coming and they weren't going to leave him be until he was back with them. He was scared, and I can't say that he didn't scare the crap out of me too.”
“So, what happened after you saw her?”
“Well, I knew that she was outside, so I got him safely in the house. I wasn't too interested in sticking around outside with her.”
“And then?”
Vanessa was replaying the moment that she shot somebody for the first time. It was certainly not a moment that she wanted to relive.
“I went back outside, to see where she had gone. I saw her, and then I shot at her. The first time missed her, and the second time hit her in the chest. Then she dropped to the ground, and that was that.”
“Do you remember anything else?”
“Not really. I just wanted to get in and get away from it all, check on Shane. He was convinced that there was another one with her. He said that they never went alone anywhere, so I told him to go to the root cellar. I waited for somebody else to try to get in, then I heard you. I thought you were either the one that I shot or the one that Shane was convinced was with her.”
He could tell that she was all worked up.
“He was right. There was definitely another witch, and she took the one that you shot. There was blood, quite a bit of it, but I don't know what that means exactly. She could have lived. I’m not sure.”
“Well, thank you for finding that much out. I don't know what to think about all of this. How does he know so much about them?”
“I think the real question is what more does he know about them that he doesn't realize is important. He was with the witches for a couple of years. He probably knows them better than we ever will. If we can ever get him to open up and talk about it, then maybe we can figure out what is going on. We're just going to have to move slow, even though the Franklin Organization is getting worse. They seem not to care who they hurt anymore.”
“They do need to go away. I don’t know how it will happen, but I have a good feeling that it will.”
“I hope you’re right, Vanessa. I am sick of people coming after my son. I want this to end, one way or another.”
Vanessa agreed and leaned back in the seat. Her head was pounding.
“You alright?”
“Yeah, just a long day. I’ve never shot someone before…”
Her voice trailed off, and she closed her eyes. Some things, she wasn’t going to be able to un-see. That particular scene was going to play inside her head for all time.
He pulled her close and led her head to lean on his shoulder. Vanessa needed that bit of touch, and she sighed out loud.
“I am sorry I got you into this, Vanessa, but I am so thankful that you were there. I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t been. I can’t even think about it.”
She covered his hand with her own, and only then realized how intimate it felt. His hand was warm, and the fingers curled around hers. Now her arm was leaning on his thigh, and he had a firm grip on her. Vanessa thought about pulling her hand away, but truthfully, it would have just made a bigger deal of it than she wanted. It was hard for her to say in words what the comfort was doing for her.
“It’s not your fault. I knew what I was getting into; that’s why Fran said to bring the gun, I guess. I didn’t think I would use it, but I’m glad that I brought it. It’s been one hell of a rollercoaster though. How do you think they found us?”
Vanessa was already lumping herself into the situation. There were a few times that she’d thought about just leaving, but then again, she knew that she wouldn’t be able to. She couldn’t leave them, not knowing what was going to happen. All she wanted to do was figure out how to help and get Shane back to a place where he wouldn’t be so scared. He had good reason to be though.
“I don’t know. I think that Shane knows more than he realizes. He just seems to know things.”
Vanessa told him a little bit about what she had noticed. There had been some definite changes in the boy.
“What do you mean, his eyes turned colors?”
“I don’t know. They were black, and it was like the features on his face changed. It was weird, and I forgot to tell you earlier. I don’t think Shane knew what was going on. He was scared.”
Scott said that he didn’t know, and Vanessa could see that he was worried. There was no doubt that he was wondering what those people had done to his kid. Scott mentioned several times that he was different.
“I mean, he is still my son, don’t get me wrong, but there is something different. I can’t even begin to imagine what he has seen, heard and felt while he’s been gone. I don’t feel the closeness that we used to feel, and I hope it comes back. I don’t know how I will cope if I have to lose that part of it.”
“I am sure it will just take time. He is still scared.”
“He was convinced that they are coming for him and I just brushed it off. I should have known…”
She squeezed his hand and kissed him on the cheek. “How could you have known such a thing? When the Franklin Organization is gone, and there is no one to go after him, then he won’t have to worry about it all so much. I don’t think he is going to be able to feel safe until there is no one else that he has to look behind himself for. I think it’s going to be okay.”
“I don’t know if you’re just saying that or not, but either way, it’s good to hear. I never thought I would get him back; I really didn’t. I thought I might find a body one day, but never would I have thought that he was being experimented on by witches and humans, in some half-underground compound. I went to see it, you know. It’s was huge and mangled, but I could see how much money was put into the project.”
“Do you think that you can beat them?”
“I have to believe that. If not, how am I going to be able to leave his side ever? It won’t be possible, and I don’t want us to have to look over our shoulder every day. It will have to be taken care of. One way or another.”
She felt a shiver run through her, then sat up and studied his profile. His jaw was set, and he looked determined.
“I hope you do. I think that the witch is beatable, you just have to find a way to do it. Have you guys figured something out yet?”
“There have been some ideas that have been tossed around.”
“But you don’t think that they are going to work?”
“I don’t know. Maybe they will, maybe they won’t. I don’t like dealing with magic and what-ifs. I like proof and concrete situations that I know the outcome of.”
Vanessa could relate, but nothing seemed guaranteed with what was going on. There was a lot that was still in the air. She hadn’t imagined they would be in that kind of trouble. She had been wrong th
ough.
“I don’t think there will be any guarantees.”
Scott looked at her a little shocked. “I think you’re right, Vanessa. I don’t think this is going to be straightforward at all. At this point, any ‘Hail Mary’ will do.”
He was slowing down, and Vanessa sat up. They had been driving for hours, and she was glad to see that the destination was finally in sight. The house was smaller, older, but there was seclusion that she liked. She felt safer already, and it did feel like a cabin, which Shane seemed to want for his camping adventure.
Vanessa started to relax, telling herself that everything was going to be fine. She was around a bad-ass shifter that could turn into a lion. How could anything go wrong?
Chapter Twelve
“Thanks for helping me get him to bed, Vanessa. You really do have a knack for kids.”
She smiled, and Scott melted a little bit. They’d had a moment when they were together in the car. He’d wanted to kiss her, really kiss her, but then they had arrived, and the moment passed. Shane had woken up when the car stopped and getting him fed and ready for bed had taken some time.
Now, they were out on the porch of the older house, and they both had a drink in their hand.
“How was there even stuff for us here?”
Vanessa was looking at the drink in her hand and Scott explained that he had one of his pack come ahead. They could move faster than he could. Shane wasn’t old enough to shift yet, and it was slower going with conventional travel.
“And they knew to bring booze?”
He smiled and agreed. “Hell yeah. They know that I was going to need it. Don’t you?”
Vanessa agreed, but she wasn’t looking at him. Her eyes were gazing out into the darkness.
