Shifters (The Neturu Chronicles Book 3)

by Sarah Carter

  Okay, Mommy.

  Claire comes up to the corner. M134 is going to be two doors down on her right. She knows she’s going to have to be fast. Turning the corner, she comes face to face with a gun. “Don’t move,” a guy says.

  “Like that’s going to happen,” Claire snaps. “You don’t need to do this.”

  The guy tenses up and looks around. “She ambushed you. I will stick with her. You don’t know what she is capable of. Now, don’t move. She wants you alive.”

  “I will die before I let that happen,” Claire yells.

  He raises the gun. “I will shoot.” Suddenly, with great force, his head is bashed into the wall. He crumbles down.

  Lexi is standing in the hallway. “No touch my Mommy!”

  “Lexi,” Claire scolds. “I told you to stay.”

  “Mommy!” She cries. She runs at her. Claire sweeps her up into her arms.

  “It’s okay,” she whispers, holding Lexi close.

  Looking at her with big eyes, Lexi says, “She coming.”

  “You can see where she is?” Claire asks.

  She shakes her head. “No, no see. Lexi just know.”

  “She must be close,” Claire mutters.

  “Uncle Mason!” Lexi cries.

  “We should find him?”

  Lexi nods. “Want Uncle Alex.”

  Claire looks around. “We need to run through walls, okay? No one can catch us then. Okay?” Lexi nods again. Claire presses under her ear. “Alex, where is Mason?”

  “With everyone else. We are in the main conference room. We have six red squadron guards outside.”

  “I’m coming there. Tell the guards to be on alert. She will be able to take them down if she has that sedative.”

  “We will be careful,” Alex confirms.

  She looks at Lexi. “Okay honey. We are going to go through the walls. Are you going to be able to keep up?”

  “Lexi run with Mommy,” Lexi states with a nod.

  Setting her down, Claire says, “I have to have access to my weapons. If I let go of your hand, hide. I will take care of the bad guys.”

  “Lexi help!”

  “You will not help. You will hide,” Claire commands.

  Lexi frowns. “Okay Mommy.”

  “Let’s go. We need to run this way.”

  “Go Mommy!” She pulls her to a wall and they disappear. They ran from room to room. Suddenly, Lexi goes, “Mommy!”

  They skid to a stop in the room. There are two guys dressed in all black. Claire jumps at them as they turn around. The one guy is quick enough to hit her. Claire rolls to the side. Her gun goes skidding across the floor. When she looks up, the other guy is drawing a gun on her. She grabs a cina blade out. The guy looks at her with wide eyed, Claire throws the blade precisely at him. It hits him and he falls to the ground. The last guy growls. “You’re going to die.”

  The floor below him suddenly disappears. She can hear him scream the entire way down. Claire looks up to see a tiny hand on the floor. Lexi is hidden underneath a table. “Lexi,” Claire whispers. She pulls her out. Little Lexi looks terrified.

  “Mommy kill.”

  “Did you see?” Claire asks.

  “No, Lexi close eyes real tight like Mommy say when she rescue Lexi.”

  Claire hugs her close. “Thank you for doing that. I wish we knew how many traitors there are.”

  “Lexi sorry,” Lexi whimpers. “Lexi no know. Two time shift.”

  “There’s been two,” Claire gasps.

  “Someone listening,” Lexi says, looking around.

  “Great,” Claire groans.

  Lexi pulls on Claire. “Mommy. We go. We go by Uncle Mason.”

  “Yeah,” Claire says. She puts her down and they run through the ship. Finally, they run through the last wall. A bunch of guns get drawn on them. “Stop!” Claire screams. “It’s us!”

  Alex lowers his gun. “Do you have any idea where she is?”

  “Lexi can’t see.” Claire looks around. “Where’s Damien?”

  “We have no idea. We don’t know where your grandfather is either,” Alex replies.

  Claire presses below her ear. “Pops?” There is nothing but silence. “Pops?”

  “Mommy,” Lexi whines, pulling on her jumpsuit. Claire looks at her. Lexi’s lip’s quivering. “Gampa hurt.”

  “Where?” Claire asks.

  “Lexi no know. It’s dark.”

  “Where’s Daddy?” Claire says, trying to keep her voice from cracking.

  Lexi shakes her head. “Lexi no know. Lexi can’t see Daddy. Can’t see Daddy at all.”

  With her chest tightening, Claire barely exhales, “The Collector has him. That’s the only reason she wouldn’t be able to see him. It involves her.”

  “I bet she wants to trade,” Alex suggests.

  Vigorously shaking her head, Claire says, “I won’t give Lexi to her.”

  “She will kill Damien. She’s a psychopath,” Mason states.

  Like a steel door slamming shut, Claire emotions are turned off and she can only think of one thing. “I will kill her.”

  “What if she can’t be killed?”

  Claire growls, “I will chop her up into tiny pieces and throw her into the ocean. The sharks can eat her.”

  Mason nods. “I guess that might work.”

  “How do we find her?” Alex asks.

  “She will come to us,” Claire answers. “She has to.”

  “How will she know where we are?”

  Squeezing her little hand, Claire replies, “Lexi says she’s listening. She must have control over the computers.”

  “This is bad,” Aurora whines. “This is really, really bad. I’m scared.” Claire notices everyone else in the room looks just as terrified.

  “I have to take the fight away from all of you. Mason, are you staying here or going with us?” Claire asks.

  With a curt nod, Mason says, “I’m going with. You need me.”

  “I’m coming, too,” Alex says.

  “Alex, stay with them. She will put you out. Stay with the kids. Protect them.”

  “Claire,” Alex replies sharply.

  “You are one of our best fighters. These kids need to be safe. Protect them.”

  He gives her a look. “But…”

  “That’s an order,” Claire states seriously.

  “Fine.”

  Claire turns. “Mason, you take Lexi.”

  “I can’t jump her,” he replies.

  “No, but you know her. I trust you. Protect her. Let’s go.”

  “Where are we going?” Mason asks.

  She sighs. “I haven’t figured that out yet.”

  “See Daddy,” Lexi cries.

  “Where? Where do you see him?” Claire gasps.

  “Cafemeria,” Lexi replies. “Daddy is hurt.”

  Her eyes narrow. “I’m going to kill that bitch and make it painful. Harming someone of the merjyet line. That means execution orders.”

  “I think that’s a given already,” Mason snorts. “We should go.”

  “We can’t all run through the walls. We are going to have to slowly make our way through the ship. It’s not that far. Are you trained on any sort of weapon?” Claire asks.

  He shakes his head. “I’m a weapon.”

  “Lexi,” Claire says, squatting down.

  “Yeah Mommy,” Lexi replies, with big eyes.

  “Use your powers. Use them to the full extent. Okay? You protect yourself.” Lexi nods her head slowly in understanding. Claire stands up. “Let’s go.”

  Lexi grabs her mom’s hand. “Lexi show.”

  “Lexi show what?” Claire replies.

  “All,” Lexi exhales. She grabs Mason’s hand and holds onto Claire’s hand. An electrical ripple runs though Claire. Then they are suddenly no longer in the conference room, but in the hallway outside of the cafeteria.

  She squats down in front of Lexi. “What did you do?”

  “Lexi do all,” Lexi replies.
“Mommy don’t know.”

  “You can do more than you’ve shown,” Claire gasps.

  Her little head nods. “Time shift. If Mommy know, time shift.”

  “What else can you do?”

  “Help Daddy,” Lexi replies.

  “Yeah,” Claire whispers. She draws out two daggers. Sneaking to the corner, Claire turns and looks. Damien is lying on the floor. Her heart shatters into a million pieces. There’s blood everywhere. “No. Oh god. Damien.”

  Lexi comes up next to her. “Lexi go to Daddy.”

  “I don’t know where The Collector is,” Claire whispers to her. “We have to be careful.”

  “Lexi go,” Lexi states and she disappears.

  Claire spins and sees her rematerialize next to Damien. “Damn it,” Claire hisses. Lexi squats down and holds herself over Damien. Claire turns to Mason. “Go to her.”

  “Yeah, pretty sure she can hold her own,” Mason states. “I’m your backup.”

  “She’s two,” Claire snaps.

  “She could destroy this ship with her mind,” Mason says. “The darts don’t work on her. She’s not enough Neturu. She told me that.”

  Looking around, Claire says, “We need to make our way over to them. Where do you think she is? Why is there no one else around? She has to have some back up.”

  “She psychotic. She may think she doesn’t need it,” Mason murmurs, looking around.

  “Well, let’s try to get to them. You cover the left and I will cover the right. Do you want a knife?”

  “I’ve never had to use one,” Mason replies, “But, it’s probably a good idea.” Claire pulls one out and hands it to him.

  “Be careful. That will cut someone’s hand off,” she declares.

  He nods. “Got it. Let’s go.” They turn the corner and start to make their way across the room. It’s eerily quiet. They make it half way through, very slowly. Looking everywhere. “Where is she?”

  They hear, “I’m right here.” They spin behind them. The Collector is standing there, in a jumpsuit.

  Claire takes a stance. “You have two options. Option one is surrender. Option two is I kill you.”

  The Collector laughs. “I can’t die, so good luck with that.”

  “Oh,” Claire counters. “I’m pretty sure I could figure out a way to kill you. It may take a little time but that’s just more fun for me.” She grins.

  “I can incapacitate you,” The Collector snorts.

  “They’ve never really tried that.”

  Smiling, The Collector replies, “I’ve read the files. I know all about you. I did not know there was a succubus gene. I know now. It will be easy to create more of you.”

  “Why are you creating all these super beings? You won’t be able to over throw the council. They know now. They are probably surrounding the ship,” Claire states, contemplating what to do.

  “We’re all going on a little ride.”

  “To Jiub?”

  With a nod of her head, The Collector says, “Yes.”

  “Why!? What good would it do?” Claire asks.

  A look of fury sweeps across The Collector’s face, “The council left people behind!”

  “Neturu…”

  “No. Kenga!”

  Claire narrows her eyes. “They were left to their people.”

  “Sharnak wasn’t just starting a war with us. He was starting a war with his own people.”

  “What?” Claire replies.

  “There were rebels!” The Collector screams. “They were fighting against him. My husband was a rebel. He DIED. I was able to extract his blood and preserve it.”

  Standing up a little, Claire says, “I thought you had to leave him behind.”

  “I was forced to leave his family behind. I SWORE. I promised him I would keep them safe,” The Collector cries, her face getting blood red.

  “Then why all of this?” Claire asks. “Why abuse the children so bad?”

  Sneering, she replies, “They were experiments, nothing more. They were trials until I created the ultimate being.”

  Claire starts inching towards her daughter. “Lexi.”

  The Collector’s eyes shift to the little girl. “Yes, Lexi. With her, I can go back and make things right.”

  “How are you going to make things right?” Claire replies. “What can she do to help the Kenga?”

  Her eyes dart to Lexi. “She didn’t tell you.”

  “Sometimes we don’t understand what she is talking about,” Claire says. “She doesn’t even understand.”

  A grin crawls across The Collector’s face. “All the better.” She starts to walk across the floor to Lexi and Damien. “Lexi, we are going for a ride.”

  The little girl’s face starts to whiten. “Mommy.”

  “You’re not going anywhere!” Claire yells. “Stay away from my daughter.”

  “Your daughter?” The Collector laughs. “She is my flesh and blood.”

  “My Mommy!” Lexi cries, pointing to Claire. “You not my Mommy.”

  The Collector raises one eyebrow. “It doesn’t matter who you think is your mother is. That’s not why you were created.”

  “Why was she created?” Claire asks.

  “To make things right on Jiub. I don’t know if anyone is even alive. We need to make things right.”

  “We didn’t start the war,” Claire points out. “They started it.”

  A look of fury flashes on The Collector’s face. “They were left behind. I lost my loved ones. Now, you will know what that feels like.”

  Damien starts to cough and blood comes out of his mouth. “Oh my god. Damien!” Claire cries.

  “Go ahead Lexi,” The Collector purrs. “Save him.”

  “Save Daddy, Lexi go to sleep,” Lexi says.

  While The Collector isn’t looking, Claire runs for her. The Collector spins and shoots the taser that was hidden in her hand. Claire freezes, but suddenly Mason is in front of her. The taser hits him and he jerks around. Collapsing in front of her, Mason passes out.

  “Damn it,” The Collector snorts.

  Claire and her stare at each other. “I’m going to kill you,” Claire states.

  “Go ahead and try,” The Collector laughs. “I was here before you and I will be here after you. I’m taking Lexi to Jiub. You can’t stop me.”

  “I will try,” Claire says, drawing her sword.

  “Come, come at me as you can,” The Collector laughs harder. She reaches into her the back of her shirt and draws out a gun. “A sword against a gun. Aren’t you the bad ass guard member? A sword? What good is a sword from all the way over there?”

  “Why are you so bat shit crazy?” Claire asks.

  The Collector’s eyes widen and her nostrils flare. “I’m not crazy!”

  “What would your husband say to the way you treated those kids?” Claire replies. “How would he look at you?”

  “You, shut up!” The Collector screams.

  “I’m going to kill you, and as you lay there dying, I’m going to smile. I am going to smile and give you the finger from the kids.”

  Rolling her eyes, The Collector goes, “Blah, blah, blah. The kids will be mine once again and they will reap what they sow.”

  “They did nothing,” Claire snaps.

  “They didn’t stay,” The Collector draws out. “They are my children and I will discipline them how I see fit.”

  “You are one crazy ass bitch,” Claire gasps.

  “I may be a bitch, but I’m not crazy.”

  Claire raises an eyebrow. “Yup, pretty sure you are.”

  “Mommy,” Lexi whispers. “Daddy is dying.”

  “Oh my god,” Claire exhales.

  “Do it Lexi. You know what want to. Save dear old Daddy. So sad for such a powerful mind to go to waste. He’s hot as hell, too. Does that make me a cougar? Just a little. Is he dynamite in the sack?”

  “Shut up,” Claire seethes. “You’re not allowed to talk about him that way.”

  Th
e Collector smiles. “Ooo, I struck a nerve. So, it’s that good huh?”

  “Shut up!”

  “Mommy…” Lexi whimpers.

  “Save him Lexi. Save Daddy,” The Collector teases. “Who knew you’d think the Blakely’s were your family. The royal line. Whatever.”

  Mom. Don’t look at me. Just listen. Get ready. You will know when to attack.

  Claire continues to look at The Collector. “You need to shut your trap. She’s our daughter.”

  “Who says? Her? There’s time shifts all the time honey child. Time’s a passing thing.”

  Lexi suddenly stands up and glares at The Collector. “There are no time shifts and have never been any time shifts.”

  Both Claire and The Collector jerk back. The Collector shakes her head. “Wow, that sounded very adult like. You tell me all the time that there have been time shifts.”

  Getting a rather sinister grin for a two-year-old, Lexi says, “There has never been a time shift. I lied. Everything has gone to plan.”

  “Why are you talking in complete sentences?” The Collector snorts.

  “Because, I’m not two-year-old Lexi,” Lexi states. “I’m 35-year-old Lexi. I see the past, present and future. I also can project myself where needed. Time has its plans. It does not end well for you.”

  “You are not 35-year-old Lexi,” The Collector groans, rolling her eyes.

  “I never realized this until this moment,” Lexi says. “You act like you’re a teenager. Like a dumb teenager. Did your growth get stumped there?”

  The Collector looks pissed. “How dare you?”

  “How dare I what?” Lexi counters. “You do not want to threaten me. You really do not want to threaten me. Now would be the time to surrender.”

  Turning the gun on Claire, The Collector shoots. Claire sees her life flash before her eyes. Suddenly, she feels the electrical surge through her. The next thing Claire knows is that she is standing in front of Damien. Little Lexi is holding on to her. Claire looks up shocked. The Collector looks even more shocked. “You little…”

  “I told you not to threaten me,” Lexi states. “What do I always say? Oh yeah, you make Lexi mad.” Suddenly, The Collector is lifted up into the air and completely frozen. “My two-year-old self won’t remember this until much later in life, but no matter what, you will die.” Suddenly, the whole ship shifts.

  “Lexi, what are you doing?” Claire asks.

  “Mom, I’m going to sleep for days after this. Don’t worry, okay?” A haunting voice comes out of Lexi.