LRR Hood

by Cassandra Johnson

  “You’re killing my dog; you mean son of a bitch!”

  Atop of his back, another weight was added as he fell chest first into the hardening icy pack of snow. Being beaten about the head and shoulders, Marik didn’t know how much more he could take.

  “Stop! Goddamn it, it’s me!”

  Me? Elle didn’t know anyone named me, but she sure as shit knew a mother fucker who was about to get his ass thrown in jail. Grabbing the back of his head, her fingers hooking into the hair that was looped into his pony tail and began to pull and push, pull and push bashing his face into the snow repeatedly amongst the gurgling sounds of muffled speech.

  “I came for the phone! Get off me, stupid bitch!” Spitting out blood and snow by the mouthful.

  The boil of anger began to slow, or she had just used up all her energy. Gregory was still ripping and snapping his head back and forth at the man’s bloodied hand and wrist as she sat back. Elle hadn’t let go of his hair just yet. She was huffing and puffing trying to catch her breath as she squeaked for Gregory to stop. At the word of his girl the dog immediately stopped, pacing backwards somewhat, but his eyes remaining on the mess of a man they had just taken down together in a fit of rage and on her part a whole lot of fear. Elle was quickly learning that being scared was a great motivator.

  Either because she’d been screaming, or the cold. She was so hoarse she could barely speak as the words escaped her lips in a stream of vapor.

  “You!?” She squeaked

  Slamming his head back down once more, she slowly climbed off of him, falling onto her hip in the snow.

  “What kind of crazy lunatic are you!? You don’t just show up at a defenseless woman’s home unannounced. A stranger!” Crawling up she was shaking from the cold and from the rage she still felt coiling and uncoiling within her muscles. Her hair was strung around her face. She was bare footed as a goose in a pair of old sweats and a t-shirt, and her nipples were so hard she could have cut diamonds in an icy storm. Literally.

  “I have a GPS tracker on my phone. I thought if you wouldn’t tell me where you lived then I would just come get the phone anyway.”

  Struggling to his feet, Marik looked like something that the cat dragged in. Dusting the snow off of his body, his hand was dripping blood as well as his nose. Idly Elle found herself not so afraid of men now. She thought she had pretty much proved to herself that she was not helpless, not by a long shot, but she did have Gregory to thank for that. He was willing to be killed to protect her.

  Dumbfounded by his response, her hands curled up into make-shaft claws as her neck strained and became taught as she let out a scream to the heavens.

  “You are fucking crazy!”

  Dropping her hands at her sides she turned, stomping back towards the house, Gregory following behind her only by a few short paces as they disappeared inside and slammed the door shut. She was no doubt by now calling the police as Marik slugged up behind her, his wounded hand at his side as he used the palm of his other hand to slap against the door frame.

  “I want my brother. I know you’re hiding him in there you pack hound!” Marik thundered from outside. Ripping the torn sleeve from his jacket and wrapped it around his hand and tied it off quickly to stop some of the bleeding.

  Within seconds the door swung open again before something hard hit him square in the chest, it was the phone, but it appeared that the little woman on the other side of that smack wasn’t finished just yet.

  “You asshole. Do you think that if I were hiding a man somewhere in the lonely existence of my life that I would have been cuddled up on the couch drinking hot coco and wrapped in a blanket while I got some much needed sweet-sweet lovin’ that I would be fighting my own fights!? No wonder your brother doesn’t want to see you. You’re probably the whole reason he threw his phone out of a car right before he almost hit me with it. You’re a sick crazy freak who stalks people with their own damn phone!” Her whole five foot one inches of height were backing him down the steps. Her feet turned ever redder from the cold right along with her face coupled with the angry words she was throwing at him. Stumbling, he fell down the last three steps as he clutched the phone to his chest with his good hand.

  Sniffing there was snot running from her nose like a hot water faucet as she whipped her hair away from her face.

  “You’re lucky I don’t call the police and have your ass thrown in jail for stalking and assault you piece of shit!”

  What he saw he could barely believe. It was her. The woman from the photographs, that stupid pen name stuck in his head. All he could see flashing in front of his eyes were LRR Hood. She was smaller than he would have estimated from the two pictures he’d seen of her. Blonde hair looking wild as she stood in front of him, her face as red as a tomato.

  “Well? Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

  Marik had the strangest sensation that he was just a little boy who’d been caught lying as he shrunk under her heated gaze. This was the woman his brother was stalking, she had his cell phone, but she didn’t know him, so Gaerik hadn’t gone after her, yet. He couldn’t even have imagined what this woman thought of him, he didn’t have to imagine because she was doing a pretty good job of telling him straight to his face. Lamely the words slipped out of his mouth before his brain could process what words his lips had just articulated.

  “You’re her.” Little Red Riding Hood, that explained why she had the guardian.

  Chapter Eight

  Uh oh. Somewhere in all her books whenever someone said something like that, it could either be a really, good thing or a really, bad thing. Given the circumstances, Elle was swaying towards the bad thing. Her eyes widened slowly as she looked this man up and down. She had a choice to make, two of them. Elle could go inside, slam the door, lock it and call the police or she could find out exactly what this guy was talking about. Now, considering that she wasn’t the heroine in a book, of course, she was going to make the smart choice. Whirling around, she ran into the house and locked the door behind her. Her back flattening against the surface of the scarred wood as her eyes searched the living room. ‘Where the hell is my phone?’ Her ankle was beginning to hurt again as she limped around on it, pulling up throw pillows and looking all over the coffee table. When was the last time she had used her own phone? Just the mere thought of it had her mentally kicking herself. What was wrong with her? She lived a good life, but no, she had to go and take a lost or rather thrown away cell phone home with her and play detective to see who it belonged to or if the owner was some kind of kinky sex fiend and took pictures on his phone. Elle couldn’t have stepped on the phone and broken it and just went home and forgotten all about the ordeal. Elle had to be curious. Elle had to go sticking her nose in where it didn’t belong.

  Curiosity killed the cat, ya know? That small voice in her head whispered to her. Elle scolded the tiny voiced woman back into the hiding place of her brain where she would keep her mouth shut. Keep your opinions to yourself. She really didn’t need an, I told you so, moment right now because when she really needed that voice, she was nowhere to be found.

  He’d scared her. Of course, now she grows a brain. She was probably barricading herself in her closet right while she dialed 911, but he had to see if he could talk to her.

  “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you but miss I really need to talk to you. There are things that you need to know about my brother.”

  “I don’t need to know a damn thing about your brother. Go away. I have a gun! I’ll blow you away!”

  The more excited she got, the heavier her accent became it was southern in its origins, but he couldn’t seem to place it, Alabama or Georgia maybe?

  “I know that all of this is crazy, and we got off to a really bad start, but I swear on my grandfather’s honor you are not in any kind of danger from me.”

  “I think you’re full of shit! I’m calling the cops right now. You better get the hell off of my porch if you don’t want to spend the night in the pok
ey. I got a baseball bat in here, and I will beat a mud hole in yer’ass!”

  “I thought you said you had a gun?”

  Elle wasn’t calling the cops; she still couldn’t find her phone.

  “My name is Marik Chaliceman. I know that you don’t know me, and I really don’t know you very well, but I think that my brother does. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that you ended up with his phone. I won’t even come in unless you invite me. I’ll stand right here on the porch. I just need to talk to you.”

  Perking up, her oath to remember to hang the phone back up on the charger reminded her where her cell phone was. Skipping into her kitchen looking like the hunchback in the bell tower she grabbed her phone from the kitchen island and walked back out to the living room, but he had peeked her interest.

  “How would your brother know me?” She asked, coming to stand next to the door, peaking out of the peep hole at him, this time he didn’t have his finger over it. “I don’t know anyone named Gaerik, I’d remember a name like that, probably even use it myself, but how could it be a coincidence that I found his phone. I don’t think it was planted in the parking lot. It just went flying out of his window like it was the last thing in the world he wanted in his car.” Like it was a bomb about to detonate at any moment.

  At least she seemed to be easing up on the threats to call the police, releasing a sigh from his lips, which immediately turned to icy vapor in front of his face.

  “Your books. He’s read them. I don’t really know if that means anything, but he had a whole file on you at his house. Your real name, everything. I only glanced at it while I was there. He’s been watching you. I don’t know why, but I think you could be in danger. He’s already hurt, one woman.” Marik didn’t want to say murdered that might send her over the deep end again but if she called the cops and Gaerik was determined to have this woman, there wasn’t anything that the cops would be able to do to stop him. Only Marik and the Council could decide his twin’s fate.

  Elle began to shrink in on herself. She’d heard of deranged fans before. It wasn’t uncommon in their business, but being writers you heard about it far less than people who were on television shows and in movies but it wasn’t unheard of in the literary world. Elle didn’t even have book signings because of this. She never wanted anyone to know what she looked like, much to the displeasure of her publishers, who were always trying to convince her to take the next step in her career. There were only a few books that had a picture of her on the back over, and quite frankly without her permission. Swallowing slowly, she looked over at Gregory. He was calm now, laying on the couch watching. She felt more secure knowing that he was there with her. What might have happened if he hadn’t found her when he did? Smiling gently even though her eyes were filling with tears. Her heart was pounding. Things like this only happened in her books and never in real life and now was she seriously considering never putting another stalker scenario in her books again. Not that it was an overused scenario. Delilah would have known right away if someone was stalking her. She had people, contacts, and friends in low places. It was one of the many reasons why Elle loved the character, and after five books she couldn’t make herself retire the character. She got to live a whole different life through her boisterous leading lady and never once with a real threat to her own life.

  Taking a deep breath, she unlocked the door, then slipped it open just a crack to peek out at the man. “I’m letting you in, but only on a probationary period. If you step one toe out of line Gregory will rip your throat out with his teeth.” Elle opened the door enough that he could see she was pointing at the Collie lying on her couch, just taking all of this in with what seemed like a smirk of pride on his muzzle. He may have been old, but he could still take care of business when he needed to.

  “Understood,” Marik said while looking at the guardian. He had no doubts that the beast could and would kill for his mistress. He should have been warier of that fact before, but he never would have imagined that she didn’t know his brother or that she would even have a guardian. Stepping inside slowly. His nose sniffed the air before his brows creased.

  “Is something burning?”

  Chapter Nine

  The black Escalade plowed through the snow as he hit the on the ramp for I-91 south, Gaerik had a vehicle thanks to his connections and enough money to get him out of the state. The command of the Alpha pushing him further and further away from his home and everyone that he knew. He didn’t know how far away he needed to get before the need to run would lessen and give him a moment’s peace, but the longer he stayed in one place his father’s words rang louder and louder in his head. It felt like his ears were bleeding Pack instinct was what kept their species from falling into total and complete anarchy. ‘Blood is more important than any rule.’ His father had told him that once as a boy. That their instincts would never lead them down the wrong path. It now looked like listening to his instincts had him running for his life with his tail tucked between his legs like a damn coward. Given the choice Gaerik wouldn’t have run, he’d never backed down from a fight in his life, but this wasn’t the same thing. Someone was setting him up to take the fall for murder, and if the Council apprehended him, then he was a dead man for sure, right now they wanted to close the case and fast. Gaerik knew the men on the Council, and he knew how their minds worked just like so many other pee-ons who by some stroke of luck, like birth, came into a position of power. They believed only what they were told and never saw anything else until someone else got hurt and they realized that they had gotten the wrong man. The man’s features glowed in the light from the console of the SUV. How could Marik be so stupid to believe he would really kill an innocent? Gaerik had always been reckless, but he had never killed anyone. His twin really thought that low of him.

  Soon the roads would be closed, and he needed to make Philadelphia and the harder he pushed the Escalade, the more he thought of his brother. Gaerik knew that he was always the trickster when they were kids and if he was honest, he also knew that he’d never grown out of those tendencies, but he never meant to hurt anyone. His relationship with his brother had changed overnight. Gaerik wouldn’t hurt anyone, but Marik had stopped believing that a long time ago and all it took was one seed of doubt to be planted in his mind to make that happen.

  The atmosphere between them changed, and Gaerik knew why, but he never cared to try to correct it. He was angry and stubborn and at the time if his brother wanted to believe that he would sleep with some stupid girl that his best friend was dating fine. Let him believe the worst of him. It was a mistake he never corrected, and he found himself wondering now that if things turned out different, would his brother be hunting him now.

  He wasn’t running away from death. He was running towards life. He had to find a way to show his brother, he wasn’t a killer before it was too late.

  ~

  “Do you remember when you were a little boy and I used to tell you about the safe place?” He asked. Lucian sat in his arm chair, staring into the fire as a long-exhausted sigh left his lungs. After a moment or two, his eyes lifted to his grandson who was laying on the couch, his attention in his phone as they spent a quiet moment together like they did when Gaerik was still just a small boy.

  Lowering the phone, he looked at his grandfather, curious about where the question had come from.

  “I remember, why?”

  “They weren’t just stories. There really is a safe place, a house in Arkansas. It has been a safe house of sorts for our kind and those who are friends to us. All my life it has belonged to me, and now I want you to have it.”

  Sitting up Gaerik put his phone down and turned his full attention to the old man seated between himself and the coffee table.

  “Why are you telling me this?” He asked, moving closer to him so that he could look into the man’s eyes to better understand what exactly it was that he was offering him.

  “One day you’re going to need a place to run to. You’re my pup,
always getting into trouble and I want you to have a safe place that you can go to when the shit hit’s the fan.”

  Lucian was serious, he knew that, but the young man couldn’t help the belt of laughter that suddenly erupted from his throat as he rested his elbows on his knees smiling at his grandfather. Of all the people in his family, his father, and his brother. It was always his grandfather who seemed to understand him the best. Gaerik often got himself into some pretty deep piles of shit, but he never imagined himself being so dumb as to need to run away.

  “And when will I need such a place?” He asked now.

  “You’ll know. There are people there, humans that I know, who will make sure you have what you need.”

  “Human’s pop?” Gaerik shook his head gently, the old man really was talking out of his ass now, he had to be.

  “Yes.” He laughed, beginning to cough into his hand gently. “They weren’t any ordinary humans, but for all intents and purposes, they were human. We called them gypsies, but you might know them better as witches.”

  “Grandpa, why are you really telling me this?” Gaerik asked, the humor leaving his tone as he reached inside of his pocket, taking out a pack of cigarettes and lighting one slowly.

  “I’m telling you this because I’m dying.”

  Inhaling, he shook his head for a moment. He wasn’t in the mood for something depressing like this.

  “Pops you’re as healthy as a horse. Don’t say that.”