Dragon's Gap: Set Includes Stories 6-7 Plus A Christmas Surprise

by L M Lacee

  In the end it amounted to her fear of her father being far greater than her fear of what was in the small bottle. When Robbie didn’t turn back around, she gulped the liquid in the bottle and seconds later she felt a warmth steal over her.

  Robbie walked around the corner, he held the bundle in arms that trembled with fear but he knew he was doing the right thing. It was the only thing he could do, no matter how wrong it was.

  Trudy was human and he was a lion, his mother and her father would not care they were in love. Pure blood lines were all that his mother cared about now, she knew they were safe from the sentence handed down by the Goddess. Robbie was not so sure his friend Micky, a wolf, left yesterday for some place far away because his father said they were not safe from the sentence. But his mother, leader of their pride believed they were. Robbie was too young to disobey her and run away with Trudy so he never questioned his mother on her belief. She just told him they were safe, so he chose to believe her.

  He shook at the thought of what she would do if she found out he and Trudy had been together. And as for Trudy’s father, his heart beat a quick tattoo as he shook with renewed fear at the thought of the ex-marine. He may be human but he was scary. He hated shifters, he was always telling Trudy, a good shifter was a dead shifter.

  Trudy lay back as the warmth invaded every layer of her skin. She swore she could feel bubbles in her blood. They tickled causing her to giggle but then the warmth started heading towards hot and then it zoomed right through to burning.

  Fire licked along the inside of her skin centering on the lower portions of her body and zapped the scream from her throat. Trudy curled into a ball of pain and wished Robbie would just come back. She shoved her face into his sweater hoping to smother the screams that wanted to escape, fear of who might hear made her whimpers and groans almost silent.

  The pain was way worse than what she had just been through. Trudy sobbed into the sweater, her sweat drenched body convulsed several times as she was wracked with burning pain, just when she thought she couldn’t take anymore and she was sure the witch had killed her for what she and Robbie had done, the heat left and finally after what felt like hours of torture, the pain subsided, it was over.

  She lay quiet panting hard but with each breath the evidence in her body was removed and memory started to fade.

  The witch stood behind a tree watching the teenagers, the day before the boy had come to her asking for a cure. Something to make a terrible mistake go away. Not an uncommon request as the only resident witch in the territory she got plenty of customers. Usually this problem was handled very early on but for some reason they had left it until now making the solution harder but not impossible.

  She had given him three bottles. So far it looked like he had followed her directions exactly, it remained to be seen if they would follow through on them all. Which is why she found herself standing at 10.00 pm on a dark moonless night behind a bar in the middle of nowhere watching two stupid teenagers fix a problem. The witch flicked her fingers at the boy, taking control of his body, she veered him from the dumpster he was heading towards to a gun metal gray four door truck.

  Another flick of her fingers and the back door of the truck unlocked, he placed his burden on the floor and then slammed the door closed.

  She gave him back control of his body and mind as he walked towards the girl on the ground. He slipped another small bottle of clear liquid from his pocket and swallowed the contents throwing the bottle into the dumpster not noticing the small flare of flame as it disintegrated, as did the small bottle lying beside the girl named Trudy’s out stretched hand.

  Quickly the teenage boy helped the girl up and drunkenly they staggered from behind the building. To any observer, it would look like they had done a spot of underage drinking.

  By morning neither of them would remember the events of the night, and there would be no physical reminders. Her father and his mother would be unable to detect the happenings of the evening.

  The witch watched their progress. She had done all she could to insure a positive outcome. She pulled out a small notebook opened to a page and placed a tick beside the sentence written there. Three months since the fateful night she had made the deal with the Elemental and she had only filled three pages. Sighing… she flipped the pages and placed a cross beside the teenager’s names. They only received this kind of help once. If they were foolish enough to do the same again. She would not give them the same kind of assistance, and they may end up on their own, if the boy survived that was.

  Smiling, she now had another mark in the good column. Sancia only had a few hundred thousand more, and she hoped she would be able to remove the stain from her soul. Just to make absolutely sure, nothing went wrong, Sancia stayed guarding the vehicle with its precious cargo until fifteen minutes later a woman stepped out from the bar. She was around five foot five with shoulder length hair that was a deep plum color with blue highlights running through it. The witch bet they were as natural as was the color of her eyes. That were lavender with silver flecks, fringed she knew with thick black lashes. She had a small straight nose and bow shaped mouth in a round face that matched her curvy body. Or at least that was the image the witch had seen in her vision the night before.

  The woman stretched her arms high into the air and rotated her body from side to side as she reached her vehicle, then she unlocked the door. Only then did the witch breathe a sigh of relief and with a clap that sounded like thunder in the night sky, disappear.

  CHAPTER THREE:

  H aving consumed a great steak dinner, washed down with a strong cup of coffee. Ocean Walker felt full, happy, and most of all thrilled to be getting back on the road again. She had only stopped because she had needed, gas, food, coffee and the restroom.

  Now she had resolved all of those issues she was once again ready to roll. Ocean had been thankful her navigation system had shown her that there was a small rest area just off the highway. Usually, she would never enter a bar but necessity ruled. As drunk as the patrons in the bar had been, they had still given her a wide berth.

  She had only growled at two or three of the men when they tried to come on to her, while she had sat at the counter eating her food. She may be only half a shifter but people, drunk or sober recognized a predator in their midst. Even if she was short, looked like a librarian and was a little over weight. Being a half shifter of what species, she did not know, still tended to make her wary of where she ate and slept, one never knew who and what was around. Especially these days, when life for full and half shifters was dangerous.

  Ocean knew her mother was human but as she had never been forth coming to who her father was, she knew nothing about him. Other than he was a shifter and she was fairly sure her mother only told her that because she was forced to by law. Ocean always suspected she was a product of a one-night stand and her mother had been embarrassed and ashamed.

  Evidenced by how her mother never talked about it and now she was gone, too late to ask her who and what he was. Ocean only had the location of where she was conceived, or so her mother had said when Ocean had pressed her hard at the age of sixteen for some information about her father. Hence the name Ocean.

  At twenty-nine it no longer worried her, the angst of having a father or not having a father was for the younger her. The older version realized it made no difference to her life if she knew or not. She had inherited gifts from his shifter blood that benefited her life and for that she was grateful.

  Like most shifters Ocean had the natural aversion to smells and loud noises. So as she climbed back into her truck, and at five foot five it was a climb. She lowered the front windows hoping to rid her nose of the smell of fried foods and alcohol. Her ears were still ringing five miles down the road from the bars country band.

  Eventually as the miles passed under her wheels, her ears quietened and the fresh air had done its job and her nose was more or less back to normal. She left the windows down. The night was mild, and the wind felt
good against her warmed skin.

  The silence of the darkened highway started to play on her nerves, her shoulder blades twitched as though something was making them itch. And she could swear she was hearing snuffling noises.

  Ocean reached over to turn the radio on but her nose caught a smell, one she was familiar with coppery with a slight tang to it. Slamming on the brakes she skidded to the side of the road.

  She was now fifty miles north of the bar. Reaching into her doors pocket she took out her gun, slipped off the safety and threw herself from the vehicle. With no small amount of trepidation and adrenaline pumping into her system, she wrenched open the back door and felt her bottom jaw drop and hit the road.

  Her eyes widened, almost popping from their sockets, first with disbelief and then plain out denial.

  Ocean put the safety on the gun and returned it to its hiding place. Then like any rational woman on a darkened highway she proceeded to pace back and forth in front of the open doors. Desperately mumbling over and over. “No…no… no... No way in hell! Why me?” She demanded to the heavens at the top of her voice, while she scowled up at the darkened skies.

  Hoping and praying for an answer. When as the minutes ticked by and no answer arrived. She sighed as her shoulders slumped in resignation and she let her eyes once more drift to the bundle on the floor of her truck. Until a small weak cry sounded from the blanket, making her realize there was more than just her feelings of helplessness to consider.

  Sending up another useless prayer hoping that she was wrong and knowing she was not. She scooped up the bundle and folded back a corner of the bloody blanket only to find exactly what she hoped she would not. A Baby!

  Ocean felt the air leave her body as she stared into a very small wrinkled face of an obviously just delivered baby with dried blood and other stuff. She really did not want to think about that!

  A baby! What the hell did she know about babies? At this point she didn’t even care what sex it was. She looked back down the darkened highway. Retracing her steps and coming to the inevitable conclusion that the baby had been placed in her vehicle at the bar while she had been having a meal.

  Someone probably a frightened young girl had obviously given birth and then dumped… No not dumped! Ocean thought, she had carefully wrapped and placed him or her in the car, hoping she would care for the infant. As she looked into the tiny scrunched-up face with its shock of gold fuzzy hair. Ocean hung her head in defeat.

  There was no going back. This baby was now her responsibility, until she handed him or her off to someone who knew a hell of a lot more about babies than her but until then, Ocean needed to step up and give the infant a shot at making it through the night and for that she needed help.

  Wrapping the blanket more securely around the small body, she tucked the baby up closer to her own body as she stepped back inside her truck.

  Back in the driver’s seat she closed the door laid the baby on her lap and pulled back onto the highway.

  Turning the heater on to keep the cab warm. She asked her navigator for the address of an all-night pharmacy and hotel. A quick glance at the baby assured her it had settled and seemed to be asleep. She really had to find out what gender he or she was but not now. Ocean hoped the warmth from the heater, and the contact with her would keep the baby from waking, she had things to accomplish.

  Once she had the co-ordinates, she drove with fast precision for an hour until she spied the bright lights in the darkness. Pulling off the highway, she made her way to the center of the small town where the pharmacy sat. Ocean placed the baby, who thankfully was still asleep on the floor of the cab and hopped out.

  The lights of the pharmacy drew her in and with a quick look at the store map she snagged a cart and so armed headed to the baby section.

  Bewildered Ocean stood at the entrance to her private hell. The aisle stretched before her, every conceivable product for a baby was there. They glared at her demanding attention, demanding she make a choice, if she dared! Demanding she moved and purchase something. Anything?

  Ocean felt deadly fingers of sweat slide down her spine how, and who she wondered knew what to buy.

  An almost silent step behind her alerted her to the arrival of help. When a quiet voice said. “I know it is daunting but if you like, I could help?”

  Ocean turned her head and looked up into the eyes of an older woman. “Do you work here?” Which showed she thought, how frazzled she really was. The woman obviously did as she had on the stores green uniform.

  Smiling she answered. “I sure do, sadly tonight is my last night, they are downsizing. Last on, first off.” She sounded cheerful about it, and Ocean could detect no underlying sadness or worry so she asked. “Do you have kids?”

  “I sure do a boy and a girl, older now in high school their daddy works construction. I just do this for the extra money.”

  Feeling the time slipping away. Ocean took a breath. “Okay, I need everything for a new born from diapers to clothes to blankets. It needs to last a few days to a week.”

  The woman eyed her, and the desperation in Ocean’s eyes must have been in her voice because her tone became soothing as she said. “That is not a problem. You would not believe how many times over the years that the unexpected has happened. So the owner has put together an early or premmie baby kit.”

  Ocean just nodded like she knew what the woman was talking about. Premmie? She vowed to look up the term later.

  “It has everything you could want and need. The supplies will last a week so it will give you or the new mom time to decide what is needed and what is not. There are a few extra things you will have to buy separately... Ocean cut her off saying apologetically.

  “That sounds exactly what I need. I hate to be rude but unfortunately I am on a really tight timeline. I will take the kit then everything else you think I will need.”

  Smiling the woman walked down the aisle. “Sure thing just follow me.” Then she started to pull stuff from the shelves placing them in the cart Ocean pushed slowly behind her.

  She stopped looking at what the woman put in and just hummed, Hurry! Have to Hurry! Under her breath as the woman made her way down the aisle. Ending finally with a baby bath wrapped in cellophane. She asked. “Do you care what color?” “Um... No. The cream one will do.” It was hard for Ocean to keep the edge of worry from her voice, but she didn’t want to answer anymore damn questions as nice as the woman was, it was obviously a slow night.

  Ocean normally would have stayed and chattered for a while but tonight that was not possible. The woman pulled the pale cream bath off the shelf, and Ocean could see it was jammed filled with baby things, like towels, cloths and lots of bottles and jars. Ocean was sure she saw something that looked like moisturizer in amongst the other bottles. Why did a baby need moisturizer? She asked herself.

  Eyeing it dubiously she opened her mouth to ask but a quick look at the large clock on the wall halted her tongue, time was ticking by. The woman asked. “Do you have a car seat?”

  Ocean just stared at her, she grinned. “I’ll take that as a no.” Then she hurried round the corner of the aisle picking one up, saying over her shoulder. “That should do it. We are done. If you come this way, I will ring you up?”

  As they walked to the counter, Ocean spied a Moses basket she knew what that was. She had seen one on TV. Flipping it into the cart, she thought that it would make a better bed than the baby bath, warmer too. Especially as it was complete with sheets and blankets. In minutes she had paid, loaded up the cart, thanked the woman profusely and almost ran from the store.

  Dumping everything into her back seat, she rushed around and jumped in. Taking a breath she reached over and gently put the baby back on her lap just as he or she stirred a little. Starting the engine, she slowly backed out and drove to the motel that the navigator said was only ten minutes away.

  Driving into the well-lit motel car park, she was glad to see it was one of the better chains. Getting a room was easy. The ni
ght manager, a young man with opened text books scattered around said he was a student and was working his way through school. He seemed nice and was very helpful. Ocean gave him a good tip.

  It was late which meant he could have made her renting a room harder as she experienced in the past, plus when she explained she had a baby he offered a downstairs room and extra towels and even a crib. Which she declined, also he was quick to assure her the adjacent diner opened early at 6.00 am.

  Ocean placed a wakeup call for seven in the morning hoping she would need it, and the baby would not keep her awake. She parked right outside her room taking the baby in first she placed it in the middle of the bed.

  Then she unloaded the car with all the baby gear and one bag for her. It was now edging towards midnight, and she still had heaps to do. First thing she did was grab her tablet and search for what to do with a new born baby and how to bathe said baby.

  Following the directions from the nurse on her tablet. She placed the baby bath on the table and filled it half fill with warm water, luckily there was a waste bin in the room she could use. Then she read the instructions on feeding and bathing a new born and made up a small bottle of formula warming it in the electric kettle.

  Ocean got everything that the nurse said she would need and then turned her attention to the quiet baby.

  She unwrapped the blanket and found out the baby was a girl. A very tiny girl, but she had all her fingers and toes which the nurse assured her was a good thing. Shrugging, Ocean held the baby like the nurse on the screen showed and proceeded to give her, her first bath. When she was finished, she wrapped the, now slightly chilled baby in the towel and the baby promptly peed.