A Special Gift

by Alice Brown

  Her mother was waiting for her just as soon as she was back in her own skin. “I got everything you transmitted, sweetie. You did great,” she informed her daughter. She stopped typing and turned her attention to Stephanie, picking up her hand and lightly clasping it. “Are you okay? That was pretty intense back there.”

  “Yes, I’m okay, but that place was downright creepy,” Stephanie replied to her mother with a shudder.

  “Your father is having everyone meet at Grandpa’s again this evening about ten o’clock. You will probably want to be there since you will be in on tomorrow’s sting operation.”

  “Okay, how are Deloris and Maria doing? Anything new this morning?”

  “Not really. Deloris was aware that Enrico was doing drugs with this gang, but had no idea that children were being kidnapped and sold until Maria was taken. I know she was pretty shaken up last night when your father told her Maria may still be in danger. I think she was forced to see the situation for what it truly is when we told her we are working on new identities for both her and Maria. I know what I went through in an abusive relationship with my first husband; I can’t imagine having a child in the middle of that.” Erica frowned as terrible memories surfaced, and she considered how much worse it would have been if she’d had a child with Shawn.

  She only allowed the memories to affect her for a moment before seemingly coming out of a trance. “Okay, I’ve got work to do,” she announced, straightening her spine and turning her attention back to the computer monitor. Stephanie saw that her mother seemed to be digging up any information on the gang members, and decided to leave her alone to her research. She knew her father would want as much information as possible before the meeting.

  That evening everyone involved in the Tuesday afternoon operation now sat around Charles’s office. The only exception was Erica, who wanted to stay at the house since they had guests. She kept her earpiece in so she could still hear what was going on, and could contribute whenever she needed to.

  Kevin went over the following day’s plans, emphasizing exactly what Stephanie needed to do. He ended with, “I don’t want you to take any unnecessary risks. Just let them lure you in, allow us to gather enough information to bust them, and we will be right there. As soon as we arrive, I want you out of there and back home safe. Understood?”

  Since Stephanie had watched them in action twice now, she felt she didn’t have a thing to worry about. “I understand, don’t worry. I’ve sized these guys up twice now. They act all tough, but when the going gets rough, they run like scared chickens, and the leader is the worst chicken of all,” she giggled.

  A stone, cold mask fell over her father’s face, and Stephanie knew that if she didn’t placate him, she stood a good chance of being yanked off the mission. “Okay, I promise, as soon as you are in there, I’m out of there.”

  Kevin took a moment to compose himself and then looked around at the other team members. “Any questions?” There were none, so the meeting was adjourned.

  Tuesday afternoon, Stephanie was down in her mom’s office and at two-fifteen, she projected out of her body and headed over to the school. Just like the day before, the old white van was sitting in front of the school. She flew over it and into the school. The game plan was to wait until the dismissal bell rang, and then blend into the other students, taking on Maria’s form.

  The bell rang out, and Stephanie took on Maria’s form. She started walking outside, when a small hand wrapped around her arm. She turned her head to see a little boy was trying to get her attention. “Hey, Maria, I didn’t see you in class today. Were you sick?” he asked in concern. Aw, isn’t that sweet? Looks like Maria had a little admirer!

  Thinking fast, she replied, “Yes, I had to get my assignments so I wouldn’t get behind.” She started putting some distance between them so no other children became trapped in this situation. Stephanie didn’t know if males were being targeted along with the females, but she had no intention of finding out.

  “Oh, okay. Maybe I’ll see you next week,” he sounded a bit dejected, but Stephanie figured it was better to break his heart than for him to end up in the mess Maria found herself in. “Maybe,” was the only reply she gave as she continued walking. Of course, he wouldn’t be seeing Maria next week, or the week after for that matter, but she couldn’t take the time to explain all of that. Poor kid. She hoped he would get over his broken heart soon.

  Stephanie kept walking away from the school, knowing with each step she took she was also putting distance between herself and the other children. She walked casually but purposefully, heading toward Maria’s old house. Finally, a vehicle came up from behind her. Knowing it was the van, she braced herself. This was it.

  “Hey, Maria,” one of the punks hung out the window of the passenger seat van yelled. “Did you think you would get away from us, little girl?” The ugly sneer on his face was unmistakable, and Stephanie concentrated hard on portraying a scared little girl for them.

  The van pulled up beside her, and the punk who had been hanging out the window just a moment ago whipped the side door open. With the van still rolling slowly, he jumped out and stood in front of the little girl. “Where do you think you are going?”

  Stephanie concentrated on her image, not wanting to tip the guy off. Looking up at him, she replied in a surprisingly good imitation of Maria’s voice, “I am going home.”

  He threw his head back and laughed like a loon. Then, looking at her again, he inquired, “And where exactly do you think “home” is? Your old house has been burned to the ground, and if you ever want to see your mother again, you will get in this van right now, and give us no trouble!”

  Although Stephanie had mentally prepared for this very thing, she still found it rather scary. “Okay,” she replied softly, making certain she used a child’s soft voice and letting her own fear creep into her voice.

  “I thought you would see things our way,” the man sneered as he reached around and grabbed the back of her shirt, hauling her into the van.

  As she was shoved into the van, she landed on bare floorboards. The only seats in the vehicle were the two in front, and Stephanie noted a third man sitting toward the back of the van on the floor. The van took off as soon as her captor shut the door, and she assumed they were heading back to the same place she had been yesterday. If that were the case, she estimated they were only a few blocks away.

  The van stopped just a few minutes later, and Stephanie was hauled out of the van the same way that she entered. She glanced up at the rundown dwelling as they approached and was happy to be able to report that it was the same shack as yesterday.

  “Get inside, now!” the guy holding her by the back of her shirt hissed as he pushed her along. As she entered the house, she heard the driver, Hector, talking to his other two pals.

  “You know, boys, I’ve got a good mind to go ahead and show that little snot nose what she will soon be in for. No reason we can’t sample the goods before we hand her over. Maybe it’ll be a good night after all,” Hector snorted and spat on the floor. Glancing down to where his spittle lay in a puddle, Stephanie mentally shook her head in disgust. Upon closer inspection, there was dried spittle everywhere the eye could see across the entire room. She glanced up and a chill ran down her spine as she noticed the dried white streams running down the walls. Oh, now, that was just gross!

  Since they were leaving her alone for the moment, Stephanie decided to use the time to compose herself. She was so very thankful that it was she in this spot instead of Maria. Although she felt confident she could take these guys on if she had to, she was just as quick to admit that Maria would not have stood a chance against them. And it looked like her dad and grandfather had been right; this ring was much larger than just these three. If the VCTF had any hope of ending this, they would have to work their way to the top and stop it there. Just eliminating the middle man wouldn’t help, because the top dogs would just replace him, with minimal effects on the operation. And, for the
time being, Stephanie acknowledged they needed these three alive in order to get to the next level. There was little doubt in her mind they would fess up when faced with the team’s highly effective interrogation methods.

  She inched her way to a corner of the room. She remembered the one who yanked her in the van had taunted her about her mother. She decided to play along, despite knowing full well that Deloris was safe and sound back at her house. “Where is my mother?”

  Hector sneered. “Don’t you worry about your mama, little girl. We have something in store for you tonight that you’re going to like.” He laughed a hideous laugh as he walked over to stand directly in front of her. He leaned down to her face level and the smell of his rotten breath was enough to gag her. “You are going to learn what a piece of trash you really are tonight.”

  It wasn’t hard for Stephanie, still in Maria’s form, to stand silent, not sure what to say to the horrible man standing in front of her. Was he really threatening rape? How could anybody do something so horrific to an innocent child?

  “What, cat got your tongue?” he sneered. “Or are you just excited to have a chance at this?” Stephanie watched as he grabbed himself through his clothes and pushed his pelvis at her. She had never seen anything like this before. Oh, gross! There wasn’t a vampire or half-vamp within their community who would ever attempt anything like that. Besides, her father’s team would cut the offending hand off if they ever caught someone doing that in public. Then the vampire would be hauled to the judicial board for further punishment.

  Stephanie sent a silent prayer that this mission would be wrapped up shortly. Hector was giving her the creeps, and she suddenly had a gut-wrenching need to be home, safe and sound, protected by her family. She knew the team was camped nearby, hoping to retrieve any little bit of information they could to seal the fates of these three pigs. Tired of waiting for them to say enough to incriminate themselves, Stephanie took matters into her own hands.

  “Are you sending me to Mexico like Enrico was?” she asked. If they admitted to this, that should be enough for the team to make their move.

  “Oh, yes, little girl. You are worth a lot of money down there. But I’m going to test you out first, to make sure you are going to hold up,” Hector sneered.

  Stephanie went ahead and relayed everything back to her mother, and then started counting. The team should be there in about 3, 2, 1…now! Everything happened at once. Team members suddenly poured through the windows and doors, blocking all exits so none could escape. Stephanie backed herself even tighter into the corner she stood in, intent on getting out of there as soon as the dust settled. Unfortunately, Hector had other ideas.

  Hector grabbed her by the throat as Marshall pointed a gun to his head. Hector glimpsed him before the gun stopped him in his tracks. It did not, however, stop his mouth. “You again? Who the hell are you people?” It was clear that he recognized Marshall from Deloris and Maria’s old house. He squeezed the little girl’s throat tighter, having no clue that he wasn’t hurting anybody since it really wasn’t Maria he held at all.

  “I’ll kill her!” he yelled, squeezing even harder. Since Stephanie was facing Hector, she had a good view of Marshall. She waited until she made eye contact and then winked. Marshall nodded his head slightly, and suddenly Hector was grabbing at air, because the neck he had been holding had disappeared into thin air, along with the rest of her. Stephanie, invisible, stuck around to see Hector’s reaction.

  “Yeah, I would really like to see you try to kill her,” Marshall commented in an amused tone as he watched Hector’s hands grab at air with a perplexed look on his face.

  Knowing that she would hear about it from her dad later, but unable to stop herself, Stephanie decided to hang around just a moment longer to give Hector a bit of payback. She came up behind Hector, stayed invisible, and started applying pressure around his neck, giving him a choking sensation. She had no intention of letting him die, she just wanted to teach him a lesson. It didn’t take long for Marshall to catch on as to what she was doing.

  “Feels good, doesn’t it?” he chuckled at Hector.

  “Make it stop!” Hector gasped, and Stephanie released him before she changed her mind and killed him instead. All three of the thugs were handcuffed and escorted out the front door in little time. They would be taken to the VCTF office for interrogation before the team handed them over to the human authorities.

  Once outside, Hector’s brain finally caught up with him enough to make a stupid remark. “Where in the hell did she go? I swear, when I get my hands on her, she is going to wish she had never been born.”

  “Now, now, you do know that everything you are saying is being recorded and WILL be used against you, don’t you? You look like a stupid, uneducated punk, but even you should have enough sense to know when to shut the hell up,” Marshall calmly replied to him.

  Stephanie stayed until all of the prisoners were loaded in the back of Aunt Jordan’s work van, then sighed in relief that it was done. She headed home and back to her own body, but couldn’t stop her brain from playing—and replaying—the images of the three men and what they had done. She had never, ever been spoken to the way Hector had. All of the men in her life, her dad, Grandpa, Marshall, Pop Atkins, and all the other members of the VCTF team were well-mannered, polite gentlemen. That made her wonder just how many human men out there in the world acted just like Hector and his goons? How many women and children were stuck with men like them, unable to find a way out? Because she’d had limited exposure to humans, she wondered if there were more human men out there who were decent, law abiding citizens who respected their woman and children than the other kind? She could only hope so.

  She made one small detour on the way home. She quickly flew by Maria’s old house, to see if the house really had been burned down as she’d been told earlier. Sure enough, she could smell the burnt wood as she reached the end of the block, and as she flew past it, she saw there was nothing left. The roof had collapsed, and she was so very thankful that mother and daughter were not in the home when it went up in flames.

  Once she reached her body, she was no longer able to hold back her emotions. She broke down crying, glad her mother was right next to her to comfort her. Erica pulled her daughter over to the huge sectional at the other end of the office and sat there rocking her, reminding Stephanie of when she was a child.

  “Mom, it was so awful!” Stephanie wailed. “Why do some people have to hurt young, innocent children?”

  “I can’t really answer that, sweetie. I know this case has been extremely hard on you. You have lived a somewhat sheltered life, which has kept you away from anything remotely like this. Your father and I have shown you nothing but love and gentleness in everything we do and say. And for the most part, our entire society is that way. You have been surrounded by vampires who love you and want to see you succeed in everything you do.

  “When I heard what he was saying to you, I found myself wishing I could project myself to be with you, I would have killed him instantly and thought nothing of it. I know that is probably wrong on my part, but that is how I felt when I heard him. I am just thankful that he didn’t touch you, and that it was you there and not Maria. I knew you could escape at any time, and you were not truly in danger, but it was still very hard as a mother to hear someone say those things.”

  Stephanie looked up at her mother, tears still running down her cheeks. “Why do some men take something so beautiful to show your mate your feelings for them, and turn it into something so vile, crude, and ugly?” The memories of Hector grabbing himself through his clothing and telling her what he had planned for that evening were vivid in her head.

  “I don’t know, sweetie. I wish I had the answer to that one.” Stephanie wondered if she had inadvertently brought back memories of her mother’s first disaster of a marriage.

  “I feel so sorry for those human girls. I can’t help wondering how many have there been before Maria? How many young girls have suffere
d?” Stephanie choked out through a new onset of tears. “And they burned down Deloris and Maria’s old home and everything in it. It’s all gone.”

  “Shh,” Erica comforted her weeping daughter. “Now that the team is aware of what is going on, they are determined to stop it. We can’t change the past, but we are able to make a difference for the future. You did a good thing today. We have the beginning of the end of this situation. Once those three start giving up other names, it is just a matter of time before the entire operation gets shut down. I know your father; he isn’t going to stop until everyone involved has been captured.”

  Drained from the mission and the fallout afterward, Stephanie found herself becoming drowsy. Erica continued to sit and rock her as if she were a small child, until she knew her daughter was fast asleep.

  One minute she had been talking with her mother, the next someone was picking her up. Memories of Hector and his friends came to the forefront of her mind, and without thinking, Stephanie screamed and started squeezing the neck of her captor.

  Finally, her father’s calm voice penetrated her sleepy brain. “Stephanie, it is just Marshall. He was going to carry you up to your bed.” Marshall had set her back down, a bit confused by being attacked for trying to be nice.

  Stephanie fully came awake and realized what she had done. “I’m so sorry. I must have been dreaming about earlier today and panicked when I felt someone picking me up.”

  Ever patient, ever the calm one, Marshall replied, “It’s okay, love. I don’t blame you for being upset over what happened earlier. Believe me, when I heard him tell you what he was planning to do, it was all I could do not to go in there and kill him with my own hands.” He sat on the sofa next to her and gently ran a finger down her cheek. “I didn’t mean to startle you. How about we just sit here for a little while? I thought you were completely asleep, so I offered to carry you up to your room, but since you’re awake, maybe we can just spend a few quiet moments together,” he asked.