“I’m fine, it was an accident.”
“He could have killed you,” Brandon added, glaring back at his little brother.
“But he didn’t. Technically everyone that’s normal already thinks I’m dead.” I shook my head then rubbed my right ear.
“Oh my goodness, Renee,” Derek said taking me in his arms. “I am so sorry. I will never goof off like that again.”
“It’s ok Derek, but you’re right, we can’t be playing like that. This isn’t a game.”
“I know. I really do. You can hit me if you want to, I won’t mind a bit.”
I just couldn’t help myself, I burst out laughing and everyone other than Derek joined in. Once we all calmed down, it was time to figure out our next move. “We need to check out the beach, look for a boat that has a very small crew that we can use,” I explained to the others. They gathered around me in the living room, while Bo stacked wood in the fireplace.
“Are we going to use them the way that I did, Ash?” Brandon asked.
“What do you mean, ‘the way you used me,’ how?” Ashley asked.
“The night I changed Bo, I bit you and made you put wood on the fire, little things like that,” Brandon shrugged looking a bit embarrassed.
“Bull shit, I would’ve known.”
“No Ashley, he’s telling you the truth. The best way to look at it is, at least we know it works.” Derek gave her a little half grin then winked.
“That’s easy for you to say, you didn’t have someone in your head making a fool out of ya.”
“I was there and no one made a fool out of you. It was my idea, but we should have told you before now and I’m sorry for that,” I explained.
“Someone should have. Are you sure they didn’t make me do anything bad?” she asked.
“More than sure,” I reassured her.
Ashley let it go but by the look on her face you knew she would be having a talk with Brandon later. We decided to get cleaned up. We each took a room down in the basement, bathed and found some clothes that Rebecca and her goons had left behind. Each of us came out wearing black. It made perfect sense to me. Had the boys been wearing black when they were crawling through the grass when we found the two little girls, I may never have seen them.
“How neat is this, no one even told us what to pick,” Derek said as he slid his hands down the front of his new shirt.
“Yep, I have to agree. Black is the perfect color for us, we can hide so much better in this color,” I smiled looking at the four of them.
“Let’s hit the beach, I know there’s a dock about two miles north of here and a few more about three to four miles south,” Bo said as he tucked in his shirt.
“That means we have about two hours to look around,” I said.
“What about supper? I’m starved,” Derek added.
“I was in the hole for more than six weeks, maybe longer, without anything to eat. What are you going to do if we have nothing for a few days on the boat to Cuba?” I asked.
“Suck down a cow before we leave,” Derek laughed.
We all cracked up, Brandon grabbing Derek around the neck, rubbing his knuckles on the top of his head.
“You would, brother…you would.”
“Hey, Renee, if we see a goat or a deer can we kill it?” Derek asked.
“Sure hon, if you see a deer on the beach it’s all yours.” Then we all cracked up, laughing even harder.
“It could happen, we could see a deer, it’s possible,” Derek frowned as he followed at the back of the crowd.
I didn’t think he had a snow ball’s chance in hell at finding a deer, but I sure had high hopes on finding a boat. We walked down the beach at a leisurely pace, enjoying the last of the night more than looking for a boat. Derek and Ashley had kicked off their shoes so they could walk in the water. The rest us walked and talked about the size of boat and the number of people that we might need.
“Isn’t it cold?” Brandon asked the two in the water.
“It’s chilly, but not cold. Renee was right, the cold ain’t no big deal anymore,” Ashley replied.
Bo had stayed a good twenty yards ahead of us, when he turn and yelled. “See that light? That’s the boat docks.”
I raised my hand and instructed him to come back. “Bo, you and Brandon go get a better look. Look for someone that might be living on their boat, it could mean they don’t have any family.”
The black clothes turned out to be a better idea than I could have ever imagined. They all but disappeared as soon as they took to the shadows of the cliff, which was becoming more like a rolling wave of sand the more we made our way to the north. I told the others to get their shoes back on and catch up. I decided to step up my speed, making my way to the boys and seeing the docks for myself, since we blended with the night so well. I reached the beginning of the long dark dock without seeing my boys anywhere. The clouds had made their way over the crescent shaped moon, blocking all but the light of the stars and the faint glow coming from the upper portion of the dock. Once under it, I began sliding my hand along the side of the round wooden planks that held it up until I had made my way further in, darting my eyes around at every tremble of a shadow. It was the grip on my wrist and the palm on my mouth that told me where the boys were hiding.
“There are two boats with people on them. One looks like they’re having some kind of a party,” Bo explained, whispering next to my ear as he took his hand away from my mouth.
“You didn’t have to grab me. You could’ve said my name or something,” I scolded.
“But,” Bo chuckled. “Most women squeal when you scare them.”
“Do I look like most women? Now tell me about the other boat.”
“It has one guy on it,” Brandon said, clearing his throat to keep from laughing. “But we can’t be sure until Ashley gets up here.”
“Well, don’t reach out and grab her,” I snickered. “She’ll do more than squeal.”
“If there wasn’t people on these boats, I’d dare ya, Bo,” Brandon laughed putting his hand over his mouth.
“You guys are so mean.” Then I turned, reaching in my pocket and pulled out a match, and then struck it on the rough wood.
Chapter Five
We stood under the docks watching Ashley do her best to figure out the difference between the people on the boat with the party, and the boat that we were interested in. She was almost waist deep in the water when she started motioning for us to join her. She pointed back behind us shaking her head, then slowly turned and pointed to the white boat that was floating in the waves that were starting to pick up.
“There’s only one person on it. He’s a good man. We can’t hurt him,” she explained with a serious look on her face. “That one has too many, and there going home tomorrow. One was thinking about his family, Renee,” Ashley explained
“Whatever we’re going to do we need to do it right now,” Brandon interjected. “You can always make sure that this one will be here tomorrow, but not if you don’t move like right now.”
“So, what? You want me to mark him?” I asked.
“If you want to make sure he’s still here when we wake up tomorrow night. Look at the horizon,” Bo added.
The night sky had taken on a purplish hue. I knew that if something was going to be done that it better be quick, because we were absolutely running out of time. I told the others to get back to the beach house, that I would take care of the man on the boat. They all hesitated, but soon agreed due to the growing light. I started up the dock as soon as the little ones were out of site. Once I was next to the boat, I saw the man was working on the upper deck. I faked twisting my ankle on a bundle of rope. I gave a helpless yelp on my way down. He immediately came to the side of the boat.
“Are you okay?” he asked as he jumped down to where I sat crumpled and in fake pain. “Here, let me help you.”
“Thank you, but I think I hurt my ankle,” I grimaced, hoping he would see the agony on my face. “I don�
��t think I can walk.”
“If you don’t mind, ma’am, I can carry you up on my boat. You’ll be a lot more comfortable and I can take a look at that ankle.”
“Well, I guess it’ll be alright,” I moaned just a little, to keep my false pain at the front of his mind.
The young man was in his early twenties. He had hair so blonde that it was almost cotton white, with eyes the color of the morning sky. His skin was golden brown in the lantern’s light and his body was in extremely good shape. I knew when he picked me up that we had made the right choice. His smile faded as his eyes closed. We must have looked like long time lovers with me in his arms and our face locked so close together. His hair slid over my cheek as I rose from my quick embrace. I licked my lips to remove any remaining evidence of his precious fluid. Then I watched in amazement as the two small wounds stopped bleeding.
“See, nothing to it. You’re as light as a feather,” he said looking slightly dazed.
“So this is your boat?”
“Yep,” he replied as he sat me on the edge of the boat. “Now hold on.”
Once he was in, he picked me back up and started to set me in a chair that was sitting by a table in the middle of the deck. I told him in my mind to stand me up where he was. He lowered my legs, never once asking about my ankle. It had worked. I told him that he would be staying a few more nights when he offered the information that he was leaving the next morning. I also told him that he would need to make changes to accommodate a few more passengers and left it at that. I was at the end of the dock fixing to step out onto the sand when the young man called out.
“Excuse me. What’s your name?”
“Renee.”
“Mine’s Sydney. Will I see you again?”
“Why don’t you come to my beach house tomorrow night around nine? You can’t miss it. It’s the big one at the end of the beach.”
“See you at nine,” he replied, waving as I walked away.
As soon as I was in the black shadows of what was left of the night, I took off running. I reached the bottom of the steps that went up to the beach house as the sun lit up the sky behind the residence. I ran at a speed that I didn’t even know I could. I was up the steps and over the gravel drive in seconds. When I reached the front door it flew open and I dove in, sliding all the way to the banister on my stomach. The door slammed shut and a blanket draped over my body. After Derek and Brandon slapped me from head to toe, making sure that I wasn’t burning, finding I wasn’t, Ashley eased the corner of the blanket off my head. My smile had to be huge as Bo stood there looking down at me with the same sort of smile spreading across his face.
“Need a hand?” he asked reaching down. “That was almost too close.”
“I know,” I replied taking his hand. “Don’t think I’ll be doing that again.”
“Yeah, and I don’t think I’ll be giving it a try.”
We both laughed nervously as we followed the others down to the basement. Because we couldn’t be sure if Rebecca and her goons had told the man to just change the locks and to lie to anyone who might come by or if he just took it upon himself to fix the ones that we had broken. Just in case he lied to us about it being months, we all decided to sleep in the same room, making sure to barricade the door. We piled up on the huge bed and slept with ease.
The next night I woke before the rest and slid off my side of the bed. I began looking at the blade that Bo had given me. I noticed that there were three red stones in the handle. The markings on the blade itself reminded me of the jewelry that Isa wore around his wrist. The designs were different, but somehow the same.
“You like it?” Bo whispered from behind me.
“Yeah, I really like it.”
“My old man told me that it used to belong to an Arab king of great wealth. I remember getting punched when I asked him what dead man he stole it off of. He could come up with some wild stories,” he said as I looked back at him. “Wish that he could have been half the man he pretended to be.”
“You just have to be a better man than he was, Bo. It doesn’t matter what he’s done. What matters is what you do, and I think you have already proven that you’re a far better man. You fight for the innocent. How many have you met that’s done that?”
“Just you and I’ll die fighting for them.”
“Let’s hope that never happens. And on that note, don’t you think you need to show me how to use this thing?” I asked smiling up at him.
“I think we all better start learning how to use our weapons.”
I leaned back on the dresser and watched as Bo started pulling the kids out of the bed. I knew as well as Bo, that everyone was awake. The youth in them showed when they resisted getting up. Derek actually cried, ‘ten more minutes’ as if the night hadn’t already pulled him from his slumber. Ashley was just as bad, complaining that she had a headache and wasn’t ready to wake up. Brandon just slid off the bed with his hair sticking out in every direction and rubbed his eyes. I listened to the moaning and complaining for a few minutes, before I asked if anyone wanted to go and look for our much needed meal.
“Oh, let’s hunt down a wild animal,” Derek added holding up his hand.
“Are you brain dead? We want to eat this year,” Ashley rudely commented.
“I was told that pig’s blood is the best thing for our kind,” I said. I just failed to mention the fact that it was also the closest thing to human blood, or so I was told. “It may give us more energy than goat’s blood.”
“Why don’t we find some really bad guy and take him out?” Bo asked, looking right at me.
“I don’t ever want to hear you say something like that again…do I make myself clear?” I demanded, feeling the heat fill me face.
“Yeah, but…”
“No buts, Bo. I didn’t turn you so you could wipe out bad men. I changed you so you could help me…” I paused looking at him.
“Wipe out bad bloodbreeders,” he added.
“I just want to get Garvin and Tanda out. Then we can all start over, making our own world without all the madness.”
“What about making the ones pay that hurt your family?” Derek asked.
“Starting over means just that. If we can sneak in the way that I got out, get them safely, then why not look to our future. You’re all my family now and that’s what’s important.”
“Someone’s coming, Renee,” Ashley said grabbing my arm.
The boys started moving our little barricade as soon as Ashley spoke. Once everything was out of our way, I made sure that they stayed behind me and I went up the basement stairs first. I could feel them at my back. Each one ready to pounce on whoever or whatever was standing on the other side of the front door.
“It’s a man,” Ashley whispered. “He’s a normal that’s been marked.”
“Just because we don’t see them in our heads don’t mean we can’t smell ’em,” Derek sarcastically remarked.
“Shut up,” Bo whispered, slapping Derek on the back of the head.
“Boys,” I said, fixing to tell them who it was.
The knock echoed about the time Derek leaped at Bo. That’s when Brandon grabbed Ashley by the elbow, stepped to the side to keep from being in the middle of the two. I simply went and opened the front door. Our guest, Sydney, stood there smiling for about two seconds. Once he saw Bo, flipping Derek over his shoulder that smile slowly turned into a frown. I looked back shaking my head and couldn’t contain the laughter from spilling out. Derek was hanging upside down from Bo’s back, looking up at Sydney with a silly grin on his face, with Bo, holding his legs like he was some kind of a lumber jack.
“Sydney, welcome to our crazy home,” I said, nodding my head once.
“Thank ya, ma’am.”
Chapter Six
He walked in looking a bit pale around the gills. Here was this tall blonde, tanned young man standing in a room with five strange creatures with fading tans to very pale skin. I wanted to keep as much about our kind from hi
m as possible. I also knew that there would be certain things that would need more of an explanation.
Bo slid Derek to the floor and we all stood there looking back at him.
“Hi, my name’s Ashley.” Then she walked up and extended her hand.
“Sydney. Everyone just calls me Sydney,” he replied taking her offer.
“Hey, I’m Bo,” he said, taking Sydney’s hand as soon as it was free. “This is Brandon, and the little squirt is, Derek.”
“Don’t call me that you big mule.” Derek squeezed past Bo. “I may be small, but I’m taller than my older brother, and I happen to be very tough.”
“I’m sure you are.” Sydney snorted out a small chuckle.
“Of course you are, Derek. Let’s not crowd Sydney on his first visit. Would you like something to drink?” I asked, and no sooner than the words left my mouth, every eye in the room except Sydney’s was on me.
“I don’t think the truck came in today, Renee. Might just be water,” Brandon shrugged.
“Yeah, I forgot about that.”
“No problem. I have plenty of supplies on my boat. If you guys need tea or coffee, I have plenty. I can even spare some sugar.”
“No, that’s…” I began to say.
“Maybe just a little,” Ashley interrupted.
“Sure. I’ll just run back and get it.”
“I’ll go with you,” Ashley quickly added.
“Can I come?” Derek asked, getting a rude look from Ashley.
“The more the better, that’s what I always say. Come on little man, you can help me carry everything back.”
“Little man, are you kidding me? Not another one, Renee,” Derek said looking back as he followed them out the door.
“He used the word “man”,” Brandon added, slapping Bo on the arm as his faced crunched up holding back the laughter.
Derek’s face shot up and a new expression took hold. His mouth drew to a smirk, and then he started nodding as he slowly closed the door. I know they had to have heard the three of us laughing all the way down to the beach.
Bloodbreeders: The Revenge Page 5
