“Sydney and I will be fine. If we hear anything behind one of the doors we will wave to you before entering.”
“Fine, but I can’t even see the end of the hall it’s so dark, so swear if you see anything, you’ll scream out,” I demanded then hugged both of their necks.
“And you as well, Renee.” Garvin said, then he and Sydney went their way.
Chapter Twenty
The very first door that the four of us came to—Brandon, Derek, Bo, and myself—could hear a small sound coming from it before we even had a chance to put one of our ears to it. It almost sounded like a child whimpering. I looked back trying to see if I could spot the other two, but it was as if they just vanished into thin air. I moved my hand gesturing for us to move back so that we could go find them before we found out what was behind the door. That’s when the sound became louder and the fact that it was without a doubt, a younger child. “Get ready.” Was the only thing I said before I walked back over in front of the door and held my hand up. I put one finger up, two, three, and then Bo and I kicked the door. We did it with such force that, it didn’t break free from the latch and hinges that held it. We had knocked it completely off its hinges.
The room was an extremely large one, empty compared to the others that we had looked into. There was an elaborate throne centered in the middle of the back of the room, opposite from the door that now lay in front of us. The man that sat in it looked to first be nude, but as my eyes took in the scene in front of me. I saw that he was wearing some type of wrap around his waist. He was adorned with gold chains of different lengths around his neck and wide golden bands on each wrist. The thing that my mind seemed to have a hard time comprehending was the golden chain that he held loosely in his right hand, and on the end of the long beautiful rope chain was a lavish golden ring around the neck of a very little naked boy. I landed hard on my knees as I heard the word escaping from my lips. “Johnny!”
My brother that I had thought dead by my own hands, stood with his little head hanging, by this beast, on the end of a chain as if he were an animal. I was stunned to the point of being immobile. It was when the man flicked his wrist and the dark haired young man stepped out from behind the throne, that I felt myself pulling my nails from the flesh of my palms. The man flicked his wrist a second time and a young female, who was so close in appearance to the young man that I knew they were kin, stepped out from the other side of the throne. Johnny began jerking on the chain as soon as the young girl walked in front of him. The whimpering that we had heard turned into a manic scream of sheer terror, setting me on the very edge of insanity.
“You son-of-a-bitch!” I screamed and flew from my knees.
With one move of the man’s finger, the young man moved to the center of the floor, holding a thin stick that looked to be about three feet in length. He walked in a crab-like fashion, turning in a circle as my boys joined him in the center of the room. I ran straight for the one thing that I thought that I would never see again—my brother. The young girl leaped out, kicking me right in the chest, before I even knew she was moving. When I could manage to shake the waves of stars from my eyes from when my head crashed into the wall, I pulled my gun. I looked up as she moved her arms in a way that I had never seen. I got to my knees and without hesitation she moved forward. I pulled the trigger, aiming at her leg and she went down screaming as the sting of my bullet that had blown out her knee.
Their Master stood glaring his slanted eyes at me. Then, with a sharp turn of his head, he looked back to the young girl that I had wounded. He never dropped the chain that he held my baby brother prisoner, but he turned his dark form as if he were going to stomp over and crush me. He growled a deep guttural sound, then slammed his bare foot solidly on the floor. The young man started swinging the thin stick, hitting Derek unexpectedly on the side of the head, knocking him to the ground before he even knew that he had been hit. Brandon dove forward and was flying backwards before he could come close to the one he was going after. Bo stepped back, walking sideways, one foot over the other, as he pulled his sword from the sheath on his back. I turned back just in time to see, what I now knew to be an oriental man, taking a step toward me. I did the only thing that I could. I pointed my gun and emptied the cylinder. The first two shots didn’t seem to faze him. It wasn’t until I raised my aim and hit him in the center of the chest, that his footing began to waver.
Two more shots rang out and the dark fluids of his life force came flowing from the gaping hole on his chest. The shock on his face showed as he fell to his knees. He looked at me like I had done something that was against the rules. He started to raise the hand that wasn’t holding the golden chain, to the wound, but slowly dropped as his upper body swayed then crashed forward. The young girl never made a move to go to her maker’s side; instead, she seemed to be in a state of shock. She froze gripping her left knee, watching the remains turn, as I did, until there was nothing left but a black smear. The loose chain lay morbidly where his hand use to be. I looked back to see Bo stumble and the young man coming down from the air. He must have jumped up and kicked Bo mere seconds before Sydney and Garvin came through the door so fast, it looked as though they had been thrown in. I glanced back to see Bo block the boys kick, simultaneously as the thin stick took him across the front of the face. A blossom of blood burst from his nose, taking Bo to his back. The young man took two quick steps, raised his foot above Bo’s neck and I knew that I was fixing to lose one of my little ones. I clicked the trigger and nothing happened—empty.
“Jacob,” the young girl yelled, but he rose his foot higher. “Jacob, please! Chin is dead.”
My eyes darted from the young girl to the brother named Jacob, who at the drop of a dime could take the life of Bo, who was now looking back at me. The boy, Jacob, seemed confused once he glanced back. He held his stance for a few seconds, and then lowered his foot, stepping backward until he reached his sister. It wasn’t until he really saw the golden chain lying in the midst of his dead Master’s remains, that he finally dropped the thin wooden weapon that he used so efficiently. Johnny, I thought. I let the room deal with its own happenings and turned to the place that I last saw him. He wasn’t there now.
I uncontrollably started screaming his name over and over. I thought that someone came in from a room that I hadn’t noticed and stole him right out from under me. I saw the chain move when I reached the throne. I got down on my hands and knees and started following it around to the back of the elaborate chair, until my vision stopped on a small wire cage that was half covered with a dark blue silk scarf. The small encasement was vibrating, showing the fear that he must be experiencing. I swallowed the lump in my throat and slid up as close as I could without being too intrusive. The last time that he had seen me was back at the farm. I was hoping that he hadn’t remembered the last thing I did was feed off of him.
“Johnny, it’s me baby, Renee,” I said as softly as I could manage.
I waited for a few seconds. I didn’t expect him to jump into my arms, but I was praying that he would know my voice. I tried to get him to come out to me a few more times by talking to him about things that I knew he would remember. Still he stayed froze, to what seemed to be a place that he felt somewhat safe. I did the only thing left to do other than picking up the cage and shaking him free, I began pulling gently on the chain. Once the chain became tight he began to scream a high pitch squeal that pierced the very core of my heart. I sobbed as I begged him to know me. I pleaded for him to calm down and listen to my voice, but nothing that I said would quiet his poor little soul. I knew that I shouldn’t make a sudden move that would scare him even more, but I had to get him out of the cage before I could hold him in my arms and try to ensure him that he was now safe. I grabbed the back of the cage in one hand, and pulled the chain with the other, dropping his tiny form right into my lap. His eyes closed tight as his lungs filled to full capacity, scream after scream.
“Johnny…Johnny, look at me,” I cried, trying to c
ontrol his clawing hands and kicking feet. “Oh, sweet Jesus.”
My eyes were so full that I needed to move but a mere inch, to spill the next wave of crimson tears down my already soaked cheeks. I stared in disbelief at the two perfectly shaped fangs I saw in his little mouth. It was the reason that he was able to thrash about in my arms, just like he use to when we both lived our days in the sun. There was one thing that worked on him when he was having the very same form of action from a temper fit and I was beginning to think that I was going to have to use it. I tried to pull him into my embrace, but he started screaming worse, throwing his head forward and bit the center of my chest. I screamed, grabbing a handful of the hair on the back of his head and tried to pry him off.
“Johnny Keith Crocker, you stop that right this second ’fer I tan your hide.” I let his hair go thinking I was going to have to pop the back of his head, much to my relief I felt his teeth pull free from my flesh.
“Ma?” he said so low, that I wasn’t even sure that I heard it. Then he looked up at me. “I wanna go home.”
My lips begin to tremble and I lost all composure. I couldn’t even manage to muster one single word. I took him up into my arms as fast as I could and let the world of emotions that had been stored inside my body come flowing out. Hate, fear, sadness, anger, and now more than ever, my ever building want for revenge. My brother cried in a way that I had never heard, but I knew the reason for the break in the once blameless and naïve little boy. He cried with a voice that had been through more things than a skinned knee or hurt feelings. How was I going to comfort him, when I was the reason he was here. Had I never returned to the farm that night, those monsters would have never brought Johnny to this horrid place. Why hadn’t I just left with Martin when I had the chance? Then a chilling thought crossed my mind. Had he never came to the farm in the first place, we would still be home with the rest of our family. At that very second my once sated fury returned and Martin stepped up to the top of my revenge list.
“Where’s pa?” Johnny asked, curling his body tighter into mine.
“Pa’s back home with, ma. It’s me—Renee,” I whispered next to his ear.
He pushed himself back with one little hand then said something that I will never forget if I live until the end of time.
“I didn’t believe ’em when they told me I was dead, but I really, really am, ’cause you are huh, Renee? They said you killed me cause I was bad…was I bad? Is ma mad at me?”
“Who told you that, sweetie?”
“Why come you killed me, Renee?”
“I didn’t,” I cried, pulling him back into my embrace. “I love you more than the stars in heaven.”
“But there ain’t no heaven, not really. I never saw grandma either and ma said she was in heaven. I don’t like this place and I want to go home,” he said as he started getting upset again.
“I’m going to take you far, far away from this place and we are going to be together for a very long time,” I said, smoothing his cotton blonde hair back. “I have a lot of new friends that are going to love and watch over you, just like me.”
“And James and Thomas?”
“No baby, they’re going to live back on the farm with ma and pa. But you and me are going to take big adventures, even ride on a big boat and see things that you could only see in books back home.”
“Renee, I’m sorry to interrupt, but we need to talk,” Bo said looking over the throne.
“I’ll be right there,” I replied and waited until he was gone. “Come on.”
“No, I don’t wanna,” Johnny said crawling out of my lap and scooting back by the small cage.
“No one out there is going to hurt you, I swear. Can I carry you?”
He gave me a little nod. I reached over and pulled the cloth that was covering the cage and wrapped it around his waist. I tried to pull the collar that he was wearing apart but I couldn’t budge it. I picked him up, smiling closed mouth, wiggled my eyes then stuck my tongue out just like he and I use to do. He didn’t do the same thing back, but he willingly wrapped his delicate little arms around my neck and laid his head on my shoulder and that was all that mattered at the time.
“I love you, sissy.”
“I love you too, pumpkin.”
I lifted the heavy chain as I carried him around the chair. The more I thought about it being around his neck, the angrier I became. I asked him if he remembered the night that I saw him by the outhouse, but was greatly relieved to find out that he had not. Then as I took in the sight of the room, I asked if he remembered how he came to be where he was, bringing me back to staring straight at him. “A boat.” Then he soon added that the woman made him drink the thick sweet red stuff that made his belly feel better. I knew he meant blood, of course, but simply nodded my head. Brandon and Bo both looked at me with the same expression on their faces. Garvin on the other hand, knew exactly who Johnny was talking about and why my face had turned to stone. Was it possible that Johnny was on the same boat that I was? I thought, and I left him? I looked around at the eyes that anticipated my thoughts.
“What happened to you and Sydney, Garvin?” I asked just noticing the blood on his face.
“We heard the first shot. When we we’re running down the hall and past the stairs that led to the third floor, two of the Mistress’s men took us from behind. They did not think us ready. One lay dead.” Then he paused, worry washing over his face. “The other was able to make his way back to warn her that she has intruders.”
“Then we better be ready. Brandon…” I said turning to him. The bruise covered the entire right side of his face and humbled my temper just a bit.
“Johnny, this is my very good friend, and I want you to let him hold…”
“No please, Mommy, I don’t wanna go. I’ll be a good boy I will, I will,” he squealed gripping me as tight as he could. “I will Mommy, please.” Then his frail body shook with deep sobs as his words fell silent.
“Johnny,” I whispered, dropping in a full dead weight. If not for Brandon and Bo, the both of us would have crashed to the floor.
I could feel the pieces of my heart break and fall away, as the words left his mouth. What on earth had he gone through, and how was I going to make it alright? I laid back in the boys arms and cried in desperation for the second time. I hummed, rubbing my hand in small circles on Johnny’s back, closing my eyes and pressing my lips along the side of his face. “I love you.” I whispered after every kiss. When I reached his teeny ear I said, “I’ll kill everyone that touched you. Two are already good and dead.” Then I went back to humming. His body soon stopped trembling and he actually started looking at the others. I looked over at the two who huddled on the floor together. Jacob, the brother holding a bundle of bloody cloth to his sister’s knee, whose name I didn’t know. I waited until Johnny was calm, before I spoke to them. I needed him to be out of ear shot and in the arms of someone he felt safe with, and Brandon was my little one to do it.
“I’ve heard a lot about you,” Brandon said, getting down on the floor beside me.
“You have?”
“Sure have, heard you like to fish,” Brandon lied sweeter than honey.
“I do,” he sat up. “And I can take it off the hook, huh, Renee?”
“That’s right. He even helped me fry it up for supper one night, didn’t ya?” I swallowed past the horror and regained my composure.
“Yep. Do you like to fish?” Johnny asked, showing that he was starting to relax with Brandon.
“Are you kidding? I love too! But, I’m not real good at taking them off the hook,” Brandon said hanging his head.
“I can show ya,” Johnny replied sitting straighter.
“Would you really?” Brandon added popping his head back up, smiling from ear to ear, causing me to giggle out loud.
“Yeah!”
It was that very, ‘yeah’, that broke the tension in my heart. It was the voice of the once ‘normal’ child that use to play, skinning his elbows, and
pulling pony tails, and more than anything, it was a sure sign that he would one day be semi okay. I finally got him to go with Brandon, which once the two began talking was a much easier feat, when I had only moments before anticipated to be an impossibility. I stayed by his side while he became accustomed to being held by him, and Bo worked on taking the heavy ring off of his neck. It popped a few seconds after Bo started and he slipped it off Johnny’s neck. I ground my teeth to keep from cursing in front of him, because fire flew through my veins when I saw the bloody, raw ring that circled his small neck.
I told Brandon to go with the guards of Sydney and Bo, and to take Johnny to the room across the hall. Garvin and Derek stood watch over those who were now our prisoners, while Bo and Sydney went to make sure that it was a safe place to be. Once Johnny was safely out of the range of my anger, I wasted no time. With having only Derek and Garvin to help, if these two dark haired foreign teenagers decided they wanted to fight, we were going to get hurt with the way they were able to move. But at this point I didn’t care, I had questions and if I didn’t like their answers, they wouldn’t be given a choice. Death was what my eyes were seeing and I would die giving it to anyone that harmed even one hair on that little boy’s head.
“Who are you?” I asked walking up, trying to look menacing.
“My name is Jacob, and this is my sister, Jessica.”
“Why did you have my brother?”
“It was not us,” Jessica said looking up at me, showing no fear. “Chin bargained for him.”
“Chin? You mean the smear on the floor?” I sarcastically asked, putting my hand on my hip.
Neither answered, Jacob just looked down at his sister to see if she knew what I was talking about. She just sat there.
“You know, your maker—your Master?” I gestured toward to black on the floor.
“Yes, will you finish us now?” Jacob asked standing and looking me right in the eye.
“I think that all depends on a few things. Did you or your sister harm that little boy in any form…and I do mean any?” I asked, stepping up so close that I could feel his breath on my face.
Bloodbreeders: The Revenge Page 18
