Catalyst

by Shelly Crane

  “Alright. Times up,” Daniel said and strolled forward. “Let’s go get lunch. You’ll get nothing from this one today.”

  “It’s not time,” the jerk said looking at his watch. “We still have five minutes.”

  “Mine says time. Let’s go.”

  The jerk picked me up from the floor in his grasp. Both hands fisted my shirt front, my head lulled back as I was unable to hold it up. My feet were at least two feet off the floor. I was so cold, so utterly numb but painfully aware at the same time. It seemed to be worse than the heat.

  “Tomorrow. The time will not save you, little girl, and I will get my answers.”

  He dropped me all the way to the floor and I crumpled under my own weight like a doll. My head and back hit hard on the solidness of the floor and I gasped and tried to roll over but couldn’t. I couldn’t make my body move.

  I don’t know if it was the concussion, or the heat and then cold or all the hits but I was molded to the floor, uncomfortably laying there, watching through barely there slit eyes as they all made their way out of the room, leaving the freezing blowing air and violent shivering to be my only constant reminder that I was even alive anymore.

  Daniel was last to leave, holding the door. He looked at me but I fell into a sleep or blacked out again. Something. The last thing I remember was his boot and then the door closing behind him with an audible final click of the lock.

  I woke up with a warm hand on my cheek and I immediately grabbed at it like a lifeline.

  “Merrick?” I said but my voice was scratchy and rough.

  “No, Sherry, it’s Cain. Open your eyes.”

  My eyelids fluttered opened slowly and unsteadily at the request and I saw Cain leaning over me, looking distraught and angry.

  “C-Cain,” I squeaked and stuttered and when I tried to reach my arm up to him, but it wouldn’t go.

  “Shh. I’ve got you. Gah, you’re ice, Sherry.” He gathered me up in his arms and I moaned out loud at the warmth of him. My fingers wouldn’t bend as I tried to grasp his collar and pull myself closer. “Hang on, sweetheart.”

  I heard someone else murmuring in the room. Lillian.

  “Lillian?”

  “I’m here, Sherry. We’re going to take you home, ok. Just hang on.”

  Then other voices, one I knew but couldn’t put a face to it and the other was Daniel. I wanted to look but couldn’t, not just yet. My head was muddled and tired, uncooperative.

  “Come. We’ve got to get out this way-” Daniel said but was cut off by a yell.

  “Hey! What are you doing?”

  “Prisoner transfer.”

  “I don’t have a transfer on my schedule f-”

  I heard scuffles and grunts and it felt like Cain was running, as I was being jostled. He set me down in a big scratchy cloth chair. I opened my eyes to see what was going on and the hall was blurring and swirling. I blinked to focus.

  Daniel was fighting someone, and Billings and Cain were fighting another. I couldn’t tell what they were: human or Lighter. Lillian was on the other end of the hall. She appeared to be looking for something or someone.

  I was finally able to move my limbs some, my bones and veins still cold and stiff but they went when I told them to now, painful as it was. I sat up in the chair and watched with horrid fascination. It all came to a screeching full on understanding.

  Cain, Lillian and Billings had come to save me. Daniel was helping them and now, the Lighters had been alerted and were coming to stop them. I felt so useless and scared for them.

  I looked again and saw a woman, no, a girl, with Lillian at the other end of the hall now. The girl was leaning on the wall, sitting on the floor, looking as scared as I felt.

  I saw blurs of banging fists and legs. Daniel threw one of them into the wall and broken pieces of dry wall fell off in chunks to the concrete floor. Billings was kicked in the stomach and doubled over but quickly recovered, upper cutting the one he was fighting in the chin sending him falling backward into a table with papers and brochures on it. The papers flew up into the air in a cloud and rained down all around him on the floor. I saw that he was a human.

  I heard a loud crashing and looked to my left to see the door to the rest of the building had been banged open. A couple of people came through it and jumped into the fight, down on Lillian’s end of the hall was the same. Three enforcers ran out of the door at the end and started swinging.

  Cain was a force all his own. He took them down easily, one after another and I knew he had his gift to use if need be but I was sure he was trying to not use it to draw attention to us.

  I was surprised there wasn’t an alarm or something. I stood up on shaky legs and leaned on the wall. I might need to run and if that’s the case, I need to get my baring before that happens.

  I was grabbed from the side and I screamed out of surprise. He gripped me around the throat and I surprised the heck out of myself by using the hold break maneuver Miguel had taught me, out of instinct. I slammed the heel of my hand into his inside elbow and he let go. I ducked under his arm but before I could run or do anything else he gripped me again and slammed me into the wall before grabbing me from behind to hold my arms down.

  I looked up and saw that Lillian was being attacked too from her end. An enforcer had her by the throat but she wasn’t fighting back, she didn’t know how. I screamed to Cain, who had just put down an enforcer.

  “Cain! Lillian!” I screamed to tell him to go to her and was surprised to hear that my voice worked again.

  He looked to me first, eyes wide, then Lillian. She was watching just like I was. His gaze switched from me to her several times, his face twisted. I realized he was struggling with who to save. He was making up his mind on who to run to, making a choice.

  Then he made it.

  He took off running for Lillian fast, his boots pounding on the concrete; I could hear them all the way from where I was standing. He grabbed the enforcer from behind and wretched his head back, throwing him to the ground. Then grabbed Lillian in his arms and turned back, taking a step toward me. The woman still sat on the floor with her eyes shut and her ears covered.

  The enforcer who had me was trying to pull me out of the hall. I say trying but, he was succeeding. I could barely stand and he was practically dragging me. Then I saw Daniel take a stake, one of ours from home that Cain or Billings must have brought, and drive it through the stomach of the only other Lighter in the hallway.

  I saw the bursting light. Daniel ducked down as the bolt of lightning shot forth and out of the Lighter’s chest straight through the roof of the building. The boom was massive and my ears were ringing. Lights flickered and a couple big fluorescent ones hung down from the ceiling on their hinges. Plaster and wood pieces fell all around us in a shower of debris.

  The enforcer who had me had stopped moving to watch with horror on his face but now in the aftermath had started dragging me again. Daniel blurred my direction and punched the man in the nose, who fell back bleeding and confused. Daniel grabbed me under my legs and back as I started to collapse. The man took one more look at Daniel and ran the other way.

  I heard Daniel yelling to the others.

  “If they didn’t know you were here before, they definitely know now. Out this way. Let’s go.”

  I buried my face in Daniel’s chest. Yes, he was a Lighter and yes I felt awkward at his whole turn-around attitude, but I’d heard the story of what Cain and Lillian had said about what he did. I’d seen him help me and he was helping us now. And right that second, he was holding me carefully like I was fragile and important enough to worry about.

  The most important of all the reasons I was clinging to him was because I was still freezing cold and even though Lighters are cold skinned themselves, he was still warmer than I was.

  He was still wearing that big jacket from earlier and I tried to sleepily snuggle into it as he crept down the hall. I heard footsteps behind us and stiffened.

  “Don’t be frig
htened. It’s just your companions,” he whispered to me as he set me in a chair in the hall, took off his jacket and wrapped it around me, even did the buttons for me.

  Cain came into view.

  “How you holding up, kiddo?”

  “I-” I tried to speak but couldn’t, my mouth was cotton and my vision started to blur again, so I tried for a smile, but it must have looked more like a grimace. Then I was being swiftly picked up once more in cold arms and carried down the hall.

  “Faster. We’ve got medical supplies in the van,” Cain ordered.

  We reached the door and Billings told Cain the code to get it to open. He too had his hands full, trying to coax the girl to follow us and be quiet. She looked frightened beyond belief. Her dark eyes were wide and shallow and dark rimmed. She whimpered behind us as he pulled her along.

  Billings yelled something to Cain about a room next to us. They opened it and started rummaging through.

  Daniel made it out the door first with me still in his arms and rounded the corner. I didn’t see Cain or Lillian, not even Billings. It was so bright I couldn’t keep my eyes open. My ears were still ringing from the lightning blast.

  I heard yelling in front of us. I felt the vibrations in Daniel’s chest as he yelled back. I made myself peek and saw Merrick. My heart immediately went off the charts, skipping violently, but I was still too weak to move much. I tried to tell Daniel it was ok but he couldn’t hear me over Merrick and Danny’s yelling.

  Danny. Danny was here too.

  I realized what that must’ve looked like to them. I had just come out of the enforcement facility after being kidnapped, unconscious and bloody, carried by a Lighter with no Billings or Cain in sight. Crap.

  I raised my hand slowly and heard them all stop.

  “It’s ok.”

  Daniel walked slowly and carefully to Merrick a few feet away and held me out for him to take.

  “I believe this belongs to you,” Daniel said and passed me to Merrick’s warm arms.

  Before Daniel could get staked by someone, I made sure to let them know he was not gonna hurt us, that he was one of us now.

  “Merrick-”

  “It’s ok, baby. I’ve got you,” he said and his arms settled and tightened around me.

  “No. This is Daniel. He helped me,” I creaked.

  Merrick looked up to him. I looked between the two as they stared each other down. No matter how much Daniel may have changed, I was sure it wasn’t easy to be face to face with a Keeper, your known enemy for thousands of years, and not still feel a pang of needing to do something about it.

  Danny stood off to the side glaring at Daniel too.

  Luckily, Cain and Billings came around the corner just in time to diffuse and Cain started telling everyone to get back in the van. Now. As if something was about to happen and we needed to get out of there.

  Lillian grabbed Daniel’s arm beside me and started pulling him to the van.

  “Come on. Come with us.”

  “No, Lillian. I can not go with you.”

  “Yes, you can. They don’t care. They’ll understand.”

  “I believe you are mistaken about that.”

  She looked at Merrick.

  “You would stop him from coming with us after he helped Sherry? You need to hear what he’s done. You have no idea, but there’s no time. Don’t stop him from coming with us, Merrick. He saved Sherry’s life.”

  Merrick looked at Daniel sharply for a moment and nodded.

  “Let’s go.”

  I was so incredibly proud of him. As I was sure it wasn’t easy for Daniel, it wasn’t easy for Merrick either, to put away all that old rivalry, but Merrick would do anything for me. And he just kept proving it over and over again.

  I heard Daniel and Lillian talking back and forth as Merrick walked away. Billings was putting the girl in and handing her to Ryan, who he explained to her was a good guy. She clung to him and buried her face in his neck to cry. He was startled, but he leaned back against the front seat and settled in with her.

  Once settled in the van, Merrick placed me on the floor in front of Miguel.

  “You just can’t keep out of trouble can ya, love?” Miguel asked me and smiled. I tried to smile back but my face hurt something awful. He touched my arm. “You’re freezing, Sherry. And your face!” He looked up to Merrick to explain.

  Merrick shrugged.

  “I have no idea. Ask him,” he said and nodded toward Daniel, who was climbing in and everyone got really quiet.

  “What’s he doing in here?” Jeff said angrily and Miguel grunted in agreement.

  “Hey,” I croaked and it was so quiet in the van that everyone could hear me. “He saved me. Ask him all the questions you want, but he risked his life to save mine.”

  Merrick nodded to me.

  “I know that, I’m sorry. Thousands of years of habit are gonna be hard to break.” He looked back up to Daniel. “I’d shake your hand but...” Lighters and Keepers couldn’t touch each other’s skin, so Merrick just tilted his head to him, “but thank you.”

  It was like everyone held their breath.

  “You are more than welcome.”

  I couldn’t help but think this was the first time in history that a Lighter and a Keeper had called truce. I wondered if it would be a recurring event.

  Daniel looked down at me as Miguel threw a blanket over me and started looking at my face.

  “I’d like to come but I’m needed out here. There are other enforcement facilities nearby. I’ll go to them and continue to help if I can.” He touched my shoulder and I saw Jeff tense beside me. “I told you to be strong and everything would be ok, didn’t I?”

  “Thank you.” I reached over to grab his hand. “You could just come with us.”

  “I could. Maybe one day,” he said and patted my hand, creeping out backwards. “But for now, I have a lot to make up for.”

  Lillian pulled him in for a hug. He looked awkward and unsettled by it but patted her back before stepping back to let Cain and Billings in the van. Billing turned before shutting the door.

  “I would head for the hills if I were you. We rigged the place.”

  Daniel nodded, looking first at Lillian for a long second, then back at me.

  “We’ll meet again someday. Be safe.”

  Billings slammed the door and whoever was driving jerked us into first gear and away from the building. I heard a faint siren or alarm going off and felt a rush of panic. I heard Billings counting down softly looking at his watch.

  “I set it for five minutes. That should be plenty of time for the innocents to get out.”

  “Get out for what?” I asked and Miguel told me not to talk and got me to sip some water.

  Billings made a show of an explosion with his hands. I understood. That’s where they were when Daniel had me by the van. Setting a trap. A bomb.

  The alarm got louder and then I heard yelling.

  “Dang. I thought we’d make it,” Billings barked. “Well, we brought you for muscle. Let’s go guys. They already closed the gate but I only count six of them, all enforcers.”

  “Let’s do it fast,” Cain ordered as the van screeched to a stop and the door slammed opened.

  He jumped, then Billings, then Miguel.

  Merrick looked down to me.

  “Be right back.”

  He was gone before I could say a word to him in protest. I was still foggy and groggy and essentially exhausted. My blood felt thick and sluggish in my veins but I struggled to stay awake. I tried to sit up, but Lillian stopped me.

  “No, no, no. They’ll be fine. They are handling them.”

  “What’s going on?” I rasped.

  “They’re fighting the enforcers at the gate blocking our way. It’s ok.” She kept looking out the window and not at me. “They are doing fine. Almost all the enforcers are down now.”

  “And now?”

  “Here they come.”

  I felt the movement of people jumping
in the van.

  I tried not to think about the enforcers out there. They were innocent, but under a spell. It wasn’t fair to them. Maybe we could help them somehow, learn how to break the compulsion from the Lighters, change the persuasion. We could show them how it really was.

  I felt a hand on my forehead as the van jerked into movement again and felt strange for worrying another second about anything that didn’t have black hair and green eyes and was looking at me with such concern it made me ache, right at that moment.

  We slammed through the gate and I saw pieces of it flying around the windows from my spot on the floor. And then we were home free, I assumed.

  “Hey,” Merrick said with concern. “I know this is a dumb question, but do you feel alright? Where do you hurt the most?” he asked running his hand over my hair.

  “Everywhere,” I answered truthfully. “Come here.”

  He lay down beside me without hesitation, though there was barely room, and wrapped his arms around me under the blanket Miguel had given me. I barely had the strength to snuggle in but I did my best.

  You have got to stop doing this to me.

  I nodded.

  “I know,” I countered and pointed to my lips limply. Asking. It felt like déjà vu all over again. He smiled and pressed a careful easy kiss to my upturned lips and then rested his forehead against mine.

  No more. I mean it this time. You can not leave my sight. I hope you enjoy watching me shave and talk Keeper talk, because you are attached to my hip from now on.

  I laughed silently but could feel the movement of it. He chuckled too and I loved it so much that I didn’t let on how much it hurt my body to laugh.

  “I don’t care anymore. If that’s what it takes, then so be it. I just know I never want to be away from you again.” I saw Danny watching me with concern and worry from out of the corner of my eye. “That goes for you too, brat.”

  He chuckled and shook his head.

  “At least you still have your sense of humor.”

  “Humor? You are a brat.”

  “I missed you too, little sister.”