Bloodbreeders: Seeking Others

by Robin Renee Ray,

  “It’s for Johnny,” he smiled putting it under his shirt.

  “He’ll love it, but let him know that it’s going to have to leave. It’s not a pet, Derek,” I said as I stepped onto the deck.

  “I know, but they’re so small. Ash just loved,” he paused. “I’ll go show him.” Then he turned and walked away, rubbing the now quiet piglet.

  “I hate seeing the boys hurt like this.”

  “It will not be easy, Renee. I do not mean to sound so hard, but her death was so graphic that time may not even heal their minds.” Jacob walked up behind me.

  “I disagree,” Garvin added turning around and facing us. “They have each other. Had I not had Tanda, then I might have somewhat of a different objective, but I know with her by my side the brutal murder of our parents eased with time.”

  I looked over at Brandon who was now squatting down petting the other two piglets, and all he did was turn around and nod at me. I smiled knowing that I needed to hear what Garvin had to say just as much as Brandon or Jacob, because I had my brother and we would get through this new world together, forgetting the past, remembering the good, and making a new life for the family that was rapidly growing. I left the boys to organize what we had brought on board and headed down to see the rest. Walking away I heard Jacob give the order to head to William’s Island and off we went.

  I walked through the door and Johnny jumped off the bed and ran straight at me, just as he did every time. “Mommy!” He jumped so high into the air that he just about flew over my head. I couldn’t hold back the laughter. It had become a game that he played, knowing that I wouldn’t miss, but still I worried that one day he would jump so high that I would surely would. He now thought of me as his mother and no one told him any different. Tammy and Jessie stood up and met Johnny and I, in the middle of the room.

  “Where’s Tanda?” I asked putting Johnny back down.

  “She wanted to draw you a bath,” Tammy replied.

  “She’s going to have to stop doing this. I’ll be back. Johnny, how do ya like that baby piggy?” I called out from around the girls.

  “She peed on the bed,” he giggled. “But Tammy cleaned it, huh, Tammy?”

  “He hasn’t taken his hands off of it until you walked in,” Jessie said, still laughing at his comment.

  “And Derek?”

  “He said he was going to the bridge,” Jessie replied now taking on a more serious look. “He does not act like himself lately.”

  “He has days that I think he’s going to be alright, then something hits him and this happens.” I reached out and touched her arm. “We’ll just have to be strong for him.”

  I left the girls to play with Johnny while I went to the bathing area to find Tanda. She was bending over swirling the water around, adding oils and rose fragrances by the smell of it. I walked in and shut the door a bit harder than I meant to, causing her to almost fall into the large basin.

  “You frightened me,” she smiled standing up, slinging the water off her now soaked sleeve.

  “Can you answer me one question?”

  “You wish to know why I keep doing things such as this, don’t you?”

  “I do.”

  “I choose to, that’s why,” she adamantly replied and walked over and picked up a white robe. “You must undress if you are to get in.”

  “I love that you are such a sweetheart, but I can manage fixing my own bath.”

  “May I ask you one question?”

  “Of course,” I said as I started unbuttoning my shirt.

  “What does it matter who draws your bath?”

  “Hum…how am I supposed to answer that? All I know is that I’ve always done for myself and now all you have to worry about is doing for yourself.”

  “No, that is a lie, and you My Lady are no liar. You take care of everyone. I see little of you taking care of your own needs. Your hair lays in strands and your skin…” Then she paused and stared at me.

  “What about my skin?” I asked looking down at my arms.

  “You are becoming tough like a man.”

  “Tanda!”

  “I only tell you this because you never notice your own needs, Renee.”

  “So you tell me my skin looks like a man’s?” I asked then started laughing.

  I was now very use to being nude in front of Tanda, and was stepping into the tub when she added more bath oil to the water. She looked back at me raising her shoulders and smiling bashfully, then stepped back and began unbraiding my hair. My hair was truly in horrible shape. The ends were no longer cut straight across the way my mother always kept it trimmed and I absolutely had no cares about it or my skin. I did however have to admit that the bath felt like I had fallen into a small piece of heaven. Tanda was brushing the tangles out of my hair when Jacob knocked on the door and told us that we would be at the island in two hours.

  I washed my hair as quickly as Tanda would allow me, and hurried out of the tub. I dressed in the clothes she had laid out. That was the one thing that I would never do too much complaining about. She knew that we all took to wearing black and always seemed to have ready for me a good pair of black pants and a soft shirt. I had long since stopped wearing under garments on the top, being that my only one was ruined months ago, and I hadn’t found another since. The mistress of Cuba had a large amount of bottoms that I gladly took my share of. In my old world it was unheard of for a woman to go without her private garments, and it wasn’t looked to highly upon to be seen in pants. This world was altogether a different story. Not even Tammy, whose breasts were the largest that I had seen, wore anything under her clothing and cared nothing about who was in the room when she dressed. That was something that I was never going to be able to get used to doing. Jessie on the other hand never knew that she had showed herself, because she was in and out of consciousness when Tammy was mending her back to health. Other than that night, she had never once dressed in front of anyone that I knew of, other than maybe her brother, Jacob.

  “I’ll be up on the deck if you want to come up, but I want to talk to Jacob before we reach this other place,” I said as I laced up my boots.

  “What about your hair?”

  “I’ll brush it out up there and let it hang free for once. You’re too young to worry so much. Loosen up, maybe you should take those braids down and put some jeans on and join us. Garvin had a good idea.”

  “What idea? He thinks I need to change my hair?” she asked looking at me with her head tilted, and touching the side of her rolled up braid.

  “No silly. He thinks you and the others should be seeing some of the things that we are.”

  “I think I just felt what you must have when I said your skin was looking a bit rough,” she added stifling a giggle.

  “Oh, but smell me now, and the softness just fell back on me,” I replied closing my eyes and taking in the rose scent that was coming from my much softer flesh.

  That was when we both started laughing, and she immediately began taking down her hair. I couldn’t stop smiling as I walked over and helped. Within minutes we had her hair hanging in wavy ripples down the middle of her back, draping close to the dark black pair of jeans we found that went perfect with the pale blue shirt. When I had pulled the black one out of the wardrobe the look on her face was all that I needed to reach back in and find the lighter one, which brightened her expression considerably. Another thing that her new look had accomplished was changing the attitude that Derek was having. As soon as we stepped out on the top deck where he was stooping down at the front watching the water pass, he turned. Even from the thirty foot distance between us, I could see the look in his eyes as they followed Tanda’s form with every step that she took toward him.

  “Hello, Derek,” Tanda said lowering her head bashfully.

  “You look amazing,” he replied standing up and absently reaching out and running his fingers through her hair. “Wanna see something really neat?”

  “Oh yes, I’d love to.”

/>   CHAPTER TWO

  That was my cue to go find the one that I wanted to have a certain little chat with, whether he thought we should find out the hard way or not. I wasn’t going to allow a handful of these kids—or would that be my elders—to go to this strange island that was without a doubt, going to be something more gripping than the last. In my book that was saying a great deal. I found Jacob separating the vegetables and fruit into two different bags.

  “How are you going to split up the livestock?” I smirked as I walked up.

  “They go to a completely different area on the island,” he replied never turning to look at me.

  “Jacob, why are you so evasive about this place?”

  “Because, it is better that you see it with your own eyes, just as I have said.”

  “Will you please stop and look at me!”

  “What?” he said dropping the bag and stepping up to me.

  “It’s more than that and you know it. The boys and Tanda, hell maybe Jessie and Tammy will want to go on land, and I can’t have that if there might be something there that can harm them,” I explained stepping even closer.

  “They can stay on the beach. I would never take more than two anyway. It’s not allowed.”

  “Are you sure the beach is safe?”

  “Are you sure that anything that we do is safe, Renee?”

  “What?”

  “Why do you ask me a question that you know I cannot answer? I would assume the beach is safe, because I have never known them to venture far from their homes.”

  “Then the safest thing for me to do is stay on the beach with them and let you take someone else with you.” Now I was the one talking but not looking at Jacob.

  “Is the truth, that you do not wish to deal with more this night?”

  “Why do you always have to be so smart?” I glared back just as fast as I had looked away. “Yeah, I think I would much rather take a soothing walk on the beach, but just in case, Johnny stays.”

  “It has nothing to do with intelligence, I can see it on your face,” he smiled then stepped back and picked up the debris that had fallen from the vegetable bag. “I have already told our youngest that the piglet was his to raise until it was ready to be used as dinner. He gave me one of his dynamic jumps. It is good he is so young for the minds sake.”

  “I just heard a ‘but’ at the end of that statement.”

  “That is another thought that one can see on your face. You have plenty of time to worry on his future,” he added, then put the greenery in my hands. “Take it to him, love him dearly.”

  Brandon, Derek, and Tanda stood on one side of me while Tammy, Jacob, Garvin, and Sydney stood on the other, all of us watching the dark island. Jacob would be taking Garvin and Sydney with him to help carry the goods, then return as quickly as they possibly could to us on the beach. We all stood and watched as the ship approached the smaller rockier area. It wasn’t the larger main portion of the island but what I would call the back of it.

  The workers lowered the small boat and we started getting in. Jessie seemed to want to stay behind with Johnny, and by the look that she gave Jacob, I had a feeling that she had already seen this particular show and all of a sudden didn’t blame her. I’m sure it was in part due to the smell we all noticed the closer that we got. Sydney even stopped rowing the boat, causing Garvin to do the same to keep us from going in circles. Here we all sat with crates and bags in our laps, watching Sydney close his eyes and slowly lean his head back. I was about to reach over when Garvin put his hand on top of mine and shook his head.

  “Go back, Garvin,” Sydney said grabbing the ore and hitting the water rapidly.

  “Sydney, what’s wrong?” I grabbed his arm, dropping the chicken crate that I was holding.

  “It’s death,” he hissed. “We have to go back now!”

  “Take a hold of him, Garvin,” Jacob demanded. Garvin grabbed his shoulder and he instantly calmed down.

  “I see lights, Renee,” Tanda whispered with her shoulders hunched over as we reached the shoreline.

  “To the right,” Tammy added putting her arm over Tanda.

  “Hurry, to the beach. Now!” Jacob said taking the paddle from Sydney.

  He and Garvin rowed the boat with a frantic maneuver, no one saying a word. Derek jumped out as soon as the boat touched the sandy bottom and started pulling it up on dry ground. He went around and lifted Tanda off the boat and took her by the hand and ran with her to a sand dune, then ran back and helped Tammy out of the boat. She smiled and took his hand, knowing she could leap out of the boat as good as the next bloodbreeder. She and I made our way to where Tanda was and watched as the boys unload the boat. The closer the lights came, the more frightened I became for the ones who were still out in the open. A few minutes later Brandon and Derek came sliding around the side of the sand dune, putting their fingers to their mouths, warning us to stay silent. I heard someone coming and they were moving at high speed. I pulled my blade and pushed Tanda behind me. Sydney dove over Derek’s head and crashed into Tammy, who grabbed him around the waist and both landed on her back.

  I closed my eyes and slid my blade back into the sheath that was strapped to my leg. My heart was pounding so hard I could feel it in my throat. I think it came to a complete stop when I heard a strange sounding voice say, “You’s master not come?” but it sounded more like, “Yooousss maaasssteer nooot commme?” slow and slurry. Then I heard Jacob explain that his old master, Chin, had been replaced with a new one.

  “Show me the medallion,” the thing asked in the same slurred speech.

  “See it, all of you, and remember my words to be true,” Jacob spoke loud and sure.

  We heard grunts and groans and all I could do was wonder what must be going through Garvin’s mind. I heard things moving about and knew they were gathering the goods that we had brought. I heard the man-thing tell them to come with them for their payment, then after a few moments even their footsteps feel silent. I was the first to look around the barrier that we were hiding behind and saw nothing, not even the light from their torches. We all decided it would be best to stay as far from that side of the boat as we could get, so we took off walking down the opposite direction of the beach.

  “What did you see anyway, Sydney?” I asked out of pure curiosity.

  “What I saw wasn’t anything human, and this smell isn’t like the death trap back in Cuba, but it certainly isn’t life either,” he replied slightly beating around the bush.

  “But what did you see?” Tammy asked, stopping him where he was walking and fidgeting with his hands.

  “I…I,” he looked over at me.

  “It’s alright, it was just a vision. No one or nothing is going to hurt you, not with all of us here.”

  “That’s right,” Derek replied pulling out his two foot curved blade.

  “He has a point,” Brandon added showing Sydney his favorite blade that he slid back into his boot strap.

  “I saw claw-like hands, like that on a crab. There was a face with slanted eyes and little holes where the nose is supposed to be. Lips, but no lips, just like the ears and I swear and this is not a lie…the skin looked like a snake or a lizards. It slammed in my mind like it was going to attack me.”

  “Are you sure you weren’t seeing one of the pets or something? Maybe they keep a load of critters like that,” Derek said walking up to Sydney.

  “No, this was no animal, but it wasn’t a man either, Derek. I can’t explain, but I can tell ya that it wasn’t the only kind of whatever-it-was. I had several things shooting in and out that I can’t even explain to myself.”

  “I don’t like this place, Renee,” Tanda admitted, stepping closer to Derek.

  “On this one, honey, I don’t blame you one bit,” I replied looking behind me.

  We walked a little further. Tammy and I walked side by side, with Brandon on one side of Tanda, and Derek standing proudly on the other. Sydney was taking the lead. My thoughts kept falling back on my
other two who were now in the very domain with the beings that Sydney had just told us about. Jacob knew well what he was getting himself into, but Garvin knew nothing. It was true that he held himself well with the first people we’d crossed, but it seemed these were no people at all, or if they once were, time had seen to it that that had come to an end. I could understand why something like this would progressively get worse, if the breeding stayed among those of the same blood line, especially if there was a disorder to begin with. One doesn’t need to be properly educated to comprehend that concept.

  “Did any of you just hear that?” Sydney asked, squatting down to the ground.

  “I heard a chirping sound,” Tanda whispered from behind us.

  “Did you hear it?” Tammy asked looking over at me.

  “I was kind of daydreaming,” I replied raising my brows. “Or night dreaming, if that makes any sense.”

  Then the sound rang out, only this time we all heard it. To me it was like a clicking more than a chirp, but I could also hear the rustling of chains. By this time we were all squatting down, with some even on our bellies, myself included. The sound was coming from our left, further inland, so we did a little belly crawl and made our way to the fairly high mound of sand that was blocking our view. The ground cover was much heavier and hid us extremely well. I was able to get on my knees before I had to rise up enough to peek over the spear grass. No sooner than I raised my head, I froze as the chain quickly yanked not twenty yards from where we had come up. I turned my head slightly to the right and saw a small figure run a few feet then hop once, then twice, then go back down where I lost sight of it.

  “It’s small, whatever it is,” I whispered as low as I could, moving mere inches as to not startle it.

  “Can you please tell me why we are doing this?” Sydney whispered back.

  “Oh shit!” Derek called out as his body fell back with the earth that broke loose under his feet.

  After that all hell broke loose. Not only was Derek back on the beach, but so was everyone else, other than Tammy and myself. The small beast screamed the highest pitched sound that I have never heard, and as I grasped my ears, my eyes fell in wonder as the beast took to the sky. The tiny form floated in the air; little arms and legs dangling like magic held up by leather arched wings, that I could only describe as the wings of a fruit bat that I had once seen in a book at school. I could now see it was female, small mounds showed on her nude chest, and from what I could see her skin was like what Sydney had described—reptilian-like. Her screams were piercing my brain and yet I knew it was only because she was afraid. I could feel it, just as I knew she was just a child. Tammy and I turned around at the same time to look at the others and saw nothing but their backside moving swiftly toward the water that was washing its way toward them. I looked at her at the same time she looked back at me and we both cracked up.