Bloodbreeders: Seeking Others

by Robin Renee Ray,

  “I would have loved to hear that coming from him,” I laughed, and then the baby started squirming.

  “You have the baby,” he said and went to it.

  “We need to get the baby back to Lilly, she needs to try and feed it.”

  “I’ll take him, or is it her?”

  “Boy,” Tammy replied handing him the baby.

  “Then I’ll take him.”

  We made sure that he got to the door in safety, then found Jacob and the others in the small room across from the study. I guess I should say that they found us slinking through the hall, hiding behind everything we passed, and called us over with a sound very much like Shyanna’s chirping. When we walked in and the door was closed, I saw five bodies on the ground and only two had changed into their death state. The room we were fixing to make a grand entrance into was the one right across the hall.

  “I think we all go in at the same time. Get them with the element of surprise,” Jacob said leaning on the closed door.

  “I’m ready, how about all of you?” I asked.

  “Yaw!” Derek loudly adding, “Hoop…apa…do,” slowing his tone when all eyes landed on him.

  “Why’d you do that?” Sydney asked wrinkling up his face.

  “Just giving a big ole hell yeah, in river language,” he replied and smiled wiggling his brows back at Sydney.

  “Well, I think it was more like ‘haw’ than ‘yaw’, but on this one I’m with ya,” I added bumping Derek with my hip.

  I pulled out my twenty-two in one hand and my jeweled blade in the other. Jacob looked out then waved us all out into the hall. “Master!” a man yelled from down the hall and Jacob kicked the door in. Garvin went for the yelling man as we walked right into his study. Cortez jumped so bad that he fell out of his chair, while his men tried to surround us. This place was almost as elegant as the one in Cuba, but the one who owned it was a little sicker. The point had passed perversion when we took Lilly off the hook that had been shoved deep into her back, and found out she’d given birth while hanging from it. It would be a memory that I would try to erase, but would fail in my attempts. Cortez was trying to get on his feet when Tammy stepped around the boys.

  “You live, my little buttercup,” Cortez gasped, doing his best to smile.

  “Bet you never would have guessed that when you gave me over the way you did.”

  “No, it was a mistake. You were not there as a slave, but as my wife.”

  “Shut the hell up!” Derek snapped. “The cats out of the bag and she knows you sold her to that crazy bitch.”

  “Now there is no need to get so excited, I can explain everything,” Cortez calmly said sitting back down in his comfy looking brown leather chair.

  “There is no need…” Tammy was saying as the doors on both side flew open and the room filled with men, breeders and normals alike.

  “Remember, soft flesh,” Jacob yelled. “Step in.”

  We all put our backs together making a ring, meeting shoulder to shoulder, as Cortez’s men pulled their ranks in making a larger circle facing us. We were also outnumbered three to one. Cortez, of course, leaned back in his chair and smiled. “I knew that the demons would follow me here, but I never once thought that my own wife would show them the way.” Tammy darted her eyes over to the beast who spoke and Jacob cleared his throat.

  “Which of you is the one that I saw holding the flame? You owe me for my top in command.”

  “I owe you nothing, but death,” I replied never breaking the tight circle that we had.

  “My dear, are you so vane that you cannot see that you have already failed?”

  “About as blind as you not seeing that you and these men are just walking corpses waiting to hit the ground.”

  “Well, red one…make your move,” Cortez replied, lacing his finger over his chest and rocking back.

  “Jacob?”

  That was the only thing that I had to say. He yelled the cry of the fighting art, and we all took a step with our left legs and brought up our black weapons. All but me that is, mine was hard steel. No matter how much Jacob disapproved of modern weapons, guns more than anything. He had explained that honor stood among men who fought in hand to hand combat. But to me that made no since when those very men held very sharp blades. I would use my gun as long as I had bullets to go in it. Cortez’s men made grunting sounds, loosely swinging there blades. When Jacob started swinging, so did we.

  I blocked the arm that was coming right at my head noting the hand wasn’t empty. I came up as fast and as hard as I could and shoved my blade into the man’s armpit. It wasn’t until the man’s arm came loose like a chicken being carved and merely hanging by the skin, that I knew he was a normal. It was one of the few times that I couldn’t tell due to the fact that the room was filled with the blood and stench of so many. I made a back handed motion and sliced his throat. I turned in time to see Jacob spinning around while going down on his knees, cutting open two men’s abdomens as they tried to make contact with him.

  Tammy fought beside Derek who was using his legs, kicking the sides of jaws, then spinning around the man and pulling his black blade and damn near taking off the head. Garvin was slicing one after another, abdomen, after abdomen was opened and soon the floor was covered in entrails. Derek was holding his arm with the hand that held his blade, and I noticed the tip was missing. Jacob was knee deep in bodies and was now using his silver sword, plunging it into anything that moved. Sydney was down on the floor, gripping his side, but with the black shirt it was too hard to tell just how bad he was wounded. Garvin was bending over, but he was just relieved that this part of the battle was over, I think.

  Tammy was now standing with her blade under the throat of her maker. “Where’s the messenger?” When he didn’t answer, she slid the blade into his flesh. He hissed, grabbing her wrist and tried to fight it away.

  “I will kill you, you ungrateful wench.” Cortez yelled.

  Derek rushed over and grabbed his arm and started pushing it back. Cortez now had Tammy by the hair with the other hand and was doing his best to kick at her. She was already leaning on him to prevent him making contact, when I grabbed his hand and started bending his fingers back, snapping one as I touched it to the back of his hand. He screamed and let go of her hair. I then pushed his arm back just like Derek had. Tammy sat down on his legs and asked again. “Where’s the messenger?”

  “It’s too late, buttercup.”

  “What’s he talking about?” I asked feeling the man’s arm relax.

  Tammy’s eyes filled with tears as she leaned in and kissed his cheek. He closed his eyes, tilting his head into hers as he took in her scent and then she sank her fangs into his neck. His eyes went wide as he began to struggle. Derek and I held firm until his arms lost all strength.

  “Not to death, Tammy,” I said putting my hand on her back, but as I did I saw his flesh turn black.

  I watched as she sat back up and wiped her mouth, removed her blade and as his body turned to ash she dug out his heart. I was about to ask Jacob what we were going to do next, when gun shots started filling the night. “Jamous,” he said, and we headed for the door. As I was running by I saw Garvin helping Sydney and within minutes we were on the front colonel style porch. The yard was filled with chaos. Men wearing armored suits, like those out of a medieval story, were fighting with Jamous and his men.

  “The messenger,” was all that I heard Tammy say, before the boys leaped off the porch, yelling indescribable sounds as they lifted their weapons over their heads. Brandon came running past us like a streak of lightening, yelling, “Not without me!” Tammy and I looked at each other and joined in the fun.

  Blood flew, as blades sliced through the air. Guns went off and bodies graced the ground. The older the bloodbreeder, the more ash they became. The air was filled with a fine mist of those that once were, yet some were so young that they lay whole with just the harsh darkening of the flesh. I stood with my pistol in one hand and my blade ready in
the other, with what had to be the biggest man that I had ever seen, breathing hard in front of me and ready to attack. He had an enormous club and a round metal shield. I acted like I was going to step back, but instead I came forward and planted my foot firmly between his legs. He grunted as he bent forward, and when he did I slammed my blade through the back of his neck. He stood so suddenly that I lost my grip. He started swinging the huge club in circles knocking me to the ground with one solid blow. I lay there, with my head spinning. My eyes focused just in time to see Garvin step in and slash his blade across the man’s stomach, then he spun back around and came across the front of his throat, as the man was coming down for a killing hit on me. The club smashed down two inches from my head as the big man’s body fell across mine. In awe, I watched as Sydney pulled my blade out of the thick black slime and then took the club, showing me the hilt of his broken blade.

  “It stayed in the man’s body?” he shrugged.

  “Thanks, Sydney,” I grimaced, wiping my hands down the remains of the breeder on the front of my body.

  I saw Jamous back to back with Jacob, in what had to be fifteen men deep. Garvin, Sydney, and I ran straight at them, screaming our own guttural cry and started slicing at every body our weapons could find. Sydney swung that club like he was born with it in his hands. He knocked one man to the side then hit him again until he went down. Sydney made his final blow, crushing the man’s head in as if it were nothing more than a watermelon.

  Jacob was art in motion. He would come off the ground, kick out, landing a foot to the side of one man’s neck, breaking it, while his blade killed another. At one point he was pushed backwards, but the momentum he gained put him into a back flip of sorts. He took two large steps and ran his feet up the man’s body, wrapping his feet onto the man’s neck, then spun his body, flipping the man in midair, snapping his spine with ease.

  Tammy and Derek were fighting off two individuals that had wounded two of Jamous’s men. They now stood in front of them kicking and punching, using their blades wisely. The one in front of Tammy reached out with lightning speed and slapped her. She froze, causing his action to waver, and that’s when she had him. “You son-of-a-bitch,” she yell and grabbed him by the front of his shirt, dropping her blade and started pounding on his face with her fist. His arms soon began to dangle as blood soaked them both, and still she continued. His weight dropped and she reached down and picked her blade back up. Derek pulled his gun and shot his attacker between the eyes. I think he thought that Tammy was in trouble, until he turned to witness her ramming her blade through the man’s eye, hilt deep.

  Brandon was wiping his blade off as he and Derek, checked through the bodies. Two of Jamous’s men were dead, and most of the rest were wounded. All of us were hurt in one way or another, but we all lived to see another night. Tammy started checking the bodies, pulling up the vests of the dead bloodbreeders. She was looking for something so hurriedly that I had to ask. “What are you looking for Tammy?”

  “The messenger, he’s not here,” she franticly replied.

  “Who is this messenger that you keep talking about?”

  “He is the spreader of the word. The one who is sent out to warn the elders. They in turn will send out a war party, so to speak,” Jacob replied.

  “He always dressed like one of these,” she replied. “But he had a long scar on the side of his face and he always had this gold chain with a square locket.”

  “It holds the key. If he hands it to the elders, then they know what he tells them to be true,” Jacob further explained.

  “Can we find him first?” Brandon asked, walking up to us.

  “I’m afraid that would not be possible,” Jacob replied.

  “How do you know?” I asked.

  “I too, was meant to be one.” Then he pulled a golden chain out of his pocket.

  “Are you saying that when Chin was murdered you were supposed to get away and let these elder people know?” I asked.

  “I was.”

  “Then why didn’t you?”

  “You have your reasons in what you do. I have mine.” Then he turned and went to Jamous.

  Jamous was beside himself to know that we had found his daughter, but not so happy that she had taken in my blood. Tammy and Brandon walked her and the baby out the front door, causing Jamous to fall to his knees. Lilly was leaning heavily on Tammy, while Brandon carried the baby never taking his eyes off of the grandfather. Tammy took Lilly to Jamous, who was still weeping when Lilly crawled into his lap.

  “Papa, I was so scared.”

  “Oh my baby, there is a God…and he has spoken this night through the eyes of our new found family.” He bent over her and bellowed out his emotions, rocking as they held one another.

  “Papa, do you want to see your grandson?” Brandon said after a few minutes.

  “My…my grandson? He lives?”

  “Very much so,” Brandon replied leaning down, placing the baby in Lilly’s arms.

  “They saved us both, Papa,” she cried. “The woman gave me herself. I don’t know why, but it gave me back my life.”

  Jamous looked up at me with a face that was covered in blood and tears, and gave me one sharp nod. Nothing else needed to be said. We would deal with her needs for me when the time came, for now she was alive and back in her father’s arms and he was now a grandpa. We helped Jamous and his men back to their village, then went back to take care of Cortez’s estate.

  Tammy went through his papers, while Jacob surveyed his weapons area. Me and the others pulled all the bodies that were whole enough to move, back inside and got things ready to burn the place to the ground. We found seven slaves. The one that told us Cortez’s whereabouts was the one that showed us where the other six would be hiding. He held good to his word, so we held good to ours. Now I see the purpose of Jacob wanting both boats, why I hadn’t thought about survivors before, I can’t answer. Maybe that’s why I leave the small details up to him. With this seven and the three from Cuba, we were getting over our heads.

  “Found their normals’ guns and ammo, did you want us to take it, Jacob?” Derek asked as he and Brandon came into the room that we were all gathered in.

  “I would say gather the ammo for the weapons you now carry, but only for the time when the need is most necessary. Here, with Jamous’s people we had no need to hide the fact that we were here, but other times we will need to be silent in our attack.”

  “Yes, daddy, I think I got that the last time you explained it to us. I was just asking if you wanted us to get the weapons or leave them, that’s all,” Derek gave him a salute and turned to leave.

  “Master Derek, you may indeed leave that here.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Your mouth,” Jacob replied, smiling at me.

  All in the room started laughing, all but Derek that is.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  We said our good-byes to Jamous and his people, letting them know of our plans to return as soon as we could. He asked that we take a handful of letters to give to his brother the next time that we should go by Andros Island. He mentioned that he missed Tabor, a great deal. Brothers…I would have never guessed. I held Lilly and I spoke softly about her being okay now and to not fear. Then I slipped in, “Do not remember what happened right before his birth,” I whispered gentle, “Hold him and love him with all of your heart.” I told her when she felt that she couldn’t live without me, to look at her precious little boy, that he was her key to me, and that I would soon return to check on them both. When I was finished I stood and left her there holding little Jamous with her eyes closed, in a slightly hypnotic state.

  Tammy walked up to the older Jamous, taking a bag out of her pocket that she made out of another piece of her shirt and reached out her hand. He took it and nodded. He grabbed her hand as she went to turn around, he leaned and kissed the back of it and smiled. We all knew that Jamous knew he was holding his enemies heart.

  By the time we got back to the sh
ip I think we were all so sore that each of us had a hard time getting out of the small boat. To me the ladder felt a thousand feet long. The more I climbed, the further it felt I had to go. All the “slaves” that we had saved were terrified and it didn’t do them any good when Shyanna came running out on the deck, and then hopped once right before taking flight, giggling her silly laugh. The two women began to scream, holding on to the backs of the men. The five men looked at her then dropped to their knees taking the women down with them.

  “She won’t hurt you, she’s just a little girl,” I explained walking by them.

  “You are free on this ship, as long as you abide by our rules,” Jacob said, but it sounded more like an order.

  “I’ll show them to the worker’s quarters,” Jessie said holding her side.

  “Come here, Jessie,” Tammy demanded.

  “It’s nothing, miss. It is just a mere scratch.”

  “You were wounded and you didn’t tell me?” Jacob rushed to her.

  “I’m fine, brother. Your back bleeds and yet you said nothing.”

  “A scratch,” he looked up into her eyes.

  “Nothing that will not mend,” she smiled.

  “She’s right. It’s not too bad, but I want a closer look at everyone,” Tammy said pulling Jessie’s shirt back down.

  I told Brandon to take the seven new passengers down below while I helped check everyone over. I had one slice on my stomach and a hell of a bruise spreading across the entire side of my head. Sydney still held the souvenir that put it there. Sydney and Derek showed Jacob what had happened to their blades that he had just given them. He simply smiled, and then explained that although the blades were the sharpest, they were without a doubt not the strongest. Then Derek went right into how he saw Jacob gut five men, and how he used a move that he saw Jacob do and broke a man’s neck. I swear I saw Jacob stand a few inches taller every time Derek thanked him for teaching him how to fight, and then asked when he was going to learn more.