"I need a location on the number that just called me and I need it now!"
The room once full of laughter became eerily silent. No one moved. No one but Jace, anyway. His face was clouded with concern. His eyes looked black I should have been terrified. I know if I was anyone else they would have pissed themselves by now and probably prayed to their maker asking for redemption.
But I was his and I knew that look was one of concern. Death would come to the person who caused this emotional outburst.
"Sweetheart, what’s wrong?"
His voice was gentle, soothing even. But it could not soothe me now. I became more and more agitated as time crawled by. Danny needed us not later, but now.
"Danny! It was Danny! She needs us!"
Jace’s eyes soften. I could read the pity he tried so hard to hide. The concern for my mental state was almost heard in the air as the others looked on.
"Sweetheart, Danny’s dead remember?"
Anger surfaced there was no time for this. She needed us and she needed us now. Reaching up I grab Jace by his leather vest. It crinkled loudly as I knotted my fingers into it. The room was silent as I stood on my toes going nose to nose, well, as best as I could anyway with Jace.
"She just called me. She’s hurt, scared and begging for help! So please fucking do as I ask and let’s fucking go before she really does end up like the girl in the other room!"
Fighting for air my throat felt raw as the words burst from my body, leaving me weak and silent. They needed to find her, why weren’t they moving?
"Please Jace, please do this for me and if I’m wrong, what’s the problem, right? But if I’m right then she needs us."
Sobs racked my body as images flowed through my mind. Imaging all the things that could be done to her, things they may have done to her. I couldn’t take it. Why aren’t they moving? They need to save her.
"She’s pregnant, Jace."
My voice was almost a whisper as the words flowed from my mouth. Saying the words out loud made this nightmare that much more. Swallowing I look into Jace’s eyes pleading with him silently to listen to me, to believe me. She gave herself over to them for me and now she needed me to save her. If they wouldn’t help me then I was going to find her and save her on my own I couldn’t leave her out their enduring god knew what.
I kept the last to myself. If they wouldn’t help me then I didn’t need them to stop me. I knew one person who would help me. He needed her and he needed to save their baby.
"Okay, sweetheart."
My shoulders slump as the fight leaves my body. All my muscles were tense, ready to battle for this. Having won, it took a moment for them to release and relax. Honestly, it was exhausting.
"Go get the location now."
His cold voice begged anyone to question him. My heart swelled in my chest. He was doing this for me to placate me. I know he doesn’t believe me, but he was still going to look into it. More tears welled in my eyes and spilled over.
Wrapping my arms around his neck as I bury my face into his chest. I loved this man.
"Thank you."
"Of course, sweetheart."
I could hear it in his voice he wanted me to understand the risk of it not being true. Even though he didn’t truly, believe me he was going to climb through fire if he needs to for me.
"I understand that you believe it may not be real. I promise you it is, but I will strengthen my resolve for the blow either way."
Whispering the words into his chest I could feel his heart beat slightly easier at my words, his concern for me always right there. The feel of his lips pressing into the crown of my head had the flutter I always felt around him start inside me.
"Location found." Brandon’s voice echoed through the room.
"Let's go. I love you, sweetheart."
My eyes close as his words surround me
"I love you, too."
Then they were gone. I thought relief would come when they left, but instead my stomach knotted and my throat closed as fear for Danny took precedence in my mind.
Chapter 28
Danny
The darkness was washing over me in waves. Right before the wave hit I would have a moment of clarity. I could feel the air around me. The blood continued to well from my wounds the stitches were dry, pulling at my skin.
Then darkness washed over me again. I was drifting in the wake of the waves as it caressed my body lovingly. Memories floated by in a continuous loop. I needed to escape this place, I needed to get away.
They were coming for me and I was helpless to stop it. The peace was beautiful, but it was fringed in fear. The air around me grew colder. I could see my breath as it left my lips. He was getting closer.
I could feel it all around me even the abyss shuddered in fear. It was cooling rapidly. My body shuddered as the air coated me. The colder I got, the more the cuts burned. Did I really want to leave here?
If I stayed here I would surely die. It would be a peaceful death, it whispered to me. It would be a coward’s death. I got this far I wasn’t giving up now. Freedom was close. Forcing my eyes open, I look around the forest.
Straining my ears, I listen to the snap of twigs and crunch of dead leaves that covered the forest floor. Get up Danny! Get up now! Dragging myself to my feet was painful, so many muscles had been severed.
Making moving more difficult. The rush of adrenaline I felt before left me when the abyss… focus Danny.
Taking a deep breath, I pull everything to the front of my mind. The girl who died long before she burned in that room, my baby who depended on me, and destroying the man who bought me.
Then I was running, running faster than I thought I could. My legs burned, my chest felt like it was going to cave in. I was starving. When did I last eat? Hunger started to make itself known.
Spots danced before my eyes. I tried to shake them, I knew what they meant, but I couldn’t. My body was slowing even as I begged it to speed up, to keep going. Then I felt it, the stitches ripping.
My cuts started to separate. I fight the need to scream in pain. Was I still on that table? Was he still cutting into me? The pain was intense; I could almost feel the blade push into my body slowly sinking in.
I could taste the blood in the air around me. The smell of old pennies and the cold was in the air. Blackness took my vision as my legs crumpled beneath me, I heard the most beautiful sound. Motorcycles.
They were coming for me, but they wouldn’t find me. This was it, I couldn’t go any farther. Freedom and safety slipped through my fingers. Tears spilled from my eyes as the fight left me. Then nothing, peace at last.
Chapter 29
Jesse
I needed air and some clarity. Today we were going to put Danny to rest, we were going to put my future to rest. The sun caressed my skin warming me as the cold that has come to be so much a part of me slowly consumed it.
What was I going to do without her? I thought I would feel better if she had left. I would give anything to take it back, to have her back. My brothers can’t look me in the eye, the silence when I enter a room was both welcome and not.
She haunted me when the silence came. Her smile, her voice, the way she smelled, everything Danny. My heart felt bruised and dead. I couldn’t face her; I couldn’t face my Danny.
The sound of the door slamming closed has me turning to the clubhouse. My brothers rushed to their bikes quickly climbing on them. All but Jace. He looked to be at war with himself, I would have laughed if my soul hadn’t been sucked out of my body when Danny breathed her last.
"Get the fuck on your bike we need to go."
Instead of responding, I do as I’m told. A part of me wanted to tell him to fuck off, but another part needed the escape this may bring. A moment when she wasn’t there. Her eyes sad asking me why I didn’t save her, why I didn’t love her.
Starting my bike drowned out the cries. I could hear her screaming as the flames took her on the wind when the world wanted to torment me the most
. Every scream had my skin burning. I wasn’t man enough and this is what I deserved. This was my punishment.
The sun was setting, casting shadows. I watch the shadows stretch almost like they were coming for me. I was so caught up in the shadows I almost missed the movement in the trees. My lungs stilled in my chest.
I may not know what that was but I needed to find out. Without any signal to the others I’m turning. Going back. I felt desperation, so much desperation I could taste it. The closer I got, the more desperate I became.
Before I knew it, I was running. Crashing through the tree line. My heavy feet slamming onto the dead leaves and twigs. The forest was so silent it sounded like an earthquake each time my feet hit the forest floor.
My lungs were heavy I haven’t gotten far, but it felt like miles. Then I could see it. The thing that drew me here like life and my very existence depended on it. Slowing I take in the red coating her legs, the bloody shirt, and her long brown hair.
The air froze in my lungs as I looked at this crumpled creature on the forest floor. She looked broken. Her face was covered in hair I needed to see her to know who she was. Crouching down I gently run my fingers through the hair covering her face.
Slowly uncovering her face, a face coated in blood. Looking closer at her beautiful face I try to place her. Then it hit me everything in my body froze. My knees hit the forest floor hard. Hard enough to jar her with the impact. It was Danny, My Danny.
"Baby?"
The whispered words burned as they left my lips. My lungs refused to work. Gripping her face between my hands, I caress under her eyes with my thumbs. Please wake up. Please be real.
"Danny? Please wake up Darlin’."
Leaning in closer I gently place my lips to hers. The feel of her breath on my lips had tears filling my eyes. She was here, she was alive. The sound of feet crashing through the dead forest floor had me scooping her up in my arms.
"What the Fuck Jesse?"
Jace’s voice was like a whip cracking through the silence. I couldn’t take my eyes from her. She was living, breathing Danny.
"Fuck!"
Brandon shout echoed around us. He must have made it here first. He could see her; he could see how vulnerable she was.
"Give me your fucking shirt."
My voice was cold begging him to deny me. Then Jace was there. Standing on the other side of her. I watched as he placed a couple of shirts on her. We couldn’t stay here any longer. Whoever did this could be looking for her and I wanted her safe, no I needed her safe, before I hunted them down and slowly took them apart.
Chapter 30
Danny
The darkness was quiet and peaceful. No whispers, no pain, nothing and it was beautiful. Was this the end? Did I die? After everything, did I finally escape? The cold has taken a backseat, warmth surrounded me now.
I hope this is it, the very end. A small part wished for the cold. I knew if I was cold, I was alive, that I beat this, I beat him. Something was tugging at me, trying to pull me from my haven. I felt like a child. I wanted to kick and scream.
The first thing that came to me were the smells. So many familiar yet, implacable scents. I feel safe and yet I know I shouldn’t. What if this was just a trick of the mind? What if Shadow man found me and I was once again trapped in that beautiful hell.
Then I remembered calling her, calling Ella. I hope he didn’t see her. All this will be for nothing if he has her now. I couldn’t save her this time and again, it will be my fault. Would he do to her like he did to the blond girl?
Would she die a similar death? I hope that he makes it swift and she does not suffer. A shudder skirts my body as the images of the things he is capable of flash behind my eyes. A flash of silver in the light as the scalpel connects with my tender flesh.
Then the image changed it was no longer me strapped to the cold table it was Ella. Her eyes wide as she begged me to save her. I tried to get to her, I tried to scream to let her know I was here but nothing would come.
The more I fought to get to her the further she seemed to get. Her screams touched my ears as the knife found its purchase. I could feel it like it was my own. I screamed and begged for him to take me, but the words never left my mouth.
His laughter echoed around me, around us. My heart clenched and stalled in my chest. I couldn’t watch anymore. Forcing my eyes closed I cried silently as Ella begged and screamed. This was all my fault. I should have died like I wanted to.
I should never have come here. I should never have darkened their doorway. What little I had left of me shriveled and died. Jesse was right. I should not have come back everything was said when nothing was said at all.
"Danny, Baby... Please stay with me."
His voice was full of pain. My Jesse was here begging me to stay with him. Stay in the darkness? Was he here in the darkness with me? Why did the thought of him being here hurt?
"I’m sorry." I whisper. Then finally I was alone again. Finally, I was free again.
Chapter 31
Jesse
The drive back to the clubhouse was hell. I couldn’t put her down. Riding my bike wasn’t an option. She was covered in blood. Cuts welled with blood and continued to flow from her wounds.
Whoever did this to her wanted it to hurt and yet wanted her to live. They had stitched her up, but those stitches had ripped causing the skin to part showing deep wounds. Bile climbs up my throat burning as it did.
She was awake and endured this, I felt it to my very marrow. Tears fill my eyes as I realize she may never be the same. What else was done to her? What other hells was forced upon her?
I didn’t save her, not really. I lived in an alcohol induced hell as she suffered. Tearing my eyes from her beautiful face I fight the need to scream. I wanted to kill them, kill them all. Every motherfucker who had any kind of involvement was dead.
There was no place for them to hide.
"Danny, Baby... Please stay with me."
I whisper into her hair. I couldn’t lose her, not again. I wanted to rock her, soothe her. There was nothing I could do, not yet. Tears spill down my cheeks splashing into her hair as I beg her to stay with me.
We came to a stop and I was moving. She need stitches, she needed something for the pain. Fuck! I needed to know how to fix her, how to make her better.
"Ella call Doc."
I thought she would try to take her, try to take over, but she surprised me by running the other way. Not that I would let her take Danny anyway. No one was touching her again and if they did, I would take their fucking hands.
Kicking the door open I walk swiftly over to my bed. Gently placing her in the middle of the bed. I really take stock of her injuries. Both her thighs had five deep incisions. Slowly reaching for her shirt I tug it up.
Her stomach was clear and her bra was in place. Taking a deep breath, I remind myself this could mean she was spared that fate, but she was missing her pants my mind whispered. Pulling her shirt back down I move on.
Her arms were covered in tiny little, yet very deep cuts. There were too many to count with just a glance. The one on her face had my eyes burning. It went from her eyebrow to her hairline.
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That was a deliberate cut, both for the pain it caused and the reminder it would bring every time she looked at herself in the mirror. This may have been to make her beauty less, but to me, I’ve never seen such a beautiful woman in all my life.
Danny was the love of my young life. She destroyed me slowly over the last ten years and now. Now she was my everything.
Chapter 32
Danny
I could hear them; I could hear everything. No matter how hard I struggled. No matter how hard I fought I was stuck here in some sort of limbo. I was literally trapped in my own body somewhere in between the darkness and reality.
I wanted to shout I was here but my mouth wouldn’t move. This was a new kind of hell. My sacrifice seemed to be in vain. They needed to know. I needed to tel
l them what has happened, what that monster has done.
He was coming for me, I could feel it in the very marrow of my bones. He wouldn’t stop until everyone and everything in his way was destroyed. I brought this into their lives and no matter what I wanted I couldn’t fix it.
I couldn’t warn them. Tears leaked from the corner of my eyes, I could feel them slowly flow down my cheeks. The very moment his thumb touched my cheek, I knew it was him. The rough, calloused fingers brushed away the tears as they leaked from my eyes.
His touch was both welcoming and not. I wanted to beg for it to stop. I loved him, but if the monster found me I would lose him.
“Where was, she calling from?” Jesse's voice was cold and lethal.
“The location you were sent to.”
“She wasn’t at the location we were sent to. She was a good distance from it.”
“I don’t know Jesse. She said he killed our parents. ‘They’ being the mafia.”
“I don’t want to leave her, but this sick fuck needed to pay for what he’s done.”
“I’ll go get the boys.”
Then she was leaving. I could hear her feet gently tap on the floor. The quieter they became the further I knew she was. I wanted to beg her not to leave me. I wanted to beg them all not to leave me. I could feel the nightmares skirting my consciousness.
The moment I was alone, I know they would come for me. With no anchor to the here and now I would be sucked into them and the terrors I have both witnessed and suffered. I would be helpless to stop them. There would be no escape.
Chapter 33
Jesse
Jace and Axel rush into the room. I have no fucking clue what Ella told them, but I was grateful for the quick response.
“We need to go find this sick fuck and end him.”
Words were becoming difficult as the need to maim and destroy slowly invade me. Looking back over at Danny resting peacefully in our bed. The doctor has already done an exam on her and not once did she flinch, not even an eyelash came out of place.
Jesse: The Son's Of The Apocalypse MC Page 7
