“It should. We don’t know how long it will take though. It could be hours. It could take days.” She placed both of her hands across her chest and hugged herself within them.
“Then we wait for it to do just that.” He finally brought his eyes back up to hers and they met with the sparkle of the moonlight overhead.
She nodded. “We should go back to the motel. We should get help for him.” She locked her stare onto his magical dark eyes.
He nodded with the idea, letting his rage head back down into his gut. He knew there would be a time to let it out again, and that time would come soon enough.
Seeing him calm down, she now knew the plan. She left him and walked back to the driver’s side door, and climbed back behind the wheel as he joined her on the other side on the passenger seat. She started the engine and they drove off back away from the house and headed back to the motel, back in town.
32
Jimmy and Rachel arrived back to the motel in only about half an hour. They said nothing along the way.
For Rachel, she let the silence happen. She felt for Jimmy. She understood his pain. With thinking back, she could easily see all of the faces of the people that he lost over the past few weeks. It began to seem like he’s lost everyone that he needed most. How would she feel if that happened to her? She didn’t know, but what she did know was what those feelings must have caused him. With it, her mind turned over to Robert, her brother. She could see the way he looked when he finally gave in to the cancer that raked his body. She could see him so clearly, lying in the bed at the hospital. She could see his beautiful face almost freeze as death finally took him. She could remember the peace on his face when the end finally came. He lived longer than the doctors told her that he would. He fought to the end. When he gave in, her world changed forever. Looking from the road, as they drove along, she glanced over towards him, tried to see his face, but couldn’t. He kept looking forwards, but even with him doing that, she could see that he still looked at nothing at all. She knew the look. He looked heavily into the nothingness just as she did when her Robert vanished from her life. That’s what she understood the most. It felt like being alone. It felt like losing the one person that made life seem worth living. With it, she hoped for him. She loved him so much not to feel for his pain.
Jimmy let the events that happened play over, and over again in his mind. He should have never taken the drug. He should have stayed the wolf. If he had, he could be out there right now searching for the beast that took another one of his friends. If he could, he would be able to fight it. He would be able to end this nightmare. With so much death, and being what he was, he should have known better than this. He should have known that this was coming. This black wolf, whoever he is, he should have seen it coming. If he had, Kenny would still be alive. For that matter, so should everyone else. After all, he was the alpha male. He was the oldest of his kind. He was the strongest of all of them. He should be taking care of them. He should be looking out for them, but he wasn’t. In not doing it, he failed. He failed all of them. He put everyone in danger, and that guilt alone felt overwhelming. It made his nightmare flare into nothing but pain. Now, he could only hope that the drug would wear off quickly. He needed Kalima. He wanted him. He longed for his strength.
Rachel pulled up to the front of the motel, turned off the engine, and looked over towards him. She hated what she did. She should have never let him take the drug. She should have never tried to force him to do it. Was she being selfish for wanting him to take it? She began to believe that she was. Why else would it happen the way everything did? What else could she have done to change it? Knowing all of this, she actually knew nothing. She had nothing. She couldn’t think any more about it. She turned and looked back to the door of her room, and instantly saw the light was on. She could see a shadow cross the window just behind the curtain covering it, and seeing it, she knew that Brandon must be back.
She opened the car door and stood outside.
Jimmy saw her do it and followed her by doing the same thing, and stood up. He moved without thinking. His hands and legs moved without direct thought.
Together, they walked side by side to the front door. Rachel reached it first, so she opened it.
Instantly, the smell of death rushed to his face. Instantly, the smell of blood came to him from everywhere inside the room. It smelled so strong that he could almost feel the gagging sensation of his body trying to reject it. It all caused him to race both of his hands to his face, trying to cover himself from that God-awful smell.
Rachel saw the man first. She didn’t have the choice. He rushed her so fast, that she felt swept off her feet, and felt herself pulled into the room. Quickly, she felt pulled over to the place in between the dresser and the first bed.
The woman grabbed Jimmy next.
He didn’t see her. All he saw was a blur of movement. All he felt was her strength. When she grabbed him, he couldn’t believe how incredibly strong she really felt.
She lifted him clear off his feet, and before he knew anything, he felt himself dragged into the room, and pulled to a spot just between the two beds and the wall. He could even feel his feet dragged along the carpet of the floor as he went.
“Who the hell are you people?” Rachel said first. She felt completely immobilized within a second of a second. The man behind her kept her still. He held her firmly. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t even put up a resistance.
Michael watched it all happen in front of him. He stayed at the back wall, just in front of the bathroom door. He had to let Melinda take Kalima. She was the strongest by far, so she was the only one of them that could take him if he was able to change. Until she had him firmly, he had to keep distant. He had to keep protected. He had to stand where he was. When Melinda had him securely in front of her, he finally felt able to move towards him. “It’s been a long time now, my old friend.” He stepped directly in front of Jimmy. A smile crossed his lips.
Jimmy looked at the man smiling at him, and seeing him, his mind faded to a haze, and inside him, a memory came forward. With it, he knew that he saw him before. It was his smile. It was his eyes. He even knew his name. “Michael?”
He could see what looked like a campfire burning in front of him. He could even smell the smoke from the open flames. A man stood just next to him, just to his left. He looked short. He looked calm.
The man, Michael, turned to him and smiled. “Are you ready for this my friend?” he said to him. The glow of the fire blazed over his overly white and pale face. The glow echoed the air around them.
He saw himself nod. The man seemed so small that he knew that he had to be the wolf in the memory. No man ever looked taller than the wolf.
“Good. We end this fight tonight. We have to prevail. We have to carry on. We must endure. We have been betrayed and now it is the time to set that betrayal right.” Michael turned and left the campfire and walked over to a large wolf that stood on all fours just opposite from where he stood. This wolf had a brownish colored coat. It was hard to see it clearly with the orange glow of the flames in front of it, but he felt he knew exactly that. This wolf turned and even stepped back some, letting Michael pass in front of it.
Jimmy watched his memory turn to the brown wolf’s respective left. A deep black shadow stood there. He couldn’t see a halo around it.
The shadow turned to Michael who walked towards him.
Yes, he knew it had to be a man standing there. He also knew that it wasn’t a man exactly, but something that felt much more stranger than that. The man, or whatever he was, he knew was far stronger than the others were. He knew he was far older. He knew he was something else entirely. He felt evil. He felt like something more than pure evil itself.
Jimmy blinked. He looked back to Michael as his mind came back to where he was.
“You remember me? Good.” Michael turned and looked to Melinda behind him. He turned, and looked to the human in front of Joshua. “You have been busy, my old f
riend.” He smiled, left the front of him, and stopped directly beside him.
Jimmy watched him look at Rachel. “You don’t want to hurt her.” His voice went low. It sounded like a growl, but it still sounded like his voice. Without the wolf, he would never be able to take the three of them together. Without the wolf, he would never be able to fight Nightwalkers, as he knew they were. Nightwalkers? Yes, that’s what they are. He watched the three of them closely. He could see slight red halos flaring around their bodies. The smell of decay coming from them smelled just as strong. He could remember everything about what they were. Humans have called them vampires for many, many centuries, but they were more than that. They were the heads of the walker clans. They were their leaders. Michael was the leader of one of those clans. But I’m not afraid of him. He could feel it. Kalima felt different. He knew that. He also knew that Michael was made, and not born. He felt it, but didn’t know what it meant. He just knew that Michael was no match for him. If only he could change? If only he could let Kalima out, he knew that he would end him quickly. They wouldn’t have the chance. However, without the wolf, he couldn’t. He knew that, and worse yet, he could see that Michael knew it as well.
With that, Michael laughed. It sounded like a hollow one at that. “I would never dream to hurt someone with such a gift to be had.” He turned back to Jimmy. Their eyes met. “She gave you the drug then?” He smiled. He showed his two fangs hanging low from his top teeth.
Jimmy winced some with seeing them. It has been ages since Kalima has seen a nightwalker. It wasn’t long enough, as far as he ever felt concerned about it.
Seeing his hollow eyes, and hearing the wince in his voice, only made Michael laugh even harder. “She has.” He nodded, left Jimmy’s side and walked back to the bathroom door. “Good. I wouldn’t want to have to face my old friend again. It would be harder to do what we came here to do, if we had to fight him.”
“Why are you here, Michael?” Jimmy felt amazed at how clearly he could remember him. It seems even with the drug in me, I have every sense of the wolf. Even his memories are still so clear.
“We’ve been watching you, my old friend, for some time now. We’ve been watching you break law after law. We’ve been watching you search for the answers of what the wolf has done.” Michael turned around and faced him straight on. His eyes now looked as red as rubies. They made him look sharp—pure and with the brightness of death. “We’ve come to set things right again.” He smiled.
Jimmy bowed his head. “What are you talking about?”
Michael scoffed some. “Kalima has done a lot over the last few years. Showing himself to the humans. Letting them control him. Helping them, loving them, and allowing them to take his precious blood.”
Jimmy brought his eyes down to where his head already faced. Nothing of what he heard so far seemed wrong, as far as he knew about it, and that meant he had no answer to give him for it. He could say nothing in his defense, so he did just that, and said nothing at all.
“The funny thing is, we would have never known about it if it wasn’t for what he’s done. He killed all of those poor people down south. Taking all of those lives in that little town of Redford Forge.”
This time, he felt that he did have a defense. “He took no life. He killed no one.”
Michael scoffed again. “No need to lie to me, my friend. We know everything.”
Jimmy now scoffed. “You’re wrong then.”
“Are we now?” Michael looked down to his shoes. He placed both hands into the side pockets of his black slacks. “He killed those joggers in Redford Forge. He killed those men at the labs.” He looked back up. “In a way, I’m pleased that he did. If he didn’t, we would have never known what he did. We wouldn’t have even known that he was still alive.”
Jimmy blinked. He was the one that killed the guards at the labs, he knew that, but he also knew that he didn’t kill the joggers. He had no memory of it, and that meant that Collins didn’t do it. He never tried to hide anything from him before, and as far as he knew anything about it, why would he hide something like that now? It just didn‘t make any sense to do it, so he had to believe him. “He didn’t kill those joggers. As for the others, well—that he did do. He did kill the people at the labs. I killed those people.” Jimmy matched his stare. Anger raced through his heart, and flared through his mind. He didn’t feel the eyes though. He didn’t feel the wolf, and that meant the drug was still working. That scared him more than anything else that he’s heard so far.
Michael could see that he told him the truth, but that didn’t really matter to him. What did matter was that there was more to say. “We still had much to do to protect what was done. It took a lot of effort, but we were able to buy Ravenswood. It wasn’t very hard with all that happened there. In fact, it was quite a bargain really.” The smile flared over his face again.
Rachel listened to all of this, and hearing something about the labs; it brought her mind forward and into the conversation with a flare. “You bought the labs?” She couldn’t stay quiet any more.
Michael looked to her and smiled. “We couldn’t let what happened affect us, now could we. We had to keep what he did secret. We had to keep it quiet.”
She saw the teeth and his eyes, and both made her cringe. She now knew what they were. They were vampires. They were—what did Sasha call them—nightwalkers. Now she wished she never made Jimmy take that goddamned drug.
“Yes. We’ve been following your research by the way. Thank you for that. With it, we now know that we can bring order back to our world—back to our people.” He looked from her and back to Jimmy. “We knew that we can use it to set things right again.”
“You’ve been following me all this time?” Jimmy swallowed a now dry mouth. He never felt so guilty before until now. It wasn’t he that felt it, but Kalima. Kenny was right. Kalima did do everything, whatever that everything really was.
“Of course we have. When we learned that you had survived your little fall, and were heading to the city, we followed you. We cleaned up your mess as we went along.”
Jimmy listened and then a thought flared up into his head. The killing of the pack flashed back into his memory. If they had been watching him, then why didn’t they stop that from happening? “You were watching me in the city? You saw my friends being killed?” He spoke with his voice still rumbling some. The anger grew stronger. The eyes stayed still. He hated feeling both and without the eyes, the anger felt useless.
Michael laughed. “That we didn’t see. Your friends took care of that mess, so there was no need for us to get involved with it.”
Jimmy bowed his eyes again.
“So you see we’ve done so much trying to cover for you. We’ve done a lot of things trying to clean up your messes.” He looked from Jimmy and back up to Joshua. “Bring in our new friend.” His smiled widened.
Jimmy turned to the direction of the door, watched Joshua let go of Rachel, and walk to the door and open it. He then watched with horror and dread as he saw Brandon standing there in the doorway with his head down. “Brandon?” He saw him and felt his fear flow through him like a lightning strike. “Get out of here. Run! Go! Run!”
“Why would he want to do that?” Michael stepped to Jimmy’s side again. He lifted his right arm towards the door in a welcoming gesture. “Come in my new friend.” He waved with a gentle motion.
Jimmy looked to his arm and then back to Brandon again.
Brandon stepped through the door.
Joshua closed the door behind him.
Jimmy watched him, could smell the decay oozing out of his friend, and knew what it all meant. His heart sank with that knowledge. “You’re one of them?” He couldn’t believe it. He had no idea what to think.
Brandon bowed his head to the floor. He couldn’t look his friend in the eyes. “I’m sorry. They came to me before we came here.” He looked gently over towards Rachel.
She sighed with seeing his soft eyes. “That’s why you wanted
to get here so fast. That’s why you wanted to come.” It all made sense. Everything she felt about him at her house, now confirmed itself stronger in her thoughts. She knew something was very wrong with him. She knew he felt different to her. Now, all of that rushed strongly into her lungs like a bullhorn billowing to her face. She now felt played. He played her to get the others up here to find Jimmy. Again, she led danger right to him. She couldn’t believe that she did it again.
“I’m sorry Jimmy.” Brandon could see the look in both of their eyes. The betrayal he saw in both of them, he could also feel oozing out of them in spades. Again, what did he do?
Jimmy bowed his head from his friend. He couldn’t bring himself to look at him. Again, he couldn’t believe what he did. Again, he didn’t know what to think about it, so he just let his mind go blank and his thoughts did the same. “What do you want from me?” He looked back to Michael.
Michael smiled. “Why you, of course.” He could feel the betrayal of what his friend did emanating from Jimmy. He loved the feeling. He proved his power. He proved his strength. “Come to me my friend, and gain your reward.” He raised his arm back to Brandon again with the wave of the gesture of come here.
Brandon stepped forward, feeling his own legs move beneath him. He couldn’t stop them from carrying the rest of his body towards Michael.
Jimmy looked up and watched him come. He couldn’t believe what he saw. It almost made him feel nauseous to his stomach. His friend didn’t look like he fought it. He looked controlled. He came willingly.
Michael enjoyed everything he felt. He couldn’t read Kalima’s mind, but that didn’t matter. He could feel his heart racing. He could feel his breathing yearn. It all felt beyond wonderful to feel it. As soon as Brandon reached him, he reached inside the breast pocket of his black suit coat, felt the handle to the dagger that he brought with him and after having it firmly in his hand, brought it out and let the light of the room shine over its blade. It almost twinkled in his eyes. It looked beautiful. It looked right.
A Werewolf's Saga Books 1, 2, & 3 (A Werewolf's Saga Boxed Sets) Page 73
