Kindred

by Adrianne Lemke

  “We have a common enemy, detective,” I said gravely. “The time is upon us to work together. I propose a truce.”

  “As long as that truce ends with you behind bars,” the Tracker growled. “And with the promise never to use your abilities to escape.”

  I shook my head. “I was a prisoner once. It will not happen again. What I can propose is once I discover what I want to know, I will be out of your life. No more contact, ever.”

  “We don’t have time,” the Tracker grumbled. “He set a tripod or something down up on the hill.”

  My eyes widened in fear. Ivan had been a sharpshooter. I lunged at the Tracker, knocking him down as I felt fire enter my chest.

  SIXTY-THREE

  Jason

  Kindred was down, bleeding on the ground as Alice crouched behind a tree. Her gun was drawn, but the target was too far away. I was still in the open, but my control was slipping. Ivan was going to kill me, and probably Alice as well. He was another monster, a rabid animal that needed to be put down. Alice peeked around the tree, only to duck back as a bullet struck near her head, throwing a chunk of bark into her face.

  I saw her bleeding. Something snapped. “NO!” I yelled and hurled my energy toward the shooter on the hill, and toward Alice to block any further threats. Fear for her safety helped fuel my power. I heard a yelp as a tendril of earth solidified around his ankle.

  I dragged him through the ground until he appeared in front of me, dirt covered and gasping for breath after his trip underground. I stayed crouched over him, my face twisted in anger. He hurt Alice. He hurt Kindred. After everything, he didn’t deserve leniency.

  I growled and allowed the dirt to creep up his body slowly. Ivan’s eyes widened in fear. His breaths sped up, and the thudding of his heart quickened.

  “You will not hurt my friends. You will not hurt me. And you will not hurt anyone else, ever again!” I exclaimed.

  The dirt now covered his face and the man gasped for breath. He writhed on the ground in agony. All he breathed in was dirt. His heartbeat was fading. But I felt another vibration, and glanced back at Kindred. He was dying, yet laughing as he choked on his own blood. “We are kindred spirits after all,” he choked out. “No denying.”

  I looked at him for a moment, feeling his heart beating quickly as it tried to make up for the loss of blood by pumping harder, and the slow rate of Ivan.

  “I’m no killer,” I decided finally, dragging the dirt off of the shooter and touching his chest to remove any he’d breathed in. “You won’t die by my hand,” I told him. “And I’m nothing like you,” I said, standing over Kindred. “Mason didn’t break me. I cracked, but I’m mended now and stronger than ever.”

  Alice was pounding on the wall I’d put around her and I allowed it to fall. “Get an ambulance. Kindred needs to get to a hospital.

  “Already done,” Alice said, breathing heavily as her adrenaline faded. “What about him?” she gestured at Ivan, who lay on the ground breathing heavily. He was staring at me wide-eyed and fearful as a child.

  “He shouldn’t give you any trouble. We should be able to find out who Kindred really is now.” The sound of an ambulance was getting closer. “We should ask now, so he can know,” I said, feeling Kindred’s vital signs failing as I knelt over him, putting pressure on the wound.

  “Ivan, who is he?” Alice asked, pointing at Kindred.

  He spoke with a heavy Russian accent. “Is Mason’s cousin,” he said, still eyeing me warily. “Tried to stop Mason from killing innocents. Mason killed his wife and unborn child as warning. But he no listen. Tried to use his power to stop him, but Mason turned him into asset. Good man to killer, in three easy steps.”

  Kindred heard him and gasped out one last question. “What… what’s my name?”

  “Jeremiah Mason,” Ivan answered.

  “Jeremiah,” I said. “You can be who you were. Allow this to wipe clean what you did for Mason, and do as you promised. When you leave us, live life as you tried to do before your cousin changed you.”

  The paramedics were now swarming, one took over where I’d been holding pressure, and I found myself shoved to the side staring at my blood-covered hands.

  “Jason, we need to get to the station,” Alice said, holding Ivan by his shoulders as she guided him to Dan’s vehicle, which had arrived, apparently, along with the ambulance. “We’ll need to give our statements, and Dan is going with Kin- Jeremiah to the hospital. He’ll keep us informed.”

  A paramedic tried to stop me as I walked with Alice. “I’m not injured,” I said, waving them off with my uninjured arm. The bruised shoulder was screaming at me, but I figured I’d ice it later and the pain would eventually get better.

  “Sir, you’re bleeding. At least let us look,” she said.

  Bleeding? When had that happened, I looked down and saw that Ivan had not missed with all of his shots. He’d grazed me at the top of my shoulder, taking a decent chunk out. “Sure,” I agreed.

  I shrugged my uninjured shoulder at Alice, who was looking at me accusingly. “I wasn’t trying to hide it; I just thought I’d bumped the bruise on something. I’m getting it taken care of,” I indicated the young paramedic I was following. “Gina here will take good care of me.”

  The glare lost its intensity, and she stood near the ambulance as Gina tried to remove my shirt. “No,” I said, my voice losing any joking quality. “Cut off the sleeve. The rest of the shirt stays. I’ll not be put on display.”

  The young woman looked over at Alice in surprise, but Alice nodded her agreement to me. “Do it. He’s been through enough. Just check the wound he has, and figure out if he’ll need stitches.”

  She nodded and carefully removed the sleeve, exposing mostly my self-inflicted scars, and the large dark bruise with a bloody furrow at the top. “Ouch,” she said sympathetically. “That didn’t all happen just now.”

  “No,” I agreed curtly, not elaborating any further. Thankfully she didn’t question and just cleaned around the new wound.

  “You’ll need stitches,” she said as she finished putting clean gauze over it. “Detective Farrow can take you to the hospital before you go to give your statement.” She made it more a command than a request. “If taken care of quickly, it should heal without complications. I cleaned it pretty well, and they’ll disinfect and prescribe antibiotics at the hospital.”

  “Thanks, Gina,” I said hopping down from the ambulance.

  “No problem.” She closed up her rig and she and her partner, who had stayed silent through the exchange, only handing her supplies as needed, got back into their vehicle and drove off.

  It was nice to not be riding in it for once. “You really thought you just hit it on something?” Alice asked as we walked out of the park.

  “Yeah. It didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would if I’d gotten shot, but the bruise hurt like crazy. I suppose we should call Hannah to let her know we’re okay. It’s been well over an hour.”

  Alice smiled. “I already called her while you were being checked. She’s meeting us at the hospital.”

  “Are we going to the one Kindred’s at?”

  She frowned at me. “We know his name. Why still call him that?”

  “He’s not that person anymore. Whatever Mason did to him, he forgot that part of himself. He can’t forget what he’s done as Kindred. He still holds the guilt of everything he’s done since Mason’s death. He enjoyed a lot of it, so he still deserves to rot for it.” What I’d told him, about being the man he used to be, I had done to give a dying man some hope. But I could not fully forgive him for what he had done to all those people, and the anguish he had put me through.

  We drove in silence for a few minutes, my shoulder throbbing the entire time. “He saved your life,” she said finally. “After all the threats and killings, he jumped in front of that bullet to save you.”

  “He did,” I agreed. “And I don’t know why.” She didn’t answer, and I thought we might never know exactly why he
’d saved my life. I wondered if even he knew. Maybe we’d get the chance to ask him before he disappeared from the hospital.

  Whatever else he was, he was a survivor. He’d not let himself get trapped, and he’d find some way out of custody once he was healthy enough to do so.

  Alice’s cell rang, and she spoke softly to whoever was on the line.

  “We’re never going to know,” she said after ending her call. “Dan called. Jeremiah Mason died on the way to the hospital.”

  SIXTY-FOUR

  Hannah

  The service was small. Not too many people knew Jeremiah Mason, and even fewer cared about his passing. Jason insisted on going to the service, and Alice and I went with him for support. His arm was in a sling as he stood over the grave of the man who’d saved his life twice, and threatened it on multiple occasions. I couldn’t even imagine what was going through his mind as he stood in silent vigil.

  The threat had passed. Alice said that after whatever Jason had done to Ivan in that park, the gangster had put out the warning to his people to stay away from the Earthshaker if they wanted to survive. Jason could finally be safe, if everyone followed their boss’s directions. Sam was at Dan’s today, but in the week since Kindred had died, he’d been back with us, almost always attached to his brother in some way.

  Seeing him injured again had been hard on all of us, but especially on Sam. He’d cried when he saw Jason’s arm in a sling, and Jason had to comfort him. It was only a small wound in comparison to those in his past, and it would heal quickly.

  Jason silently walked away from the cemetery, Alice and I following. When we reached the car he spoke for the first time all afternoon. “I’m leaving,” he said.

  “Where will you go?” my sister spoke before I could.

  “I don’t know yet. I won’t be going right now, but I am leaving. Sam and I will go somewhere nobody knows about me, so I can finish school and get a good job.”

  “Are you sure?” I asked. I had already resolved to support his decision, but I wanted him to be sure it was what he wanted.

  To my dismay, he nodded. “I’ve thought about it since Kindred reappeared after six months. And when Mason’s men came after me. I need to be somewhere quiet. I don’t know where to go yet. All I know is I need open spaces, and anonymity.”

  He sighed and his voice took on a wistful, uncertain tone. “I’ll come back, eventually, and I’ll keep in touch. I can’t abandon those kids, even if they do have Dan and June now.”

  I nodded in understanding. “We’re always here for you, Jason. You know that, right?”

  “Of course,” he said with a smile. “You’re my girl, Hannah. I won’t abandon you either. I just…”

  “Need some time,” I finished. Smiling at him and giving him a hug and quick kiss on the cheek. I had to fight the urge to grab on and not let go, in order to say, “Take whatever time you need. I’m not going anywhere.”

  Acknowledgments:

  I would like to thank everyone who has helped get Kindred ready and published. Thanks to Amber Rose, my most loyal and patient reader. To my brother, Josh, thank you for taking some time to help point out some mistakes in the timing of some events in the story line, and to my parents for encouraging me in my writing and publishing. And finally thanks to everyone who reads this novel.

  Let me know what you think! If you enjoyed this book, please consider leaving a review. Reviews help more people see the book.

  You can also visit me at: adrianne-lemke.blogspot.com where you can also find Earthshaker short stories and character information, along with updates on future installments of the Earthshaker Series, and all of my other projects. Or visit me at my Facebook page www.facebook.com/earthshakerfans and on Twitter: @AdrianneLemke