by Mikayla Lane
“Damn it!” Jax muttered.
Pounding and muffled screams erupted from the trunk of the car causing Jax and Reven to swing towards it, weapons raised.
“I have to pop the trunk from the driver’s seat. You got this?” Jax asked him through their private energy path.
Reven braced himself near the back of the trunk, readying himself to either hide the weapon if it was the children or fire if attacked. Jax leaned in the vehicle and waited for Reven’s nod before popping the trunk.
She hit the button and ran back to Reven in time to see a grown man start to crawl out of the back. Looking around she briefly wondered where the children were, when her attention was drawn back to the man in the trunk.
“Who the hell are you and where are those bitches?” The man asked Reven, barely acknowledging the guns pointed at him.
He was at least six feet tall and looked like he’d been sweating in that trunk for hours. There was something off about the guy that put Jax immediately on guard. Reven must have felt the same way because he continued to hold his weapon on the man.
“I think the better questions are who are you and what have you done with the children?” Reven said through gritted teeth. There was nothing about the man that he trusted. Even the scent of his sweat had the taint of evil to it, and he was pretty certain what they were dealing with.
“Better yet, you sick son of a bitch, how about you tell us what you want with those children?” Reven demanded angrily.
The man eyed Jax with a sneer on his sweat-soaked face, before he turned to Reven. “That’s none of your business. In fact, I suggest you hand me your phone and your weapons now. Before my people get here.”
The human’s casual pose as he leaned up against the trunk didn’t fool Jax. He was nothing more than another weak, small dicked jerk with sub-par intelligence but a lot of arrogance. She’d dealt with that kind more than she’d ever wanted to.
The man had immediately dismissed her as a threat when he’d first glanced at her with a sneer. He would regret that, Jax thought as she broke his nose with the butt of her gun before grabbing him by the hair and leading him a little way into the woods.
“What the fuck! You crazy bitch! Do you have any idea who I am? My people, my God are going to rip you apart…” Jax’s boot to his groin dropped him to the ground gasping for breath and clutching his balls.
“Do you know who the fuck you’re dealing with?” Jax asked as she covered his hands on his balls with one of hers and squeezed as hard as she could until he was writhing in pain.
“If you don’t tell us where the children are, you will lose much more than these…” Jax looked down with a sneer of her own. “These walnuts and golf tee you’re screaming like a girl about.” Jax said before stepping back from the man and making a show of wiping her hand on her pants.
“Fuck you whore! When my people find me, I will show you your place before I kill you! You are beneath the greatness of me and mine, and you better learn to show respect…” This time Jax knocked out a few front teeth, and the man sputtered blood from between his fingers as he covered his mouth.
“Damn, it’s hard to believe the human is so stupid.” Reven said with a grin and shake of his head as he kept an eye out for the kids or passerby as Jax beat the hell out of the fool.
“Fuck you pig! I will enjoy watching you die! My God and my people will destroy everything you love! Everything!” The man screamed at Reven with bloody spittle flying.
“Your God is a made-up delusion by an arrogant man. No true omnipotent God would ever ask for the slaughter of those who didn’t agree or believe. That is the arrogance and vanity of a man, not a God. Even most followers don’t truly believe the twisted words being fed to them; they follow because they are sick bastards and just as twisted, like you.”
“You animals are drawn to the violence and ability to do whatever you want without repercussion. You’d worship an animated duck if you could get away with bullying and abusing innocents in order to feed your egos.”
“I hope this brief and fleeting feeling of being the ‘big man’ was worth it. Because I doubt the true God is going to be impressed by you.” With that, Jax slit his throat and watched dispassionately as his eyes widened in shock before he fell back into the tall grass.
Jax turned to look at a stunned Reven, and she shrugged her shoulders. “What? The son of a bitch was going to sell those kids or worse. There was no hope of rehabilitating him. He was already rabid from his delusion of perceived power, all he would do is infect others like a diseased parasite.”
Grabbing her light stone, Jax leaned down and held it to the animal’s body until it superheated it to dust. Standing up, she didn’t wait for the wind to disperse the ashes, she stomped all over the ash until nothing remained but dark spots in the grass.
A small whimper carried on the wind to them, and they both jerked their heads towards the stretch of woods along the road where the car had gone partially in.
Jax leaned down and placed her hands flat on the earth. Opening her mind, she sent a call to her friends and within moments a wild cacophony of chittering, hooting and screeching erupted from further in the woods.
Jax ran towards the sound with Reven hot on her heels. She stopped in the location where the animals were surrounding what looked to be an empty area. She looked around in confusion at nothing but trees, leaves and scrub bushes.
“There is something here. Tread lightly.” Jax said to Reven through the Shengari’ as she turned in a circle, trying to see what the animals were telling her was there.
Sensing something was off, Jax holstered her gun and held up her hands. “We’re not here to hurt you. We’re here to help you, protect you.”
Jax heard what sounded like squirming to her left and turned towards the sound. “Cal the tiger said you told him that we would be good to him. He now has a wonderful new home where he can play and finally be happy. I swear I will find you a home just like that. We… I’m different. Like you.”
Another whimper and the squirming sound increased for a moment before going silent again. Reven turned around slowly, trying to figure out where the sound was coming from. It was right in front of them, yet they couldn’t see anything.
“What the fuck?” Reven said to Jax with confusion.
Chapter Four
Jax shook her head and struggled to see something, anything that would indicate where the sounds were coming from. She didn’t want to frighten the children, but she had no idea if there were more people hunting them or how much time they had before a neighbor noticed them.
“You know that I can speak to the animals. Like Cal. So don’t be frightened, we just want to help you.” Jax said out loud before sending a call she rarely used and one she hoped wouldn’t terrify the children.
Moments later, Jax watched intently as the air around them began to fill with moths. When Reven looked to smack at them, Jax grabbed his wrist and shook her head. She continued to hold him as the moths converged a few feet away from them in front of a tree.
Within moments, the moths had perched on the now obvious outline of a small girl holding a toddler in her arms against a tree. Jax stepped closer very slowly.
“Don’t worry, they won’t hurt you. They are friends of mine. You have the most awesome gift I have ever seen!” Jax said with a smile as she kneeled down a few feet from the kids. The shaking of the wings on the moths told Jax that the children were terrified and she wanted to appear less threatening to them.
Jax didn’t even glance over when Reven also kneeled down next to her. She was surprised at the gentleness in his voice when he spoke to the children.
“My name is Reven and this is Jax.” Reven said pointing to Jax before continuing.
“Is your gift camouflage? Because that is really cool. Besides Jax, who can talk to animals, I have a friend named Jess, who can make things out of thin air. Just like magic! I swear. My friend True can make fire with her hands, and her sister Dare can move thin
gs with only her thoughts.” Reven said as he tried to hide his grin when he saw the girl relax a little as the toddler slipped slightly in her arms.
The poor thing is probably exhausted from carrying her Reven thought before he continued. “Our friend Bree is helping to look for you too, and she can also make things like magic. We have a lot of friends who are gifted, like you are. We protect each other from the bad people. Like the ones who tried to hurt you.”
“Don’t be scared, but I’m going to take my jacket off so you can wear it. It’s chilly out here, and I don’t want you to get sick from the cold.” Reven said as he slowly pulled his arm out of the left sleeve, watching the moths wings shake more quickly as the young girl trembled with fear.
Whatever camouflage the child was capable of; it was thorough; he thought noticing that there was no energy bleed of any kind that he could read. It was as if the children didn’t exist. If it weren’t for the moths, they would have never known they were there at all.
Once he pulled the jacket free of his other arm, he looked up at where the children were standing, and he balled it up in his hands. “I’m going to toss it to the ground in front of you. Kind of like a ball. Ready? One… two… three…” Reven said before rolling the jacket the few feet to the girls.
While Reven was keeping the children occupied, Jax sent the message through the Shengari’ that the children had been found. The teams were heading to their location now in order to provide back-up.
Reven listened carefully and heard the heavy, erratic breathing of the older girl and knew she was frightened. “I know you are scared, and you don’t know who to trust. So many have betrayed you and hurt you. We aren’t like that. We believe in letting you protect yourself and teaching you how to do it better.”
“If you pick up the jacket, you will see that I left a gun and two knives in there for you. So you can protect yourself if you think you are in danger. Even from us.” Reven ignored Jax’s sharp intake of breath and her yelling at him through the Shengari’, and watched the moth covered figure slide down the tree.
A small arm slowly reached out and pulled the jacket closer. The moths began to fly away as the child pulled the jacket over herself, her body becoming visible as she did.
The jacket swamped the small girl who couldn’t be more than eight or nine judging by her size. She had the largest and palest blue eyes; Reven had ever seen. And they were so haunted and frightened that his heart broke over the pain she’d suffered that had put that look in her young eyes.
Her matted and tangled hair was so blonde it was almost white and Reven could feel his anger rising as he saw the dark bruises showing through the dirt and grime that covered her face and bare legs.
The baby girl had two tufts of dark brown, almost black hair and a two toothed smile that could melt the hardest of hearts he thought as the little one smiled at him. He was surprised when her thin little arms reached toward him as if to be held.
Reven was startled to realize that he wanted nothing more than to pull them both into his arms and kill anything that came near them. Instead, he did his best not to frighten the older girl any more than she already was.
“I know you’re scared and probably hungry and cold too. How about you hold on to each other and that gun. You can follow us to our car, and we will get you some food. Nothing else, I promise. Just a warm place and some food.”
“If you get scared at all, use the gun. If I scare you like those bad people, then I deserve to be shot. But I promise I will never hurt you, and I would die to protect you. Just warmth and food honey. A safe place for just a little while so you can feed the baby and get her warm. No one will touch you; I promise.” Reven stood slowly, watching the little girl carefully.
When he knew he had her attention, he turned and slowly started walking out of the woods demanding that Jax do the same through the Shengari’. Even though she argued with him vehemently the entire time, Jax still followed him.
Maybe we’re making progress; Reven thought with a grin as he warned the others to keep their distance from the area for now. He reached the SUV that Crator had driven to them as, he and Jax turned towards the wooded area they had just left.
When several minutes passed with no sign that the girls had followed, Jax cursed lowly. “That was awesome genius.” She said giving Reven an irritated look.
Reven looked towards the still empty wooded area and sighed heavily. He’d taken a big chance to try to make the little girl feel safe and all he’d managed to do was heavily arm a terrified child who could disappear at will. Yeah, he felt like a major ass right now he thought.
He looked up when Jax sucked in a deep breath and saw the little girl struggling to carry the baby to the car while holding the jacket over them both. Reven had to force himself not to run to the child and grab them both up. He knew if he did something like that she would most likely shoot him.
Instead, he opened the back door of the SUV and forced himself to get in the driver’s seat, urging Jax to get in the passenger seat. Reven realized Jax must be stunned because she didn’t argue and just got in and gently closed the door.
Reven and Jax waited with bated breath for long minutes until the little girl struggled into the back seat, never letting the baby out of her arms. He waited until she shut the door before putting the vehicle in gear and slowly letting off the brake.
“Thank you for trusting us. I promise you; we're just going for food. We have friends here with us, people that are different like us, that are going to get you both some clothes too. If that’s ok?” Reven asked the frightened girl as he watched her reaction in the rear-view mirror. He felt like yelling in triumph when she nodded her head slightly.
The baby began cooing and babbling making Reven and Jax both smile, the sound too adorable not to be affected by it.
“Your sister is adorable. Does she have a name?” Reven asked gently, glancing in the rear-view mirror. His heart sank when the girl shook her head and looked out of the window, cuddling the baby closer to her.
Jax and Reven had already sent warnings through the Shengari’ for the others to get food and clothes in Jax’s hotel room and to make sure they didn’t try to approach the skittish children. So they weren’t surprised when they pulled into the motel parking lot to find it deserted. Even the vehicles were hidden.
Reven put the SUV in park, turned off the engine and looked into the little girl’s scared blue eyes. “We’re going to get out of the vehicle. I’ll open the door for you, so it won’t be so hard with the baby. There is food and clothes waiting in Jax’s room.”
“You can follow us when you’re ready. We’ll leave the door to the room open for you. My room is next to Jax’s and we’ll keep that door open to, in case you have questions. Ok?” Reven asked, feeling the fear coming from the girl while the baby cooed and patted her sister’s cheeks.
He watched closely as the girl stared at the baby for long moments before she nodded her head. He gave a brief glance to Jax, making sure she was still going to go along with it, then opened the door and slid outside.
Jax gently closed her door as he closed his own, and he turned and opened the back passenger door. He looked at the trembling child and pointed to the two rooms in front of the SUV.
“The one on the left,” Reven said pointing to it. “Is Jax’s room. That’s the one we’ll leave open for you. The room next to it is mine, and we’ll be in there if you have any questions.”
Reven looked into those big, pale blue eyes and attempted to send comforting energy to her, while the baby cooed and strained against the girl as she held her arms out to Reven.
“If you need help feeding her so that you can eat as well, just knock on the wall and Jax, or I can feed her by the door while you eat. Ok?” Reven added, hoping the girl would let them help her.
By the looks of her tiny arms and legs, it was a wonder; she could hold herself up, much less the healthy-looking toddler she tried to carry. Reven’s anger grew as he realized either th
e girl gave all her food to the baby or whoever held them captive hadn’t fed her intentionally. Either thought sickened him to his core.
When the little girl nodded again, Reven turned to the motel and saw that Jax already had both doors open and was standing in the doorway of his room. The closer he walked to her the more he could feel her worry and fear for the children, and he wished he could grab all three of them in his arms and stop the world from coming near them.
Until they were truly his, he would have to tread carefully he thought.
“Ours. Our family.” His beast Karak growled through his mind.
“A little late my friend. I figured it out already.” Reven said to his beast, shaken by the intensity of his protective feelings for the girls.
Jax moved into the room as Reven approached and sat heavily on the corner of the bed closest to the door. “Everyone is in place. They won’t get out of the door before they are caught.” Jax told him through the Shengari’ before standing up and pacing with worry.
