“Well we would like to eat first if that is ok?” Kaiden stated
“Of course, I am not really hungry so I will help load the jet.” Finley said and then rushed outside with her arms loaded full of bags. Emery and Kendal just sat there and stared at her retreating form.
“Well she is full of energy.” Zoe stated looking to Emery and Kendal
“She paced the suite all night and cleaned like a mad woman, although nothing was dirty.” Kendal stated
“Oh honey she is full of nerves. I believe you were the same when your father made you wait.” Emery teased
“Oh I was ten times worse and that is why I can laugh at this.”
“I am worried about her though.” Emery said
“I am not worried about the boy accepting her, that is a given. I am worried about what this boy has gone through and the rough road that may be ahead.” Kendal said
“We have all had a rough road, some more than others. I am sure everything will work out in the end.” Zoe assured them
“I hope you’re right. Let’s eat so we can get this show on the road. I am anxious to quell my little fish’s anxiousness.” Emery announced fingering the sleeping pill she had hidden in her pocket. She was going to have to try and slip it in Finley’ juice, if she came to the table.
Mary and the girls made a huge breakfast and it was laid out all over the top of the table. There was only room enough for plates and a glass. There were bowls of scrambled eggs, plates full of bacon and sausage. Stacks of pancakes and waffles with bowls of fresh fruit along with croissants and biscuits. French toast was placed next to carafes of juice and syrups. Last but not least there were five plates of Mary’s famous cinnamon rolls places in intervals along the table top.
Finley came into the room and sat quietly at her seat. She looked over the table at all the food that was placed and her mouth started to water. When she went to reach for a cinnamon roll Emery dropped a pill into her juice. Zoe noticed the pill and looked at Emery with confusion.
“Maybe the roll will help my little fish sleep while we are on the plane.” Emery stated looking right at Zoe. It then dawned on Zoe what Emery had done. Zoe gave a slight smile with a nod and then filled her plate.
“Seamus. Where are you headed to first?” Kaiden asked
“I think we will go to the farthest locations first and try to bait them to an area that is not well populated. As I looked over the map and the locations that Jaco printed out, I noticed that they are all in large cities. So either we cause havoc throughout the world or try to do it a bit undercover.” Seamus announced
“Good thinking buddy. I think Vivi is going to have to act as bait. If they see her they won’t shoot right away they will give chase. Am I right Vivi?” Charles asked
“More than right, they will want to inflict the most pain on me. They may shoot me, but they will shoot in an area that will cripple me. I haven’t thought of that. Etana will you help me with something real quick?” Vivi asked as she stood and headed outside before Etana could answer.
Zoe and Kaiden got up when Etana and Charles did. Tia and John also followed them out with the rest of the hunting and rescue teams. Once Vivi got about ten feet into the clearing she turned and faced them.
“You got your knives on you right?” Vivi asked
“Always” Etana responded
“I am going to run and I want you to throw one at my leg” Vivi demanded
Christian gave a slight gasp and went to go to Vivi. Others just looked on in shock.
“Stop Christian, I have to see if I can do what I hope I can. Please Etana throw it. I am going to see if I can heal and run at the same time and force the object out.” Vivi explained her thought and built up her confidence for the pain she was about to feel. She wasn’t happy about it, but it was something she had to do.
“Smart girl” Etana said as she threw the knife before anyone could object. As the knife hit Vivi right in the thigh she screamed, but continued running. Everyone watched in silent horror and wonder as Vivi ran and the knife fell from her leg. She continued to run and then turned to run back to them.
“Just needed to know I could run and heal. Sorry if I scared anyone. I just needed to know that if they did shoot me while I was running, I could force the bullet out and heal myself.” Vivi said as she pulled Christian into her arms. Alexi rushed over to examine the wound and smiled as she stood back up.
“She did an excellent job.” Alexi announced admiringly
“Alright then, I will leave the rest of the planning to you guys and think that I will gather my team and head for the jet. I will see you all in a week. Be careful and watch each other’s backs.” Kaiden said as he pulled Zoe to him and headed back inside.
“Good luck to you too Kaiden.” Vivi said
Kaiden and Zoe walked back inside to kiss Lily goodbye and get the rest of the team. Once the team had said their goodbyes they headed to the jet. As they boarded the jet Finley stumbled up the stairs. “Whoops I must be getting a little tired from that cinnamon roll after all. How long is this flight going to take?” she asked no one in particular.
“It takes almost eleven hours on a regular plane so should be a little less for us. If you sleep we will get there a lot faster than you pacing the cabin.” Kevin informed her
“Okay thank you. I think I will do just that.” Finley said as she sat down in her seat and wrapped herself around a pillow to curl up.
They all took their seats and got comfortable. Finley was out even before the jet took off into the air.
“What was that you gave her Emery?” Zoe asked
“It was just a sleeping pill. Like I said she did not sleep, she paced and cleaned and lay down for maybe two hours. It won’t harm her. She will just sleep really well for eight hours or more.” Emery smiled at Zoe
“Huh good thinking, I would hate to have looked a mess when Kaiden first found me. Of course I was headed into work so I didn’t look my best either.” Zoe laughed
“We used to have to slip them to her at dinner before a meet. She worries and gets all these ideas in her head that everything is just going to be horrible and wrong. She will never admit it, but she has a fear of being rejected. Add the freak comments too it and you have yourself a basket case when she is the one to be in the spot light.” Kendal informed them.
“Well I guess it’s good she won’t have any pressure on her to do anything at home. I really like her though, she is really sweet when she wants to be and she is a nut the rest of the time.” Tia said
“Oh? Have you two gotten to know each other well?” Emery looked pleased
“Yeah she is only a year older than me and its nice having someone around my age. Well another girl that is.” Tia laughed
“Yeah and I hope her man is my age too or close anyway. Would be nice to have someone else be able to kick my ass on video games, I won’t play with Ben no more. He learned way to fast and now dominates all the games.” Everyone laughed at John.
“Leave it to the natural fighter to think about video games instead of training.” Justine teased
“Well we can’t be all gloom and doom all the time. Something else has to occupy this brain of mine.” John said
“That is true my big kid and it’s why I brought this for you,” Tia said as she handed him a PSP.
“Sweet!” John exclaimed as he grabbed it and went to playing. Tia took out a laptop for herself and turned on a movie. Zoe and Kaiden continued to talk about Finley with Emery and Kendal. Justine and Gabe sat quietly and listened and after a while they had fallen asleep together.
Chapter 17
Hunting Anyone
Right after the first jet took off the hunting team loaded up all their supplies and plotted the closest location. Within two hours they had landed and immediately felt three half-bloods. The half-bloods were still about fifteen miles out so the team did a quick recon of the area. They all wanted to locate a park or somewhere that they wouldn’t be seen. Within an hour a f
orest was located and was pretty vacant. Charles and Etana plotted the course that Vivi would need to lead her brothers through. Once Vivi had the path memorized the rest of the team hid and she took off in search of her brothers. Etana shadowed her about a mile away directly parallel to Vivi.
Vivi located them while they were lounging around a swimming pool checking out all the girls that were there. The pool was surrounded by a wrought iron fence. Vivi noticed them right away. One of them was one of the ones Vivi thought was good. The other two she knew were ones that loved the kill.
From where Vivi stood was a straight shot back to where the team was. The pool was to crowded for Etana to throw anything, so it was going to be up to Vivi to come up with a way to lead them to her. The one good advantage she has was that her brothers were only in shorts. So Vivi took the opportunity and whistled as loud as she could. The half-bloods immediately looked up and right at her.
Vivi smiled at waved at them and then turned and started to walk away. Etana watched the boys as they got up quickly, but didn’t make a commotion. They just got up and grabbed a bag and left the pool area. Once they cleared the fence area one of the bigger ones grabbed a shirt out of the bag and handed more rolled clothing to his two brothers.
Vivi turned and saw the rolled clothing being passed out to the other two and she knew then she needed to run. She started to run when she heard the first pop and felt the instant pain shoot through her calf. Vivi held in her scream and gritted her teeth as she concentrated on forcing out the bullet. Once she heard the clank of the bullet on the ground behind her the healing came easy and she sped up.
Etana watched with pride as Vivi healed herself. She wanted to start tossing her knives but she knew they needed to lead the men to the rest of the team. Another pop rang out but it missed Vivi as she took a corner. Etana sped up as well and made it to the tree line just as Vivi was coming out into the open.
As soon as Vivi rounded the corner she came into the clearing and saw Etana shoot into the tree line just opposite of where she was and that made Vivi smile. She ran right into the trees as more shots rang out. The shots missed her completely but she stopped running and turned to her brothers.
She smiled at her brothers as Carmine stepped out of the trees. Vivi watched the shocked faces of her brothers as Carmine created a ring of fire around them. They went to lift their guns again as Etana and Ava stepped out. Etana took her whip and snagged the first gun while Ava made the other two guns explode in their hands. As they screamed their shock the rest of the team came forward.
“We are sick of being the hunted and have decided to turn the tables.” Charles told the half-bloods
“What the hell is this?” One of the half-bloods asked
“Oh dear brother, we are here to kill you this time. Not the other way around.” Vivi responded “Besides we are going to fight fair. We will give you each a weapon and will fight face to face. We are not going to make you run like you have made all of them. Now we were supposed to, but we decided on the way here that well, our training might improve if we could actually inflict pain. So you are our first, choose now who you would like to fight.”
“I want you Vivi.” The big one announced
“I want her.” The one Vivi thought was good nodded toward Ava.
“I will take your mate.” The last one said
Vivi gave Christian a worried look but he nodded he approval and told the boys to pick a weapon. The big one chose an axe, the good one chose a bat, and the last one chose two iron filled sticks. The ones that Tia loved to play with.
“Alright this fight is going to be one at a time. Carmine here will let one of you out of the fire at a time and the fight will take place in the open. The fight is to the death, just so you know. So who wants to be first?” Charles asked
“Me” the biggest and smuggest said. “I want to see the pain in his eyes as I kill his mate.”
Vivi smiled and stepped forward with the same axe that her brother chose. Carmine let him out of the fire and Vivi tossed him the axe. This idea had been Vivi’s because she knew that her brothers did not train the way they did. The rest of the team had protested at first, but after some manipulation they had all agreed to try it once and then decide from there.
Vivi also knew that since they did not train with weapons that her brother was going to come at her full force and try to muscle her down. And sure enough as soon as he caught the axe he came barreling towards her. Axe raised above his head he ran right towards her screaming his anger. Vivi just smiled at threw her axe as hard as she could. It hit right between his eyes and he went down.
“Next!” Vivi laughed and turned to stand next to Christian.
“Me!” The other bad one yelled in frustration. He smirked when he saw Vivi’s eyes go from glee to worry.
Christian didn’t speak as he grabbed the four sticks and tossed two to the half-blood. Christian took a deep breath as the half-blood stepped out of the fire and smiled smugly at him. Christian focused and stepped out away from the weapons. He was a healer and he could read intent. He was a fairly good in the hand to hand training so he knew he just had to focus.
This time the half-blood was weary and took his time assessing Christian. They walked in a circle across from one another, reading each other. The half-blood would step forward and Christian would not move. That made the half-blood wearier. Christian knew he was bluffing though. Christian decided to do what the half-blood did and see if he was going to react to a bluff. As he took a step forward so did the half-blood and then Christian felt his intent to strike his head. Christian took another step and decided to roll into it. As he rolled he struck out with both sticks to the half-blood’s shin.
The half-blood never saw the strike coming and yelled out when he felt his lower leg snap. He fell to the ground and then looked at Christian who was just getting up from his roll on the ground move. Christian smiled at him and the half-blood felt instantly hateful and wanted to kill Christian, he then saw the smile turn to a grimace. The half-blood grinned at that and stood on one leg.
The hate and intent to kill almost crippled Christian where he stood, but he knew he had to fight it. The smile on the face of the half-blood brought forth Christian’s anger and concentration. Christian smiled a hateful smile at the half-blood and charged him. Christian felt the half-blood’s intent to swing left so he spun right and hit the back of the half-blood’s head with one of the sticks. The half-blood went back down to the ground.
Christian came out of his spin and immediately shot forward into another roll. His roll stopped him right at the man’s head and Christian brought both sticks down to the back of his head and heard the ominous crack of his skull. Christian felt no intent, so he placed his right hand on the back of the half-blood’s neck and felt a weak pulse.
“So how does this work? His skull is fractured and he will die in a couple hours, so do I have to kill him all the way or am I done?” Christian looked to the team.
“Up to you, as you know better than any of us. Question is if he were to be saved could he be healed?” Vivi asked
“Yes he could, but he would be brain dead. There is nothing left up there.”
“Well to me a pulse is a pulse. I would rather them be dead when we burn the bodies.” Ava said
“Got it” Christian responded and brought one stick as hard as he would to the side of the man’s head. He placed his hand to the neck again and there was no pulse. Christian then looked to the last half-blood and smiled. “Your turn”
The last one looked them all over with worry written all over his face. He then looked to Vivi. “How are the kids?” he asked her
“Well the ones left alive are fine.” She saw his confused face. “Oh he didn’t tell you all did he. Well we didn’t kill them. You see he out a tracking device in all the kids five and under. We missed one and when the missiles came we didn’t have time to stop it. So your dad killed your mom and your younger sister and brother. We had a good home for them and
were good to them, so at least they knew love for a short time.” Vivi snapped
“He killed them?”
“Yep, while you all hunt us thinking we are the bad ones he is killing his own blood.” Vivi hissed
“I don’t want to fight her anymore. Just kill me. I don’t want to be the man he made us into. So just kill me.”
“How many of us have you killed?” Etana asked
“None.” He responded
“None?” Etana asked confused
“They only bad thing I did to any I came across any was knock them out before my brothers could kill them. About five years ago we came across a couple leaving the hospital and I knocked them out and took the baby. I didn’t harm them.” He whined.
That was the catalyst to Charles’s anger. “Do you know where that baby ended up? Do you know the type of people you left her with? Do you know the sorrow and anger that one action cost?” Charles yelled at the half-blood.
“No and I am thinking it was really bad because of the way you are yelling at me.”
“Those parents had just experienced the joy of becoming parents and you took that from them. Then they wake up and their baby is gone. How would you feel if that was you?” Vivi asked
“Lost and it’s why I want you to just kill me. Vivi I will never have a normal life unless he is dead. I will never have a relationship with a woman unless he is dead. I will never know happiness. If I could apologize to those parents I would. You have no idea how lost I am. There is nothing for me this is not the life I would want for a wife or a child.”
“Tie him up and he will come with us. We will let Piper and Aidan choose his fate. Seamus will watch over him for the week while we hunt down more.” Charles said
Vivi and Christian tied the half-blood up while Carmine and Ave set fire to the others. Etana and Makayla gathered up the weapons while Colby and Charles dug two holes to make sure there was no proof left of their fight.
Chapter 18
Lost Ones (The Extinct Race Series Book 3) Page 10
