Robert again tensed up. “I’m not overly sure why they are.”
Jimmy felt him wince. He heard him swallow. He’s not telling us everything. He’s still protecting her. Everything he thought sounded right. He could almost feel Kalima inside him second the thought with a subtle nod. Now you come back old friend. Now you open your eyes.
“A few years ago something changed in the walker world. One of the covens began to act rather strangely. I thought that it had something to do with finding me, but suddenly I began to realize that there was more to it than that. And then, the disappearances came. The last one happened just about a month ago. A Walker named Michael Gorhan, the leader of his coven vanished along with two of his protectors.”
Jimmy’s eyes flared.
Brandon let out a sigh, heavy and deep sounding.
Both caught Robert’s attention immediately. “You knew him?” It made sense with what he heard and saw.
Jimmy looked at Brandon as he answered. “A vampire named Michael tried to kill me in the Adirondacks last month or so. He made Brandon here.”
Brandon’s head bowed. He could see Michael’s face in his thoughts, pale, white, and unforgiving. He could still remember his thoughts rolling inside his head.
It was Robert’s turn to sigh. “You killed him?” He felt rather astonished by the simple thought. Not that Kalima could do it, he knew that he could have, but more to the fact that he did do it. It meant that everything that happened might be different from what he thought of at first. Everything could be simpler. It could be more innocent too.
Jimmy shook his head. “No. He was killed by another black wolf.” He looked down at his hands. Gary’s face rolled through his heart. He tried hard to forget what happened—what he did to start it—but now, it was all there again, and it ached his very soul.
“Another wolf? Who?”
“That’s a long story.” Jimmy finally looked up again. It took everything he had to do it. “He’s dead; the black wolf that killed him is dead.” He blinked what felt like a thousand times, but was actually more than that.
“What happened?” Robert drew closer. His mind flew into every direction at once. He needed to know. He needed information.
Jimmy closed his eyes. He didn’t want to answer him, that was more than obvious, but he knew he had to do it. If he was going to find out why his Rachel was now in danger, he had to do anything to get the answers to stop it from happening. So in other words, he would do anything for her, and this was one of those things. He took a deep breath just before he began. “A few decades ago, Collins, the one that had Kalima in him before me, attacked a young couple in Central Park. He was hungry. He took a chance. He killed the young woman…he…um…” This was the hardest part for him, and him having to pause, showed that to everyone—least of all to him. “He also killed the woman’s unborn child. The man, the father and husband, lived. He of course became a black wolf too. He hunted us down. He sought his revenge. Collins to relieve his guilt, went to a place, that place where the vampires attacked Rachel, he allowed them there to probe him for a cure for human illness. Gary found him there, and killed him. Before he did though, that’s when he bit me. Gary then came after me. Finally, I killed him up in the mountains.”
Robert listened, trying to put everything he heard into neat and organized rows within his mind. He didn’t know what might help him, so he stored it all for later, just in case he did need it. What he didn’t understand seemed basic. “What did that have to do with Michael?”
“Apparently, Michael came up there to stop him, Kalima, from exposing his kind to the humans. Gary killed them before I did him.”
“That sounds like Michael.” Robert now stood up. He left the sofa and made his was over to a large bay window at the front of the living room. He looked outside to the trees surrounding this house. He could see Sasha standing on the front porch, looking off into the trees. The sun was beading down from overhead. Seeing that, his mind turned strongly again over him like a slow running engine warming up on a cold winter’s day. He had to think. Something about everything seemed to stick out to him, but then again, nothing really did.
Jimmy watched him stand. He watched him move to the window and stop right in front of him. As he relived the story again, an idea for what this was all about came to him like a flashlight flaring into someone’s eyes suddenly in a heavy darkened room. “Rachel, when she was working at Ravenswood found a cure for my change. It stopped me from changing on full moons. Michael found out about it. They could be after her for that.” It all makes sense, if anything about this craziness did.
Robert nodded some. “Possibly.” Within the nod, he also shrugged too. “But Walkers don’t think like humans Jimmy. They may not even know that this drug exists.”
This time, Jimmy argued with him. “How do you know that? Why else would they be after her?”
Robert bowed his head.
Again, Jimmy could feel that same old hesitation in his heart. He could feel the thoughts of that hesitation flaring throughout his mind. Now, more than ever he felt like Robert wasn’t telling him—them—the whole truth. “You know something Robert. You have an idea so what is it?” He spoke that feeling.
Robert looked back up to the window, but only a second before he turned back to the center of the room. “There’s a lot happening. There’s too much going on for any one thing.”
Jimmy watched his eyes rise up towards him, but not at him. He could feel why. He could feel Rachel coming into the room behind him. He turned around and saw her standing there in the doorway to the hallway. Seeing her, his heart lightened and his mind melted back to a more normal stride of life. “How are you doing?” He smiled. It made him feel awkward and rather unsure of himself as he said it. He suddenly felt like he was waiting for her to say yes to going out with him, and wasn’t sure if what she would say was yes or not. He felt like they had started all over again and was back to square one.
“Better.” She smiled. She approached him, and without saying another word, she rushed her arms around his waist and held him strongly to her chest.
Feeling her, experiencing her, he accepted it without a second thought. In fact, he felt more grateful for it than he ever thought possible before.
“I missed you Jimmy.” She released the hug, but kept his waist in her hands. He looked too wonderful to feel mad at him anymore than she already was.
“I wanted to come back sooner. I wanted to come and see you, but I just didn’t know how to do it.” He smiled, every feeling rushed out of him all at once.
She returned the smile, let go of his right side and turned towards Robert. “I can understand why you did what you did. I just want to know why. Why did you hide this from me?”
Robert put his hands in front of him. He blinked several times. He swallowed even more than that. “I told you why. They got too close to me…to us. It became dangerous for me to stay with you.” He kept his eyes down. He tried to lift them several times, but couldn’t. He felt it lucky that he was even able to speak right.
“By faking your own death.” She let go of Jimmy, walked around him, and stepped to his side. “By lying to me about who you really are.”
He looked up but only briefly. “I couldn’t let you face what I had to face. I tried to but they would never let me be something that I’m not.”
She grew frustrated fast. “What does that mean? I heard the three of you talking. I heard what you told them. Did you not think that I wouldn’t understand this? Did you think I wouldn’t be able to handle any of this?”
Robert took a deep breath. “I couldn’t take the chance.”
Jimmy felt his heart skip several beats. He sounds just like I always feel when it comes to her. He sounds just like me.
“Why?” Rachel didn’t care. She nearly shouted out the question—nearly.
“You know why. I’m a wanderer Rachel. I have responsibilities that go far beyond a normal life.”
She looked at Jimmy. “
And he doesn’t?” She turned back to Robert. “I can understand why Jimmy did what he did. They’ve been chasing him from the very beginning, but he’s never hid from me what he is. He’s never had to hide from me. You never did let me see the real you. You never trusted me.”
That brought a single tear to roll down his face.
Again, Jimmy felt Robert’s heart flutter hard—harder than even before now.
“I’m sorry Rachel.” Robert used his left hand to wipe the tear. “I’m sorry for everything.” He bowed down again, but only briefly, and looked back up again. “If I could change what happened, I would, but I can’t. I made my choice. It wasn’t easy to do it but I did.”
Rachel looked at the floor. She didn’t quite get the answer she wanted, but she didn’t really care anymore. He wasn’t going to tell her anyway, she could feel that herself, but there was more going on here that was now far more important.
She looked back up with that determination for answers flowing through her heart. “So why are they after me? What did I do?”
Robert smiled some.
Jimmy could feel his heart lighten almost all too fast. He felt worried with that feeling. He seemed pleased. He seemed satisfied that he didn’t have to continue with having to lie. Everything he heard—everything he felt—he didn’t like it. He didn’t trust it. In some ways, he didn’t trust him. “That’s what we were just talking about.” Jimmy now came in.
“I heard you ask about the drug.” Rachel took his right hand and held it in hers. “The drug is gone. I destroyed what I had.”
Jimmy squeezed her had ever so softly. He had the feeling that she said yes after all to going out on their first date. She was still with him. She’d go out with him after all. “What you had? What about what Ross had?” He had to ask, feeling his own confidence flaring through him again. He felt complete again, having her standing by his side.
“I never got to it. That’s why I was at the labs last night.”
Jimmy nodded.
Robert did too. “I don’t think they are after this drug of yours. If they were, they’d already have it. The Gorhan Coven took over your place of work a while ago. They’d have access to everything the place had.”
“What group attacked her last night? What coven?” Brandon came in again after listening to the family feud. He wasn’t really sure who won, so he went back to the matter at hand. “If you can find out, then it might help us find out why they’re looking for her.”
Robert shook his head. “I don’t know all walkers. All of the covens wear a symbol on them in a shape of their family’s crest. I didn’t see those three last night wearing any. So, I just don’t know who they were.”
That made Jimmy feel worried. They were after his Rachel, and not knowing why meant that she was still in danger. He had no leverage to use to help her. He had no way of knowing how to protect her. “Whatever is going on here, we have to find out. It will be dark soon. They’re bound to come after her again.”
Robert gracefully shook his head. “They might try, but they might not. They know that you’re here now Jimmy. They know that the black wolf has returned. They’d be fools to take you on like that.” He walked back over to the sofa. He stopped by its arm. “We have to try and get her back to the city. I have places there that I can take her. Places where she’d be safe.”
Brandon made one solid gasp. “You make Jimmy out to be some type of a god or something. I know he’s strong, but surely he’s not that all and mighty.”
Robert turned to him when he answered him. “He is the offspring of Devish. He’s the first one of his kind. That makes him something that’s very strong in deed.”
“Who’s Devish?” Brandon’s face lit up.
Jimmy concentrated on Robert and waited. He already knew the answer to the question but wanted to hear more anyway.
“Devish was the last of the blood walkers, before the truce. With his defeat, all other walkers faded away. His name is all that’s left to them.” Robert bowed his head. His mind started racing. His heart did the same thing.
Jimmy of course felt everything. “What is it?”
“Can it be that simple?”
Rachel squeezed Jimmy’s hand. She didn’t need his gift of sight and sound to know that Robert’s thoughts changed quickly. “What’s wrong?”
“The Gorhan clan is now headed by Vincent Gorhan. He’s a very powerful being. He’s also a disciple of Devish.” He thought back to the motel room in the city. He could see the blood scratched words on the wall. The Wanderer will awaken!
“A disciple?” Jimmy squeezed her back.
“He’s a follower and believer of the old ways. Some walkers refused to keep to the truce, but with Devish gone, they did so anyway, but in the shadows, they always wished for those days to come back again. They began worshipping Devish’s memory, almost like he was god himself.” He turned back to the window. Sasha was now gone from the porch, but he still felt her there, walking around the house. “With Michael, the Gorhan’s kept to the truce. He was a firm believer in keeping in the shadows. He trusted in the peace that we all made. But Vincent never did. Now, he’s in charge of the strongest of the clans.” He turned back to the others. “He might be looking for Devish himself.”
“I thought you said this guy was dead.” Brandon felt the entire room tense up some. He figured all of this was important, just by feeling it from everyone else. As for himself, he began to feel worried. If they felt scared, trouble was a coming and it worried him to near death.
“He’s not dead in the normal sense. Walkers have some impressive healing abilities, I think you all know that already, but they can still be killed by removing their hearts, removing their heads, or simply destroying their bodies. Other than killing them, you can also immobilize them by simply driving wood through the chest. Without the beating heart, they can’t heal. They instead wither away, decaying until the stake is removed.”
“Let me guess.” Brandon now stood up. “He’s staked, not dead right.”
Robert swallowed shallow. “To get the walkers to sign onto the truce, we kept Devish staked. To keep them to it, we hid him away so they would never find him again.”
“So, you think that’s what this Vincent is looking for? You think he’s looking for Devish’s body being that he’s a disciple of the guy?” Brandon replayed everything over, and over again in his thoughts. He tried oh so hard for everything to register completely. He hoped to have it right.
Robert didn’t nod, but his eyes sparkled.
“That might be true, but why come after me?” Rachel also took everything in. She did the best she could with the limited knowledge she had.
“I’m the truce keeper. I know where he is.” Robert took a deep breath.
His heart skipped several beats. Jimmy felt it stronger this time.
“Is that why they came after you before?” Rachel bowed her eyes some. She took several deep breaths, trying hard to wrap her thoughts together long enough to understand everything.
“I never knew why they did back then. I wasn’t able to learn the truth. But, it does make sense.”
“No offense,” Brandon came in, “But, why not just come after you? Why come after her?”
“I’m a wanderer. I’d die before I told them anything and just come back in another body. That’s a useless way from an enemy to force one to spill the beans, as they say.”
“So go after the ones you love.” Jimmy looked to Rachel and just saw the side of her face. God, how beautiful she looked again. He shouldn’t have stayed away. That was his mistake that he shouldn’t have made.
Robert nodded. “It all makes sense. They know that the black wolf has returned. They know that Kalima is back. It just makes sense.”
“Because he’s strong?” Brandon looked to both Jimmy and Rachel, and then back to Robert again.
“With Kalima back, there’s only one thing on this whole world that could ever defeat him. There’s only one that could ever kill him, a
nd that’s the one that made him. That could only be Devish himself.”
“What I don’t get.” Brandon stepped a little closer to Rachel. “Is why? Why don’t they like him? Why go after Jimmy like this? Isn’t he like one of them?”
Jimmy shrugged. “Kalima has changed. I’m in love with a human.”
Robert nodded. “You said it yourself.”
Jimmy looked to Rachel, squeezed her hand again, and looked to the door after hearing it open. He watched Sasha step in through the door.
She smiled to him as she closed it.
He returned the gesture and then looked back to Robert. Again, he felt his heart seemingly skip and prod. I don’t trust his fear I feel. I don’t trust him, but for now, I’m going to have to trust him. Rachel’s life depends on it, and with her, he won’t hurt her. He won’t let her down again. He’s proven that much. “So what now? What do we do?”
Robert nodded again. “We have to take her back to New York. We have to get her safe. When I know she is, I have to go and talk with the walker elders. I have to tell them about Vincent.”
Brandon didn’t like that thought. At least the last part that is. “Why do you want to go and talk with them, the walkers? Aren’t they the ones that we should be trying to avoid?”
Robert shrugged. “Not all of the walkers want to see the past live again. Most of them respect the truce. They know the fear of another war with the humans. Humans outnumber them by thousands to one. Their weapons are far greater than what they were before too.”
Brandon nodded with that. He didn’t quite like it, but he knew he had to go along for the ride.
Sasha took a deep sigh. “Whatever you guys have decided to do, you better do it soon. It will be dark in a couple of hours.”
Robert looked back to the window. He could see shadows beginning to form around it. The sun was ebbing. Sasha was right. The night was coming soon. “We might have to stay the night. We might have to wait for the dawn.”
“Why?” Sasha had to ask and did before anyone else could.
A Werewolf's Saga Books 4, 5, & 6 (A Werewolf's Saga Boxed Sets Book 2) Page 10
