“I don’t know. I guess so. Why?” Still ignoring all of my questions, Peter and Aderes broke off into their own conversation.
“But I guess Falko wouldn’t have an aversion to it, though. Would he?”
“He chose the wrong path,” Aderes answered him. “I could be wrong, but I’d say it’s because of the Black Wolf.”
“So, then he would…”
“Exactly.”
“Stop!” I yelled so loudly that Taddi heard and came running into the room.
“What’s going on?” she asked immediately.
“They are confusing the hell out of me is what’s going on.”
“Come with me, Taddi,” Peter said as he grabbed her by the shoulder and began to lead her out of the room. “We need to talk.”
Before they could walk into the next room, a loud knock erupted from the front door. All three Dahmshed froze and looked at each other for what seemed like the longest three seconds of my life. Then, Taddi flew across the room and threw me over her shoulder. Before I knew it, we were in the loft watching Peter approach the door. Aderes was still healing, but I knew she would be getting dressed so she could help protect me from whatever was on the other side of the door.
“Don’t say anything,” Taddi whispered into my ear. Peter reached for the doorknob just as Aderes walked out of the bedroom. She had cleaned the blood from her face, but she was putting her hood back up.
The door swung open to reveal a happy-looking Dahmshed with a wide smile. His wavy brown hair was fluttering in the light breeze, and his blue sports jacket was dusted with snow. Peter stepped aside as he greeted Winston with a relieved smile. Taddi brought me back down to the main level of the house, and she went to hug him.
“’ello love!” Winston said in his uplifting Cockney accent. “’ow are you?”
“You scared us to death!” She laughed, as she hit him lightly on the chest.
“I’m terribly sorry; truly, I am. But Elliot ’as given me a message for Aderes and I ’ad to come.”
“Is something wrong?” Aderes asked nervously.
“No, no. Quite the opposite, actually. The Jagers ’ave left the marina, but he needs you to come back and ’elp him with some trackings and whatnot.”
“What about Jason?” she asked quickly. “I can’t leave him here with such low defense.”
“Elliot believes he will be much safer ’ere then back at home, where you will be following Dahmshed trails. Plus,” he added, “I will be staying with Peter and Taddi while you’re gone. I promise you he’ll be in one piece when you return.”
“That doesn’t mean he’ll be alive.” I could tell that Aderes was very angry at Elliot.
“I’ll be fine, Aderes. We’re in the middle of nowhere. Who could find us?” I tried to persuade her. I could tell she wanted to scream “Falko!” at me, but she held her tongue.
“I hope you all know that I am not the least bit happy about this,” she spoke through gritted teeth. “But it is Elliot’s order, and I cannot deny him.”
“Don’t worry, love. Jason is in good ’ands,” Winston reassured her.
“I do believe that. But I also believe the Jagers could send enough Dahmshed to kill you all. So, I just want the three of you to know that if anything happens to Jason, and you’re alive, I’ll kill you. But not before I kill Elliot.”
“Aderes, please don’t threaten them to watch over me. I’ll be fine.” I smiled at her, but she turned and walked out the door without another word.
“Will she make it with her neck like that?” I asked after Peter closed the door.
“She’ll be all right,” Taddi answered before turning to Peter. “We should keep watch since Aderes is gone. You want first shift?”
“Guess so,” Peter replied. “I’ll come back around nine.”
“If you’re not back by then, I’ll send a search party out for you,” Taddi joked as Peter walked out the door.
Chapter 10
Visitors
I began to regret letting Aderes leave almost immediately. My sudden need for her to be around roared up, and I couldn’t get her out of my mind. By the time seven o’clock came around, Taddi and Winston were doing everything they could to avoid me so they wouldn’t have to keep talking about Aderes. I wondered if I would ever stop needing her, as long as I was human. Since all the others were Dahmshed when they first saw her, they had had it much easier. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t seem to stop, and the more I tried to stop, the more I thought of her. It was a complicated paradox with no way out.
Peter came back two hours early. When he burst through the door, my thoughts of Aderes were momentarily put at bay. Taddi and Winston ran to his side.
“Someone’s coming,” he said. “They’re about a mile away, downwind. I couldn’t get a scent or feel a heartbeat, but they were walking at human speed. It could be anything, though.”
“’ow many?” Winston asked him.
“Looked like six.”
“We should hide Jason in the cellar until we know for sure what they are, or if they’re even coming here,” Taddi joined in.
“Good idea,” Peter agreed. “Take him now. Winston and I will keep watch.” Taddi grabbed my arm and led me out the back door into the freezing night. It was snowing lightly, and my warm face could feel every flake.
“Hurry, Jason, down here,” Taddi whispered as she guided me through a wooden door that led under the house. It was dark, damp, and cold in the cellar, but I knew that whatever was coming could be a lot worse. We sat in silence while we waited for Peter or Winston to give the “okay” to come up.
***
Peter-
After Taddi brought Jason to the cellar, Winston and I took our posts in the trees in front of the house. At the speed the group was moving, they’d reach the house in five or ten minutes. I had a good view of Winston and he had the same of me, just in case the group went after us one by one. Unfortunately, that seemed like a possibility because there was still no sound or smell coming from them. The longer we waited, the more anxious I became. We didn’t even know if the group was still coming toward us or if they were long gone by now.
I kept my eyes planted on the road in front of us, watching intently for movement. My ears were on full alert, and my nostrils flared as they tried to catch a scent. There were many small critters and deer in the area, but I ignored them and centered my focus on the possibly approaching group.
Suddenly, a noiseless figure flashed through the trees a little up the road. With no heartbeat and no smell, it had to be a Dahmshed. I braced myself on the branch I was sitting on, ready to pounce if needed. Then, I turned to Winston to make sure he had seen the Dahmshed, but he was gone. My eyes rapidly scanned the trees for him, but I had no luck. Winston was gone, and I was alone. If the group of six was attacking, I had no hope of killing them all.
I leapt from my branch and landed soundlessly on the ground below. As I crept slowly forward, another figure flashed close by me. I crouched down, ready for a fight. Then, a small twig snapped behind me. A rookie mistake for a Dahmshed on the hunt. I twisted my body and launched myself at the man behind me. We hit the ground and slid across the light powdering of snow. My hands were already at the man’s neck before I realized he was wearing a blue sports jacket.
“Winston!” I spoke with a hushed yell. “What the hell is wrong with you?!”
“Terribly sorry for the mistake, Peter.” He smiled as we stood up. It was impossible to stay mad at him for more than a few seconds. He had always been happy and nice the entire forty-two years I had known him.
“Please tell me that was you up the road.”
“Yes, yes, that was me. Again, I’m terribly sorry. I ’ad been trying to get your attention but you were staring off at the road. I just wanted to see if we could see ’em yet.”
“You scared me.” I laughed in relief. Then, I felt a light pulse surge through my body.
“Did you feel that?” Winston asked. Five more
separate pulses made themselves clear. Soon after that, the smell of six humans came to us.
“Sure did. We need a new plan.”
“Why don’t we take ’em in for the night,” Winston suggested. “It’s a bit dangerous out ’ere.”
“We still don’t know if they can be trusted around Jason.”
“I doubt they’ll even know who Jason is. They’d ’ave no reason to ’urt ’im.”
“I guess you’re right, but I say we teach them a lesson for being so careless.”
***
Chase-
“Hey, everyone, hold up,” Trevor said suddenly. “Take a break here for a minute.”
All six of us stopped.
“What’s wrong?” I asked him. I played a human very well. I knew how to act naïve and innocent. They had no idea what I truly was. They didn’t even know my real name.
“We’re almost at the house,” Faith replied. “Simms Hill Road is just over that hill.”
“And you’re sure it’s abandoned?” I asked. I didn’t really care. It just seemed the human thing to ask.
“We can’t be positive, but we need to be prepared.” Faith began handing us wooden stakes from her bag.
“I heard these don’t work,” David said.
“Oh, they work.” I winked at him. “If you’re faster and stronger than a Dahmshed.” David gave his stake a worried look and took a few steps toward Trevor. David was a small man with big, horn-rimmed glasses, the kind of guy you’d find working in a comic book store. Trevor, on the other hand, was the reason I was with these stupid humans, or voedsel, as Alexander would call them. He was well-built and knew how to defend himself.
Trevor and Faith were both part of an organization called the Angels, a special-ops team designed for slaying Dahmshed and Rogues. My mission was to kill them both, and very soon I would.
“Don’t worry, David,” Trevor reassured him. “Faith and I won’t let anything happen to you.” David seemed to perk up at Trevor’s words, but even if the house was empty, they’d all be dead by morning. I would see to that personally.
“Stay close,” Faith instructed us. “What we’re doing is extremely dangerous.”
“Don’t scare them, Faith,” Trevor whispered to her. I didn’t think the others heard, but I had a very acute sense of hearing.
In only a few seconds a large house came into view. The porch lights were on, but the inside was pitch-black. We approached it slowly, our stakes out and ready, although I wouldn’t need to use mine. Anyone dangerous to a voedsel was an ally to me. I was completely calm, which kept my heart rate at a normal pace. Trevor and Faith were as close as a voedsel could get to being calm when walking into a possible Dahmshed lair. David, on the other hand, was sweating bullets even though it was below freezing. His knuckles were white from gripping his stake, and I thought I could hear him whimpering quietly. The other two voedsel were coping fairly well with the situation. I had to commend them on that.
Suddenly, Trevor threw both his arms out to stop us. I had obviously been too busy watching the reactions of the rest of the group to notice something he had seen. I felt stupid for missing what a voedsel had caught, but I didn’t let it distract me further. My eyes scanned the area around us, waiting to see my allies appear.
“Code black,” Trevor whispered to Faith. “Code black, cover the rear.” Faith immediately ran to the back of the group. The other three voedsel started to panic; David even fell to the ground. I had to try very hard not to laugh at them all.
“What did you see?” I asked Trevor quietly. He looked at me oddly, visibly noting how relaxed I was.
“Something in the trees,” he replied. “The moon’s covered, so we can check Rogues off our list. But I’d have to say some Dahmshed are watching us.” I held back a smirk that was trying to creep onto my face. He didn’t know that fully-developed Rogues could change anytime they wanted.
“They’re everywhere!” David screamed suddenly. As I looked around, I could see dark figures flying through the trees on either side of the road. It looked like there were at least ten Dahmshed jumping around, but when you knew the Jagers like I did you became very familiar with intimidation techniques. For all I knew, there could have been only one Dahmshed moving very quickly.
“Trevor!” Faith yelled. “Six o’clock!” I turned at the same time as Trevor to see a human-shaped figure standing far down the road in the opposite direction of the house. It stood there for only a few seconds before leaping back into the woods.
“Everyone get tighter!” Trevor ordered the group. All but David did as he said, but I knew there was no hope for any of them. As I re-examined the group I could tell there was a drastic change in their emotions. Although David was still whimpering on the ground with his hands clasped over his face, the two other voedsel were not so far from being in the same position. The only thing keeping them on their feet was probably the large amount of adrenaline pumping through their bodies. Faith was a little on edge; although, a look of extreme hate had taken over her face. Trevor seemed to be spacing out. I couldn’t tell if it was his way of coping with the situation, or if he was still trying to figure a way out.
Meanwhile, the figures kept flashing around in the trees. Every once in a while, one would cut across the road. They began doing that far away from us, but I could tell they were slowly closing in. As they did, Faith’s face turned from hatred to fear very quickly. She and Trevor were trained to fight Dahmshed, but without their normal weaponry, they stood no chance, and they knew it.
Suddenly, Faith let out a shriek. I turned to see what had happened, but I was too late. Faith was gone. Trevor started to spin rapidly as he tried to look in all directions at once. He was panicking much more severely now. I couldn’t help but smirk at his insecurity.
“Faith!” Trevor yelled in horror. “Faith, can you hear me?!” A sharp cry broke from just beyond the trees, letting us know that Faith was still alive.
“What are we doing, Trevor?” I asked him, trying to sound scared. “You have a plan, don’t you?” His eyes kept scanning the woods around us, and he wouldn’t look at me. My questions were just reminding him that he had no way to escape death. I stared at him as I waited for him to do something, but he just kept turning wildly. Finally, I slapped him across the face and he stopped. He opened his mouth to speak but only emitted a quiet stammering that I couldn’t make out.
“Twenty…pha…twent…six,” he was repeating over and over.
“What does that mean?” I asked irritably. He stopped talking for a second as he stared deep into my eyes.
“Twenty-six alpha!” he finally screamed. Then, he whispered, “All is lost.” It finally convinced me that he had gone crazy from the pressure. I was extremely happy not to be a voedsel at that moment. Our strong leader had lost it, and there was no hope.
“Trevor!” Faith suddenly screamed. Then, her mouth was covered by a pale white hand. She was being held by a handsome Dahmshed with short blonde hair. He didn’t look familiar to me, but I didn’t really know all of the Dahmshed from the Jagers. He walked toward us, keeping Faith totally controlled by holding her head still with one hand over her mouth and both of her arms confined with his other arm.
“Let her go!” Trevor yelled. He seemed to have regained some confidence.
“Or what?” the Dahmshed spoke in a soothing voice. “You’ll poke me with your stick?”
“Why are you doing this? Please, just let her go,” Trevor pleaded.
“You’re the ones trespassing on our land,” the Dahmshed said. “Not to mention the fact that you have weapons.”
“First of all, we thought this house was abandoned. And second, the weapons are to protect ourselves from malicious creatures like you.” The Dahmshed laughed as he took two more steps forward, stopping about ten feet away.
“Malicious creatures?” he asked mockingly. “We are not malicious creatures.”
“Then let her go.”
“I’ll tell you what, you t
hrow those stakes into the woods, and I’ll let her go.”
“You scared of a few humans with wooden stakes?” Trevor asked stupidly. He obviously didn’t know it was a bad idea to piss off a Dahmshed.
“Not one bit,” the Dahmshed responded. “But they can leave your hands in two ways. You can throw them into the woods, or I can peel them from your dead fingers.” Trevor turned to look at us. I nodded at him in silent agreement, and our whole group threw the stakes aside.
“Now what?” I asked the Dahmshed. “You’re holding all the cards.”
“Well,” a voice came from behind us in a thick British accent. “Now, we assess the situation and see if you can be trusted.” I turned to see a second Dahmshed with wavy brown hair and a blue sports jacket. His words confused me; a normal Jager would have killed all of the voedsel by now.
“See if we can be trusted?” Trevor asked in surprise. “I think you’re forgetting who’s human and who’s beast.” The blonde Dahmshed growled at him.
“That was insulting,” he said. “But, I understand where you’re coming from. Now, we just need you to understand where we’re coming from.”
“We do know that it will be ’ard for you to trust us after what we ’ave just done, but we believed you needed a lesson,” the British Dahmshed interrupted. “It was very foolish of you to come into an unknown area so willy-nilly.” They weren’t going to kill the voedsel, after all. That could only mean one thing; they were my enemies, not my allies.
“The reason we need to be sure you are trustworthy is because we have a very important person with us,” the blonde Dahmshed explained. If he was talking about who I thought he was talking about, my brother would be very happy. This was what we had been waiting for, for a very long time.
“Why are you telling us this?” Trevor asked in confusion. “What type of Dahmshed are you?” The blonde Dahmshed suddenly released Faith, and she ran to Trevor and threw her arms around him. Tears began to fall from her face.
“We are the Peacekeepers,” the blonde began. “A small group of Dahmshed that are trying desperately to save your kind. I am Peter, and my friend is Winston.” The Peacekeepers were definitely the holders of the boy, and from what Peter had said, the boy was in the house. Killing the Angels was now a secondary mission. The capturing of Jason Hook would be first on my list. As long as they didn’t recognize me, everything would work out. I was already a step ahead of them by using a fake name.
Descendant: The Protector (The Descendant Series) Page 15
