3 Hit the Road Jack

by Christin Lovell

  “That’s not what I meant and you know it. We’re all on edge right now and I just feel more pressure with you all around. I know you mean well, and admittedly you have helped me out a lot. I can’t change the way I feel though.” I fiddled with my hands, staring down at my fingers twisting and untwisting around each other.

  “So you want us to leave?” Kalel asked. I swallowed the hard lump that appeared out of nowhere in my throat.

  “I would feel better if you did.” My voice was barely above a whisper, but I knew they’d heard every word.

  “Well tough. You may not want us here Leka, but we know you need us here. Ohana sticks by each other through good times and bad; through good decisions and bad decisions. Now why don’t you tell us what we’ve all apparently missed so we don’t have to constantly be watching our backs for more than ninja assassins and random bites in public?” Heat colored my cheeks. My eyes glanced across the room at Kellan. I relaxed just a bit when his eyes softened at meeting mine. It meant while he was mad, he wasn’t going to punish me more than I’d already punished myself.

  I felt bad. I wasn’t without guilt over everything. I wasn’t ungrateful for all they’d sacrificed and done for me. Truthfully, I felt like they were running this mission more than me. This mission would be completely different without them. I couldn’t even say that I’d be alive right now if it wasn’t for them.

  With my tail between my legs, I shared everything with them. No secrets. I didn’t even ask John, the newcomer, to leave. If I wanted things to get better, if I wanted to be able to focus on more than this constructed wall between myself and the others, I had to give a little, take the risk and expose the most vulnerable parts of me. Perhaps they had something to offer, but at the least they would be better equipped to help me in this mission.

  “Hoppin poppin buppin puffs,” Craig said once I finished telling them about Imara, Sir Staten and my overall mental debates. It came out more as a surprised sigh; like a ‘And I thought I had problems’ statement.

  I hated to admit it, but I felt much better letting everything out. I felt free, as if part of the burden had lifted off of me. Slowly my confidence began to build as I met the nonjudgmental eyes of my supporters. Even as I looked around the room, the connection was slowly forging. I was regaining my footing, being reminded of why I pursued this mission. Whether home or abroad, these people were at risk because they were associated with me. Whether they were here or not, their necks were on the line too. Jack had no mercy, as he’d shown with Rafi. And it was about time I used that as my leverage, rather than my enabling fear.

  “It’s good to have you back girl,” Gabi beamed, yanking me into a bear hug. I laughed, falling into her embrace.

  “Do you want us to test your blood?” Kalel asked. “We can tell you exactly what he gave you.”

  “Thanks, but no thanks. I expect people to trust me, but I realized that I hadn’t been so trusting of them. He clearly didn’t want to hurt me, or he could have. I’m going to leave well enough alone and let destiny run its course.” He nodded.

  “Clearly you’ve covered more ground than we originally believed,” Will stated, notebook in hand. “You’re ahead of schedule according to my timeline.”

  “When will I get to actually see this timeline?”

  “Never!” Aunt Claire declared. “You’re not supposed to honey. It’ll really loosen a few screws in your head if you did. You’re just going to have to follow through on your promise and start to trust us.”

  “What’s next then?” Gabi asked, wrapping her arm around my waist and pulling us hip to hip. She frowned down at where we were touching. “On second thought, let me not stand next to you. I’d rather not be the fat person on the fat versus skinny comparison chart.”

  “Oh hush!” I threw my arm around her waist, holding her to me.

  “Well, on the upside, I can eat my weight in depression over Rafi and not gain anymore weight.” She tried to smile, but it was forced.

  “I’m really sorry Gab.”

  “It’s not your fault,” she shrugged.

  “I feel like it is.”

  “Well, you did give him permission to haunt you if he lost his life while on this mission. Knowing him, he’s probably going to be having a little after life fun with you. He was always the last one suspected, but the first one to cause mischief if you really knew him.” This time the smile was genuine though it still didn’t touch her eyes.

  “Have at it Rafi,” I chuckled.

  “We probably shouldn’t exchange blood anytime soon until we know what he gave you,” Kellan said.

  “That would probably be best,” Al agreed. I felt myself blush slightly at announcing the romantic exclusion to the group.

  “He probably just had her bite him so he could track her. Now that his blood’s in her system, he can track her anywhere in the world. It was one of his known abilities,” Will offered absently, his nose in the binder in front of him.

  “Can’t you always track someone once they’ve had your blood?”

  “No. Having them take your blood only changes their pheromones for a short time. Actually exchanging blood back and forth is the only permanent way to track someone, but even that’s not guaranteed since they’d have to be within a certain mile radius,” Al explained.

  “Oh.” With my nose, the only person I smelled was Kai, but even then I could only pick him out in a crowd, not necessarily track him.

  “God this is like watching some horrible episode of The Brady Bunch as adults and on a dangerous mission,” John commented.

  “The Brady Bunch? Really?” Gabi scoffed. “We’re a million times better than that perfect dysfunctional family.”

  “Either they’re perfect or dysfunctional, which one is it?” John smirked.

  “Don’t play the annoying little brother role. I’ll eat you alive baby,” she smiled so pleasantly it was wicked. Gabi never turned down a challenge.

  “Bring it baby,” John gave Gabi a come-hither wave with both hands, cockiness written all over him.

  “Dally wags. What the fizzle are we doing listening to this crapple of rubbish?” Craig sat unentertained on the edge of the bed, his lips quirked up. His demeanor was easy going, his fit surfer’s body relaxed in his soft blue polo and jeans as he watched the goings on of the room unfold before him.

  “Well, now that we’re all one happy little family once again, what do you say we hit the town and have a little overdue fun?” Aunt Claire suggested.

  I couldn’t help but notice that everyone had relaxed into the easy conversation and banter except Kai. He was still standing stiffly across the room, arms folded and barriers erect. He locked eyes with me, but revealed no emotion in his gaze.

  “Only if we inject a little business in there,” Kalel said. “We need to be listening in for any updates on Jack’s location. Will told us we were supposed to be in Cardiff, but so far we haven’t gotten any proof backing that. We don’t want to miss anything.”

  “Agreed,” Aunt Claire stated. “Let’s keep our listening ears open while we shake our booties with a bunch of natives.” She winked at me and Gabi.

  “Let’s take the next ten minutes to get ready and we’ll head out. Let’s go freshen up ladies,” Gabi smiled, linking arms with me and Aunt Claire and leaving the guys to do whatever it was they would do for the next ten minutes.

  The second we walked out the hotel room door, we stopped dead in our tracks. “The timeline is off,” Aunt Claire gulped out.

  “Oh shit,” Gabi stated, eyes wide at the sight before us.

  Chapter 24

  The black ninja walked right up to me and bowed to me. Gabi, Aunt Claire and I exchanged a confused look. I knew I should be in attack mode, but when he wasn’t posing a threat, why would I initiate something?

  He turned back around to face the other three lined up across the hall. I was just coming to the conclusion that Jack was into mind games, attacking us one minute and then playing nice the next, when the n
inja spun around and stabbed both women with a dart at once in the center of their chests.

  “No!” I screamed as they collapsed in my arms. I felt the ring of red that circled my eyes. I launched myself at the ninja, who blocked me as if I was merely a fly he was swatting away.

  I saw the others racing, stumbling upon the scene when I sprung from behind the ninja again. With a quick twist I snapped his neck, effectively killing him with one swift move. I looked at the others, still standing along the wall. They hadn’t moved a muscle. The guys gathered behind me, all of us in a standoff when one of them pulled an envelope from inside their robe and handed it to me. I stared at it for a while, the adrenaline still coursing through me. ‘Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me’ resounded in my mind.

  With a shaking hand I snatched the envelope from them. The moment it was between my fingers, they turned in unison and marched away from us as if nothing had happened, as if this was merely a military drill.

  I turned back to Aunt Claire and Gabi. Kai had pulled Gabi into his arms; Al had Aunt Claire. I closed my eyes, trying not to lose the uneasy grip I had on myself and the situation. After all that happened today; after all we’d recovered, to then just lose it all. Words couldn’t describe how angry I was.

  “Open it,” Kellan bit out.

  I stared down at the plain white envelope. Flipping it over, it had Jack’s custom seal fastening it closed. I ran my finger beneath the flap, opening it warily.

  One, two, three

  Play along with me;

  Soon you’ll know

  Who will stay and who will go.

  One may die,

  Both may not,

  Either way a lesson will be taught.

  See your weakness,

  Face your fear,

  For our confrontation is growing near.

  Love Always,

  -Jack

  I wanted to scream; I wanted to rip the structure of the building apart piece by piece. I never knew anger could be felt in every centimeter of my body. I never knew I could feel such rage that world destruction was actually being considered. This was all a game to him; I was a mouse and he was a cat playing with his food.

  “Is there an empty warehouse nearby?”

  “I can Google one,” Kai offered.

  “Combat. Are one of you up for some heavy one on one?”

  “Babe, I don’t think that’s-“ I silenced him with a raised hand.

  “I need this Kellan. He’s fucking with me. He’s freaking mind-fucking me and I’m done. Read this and then tell me I shouldn’t go spar with one of you.” I passed him the note. He quickly skimmed the words, sighing as he neared the end. We both looked at the two women on the floor. Craig and Al were moving them to Kalel’s room.

  “Fine. Someone needs to stay behind with them though in case one or both of them actually come out of this alive.” He ground out the words, flicking his hand haphazardly in the general direction of the door.

  “What did he say Leka?” Kai pressed. Kellan passed him the paper. Kai’s nostrils flared, hands quickly forming fists around the page. Kalel snatched it from him, doing the same shortly thereafter.

  “I’m going to put you through the ringer. Everything is going to be about your reflexes. By the end of tonight, we all need to be prepared to block anything and everything we see, hear or feel coming in an instant. No delayed reactions. We can’t afford to lose anyone else.”

  “We should change hotels before we go,” Al suggested.

  “That’s not a bad idea, but clearly this asshole has no problem finding us wherever we go,” Kalel countered.

  “We should still take precautions,” Al pressed. I took in the set of his jaw, the flare of his nostrils as he exhaled. He was feeling it too.

  “Agreed,” Kalel nodded.

  “How are we going to get them out without anyone knowing?” I asked the obvious.

  “We’ll let the vamp army take care of it,” Al stated.

  “I think they’re the ones leaking our locations. John had easy access to us and he’s with the embassy where Auggy was pretty darn chummy with the vamps, including blasting our mission.” Al seemed torn. He was supposed to report out of obligation for his current position, but it could be what was compromising the life of his son and future daughter-in-law.

  “If they let you go, I’ll hire you,” Kalel offered, deciphering Al’s hesitation.

  “If they are the ones leaking the information out, then we have a much bigger problem.” His eyes passed between Kellan and me.

  “We can only face one thing at a time, and right now, I’m more concerned with being prepared for the next attack rather than contemplating who may have caused the last.”

  “We’ll pack Gabi, Claire and ourselves,” Kellan said.

  “I’ll call Art, have him send over a few guys from our British unit,” Kai added.

  “Get off of me!” I raced into the room at the sound of a vivacious, and irritated, Gabi.

  “You’re ok!” My arms went around her squeezing her with utter and complete joy and relief.

  “Of course I’m ok. Ninjas can’t get rid of me that easily,” she scoffed sarcastically.

  She yanked the dart that was still situated in the center of her chest out. “Where’s-“ Her voice dropped off at the sight of Aunt Claire. “Oh God. I’m so sorry Lex.”

  I’d been trying to ignore it, trying not to think about Aunt Claire possibly being gone too. I didn’t know if I was prepared to deal with another loss. Anger and sadness flooded my surface again, my serum quickly rising in tide.

  My phone buzzed in my pocket.

  ‘Bad feeling. Is everything ok???’ It was from Mel. She had impeccable timing. Maybe we were connected somewhere along the line.

  I didn’t want to worry her, so I text back ‘We’ll talk later.’

  I was just returning my phone to my pocket when it buzzed again. ‘That bad huh?’

  I smiled. She knew me so well. ‘Yea.’

  ‘Anything I can do from lonely hell?’

  ‘No, thanks. Take care of yourself. Love you.’

  ‘Same to you. Love you J’

  Looking at Aunt Claire down for the count, Gabi just regaining consciousness, and knowing my best friend was half a world away, well, so an ocean away, counting on me, suddenly everything connected for me once again. I was doing this so Aunt Claire didn’t have to look over her shoulders forever, so Gabi could vindicate Rafi’s death, so my best friend could go through her transformation and enter my world, our world, without an immediate threat to her life. I was doing this for all those who had supported me along the way, for my parents and all they sacrificed to get me to this point in my journey. I was doing this for myself too. I deserved a good life with Kellan; I was molding the world my children would enter and I’d be damned if they came into a life that was limited because of old wars and outdated hypocrisies.

  I looked directly at Kellan, my heart on my sleeve, my emotions hung between us. His eyes focused entirely on me; it was as if we were the only two people in the room. I was lucky he was still by my side; I was so grateful for him. He was my silent strength. His lips lifted in the corners, his dimple slightly visible as he nodded at me. He understood. He knew where my mind was, and he always knew my heart because he held it.

  He closed the distance between us and captured my lips in a bruising kiss. “I’ve always got your back.” He pulled away, staring down into my eyes, his emerald piercing my brown.

  “I love you.”

  “I love you forever.”

  “So are we going to kick some ass or what?” Gabi broke in.

  “Let’s do this,” I said, still looking at Kellan. He nodded.

  “Such a tender moment. Do you always have to be so rude Gabriella?” Will clucked.

  “They have forever to suck face and exchange love songs,” she shrugged. She stood a little too quickly and swayed. Craig caught her in time. “Woah! Mira pendejos! What the heck did they gi
ve me? My legs feel like jelly.”

  “Sit down now,” I ordered. “Kalel,” I called; he immediately can into the room. “Can you run a trace on the contents of this dart? Maybe draw a bit of blood from Gab and find out what they gave her. She can’t stand up right now.”

  “It’s probably a mixture of knock out meds with a temporary paralysis injection,” he mused, pulling out a few instruments from his luggage. He ran a q-tip along the inside of the syringe and collected a few drops of Gabi’s blood onto a clear, square piece of plastic as well as a few strips of paper that instantly turned different colors. “Looks like he did a combo of amaryllis and black locust bark. If you were human, you’d be dead.”

  “Fudge rucker,” Craig said, all of us looking to Aunt Claire at the same time.

  “She’s vampeen, fifty-fifty. What are her chances?”

  Al walked up to her and touched her pulse point. “Her pulse is very weak.”

  “What if one of you guys gave her some of your blood? She’s vampeen; your blood is more potent than ours.” Kai surprised me by biting his wrist and opening Aunt Claire’s mouth to allow the blood to run in. “She won’t… change, will she?” Bad afterthought moment.

  “No. It’s just as if she exchanged blood and claimed a mate. She’ll be a little unbalanced for a while since she’ll have more vampire DNA in her system, but she’ll level out,” Al explained. I nodded, my anticipation growing with each passing second that she didn’t respond. Kellan pulled me into him, his arms cocooning my back to his chest. He gently kissed my head, a soft reassurance of sorts. “You’ve given her enough Kai.”

  Kai withdrew his wrist, the wound healing almost immediately. “Sorry Leka,” he said, genuine sorrow in his expression. I broke away from Kellan and pulled Kai into a hug. At first he stiffened before relaxing into me. He felt different; I fit into the plains of his chest perfectly, as with Kellan. Physically they were nearly identical in build though Kai was a bit larger in bulk than Kellan, but in feel, Kellan just felt like a cup of hot chocolate on a cold winter day in front of the fire. It was tiny, subtle differences like this that solidified my decision.