by Angela Horn
“And we still have the villains outside,” Gus said. “Though from the security cameras, I don’t see them making a move. Maybe Roman showing up spooked them?”
“They’re dead,” Roman said dismissively.
Ethan eyed the brothers with an almost pained expression on his face.
“You could have waited for us to help.”
“I haven’t been part of a pack in years. It’s not my way to sit around waiting for others anymore.”
The men glared at each other, tensions exploding again, but Gus stepped in with his big friendly grin.
“Sophie said the rogue hunter that she and Lila are hunting is the same one that killed Karen’s pack. Looks like God’s connecting some dots for us.”
Roman nodded, still eyeing Ethan.
“Still doesn’t explain the villains today. They were there to kill someone important. While I didn’t sense anyone, I was distracted.”
Sophie stepped back into the hall and walked towards them.
“Lila said the waitress at Denny’s was a hunter, but still living the lie. She left a few minutes before the villains showed up, so maybe they were looking for her?”
Connor grunted. “Sounds like a lot of effort for an inactivated hunter.”
“When they came to kill me, they came as a pack and I was still living the lie. If Lila hadn’t shown up, I’d be dead.”
Ethan moved closer to Sophie, his scowling face furrowing even more.
“What did she look like?”
“I don’t know. Brown hair, blue eyes, tall, pretty. She had an accent and her hair was really long. I didn’t pay much attention to her, to be honest. I just thought Lila was using her as an example of how I needed to embrace the hunter life and give up on being human.”
“Did Lila recognize her?” Logan asked.
Roman sighed. “Lila doesn’t remember anything. Not me, not Sophie, not anyone from that life.”
Ethan ruffled through his pockets and pulled out a folded picture. “See if she’s one of the women in this picture.”
Sophie took the photo he shoved at her and opened it. A group of armed women stood lined up. She recognized Lila immediately then herself. An eerie feeling came over her as she viewed herself from a different life. She didn’t recognize the person inside the familiar face. It was her, but not her.
Knowing they were waiting, Sophie studied the picture, not recognizing any of these former friends. She then spotted the pale blue eyes and frowning face of the waitress at Denny’s.
“That’s the hunter at the restaurant.”
Taking the picture, Ethan studied it with a pained expression. “It’s Anya.”
Sophie eyed Roman who glanced back at the bedroom where he left Lila alone.
“But her nametag said Olivia, not Anya,” Sophie said.
Roman sighed, rubbing his eyes. “When I found Lila three years ago, she had a different name too.”
“It looks like the old gang’s getting back together,” Gus said, grinning widely as if desperate to lighten the mood. Unfortunately, Ethan wasn’t taking the hint.
“You talked to Anya and never realized you were talking to one of your own?”
Frowning, Sophie stepped forward, still hungering to throw a punch. Moving between them, Roman lost his temper for the first time.
“When I told you Lila was alive, you wanted me to leave well enough alone. Now, you find out Anya’s alive and you’re full of righteous anger? Maybe instead of accusing Sophie and Lila of wrongdoing, you should go find Anya before the villains do?”
For a moment, Sophie thought Roman and Ethan might go to blows, but Ethan backed down and glanced at the brothers.
“I’m going. You stay and help Gus.”
“You wanna do this alone, man?” Logan asked.
Ethan studied Roman then nodded.
“Something big is going down. You guys stay here and help Roman. I’ll call if I need backup.”
Sophie watched the men walk to the kitchen where Roman gave directions to the Denny’s. After they finished whispering, Ethan headed upstairs to pack while Gus and the brothers checked the security cameras. Roman took Sophie’s hand and brought her into the bedroom.
“You okay?” he asked.
“I don’t like them.”
Roman smiled, but the smile never touched his blue eyes. “They’re good guys. You’re just not seeing them at their best.”
Gazing at Lila, Sophie finally began to cry. “She looks the same.”
Roman sat next to Lila and took her hand. “She’ll be awake by tomorrow, so we’ll need to come up with a plan to deal with the Reaper. Until then, you should rest.”
Sophie stared at him for a few minutes then finally said the painful words. “You don’t really believe she will ever wake up, do you?”
Roman smiled at Sophie then lifted Lila’s limp hand. He squeezed it for only a few seconds before Lila’s fingers curled around his, tightening against the pressure.
“She’ll want you to be up for battle, so I suggest you get some rest. That hunter Karen knows something about the Reaper and we need to find out what it is.” Roman sighed, his fatigue palpable. “Whatever God has planned for your old pack, He wants this rogue taken care of first. The sooner we kill him, the sooner we learn God’s plan.”
Staring at Lila’s still curled fingers, Sophie felt a newfound confidence.
“Tomorrow we start again.”
Chapter Fifteen
Maximo was waiting on the steps of the church and quickly joined them in the car without being asked. He did wave goodbye to Father Francisco who showed no unease at allowing the strange boy to head off with the strange couple. This reaction might have startled Joaquin a week ago, but nothing seemed odd anymore.
Heidi had said Maximo would know what to do, but the boy remained silent in the backseat. When Joaquin inquired about anything from his wellbeing to where they should go next, Maximo only shrugged, his eyes focused on the horizon. The boy never asked about the unconscious Heidi or about the women from the prison. He just seemed to know the answers. Whatever those answers were, the boy’s face didn’t give Joaquin much hope.
Joaquin stopped at a dump of a motel, not unlike the one where Heidi first came into his life. Upon their arrival, Joaquin did all he could to stop the bleeding from Heidi’s stomach wound, but it was useless. Only a hospital could save her and a hospital would leave her exposed. Her fate appeared hopeless, but Joaquin refused to accept that she would leave him. As the day turned to night, he prayed for a miracle he didn’t truly believe would come.
Once sitting in a chair near the door, he tried to focus on the danger outside and not on the woman dying feet from him. The woman he loved and who gave him hope and a reason to live. She was dying and Joaquin was helpless to save her, just as he always knew he would be.
Even Maximo seemed to know Heidi’s fate. The boy hadn’t wanted to eat, hadn’t wanted to talk, only wanted to be near Heidi. Even in the darkness of the room, Joaquin could feel Heidi slipping away. He finally left his post near the door and joined them in bed.
Gently embracing Heidi, Joaquin feared every touch would hasten her death. Her ragged breathing tormented him and he again felt the darkness speak to him, soothing him with ways to put the poor woman out of her misery. Pushing away such awful thoughts, Joaquin closed his eyes and prayed for more time with Heidi.
With all his panic and having gone without sleeping in a bed for ten years, Joaquin thought he might have trouble relaxing. Wrapping his arm over Heidi and Maximo, he prayed for God’s mercy and fell asleep in moments.
When he awoke, it felt like days had passed, but the room was still dark and Maximo remained asleep. Heidi though was watching him. Even in the darkness, he could tell she was smiling.
“I thought the monster got you,” she whispered, touching his face with her warm fingers.
“God wouldn’t let it win.”
Heidi smiled wider, moving closer. He could feel the stickines
s of dried blood on her clothes. He also felt a warm body with more strength than when they arrived.
“Everything will be okay,” Heidi said, nuzzling her face against his chest. “You believe that, don’t you?”
Joaquin did believe it as he pulled the blanket higher, covering Maximo’s bare shoulder.
“I feel God here with us,” he whispered, fearful to jinx their good luck.
Heidi kissed him softly, her lips lingering a moment before she dozed off with a smile on her exquisite face. Joaquin pulled her closer, smiling as the sense of danger left him. Within a few minutes, Heidi’s soft breathing lured him back to sleep. As he began to doze, he felt his body descend into a strange dream.
The Caribbean breeze tickled at his unshaven face as Joaquin took a deep breath of the clean air. This paradise was no resort or place for tourists. It was a place too perfect to exist.
Gazing into the tide, Joaquin spotted a tall woman whose auburn hair fluttered in the cool breeze. She smiled at him as she passed by and something about her reminded Joaquin of his Heidi. The woman waved down the beach at an Asian woman who waved back, oblivious to Joaquin. A fierce breeze forced Joaquin to shield his eyes. When he opened them again, the women were gone.
Water grasped at his toes as the tide moved inward and he realized the day was almost gone.
“You are correct about this paradise, my friend,” a man said from behind him.
Joaquin turned to find a white man standing a few feet from him, wearing only denim shorts. The man’s bronze skin shined in the dying light, but his eyes were dark and conflicted.
“No place on Earth is as perfect as my prison. You should visit someday. Bring a friend. My sister will show you the way, but don’t stay long. Perfection is like an infection. You will like this infection, my friend. You will like it until you like nothing else.”
Joaquin awoke to the feeling of his head stuffed with cotton. Moments passed with a lot of blinking and eye rubbing before his mind focused on the activity around him.
A small table sat in front of the television where a damp haired Maximo ate crackers and watched cartoons. Turning his head towards the bathroom, Joaquin finally noticed the sounds of running water.
“She need shower,” Maximo explained even before Joaquin spoke. “You were tired.”
Joaquin stumbled out of bed and pulled back the curtains.
“You will marry her today,” Maximo said and Joaquin thought his words were a question, but the boy didn’t wait for a response. “We should buy a dress. Women who marry have dresses.”
“I have to get her back to the US,” Joaquin mumbled, sipping bottle water.
“No. She won’t go. She will stay here with us.”
“We can’t stay in Mexico. It’s not safe. We should leave.”
“You are American like Mama?”
Joaquin eyed the boy a moment, curious about his sudden designation of Heidi as his mother. “No, but I’m not Mexican. I have travel documents. We can leave.”
“I have no documents.”
“I will get you some.”
Maximo shoved a few crackers in his mouth. “What’s in America?”
“Her family.”
“We are her family now.”
Joaquin nodded, sensing this statement was true. While the boy watched a barely visible cartoon on the failing television, Joaquin waited for Heidi to appear from the shower.
On cue, the water stopped. Moments later, she emerged, dressed in the last of the shirts and shorts Joaquin bought for her at the resort town.
“You’re awake,” she said, grinning. “Sleeping in a bed is kinda addictive, isn’t it?”
Joaquin studied her wounds and found they had either begun to heal or had disappeared completely, including the terrible stomach wound. Kissing her forehead, he wondered if Heidi was invincible too.
“I should clean up,” he said. “Then we can go out for a nice meal. The kid seems hungry.”
Turning off the television, Maximo walked to them with his hand out. “Give us money and we will buy a dress.”
Heidi smiled at Maximo then at Joaquin. “Can we?”
“I should go with you,” Joaquin said immediately.
“No, we are safe now. You shower and we shop. Then we eat and get married. That’s how it will be.”
Joaquin retrieved cash from his bag. “Who needs to think when the kid’s around?”
Heidi slipped on her bloodied tennis shoes then kissed his cheek.
“You don’t have to do this, if you don’t want. Max is excited and thinks he knows what’s going to happen, but you have a choice. I promise not to be mad if you say no.”
Heidi watched him, her face calm, but her green eyes were full of fear that he might reject her. Joaquin couldn’t understand why she loved him or wanted him in any way, but loving her was no choice for him at all. He needed her now and would do whatever necessary to keep her.
Caressing her freckled cheek with his thumb, he leaned forward and whispered in her ear, “I want this. You want this. God wants this. It seems silly to even discuss it.”
Heidi’s lips met his, but her affection was tentative. “I don’t want you to feel forced into anything.”
Joaquin wished to find the right words to express how lost he had been just days earlier. Or how he doubted he could live another day if he lost her. He wanted to share these feeling with her, but he was not a man comfortable with such sentiments said out loud. Instead he kissed her again and hoped his need was apparent from his affections.
“We go now,” Maximo said, pulling at Heidi.
As Joaquin let go of her, he watched for signs that she wasn’t reassured. Heidi smiled at him and this time her eyes were filled with warmth, instead of uncertainty. She took the money from Joaquin and followed Maximo to the door.
“We’ll be back soon,” she said.
Joaquin watched them stroll down the road and away from the motel. Once they disappeared around a corner, he forced himself to take a shower and trust they would return unscathed.
Standing under the surprisingly hot water, Joaquin felt like he was washing off the filth of not only these last few days, but from every day of his miserable life. Symbolism was not lost on Joaquin, yet he wondered if it were ever truly possible to wash away the horrors he had seen and caused. Whatever the answer, he emerged refreshed from the shower, both physically and mentally.
Heidi and Maximo returned faster than he expected with two bags in tow. Maximo immediately seized Joaquin, ready to show off their prizes.
“We will wear white. We will match, you see?” Maximo said. “Like a team.”
“Yes, very nice.”
“She can wear white, you know?” Maximo added, eyeing the clothes in his bag. “You can’t, but we need to match. Like a team matches.”
“I sense the term ‘too much information’ would be lost on Max,” Heidi said, kissing the boy’s mess of hair. Eyeing Joaquin, she smiled. “Are you feeling better?”
“God is with us. I see that now.”
“I told you it would get easier.”
Maximo ignored them, heading to the bathroom to change.
“We’re keeping him,” Heidi said and her words weren’t up for debate.
“He’s our family.”
Heidi smiled brightly. “Yes, you see it, don’t you? How God has been pushing us along the whole way. Protecting and guiding us. We saved my friends. We found each other and Max. God’s behind it and that’s why everything is going to be okay.”
Joaquin nodded, taking Heidi’s hand. “We need a ring.”
“That can wait. We have forever to find trinkets. Right now, I just want to be with you and Max and follow God’s will.”
Maximo appeared from the bathroom, clapping at his reflection.
“I look like an angel.”
Heidi and Joaquin laughed which only made the boy clap louder.
“I’m next,” Heidi announced, disappearing into the bathroom.
&nbs
p; Maximo watched her go, smiling wildly. “I’ve never been on a team before.”
“Me either,” Joaquin confessed.
“Mama had a team before, but now she is alone. She’ll have us. She’ll be a good leader, yes?”
“The best,” Joaquin said, patting the boy’s head.
Maximo eyed him for a moment then gazed back at his reflection.
“God is happy,” he said quietly, playing with the collar on his shirt. “You made God happy.”
Joaquin frowned, unwilling to believe the boy’s words. No matter how God felt, Joaquin knew he loved Heidi as she appeared in a simple white dress.
“Ta da,” she said sheepishly while brushing her hair.
Joaquin’s chest hurt as he accepted how this woman belonged to him. Cupping her cheeks in his hands, he kissed her longer and deeper than he intended. Heidi pushed him away after a minute.
“Not in front of the boy,” she admonished with a grin. “You should change.”
Joaquin nodded, suddenly afraid to leave her side. Fighting the urge to hide out in the motel room, he instead took his new clothes and changed in the bathroom. He heard Heidi speaking to Maximo who laughed and clapped in response. The boy was still laughing when Joaquin appeared in his white shirt and slacks.
“We do look like a team,” Heidi said.
Joaquin grinned. “Or a boy band.”
“We go now,” Maximo said, finally losing interest in his reflection.
“Yes,” Heidi said. “We’ll eat and then we’ll marry. Any objections?”
As Maximo grabbed Heidi’s hand and pulled her towards the door, Joaquin shoved any pertinent belongings into his duffle bag. Even with all of the giggling from Heidi and Maximo, Joaquin couldn’t forget the monster’s threat.
The three of them soon enjoyed a quiet lunch as the only customers at a small restaurant. Heidi mostly picked at her food, only enjoying a pickle while leaving the rest of her food for Maximo. The boy finished his plate, Heidi’s food, and even stole a few bites from Joaquin’s, all while careful not to stain his white outfit.
