The Venator (The Mindbender series Book 2)

by C. S Luis

  I searched for her, stopping near the entrance as I caught sight of George, Eric and Jeff inside. I meant to walk inside to join them, but my mind wouldn’t let me stop thinking of Claudia. The guys waved me over, but when I moved a hand came to rest on my shoulder and froze me.

  “So, is that her right there?” Joseph’s voice asked as I turned. Who else would dare approach me with my back to them?

  He pointed over at a table where my newest companions sat. A new group of girls had just taken the seat alongside them. Rachel and her girlfriends had just joined the table. I tried to leave, but Joseph gripped my arm and pulled me back firmly in place. He was strong but not as strong as I, if I wanted to escape I could easily.

  “Her who?” I said.

  “Your new girlfriend.”

  I didn’t say anything.

  “I don’t want her. I already told you that.”

  “Okay, then. Who? Pick the other one. Maybe the one seated next to her?” He grinned. “Maybe you like brunettes. I like blondes personally.”

  “What is this a buffet?” I glared at him.

  “I don’t want to do this, okay?” I said and moved again to leave. He wouldn’t let me go. I didn’t say anything hoping he would drop it.

  Rachel spotted me and smiled.

  “Isn’t she in your class? What’s her name again?” he said, snapping his fingers.

  “Rachel Westcott. You know this,” I announced.

  “Look, she’s smiling over at you. Perfect! She likes you.”

  I sighed clenching my jaw.

  “I have to go,” I said.

  “Go?”

  “I have work.”

  I didn’t want to do this. I wanted Claudia. Joseph would just have to learn the hard way that I always got what I wanted.

  “John, where are you going? I’ll write you an excuse. It’s lunch time.”

  I wandered down the hall leaving my guardian behind and made my way to the second floor. I figured the detectors were due for a checkup. The watch on my wrist began to blink, the hands moved rapidly in one direction like the last time. I dashed into the stairwell. All I had was the watch and I hoped I didn’t find anything, because I had come unprepared this time.

  I looked up. The sensors had gone off, but as I looked around I spotted Claudia laying on the ledge overlooking the library. She seemed to be sleeping and from this angle having a bad dream, I started toward her until I spotted a dark or what appeared to be a shadow extending toward her. What the…? It was reaching from out of the other end of the hall towards her a little at a time. Above, the same darkness was now reaching down over.

  I raced over and as I neared, the sensor released a blue mist- a toxin that would subdue any alien life forms if found. The thing reacted; had the toxin worked? I wasn’t sure, but Claudia screamed and sat up.

  “Claudia, wake up!”

  I grabbed a hold of her face. As she looked around, her eyes grew as wide as saucers. She wrestled herself away from me looking around.

  “Are you okay? Look at me, Claudia,” I said, reaching over for her again.

  “Hey. Look at me.”

  Her eyes met mine. She looked confused. I cupped her face gently in my hands. She couldn’t stop trembling.

  “Are you okay? What happened?”

  “I saw something. Something dark and evil right here in the hall. It was coming for me,” she said quickly.

  “Your safe. It’s okay.” I assured her. “Tell me what you saw.” I asked her, stroking her cheek gently.

  “You’ve seen it before,” she said to me, “That vision we shared in the hallway?”

  I knew right away what she meant. The dark arms coming over reaching forward as I snatched and stopped them from grabbing at her. She wrapped her arms around me. She wouldn’t stop shaking. I held her tightly feeling her body quivering.

  The bell rang above our heads. I pulled her along with me by the hand down the hallway to an empty classroom. I kicked open the door, and led her to a table lifting her up onto it.

  “Wait here,” I said and hurried to close the door, pulling the thick curtain down over the window, and walked across the room. I found a single lamp that was still operational and switched it on, then returned to her side. The class was dusty and dank, like a room that hadn’t been open in years.

  “You okay?” I asked her.

  She nodded.

  I took a hold of her face.

  “I’m not gonna let anything happen to you, Claudia.” Just like in her vision I was going to stand guard over her. Snatch it’s arms off if it dared come closer to touch her.

  “You believe me?” she asked.

  There was no doubt I did. I was surprised she would ask after what we knew about each other.

  “Of course, I believe you.” I caressed her cheek pushing back a lock of her hair from her face. I grabbed a hold of her hand and placed it on my chest.

  “We’re connected, you and I. You know that. Not only here,” I pointed to my head; then, over to my heart. “But in here, too.” She blushed dropping into my arms. I held her to me.

  “Thank you,. I’m so glad I found you,” She whispered softly into my ear before she passed out in my arms.

  “Claudia? Claudia?” She didn’t move. “Claudia?” But she was out. Something had taken all her energy. I could sense she was drained and weak.

  I held her in my arms for a moment. I thought of calling Michael, but then I didn’t want to cause a commotion between him and Joseph. There was so much at stake if I did get them both involved, especially Joseph.

  I carried her in my arms and carefully lowered myself to the floor with her. I laid her head in my lap very gently, stroking back the long strands of her hair. I was tired myself, and slowly, I laid back, closing my eyes.

  I was there in that hall again alone, but I felt someone else was there with me. John, a voice was calling my name, it sounded like Claudia, but it didn’t feel like her.

  Claudia? I began to walk, the halls were eerie quiet, except for the voice that called. I hurried fast- almost running- being led in hopes I would find her. When I turned the corner of the hallway by the library, I caught sight of her slender back.

  Claudia? Dr. Nicholson was standing on the other side of her and he was holding a gun. He fired. I screamed and raced toward them. He moved back and seemed to vanish into the hall. Claudia’s figure laid upon the floor at my feet; she was bleeding.

  Kneeling beside her, I put her head on my lap. Her hair covered the bronze of her beautiful face.

  Claudia, I pushed away the locks of brown hair. Blood traced the top of her forehead from the single bullet wound. Beneath the layers of hair, was someone else’s face. I recognized her; it was the mindbender from my first outing with Joseph.

  She opened her eyes and smiled up at me. You found her, you will lead the few of us that remain to her. But even the bad ones will follow.

  Why do they want her? I asked.

  Why do you? she said

  They want her, just like you want her. She smiled. Her eyes looked away into the distance passed me. Don’t let him take her. He wants to possess her…

  Who? Who do you mean?

  The one who destroys her, will be the one who will end up protecting her…and it won’t be you, JOHN.

  I blinked, a ringing now echoed in the hall, a loud penetrating ring going off every corner of the walls. I glanced down. She was still out.

  My phone was ringing when I opened my eyes, I looked down at the watch, it was late. How long had I been out? Claudia was still laying on my lap. I pulled at the side of my pants’ pocket and dropped the phone right beside me, looking down at the screen. It was Joseph. What did he want?

  I picked up. “John,” I said in a groggy voice, tracing a finger along the line of Claudia’s cheekbone, and down her chin. She had a beautiful contour, not to mention a lovely bronze color. There was something exotic about her, something unique and special.

  “Where are you?” he asked. He sou
nded troubled.

  “Working, Uncle Joseph. Second floor, checking on the sensors.”

  “Very funny,” he said in regard to calling him Uncle Joseph.

  “You’ve been gone a while. Ms. Jones asked if you were in my office, I lied and said yes…”

  “Just doing my work, Uncle,” I informed him. “I hope I didn’t embarrass you too much with pretty Ms. Stephens.”

  He laughed in response.

  “So how did you make out with her, anyhow? I forgot to ask.”

  “I got a date, smartass.”

  “Ah… nice, Uncle. When?”

  “Tonight.”

  “That soon?”

  “What about you? You get lucky?”

  I wondered what he was getting at. Looking at Claudia, I smiled. If he only knew…

  “Are you taking Rachel to the party this weekend?”

  I rolled my eyes, ah that…

  “She asked about you in the cafeteria after you left, said you asked her to go to the party with you.” I ignored his words.

  She had, had she?

  “Well, she’s out of her mind. I’m going, but not with her,” I said straight out. “I’m taking Claudia Belle and that’s final.”

  “Ok,” he simply said. I knew Joseph, just as he knew me.

  “Are we going to have the talk again?”

  “Don’t bother,” I said. He was quiet for a moment.

  “So, what do I owe the pleasure of your call besides the teacher asking about my whereabouts? Or was that it? I know you just didn’t call to talk to me, unless that is, you called to talk to me about you and Ms. Stephens?” I said changing the subject.

  “The sensors were activated; you said you checked them. So, I assumed you be up there checking that?”

  “Yeah, just here now.”

  One of the detectors opened, the mist was released. A mist harmless to humans, but deadly for the counterpart products, or ET products.

  “Yeah, I spotted the activated device, but no sign of what set it off.” Above, the bell rang again.

  “None?”

  “No,” I said to him. He didn’t sound convinced.

  “What else could have activated them?”

  “Malfunction, maybe?” I said.

  He muttered something I didn’t understand. Claudia began to stir. I knew the activation had occurred when the shadow had moved over them. It had to be the only thing that could have made such a thing react and set it off.

  “You know it doesn’t take that long to check some devices. Where are you? I’ll head up there to you and check them myself.”

  “No, I got this. It’s my job to do this, Joseph. I know that it doesn’t take long, but I told you I was checking to see what could have triggered them. I’ll take care of it. Once I’m done, I’ll come down, so you can tell me all about your date.”

  There was a long pause. Hopefully he had bought it.

  “Dr. Nicholson is gonna want to know what activated those sensors,” he said with a huff. He hated disappointing the boss. It wasn’t in their job description.

  When I fucked up it was a tongue lashing; it was entirely different for Joseph and his kind of security detail men. It sure seemed that way, anyway. I personally had no idea.

  “Well, I don’t have anything to give him. I found no evidence to indicate what activated them.”

  He was quiet, and I was praying he get off the line before Claudia opened her eyes.

  “We might need to replace them, if that’s the case. Maybe the techs back at the facility can give an idea of what set them off or why they failed to detect anything else.”

  “Right,” I said, “Should I get it now?”

  “Leave them. We’ll get it later. Now, finish up and get to class. Not that I need to keep making excuses for you since you keep acing your tests. And your pretty on the eyes.” Ah, gees, that again. He chuckled and hung up leaving on that note.

  Claudia stirred again. I gazed down at her, stroking her cheek gently. Her restlessness eased, she might have been having a bad dream.

  “Alex, I have to talk to you. Where are you?” Who was Alex?

  She was filled with uncertainty, curiosity, and familiarity. Then, she said another name I hadn’t heard in a long time.

  “Jack?” She opened her eyes.

  “What did you say?” I asked as she blinked up at me.

  “I saw a man digging in the desert. I was dreaming, I guess. That... couldn’t have been real.”

  She looked doubtful. I wanted to ask more about the man she’d seen but didn’t for whatever reason. It couldn’t be the same person; could it? I was puzzled why it had come from her lips. I couldn’t help but feel a bit jealous at the idea that she had dreamed of him.

  “What happened?” she asked. I had set the dial of the watch at faint, so our emotions were connected but not to the extent it would be so overwhelming I would lose myself in her.

  “You passed out.”

  She looked confused by that. I wondered if it had ever happened before. The expression on her face revealed that it might be the first time. She sat up pulling away from me and stared back.

  “I’m sorry,” she bashfully said.

  “I’m not.”

  She blushed. She was lovely and beautiful. I couldn’t stop staring at her and it made her uncomfortable when I fell into that trance of just being absorbed by her beauty. That beautiful, golden current was flowing through us again but faint this time. I wanted more, but dared not to lose myself in her power.

  “Who’s Alex?” I asked, recalling the name she had said just before Jack’s name. She wrinkled her nose back at me, confusion evident in her eyes.

  I hoped it wasn’t another competitor, though I seriously doubted I had anyone that could overshadow me. The faint emotions I got from her were clear. It was someone I didn’t had to worry about.

  “You were talking in your sleep. You said, ‘Alex, where are you? I need to talk to you.’”

  Embarrassed, she was speechless.

  I smiled hoping that would ease her discomfort.

  “So, who is he? Should I be worried?” I asked, wrinkling a slim lip. She didn’t answer right away. Maybe it wasn’t any of my business.

  “No, she’s a friend.”

  “Ah, she.” I made a close call expression.

  “I guess I was just thinking about her. I haven’t talked to her lately.”

  “No need to explain,” I said with a grin.

  She nodded.

  “What time is it?”

  I glanced down at my watch, the dial was blinking back at me. Her vibe was strong and growing stronger. My heart was weak, but was growing with desire and love for her more each minute.

  “Late.”

  “How late?” she asked in a panic.

  “Bell rang two minutes ago.”

  “Why didn’t you wake me?”

  “You looked so peaceful just lying in my arms. And beautiful.”

  A shade of pink covered her temples as she hurried toward the door. I followed. When she stopped abruptly, she turned, falling into me. Her hands came to rest on my chest. I wanted to grab a hold of her and bring her close against me. But I dared not wrap my arms around her so quickly without an invitation.

  “Sorry,” she bashfully said.

  “No worries,” I whispered, curving my lip up slightly. It made her shy away from me again.

  “Please, don’t tell Michael what happened. He’ll freak. And I don’t want to scare him any more with all this.” She took a step back. It was hard to let her pull away from me.

  “I’m not saying anything to anyone, Miss Belle,” I promised.

  “Thanks.” She moved again to the door, but before she opened it, she looked over at me. Her smiled greeted me once more. It made my insides melt and my eyes bounce slightly even under the faint resistance of the watch.

  “Thank you. For keeping me safe,” she whispered.

  “It was my pleasure.” I wanted to tell her more, but I fe
lt it wasn’t the right time to do so.

  For a moment, she didn’t move. I feared she was still afraid of the thing in the hall, even though now I could hear students moving through the hallway fleeing the school environment.

  I took her hand and led her out. I think she felt safer this way. Outside, just as I had suspected, the hall was crowded with students trying to exit the building.

  I led her to her locker and waited as she grabbed her school bag and stuffed a few books into it.

  “I need to meet Michael in his office before he starts looking for me.”

  “I’ll walk you there too, if you like?”

  She lowered her head.

  “Really?” she softly asked.

  “Of course.” If she only knew, I would do anything for her; I was hers.

  We walked alongside each other. I might have looked well put together, but I was nervous inside.

  We came to the door of Michael’s office. Claudia took a quick look inside as I waited for her; then, she turned back over to me.

  “Thank you for walking me,” she politely said.

  I wanted to ask her out before I lost the nerve. Why did she make me so nervous? Maybe it was because I didn’t want to ruin things with her, because she meant something to me. This was important; she was important.

  “It was my pleasure.” I glanced down at the watch. “Shit!” I bet Joseph was looking for me.

  She gazed at me quizzically.

  I sighed. “Everything okay?”

  “I hate to do this to you, but I have to go.”

  “Joseph?” She already knew.

  “Yeah,” I answered. I moved away then, stopped. I couldn’t just leave like that. I wanted to keep the current between us. I turned and faced her. “By the way,” I said, stepping up to her again, “I wanted to ask you something.”

  She fidgeted afraid of what I would ask her.

  I smiled and laughed. “I promise it’s nothing bad. I just wanted to ask if you…” I thought for a moment of how to put into words. Why was it suddenly so hard to say what I meant to say?

  I grinned, rubbing the back of my neck, this was getting harder, and I thought it was going to be easy. No, I didn’t…

  “Sorry. This has never happened to me before.” Did I just tell her the truth? Okay, that has never happened either. I laughed. Shit, speak, John.