DRAGON'S GAP: Set Includes Stories 1-3 Plus Love's Catalyst

by L M Lacee

  Charlie dragged them out with the larger one and was pleased to see a name written on each bag. When she laid them on the bed each of the three older girls reached for their bags. The youngest had fallen asleep again, so now Charlie knew the names for each of the girls. The sight of the bags seemed to unlock their voices, all of a sudden they could talk. It was hesitant as if they were still unsure if they could trust her or not. And Charlie understood that, she knew all it would take was time and patience.

  She was right in thinking that the little girl with the straight black hair and blue eyes was the oldest. She said her name was Kelsey, and she was five years old. The other two were twins, and they were four years old. The one with blonde curls and hazel eyes was Macie and her sister who had brown curls with the same hazel eyes was Lacey. That left the toddler who Charlie was sure was about two years old, she was short and looked like she should have been chubby. She was blessed with big round amber eyes and dimples, her strawberry blonde hair stood up in spikes. Very much like she had placed her finger in an electric socket. She was called, according to the name on the bag, Cara.

  Not sure if the girls were full blood shifters or not. Charlie decided that trying to find out could wait for another day. Seeing as the girls were talking now she asked. “Do any of you know the baby boys name?”

  They all shook their heads, and she had a suspicion they had not known he was in the house. And really as she thought about it. She realized they would not know being locked up in the room. She sighed as she looked at her little group, she had been toying with staying the rest of the night and getting an early start in the morning. But as she looked into the faces of the little girls and baby. She knew if she stayed here she would not be able to protect them from the fear that just remaining in the house would cause them. Terror gripped her heart for a moment thinking of something happening to her family. Yes, she knew she had used the ‘F.’ Word. Damn it!

  Urgency drove her now. Something or someone was telling her that if she did not get these sweet little shifters far from this hellhole of a house tonight. They would be gone by morning or worse they would not live to see the sunrise. Taking a breath she said. “Alright girls it is time for us to leave! So first order of business is to get each of your bags packed with a few things and then to put them on.”

  She stuffed some warm clothes and a blanket in each bag, before the girls put them on. Kelsey helped Cara with hers when she woke. Charlie nodded her head in encouragement as she said. “Great girls, okay does anyone need the potty?”

  She looked at the toddler as each of the other girls gave a shake of their heads. The littlest one made Charlie laugh quietly as she almost fell over, she shook her head so hard. When she was sure they were ready, she looked them over. They all sported a pink backpack like the large one she carried, except hers was not pink and theirs were smaller, the baby boy had Charlie to carry him.

  Her bag held jackets, clothes, diapers, blankets and pillows and the Fredson’s laptop, and phones as well as the folders that she took from the study. Also, across her body she slung her over large purse which held bottles and food, what there was left of it. As well as the gun and bullets, she found.

  She said to the girls. “Right girls I need you to all hold hands.” When they all clasped each other hands she said. “That’s so good. Cara honey, I want you to hold onto my shirt right here.” She pointed to the bottom piece of her shirt and was pleased when the little darling grabbed it. “You all are doing excellent.” She looked at all of them and in a serious voice said. “Whatever you girls do, try not to let go okay. And if you do, you have to tell me straight away I won’t be cross but it is important we stay together alright?”

  At their small nods, she said. “Now I am going to tell you what we are going to do so you won’t be surprised. We are going to be like a choo choo train.”

  The girls giggled, and Charlie took a minute to bask in the sound, smiling she continued. “We are going to go down the stairs and outside, then we are going to walk over a little hill and get into my car.”

  Fear rose around them, Macie whispered in a frightened little voice. “What about the monsters? Will they get us?”

  Charlie felt sorry for the girls but knew this was the only way. She could not leave them here while she went for her truck nor could she take only one or two at a time. Leaving the others by themselves. So she assured them the only way she knew and hoped it would be enough to get them out of the house and away.

  She pulled the gun from her purse and showed it to them and in an emotionless voice said as they all stared at it. “I swear to you the monsters are gone, they cannot get you. I made it so the monsters can never hurt you or anyone else again. Ever! I know this is hard, but we have to go.”

  Wide eyed they looked at her, then the gun, then her again. She gave them a minute to digest what she had said. Then she shoved the gun back in her purse and couldn’t help but smile. As each girl scrunched her face up in what Charlie hoped was a look of determination. Even the toddler, after looking at the others, tried to copy the expression. Adorable!

  “Good girls.” Slowly she eased from the room with each girl following her. They went at the speed of the toddler even though Charlie desperately wanted to move faster. Cara held Charlie’s shirt in a death grip, her fear along with the three other girls ratcheted up the closer they came to the first floor.

  Down the stairs and along the short foyer they traveled, luckily Charlie had shut the doors on the grisly sight in the lounge. She could do nothing about the smell of blood that hung in the air. And hoped that that the little ones senses were overloaded, so for them it just mixed in with every other smell in the house. Finally, they made it to the front door.

  Charlie made them all stop as she took Cara’s hand and kissed the whitened knuckles. “Good girl.” She praised then looked at the others saying. “You all did a good job. I am so proud of you. Now it is not much further. I just want to look outside first.”

  She was not surprised to hear the girls’ whimpers of fear. She shook her head as she told them. “I am not leaving, just opening the door.” She wasn’t sure this appeased them but at least they stopped making noise.

  Quietly she undid the locks and turned the handle opening it only a crack to look through. When she saw it was still silent outside. She opened it wider and took Cara’s hand in hers. She like the girls had moved closer to Charlie’s legs and was being squashed as the other three pressed themselves as close as they could to her.

  Trying not to laugh when she looked down to see all four of them pressed together. She placed Cara’s hand on her shirt once again, Cara grabbed it and held on. Charlie whispered to them. “Okay here we go.”

  She waited until they were all clear of the door, then she turned and chanted her spell. Flicking her fingers inside the house cleansing the premises of any trace of her presence. She swayed a little when she finished as she hung onto the door frame for a minute. She had not used so much magic in years and felt her old wounds ache.

  Taking a breath she closed the door on the house wiping the handle with her shirt and led the girls down the steps like ducklings to the sidewalk. With a quick look around, Charlie once again thanked her ability to see clearly in the dark. There was no one on the street, in fact there were not even any lights on in the houses. Indicating everyone was asleep or not at home, the likelihood of that seemed improbable. Very mysterious! She squatted down, so she could see the girls’ faces and whispered. “Can you all see?”

  Each of the older ones whispered. “Yes.” Cara shoved her face into Charlie’s shoulder and very quietly cried. Charlie gave her a one armed hug and put her mouth close to her ear. “It’s okay sweetie. I am going to carry you.” She picked her up, and Cara tucked her head into her neck, she could feel the soft fall of the little girl’s tears on her skin. The sweet toddler was at the end of her endurance she had held up so well. Charlie kissed her head softly saying. “Not much longer, baby girl.”

 
Just as well, neither of the little ones weighed much. As she balanced Cara on her hip with the baby held securely in the other arm who she saw was still awake and still silent.

  Charlie looked at the remaining girls. “You girls are the best, and all of you are so very brave. Now this next bit is fun we get to run as fast as we can okay?”

  They all answered with a nod. Charlie stepped down off the sidewalk, took a quick look around, there was still no one about. If she didn’t know better she would think that she was getting help. If there is someone out there helping? I thank you from the bottom of my heart!

  She started walking, saying quietly. “Come on girls’ time to run.” They crossed the road quickly as the girls sprinted out ahead of her. When they weren’t sure of the way, they stopped and she would point with her chin.

  The speed she did was not as fast as three, four and five year olds but she wasn’t far behind. They made their way up the small hill covered by a Grove of pines. When they had walked a little way in, Charlie looked back and found they were almost obscured from the road. A short while later they all reached the top of the hill, the three girls threw themselves on the ground panting hard, exhaustion written on their faces. Being cooped up in a house with little to no food took its toll on little bodies.

  Charlie kept Cara in her arms afraid if she put her down she would be unable to pick her up again. As light as she was, it was still hard going. Climbing a hill with a baby and toddler in her arms while having a large back pack digging into her back was not conducive to cross country hiking.

  She panted hard as she let the girls rest for a few minutes feeling mean they could not stop for too long, finally she said. “Look girls see the pickup down there that is mine.”

  The girls turned or rolled over and looked down the hill and saw the shiny blue four-door pickup. Charlie could see they thought it was a long way away. And she supposed for little legs it was but they could not afford to wait any longer.

  “We need to get there real fast. I know you are tired and want to rest longer, and we can when we get to the truck but right now we cannot stop. We have to go!” She edged a hint of urgency into her voice hoping to instil a little of it in them. The reaction she got was not what she was hoping for. The girls looked around fearfully, all the fun of the run and being away from the house was gone and in its place. Fear!

  They stood quickly and edged closer to her. Cara’s hands tightened their hold on her shirt. Crap...Crap! She had frightened them. She was so crap at this!

  Taking a minute to center herself, she smiled. Lightening her tone and started to half run, half walk down the hill calling back. “Look Cara we are going to beat the girls to the truck, we are so fast we are nearly flying.”

  Cara looked over her shoulder and whimpered as the three girls stood undecided looking at Charlie walking away. Charlie turned back to the girls. “Come on girls. You need to run. Run… Girls... Run!”

  She laughed out loud which seemed to spur the girls on because they nearly flew past her and Cara, they ran so fast. Charlie’s feet ate up the distance as she tried to keep her balance with her arms full of babies and a heavy pack on her back. Thankfully within minutes they reached the pickup.

  The girls all crowded round the passengers door panting hard as Charlie hit her remote. Placing Cara on the seat and the baby on the floor, then moving Cara over picking up first Lacey, then Macie and finally Kelsey putting them inside. Stopping only long enough to give each one of them a hug and a kiss to the forehead and tell them how brave they were.

  She took each of their packs as well as hers and threw them in the back seat. From her pack she took the pillows and blankets making a nest for the baby on the floor. Before she placed him back in his little nest she fed him some more of the bottle. He took a little but to Charlie’s way of thinking as she laid him back down, not enough.

  She then gave each girl a bottle of juice with the nipples on. She expected Kelsey and the twins to complain, that they weren’t babies but they just took the baby bottles and starting sucking. She then placed a blanket over them and watched as they all snuggled against each other. Closing the door, she stopped a minute to sigh deeply. They had made it.

  A friggin amazing!

  Racing around she jumped in and rested her head on the steering wheel breathing in and out. Letting the tension that had taken hold of her body. Since she was persuaded to stop from some unseen force hours earlier, ease from her body. Relaxing each muscle beginning with her toes going on up, until her body seemed to sigh in relief.

  When she felt almost human again she looked over and was amazed to see that every one of the girls and the baby had gone to sleep. She removed the bottles from slack hands and then rubbed the tiredness from her own eyes and once again thanked whoever had been watching over them tonight.

  CHAPTER THREE:

  S he started the pickup, still with no idea as to where she was going. Just knowing away from this town was good enough for now. She shoved it into drive and pulled out onto the black top and sped down the road, putting distance between her and the house of horrors.

  An hour later found her still driving, the radio was on low as soft country music played through the truck. The children, lulled by the movement or just exhausted from the night’s activities or maybe relieved from the constant fear they must have been living with, stayed asleep.

  Charlie let her mind wander, as she wondered how long it would be before the tied up bodies left in the house were found. She hopefully had left enough clues to point even a small-town sheriff in the direction of a home invasion. Of course it would not matter if he was involved in the child stealing racket. In that case he would want it all to disappear. She just had to hope he was an honest man. She vowed she would return and find out how the investigation was going once she handed the kids over to someone who could care for them. Then she needed to do what she did best, go hunting. There were people out there who needed to pay for what they were putting kids like hers through. Charlie rubbed her chest when she thought of someone else caring for her babies and yes, she knew she called them hers. Damn it!

  Another hour of driving and she still had no idea where she was headed. She was just following the highway, then she came to a set of crossroads. Pulling up she let her motor idle as she swept her eyes up and down the roads trying to decide which way to go.

  At first she didn’t see the sign until she caught it from the corner of her eye. It was a huge billboard she rubbed at her eyes wondering how she could have missed something that big. It must have been twenty feet long and at least ten feet high and in the shape of a dragon.

  He was beautiful and seemed to be a deep blue, maybe black with large dark purple eyes that sort of reminded her of the baby’s lavender ones. She had no idea how she knew the dragon was a male and as weird as it seemed to Charlie, the dragon seemed to be calling to her. She mumbled to herself.

  “Huh! Like that is the question? Not that you can hear him calling you!”

  Charlie swallowed half a bottle of water as she looked out at the moonless night. It was only then she realized there was no moon and yet she could tell the color of the dragon and his eyes. “Well, that doesn’t seem weird at all!” She mumbled again. Much!

  Written in big bold words across the dragon’s tail were the words. Welcome to Dragon’s Gap!

  It was as though a light bulb blew up in her brain, of course that is where she needed to go. HOME!

  Charlie hesitated as her foot hovered over the gas pedal and her hand over the gear stick. The hair on her arms seemed to stand up as he skin tingled. Out loud she asked more to hear her voice in the hopes it would dispel the sensation that she was not the one in control. “Truly does this not seem a little…Well just too weird… even for me?” She once more looked down the darken roads and bit her lip, then she looked at the girls and baby. Could she risk not taking them there, could she protect them if it proved it wasn’t safe?

  She whispered “Harper, where are you whe
n I need you?” Then she blew out a breath. “Well okay what would you do sis?” Charlie laughed softly as she thought about Harper, who would go in with an attitude and if that failed. Kill everyone who dared to touch her kids. She pushed down on the gas and put the truck in drive and turned onto the road. “So that’s what I will do! Wish you were here Harper, still miss you.” She wiped the tears from her eyes, which thinking of her sister caused her, even after all these years. Seriously tears again what is happening to me?

  She followed the road as it wound itself around a mountain. By now she had been driving for a total of two and a half hours. So when she hit a dirt track, she hoped it would not be for much longer, already the baby was stirring. Then she saw a man standing by the roadside, her hand found her gun as she eased the truck to a stop and put the window down. Realizing as she did he was not an adult male but a tall teenager. Before he spoke she drawled. “You been waiting for me cowboy?”

  He smiled and tipped his imaginary cowboy hat. “Sure have, you made good time.”

  Charlie grinned, she could not help it. He was just so damn cheerful. “Well hop on in then son. Stop hanging around.”

  Laughing he opened up the back door and jumped in as she placed the gun back and pulled away.

  He said as though she had asked. “Just follow the road.”

  “So you just hang out waiting in case someone comes?” She asked as she flicked her eyes his way.

  He grinned wider. “Sort of? We have witches who know when someone is on their way, and they send one of us to lead them home.”

  Charlie looked in the rear view mirror watching as he peered over the front of the seat, his eyes widened when he counted the small bodies surprised he exclaimed. “Four!”