I looked at Sam and back to Mariah as tears rolled down my cheeks. I shook my head slowly and took a step backwards.
“Now, Taylor. The time is now,” Mariah snapped.
Sam’s brows were pulled together as he tried to piece together what was going on. He took a step toward me.
“Stop! Sam, go! You have to get out of here,” I screamed.
“Taylor! Do what you’re here to do!” Mariah yelled.
I shook my head at her. She walked toward me quickly and grabbed my left wrist. When she started pulling me in the direction of Sam, I knew what she had planned. “No, no, no, no,” I cried, unable to stop my feet from moving with her.
Sam took another step toward me but never said anything. It was as if he was oblivious to what was about to happen to him. I dug my feet in with every step I took, but like with the knife, I wasn’t in control of my body. Mariah was.
I was arms length from Sam when she roughly dropped my wrist. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at me. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. The tears stopped flowing and my hand stopped trembling.
“I know what he did. He has to be punished,” I whispered right before my eyes opened.
I raised the knife high as I prepared to impale Sam’s chest with it. I spared a glance at Mariah and saw the look of pure joy on her face. It was like she was a mother watching her child succeed. And I was that child.
An overwhelming feeling of disgust came over me. The thought of doing anything Mariah wanted me to do made me physically ill. And just like that, I was in control again.
I reared back and threw the knife as hard as I could away from Sam. The look on Mariah’s face was pure shock, and I giggled at the sight of it.
I jerked awake only to realize I hadn’t been sleeping at all. I was in Matt’s office for our daily session. At least that’s what I’d thought I was there for.
“What the fuck was that?” I asked harshly, narrowing my eyes on Matt.
“Wh— how— th-that’s not possible,” he stammered as he shook his head slowly.
“Did you hypnotize me? Drug me? What kind of shit is this?”
“How did you do that?” Matt snapped. He leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees as he studied my face. He looked angry.
“What did I do? I must have zoned out or something. I don’t even remember coming to your office today,” I explained as I rubbed the back of my neck and tried to remember how I’d gotten there.
“You voided Mariah’s vision. What you were seeing just a second ago, with Sam, that’s what Mariah wanted you to see. I’ve never heard of anyone changing a vision that came directly from her before.” Matt shook his head the entire time he spoke, still in disbelief by whatever I’d done.
“What do you mean I voided it? I just snapped out of it.”
“You let go of the knife. You threw it aside. When Mariah’s intention was to have you kill Sam.”
“Her intention? How did she get in my head in the first place?” I started to fidget in my seat as I became more panicked.
“It’s part of being one of her followers, Taylor. One of us. Mariah gives us the visions so we are able to see the wrong doings of the person she has selected,” Matt explained.
“And what? You all just believe her? She chooses all these people and has the ability to make you see whatever she wants you to see. Who’s to say she isn’t working her own agenda, Matt?”
He looked appalled that I’d even suggest something like that. I stopped him before he had the chance to defend her. “Just don’t. I’m not one of her followers. I’m never going to hurt Sam. And I’m going to make sure that you all see the right side of the story so you won’t hurt him either.”
And with that, I stomped out of his office and slammed the door behind me.
I headed for the café. I had hoped to talk to Martha, but she was nowhere to be found. The café was completely empty. I didn’t even know what time it was, or how long I’d been in Matt’s office.
I walked toward the desk in the lobby, where a girl I’d never seen before stood. I saw through the large window that it was dark outside and shook my head in disbelief. The last thing I remembered was my alarm going off at seven this morning.
“Hello, Taylor. How are you today?” she asked with a smile. The same kind of smile Ana had worn the day I’d arrived at Divided Paths.
“Just peachy. Can you tell me what time it is?”
“Of course. It’s half past nine, almost time for lights out,” she said with a smirk.
“Thanks,” I glanced at her name tag, “Eve.”
“No problem, Miss Long.”
I swear I heard her giggle as I turned around and headed toward the elevator. Why was everyone here so damn weird?
I unlocked the door to my room and pushed it closed behind me. When I never heard the click of the door latching, I turned to close it all the way and saw Martha standing in my doorway.
“I’ve been looking for you,” Martha whispered as she let herself in my room and locked the door behind her.
“You found me,” I said in a rush as I tried to calm my racing heart.
“Sorry if I startled you,” she said.
“It’s not your fault. I’ve just been on edge lately.”
“I hope you remain that way, Taylor. I overheard Mariah and Ana talking in the Gathering Room this evening. They said you disrupted the vision Mariah sent to you.” Martha looked at me with raised brows as if she wanted me to confirm or deny what she’d just said; when I didn’t, she continued.
“It’s not so bad to have Ana and Taryn and even Matt feel threatened by you, dear. But now I fear Mariah is beginning to feel threatened by you as well.”
“I’m not sure why she would feel threatened by me, but I’m glad that she is. Because I am not giving in to her. I’m not going to be one of her followers. Do you know what she wants me to do, Martha? She wants me to kill my ex-boyfriend! And he shouldn’t even be my ex in the first place!” The tears I’d been trying and failing to hold back for days started to run down my cheeks.
“How did you change the vision, Taylor?” Martha asked as she gently placed her hands on my shoulders.
“I honestly don’t know. I just didn’t want to hurt Sam. I kept saying ‘no’ over and over, and eventually I was able to stop her from forcing me to hurt him.” I shook my head and continued to cry.
“It’s okay, Taylor. You’re going to be okay.”
“She’s a liar, Martha. She kept trying to twist everything that happened that night. She acted like Sam killed Jarren in cold blood. He would never do that. He was protecting us!”
“Taylor, can you still remember what happened that night? I mean, everything that happened, in detail.”
“I dream about it all the time,” I nodded.
“Great. I’ve got an idea,” she said with a small smile. And for the first time in days, I felt a small glimmer of hope.
Sam
We had gotten off the plane with a text from Macie to both Jasper’s and my phones saying that we needed to talk. I didn’t respond, but Jasper looked at Demi with her hand locked in mine and shook his head. “She has no idea,” he muttered.
“Let’s go straighten this out,” I said warily.
I didn’t have a seat that was suitable for a kid Demi’s size, so I made Jasper ride in the back seat and hold onto her while I drove to his and Macie’s place.
“You hand is weally warm,” Demi said to Jasper in her little sing song voice. I saw, in the rear-view mirror, J’s face soften as he looked down at her. I had no idea what I’d been thinking when I told Kyle I’d take her, but I knew I was doing the right thing. I could feel it every time I looked at that little girl.
“Is that Shiloh’s truck?” I asked as I pulled into the driveway.
“Yeah. I wonder what he’s doing here,” Jasper said with his brows pulled together.
“Let’s go find out.”
Jasper led the way while I carried Demi e
asily in my arms.
“Mace, we’re here!” Jasper called through the house.
“In the kitchen, babe,” she responded.
He looked back at me as if he was asking if I was ready for this. I nodded and followed him to the kitchen. Macie, Nat, and Shiloh sat at the table. It was obvious that their initial smiles were forced, but they fell away completely when they saw me carrying Demi.
“Who’s this?” Macie asked slowly.
“Jasper, will you show Demi where the bathroom is?” I asked as I sat her down beside me.
“My Demi. My is three,” she said to Macie as she held up four little fingers.
“C’mon, sis, I’ll take you to the bathroom,” Jasper said as he grabbed her hand.
“Demi…is actually the reason Kyle wrote to Taylor asking for help. She’s Jarren’s goddaughter. Kyle assumes Jarren skipped town, and he doesn’t have the means to care for her. So I promised him I’d bring her to Taylor,” I said with a shrug.
Macie’s mouth fell open.
“Sam, you can’t just take a child. She has to have a legal guardian,” Nat explained.
“Oh, I know. Kyle has already had everything transferred over to Taylor. She just has to sign the forms.”
“And what if Taylor doesn’t want her? It’s not like she’s a damn puppy, Sam!” Macie snapped.
“You don’t think I haven’t thought of that, Macie?” I snapped back.
“What exactly is your plan, Sam?” Shiloh asked calmly.
“I’m going to take care of her until Taylor gets back. After that, I don’t really have a plan. But if you all would have seen the place she was living in, you would understand why I agreed to take her.”
“He’s right,” Jasper said as he walked back in with Demi.
“Hi, there, Demi. My name is Nat. Jasper has a cute little doggy in the other room. Do you want to see her?” Demi nodded excitedly, and Nat stroked her tangled curls before grabbing her hand and leading her out of the kitchen once again.
“Although what you did for Demi was admirable, Sam, we have another issue to deal with. One that might put off Taylor’s ability to take in a child a little longer.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked, already feeling nervousness settle in my stomach.
“I got an email from Taylor. It was from a different account. She asked me to find out everything I could about something called ‘Executers.’ ”
“Okay, what is an Executer?” Jasper asked.
“I’d never heard of them, so I called Shi to ask for some help.”
“Executers used to be called ‘Equalizers.’ It was their duty to enforce the eye-for-an-eye belief. The leader was able to pass on a vision of a wrong-doer and make the follower see the punishment necessary to balance out the act. So if someone were to rob someone else, then an Equalizer would most likely go and rob that thief of something even more valuable than what he stole. The concept became skewed over time and the punishments started to become much more severe than the initial crime. The leader has the ability to make her followers see whatever she wants them to see. Even if it’s a lie. In recent years, innocent people have been killed by her followers, who assume they are doing the world some sort of justice, when in reality, they’re glorified hitmen,” Shiloh explained.
“Hence the name change to ‘Executers,’ ” Macie finished. “They execute murders.”
“Okay, what does Taylor need to know about them? How did she even find out about them?” I asked as I paced the floor.
“That’s what I wanted to know. They typically stay hidden because so many people disagree with their way of life. When Macie told me Taylor’s email mentioned a couple of names, I decided to look into them. Mariah Crain is the owner and founder of Divided Paths. She’s also been the leader of the Executers for the last four years. Her father, Elijah, was the leader before her. He was killed by his own followers when they found out he was experimentally turning people into Executers against their will and feeding them visions of events that never actually took place,” Shiloh told us.
“Apparently, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” Jasper muttered.
“What?” I asked as I gripped my hair and bent over forwards. “How the fuck did Taylor end up in the hands of someone like Mariah? What are the fucking chances of that?” I started pacing again.
“Our best guess is that they selected her, Sam. For some reason they wanted her there. They sent information to me and to her boss—to people that she trusted. So when we suggested she go there, she never questioned us,” Macie said quietly.
“For some reason? Like you don’t already know. They want to turn her into one of them, Macie. A murderer!” I snapped.
“Sit down, bro. Take a deep breath. This is the part where we figure out a way to get her out of there,” Jasper said with his hand on my shoulder. I nodded and sat down in the chair he pulled out for me.
“We need to find out why they wanted her, specifically,” Macie said.
“I’ve got Bennett working on that, now. We need to be certain they won’t harm her if we come for her,” Shiloh said as he got a bottle of water from the fridge. He handed it to me and sat back down in his seat. I took a long drink from the bottle and realized how dry my mouth actually was.
“Sam, do you think you could transfer to her again?” Jasper asked.
“I’ll need to sleep after traveling the last couple days, but I could probably do it tomorrow night.”
“I think we should get you closer to her before you try that,” Nat said as she walked over to her seat beside Shiloh. “Demi fell asleep on the couch with Pookah while I was on the phone with Bennett. He called to tell me that there was a building here in Seattle that was owned by Elijah Crain. I think that could be where Taylor was the night you were able to see her.”
“What’s the address to that building? I can transfer and check things out.” Jasper asked as he stood. “Macie, find a flight to Arizona for the four of us. Nat, would you mind keeping an eye on Demi until we get back?”
“I’d love to watch her. She really is a sweet little girl.”
I sat there and watched as everyone got busy doing the things Jasper had delegated. For once, I was thankful for his assertiveness.
I finished off my bottle of water and excused myself from the kitchen. I sat beside Demi and watched as she slept. Her blonde curls were covering half of her face, she had a thumb in her mouth, and her hand rested on Pookah’s back. She looked so peaceful and innocent. I caught myself thinking I’d made the wrong choice by bringing her into a mess like this, but then I remembered Kyle’s house. I remembered the lack of toys and the condition her clothes had been in. Our lives may not be typical, but I was prepared to make sure her life was as good as the one she deserved to have.
“She’s pretty cute,” Macie said from behind the couch. “I really am proud of you, Sam. You may look big and mean on the outside, but you’ve got one of the kindest hearts. That’s how I know everything is going to be okay.” I nodded, and she put her small hand on my shoulder and squeezed lightly.
“Our flight leaves in four hours. Why don’t you just stay here until then? Throw your clothes in the washer and I’ll take care of the packing while you and Jasper rest.”
“Thanks, Mace, but I couldn’t sleep if I tried. I was actually thinking about going to the store to grab Demi some clothes and stuff. I got her a couple outfits in Florida, but I didn’t want to mess with checking a bag, so I kept it pretty minimal.”
“Oh, okay, sure. I’ll sit here with her until you get back.” I saw her body tense as she offered.
“You sure?” I asked with raised brows.
“Yes, I’m sure. How hard can it be?”
I chuckled. “Thanks. I won’t be long.”
“The building is set up like a hospital. No people inside and no information about people that may have been there before.” Jasper said with a shrug. “Also, I’m going with him,” he said as he walked out the door without
giving Macie a chance to object. I heard Nat and Shiloh laugh as I shut the door behind me.
“You know we don’t know the first thing about shopping for a little girl, right?” Jasper asked when we pulled into the closest Wal-mart.
“I know. But we’re going to do the best we can with whatever this place has to offer,” I said as I got out of the truck.
An hour and a half later we came out with two shopping carts filled with girly shit. We got her everything from princess panties to toothbrushes and toothpaste. I laughed out loud as I watched Jasper put the contents of his cart into the backseat of the truck. His muscular build and tattoos against the pink clothes sticking out of the sacks was a sight to be seen.
“Glad I could cheer you up a bit,” he said as he rolled his eyes.
“When you and Mace decide to have kids, I hope you have girls,” I told him through more laughter.
“You saw the look on Macie’s face when you were leaving her with Demi. I don’t have to worry about her wanting kids anytime soon. Thank God.”
“Taylor’s never talked about kids. I have no idea if she wants them or not,” I said, more seriously.
“Man, let’s worry about that when we have nothing else to worry about. Until then, Demi is in good hands with you and with Nat and Shi. Hell, Macie and I aren’t the worst babysitters a kid could have either,” he chuckled.
“You’re right. We’ve got to get Taylor back before I can worry about what she will do with Demi.”
“We’re going to get her back, Sam.”
I nodded as I drove back to his house. I didn’t doubt that we would get her, but I worried what she’d be like when we did.
Taylor
After Martha told me her idea, I was excited to get right to it. She waited until I stopped bouncing up and down and clapping my hands to tell me that it would be more difficult than I’d anticipated. A lot more difficult.
It had been forty-eight hours and I’d prepared by doing everything that Martha had suggested. I faked the flu by sitting in the bathroom floor while the hot shower ran before going downstairs to ask Ana for something to help my fever. She bought it without asking any questions, and I got a free pass to stay in my room for two days. That’s when the work began.
Want Me (Protector Series Book 3) Page 8