As I approached the building, I slowed my speed only to be disappointed by what I found. A big, bright orange sign across the door that read ‘closed’ greeted me as I put the car in park. I shook my head with utter frustration. Even if this plan had hit a dead end, maybe I could look around and find something that might help me. I peered into the glass front door and saw all the lights were off. I jiggled the door handle, hoping they forgot to lock it. It didn’t turn. Nothing was ever that easy!
I walked around to the side of the shop and found another side door. Since this door was out of eyeshot from anyone on the road, I could break into it. I grabbed some tools from my car and went back to work my magic. Good thing I paid attention to lock picking in my Stealth Operations course. It came in handy many times. Within minutes, I turned the handle and walked into the shop.
I didn’t know what I was looking for as I walked around the maze of cars and motorcycles. It looked like any other mechanic shop. Tools lined the walls, and a few machines carted by wheels were around the room. There was a large calendar with a half-naked girl posing seductively by the door that entered lobby area. Engines floated above held by wires belonging to the cars with the hood popped. I found a staircase leading to another level and went up to a large room with four beds. The lack of decorations and warmth made it evident that men lived here. There was no touch of a woman anywhere in this place. Clothes were thrown everywhere with a few more female posters hung around the room. “Talk about perverts,” I said, eyeing them.
“I can’t believe we had to come all the way back here for you!” I heard a deep growl from down the stairs.
“Man, I’m not goin’ anywhere without Black Betty. That pipe has been with me since I started gettin’ that green from Eight Ball,” said another voice that I recognized as Zeke’s. I can’t believe he lied about knowing Eight Ball. What a jerk. Their footsteps pounded up the stairs as they climbed toward me. I backed into a small closet that reeked of sweaty guy mixed with bad foot funk. Through a crack, I watched as Zeke walked over to the bed on the far right corner and started digging in a stack of junk on the floor.
“There’s no sense in gettin’ pissed, Hollywood. We would’ve had to listen to him complain the entire time if we wouldn’t have turned around to come get it,” Freeman said as he came into the room, looking back as Hollywood followed him in.
“He should’ve realized he left the damn thing before we made it that far! Now the dragons are gonna have to get a rest before we can head back out,” Hollywood said while throwing himself down across another bed.
“Them bitches need a rest. Damn near burned my leg off for no reason,” Zeke shouted.
“I don’t think it was for no reason … dude, you kept thumping her ear. What did you think was gonna happen?” Freeman asked with a concerned look. “I don’t think messin’ with a beast of that magnitude is a smart idea.”
“She should’ve set your whole damn body on fire for messin’ with her like that. Look just because you get bored on the way over there doesn’t give you a reason to mess with my girls. Play with your phone or your dick for all I care, but don’t mess with my dragons again,” Hollywood said, sitting up and giving Zeke’s back a menacing look. “No wonder she’s feelin’ so agitated.” He pulled his sleeve up and stared down at the ebony black dragon that ran down his arm.
“Finally, I found it,” Zeke exclaimed as he picked up a dark gray pipe up with a long curved stem. He pulled the fur bag off his back and opened it. “Now where did I put that case?” He started pulling out clothes and threw them across the bed followed by shoes, weapons, a huge bag of green, and a few nude magazines. All of the items shouldn’t have fit in his bag. It was physically impossible, but once he found what he was looking for, he returned all of them. I heard more footsteps, and Harley barreled into the room, making flutters in my stomach. I rolled my eyes and silently cursed.
“Guys, have you looked out front since we’ve been here?” he asked, looking around the room. All of them shook their heads. “There’s a car out there.”
“Do you think someone left it there or someone’s in here?” Hollywood asked. “It better not be one of those damn Depot Demons. They just need to handle the fact they got their asses handed to them last night.”
“I don’t think this is a Depot Demon. The car looked too girly, and the engine was still warm when I touched it.” I backed all the way against the wall, terrified to breathe. “Freeman, see what you can sniff out.”
“It’s hard to tell … but I’m gettin’ a faint smell of somethin’ that seems to be cloaked in Zeke’s stench. It’s comin’ from the closet.” Their footsteps rushed toward me. There was nothing I could do but close my eyes as they reached the door and ripped it open.
“You! What’re you doin’ hidin’ in there?” Hollywood shouted. I opened my eyes to find them staring at me. I wanted to melt into the floor because I had nowhere to run. “Answer me!” I winced at the base of his voice.
“I came here to ask you a question … about last night,” I replied, my voice trembling. I wouldn’t have worried about my situation considering how much training I had, but I saw what these guys were capable of the night before.
“Come out of the closet, and let’s go downstairs,” Harley said, apparently taking sympathy in my cracking voice. He guided me back down the stairs and into a side room with a couch, two chairs, and a huge flat screen television. “Sit,” he instructed as he pointed to one of the chairs. I did as I was told and laced my fingers together, like I was a troubled child in the principal’s office. My phone vibrated in my pocket, but I didn’t dare answer it.
Harley leaned back into the other chair across from me, his hand gently rubbing his chin while he studied me. The silence beat down on me, and I started to sweat. Escape attempts flooded my mind, and I tried to decide which one would be the best option. “So … what did you need to know so bad that you would break into our business and home to find out? Obviously, we weren’t here, but yet you decided that didn’t matter and came in anyway. So, please enlighten me and everyone else with your question.” He took his hand away and drummed the arm of the chair as he waited for my response. I licked my lips, trying to moisten my dry mouth.
“I came here because somethin’ has been nagging at me since last night.” I stopped, waiting to see if they were going to reply, but no one said a word so I continued. “After we came out of that building, you all saw something in the sky … a symbol. Didn’t you?” I looked down at the floor and back up at them expecting to see expressions indicating I was crazy, but the color drained from their faces.
“How did you see it?” Freeman asked. “No one should’ve known it was there except us and its maker.”
“I don’t know. I just looked up to see what y’all were starin’ at and what that asshole over there was so excited about when he bum rushed the woods. I’ve seen it before, so I wanted to know what it meant.” Harley narrowed his eyes at me.
“What do you mean, you’ve seen it before?” he asked.
“I have dreams about a man and a woman. They wanna kill each other, but I don’t know why. All I know is there’s this war goin’ on around them, and when she finally gets to him, he manages to escape. The symbols that were in the sky are on the inside of her wrists.”
“She’s the one!” Zeke shouted.
“You don’t know that. He said we would know beyond a shadow of a doubt who the chosen one is, and before she opened her mouth and told us this story, I wouldn’t have her pegged for anything more than a roided up Barbie freak,” Hollywood replied. He crossed his arms and sat back into the couch.
“I don’t know what you saw in the sky, sweetheart, but we can’t help you,” Harley said as he held up his hand to quiet the others down. His condescending voice rubbed me the wrong way.
“I think you can. All of you know what I’m talkin’ about. I can tell from your expressions! What are you some type of monsters or somethin’? You, the big one over there, I saw
you rubbing your arm and talkin’ about dragons and you call me a freak? Buddy, dragons don’t exist, so who’s the fucked up one in the head? I should’ve know better than to come here expectin’ to get answers from a bunch of conceited dicks that really don’t have reason to be. None of you are that good looking!” The last part was a huge lie, but I was going for an insult that would hurt their ego.
“Not that good looking?” Zeke shouted. “I’ll have you know I get pussy all the time with this sweet ass Mohawk mullet. I have to practically beat the girls off.”
“Zeke, that’s enough. We all know your lyin’, even the chick that doesn’t hardly know you knows that. So shut up,” Freeman said. Zeke looked like he wanted to continue, but chose to remain quiet.
“That’s enough of this. She didn’t need to hear about your fascination with dragons, Hollywood. So for everyone’s sake I think Freeman needs to clean her out,” Harley said with his hand back stroking his chin. I looked over at Freeman as he grabbed my hand. I desperately wanted to pull it away, but there was a force that wouldn’t allow me to.
“Look into my eyes,” he said. That force pulled my vision to him, and I stared deep into his eyes, drowning in them. “You will forget everything you saw here today and all the words you heard. You came here lookin’ to get somethin’ fixed on your car, but you found the shop was closed, so you got back into your car to drive back to wherever you live. Last night, there was nothin’ unusual in the sky, just a starry, beautiful night, so don’t think about it anymore.” He pulled his hand away from mine, and I blinked several times has if awaking from a trance. I was light-headed and there was a tingling sensation in the hand he touched.
“Now are you going to tell me about the symbol?” They all stared back at me, open-mouthed.
“How did that not work on her?” Harley shouted. Freeman shrugged with a baffled look on his face.
“We aren’t allowed to tell anyone anything. That was our orders, so please respect that and don’t press any farther,” Harley said with an exhausted sigh. I wasn’t going to get anything out of them, so I stood to leave. “I’ll walk you out.” He stood and opened the door for me, leaving the rest of the guys sitting on the couch whispering to one another.
“Is it hard?” I asked as we walked.
“What do you mean?” he asked, giving me a dumbfounded look.
“Pretending to be somethin’ you’re not. A mechanic by day and monster killer by night … all the while havin’ no one but these guys.” He shrugged and looked down.
“You wouldn’t understand, but it’s what I was made to do. Now that the years have went by I can admit it gets lonely sometimes, but then I just think about her.”
“Her? Who’s her?” I asked, not wanting to pry, but I was dying to know.
“I don’t know. She comes to me in vision sometimes, but all I see is her figure because she’s covered in a cloak that reaches her feet and a hood is draped over her face. I can’t make out her features, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know her beauty. I feel it radiating off of her, and I know she’s my one. I’d wait a thousand lives just to touch her face once.” His words touched me. I never thought he would have been that sentimental.
“Wow,” I managed to get out. “I hope you find her.” His dimples set in as he smiled at me.
“Me too. I really wish I could say it was nice seein’ you again, but that’d be a lie. Things are about to get really hard for me and the guys. I’m sorry I was rude to you last night and today. It’s just really stressful right now.” We stopped in front of the door. “I hope you find the answers you’re lookin’ for. We’ll be leavin’ here soon, so there’s no point of you comin’ back. It was nice meeting you,” he said and gave me a little wave before he turned to walk away.
I shut the door to my car and pulled out my phone to find a text message from Ollie. I was grateful to have him. My secrets almost tore us apart, and I didn’t want to lose him. Not when there were people in the world that could only hold onto a vision, and that’s all they had to love. I had the real thing in front of me. I started my car and drove back to my apartment. The three of them were piled on the couch watching Spartacus.
“Hey, babe!” Steele greeted. “Where did you sneak off to so early?”
“Can we talk back here?” I asked. Jace and Shayla didn’t seem to notice us going back to my room. I shut the door as he sat on the bed.
“What’s up? Is somethin’ wrong?”
I pushed him back and lay on top of him. “I went to see the guys from last night.”
“I could’ve gone with you. You should’ve woke me up.”
I shook my head. “I figured they would’ve talked more if I was alone. I saw somethin’ in the sky last night,” I started. I filled him in on my conversation with the guys. “They know what that symbol was. What if I am this chosen one they were talkin’ about? I don’t think I can be. I can’t lead this fight. I’m not strong enough.”
“It’s like I told you before. I know you can be stronger. You just have to have the right thing push you to see that. One day you’ll be there. If it is you, or not, I’ll fight behind you no matter what.” Talking about all of it made my stomach churn. “One good thing is if they think you’re this chosen one than that means you’re on the good side. See there’s nothin’ bad in you.” Maybe he was right. It didn’t make my self-doubt better though. Having to give orders and people relying on my actions was a task too great for me. If that future was ahead of me then there was one thing I wanted him to do.
“It’s time for me to go back to the training camp. I believe I’m ready for Fuzz to teach me how to control my senses. You being with me has kinda brought my mind peace, but before I go, there’s one thing I want you to do.”
“What?” he asked.
“I think it’s time we take this relationship to the next level.” I placed my hand in his before I continued, “Time for some really scary stuff.” He cocked his head and focused his eyes, trying to read my thoughts.
“What are you wantin’ to try anal or somethin’?” I stopped short at his question, completely caught off guard. I couldn’t help but to laugh at the serious look he was giving me.
“I forget sometimes,” I coughed a few times trying to catch my breath, “that you’re still a normal, typical guy, Steele. Anal, seriously?” His face turned a bright shade of red. It was a nice turn of events because usually it was me getting embarrassed over something, not him.
“Any guy could’ve made the mistake!” He flung his arms up in the air.
“I can tell what’s been on your mind, Oliver Steele.” I suppressed the laughter. “No I didn’t mean anal … I was talkin’ about meeting my parents.”
HIS BACK WENT STIFF. Momentarily, I regretted the proposal and should have gone with the anal. “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea … I don’t really do the whole parent thing.” He turned toward me, worry etched in his face.
“You’ll be fine. They aren’t scary or anything.” I ran my hand through his hair until it rested on his neck. “I know they’ll love you like I do.” That seemed to relax him. The stiffness disappeared from his body as he cupped my chin in his hands. His thumb rubbed across my lip, and he swallowed hard.
“Okay, let’s go.” I grabbed his hand and practically dragged him through the apartment. I don’t know why I was so excited about him meeting my family. It seemed like such a silly thing to have me so wound up, but it was simple. A simple everyday thing that people do all the time when they date each other. It made me feel real outside of all we went through.
Once we pulled up in front of the Tuscan style home, I noticed his hands shaking. He glanced at himself in the mirror and tried to manage his hair. “Do I look okay?” he asked as fidgeted.
“You look absolutely adorable, right now.”
His gray eyes cut to me, dropping his hands. “Adorable may win over your mom,” he ran his hands over his shirt, trying to straighten it, “but not your dad. Dads never want thei
r little girls dating a slacker. That’s the last thing I want him to think I am.”
“I don’t think he’ll think that about you. You don’t come off like a slacker.” His jaw locked and he nodded. “You ready for this?” I asked.
“Let’s go.” He hopped out and was at my side before I could open the door. “After you.” I grabbed his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze before leading the way up the stone sidewalk. The front door swung open before we could make it to the porch.
“It’s about time you paid us a visit,” my mother said as she stepped outside. “I only gave birth to you.” She stopped when she focused on Steele walking behind me, and a small smile reached her eyes. “Who’s this?”
“This is my boyfriend, Oliver Steele, but everyone calls him Ste …”
“You can call me Ollie, ma’am,” Steele interrupted. He stuck out his hand and gently took my mother’s. “Beautiful home, you have here.” His voice shook, and he coughed, trying to cover it up.
“Thank you, Ollie. That’s very kind of you. Please, come in and make yourself at home.” She led us into the large living room. “It’s nice to see Reese with someone after her last boyfriend had that awful accident. I can’t believe Wheeler jumped off a bridge after he just went through that rehab program. Reese, I can say I’m glad you got rid of that one.” I stifled my laugh at her last statement. At least, I thought I got rid of him. Steele poked me in the back and glared. I didn’t need to be acting that way regarding Wheeler’s ‘accident’.
“I’m glad I got rid of him too, Mom, it should’ve been sooner than what it was though. Where’s Dad?” I asked, trying to change the subject off of Wheeler. I really didn’t want my mother to figure out that her daughter was a cold-blooded murderer, that is, until he rose from the dead.
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