Our Cause (Let the Monsters Live in Fear Book 1)

by Jennifer Jane Jennings

  “You can’t help. No one can. She’s dead, and no one can bring her back.” Kat stood in front of Damon, shaking, with tears streaming down her cheeks.

  Her parents stood but didn’t approach until Damon beckoned them over.

  “Could the four of us speak alone in my office, please?”

  Kat’s parents put their arms around her, and all three nodded in agreement.

  “It’s the door on the left after the stairs. I’ll meet you there.” Damon bowed and walked towards Sensei Dereck.

  Dereck bowed and walked over to Damon. “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m not sure. Someone hurt our new transfer student. I’m going to talk with her and her parents in the office. Please start the class if I’m not back.”

  Dereck nodded, “Of course,” and bowed deeply.

  Damon bowed and walked into his office to find Kat shaking in the middle of her parents, both trying to comfort her.

  “Hey, I want to help. Please, tell me what happened?”

  “They say you don’t know how good your karate is until you need to use it. Well, mine fucking sucks!”

  “That is not true, Kat. No one is expected to defend themselves against eight men! It should never have happened. Those monsters are the ones to blame, not you. They killed Courtney and almost killed you!” Dominique was now trembling more than her daughter, her face awash with tears.

  “I wish they had.”

  “No!” Kat’s parents screamed at the same time, putting their arms around Kat even tighter.

  Damon sat across from them. “Kat, were you and Courtney together when eight men attacked you?”

  Kat nodded.

  “Was anyone else there?”

  “We left the party with two boys, Tommy and Michael, and walked along the beach. They took us to these sand dunes where their friends were waiting. I tried to fight. But my karate’s crap.”

  “That was nowhere near a fair fight. It was definitely not your fault and does not mean you’re not good at karate. Your technique in First Kata was excellent.”

  “If I were good, I could’ve saved her. You could’ve saved her.”

  Tears filled Damon’s black eyes. “No. I couldn’t save her, and I’m supposed to be the hero.”

  Kat blinked away her tears and leaned forward. “What happened?”

  “I was part of an elite team in Afghanistan. We were told a militia group had seized the hospital, Bethany, my fiancée, worked at. She was a midwife. The bast…sorry, bad guys were in the obstetrics ward. Bethany screamed as one slit the throat of a…” Damon stopped. The girl didn’t need to know about the baby. She’d been through enough. Knowing about Bethany may help her. “I shot him in the head at the same time an evil son…shot Bethany in the head. I killed him too, but it was too late. A person who dedicated her life to bringing life into this world was killed because of it, and I couldn’t save her. I was supposed to spend my life with her.”

  Kat’s tears poured down her face. “I’m so sorry. I guess it could happen to anyone. Did you save the hospital?”

  Damon hadn’t looked at it that way before. “Actually, yeah.”

  “Did the army send you home because of Bethany?”

  “Not exactly.” Damon pulled open his gi top, revealing seven circular, maroon scars about a centimetre in diameter. Damon pointed to a thin, red horizontal line about two centimetres from the centre of his chest. “Keyhole surgery. The rest are bullet wounds. We found out who orchestrated the attack on the hospital, and I went after them alone. My partner, Alex, realised what I was doing and saved me. He also took out the militia who shot me.”

  “Were you trying to avenge Bethany or join her?”

  “Both. I only did the first part, though. They say it’s a miracle I survived.”

  Kat opened her gi top and pulled down her crop top between her breasts, revealing jagged maroon gashes in the centre of her chest. Damon could see several other incisions on the inside of her breasts. Kat’s crop top hid the others. “That’s what they say about me. I call it penance.”

  Damon nodded. “I feel the same.”

  Kat’s parents, who had remained silent, looked from Kat to Damon.

  Dominique spoke first. “Some people are meant to meet.”

  Eric smiled. “I ho…think you’ll be able to help each other.”

  Damon smiled. “I agree. I’ve got a class I’m supposed to teach, and Kat, you’ve got a class you’re supposed to attend.”

  2

  Damon stood up from his desk and stopped. “Kat, I told you I’d guess your belt after looking at your kata. From what I’ve seen and the fact you’ve had a year off, I’d say you were a brown belt training for black.”

  Kat’s eyes widened. “I haven’t shown you my card, and you haven’t had time to call Sensei Jacob. Could you really tell from looking at me? I thought I was crap.”

  “Your technique is excellent. I want you to work on your intensity and focus during class. And I want you to wear your brown belt. You have earned it, and your technique shows you deserve it.” Damon looked at her parents. “I’m not going to do sparring in the first class tonight. When we do, I’ll have Kat partner me or someone I trust. Probably one of the instructors.” Damon looked directly at Kat. His tone softened. “I’d like your permission to tell Sensei Connor, Sensei Dereck, Laura and my dad, Sensei Lucas, a little about what happened to you. Sensei Lucas won’t be here until the end of the week. It would help with your training and who we partner you up with during class. Is that okay?” Damon then looked at Eric and Dominique, “Is that okay with you? It won’t be everything I know, and I don’t know that much.”

  Kat looked at her parents. “Mum and Dad tried to shield me from them, but there were heaps of articles and news reports about it. They changed our names because we were only fourteen. They called us Courtney Jamison and Emily Jones. I lived, so they changed my name more than Courtney’s.”

  Eric took his daughter’s hand and looked at Damon. “You were probably in Afghanistan at the time, New Year’s Eve last year. I don’t want everyone to know, but agree that the other instructors should. Most people remember the Courtney Jamison case. She was such a lovely girl.” Tears came to Eric’s eyes.

  Dominique took Kat’s free hand. “We only have Kat. She has no cousins her age, so when she met Courtney in preschool, we encouraged the friendship and had Courtney over at least once a week. She was family. I agree with Eric. Please, just tell the instructors. Um, should we go to class now?”

  Damon nodded. “Kat, please put your belt on. You are a brown belt, and you should line up with the other brown belts.”

  Kat gave a weak smile. “Yes, Sensei Damon.”

  Damon and Kat bowed at the entrance to the dojo and walked in when Sensei Dereck was calling everyone to line up. He wasn’t surprised when Dominique and Eric bowed at the entrance as well. “You two should definitely consider joining. I’m surprised Sensei Jacob hadn’t talked you into it.” He turned to Kat. “Line up with the brown belts. You are one of them. I’ll be out the front. Your technique is excellent. You’ve got this.”

  Damon walked out the front and stood next to Sensei Dereck.

  Sensei Dereck bowed. “I am honoured to introduce our new senior instructor and manager, Sensei Damon Knightly.”

  Damon bowed. “The honour is mine, Sensei Dereck.” He turned to the class of just under fifty students. “Heels together, bow, take your left foot back into long fighting stance, right hand up for head-level punch.” Damon took his right foot back and left hand up for head-level punch to mirror to the class what he wanted to see.

  Damon, with Dereck’s help, took the class through strikes and kicks.

  Damon nodded to Dereck who joined him for a demonstration. “Blocks are my favourite.” Damon nodded to Dereck who threw a punch at Damon’s nose. He blocked it flawlessly with a head-level block. “They can be used as blocks.” He nodded again prompting Dereck to throw another punch. Damon performed an outside hook
ing block and a downwards block, which not only blocked the punch but helped Damon trap Dereck’s arm and take it behind his back for an arm bar. “Traps.” He nodded again and used two head-level blocks. One for a block and the other for a forearm strike which would have smashed across Dereck’s face if Damon hadn’t controlled himself and stopped a centimetre away. “Strikes.” Dereck threw his fourth punch. Damon used the same blocks he had used in the trap but pivoted forcing Sensei Dereck to the ground. “And takedowns.” He offered Dereck his hand, who took it out of courtesy and jumped to his feet. The two black belts bowed to each other. Damon moved back in front of the higher belts; blue, red, brown and black. Sensei Dereck took his spot in front of the others.

  “Take your left foot back and right hand up into head-level block.” Damon mirrored the class as he got them to move forward for five and back for five. He took them through all the standard blocks, taking in the different abilities of each student. Kat’s technique was as good as most of the black belts. She seemed to focus, drift away for a few minutes and focus again when they changed technique. Her intensity was much better than before, but she still had a long way to go.

  After he finished taking the class through blocks, Damon called, “Heels together, bow, go get a quick drink and line up for kata.”

  “Sensei Dereck, could you please get two of the black belts to line up on the other side of the white belts so they have someone to follow? I’d like us to watch everyone perform kata, so we know what they need to work on.” Damon smiled. “You probably know that already, but I need to see.”

  Dereck was about to reply when a green belt with sandy blonde, wavy hair in a ponytail almost walked into him as she smiled and winked at Damon. Sasha! Damon hadn’t noticed her until then. Fuck! It was usually a good thing when their members did aerobics and karate. Definitely not in Sasha’s case.

  “Line up!” Damon almost stormed out the front, his black eyes blazing. “First Kata to my count.”

  Damon and Dereck watched First Kata. Damon pointed to a stocky white belt about five foot nine with dark hair and a goatee, who looked nothing like Sensei Dereck despite their similar colouring, facial hair, height and build. “He’s done martial arts before.”

  Dereck smiled. “Five years away, and you spot it in an instant. Adam Swanson. He’s a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and got to brown in another style of karate. He’s hoping to grade quickly.”

  “If his attitude matches. Why’d he leave the other styles?”

  Dereck frowned. “I should’ve found that out. That was a rookie mistake. I’m supposed to be a fourth dan.”

  “You are, and you earned it. Anyone can make that mistake. We’ll find out later. Let’s take them through Second Kata.” Damon raised his voice. “Second Kata to my count. White belts, please follow along.”

  Dereck looked at Sasha. “We usually only see her in the dojo when your dad’s teaching the class.”

  Damon almost growled. “Well, at least I’m not married.”

  “Ah, to have the Knightly good looks. We’ll see if Laura can get her to back off.” Dereck looked at the brown belts and gestured towards Kat. “That’s the student you were talking with?”

  Damon nodded.

  “Great technique, but…” The class finished Second Kata.

  Damon raised his voice and addressed the class. “We will now do Saifa. If you don’t know the kata, you may move to the side and watch, or you can give it a go.”

  They both watched the students perform and gave them the same choice for the next kata. Damon nodded as Adam stayed and was a little disappointed Sasha did.

  “The brown belt’s technique is one of the best in the class, but her intensity’s an intermediate level at best. Surprising for one of Sensei Jacob’s students,” Dereck observed.

  Damon brought his hand up to his face in a casual way but was actually hiding his mouth from onlookers. “She’s had it tough. I was away, so I don’t know how famous the case was or a great deal about it, but have you heard of the Courtney Jamison case?”

  Dereck turned white. His hand flew to his face. Discretion be damned. “The press said Emily Jones, the girl in the coma, was a karate student. The entire country prayed she’d make it. Is our new student Emily Jones?”

  Damon nodded. They hadn’t told him about the coma. “Katerina Chase, but yeah. Her intensity’s much better than when I looked at her before class. We had a chat, and I showed her my battle wounds. Hers are more impressive.”

  The class finished the kata, putting a hold on the conversation. Sasha did move to the side this time. Adam didn’t. Adam stayed until most of the brown belts bowed out. Kat stayed for the first two black belt katas and was preparing to move to the side when Damon ended the class.

  “Heels together, bow. Thanks for joining us. If you’re staying for the next class, we’ll be doing partner work with the blocks we demonstrated earlier. Otherwise, we’ll be doing that in my six o’clock class on Wednesday evening. Drink some water, practice and we’ll see you soon.” Damon turned to Dereck, “Come on. I’ll introduce you.”

  The two black belts bowed to Kat and her parents. “Sensei Dereck, this is Kat, Dominique and Eric.”

  Dereck smiled warmly. “Hey, Kat. Fantastic technique.”

  Kat looked down and bit her bottom lip. “I need to work on my focus and intensity.”

  Damon shook his head and smiled. “You should be proud of yourself. You improved immensely since the kata you did before class. Keep up the good work, and you’ll improve quickly.”

  Dereck lowered his voice. “Sensei Damon mentioned Courtney and Emily. I am so sorry. It should never have happened.”

  Kat nodded and gave a weak smile. “You’re right.”

  “Your technique is remarkable for any brown belt. Your intensity and focus are better than I’d expect after… Anything I can do to help, just say. Same goes for Laura, my wife. You’ll love her. Everyone does.”

  Damon grinned and his eyes twinkled. “Even me, and that’s saying something. Are you going to stay for the second class or come back tomorrow?”

  “Um,” Kat turned to her parents, “Is tomorrow okay?”

  “Of course it is!”

  Kat bit her bottom lip. “I know I only did one class, but I’m tired…and hungry.”

  The look of delight on her parents’ faces told Damon she wanted to eat as much as he did.

  “That’s fantastic! Anything you want, Kat. I can cook your favourite, crumbed chicken, or we can get takeaway, Subway, Chinese, McDonald’s, anything? We can even eat at a restaurant if you like?” Tears of joy filled Dominique’s eyes.

  “The Emperor’s Delight here at Lorikeet Meadows is fantastic. Great Chinese food, eat in or takeaway and lovely people too,” Dereck suggested.

  Damon watched Kat bite her lip again. “Maybe save that for a night you aren’t exhausted. I like Subway, and my little sister loves the cookies.”

  “Um, I like the sound of that.”

  Eric put his arm around his daughter. “Subway and cookies it is!”

  Kat and her parents sat at their dining table eating Subway. Kat looked at her laptop and textbooks on the other end of the table. “I should probably put them away when we finish each day. It might make this place feel more like home.” Her parents smiled and were about to reply when Kat continued. “I’m glad you talked me into going to karate. Sensei Dereck seems nice, but Sensei Damon just gets me. And he’s so amazing! Those bastards killed his fiancée in front of him, he was shot seven times, and he still wants to help me. I’ve just been thinking about who I’ve lost. I want to be more like Sensei Damon. He’s still sad, but he’s trying.”

  Both parents beamed, but Eric spoke first. “We’ll help you any way we can, princess.”

  “Can I go to karate again tomorrow, please?” Kat took a big bite of her chicken, salad Subway.

  “Absolutely.”

  “As often as you like.”

  “I know I used to go every day, but I just wa
nt to see how I go.” Kat took another bite of Subway and thought for a moment. “I’d like the timetable, so I can go to Sensei Damon’s classes. He’s a great teacher, and I really do want to be like him.”

  “I’ll look it up after tea. How’s your…” Dominique watched Kat finish her six-inch Subway and get a cookie out of the bag.

  Kat smiled as she took the cookie to her lips. “This is good. I can’t remember when I’ve eaten so much.”

  Dominique brushed Eric’s ankle with her own. It was before Kat and Courtney were attacked.

  Kat stretched and yawned after her last bite of cookie. “I think I better shower and get ready for bed.”

  Kat walked into the room next to her parents’, which had been her bedroom for the last six and a half months when they moved to Victoria. She looked at the bed. It wasn’t even hers. It was their spare bed. Her bed was in the second biggest bedroom, at the end of the house. Kat doubted she’d been in there three times since they moved here. Her bed made her think of Courtney too much, and the room next to her parents’ was much easier when she woke up screaming.

  Kat walked to the other end of the house and slowly opened the door. She looked at the queen size bed she used to share with Courtney when she slept over. I can’t. She looked at the boxes against the wall waiting to be unpacked and grabbed the box with her teddy bears. She tossed each teddy on the bed until she pulled out a brown teddy wearing a purple t-shirt with ‘Best Friends – Kat and Courtney’ written on it. She went to walk straight out the door but stopped and put the other teddies back in the box.

  Kat stood in front of her parents wearing her pyjamas and clutching the teddy to her chest.

  Dominique squeezed Eric’s hand.

  “Mum, Dad, can I sleep in your bed tonight? You know I’ll end up there anyway.”

  Dominique and Eric hugged their daughter in a three-way hug. “Of course you can.”

  Damon ran to the gym and was unlocking the door as Connor drove into the car park. Damon entered the security code and went into a deep hamstring stretch in front of the desk.