by D J Nickels
“Oh God, oh no.” Jessica let go of our hands. Shaking and bring her hand to cover her face. “It’s my fault Richard died,” Jessica said.
“No,” Momma said, rubbing her back. “It wasn’t your fault. It was mine. I called your blood magic with Kate’s blood magic to reveal to me where you were, and I couldn’t get to you because I died that day, too. Now I know why Leah took you from us. She could always see things much clearer than I could,” Momma said. “I was dying and had to bind Kate’s powers for a while until she was older and could take care of herself and understand them better. Leah intervened because she saw that you both would lose me. Because without someone to guide you and keep you safe until the right time, you would have died also. I want you to know that I never believed you were dead and that I never stopped looking for you,” Momma said to Jessica. “I showed your father you were alive, and to help Kate bring you home.” Momma shook her head.
“Momma, I remember Daddy fighting with someone in my room at the hospital.” I grabbed Momma’s hand. I began to wake up. I was trying to open my eyes, and when I did, Momma said, “Leah.” She was arguing with Daddy.
“They are not ready for what is to come. You have already lost your wife, and you almost lost your daughter. You know nothing of our family’s power, and how to teach them what they need to know. Let me bind her so that she won’t be found again. She is too young, and they all will die if you don’t. I have foreseen it,” Leah told him.
“But Teri Ann, came to me, and told me--”
Leah cut him off. “Teri Ann couldn’t see things as clearly as I do.”
“Then show me what you see.”
Leah showed him her vision. “If you bring back Jessa now, they get their powers. The two girls and your boys will die.” Ben gasped at the vision. “But if you wait until they are older and their power comes back naturally, bigger things will happen, for them.” She showed him.
“I can help her, but you have to hurry. She is waking up.” I started yelling for Momma and screaming.
“Do it,” Daddy said. She bound me and tried to take my memories, but I locked them in a box, but she found it and hid it in the back of my mind.
“So, Leah bound me,” I said.
“Leah was right; I didn’t see that you wouldn’t have us to take care of you both,” Momma said. I began to get very dizzy.
“Kate, are you okay?” Jess asked. “You look a bit pale.”
I rubbed my forehead. “I am feeling woozy.”
Momma looked at me. “Your power is draining. You must go now and get some rest;
you will feel better soon. I will still be here, and you can come see me anytime. Go and rest.”
Momma began to fade. The light around us was fading. Jess grabbed for and caught me before I hit the ground. Then Jessica looked around in panic when she heard Teri Ann.
“Just breathe and focus on where you want to go.” Sitting on the ground holding me, Jessica tried to focus, but all she wanted was Carson.
Jonathan
Jonathan slammed on the brakes. “Fuck!” Carson said. “Where did they go?”
“Kate must have flashed them straight to the security firm. She must have felt as if we were in danger.”
Just as they got there, Molly came out to let them in. Jonathan jumped out. Molly asked, “Where are the girls?”
“Kate flashed them out and we are assuming that they came here.”
“Um, no, but let me call Amanda inside and see if she flashed start to her. “They are not here,” said Molly. Jonathan looked at Carson. “They must have gone to the cabin. Let’s go.”
Just as they arrived at the cabin, Jonathan noticed a bright light in the back. They got as close as the light would let them.
“Jonathan!” Carson yelled as they saw the girls in the fading light. Jessica suddenly was sitting on the ground with Kate in her arms. Jonathan checked her pulse. Jonathan looked at Jessica. “What happened?” he growled.
“Our mother; she came to us.” Carson went to Jessica and wrapped her in his arms. Jess was shaking. “We talked with her and could physically touch her.”
“She looked at our lives through our memories. Then Kate got woozy and was rubbing her head. Teri Ann said that her power was draining and that she needed to go and rest. That’s when the light faded and then she just passed out.”
“How come it didn’t affect you?” Jonathan asked.
“I think we were connected through Kate’s power. I don’t know how to use mine.” Jessica struggled to keep her eyes open. “Teri Ann said she has been waiting in her power for us to find each other and for us to connect with our power. I think the strain of everything going on and her using her power so much today that maybe it exhausted her. Teri Ann said we need to keep up our strength and the more we use our powers and learn to control it, the more it will grow stronger.”
Jonathan picked Kate up and took her into the cabin and upstairs to their room. Just as Carson and Jessica walked in, Pete came running over. Jess fell to her knees.
“How did you get here, boy?” Carson got Jess a glass of water and explained how Kate and he went to get Pete after she found out she had been taken.
“Thank you.”
Carson
“Jess, would you like to shower, and I can fix you something to eat?” Carson asked. “I know it’s been a long couple of days for you too.”
“Uh, yes, that would be great. Where is the bathroom?” Then he remembered that she had never been here.
“Come.” He held out his hand. “I’ll show you.” He took her down the hall into a huge bedroom. She pulled away the minute the door opened, and she saw the bed.
Panic flooded her. She turned and was halfway down the hallway when he caught her and wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. She struggled and tried to fight. “Shush, I know you’re scared. Just breathe. I won’t hurt you. No one will ever hurt you again. I promise you.” He slowly turned her to look at him. He used his Beta power to soothe her. He spoke gently and walked them back to the room. “I am just going to show you where the washroom is and help you get settled,” he explained. He sat her down in front of the vanity. He laid out some towels and a washcloth and looked at her. She seems to be lost and I think she is in shock. He decided to run a bath for her instead of a shower. I will go and get you something of Kate’s to wear and I will set it on the bed for you. When you’re done, I will fix you something to eat.”
He went to open the door and Pete was standing there, sniffing the door.
“He smelled my fear and then growled at Carson.”
“Would you like him to stay in here with you?”
She just sat there staring at the ground and then nodded yes.
Carson knocked on Kate’s bedroom door. Jonathan opened the door. Carson held up a sandwich for him. “How is she?”
“Still out cold,” said Jonathan.
“Jess is in the shower. She is really shaken up. I need something for her to wear.”
Jonathan went to the dresser and pulled out some stuff and then went to the closet and got some more stuff and gave it to Carson. “Thanks, man.” Carson closed the door.
Jessica
Carson, as promised, put some of Kate’s things on the bed for Jess. Even her underwear. She just shook her head. Men obviously don’t understand that women don’t share underwear. Jess grabbed a sun dress and put it on. It was long enough so she opted to go commando until she could get home and get her own clothing.
Jess came out of the bedroom, and Carson was out grilling something on the grill. When he came in and saw her, he stopped. “Oh, you are done! How was your bath?”
“Great, I needed it,” Jess responded. “Thank you!”
“I am making some chicken on the gill. Hopefully you’re hungry. I made enough for a whole pack to eat.”
“I will try my best, but I am just one person,” said Jess.
Just then Bradley and several of his men came in. Jess ran to Bradley and hu
gged him. “Thank you for coming for me.”
“I will always, come for you, sister,” said Bradley. “Even before I knew you were blood; you were part of this family. We would have always come for you. Never doubt that.”
Tears filled Jessica’s eyes, because she never knew Bradley felt that she was family. She started to shake in Bradley’s arms. “I never knew that--”
He cut her off. “Shh, just know now. Wherever and however, we will come for you, always.”
Just then, a scream from upstairs came ringing through the house. “Kate!” said Bradley. They all ran upstairs to Kate’s bedroom. Bradley took charge instantly, going into the room. “Kate.” He looked at Jonathan, who had been thrown across the room. “What happened?” said Bradley.
“Wait, shush, she is calling out to me,” said Jess, walking over to Kate. “Daniel is in trouble and she astral-projected to him. The Howlers’ MC are torturing Daniel. Bradley was on his phone relaying everything to one of this men Jasper. Wait, there is a train nearby, and she thinks she is in a warehouse.” Then suddenly, Jess grabbed Kate’s hand and connected directly to her and she immediately fell on top of Kate as soon as she grabbed hold of her hand.
Jess looked around to see that she had astral projected to the warehouse. She was behind some crates. She heard Kate’s voice. “Don’t you touch him!” And then Daniel screamed as they electrocuted him.
“You motherfucker, I will kill you.”
Then Jess heard Daniel screaming more. She suddenly felt power rising in her at the sounds of Daniel screaming. She swirled her hand over the floor, and she knew she could pull anything from it. She knew Kate would want her fighting stick. So, she pulled two from it—one for each of them. Kate suddenly made her move and the force of white-hot power that came out of Kate’s hands and both vamps holding her were a pile of ash on the ground. Jess yelled “Kate” and threw her the fighting stick.
Kate
I heard Jessica call my name. She threw me a fighting stick. It grew in my hand as I thought of it. It wasn’t like Bradley’s fighting stick, but better. I didn’t even have to push a button to activate the blades on the ends. It just did as I thought and moved with my thoughts. I thought of my sword in my harness on one side and swiped it through the air and a neck of a vampire. I had the perfect weapon. I took down vamp after vamp and a few Howlers’ MC’s. “Jessica, Owen has turned some of the Howler’s MC’s take the kill shot.”
Jessica took down several men and met me in the middle. I heard gunfire outside as I blasted the man in the mask through a wall of the building. “Owen, you might as well take off the mask. I know it is you.”
By the time Bradley arrived with his men, Owen had vanished into thin air, and the mask was on the ground.
I turned around to see Daniel, my brother. He was beaten, then they had tortured him. I ran to him, and just as I got to him, I tried to get him down. “No, Kate, wait!” said Jess. I was thrown back against the wall just as Bradley came in.
“Aw, fuck, Kate!” Bradley ran to me.
“No, go get Danny,” I cried. “I am fine.”
Just as Bradley was helping me up, blood trickled down my face. Bradley’s men got Daniel down and laid him on the ground to assess his injuries. One of Bradley’s men, the medic, shook his head at Bradley.
“Man, it’s not good. He may not make it back to our medical in the truck.”
I broke at that point. “No, you don’t get to dictate his life. I refuse to lose my brother.” I ran over to him and knelt next to him. Half his body was burned from the torture. I cried. Then I placed my hand on him and it lit up. I knew what I had to do. “Jessica, come, I need you.” She saw that my hands were lit up. I can try healing him, but I needed you to take us to the security firm.
“I don’t know how to do that,” Jess said.
“Don’t worry; just place your hands down on mine, and I will do the rest.”
Bradley interrupted. “Wait, you can heal him?”
“I will do my best to try. Call Molly and have her meet us with a bed at the elevators in your building. I can only teleport to where I have been before. Call Jonathan and tell him to meet us there.”
Jessica placed her hands down on mine and the light got brighter, and we flashed to Nickels Security Firm, where Molly and Amanda where waiting for us. I helped Amanda get Daniel on the bed and into the elevator, where we ascended to the basement of Bradley’s new medical wing for his men and their missions.
On the way down I explained that I healed the worst of his burns and some internal bleeding and a massive head wound. I was so tired again after the fight and the power I used to heal him and to get us here. Jessica stayed by my side, she looked just as tired from my tapping into her power to get us here. Amanda ordered us to get out because she needed to get the rest of his burns cleaned up and place him in burn tube.
Molly saw how dead on my feet I was and that I was bleeding from my head. She took me into the next room and cleaned up the wound to my head until Amanda could stitch it up. I was holding a bandage to my head when Jonathan came roaring in.
Jonathan
“What the fuck, Kate? Do you know how frantic I was when you guys disappeared?” Then he stiffened when he saw the blood coming through the gauze I was holding to my head. “What happened?”
“Look, all I remember, was helping Jessica and talking to Momma, then everything went black.”
“You exhausted yourself and passed out,” said Jonathan.
“The next thing I knew, Daniel was in agony, and suddenly I was standing there in the building watching them torturing him.” I looked over through the window at him. “Then someone grabbed me, and I reached out to Jessica. She came and then we fought together, and Bradley and his men showed up. The man in the mask vanished after I blasted him through a wall. I saw Danny, and I tried to get him down, but the wires were still engaged on a wire box spring bed and I guess with my power it threw me back into a concert wall. I just need to shift, and it will heal. So, if you guys could step out, I will do that.”
Carson, Jess, and Molly stepped out of the room and shut the door. Jonathan and I stripped, and that was when I saw he was cut on the inside of his forearm. “What happened to you?”
“Yeah, um, I was holding your hand waiting for you to wake up, when you threw me across the room into your mirror, with your power.”
I gasped. “No. I am so sorry.” I hugged him and then we shifted together. Our wolves were happy to see each other. He nuzzled me and licked my wolf. Then we shifted back. Jessica and Carson stared at us in amazement.
We put our clothing back on just as Bradley and his men brought in three other young girls they had found locked up in the warehouse. One was badly beaten, and I felt her agony. She was no more than sixteen and weighed maybe 95 pounds. I couldn’t stand it and I walked over to her and place my hand over her stomach that she was clutching and took her pain away and healed her. She looked up at me as they began to wheel her into a room, and I smiled.
I turned back to Jonathan. “I need food.”
Molly spoke up. “There is pizza and subs in the lunchroom.” Just as we were walking down to get something to eat, someone was changing in the locker room and it sounded like they were sick. Carson and Jonathan went into the locker room to check on the poor guy who was hacking and throwing up.
“Shit, Bradley, are you okay?”
I heard his weak voice. “Get Amanda.”
I had never heard him so weak before. Carson came running out and down the hall to get Amanda. Jonathan came out carrying my brother over his shoulder in just a towel and I noticed a bandage around his forearm.
Jonathan laid him down in a bed in the room we had just come from. Molly and Amanda rushed in. Amanda touched him and checked his eye. “Shit, he is burning up.” She rushed out and then came back with a syringe of something. Before giving him the syringe, she unwrapped the bandage on his arm. He had been bitten by a vamp in a fight on the way into the warehouse.
<
br /> “Does anyone know what did this?” she asked as she took some blood. “That is a vampire bite”. I said.
“Where is Greg?” asked Molly. “He is the field medic and he would know what happened.”
“I’ll find him,” said Carson.
“Okay, I need everyone out.”
“No,” said Molly. “I am not leaving him.”
“You know how bad this gets, and if you end up hurt--” Amanda began strapping Bradley down. Jonathan took Molly outside the door. Amanda grabbed the syringe and gave Bradley a shot of something. Just before she got to the door, Bradley broke free from the straps and grabbed Amanda by the throat and had her against the wall, choking her. She grabbed his wrist. “Bradley, please!” She gasped for air.
I stepped back in the room. “Bradley, put Amanda down now,” I ordered. He growled. “Molly, come here,” I said. She came and stood by me. “He won’t hurt you. You are his mate. Bradley,” I called out softly. “Molly is the one you need. Put Amanda down gently and come see Molly.”
Just as I said it, he turned to Molly and scented her. I went to Amanda as Bradley picked up Molly and lay with her on the bed. He wrapped himself around her and calmed down. I shut the door behind us. We went to the lab with Amanda and made sure she was okay.
“Now, explain what the hell that was?” Greg came in with Carson. “Bradley was bitten on the arm by a vamp, I think.”
Amanda went off on Greg. “Why didn’t you report it to me?”
“I didn’t even know about it. You know I would never do that,” said Greg. “He didn’t tell me.” Then he saw the bruising forming on her neck. He moved her chin from side to side. “Aw, shit, I am sorry.”
“Hello.” I snapped my fingers. “Remember me? What is going on with Bradley?” And you, Greg, you need to step back away from my mated sister-in-law.”