by T. E. Joshua
“No, I don’t know where to go.…” Then she stopped and thought for a moment and said, “Come with me. I can’t do this without you, Tristan.” There was some hint of desperation within her voice.
“Not now, I have to talk with them. Maybe I can get them to stop. I’ll figure it out.”
Natalie then tried to see if everything else worked. She even turned on the radio. The station was set on a local talk show here in Blackfalls.
“Everything is working. Great.”
The station was static, but in the background I could the voice of a male announcer. His words murmured and were low. I heard him say, “More bodies were found today.”
“What? Adjust the knob. It’s kind of static,” I demanded. Natalie did as I said.
The announcer gave a detailed story about another murder that had taken place this morning near campus.
The announcer said, “… a body found. A short while ago, a local female student of Blackfalls University was found dead in a nearby creek within the city limits. She had been beaten to death. The reason is still unknown, and the Blackfalls police have no new information about the attacker or attackers. The only link the police have is the connection with three other murders that have been taken place in the last week. All four victims’ heads were severed from the body.”
A dark chill ran down my neck, as I had an idea of who the killers were. The announcer continued with other stories, but Natalie turned down the volume to a minimum.
Natalie Schultz glared at me with her mouth slightly open. She then frantically asked, “Do you know who is killing my sorority sisters? This is too much! I’m scared!”
I didn’t respond.
She continued, “I knew three of the four girls that were murdered. Possibly the fourth one is a Kappa Omega as well. One of them was my close friend, Sheridan McCullough.”
At that moment, I knew whoever had killed those poor girls was after Natalie. She was marked for death. My clan wasn’t responsible—well, not to my knowledge. James and I had had our suspicion about Aaron killing random Reborns associated with Natalie. No. It couldn’t be him. Something wasn’t adding up.
I hesitated and answered, “Maybe …” I paused. “I have an idea on who they might be.”
“Who are they?” Natalie demanded. She was frightened. “Another girl is dead because of me! It was supposed to be me!”
“Listen, I doubt the killers were from my clan.”
“It has to be one of your own! Who else would it be?” She began to panic.
“I don’t know for sure.” There wasn’t any time. I ran around the car and jumped into the passenger seat and closed the door. “Drive to your place. Pack only necessary items. We are leaving Blackfalls before nightfall. You can’t tell your parents or sisters about what has taken place. If they have any knowledge about the Naiche tribe or the events that have taken place here, they will die. If they don’t know anything then my people will leave them alone.”
“Please, my family has nothing to do with—”
I interrupted her. “They won’t perish. I promise.”
14
Arrival of the Nomads
TIME WAS AGAINST US. THE Awakened Reborn smashed her foot against the gas pedal as we came upon Cobblestone Manor. She slowed down to be let inside the front gate. The security guard glared at us, especially me. Suspecting that she was driving against her will, he asked her if everything was okay. Considering the damaged vehicle we were driving, I couldn’t blame him for being suspicious.
“Just a little accident, Marvin,” Natalie said softly.
“Okay, Natalie. I had to ask. Your father just came home; I’ll inform him of your arrival.”
“No!” she exclaimed. Marvin took a step back. “That’s okay. He is expecting me and my friend. You don’t have to inform him.”
“Okay, Ms. Schultz. Have a good day,” Marvin said. As we drove past the golden gate, he continued to glare at us with honest suspicion. I assumed he was going to inform her father anyway.
“Step on it. Your father can’t know that I am here. We have to move quickly,” I urged.
“Right, stay in the car while I pack a bag or two.”
Soon, she disappeared through the front door, leaving the car running on low fuel. “Come on, Bodaway. Think,” I said to myself. We would have to ditch her car and take mine. Natalie’s scent would be easily tracked by the others. For the moment, I scanned through my mind for a few safe places to hide out. One was in Nebraska, a farm in the boondocks. There, my clan had murdered an elderly man named Fred. I didn’t remember the reasoning of his death, not that it was important.
Then there was an old shack in the southeast part of Arizona. I vaguely recalled the place being void of human contact. I could hide her for a few days and try to figure things out. There was a small fresh food market not too far from the shack. We could get fresh food daily while I devised a plan of action.
Wait, I thought, the elementary school near Red Valley. It was abandoned and outside of a small mountain town. Alope and I had to spend a night there before we left for our next hunt. That was months ago. It was perfect—almost too perfect—yet risky as hell. The town was maybe fifty or sixty miles from Red Valley. It would be too close for comfort, but I suspect they wouldn’t look for us in their own backyard, so to speak.
Then I saw Natalie rush outside, place a black suitcase on the porch, and run back inside.
“To befriend an Awakened Reborn is to die. To love one”—I could hear the voice of my father and his would pause—“is to step into an era of oblivion.”
“Father, I am sorry for failing you,” I muttered in shame.
I remembered a story told to me by Inca Manwolf some time ago about a second-class warrior letting go of his hunt. It was a girl—not an Awakened Reborn, just a Reborn. After the encounter, he returned to Red Valley and reported his failure. His reasoning was never revealed to anyone except to the Tribal Council as he pleaded for her life. My father remained undecided about his fate, but he was executed—by us, the Lakota clan. It was a swift beheading. He willingly died. I never knew his name, but he was young like me. I could see the emotions in his eyes. Something had happened on his hunt, a dark secret he would never tell.
“Do you have any last words?” I had asked before I cut his head off.
He was down on his knees, his hands bound together with rope, and he glared up at me and said, “Bodaway, never let your target go. Don’t make the same mistake I have.”
“I’m sorry, friend.”
“I’m sorry as well,” he muttered as his final words. Then I sliced his neck with my sword. His head rolled in the dirt. The expression on his face wasn’t surprised or frightened of death. It was sad. I never knew why he had failed to kill the Reborn. But now, with Natalie, I thought I was beginning to understand. Maybe he’d … loved her. Maybe he’d felt sorry for her. Maybe he’d befriended her. Who knew?
The Reborn was let go. Later she was hunted down and blown to pieces with an energy wave by another clan. That was almost a year ago. At the time, I didn’t ponder too much about it since I had never known the warrior. Killing Reborns was what I did—what we did. Hunting down Reborns across the world was just a part of everyday life—sneaking onto ships, traveling to distant islands, and even looking for one in vast deserts or small caves. I had particularly enjoyed what I’d done. But now, times had changed. I no longer cared for the joy of killing Reborns. The Covenant didn’t make a difference to me. Only pleasing my father mattered—but as of now I would disappoint him. At this point in my life, Natalie’s safety was the only thing that mattered to me. She was good person and, more importantly, a good friend.
Would the same fate happen to me, a swift beheading? It was likely, but I wouldn’t go down so easily. Natalie Schultz wasn’t going to suffer the same fate as my previous victims. I seriously doubted the Tribal Council would try
to execute me, the Promised Child of Naiche. They needed me alive. Father wouldn’t allow them to kill one of his children. Even though my actions were considered unforgivable, the Promised Child wasn’t expendable. I considered myself somewhat safe; however, Natalie was promised death. Proclaiming to my father that we were friends would infuriate him. Regardless of what might become of me or how I pled, he would have her killed.
As the morning dwindled and the afternoon approached, I took a deep breath and prayed a quiet pray to Lucian. “Dear Lucian, father of us all, lord of the Naiche, forgive me for what I’m about to do. I know you will understand, in your great wisdom.”
“Wisdom?” a demonic voice said. I froze.
“Lucian?” I asked.
“It is I. Killing the daughter of Schultz is what matters. Come back to me, my Promised Child, and you will be forgiven. There is no such thing as good or evil, light or darkness, right or wrong—there is only power. Glorify me and your clan will be spared.”
I froze. Give her up to him? No. No! Never! I refused.
“Don’t be foolish. You can’t survive against me or my people. I am the most high,” Lucian said.
Then I unleashed 10 percent of the dema. There I saw a black entity gawking at me with reddish pupils and catlike eyes, dark and morbid. He rose from the ground like a vapor, its mouth as wide as its face.
“No!” I yelled, smashing the dashboard with my right hand.
Then I awoke. It was a nightmare. I must have drifted off to sleep. I hadn’t really heard Lucian’s voice, had I?
“Come on, Bodaway. Don’t lose it. You can get through this alive,” I whispered to myself. “Come on, where are you, Natalie?”
I heard the sound of a door shut. Natalie walked over to my car with two suitcases. I motioned for her to put her luggage in the backseat. I stepped out to help her.
“Finally,” I spat.
“Sorry, I had to get the most important items,” she explained.
“Listen, we might have to pick up my car and leave yours at the house.”
“Won’t your family be waiting there for us?” she pointed out. It was a reasonable concern.
“Possibly, but they will be able to track us in your vehicle. Your scent covers the metal and fiberglass, leaving an odor to trace. It’s a risk we can’t take. At least with my car, they won’t be able to track us. As long as you don’t get out of the car, the scent won’t wonder into the air and they’ll pick it up.”
“I guess so. I didn’t realize my scent was that strong?”
“It is. Did you say anything to your father?”
“No, but I left them a note that I will be gone for a few days. I said a crisis came up and was going to visit a friend in Dallas over the weekend. My father was busy taking a business call in his room. I’m sure he’ll call my cellular phone later.”
“Why did you say Dallas, Texas?”
“Yes, why is there a problem with Dallas?”
“Nothing, just a flash back,” I muttered. “I—well, never mind.” James and I had slaughtered a Reborn family in Dallas last summer.
“What’s the plan?”
I looked away in wonder, thinking of the fight to come between James and me. Leaning against the driver side car door and thinking that they’ll track Natalie’s car. I hoped they didn’t put Naiche medicine on my car. Liyah would be the one do it since she learned how to from her father, Inca Manwolf.
“Leave town. I need to get you away from here as soon as possible. We need to switch vehicles.”
Then she walked around the car and placed her hands on my chest. I jolted back. The sudden touch between us raised my dema a bit.
“Don’t do that!” I exclaimed in rage. “You could set me off.”
“Sorry. I’m just nervous about this whole ordeal.”
“Look Natalie, I know things seemed dark, but we can get through this. We just have to be smart about it. First, we need to get you out of here. Second, once you have a safe harbor, I’ll check in with my people and hopefully work something out. I’ll drive.”
Natalie got into the passenger seat as I sat back down in the driver side. I quickly adjusted the seat to my height and comfort. Now she seemed to be more relaxed. “Then where will we go?”
“Maybe we can go south into the state of Texas. I can hide you at a hotel or homeless shelter—a safe place with lots of people. That should hold them at bay. They won’t attack in public, in daylight, or with potential witnesses. The Naiche like to keep a low profile.”
“But what if …” Natalie trailed off, her mouth wide. “It’s one of the girls from earlier,” Natalie whispered. “She’s behind you.”
Then I sensed her dema. It was Alope. I turned around and saw her peeking out from behind a tree. She had been spying on us the entire time. “No, as I have feared, they’re already on to us.” I leaned into Natalie and said, “We don’t have time. We have to move now!”
I backed out of the driveway and darted out of Cobblestone Manor, speeding toward the highway.
As we drove off, I looked in my rearview mirror and saw Alope emerge from behind the tree. Her face was sad with a hint of envy. She didn’t pursue us. To my shock, it was just her. She grew smaller in the broken rearview mirror. “Sorry, Alope. I have to do this,” I muttered as if she could hear me.
We left the city limits of Blackfalls, passing the university and downtown area. Yet there was no sign of my clan. I was worried. I was expecting the others to confront or surprise attack me. We were only a few miles away from the highway that led south into Texas.
“No, how could I forget!” I almost forgot about my car, much less my weapon of choice. The thought swept through my mind like a wave of energy. I remembered scrambling through old clothes and small knives the day before. I had popped open the trunk and left my sword in the bedroom, the same place where I slept next to James and Aaron. “I can’t leave without it.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I need my sword.”
The house of Eis was down the road, about half of a mile away.
“I need my sword,” I said forcefully. “I feel lost without it.”
“What sword?”
“It’s a special sword. Family owned. There is only four of its kind. It’s back at the house where we stayed. Regardless, we have to make a detour to get my car. The problem is the sword is in the house. They could be home,” I explained. I wiped the sweat from my forehead, flustered and out of options. If they decided to attack us with weapons, I couldn’t defend myself with mere daggers. My sword was a part of my life; it always had been. “I’m going to get it once we get there.”
“Are you crazy? Your people want to kill us! It’s a red zone! We would be found for sure, and then what?”
“I know that! I have to risk going inside to retrieve it.”
Natalie sighed. Her mood became edgy. I veered to an exit close enough to the house of Eis Lakota. Natalie grabbed onto the dashboard and ordered me to slow down. I ignored her, speeding underneath a bridge and taking an additional exit down the dirt road.
“Is this sword that important?”
“Yes!” I exclaimed, trying to remain calm. “It belonged to my father and his father before him. It’s been in my family for a long time. I can’t leave it.”
The sword of the Naiches, one of four swords, was my primary weapon. Father, my brother, Lyonell, and I all carried one. The fourth sword was held by the statue of Naiche in the temple in Red Valley. It was never to be removed from the statue’s hands. The dark spirits guarded the temple within the walls, and the Spirit Whispers acted as their slaves.
“Once we get there, I’m going to park in the woods. From there, we have to walk to my car. Load your things while I make a run for it inside. I’ll be in and out—two minutes, tops.”
Natalie kept quiet, looking wonderingly into t
he dark woods. She rubbed her fingers against the window, mumbling something.
“What’s wrong?”
She didn’t respond.
“Natalie, what is it?”
Within a few seconds, she uttered, “You, like the others, want to kill me.”
“No, if I wanted you dead then I would have …” I paused, thinking about the next words. She looked back at me with her mouth slightly open. “I would have beheaded you last night behind Leroy’s Place. I almost did.”
“Yet you could be a hero right now, the boy who killed an Awakened Reborn.”
“That doesn’t matter to me. I was merely doing a job, nothing more.”
“You’re lying,” Natalie said vehemently.
“How would you know? You don’t know me like that.”
Then she said, “Not yet.”
The house of Eis Lakota emerged from the black trees. I slowed down. “There it is,” I said. “Good, I don’t see anyone’s cars except my own. They must not be here.”
I spoke too soon, as the tailgate of James’s truck came into sight. He parked the truck around the house with the driver side door open. A track of mud trailed from the front porch and into the house. Yet I couldn’t sense his dema.
I parked her car. Natalie grabbed her luggage. We both crept low to the ground and took baby steps toward my car. I saw no one. “Hurry up and get inside the car, they’ll smell your scent.”
Natalie opened my trunk and placed her two bags inside and slammed the trunk. The noise echoed. Great!
“Can you be any louder?” I asked.
Then she paused as if she had seen a monster. He mouth dropped. She stared aimlessly behind me as I barely felt the dema of my best friend.
“He’s here,” Natalie said gruesomely.
Then I saw him. James stood against the front porch. I could barely sense him; he must have lowered his dema to near nothing. But why would he do that? Doing so would make him completely vulnerable and open for attack. He had no weapons on him. The others must be near. This could be a trap.