Seven Bridges

by Ciana Stone

  He didn't seem at all afraid. "You're not a good shot, love," he chuckled and then continued. "Well, Isabelle, what is the answer? After all these years and all that's past between us. You said that first night that you'd never forgive us. Never love us. Maybe God would, but not you. Is that true or merely something you cling to because you don't want to admit that you forgave us long ago. The first time we took you. When you were eleven, and your grandparents thought you'd run away. And remember when you were fourteen? You were far more ready then.

  "Not as passionate as you were a few years ago, though. Ah, yes, I see from your expression you remember now."

  "Oh, I remember, Galen. I remember it all."

  "Galen?" Gib struggled to sit upright. "Where's Galen? Iz, what's going in?"

  "Don't Gib. Save your strength. Please."

  Izzi kept her eye on the man who'd made her life hell. More correctly, at one of the men. She wasn't sure which of them she hated more.

  "Maybe the truth is, you've loved us all along." His taunt interrupted her thoughts.. "You just couldn't admit it."

  "Not a chance," she insisted. "My answer is still the same. I'll never forgive you."

  "But God might."

  "Maybe. But I'm not God."

  And then she pulled the trigger. Three times in quick succession. The one who had a name let go of the girl and ran. The other stumbled, reached for the door frame for support, and then fell, pulling the child down with him.

  Izzi heard sirens. She turned to check Gib. He was unconscious but breathing. She stood and hurried across the room. "Hello, sweetheart," she said to the child. "My name's Isabelle. I won't hurt you."

  "He will."

  "Not anymore," Izzi said and reached out to touch the little girl.

  The child flinched and then dove into Izzi's arms, trembling and sobbing softly. Izzi held her close, then stood with the child wrapped around her body. She looked down at the man on the floor. Even in the waning light, she could see the blood that stained his shirt. Two of the bullets had found their mark, one in the center of his chest and the other in his lower abdomen. He wouldn't survive long.

  "You shot the wrong one, Isabelle," the monster panted the words. "He'll continue to kill, you know. And he'll keep coming after you. After all of you. He'll plan the perfect, horrible end for each of you."

  "Will he? He's never killed anyone. He plans it all for you, videos what you do, and yes, takes pleasure in watching it happen, but he's never killed. You're the one who likes to torture and cause pain. You're the real killer."

  "We're the real killer. He and I. We're one and the same. Don't you know that by now?"

  "I know all of it. I remember everything, you psycho. You're both insane and deserve to rot in hell. I'm betting you will, both of you, but you're going to get their first. And he won't get away. There's nowhere he can hide now that we know who he is. But you? You won't last five more minutes."

  "I'd like to slit your throat."

  "Not going to happen." She said and then jumped slightly at the sound of a voice in her comm unit. It was Leo.

  "We're here, Izzie. We're here. Are you okay?"

  "Gib needs help now. Please hurry."

  She ignored the dying man on the floor and carried the child back to where Gib lay on the floor.

  "Sit right here, sweet girl," she said as she sat and placed the child on the floor beside her. The little girl wrapped herself around Izzi's side, hanging on tight and still shaking.

  "It's okay," Izzi tried to assure her. "You're safe now. I just need to check on my friend, okay?'

  "Okay," the girl's response was barely above a whisper.

  Izzi put her hand on the side of Gib's face. "Gib? Can you hear me? Gib?"

  "Iz?"

  "Help is here. Just hang on. We're safe now."

  She wasn't sure she fully believed that, but it was important that he feel safe. Seconds later, the yard was awash in lights, flashing red, blue, and white. Leo was the first one in the door and tripped over the monster on the floor.

  "Oh my god, is that–?"

  "No," Izzi interrupted. "It's his twin."

  "Dear God,"

  Leo hurried to her and knelt beside Gib.

  "Hey buddy, the medics are coming in the door now. Hang on, you hear?"

  "I'm not going anywhere." Gib's voice was weak but determined.

  Leo smiled, put his hand on Gib's shoulder, and then looked at Izzi. "Who shot him?"

  "I did."

  "Izzi, this twin thing."

  "I'll explain it all, I promise," she stood as the medics reached them and stepped out of their way.

  As soon as they had Gib loaded onto a gurney and were headed for the door, she fell in behind them and followed them to the ambulance. "We have to go with him. And this child needs medical attention."

  No one argued, for which she was grateful. Within minutes she was sitting beside Gib, holding his hand as the child clung to her.

  "What happened to the child?" One of the medics asked.

  "Her eyes were cut."

  "Good god,"

  he activated his radio to communicate to the hospital that along with a gunshot victim, they had a child with eye trauma coming in.

  "Thank you," Izzi said.

  "You bet."

  "Iz?"

  Gib opened his eyes. "Are you okay?"

  "I am. We're safe now."

  "And the unsub?"

  The last thing she wanted to do was lie, but this wasn't the place or time to try to explain it to him, so she fibbed a bit. "I shot him."

  "Dead?"

  "I don't know." That part was correct. She had no clue if the monster was still alive. The awful part was she almost hoped not, although if he lived, it might give them a better chance of finding his twin.

  That revelation was going to hit everyone hard, and she dreaded having to explain. But she'd face that when the time came.

  Right now, all she cared about was Gib surviving and getting help for the child.

  Everything else could wait.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Six Months Later – Cabarrus County, NC

  "He looks like a cowboy," Alex said, which caused Izzi to look up from the task of pulling radishes out of the ground.

  "Ha, you're right," she leaned over to give Alex a one-armed hug then raised her arm to wave at Gib as he walked toward them.

  Dressed in faded jeans, a button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and a straw cowboy hat, he did indeed look like one of those handsome cowboys on the pages of a magazine. She smiled and thought about how blessed she was to have a life with him.

  He and Alex. Since Alex's family was dead, Gib pulled some strings, and Izzi adopted the child. She was as sweet as the day was long, and had not complained at all about the three surgeries required to restore her vision.

  The only complaint she had was that she'd wanted her eyes to be like Izzi's.

  Izzi hadn't known she wanted a child until Alex was thrust into her life. Now she couldn't imagine life without the child. Or without Gib. While he'd said upfront that he didn't want to raise another child, his stance had changed. Now Alex was the little sister his grown children doted on, and the little girl who idolized him.

  It was more than Izzi had hoped for, and she counted her blessings daily. Her only concern was that Alex was more like her than anyone realized. Izzi could sense the child's awakening abilities and tried daily to guide her on how to deal with them.

  "Well, don't you two look happy as pigs in mud," Gib said as he squatted down beside Izzi and reached out to ruffle Alex's hair,

  "Are pigs happy in mud?" Alex asked.

  "To tell you the truth, I don't know," Gib admitted.

  Izzi's laugh was cut short. Two things happened simultaneously. Alex's head popped up, neck straight, and stretched up like a little rabbit catching the scent of a predator. And a voice sounded in Izzi's mind.

  Have you missed me?

  Izzi brushed off her hand
s, smiled at Gib, and gathered up her tools and basket. "How about we go inside and fix ice-cream cones?"

  Alex looked up at her with a puzzled look on her face, and Izzy gestured. "Grab your stuff, girlie, and let's get to that ice cream."

  "Yes, ma'am. Want me to put your tools in the potting shed?"

  "That'd be very nice. Thank you, Alex."

  "She goes out of her way to be helpful," Gib commented as Alex dashed off with the garden tools.

  "We're not alone." Izzi hated to announce it so abruptly, but there was no time to beat around the bush. Her monster had returned, and she was certain he was close.

  "Alex!" Gib called, and when they saw her exit the shed, he waved to her. "Come on, slowpoke!"

  He then addressed Izzi. "Can you sense where he is?"

  "No."

  "Are you sure it's him? The last I heard from Leo, they had no leads at all."

  "It's him," she forced a smile to her face as Alex ran up to them. "Ready for that ice cream cone?"

  "Double scoop?" Alex asked, hopefully.

  "You bet. Now go wash your hands."

  "Yes, ma'am!" Alex grinned and started to dash inside, but came to an abrupt halt. "I left the radishes and tomatoes in the basket. I'll go get them."

  Izzy looked at Gib and nodded before responding to Alex. "Okay, but don't dawdle."

  "I won't."

  Alex hurried back the way she'd come, and Gib opened the back door, speaking to Izzi as she preceded him into the house. "Are you certain? Could it be your mind playing tricks?"

  "I'm certain." Izzi toed off her shoes in the laundry room and placed them on the shoe rack before continuing to the kitchen. The moment she crossed through the doorway, she jerked to a stop, and Gib ran into her, knocking her a foot into the room.

  "Sorry, I didn't expect you to–" he didn't finish the sentence.

  "Hello, Gib. Isabelle," Galen smiled at them from where he stood at the kitchen sink, holding a butcher's knife in one hand, with the index finger of his free hand on the tip of the blade as if testing its sharpness.

  "You were foolish to show up here," Gib said and positioned himself between Galen and Izzi. "You know I can't let you leave."

  Galen chuckled. "And how, exactly, do you plan on stopping me." He pointed the knife at the kitchen table where Gib's weapon lay, dismantled.

  Izzi admired Gib's reaction. He wasn't boastful or brash, just matter of fact in his tone and stance."I don't need that to stop you." arg

  "No?" Galen smiled. "Are you sure about that?"

  Galen was clearly trying to goad Gib and Izzi feared that if he pushed hard enough, Gib would lose his cool. "Stop it," she spoke loud and in the harshest tone she could muster. "Gib's right, you shouldn't be here. How do you know I didn't access a panic button on the way in?"

  "Isabelle, my love, you know I would have sensed that. You weren't even aware I was in your lovely home."

  "But I am now, and since this has always been between you and me, let's keep it that way."

  "You're right about that. Does he know?" Galen gestured to toward Gib with the knife.

  "Know what?" Gib asked.

  "About Isabelle and me, of course. Our… relationship."

  "You don't have a relationship with her,"

  "Not as Galen Morris, BAU agent. In that you're correct. But as the man who deflowered her, taught her what passion is, and guided her through life, I am the most long-lasting and important relationship of her life."

  "That's crap and you know it," Gib argued.

  "Ah, I see," Galen looked at Izzi. "You never told him the truth."

  "The truth about what?" Izzi could hear a hint of suspicion in his voice.

  "About how he and his psychotic twin raped me the night their father killed my mother and brother. About them taking me from my grandparents home when I was eleven, and again when I was fourteen. About how he let that monster he called brother beat and rape me during those times and when he had me locked in that cage."

  She looked directly at Galen as she spoke. "Is that the truth you want him to know? Or would you prefer that I tell him how you always showed up and used whatever you call the ability to possess, to calm me, to make me think you wanted to protect me, but only at a price and one more insidious and humiliating that the straight-out torture and rape your twin preferred.

  "Do you want me to tell him all that? Or can I simply leave it at the fact that I hate you. I hate you for what you did to me, what you made me do and for fooling me all these years, letting me – letting all of us believe you were a man of morals and honor, when in fact, you're a sociopath who deserves the same fate as your brother."

  For a moment she thought he would come at them, but after a tense moment, he smiled and looked at Gib. "What she can't bring herself to admit is that she's miffed I didn't reveal myself to her sooner. She has and always will love me. Want me. I'm the one – the only one who can take the pain away, or make her feel things she's ashamed to admit she crave."

  "You're right," Izzi took a step closer. "I am ashamed. Ashamed I wasn't stronger. As a child and as a teenager. I should have fought harder, forced you to kill me. But I let fear rule and for that I will always be regret.

  "But I'm no longer a child and I now see you clearly for the monster you are. You've betrayed everyone who ever cared about you, watched lives be snuffed out for your entertainment and lust. You're not worthy of love or even pity. You're worthless."

  "Me thinks she doeth protest too much," he quipped.

  "Oh?" she challenged him. "Then let Gib and Alex leave and then it'll just be you and me."

  "Hmm, as tempting an offer as that is, I don't think so. I do want him to leave. Just not alive. And Alex is part of our family now, so she stays with us."

  "She's just a child. Let her and Gib leave, or you lose it all."

  "Oh? How do you figure that?"

  "Because if you don't, I'll fight you until you kill me, and by then, they will be long gone."

  "I won't leave you with this monster," Gib argued and snatched up a dishtowel from the counter. He wrapped it around one hand and took a step toward Galen.

  "Oh this is priceless," Galen taunted. "You think you can take me, old man. Then come on. You want to kill me? Now's your chance."

  Gib rushed at Galen, who swiped at him with the knife. Gib managed to dodge the thrust and struck out at Galen, who attacked again, this time drawing blood from Gib's upper arm. His shirt quickly turned red, but he continued to attack and evade.

  Izzi screamed at Galen. "Let him go, Galen, or I swear to God I'll kill you."

  He laughed and circled around Gib, putting his back to the door leading to the dining room. That's when Izzi saw Alex, peering around the doorway. She prayed the child would stay out of sight, but Alex did just the opposite.

  As Gib grabbed one of the wooden candlesticks from the table, Alex suddenly leaped out. In her hand was the hatchet they used to split kindling. Before Izzi could do more than open her mouth, Alex struck.

  Galen's mouth opened in a silent howl, and his body bowed as the hatchet bit into him. He tried to turn, and when he did, Alex swung again, this time catching him in the left thigh. Blood spurted and Gib dove at Galen.

  They went down in a heap, and Galen lost his grip on the knife. It skittered across the floor as he and Gib rolled on the floor, vying for dominance. Despite his injuries, Galen was strong and managed to end up on top of Gib with his hands around Gib's throat.

  Izzi lunged for the knife, and Galen released Gib to dive toward her. She fell back with the knife gripped in both hands, and before he could land, Alex attacked again with the hatchet, burying it in his back.

  Galen roared and whirled around. He grabbed Alex by the throat. By then, Gib was on his feet. He took hold of the handle of the hatchet and wrenched it free. He slammed it into Galen's back again, and Galen screamed and released Alex, who fell to the floor, retching and gasping for air.

  "Get Alex and get out of here!" Izzi screamed
a moment before Galen collapsed on top of her, impaling himself onto the knife Izzi held. It embedded in his diaphragm. He had time to gasp in shock, blink, and then collapse as the blade punctured his heart.

  Izzi screamed and shoved at him as he collapsed onto her. By then, Gib had moved Alex out of the way and had hold of Galen by one arm. He dragged Galen off Izzi, and she bolted up.

  "Alex, get the bandages from the bathroom. Hurry." She then jumped up and grabbed Gib's phone from the sideboard. "Call 911 while I bandage you."

  He didn't argue.

  Alex raced in with the bandages, and first aid and Izzi got to work. None of the cuts were life-threatening, but he'd lost a lot of blood. When she finished, she looked at Alex. "Are you okay, sweetheart?"

  "Will God hate me for what I did?"

  "Of course not, sweetheart. You were just trying to help save us."

  "But I helped kill someone. Just like him. He said I'd be like him because now he was my dad and he became like his dad. He said I would become like him and his brother. The one without a name."

  "What else did he say?" Gib asked.

  "That thanks to Izzi not agreeing to be his special girl, he had to make others. One every year on her birthday. He said if he died, they would find who killed him and make them pay."

  "What do you mean, he made others?"

  "Like himself," Izzi said quietly, trying to keep the emotion from her voice. "I remember it now. All of it. The time they took me when I was eleven and when I was almost fifteen and the time he held me prisoner when you saved me. They took other girls and turned them into creatures under their control. They touched those children with their evil and turned them into killers.

  "You mean there are girls out there killing because Galen and his twin taught them to murder?"

  "They taught them to torture and kill. Yes."

  "Dear God, Iz. Is that what he was going to do to you? To Alex?"

  "Yes," she nodded and then pulled Alex close to her side. "But we're not of the dark, and he couldn't turn our spirits away from the light. Right, Alex?"

  Izzi realized Alex was staring at Galen and didn't seem at all affected by the blood or the sight of the knife buried in his diaphragm. "Alex?"