“You have only to tell me what it is, my lady, and I’ll do my best to do or fix it for you.” She laughed and said he was much like his father. “Thank you. I’m proud to know you think that. But you tell me, and Allie and I will do it for you.”
“The gateway that you saw earlier. The one that is covered in vines. We’re unable to cross into that area, and I cannot read the earth to know why.” He asked her if it was their land. “Yes, it belongs to you and Allie. Before it belonged to the Wilsons. I’m afraid of why we cannot cross into that land, and know that if anyone can find out, it would be you and your lovely mate.”
“Are you missing anyone? Some of your people not accounted for?” She nodded, and it was so sad that his own heart seemed to break a little for it. “Tomorrow. We’ll see what we can find out in the morning. We’re to have dinner with my family that evening, but we’ll see what we can find up until then.”
“You’ll need more protection. I don’t know that you’ll need it, but I wish to give it to you both.” She pulled the sword from the air, and he nearly reached for it when she spoke again. “You are armed with your tiger, Sampson. He will be stronger than he is now, with armor to call upon should it be necessary. The same for your mate. If the sword wishes to belong to her, then she will have this to keep her safe as well.”
Allie joined them, still laughing as she had been before. Aurora explained what she needed and what she didn’t know about the wooded area. When she asked Allie if she’d take the sword if it would allow her to, Allie didn’t hesitate a moment but put out her hand. The sword seemed to fly to her hands, and Sampson stood up when Allie cried out.
Chapter 5
Howie sat in the courtroom, chained up like an animal. With all the shit that he had to remember to do today, he didn’t need to be chained to the floor too. Even his hands were shackled to the table so that when he gave his best performance, he’d have to knock his head against the chains to make it look good. He looked for the jury that he was sure should have been in here by now.
When they were all told to stand up, Howie was sure that they were going to call them now. They were going to be his ticket out of here. As soon as he could play them as he had everyone else, he was going to be released. He had a promise to fulfill, and the sooner he was able to do that, the sooner he could go to the graves of his sister and brother and let them know that he’d not failed them. Then he’d get the money.
Howie tried his best not to think of the cash that they had hidden. It was, he thought, right under their noses. At least his sister’s nose. He did worry about what would happen if she were to sell off the house without them knowing, but Heath had told him that he was keeping an eye on it so that they’d be able to get to it before the house was no longer theirs. As it should have been.
He’d been the only one living at home. It should, by all rights, have been his. When he thought of all the fun—
“Young man, are you listening to me?” He said he was sorry to the judge, telling him that he was afraid. “I’m sure you are. But where is your attorney? I know one was sent to you this morning.”
“I was hoping that my big sister would help me out with someone.” Howie looked around the room again and still didn’t see her. “It could be why she’s running late. I know that when she and I spoke the other day, we discussed her getting someone for me to help with this trial. My other sister and my brother, they sure did steer me wrong, and I told Allison that.”
“Allison Prince?” He told the judge that his sister’s name was Allison Sheppard. “I believe that she got married just the other day. Right here in this courthouse. Let me check on that a moment.”
Howie tried to think if Allie had told him she was getting married. If she had, then that would change the way things went for him. Her husband would have to be in on every conversation she had with him. Also, if her husband was that big guy she’d come to see him with, then Howie thought that he was going to have to work three times harder to win him over than he would the jury. Fuck, fuck fuckity.
“Yes, your sister was married just yesterday, as a matter of fact. She and Sampson have a nice home from what I’m to understand.” Howie laid his head on the table to hide this annoyance from the people in the courtroom. “I’m sorry you had to find out this way. But perhaps they’ll be in later to speak to you about things. In the meantime, we’ll call a recess and adjourn until after lunch to see where we are about you having an attorney. If she isn’t in by then, we’ll have to find you a court appointed one, as I have already done to get this pretrial on the way.”
When he finally looked at the judge, Howie thought that he had better control over his temper. It would do him no good to be mad at this man—the man who held all the cards. Standing up almost too quickly, Howie faked a slight fall to make himself look feeble.
“Thank you, sir. You don’t know how much I appreciate this.” Howie was told to be careful as he was helped to stand by one of the many cops that had come to be with him today. It was on the tip of his tongue to ask the judge if they thought he was going to suddenly be able to break the chains and run, but he was being on his best behavior today.
Thinking about all his plans for when he was released, he had to figure in things like he’d have to report to some bozo, or stay with someone that would keep him in line. There wouldn’t be anyone in the world that would be able to do that, not so long as he had a gun and a car. Once he got to his money, he’d be moving to another country in about ten seconds, he thought.
“What do you have to be happy about?” He asked the police officer what he meant. “You were smiling like you’d just gotten a line on a deal that you can’t pass up. What’s up? You do know that you have to come back here, right?”
“My sister will be able to get me a good attorney, and then I’ll be a better kid.” He had to remember that he was to call himself a kid. It had pissed him off if anyone else called him that when he’d been out with his brother and sister. But “kid” would make people think he was much too young for the crimes he’d committed. “I’m not sure where I went wrong, but having an older sister and brother leading me around, it seemed right at the time. You know what I mean?”
“I do, but I’d not expect to play those particular cards with the jury if I were you.” He asked him what he was talking about. “Most of these people don’t have much to live on, and you were robbing the only source of cash they could get. You might have been led around by your nose, but I would never see you like that. You’re a killer.”
Another name to add to his list, he thought. Dropping his head, he wondered if he needed to back off a little or just ignore the man. His way had worked before, Howie thought. It had gotten him into homes where they had robbed the people. Gotten them rides from truckers when they were on the run. And his face, as cute as he thought he was, hadn’t grown any kind of whiskers yet, nor had he been able to find a single pimple. To the people around him, Howie was more than just a kid—he was a young one. Laughing, he thought of the real him.
To count, he’d killed fourteen people and robbed ten banks with his sister and brother. Howie had been responsible for killing three police officers, too, which to him was the funniest thing ever. On top of that, he’d gotten them into three houses where they’d murdered entire families for what little cash they had. But the best part was, he’d killed his parents. No one but his sister Allie was alive to tell on him.
There wasn’t any way that she’d tell the court that. Not only would it get him looked at badly, but it would add more time to his sentences. He wanted it taken off, not added onto. Allie might be pissed off at him for doing what he’d done, but she still loved him. Howie knew that it would be her biggest downfall too. Loving him and thinking that he’d be a changed kid now that the other two were out of his life.
He could tell her now that he was going to go on the same merry path he’d been on for the last five or so y
ears. No one knew that he’d been sneaking out of the house at night to meet up with Serenity and Heath. They’d made sure there were things for him to do with them too.
Sitting in his cell, he thought about what he’d have to do to get on his sister’s good side. First and foremost, he was going to have to cool his temper. Howie wasn’t one to fly off the handle, but there was something about his sister that made him want to not just kill her but to make her suffer in ways that he was sure would get him the chair if anyone ever found out about it.
Heath had shown him a few things about making people suffer. He’d never known that his older brother was a sadist. Heath was quiet and didn’t seem to get jokes. But inside, he’d told Howie, he was a pot ready to boil over and cause a fire of monstrous proportions.
He’d seen Heath at work too. It has sickened him for a week after, and he had been slightly afraid of his brother. Serenity had thought it a hoot the way he would dig into a body, tear it apart, and put it together in mixed up ways. The thing that had bothered him the most, Howie thought, was when his brother would come all over the dead bodies so hard he’d pass out.
Howie just killed people. He didn’t fuck their corpse—didn’t get off on making them nasty looking. When they were dead, he’d just walk away. No more fun time with them. He supposed that he would maybe someday get a kick out of things, but for now, he just did what he needed to get all the shit that he wanted. And there was still more that he’d like to have.
There was a car. And even though he was still too young to drive, he could—very well, too. When he’d been feeling sick one day, he’d been the driver of their car to get away. It had been boring waiting for them to come out of the bank. However, once they were on the road, he’d had a blast.
Closing his eyes, thinking only to imagine himself behind the wheel of the most expensive car he could purchase, he felt exhaustion take hold of him, pulling him closer to the sleep that he’d missed last night. He’d been nervous about today.
~~~
Sampson stood at the gate and looked beyond it. There was nothing there. He didn’t mean that there was nothing but trees, but there was literally nothing there. It was as if a wall had been put up, and he couldn’t see beyond it.
“Are you all right?” He smiled at Allie, thinking of all the things he’d done to her last night. “Don’t look at me like that, you pervert. I told you, I’m sore, and I can barely move without some other sore muscle making itself known to me. Where on earth do you get your energy? Seriously, I need a nap for about a month.”
“You’re perfect as far as I’m concerned. And I’ve seen every single part of you several times.” She growled at him, something that she was getting pretty good at. “Will you look beyond this gate for me? There is something magical, I think, keeping me from looking to what’s on the other side.”
“Is it our gate or part of the Miller gate? I have to tell you, after talking to Harper and her family, I would think no one would want a thing to do with this place. But we have a nice house, and that makes whatever we have to do to keep it something that I’ll deal with.” He pulled her to him, and after giving her a quick kiss, he faced her toward the gate. “I can see trees. Is that what you mean?”
“I don’t see those, even. What else do you see there? I mean, any grass, or do the trees have leaves on them? The reason that I ask is because I’m trying to figure out if the land is dead or someone wants us to think it is.” She said that there were leaves, but they were brown. Allie also told him that she could see water. “Water is a good sign. So long as it’s not poisoned or anything like that.”
“Poisoned? Why would—? Never mind telling me. I can guess that. The Millers, they were a piece of work, weren’t they?” Sampson told her that she had no idea. Allie turned back to the place behind their property. “I don’t see any birds or bugs. There is nothing like that in there. I mean, there are all kinds of swarms of them on this side. Why do you suppose that is?”
“The more important thing is, why can you see that and I see nothing at all? Not even trees or the water.” When Allie started pulling the vines off the gate, he started to stop her. The unknown worried him a great deal. But she had her sword, using it as a sort of hatchet to chop her way through. “Just be careful of what might be trying to keep us out of there. I mean, we have a little more power, but we don’t know what’s over here.”
“Why don’t you shift?” She’d asked him so politely that he thought she was being sarcastic to him. When she looked at him, he could see her raw fear. “You shift, and I’ll have this sucker out all the time while I’m in there with you. But don’t eat me. Even if something looks like me, don’t eat me.”
“I won’t.”
Sampson let his cat take him. He could feel the difference in himself. Even looking at Allie in this form, he could see that she was covered in armor that went from her head to the bottom of her feet. You look like something from medieval times when I was there. You have the best looking face mask and hood that I’ve ever seen on a person.
“Safe or pretty? I don’t have it in me to make a fashion statement. Just, am I going to be worrying about my head being knocked off all the time? I know that I’m immortal, but I’ve been mortal longer than immortal, so I still worry.” Even if her hood was made of some flimsy metal, he wouldn’t give her something to worry about. But she looked like she was ready for anything that came at her. Sampson told her that. “Good. And speaking of armor, can you feel yours? You’re covered at your throat and back with something heavy too.”
No. I didn’t know. She nodded and turned toward the now open gate. Remember, love. I’m right here. With you every step of the way.
Allie threw open the gate and charged through. Sampson was right behind her until he hit the line of the gate. No matter what he did, he could not breach the opening. Fear, nothing like he’d ever felt before, took hold of him, and he knew that he’d just sentenced her to her death. There was nothing at all he could do about it either.
“Where are you?” He told her what was going on. “I’m coming back for you. You need to be human. I have no idea where that knowledge came from, but it’s what you need to be. However, I haven’t any idea if you’ll be able to shift once you’re here with me.” He could see her then. His body felt larger, stronger than he had before. “You’ve gotten bigger, Sampson. I’d say about a foot taller than you were, and at least a hundred more pounds of muscle. Come through with me, and we’ll figure this out. By the way, there is nothing here but death. Animals included.”
Sampson was worried about what would happen to him once he came across the gate. Pausing for a moment, he called for his brother, Bryant. After telling him what they were about to do and where to come, he felt better knowing that someone would know to come after them if they didn’t return soon. Just as Bryant and Harper came through their yard, Sampson looked at Allie standing on the other side and stepped into something he could only hope would not hurt either of them.
“Don’t shift yet.” Sampson didn’t argue with Allie. She’d been right about him coming into the void, what she’d been calling it while they waited on back up. “I think that if there is something or someone in here, we’ll have the element of surprise on our side. I thought we’d go to the waterway first.”
The pond was green—not a healthy shade, either. A film of scum seemed to be from one end of it to the other until it looked almost like a field of it. The animals, all of them dead, were all around the green like they’d come for a drink, and it had killed them where they stood.
The dead were in varying stages of decay. Some of the animals looked to have died only in the last several hours. Touching one of them, Samson felt that the rabbit was still warm and soft. But there were bones too. Picked clean by whatever had come to feast on them. Or it could have simply been the elements. Looking around, he could easily count about fifty or so dead animals. There were thankfully
no humans here.
“Can you contact your brother?” Sampson tried, but it was as if there was nothing there. “I thought that might be it. I’d like for you to try something. See if you can reach your father. He’s in Columbus today, right? I think he told us that yesterday.”
“What do you think will happen?” She told him that she thought that Bryant might be too close. That she thought that he might be able to contact Buck because he was further away. “I’d rather call out to one of my brothers then. I mean, I don’t want Dad or Mom freaking out if I tell them what we’re doing.”
“Good point. Try one of them that is closer to our home but not near the yard.” He contacted Fisher, who was at home. After figuring out how far he was away, he reached out to the others. “So, Bryant and Harper are too close. I don’t know if that has anything to do with what’s going on here, but it’s good to know that having someone there in an emergency wouldn’t do us a hell of a lot of good.”
It seemed like they walked around for hours, but he didn’t think it was that long. He should have thought of that, having someone time them in here. When they had circled around the entire area, about a half mile by a half mile, they ended up back at the pond.
“What do you know about magic? I mean, other than what I’ve taught you and you’ve figured out on your own.” Allie told him very little. “Okay. Bear with me on this for a moment. Did you see any faeries? I mean, if you didn’t look for them, that’s all right, but I didn’t see them.”
“I didn’t either. Nothing to show that these animals were— Sampson, can you tell if any of the dead are shifters? Or are they all just regular run of the mill animals?” He said they were all just animals. “This is where you might want to shift again. I’m betting that you either can’t, which I’m hoping for, or—and this one is kind of out there—there is something that pulls these animals here to die.”
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