Samson

by Barton, Kathi S

  “You want to admit that you sent them to her?” Howie told him that it was his cry for help. “No one is going to believe that, Howie. Not a single person that you come across is going to believe that you were led along, as you said. They will not believe that you didn’t know what you were doing was wrong, either. As I said before, Howie, you’re so fucked you’ll be lucky to have a cell where the police there aren’t trying to knock you off for what you’ve done.”

  “Why are you so negative all the time? Christ, just go with the flow, and I’m telling you that no one is going to convict a kid. It’s my ace in the hole. Because if that doesn’t work, I’m going to get out by any means possible, then I’m going to hunt you down and kill everyone in your family.”

  He said it like he was telling him about a movie he’d just watched. How much he’d liked it and was willing to go to great lengths to see it again. Fred felt every fear that he’d ever had, even when his wife had found a lump on his breast, and thought they were nothing compared to what it felt like to hear words spill from this kid’s mouth.

  Backing away from Howie, Fred was going to do the only thing he could, even if it meant he was going to lose his license to practice law for good. He had to disengage himself from this boy monster. Then he was going to gather up his wife and whatever they could load into their car and disappear.

  When he slipped out the door, it was all he could do not to beg for protection. For any kind of help in dealing with the threat that he’d just received. As soon as he was near the officer that had brought them to this room, he told him what had just happened. Then asked if the room had been monitored.

  “Yes, sir, it has.” Fred nearly fell to the floor; he was so relieved. “I’ll have a word with the judge, and we’ll have it brought to him before he leaves his chambers. That way, he can make changes before that kid is brought out.”

  “You can’t know how much I appreciate this.” The guard told him it was his job. “Yes, well, my job was to give that person in there the best I have. I can’t live like that with him telling me that…my poor wife. I don’t want to leave her. She’s all I have left in the world. Howard threatened me. He said he was going to escape jail and hunt me and my family down.”

  Fred was a mess by the time he made his way back to the courtroom. When he noticed that Howie wasn’t there, he nearly fell to his face he was so happy. After it seemed like forever, he was called back to the judge’s chambers to talk.

  “There is a transcript of what happened in there. Are you willing to testify that he said these words to you?” Fred not only agreed but offered to sign whatever it took to keep his family safe. “I’m so sorry about this, Fred. I know you’re a good man, and I hate that my asking you to take this case on has made you so upset. Not to mention terrified. I’ve asked the officer right outside to escort you home. He and other officers will stay there until this trial is over. I don’t want anything to happen to anyone else. If there is anything I can do for you, Fred, anything, you let me know. I’m so very sorry about this.”

  “Thank you, Your Honor. He said it like he was telling a story. As if I should have expected him to kill me when this was finished.” The judge said he understood, and Fred left for home.

  Before starting his car, he phoned his wife. He wanted to let her know what was going on so that when he pulled up in their driveway, she wouldn’t be alarmed. She was, of course, but because of Howie instead of anything else that he was into.

  “You come home. I’m going to be packing up when you get here. We’re going to visit your sister in Canada. And I don’t want to hear a word about it.” He said he thought it was a great idea. “Oh, Fred. Didn’t I tell you that you should not take this job? Now I’m more worried about you than before. Don’t leave me. I can’t function without you by my side.”

  He didn’t mention that she had been threatened as well. She was upset enough, and he hated that he’d done that to her. Or that person had. Thinking how he’d take that part of the threat to his grave, Fred felt his eyes fill with tears over how much he dearly loved his wife.

  “I love you too, my darling. I’m coming home now. You be ready, and I’ll have the officer escorting me there, take us to the airport. I don’t even care if I have a thing to wear. I just want to get out of town while I’m still upright.” His wife of forty-seven years started crying. “We’ll be just fine, Bethy. You’ll see. We’ll have a nice visit with Deb, do some fishing, and come home when this is all over. I might even retire for good this time.”

  There was no might about it. He was going to do it and stay retired this time. The only reason that he’d come out of retirement this time was because he’d been asked to take this case on, and then he’d have enough to buy a second home in Canada to be close to his family.

  He thought about his plans all the way to his house. Once there, he got into the police car as his wife came out of the house. There was no point in delaying, Fred thought. The sooner they had air under them and were on their way, he’d feel much better.

  “How would you like to buy a house by Deb?” Bethy looked at him and smiled. “You’ve already thought of that, haven’t you? And my sister is looking for houses for us to see right now.”

  “Yes. I told her that we’d have someone pack up the house here, and have everything brought to us. That’s the least that someone here can do for us since you were happy at home with me.” They had been bickering a bit because he was picking fights with her, but that was in the past. He was going to be a model husband from now on. “They’re going to pay for it too, just so you know. If they give you any trouble about it, I’ll make sure they know how I feel about all this.”

  “I was told when I said that he’d threatened me that the court system would do anything to help us. I don’t know why this wouldn’t be considered help.” Bethy held his hand all the way to New York, where they were catching a connecting flight to Canada. “Once we get there, I want to take you out on the town, love. I hate to put it this way, but I was so afraid of losing you and not coming home to you tonight. I can’t let another minute go by without living each minute to the limit.”

  Once they landed, Fred thought that he might have overreacted. But one look at his dear wife’s face, and he knew that this was the best course of action for them both. Even if he had overreacted, one thing was sure—he was as safe as he could be, and so was his wife.

  They were all they had. It was just the two of them. They had no children, due mostly to them not having the time when they were younger. They had never adopted a dog or a cat to keep them company, as Bethy had been deathly allergic to them. Each of them were only children to parents that were only children.

  After he’d graduated at the top of his class from Harvard, they’d settled into life, never once giving any thought to how lonely it would be when they reached their golden years. Now here they were going to be living with his sister, who had done everything right.

  She had four children and three grandchildren. Fred decided right then and there that he was going to be the best uncle in the world to those kids. It was with a heavy heart that he realized he didn’t know a single one of the kids’ names.

  “They’re Alan, Samuel, Tracy, and Benji. I had to look on my phone to remember them as well.” Bethy looked as sad as he was feeling. “Oh Fred, we’ve been given something here, and I have no plans of wasting it. We’re going to live it up right until someone pulls the plug. That man scared us both, and I’ll not have that happen to us again.”

  He didn’t tell her that the man she was referring to was only a child. Younger than his own nephews and nieces. Shivering again at the things that had been said to him, he screamed when he entered the men’s room at the airport.

  Fred knew who Morgan was. You’d have to be a fool not to know a powerful vampire these days. But when he put his finger to his mouth, telling him to be quiet, Fred entered the stall so that the man cou
ld speak to him. Fred was almost afraid of what he had to say to him.

  “I came to let you know that you’ll be safe here. I’ve friends that will watch over you and yours.” Fred thanked him. “I’m sorry, Fred, that he did this to you. With my magic, I made him take you on as his attorney. If you wish anything of me, it is yours. Anything.”

  “Do you know if he’ll get out?” Morgan told him that the young boy was working on an insanity game now. “Kill him. Kill him, Morgan. Don’t make him suffer. I wish that you could, but it would hurt that young woman so badly that I don’t think I could live with myself. But if he gets off of these murders, there will never be peace for her. You know that too, don’t you?”

  “I do. It won’t bother you to know that you are responsible for the death of one so young?” Fred laughed then stopped himself, forgetting where he was. “You’re a good man, Fred Benson. I fear for your heart if I do this for you.”

  “My heart will never be the same if he gets out and kills one more person. It’ll be that sister of his who he goes after first. There isn’t any reason in the world for anyone else to die. Especially that woman. You kill him for me. If you need to tell her who told you to do it, then you go right ahead. I can live with her hating me more than I can her dying senselessly.” Morgan told him that he’d never tell her. “Well, you do what you need to do, Morgan. You’re a good man too. I heard that the two of you are friends, and I can’t think of a better way to continue to have that friendship than to make sure that she’s around for a long time.”

  “She’s an immortal.” Fred thought that at her age, being someone that could be around forever was good. It was nothing that he ever desired. “You shall have it, Fred. Howard Sheppard shall die, and no one will be the wiser as to who did it. I shall finish him tonight.”

  When he came out of the stall after Morgan left him, Fred noticed that there were a lot of people in the bathroom with him. No one stared at him like he’d been talking to himself, nor did they snicker behind his back. Not that he would have cared. Things were about to be set right, and Fred counted his blessings that he’d been one to help make it happen.

  Chapter 10

  Sampson walked through the store with Allie, but he could tell that she wasn’t paying attention. They were there to get birthday gifts for his brothers. When she’d asked him when their birthdays were, it shocked her to remember that they were all born on the same day. Also that he didn’t have a clue when he’d been born.

  “After a certain point, I guess you don’t even think about such things.” She just couldn’t believe how silly she’d been about it. “It’s all right, honey. I’m betting that the only person that remembers is my mom. Dad might know the month, but he might not have remembered the date.”

  “But to have six of you guys at one birthing. Your mom is my hero. I don’t care what anyone says. The thought of having one child that might grow up to be as big as you are scares the crap out of me. But six? No way in hell.” Sampson reminded her that his mom had been a tiger then. “Yes, but it’s not all that common for tigers in the wild to have that many at one time.”

  She had been right on that. He’d had to look it up. So they headed to his parents’ house to ask them. Sampson had been wrong about his parents. Mom had forgotten, but Dad knew not only the month but the date as well.

  “So we missed it. I so needed to have something fun to focus on right now.” Mom suggested that they could still have a belated party. It would be fun. “I think you’re right. Outdoors. I’m sorry to spring this on you, Sara, but I didn’t think about how much work having a party for six boys might cause you in the way of cooking and stuff.”

  “Honey, you did just fine. I think it will be fun to have something to look forward to after all this. How about we get a hog and roast it? Sort of call it an end of summer bash. It’s almost September now, so that won’t be too far off.”

  As plans were made, his brothers and Harper came to the house. Each of them had been surprised by the time that had passed but agreed a party might be just the ticket. It was Kylan that put a stipulation on the gifts.

  “We’re old men who have gotten just about anything and everything that we’ve ever wanted. A family to love. Homes should we want to move into them, as well as the best friends one could ever have. How about we make this party something that counts? A food drive.” They all agreed and were set up with a list of things to have people bring. It was going to be a town project, after all, and Sampson was looking forward to it.

  The lists were handed out to him and his brothers. It was Harley who figured out a list based on last names. People with the last name beginning with A through D would bring fruit. E through G would bring vegetables, and so on. Even if they got a lot of one kind of thing, it would still be helpful to someone in need.

  “I can’t find a single thing that might be different than anyone else might bring to this thing that isn’t canned meat. We should have gotten to pick our own food group instead of trying to find something because our name starts with the letter P. What the hell is that but spaghetti sauce or something like that?” Sampson reached to the shelf and handed her a can of potted meat. “I’ve eaten that before. One time when I was saving up to buy my first car. Never again. It might be good to some people, but this chick wouldn’t serve that to a puppy. I’d like a puppy, by the way.”

  When she walked away, he stood there, holding the can of meat. A puppy? She wanted to have a puppy as a pet? That was the strangest thing he’d heard of. As he rounded the next aisle, he found her staring at something on the shelf. When he got to her, Sampson realized that it was formula and things for an infant.

  “Would you like to have a child with me?” Kissing her on the neck, Sampson held her from behind. “Harper might have told you, but she and Bryant are having a baby. I was going to ask you about it soon.”

  “I would love to have a child with you. But what if it’s like Howie? What if it’s like the other two?” Sampson said that they’d handle it. “My parents tried to handle it and look where it got them.”

  “I think they might have waited too long to get him help.” She turned in his arms and looked up at him. “I don’t mean to be cruel, Allie, but you said yourself that you remember things differently now that you know what he is.”

  “I wasn’t upset with you for saying it, but saddened by the fact that you’re right. They should have done more for him. Or to him, I guess. I wish now that I could do things differently.” He told her it wasn’t her fault. “I guess I know that, but I still feel like I’ve failed so many people because I didn’t take more action when I got those messages. And now he’s going to go to prison for a very long time.”

  “Will you go and see him?” Allie told him never. “Good. I didn’t want to have your heart broken every time you came back from seeing him. He would have hurt you every opportunity that he got, too.”

  “Much like he is now.” She turned back to the shelf with all the baby items on it. “Yes, I’d love to have children with you. Harper told me that she was going to talk to someone about there only being a single child born to us. I told her to point out that we didn’t always have to have black tigers. We could have one black tiger then several orange ones. I have an idea. Let’s get gift cards that can only be used for meat. What do you think?”

  He wondered if she had done that as a child, switch topics like that when talking to people. Sampson was getting used to it, but a stranger might have had some trouble keeping up with her train of thoughts. Telling her that he thought she had a wonderful idea, the two of them began shopping for the few things that they needed at home. One of them being cat food for the cats that were watching over their barn.

  Sampson had thought it funny that the faeries were terrified of the cats. Not that the cats would harm them, but they did enjoy chasing them like they did butterflies. Only once in all his life had he ever heard of a cat hurting a
faerie. That had been so long ago that he’d not thought of it again. Being afraid of a cat that weighed only a few pounds, then having a cat his size as a friend, just struck him as hilarious.

  “How does us having a baby work?” He told her that they had to have sex. Lots and lots of sex. “I meant me giving birth, you dork. I know that I can be a cat when I want, but how will I give birth to a tiger when I’m mostly human?”

  “You’re not. Human, I mean. You’ve not been since the first time we touched. You know that you have magic and that you’re an immortal, but there are other perks as well. Some from me and some from the queen.” She said that she understood that part. “Then I don’t understand what you meant by your question. Or did I miss the mark on it?”

  “You missed the mark. What I meant was, will I have babies that turn into cats, or cats that turn into babies?” Sampson said that he didn’t know the answer. “Well, that wasn’t terribly helpful. Who would I ask?”

  “Aurora, I suppose, but she might not know either. We were tigers before we were men, so I think it’s safe to say that anything could happen.” He picked up a tray of steaks and looked at them. Putting several more trays of the meat in the cart, he thought about what they were talking about. “You know, I just realized that Bryant and Harper are having the first of our kind. I guess we’ll figure out some of it with the birth of their child. But as I said, things could be different for each of us.”

  “So what you’re telling me is that I could have a baby or a tiger. That could be black or orange. It could have magic, or it might not, and let me think, did I miss something? Oh yes, I’m to go to the queen of all nature and ask her how this works. I don’t know if you’ve come to realize this or not, but I don’t do well with other people.” He pointed out that she’d been a bartender. “Yes, to try and get over my crippling shyness.”