Bloodbreeders: Seeking Others

by Robin Renee Ray,

  “Master Jacob, the beast returns.”

  “Bring her to us as you have been told.”

  “She snaps at us sir.”

  “Tell her you are bringing her to Renee,” he demanded losing his temper.

  “Yes sir.”

  “Isn’t it funny how they don’t just open the door and cook us all and take over the ship with all the treasure that we have on it,” I said with a slight snicker.

  “Quite the morbid thought, but they haven’t much left after all the bloodletting of the old one. Let us just hope with you not taking that privilege that they do not regain their own will. Plus, they could not anyway, not with this room being locked from the inside.”

  “Smarty pants,” I murmured to myself.

  “Sir please, open the door!” the worker yelled.

  “Not you, no. I bite, no touch.”

  “Shyanna,” I said from the darkness of the room.

  “Renee, me’s back…me’s back,” she squealed in a high pitched tone, that one would swear would wake the dead, yet they lay there perfectly still.

  Jacob unlocked the many locks on the door and she hopped in not stopping until she was well past him, then he quickly relocked the door. She rushed to where I was standing and grabbed my hand and started rubbing her face on my palm. “Me’s back. Flap, and flap.” I put my hand on her head and pulled her to my body. I took her to my side of the bed and crawled in, but she pulled away and curled up on the floor beside it instead. I took one of the pillows and placed it under her head, then took one of our many blankets and covered her body.

  “No want’s skins.”

  “No sweetie, it’s to keep you warm, and that’s to make your head comfortable.”

  She pulled the blanket up around her shoulder and buried her face in it, taking in a deep, long breath, and then she swiftly grabbed the pillow and put it over her head. I just smiled and let the day do its job.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  When I awoke I found Shyanna halfway under the bed. Her head was sticking out but the pillow was still covering it. I looked over and sure enough Jacob was sitting there looking at me. “Now maybe we can have that talk.” I pulled the cover back up over my face and moaned my disapproval. I let out another hissing breath, threw the covers off and slid down to the end of the bed, running my fingers through my hair that I now wished I had braided.

  “How long have you been awake anyway?”

  “Long enough to see the life come back into your body.”

  “So, do I do it like everyone else…wait don’t answer that. I know you’ll just say it’s another stupid question.”

  “It’s not that your questions are stupid, it’s that you do not think before you ask them,” he said as he came over and sat down next to me. “I know you have a hard time listening to someone who looks much younger than yourself, but I have lifetimes on the walk that you have not yet taken, and I would not give you wrong advice.”

  “That’s true, but you have been living in a world that had no love and very little compassion. I personally think that evens things up in certain areas,” I replied shaking my head. “My parents would have died…they did die for their children. I’m sure they fought like hell trying to save my brothers and sister before they had their throats torn out, where you have killed because you were told too. What I’m trying to say is that I was brought up to be the type of person who stood for justice, and never let the weaker and those in need do without.”

  “You may have once had a life given on the bed of rose peddles, and the comforts of those who turned your bed covers and cleaned your face, but you my friend have stepped across into a different spectrum altogether. You must become as much like stone as you say that I must become like warm water.”

  “I guess I did have a life that would look like that. I…I am so sorry that I didn’t stop and think before I opened my big mouth this time,” I said lowering my head, starting to get up.

  “Like the creature you saved. Like all who share this vessel. None had control of their life before this hour, or none would be here…”

  “And some are not,” I interrupted.

  “Why must you always look back? Can you not see the future of your own action? You worry about your boys. When will you worry about yourself?”

  “I don’t see what’s so wrong with me. I think I’m handling everything pretty damn good considering, if you know what I mean.”

  “There is that also. Why must you use those words with me when we have a disagreement?”

  “What words? Damn?”

  “Yes, among others that I care not to repeat.”

  “That would be that temper of mine that came from all the males in my life, before and after,” I replied smiling back at him.

  “I think it will be many a year before I will understand your ways, but I will try to be more understanding and flexible.”

  “I’ll try to watch my mouth, when speaking in anger to you, and I’ll start listening to the mind behind the young face.”

  “Wise choice, you will make a good leader,” he said slapping his knees and standing up. “That is with a few more years of training.”

  A loud bang came from my side of the bed and Shyanna hopped out with the pillow still over her head, and the blanket hooked on one of her wing tips. She stepped on the edge of the blanket and tripped right into the wall and screamed that horribly high pitched cry of fear. “Shyanna!” I called out her name hoping she could hear me over her own sounds, but when I touched her arm I knew she hadn’t. She went wild. Her wings flung out from her body, one crashing into the wall and one into me, making her scream even louder. I did the only thing I could think of, I darted under her wing and wrapped my arms around her waist and put my face next to hers and started humming in her ear. Her wings began to slow their beating and her scream turned into a soft purr. Her arms lay over my back so gently that I could barely feel them, until I told her, “Me’s want you’s, forever.” Then she brought her body into mine, turning her head and laying her face on my chest, then slowly the pressure increased as she pushed her arms into a full embrace.

  “I stand amazed at the power that you carry as a bloodbreeder, and I will the night that I find that part of my being.” Then Jacob turned and walked over to the door and started unlocking it.

  “Can’t believe that scream couldn’t wake the dead,” I said jokingly, causing Jacob to turn around.

  “Now that was funny,” he smiled then threw his head back and released a full belly laugh.

  Shyanna jumped, gripping me tighter, and that’s when Jessie sat up and said, “It woke me.” I think I even heard Shyanna let out one of her little giggles while I was breaking loose with mine. Jessie had heard Jacob and was holding her side when he went over and started tickling her, which was something that I thought I would never see. The tender side was a joy to watch and something I bet wouldn’t show itself often, so for now, I drank it in like good warm nectar. We were on our way to the state of Georgia, and like always I wanted to have little of the end results off of everyone’s mind, including my own.

  Two nights passed with all of us working hard on the art that Jacob and Jessie had diligently taught us for hours on end. Shyanna hadn’t taken to the air for more than a few minutes at a time, since the night that she took off. Now I was more than sure I didn’t have to worry about her. She loved the insects that flew in around the light of the torch lanterns, and amused us all with her jumping and snapping at them. We were close to being past the land of Florida, when Jacob said it was time to pull out the good weapons, shocking all of us who had come to love and use the ones we had. We knew them well.

  He brought out a long, dark, wooden case that was about three feet long and two feet wide. He saw the looks on our faces and I’m more than sure he saw me rubbing the handle on my very special blade that would only be removed from my cold dead body. Bo had given me this the night we made our stop at his abusive father’s house, where we not only found our small arsenal, bu
t Bo found the long hurtful revenge that he had bottled up since the death of his mother, which also happened at the hands of his father. His father had died by Bo’s hands and that was Bo’s justice.

  “Use what you have when you have no other choice, but use these if you want a defiant kill,” Jacob said and opened the box.

  He lifted the first blade that was covered in a golden sheath and then slid it open in slow motion with his arms out in front about shoulder height. What slid out got more than just an ‘awe’ from me. I whistled, getting a wrinkled brow from a young looking man who was apparently performing some form of ritual. The blade was glossy black, with rippling indentions on both sides.

  “Alabaster, it is the sharpest known to makers of such weapons. I give this one to you, Garvin. Older than most, yet, you are young in spirit. I killed my first with this, and so many after, and I know it will do you well. Use it well my friend,” Jacob bowed handing him the exquisite piece.

  He then picked up two slightly curved blades that looked like a twin set and handed one each to Brandon and Derek telling them that his twin gave them to him for good luck many years ago, and that they both took more lives in that one single battle than he could count. I thought Derek was going to break down, until he slid his finger across the blades side and started to scream.

  “Did you miss the part where he said that they’re the sharpest, little man?” Sydney asked, laughing.

  “I think I hit the bone,” Derek grimaced.

  “Let me look,” Tammy said taking control once again, only this time Tanda was right there.

  “Think I’ll just leave mine in the sheath for now,” Brandon said looking at the open slice on Derek’s finger.

  Jacob lifted out another two long, two foot blades, handle to tip, and gave one to Sydney and Tammy telling another story of how they too killed their share and for them to use them well. It was when he put his hand back in that I got all excited, that is until he took out this tiny little pin like knife and walked up to me. I said right out, “Are you kidding?” He looked at me smiling and shook his head. I took it and slid the black blade out of its golden sheath that was small enough to rest in my palm.

  “I have only used it once.”

  “Like, period?”

  “Correct. I plunged it into the heart of the ancient that I drained. Only his heart was already mine and not the blades. I, like you, was overzealous in my actions. So, next time remember where you have this and use it before you take the heart with your deep drink.”

  “What about, Tanda?” Derek asked.

  “She and Jessie will not be joining us when we reach Cortez’s estate. They will stay back with Johnny and Shyanna,” Jacob explained closing the box.

  “Besides, Jessie already gave me this,” Tanda added pulling a similar knife to mine out of her back pocket.

  “That is so cute,” Derek grabbed his chest and everyone broke out with a roll of laughter. “Too bad bloodbreeders don’t do the whole gun thing. We would be able to do a whole lot more damage.”

  “And as I have said while teaching you a better way my young friend, many would come to the sound of war…yet those who do not know, will stay clear of the battle. Our kind has not survived the normals for so many years because we have made ourselves known.”

  “Well, I still say they would come in handy and I’m glad we still have the ones Bo gave us.”

  “I agree, Derek.” I smiled while putting my tiny black blade back into its sheath. No matter how sharp or how accurate we had become with our skills, I had to admit more guns and ammo would have made me feel a lot more secure.

  Jacob and I had had several talks about what we were going to have to do once we reached the Georgia coast, about as much as I hit him up about having seen anything else close to Shyanna, to which I got absolutely nowhere. Chin’s estate which was now apparently mine was further up and would take far too much time to maneuver our way out and back around to keep anyone on the inlands from making out the ship. So we were going to port at one of the spots on the map that Tabor gave us and hope that they would believe the words that he told Jacob to tell them. I was learning very fast that everything in the dark world was protective over their own and willing to kill to keep it that way. Why else would we be where we are now? I knew for a fact that not only were we willing, we had already put that fact into motion. It was like a wagon going rapidly downhill that had no prayer of stopping until some major crash.

  I had kept a thought in my head ever since we found our little winged friend, and I sat everyone down and told them my plans for her in our little escapade. I knew they were going to think that I was crazy, but I told them that I thought we could teach her to be our eyes in the sky. My mouth went dry when no one spoke. So, I added that she was a lot smarter than she appeared, that she was never taught, but could learn just like the rest of us. I saw Garvin do his chin rubbing thing and I turned my attention to him.

  “All I need is someone to help me, to gain the trust that I have and just help me,” I said with as much pity as I could put into my eyes without breaking into real tears.

  “She already has a bit of trust with me. She did let me help with the chain,” Sydney raised his hand, bringing a breath of relief from both Garvin and myself.

  That was it. We had a plan for our winged friend. She now had a purpose among us. That is if I was right and we could teach her. Right now our first priority was catching up with the running scared master of my mirror image, Tammy. We may not look a thing alike, but our thoughts were the same. If I didn’t have the right word to finish my statement she did and many times I would do the same and complete her sentence. Night after night we became closer, yet she had never told me of her creation into the world of darkness. Her story must be much more frightening than I could possibly contemplate, or her heart was broken so badly she couldn’t bring herself to talk about it.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  It was the ending of our last night before we reached the port of Tabor’s connections and everyone was getting settled in except for Jacob, Shyanna, and me. I was working with her on her speech and Jacob was laying out an outfit that I hadn’t seen until now. It was a black and white silk pant suit with the same wide legs as the ones he had on the first time we had an encounter. The top was trimmed in a white tightly woven braid. The collar was a flat style that buttoned up high on his neck, with an embroidered design that made the shape of a serpent on both sides of the upper chest.

  “Isn’t that the same thing that’s on the medallion?”

  “You have a good eye for detail. It is the very exact, made by my,” he paused and looked back at me puzzled. “She was not my mother, but the old one’s wife. I haven’t a word to call her now.”

  “Was she good to you?”

  “She was very good and always good to Jessica.”

  “Then call her what you have always, Jacob.”

  “Yes, I see what you mean. My elder mother made this for me when I became head of the old one’s affairs.”

  “Is that why they knew you so well on those islands?”

  “It is. They only need see his medallion to see that I have taken control fully and to prove that he no longer exists.”

  “Why the clothes?” I asked reaching out to touch the silky cloth.

  “For those who will not take the time to ask for proof of course. I have found the place on the ship’s map where Tabor’s map shows a small river entrance, but it does not show on ours. I think his has been around much longer than the ones that we have on board.”

  “Isn’t this ship pretty old?”

  “And our maps even older, but still it is not there,” he said going to the chair that I think he now slept in.

  “We’ll soon find out.”

  ***

  Jacob stood up at the end of our small rowboat holding one of the ship’s torch lanterns out in front of him, while Garvin and Sydney rowed slowly down the small overgrown river. One that you wouldn’t see without a special map that gave
the exact directions to its whereabouts. Tammy and I sat side by side with Brandon and Derek cramped in behind us. We were all wide eyed and waiting for anything to jump out and sink the boat. I was at least happy knowing that Tanda and Jessie were back on the ship with Johnny and Shyanna. The ship had been taken back out to sea and was told to return in three hours later. After coming down the small river entrance I was beginning to think that we might not be there when they showed up.

  Jacob started calling out words that made no sense to any of us. Things that sounded like, “Ta nosh tu ah knotu wau.” It was a language that I had certainly never heard, but being from the small town of Burkett, Texas, that wasn’t really saying a lot. The deeper we went the creepier our surroundings became. Long waving strands of moss hung from the trees, which created a hollow over the river like some sort of live, wooden cave. Long grass and bushy undergrowth stood as tall as a man and concealed anything and everything from our vision. Jacob repeated the words every few minutes, until very faintly we heard them in return.

  “Do y’all hear it?” Derek asked.

  “Shhh!” Jacob hissed turning around looking at him angrily.

  Derek held his hands up in a surrendering way and closed his mouth. I could almost swear I heard a stifled snicker from Brandon who was sitting next to him, but didn’t dare turn around to find out. Jacob called out another phrase then waited. “Yo nec wah.”

  “Row to the side. I’ll be back.” Jacob said, and then dunked the torch in the river.

  The boys did as he instructed as we watched him disappear into the thick shrubbery, wondering—and maybe hoping, he would just come back and we could leave. That was soon proven to be a mistake in thought when he showed up with five typical looking normals with rifles garnishing their grips.