Frustrated, he left the door and headed back across the room, and slowly, he walked back to the red door to head outside. He wasn’t sure if he should even leave. He came too far to give up now, but he failed in his task. That realization made everything feel worse. Should he stay there and wait for them to come back again? On the other hand, should he just leave and come back later? Both felt like good questions, and after some thought, he decided just to leave. He would have to come back later. He would come back and try it again some other time.
He opened the door and stepped outside. He let the red door close softly behind him, and felt its breeze on the back of his neck as it went by him. “Now what?” he asked himself, staring down at the sidewalk at his feet. His voice sounded hoarse. He sounded winded. He felt both.
“Are you really him?” a soft voice came from the darkness to his left.
He turned and saw the young woman with the red hair standing right beside him. She looked confused. She looked unsure. Standing this close to her, he could see how beautiful she really was. She looked so young, far younger than the others did. Her red hair shined under the dim light of the streetlamps behind her. The moon overhead only added to the look of her smooth and pale face. “What?” He felt taken aback by her soft skin. He felt taken aback by the look in her eyes. Behind them, he could see nothing but smoothness. She looked open. He could almost look directly into her soul.
“Are you really him? Are you really Kalima?” She smiled. Her teeth looked perfect and glistened white behind her deep red lips. The look only added to the paleness of her face.
Seeing it, experiencing it, he sighed. “I guess so.” He didn’t know what else to say. His heart felt simply empty.
The woman, no more than maybe twenty years old, or less, smiled again. A bashful look crossed her face. “You guess so?”
He nodded, turned to the street, and then back again to the red door. “I don’t know what I am.”
Her eyes twinkled, as her small frame shrugged.
He looked down at his shoes. “Who are you?” His voice sounded like a wince. His throat felt fogged over. He looked back up and could see her sparkle. The halo around her looked faint but shown around her in a strong brownish hue. It made her cheekbones pronounced on her face.
She giggled some, as her shoulders shrugged again. “I’m Sasha.”
He stared into her emerald bright green eyes. She looked so familiar to him at that moment, but he couldn’t place her face. Even with that, he still felt sure that he had seen her before. “Sasha?” He smiled. “I’m Jimmy.”
She smiled stronger. “It’s nice to meet you Jimmy.” She held out her right hand.
He took it and it felt so soft within his grip. Feeling it, he began to wonder some. She’s talking to me. Her offering her hand to him seemed to give him something more than what the others took. She offered him a hand. She offered him help. He had to take it. It caused relief to flow through his soul. A thousand things began rushing around inside his head; so much so, he didn’t know where to start. He found the first thing there and spoke it before it disappeared back into the rest of his jumbled thoughts. “Why did Samuel react that way? Why was he afraid of me? What did he fear about me?”
Sasha let go of his hand. It felt so warm to hers that it almost surprised her some. It told her that he told them the truth. He is Kalima. “You’re not supposed to be here.” She looked back to the door, and seeing it, it dawned on her that someone could be listening to them from the other side of it. She didn’t want that, not with the way that Samuel reacted to his being there, so she took his arm and led him away, out into the center of the street. “What happened to Collins?”
Hearing his name, he gasped. He felt simply surprised to hear her use it like that. It made him feel astonished of the realization that they knew him before. It confirmed everything he felt and more. The excitement in him grew that so much so, he had to gather himself back together again, and quickly. “How do you know him?” They now stopped in the center of the street.
She turned to the red door and after seeing no one there, she looked back into his eyes. “What happened to him?” She blinked.
“He was killed.” He winced.
“How was he killed?”
He swallowed again. He looked around the empty area and couldn’t figure out how to tell her everything. He just nodded and went with the truth. “He was shot by someone.”
She breathed. It sounded like a sad one at that. “How?”
At first, he wasn’t sure if he should repeat what he just said or not, but then it dawned on him who they all were. It made sense. A normal gunshot wouldn’t harm them. “He was shot with a silver bullet. He was killed trying to get away from the people who were holding him.”
Her eyes grew large. They looked so green that they almost sparkled like emeralds surrounded by her pearl colored skin. “He was killed by someone that knew who he was?”
He nodded, still trying to refocus his thoughts. It felt like a tough fight, but one that he was sure that he could win, so he kept going. He kept up the fight.
She looked surely shocked by all that she heard. She clearly didn’t know what to think about it, so she changed the subject again. “How did you find us?”
He now shrugged his shoulders. He half expected to have the question asked of him, but he also half-expected nothing at all as well. “I saw you one night, several weeks ago.” He looked deeply into her face. The memory of seeing her before came stronger yet, but with the look she gave him, it made the feeling multiply by a thousand times over. He now felt completely sure of it. She always made that face. “I’ve been following you.”
She giggled again. “I see.” She smiled again as well.
The sound of her giggle sounded so familiar that it only added to the feelings that he had. His thoughts focused onto the next question that came up to the forefront of his mind. “What did Samuel mean by him thinking that I was dead? I heard everyone in the room gasp when I told them who I was.”
“Because that’s what he told us.”
“Why would he tell you that?” The idea sounded confusing. It didn’t seem right. That’s not what happened. I don’t know how I know that, but it’s true.
She looked around again, before answering. When she felt sure that no one was there listening to them, she turned back towards him. “He told us that he killed you.” She swallowed.
He could see that she felt hesitant to answer the question, and when she did, it dawned on him why she would have been. If Samuel told them that he killed this Kalima, then it made sense why she wouldn’t want to answer him. It made total sense. Me, just being here, exposed a lie. It exposed the truth that Samuel told all of them that he killed me, but yet here I am.
“Where have you been?” She looked deeply into his eyes. Their emerald color sparkled into his.
“Upstate. I met Collins up there.”
“Why didn’t he help you with your questions?”
He felt somewhat shocked by the question. He didn’t understand what she meant. “He was killed.”
“He should have told you after he bit you.” She shrugged. “We are supposed to answer everything after we do it. It’s only fair to our new host.”
The one made him feel shocked. “Host?”
“You.”
Her answer made him shrug his shoulders again with a force. “I don’t understand.”
“He was supposed to tell you.”
He nodded; brushing off the strangeness that he felt swarm over him. “He was killed the same night.”
She listened and nodded. It showed him that his answer satisfied her.
“Will you help me?” he took the chance to ask. She obviously seemed willing to talk with him, so why wouldn’t she help him too. It gave him hope that she would.
She smiled her young casual smile. The look made her that much more beautiful. “I,” she began, but was interrupted by the sound of someone calling her name. The voice sounded deep and
it came from somewhere across the street. She heard it, turned back to the abandoned building, and nodded. “He’s calling me.”
He could feel her heart jump. “Who?” She’s afraid of him. She’s afraid of Samuel.
She turned back, facing him. “Samuel.” Her heart picked up pace. “I have to go.”
“Why?” He reached out to her and took her left arm into his right hand just as she stepped to the curb of the street. “I need your help.”
She paused, and turned back towards him. A look of worry came heavy in her eyes. She suddenly looked like she started debating his question. She paused before answering him. “1474 157th Street. It’s on the North side of town, up the river.”
He heard the number and exhaled. Actually, it sounded more like a gasp. The dream he had with seeing the number at the side of the single red door, in the row of doors, flashed again before him. The knowledge that he saw it all before sent a shiver down his spine.
“Go there. It’ll help you find what you’re looking for.”
He nodded. He now felt, more than ever, lost within his own thoughts and everything that he heard. He felt flabbergasted beyond even his own belief. “How will I find you again?” he asked as he heard her name shouted again. The shout sounded louder this time. It also sounded deeper and far harsher. He was obviously growing impatient that she wasn’t coming back to him.
She pulled free from his grip and stepped to the red door. She turned back around with her smile once more flowing over her face. “I’ll find you.” She turned and opened the door.
He bowed his head and watched her step through it.
“I’m glad that I didn’t hurt you.” She turned just inside the open doorway and stopped. Her smile grew huge, almost looking a little girlish.
“What?” he said back, confused with what she said.
“I didn’t mean to throw you so hard. I didn’t know who you were. I thought you were trying to break in. I just wanted to scare you.” Her eyes sparkled stronger.
He swallowed with a slight gasp following it. The fact that she was the wolf that threw him into the room felt beyond shocking to hear. It awed him. It blew his mind away.
She disappeared and the door closed quietly behind her.
He chuckled some under his breath. When she left, he turned and headed back down the sidewalk as his mind flew back to what she told him. He now had a plan, and somewhere to go and it made him feel better.
He left the street and headed north. He could feel that his questions had answers to them after all. He also felt that they seemed to be coming sooner, now, rather than later. He could only hope that everything was now happening as much as he hoped that it would.
9
It has been weeks now since Rachel Garland heard anything from Jimmy Walls, and it started to make her worried. Everyone believed he that died, but now she began to doubt that everyone still did. His body was never found, but that only added to their doubts, she knew that, but she also knew that they wouldn’t give up if they didn’t. She also knew that it was only the matter of time before they learned the truth. Thinking that, she knew what would happen next.
Gary was still out there and after him. She believed that he was, but she wasn’t sure. After the incident at Ravenswood Labs, he vanished. She heard that he quit and left town, and that no one had seen him since. She wasn’t sure what he was up to, but she knew that he wouldn’t give up with finding Jimmy. He was dangerous. He was vengeful. He hated him for what he did, and she had no doubt in her mind that when he did find him, he would do whatever it took to kill him. Not hearing from Jimmy only made everything feel worse, and to top that off, she knew that he wasn’t the only one after her friend.
Even Richard Ross still seemed interested in finding him. She knew that he wanted his gifts. He wanted to continue the search for the cure that the wolf could give him. He wanted him back. He needed him. Not hearing from Jimmy worried her that they might have already found him. Believing that, and feeling as she was, she knew that she had to do something more than what she was currently doing. Realizing that, she took the chance to go through Ross’ office and found an address for Collins in New York City, in a file on his desk. No one saw her write down the information. With it, she could only hope to go there and find him. It made her feel better having something to do, so she took it with her and prepared for the trip.
Next, she drove over to Jimmy’s apartment a little after six in the afternoon. She found his address in the phone book, so it wasn’t very hard to find it. She wanted to go there and get a feeling of him again. She hoped that it would bring her closer to what he was. She missed him, this much was certain, but there was more to it than that. She knew that she really did like him. He felt special. He felt right to her. What he was, gave her something else. He intrigued her. He gave her hope. He felt like the answers for everything, but that said something else too. She just wasn’t sure what that was, and quite frankly, she didn’t really care.
When he left, he took only the clothes that she gave him on his back. She could only hope that if she brought some of what he left behind with her, it would help him. It all seemed like a good idea, at least that’s what she told herself when she arrived at his place. She would have appreciated it, if he did it for her. In all actuality, it was nothing more than just an excuse to be close to him again. She figured, what could it hurt.
Arriving at the apartment, she parked out along the street. There, she found another car parked in the only driveway along the side of the two-family home. She didn’t know whose it was. Seeing it, she stood out of her car with care, and watched as a young looking man came out from the only front door of the building and stopped on the steps.
He watched her come up the sidewalk. “Can I help you with something?” Brandon stayed on the steps. He never saw this woman before, and it made him have to pause some. Seeing that she was also beautiful, with long black hair that was pulled back some off her forehead, made him slightly gasp. The fact that she came to his best friend’s apartment also made him feel surprised. Seeing her told him one thing. Maybe she knows what happened to Jimmy. Maybe she knew him. Maybe she could help him know what happened with his best friend. He hadn’t seen Jimmy for weeks now. After hearing what happened at the place that he worked, he didn’t seem to understand anything. No one told him anything, and not knowing what happened, made him feel worried. It wasn’t like Jimmy to disappear like this. It wasn’t like him at all.
“Hi.” Rachel stopped, not sure what else to say. She had no idea who he was, and not knowing that, made her to have to take a deep breath. She had to remain calm. “I was stopping by to check on Jimmy.” She nodded. She followed that with a gentle smile. “Is he home?”
“He isn’t here.” Brandon stepped down one-step and straddled the railing with a single butt cheek. He crossed his arms over his chest. He didn’t know who this charmingly gorgeous woman was, so he wanted to get that information out of the way first. “The name’s Brandon and you are?”
She kept her smile. “My name is Rachel Garland. I worked with Jimmy over at Ravenswood Labs.” Her smile vanished. “I was hoping to see him.” She looked around the street. She saw nothing and turned back to the steps. She felt nervous all of a sudden, and standing out there in the open like this, wasn’t helping the feeling. She suddenly felt overexposed. The feelings that anyone could be watching them, that someone could be waiting for him too, only made her feelings grow stronger. She didn’t know what else to think, so again, she just took a very deep breath to help herself calm down some.
“You worked for the security company?” She looked far too beautiful to work for such a place, being that he worked for them too. She looked too well dressed for that. The glint of gold and the sparkle of the diamonds of her earrings also caught his attention. The smell of her perfume smelled expensive. No, she didn’t look like someone that worked for Ever-Safe Security.
“No.” Rachel stepped up one-step. She took railing into her right hand and
gripped it tightly. “I was a doctor at the labs.”
“Ah.” Brandon uncrossed his chest. He patted himself on the back for being right about noticing what he did. “A doctor huh?” He lifted his butt cheek off the railing and stood back up straight. Hearing everything so far, sent the questions that he had to come rushing out of his mouth so fast that he had trouble putting them together clearly. “Then maybe you could tell me what the hell happened that night? I haven’t seen him for weeks. I just had to pay his rent. Where is he? What the fuck is going on?”
She listened patiently, letting him finish at least some of his rant, before she could answer him. Listening, she could understand the questions. Hearing him, she could also hear something else there as well, deep inside his voice. He seemed to care for Jimmy. He had to be his friend. It also told her something else. She might be able to trust him with some of what she knew. She had to know for sure though, but until she did, she had to keep to the original story.
When he seemed to run out of steam, she began. “I don’t know.” She sighed some. “I just came over here to see if he was here.” She now crossed her arms over her blouse.
Hearing that, he shrugged. He didn’t like what he heard, so he had to take a deep breath. With Jimmy changing so much, as much as he did, he just knew that it had to have something to do with the place that he worked. It always felt odd to him that that change didn’t start until he started working at a place that did biological research. He didn’t believe in coincidences. They had to be behind it. Why else would he change so much? Why else would he just disappear not that long after starting there? Maybe it was some type of an experiment. Maybe they were trying out a new drug on him and it went horribly wrong. Whatever the reason for it, he felt sure that they knew what really happened to his friend. It just made sense. Conspiracies were everywhere, and he knew it.
He stepped a little closer towards her and stopped one-step up from her. “You’re telling me that his physical change had nothing to do with you people?” He kept a firm look on her face. He had to watch her eyes. He had to see if she was going to lie to him or not. He trusted no one. He never did. “How do I know that he isn’t in one of your labs being—well—some sort of a guinea pig or something?”
A Werewolf's Saga Books 1, 2, & 3 (A Werewolf's Saga Boxed Sets) Page 34