Marie turned to him. “There are five of us and only one of him. How could he take out all of us if we act together?”
Jimmy nodded. He understood Gary better than all of them did. “He’s a seasoned hunter. He’s cautious and strong willed.” He turned from her and looked to all of them. “He understands nothing else but the hunt for us. If he killed two already, then he will take us all out eventually. He won’t stop until he does.”
“We don‘t know if he killed Harold.” Sasha looked to Jimmy. Hearing the sounds of his voice, and the concern that he showed for all of them, her mind melted and her heart did the same. He was helping them. He cared for them. He felt like Kalima after all.
“You can bet that he did.” His eyes felt forceful. Sasha could almost feel his stare burn through her pale white skin.
“You want to run?” Markey came in, growling some with his statement. He dreaded the idea. He hated what he heard. They had fought together before when they were hunted. They fought humans. They fought other walkers. Kalima was powerful. He was the strongest of their kind. He did it all before. Now hearing this, he couldn’t believe what he heard and it made his heart ache just from the sounds of it.
Jimmy nodded to him without having to see him. “I want us to be safe.” In his mind, the fog that he grew accustomed to, came rushing back into his thoughts. Behind him, he could see a rather large house in the trees. A large barn stood not that far away from the house, just up along a long winding road set out in the trees. He could see himself walking up the steps onto a large open porch, which wrapped around the front of the two-story building. From the porch, he saw himself walk to a large wooden door with no window in it. He saw himself open the door and step inside a very large and spacious living room. The smell of oak and other woods came strong to his nose. The front room looked almost like some kind of a lodge. It looked rustic with all of the wood around it. It looked homey and almost safe.
Marie stepped forwards to him and stared into his fogged over eyes. “Then we go to the woods. We will head north.”
Jimmy’s mind flashed back to her.
“We will go to the lodge. We will go to be safe.”
“You wish to run too?” Markey scoffed at everything. He couldn’t believe any of it. The Kalima he knew would never run from anyone. They could do anything together. They were strong. They were old. They wouldn’t do it. They couldn’t. Samuel likewise would stand firm in the face of danger. He began to feel that he had chosen the wrong side in the fight they had earlier. Samuel wouldn’t run. Samuel would have stayed there to fight.
Marie nodded. “If Kalima thinks that we should go, then we should go.” She smiled to Jimmy.
Jimmy looked into her eyes, and found himself trusting the sight. She had been special. He had looked into her soul more times than he would have ever thought was possible before. They knew each other for years. They knew each other better than they knew anyone else. He could feel it. She mattered, so he nodded to her.
Markey huffed. “I can’t believe this.” He scoffed. “Kalima would never run. He would never hide. He would fight. He would die trying.”
“Enough!” Marie scorched out with thunder bellowing from her voice. She heard enough. She was the alpha there. She would not be argued with by anyone. The decision was made. The argument was over.
Markey bowed his head, and took a deep and exaggerated breath.
Susanna reproached him and took his arm again to her body.
Sasha nodded as well. “Then we go up north. We go to the lodge.” She walked to Jimmy and took him by the arm.
He turned around and faced her. Rachel came rushing back into his thoughts. “I have to tell Rachel that I’m leaving.” She deserves to know. I owe her that much for everything that she did for me.
Sasha shook her head. “It would be better that you didn’t.”
Marie looked straight on to both of them. “Who’s Rachel?”
Jimmy bowed his head before turning back to her. “She’s a friend. She helped me when I needed it the most.”
Marie didn’t like the sound of his voice. He liked this Rachel. It sounded so evident within his tone. “She’s one of us?” she heard herself ask.
Jimmy’s eyes met hers. He shook his head.
Sasha answered for him before he had the chance to say anything else. “She’s a human. She’s his friend.”
Marie’s eyes widened. “Human? How does she know of this?” Her breaths were short. Her mind hard focused on his face.
Jimmy bowed his head again. “She worked at the same place that Collins was brought to. She knows of me. I trust her.” He felt like he had to explain himself but he didn’t know why. He just did. “She saved my life.” He looked back up.
“It’s not possible. Humans don’t do that.” Markey shot out, and shook his head violently with it.
Jimmy looked to him and their eyes met. “Why not?” He felt amazed with such a statement.
“If you haven’t noticed—humans don’t like us much.” Susanna came in. She, like her lover Markey, couldn’t believe what she heard. This all seemed so amazing that she had trouble understanding everything at once.
Jimmy gulped. “Well—she did.”
Marie laughed and then turned her face to a smile. She finished with shaking her head. “I see Collins was busy.” She turned back to the others. “He put us in a lot of danger, exposing himself like this.” Her voice went mellow, but Jimmy felt some amount of reflection within it. She knew something more about Collins than he thought of before, that voice said.
“You know why he went there?” he had to ask the hunch he felt.
Marie laughed some again, before answering. “He was a lot of things over his long live. He regretted many more. He lived two lives and in each of them, he suffered several pains—several deaths. Why he did this, only he knows. Only you do at that.”
Jimmy stepped forward to her. “Why did he leave?”
“I didn’t know that he did. As far as I knew Samuel killed him.”
“Why don’t I believe that?”
Marie turned back around. “Kalima was regretful for something that he did. It weakened him. It made him sorrowful. It gave him pain. That’s all I know.”
Jimmy looked into her dark brown eyes. He could feel the hurt oozing out of them almost like jelly oozing from a jar. She looked hesitant, almost like she felt true pain. She loved him, Collins, and hated that he left her. She truly didn’t seem to know why he did what he did, but had her ideas as to the reasons for it. He could see that. He could feel it. “You loved him, didn’t you? He hurt you as well.”
A single tear formed in her right eye, but she blinked it away. “What has been done is done. All that matters now is that we have to protect our group. We have to protect our pack. At the lodge, we will be safe. We will be free.” She smiled. The look blew away her tears. She cried enough as far as she was ever concerned about what happened.
Jimmy accepted what he saw. He had no other choice. “You all go. I’ll follow.” He turned back to Sasha. “I owe it to Rachel that I tell her something.”
She stood directly behind him. “How would you find us?”
He smiled. “I’ve been there before.” He nodded. “I’ve seen it.” The memory of the house among the trees flared again inside his mind. It felt natural. He felt like he lived there so many times before, and could even remember the trip up north. He could remember everything. Luckily, it no longer felt strange, feeling everything that he was. He just accepted it.
Sasha nodded, knowing that she couldn’t change his mind. He sounded determined to go. She didn’t know him all that well, but watching him, with the others, she could feel Collins there in the room with them. Maybe he didn’t change all that much after all.
“Then we are set then.” Marie walked to Jimmy and placed a soft right hand onto his left shoulder blade. “We’ll head north, staying to the trees. You will speak with this woman of yours. When you’re finished, come and find us. We
’ll be waiting for you.”
Jimmy nodded. He smiled to Marie, turned to Sasha, and smiled to her as well. He suddenly felt more at home with them, than he ever thought that he would have, back when all of this began. They felt comfortable to him. They felt relaxed. It told him that he trusted them completely. They were, after all, his family. He now knew that. He now felt that. It felt irresistible, and the feeling flew strong.
All of them left the abandoned building, right afterwards. They all kept together, other than Jimmy, who made his way out of the neighborhood alone. Only Rachel now flared on his thoughts, and quite frankly, she was becoming the only thing that was ever on his mind in the first place.
26
Gary waited outside for nearly a full hour, and still saw nothing.
No one came to the front door, nor did anyone leave it. He began to feel that he’d been had. They must have fooled him. They must have already left. Thinking that was enough to get him curious. It also made him angry, and he had to do something about it. He had only one idea. I have to go into the house. I have to check it. It made sense. He didn’t have the choice. He couldn’t lose him again. He couldn’t risk it.
He stood out of the car, and made sure that his nine millimeter was out and ready in his hand before he moved. He cocked the weapon after closing the car door.
He ran across the street and made it the other sidewalk quickly, ran up the concrete steps and reached the red door just as fast. He brought the automatic up as he stood to the left of the door. Now all he had to do was to figure out how to get inside the place. Should he knock, or should he just break down the door? Both seemed like good ideas, but breaking down the door felt like the better choice. He would have loved seeing their faces when he busted inside, having the weapon aimed right at them. He would have loved the shock in their eyes. However, being that they might not be there, all he would end up doing was to make a big scene, and a lot of noise. As much as he wanted to do it, he knew that breaking it down wasn’t such a good idea. After considering it, knocking wasn’t one either. They were not just going to let him in. Why would they? The only other option he had was just go ahead and break in quietly. He just had to find out how best to do it. It seemed like the better choice. It felt like his only option.
He looked around the outside of the front of the house, and looked to the window at the front of it. It looked large enough for him to get inside it, but it would make one hell of a sound though, if he broke it. No, that wasn’t the best way to do it either.
He looked back to the door, thinking. He looked down at the handle, and looked straight to the thumb latch on it. He stared at it for a few seconds, and after a brief thought about it, just decided to go ahead and try it.
He placed his thumb down and gripped the handle. The door clicked and opened up with ease.
What a dumb ass? He quipped as he pushed open the door and brought his right arm down with the gun going into the darkened home first. He took a deep breath, as he stepped inside.
The darkness was overwhelming at first. It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust. When they did, he saw easily that nothing moved.
No one was there.
He went into the living room first and stopped just under the archway into the room.
Everything looked quiet and still.
He moved to the center of the room, stopped at the sofa, and from there, strained to listen to the rest of the house.
He heard nothing.
“God damn it.” He looked back to the front of the living room, towards the bay window, and seeing it, he nodded. They fooled me. They must have left when Rachel did. He should have known better than that. He wasn’t an amateur. Her showing herself, like she did, looked like she was trying to get him to follow her. That’s what he would have done, so that made sense. Thinking that, he just shook his head with disgust. Anger grew with it, and his mind flared with rage. What he had to do next was a simple thing. He had to go back to the old abandoned building by the water and find the other freaks. He was done with playing games. One of them there would know where he went. He might get one of them to tell him where he was.
He left back out the way that he came, went through the front door, and closed it behind him when he reached the steps.
He headed back down them, and crossed the street back to his car.
He started the engine and headed off, back to the rundown part of town. He headed back to the abandoned building over by the river. The determination he felt was stronger than it ever felt before.
27
It took Jimmy only about half an hour before he made it to the hotel on Fourth Avenue. In fact, he almost ran to the place. He felt rushed. He felt impatient. He felt that he had to get there before it was too late. Too late for what, he didn’t know, he just had the feeling, and he had no choice but to heed it.
Arriving there, he made it into the lobby and went straight up to the counter as fast as he could run. Several people were already there in front of it, so he had to wait. He didn’t like that, and it made his impatience for it show, but he did his best to contain the feelings. It still felt hard to do. He wasn’t the patient type.
When it was finally his turn, he rushed to the wall of the counter, and asked for Rachel Garland’s room. The clerk behind the counter, a rather young and heavyset woman with dark hair and equally dark glasses, phoned the room and told the woman on the other end of the line to expect him. He welcomed what he heard. It told him that she would be safe there as long as they continued to call her first. Hearing it, and feeling it, he relaxed.
The large woman, with glasses that almost made her look like she was an unforgiving bug of some kind, told him her room was on the sixth floor, and was room 607.
He thanked her gracefully, left the lobby, and made his way to the elevators that were just opposite from the counter.
He went up to the sixth floor and ran into the hallway where he stopped.
A plaque on the wall, directly in front of the elevators, told him that rooms 601-635 were on his left.
He turned the hallway’s corner and found her room with ease.
Approaching her door, he had to stop before he knocked. He had to breathe first. He had to catch his breath before seeing her again. It took several minutes for him to do it, and when he finally felt ready, he knocked. She answered his knock quickly.
“Jimmy?” She opened the door and held it open to him so he could come inside.
He walked in and stopped just inside the door of the room. From there, watching her back and taking in her scent, he melted by all of what she was. He took a deep breath, taking her all in. It almost felt like he breathed her into his soul. He needed the feeling. It almost seemed like a drug addict loving the feeling of the drug pressing through their body and mind, and it made her feel irresistible to him. She felt like power. He took her in, and let his mind relax completely from the joy of the drug.
She closed the door, turned around, and faced him. He looked pale. His eyes looked drooped back with a hollow look oozing out from behind them. He looked exhausted. He looked confused. He looked like he was a thousand miles away. She didn’t like the look. He had something to tell her that she didn’t want to hear, she felt sure of that much.
“What is it?” She took a deep and exaggerated breath. She sounded like she gasped, and in fact, she did.
He blinked. “I’m going away for a few days. I have to help my group.”
“Your group?” She tried to smile but couldn’t. She had no strength to do it.
“Yeah.” He sighed some. “Two of them have been killed.” He stepped away from the door and away from her. She smelled too fine. She smelled too wonderful for him to bear standing this close to her. He didn’t know how he could stand it. Especially with him being this close with her in such a closed space. Her scent filled the room. There was nothing else there but her, and he had no choice but to try to deter his mind from it. “We’re going up north. I think Gary has found out about my friends.
”
Rachel walked up to him, and stopped right in front of him. She shook her head. “I’m sorry Jimmy. This is my entire fault.” She believed in what she said. If she had just stayed away, none of this would have happened. She should have known better. She should have understood everything that she did but didn’t. She quite frankly, just couldn’t convince herself to stay away from him. He was becoming a part of her. He was becoming important. She needed him with her, and she couldn’t fight the feeling anymore. She couldn’t help herself. He felt like a drug to her. She wanted more of him. She needed it. She needed him by her side.
He shook his head as well. “It doesn’t matter now. For now, we have to head out of the city. We have to go someplace that he won’t be able to find us.”
She stepped right up to him. “Where are you going?” She needed to know. She needed to be able to find him again. She couldn’t help herself.
With her stepping this close to him, and refilling his senses, he had to step even further back. In fact, his legs made contact with the side of the single bed in the room, and it didn’t let him get as far back as he wanted to go from her, and he feared that idea. He hated it when he wasn’t able to get away from her, when he needed to do it the most, but at the same time, he felt thankful for it.
“There’s a place back in the trees off the main road just outside a small town by the mountains.” He took a deep breath but didn’t try to smell anything within it. It didn’t work. She was still there, and she smelled stronger than ever. “We’re going there to get away from Gary. We‘re going there to find some peace from all of this.” He swallowed a now dry mouth. He tried to hold his breath but couldn’t. “Besides, I need some time with them. I feel so strongly being with them. I needed them, and more importantly, I think they need me.” He had to try to fight the urge. He had to refocus his thought. He had to do anything that he could to keep her smell from becoming a taste.
A Werewolf's Saga Books 1, 2, & 3 (A Werewolf's Saga Boxed Sets) Page 44