“You will take your family on a long vacation. You must use your vacation hours at work soon or you will lose them. One hundred-twenty hours; that is a great amount of time for you to be resting with the children and your wife.” Jack paused in hugging one of the daughters. “You have been saving for something special. This would be the perfect time to tell your wife that you have been offered that promotion and the house in another country.”
“Would you guys like to have some fun?” But girls screamed in delight, and a genuine smile came to his entire face. “Yes, I’m going to talk to Mommy, and we’ll get things all set up tomorrow. What do you say?”
They were still screaming and laughing as he took them both up the stairs, one on either arm. And when he found his wife crying in the kitchen, he told her what he’d just thought of. Tholan was so excited that they’d be getting away that he almost forgot that he’d be going with them, in a way.
By the time they were going to bed, Jack and his wife had narrowed it down to three places to visit, in addition to the place he was being sent after they returned. His wife had told him, numerous times, that she wasn’t telling her mother. She was finished with her.
Tholan wasn’t sure that was a good idea either, but for now, he thought, it was what the older woman deserved. When his nighttime replacement showed up, Tholan was glad for the rest. It had been a stressful day, but he thought that it turned out well in the end. As he sat in his room, he thought of all the changes that had occurred since he’d been released from his cell so long ago.
When someone had passed, Michael would have been the one to bring them over. It had been easier for him, as the watcher would simply go to someone else that was born. But as the world got more and more crowded, it became too difficult for Michael to even get away, much less help with the new guests. Instead, it had fallen to the ones that had stayed with them their entire life.
In the long run, Tholan supposed that was better for both. The watchers would get a short reprieve, something much shorter than it was now, and no one was lost in the waiting for Michael to be free. There were other things that had changed while he’d been confined to his cell, but Tholan knew about them. There were meetings that he was to attend, but not interact with the others. That was harder than he’d thought it would be, as he’d had little to nothing to do with the others anyway.
Not to say that he didn’t have friends; he did, but not that many. Riss had been someone that he could go to after he’d been released. Tholan was thankful every day that he’d not been beheaded. One thousand years of being in his cell was much better than being no more.
Tholan decided to head to the compound where the others were. As soon as he was there, he knew that something had happened. It seemed that everyone was on edge, and he wasn’t sure that he could help—or for that matter, if he should even get involved. Boss stepped in front of him almost as soon as he decided that he’d find Riss.
“I have a favor to ask. You may say no, Tholan, but I have this woman that needs to be watched for a little while. Her watcher, he is exhausted from watching her. She rarely sleeps, and when she does, it’s not for very long. If you would just go and sit with her for a bit, I’m sure that her watcher would be very appreciative.” He told him that he’d be pleased. “Good. As I said, she rarely sleeps. Her sleep pattern is still on prison time, and I think that she is working hard on something for her father, who passed while she was behind bars. But she needs someone to keep an eye on her.”
“I would be honored.” Boss took him to the office where the woman sat behind a desk that would have been suited for someone much larger. She had to stand to reach things on either end. “She is very unhealthy looking, if you do not mind me saying so.”
“It is her lack of sleep. As well as the fact that she has a great deal on her mind. If you would take a look at the notes that she has to do, you’ll see that she has a great deal on her plate. Or so she thinks. I think it will take her a little while longer just to realize that she has many that would gladly help her.” Boss looked at him. “She’s much like you, I’m thinking.”
“I have asked for help.” He felt his temper, not in a good place of late, seem to rise up a couple of notches. “I have been nervous, as you know, of being a watcher again. It has me feeling as if I might fail yet another person.”
“You won’t, Tholan. This I can promise you.” He looked at the woman with Boss. “She took the fall for her father so that he might be able to find out why he was accused of something that he could not have done. Neither did she commit the crime, but before he could find out what was going on, he passed away. She misses him like she would an appendage or her heart. And then there is her stepmother. A vile woman.”
“She thinks her involved? In the fall, as you called it.” Boss explained to him what he meant. “Oh yes. I can see where— This is the woman, I’m betting, that caused the trouble at the deli where Judith works.”
“Yes, that’s the one. She has caused a great deal of trouble over the last few days. And it will get no better before it ends. That is why I worry so about this one. She has been through more than most, and I’m afraid that it will break more than her heart before all is done.” Tholan could see the sadness there when she looked up from her work. She had lines beneath her eyes, and her lips were puffy from biting them as she was doing now. “I’m thinking that she needs a friend.”
“She has none?” Boss said that she’d only been released from prison a few months ago, and that the ones that she had before left her alone. “I would be her friend. I know what it is like to be confined. I deserved mine, and so much more. But she, she is innocent of what she was accused of.”
“What an excellent idea. You could be her friend. Would you do that for me?” Tholan wasn’t sure what he meant but nodded anyway. He’d do anything for this man, even going to the point of laying his life on the line for him should he ever need it. “I will fix it so you have a place. Wait, you’ve purchased a home. You could go there.”
Before Boss left him at his newly purchased home, Tholan had an idea that he had agreed to something huge. But Boss, he was as happy as he’d ever seen him, and there wasn’t any way that he was going to take back what he’d said he’d do. Now all he had to do was figure out what it was. Lying in his own bed that night, the one that he’d purchased online, as Jenny had taught him to do, he tried to think where he’d volunteered for something. But Tholan was too excited to think for very long. Whatever he was doing, he’d give it his best.
Chapter 2
The meeting was running late. Not that Parker minded all that much—all she’d do when she got home was sit in her office and work on paperwork. This was only the second time in three months that she’d been out of the house. Yes, both had been about her businesses, but this time, there was a friendliness to it that made her catch herself smiling once in a while.
She thought of the meeting at the deli yesterday. Angela had been a horrid person to the young woman, but the cashier gave as good as she got. Parker thought that if she’d done that, had the balls to stand up to her stepmother before going to prison, then things might have turned out differently. But yesterday had been a real eye opener on all kinds of things.
Judith hadn’t taken her shit either. That was what had Parker smiling off and on for the last several hours. When Judith came from the back room, her apron tied about her tiny waist, Parker took a step back, knowing that Angela was going to go down, and she was glad to be there to witness it.
“Listen up, you moronic fuck. You ever talk to one of my employees again as you just did, and I will rip your throat out and then piss on your dead body. And if you think, in that tiny fucking brain of yours, that I’m joking, then try me.” Angela told her that she’d lied to her. “I most certainly did not. First of all, I can’t lie to anyone; secondly, you’re a fucking moron, as I’m sure I’ve said to you numerous times before. If you’d done your research, as you claimed that you’d done the last time you were h
ere, you’d know that rice flour does have gluten in it, but very little. And again, the research says that there is no such thing as gluten free bread. Flour must be added to make it work. You got your refund, now—”
“Well, I’m not satisfied with my so-called refund either. That person only gave me a quarter. I paid six dollars for that bread, and I want a full refund.” The cash register was opened and Angela smiled, like she’d won. “There. See, I told you that the customer was always correct.”
Judith laid a second quarter next to the first one. “That is all you’re going to get from me. If you have a problem with it, which I’m to understand from every establishment along this block is normal for you, then call the cops. I’d very much like to tell them about the can of green beans that you returned for a refund with one bean in it because it wasn’t the same size as the others. Or the bottle of lotion that was returned nearly empty because the straw was too short for you to get the last few drops out. Bring it on, bitch. I’ve had enough of your bullshit, and so has everyone that works here.”
Parker had laughed, which brought Angela’s attention around to her again. “You bitch. What business is this of yours? Why are you even out, anyway? There is no way that you could have gotten out for good behavior. I know what you are and what you’ve done. Besides, I thought murder was a life sentence. The nerve of some people trying to act as if they belong in normal sociality. And then you tried to blame your poor father.”
Her voice had been loud—the entire room had turned to look at them. Parker felt like a two-year-old again, her hand caught in the cookie jar at home. But this was so much worse. This was not just embarrassing, but it hurt her in ways that she’d not felt before.
Parker glanced at Judith and the woman winked at her, and suddenly some strength that Parker needed surged upward. Looking at her stepmother, Parker felt as if she could take on the world.
“You never loved him or me, did you? You only wanted what he could offer you. A home, money, security, and money. You will notice that I have repeated the money part, won’t you, Angela?” Parker laughed. “But he got you in the end, didn’t he, stepmother dear? He took every bit of it away from you and gave it to his ex-con of a daughter. And you want to know what else? Da did it long before you set him up to take the fall for something that never happened. He knew what you were the day after you wed him, and he caught you fucking the delivery guy in his bed the day after the honeymoon.”
“He did not catch us. And we didn’t do it in his bed.” Everyone in the room made a sound, reminding Angela and her that she not only had an audience, but she’d also just confessed to sleeping around. “You’re going to pay for this, PJ. See if you don’t. You’ll see that I’m going to get what I deserve, and you’re going to hand it over to me with a smile.”
“Oh, I have no doubt that you’ll get what you deserve. You see, I’ve been doing some research on the happenings that put me behind bars. And once I can connect the dots—to you, I’m betting—you’re going to be spending a great deal more time behind those same bars, but for a lot longer than I did.”
The punch to her face knocked her on the floor. Parker started to get up when Judith held her in place. She told Parker that if she played her cards right, Angela would be behind those bars in about ten minutes. All she had to do was press charges.
Angela was taken away, screaming that Parker had hit her first, despite witnesses to the contrary. And while the blood on her lip and nose wasn’t that bad, it was there, while Angela didn’t have a mark. As soon as she was out of the place, the entire room erupted in applause. Everyone, it seemed, had had enough of Angela Brooks.
“I’ll meet with you in the morning with the rest of the gang.” Parker had a cup of tea, which tasted of heaven to her, while Judith explained what she wanted to do. “I think we can work together on a lot of projects coming soon. And if you’d like, and even if you don’t, I want to help you find out what had happened to have you ending up in prison. I have some abilities that will be able to help you out.”
“I’m working on it now. Things are beginning to add up, but I don’t have a starting point nor, other than me being in prison, an ending one.” She told her about the building and all the other shit that she’d been finding out. “Angela set us up, I know that. Figuring out how is the hard part. But I’ll get there.”
“I’m sure you will.” Judith packed up some things in a large bag. “Your cook, Maggie, called here. She asked that you bring home a few things. Also, I put a tin of that tea you’re drinking in there. You and I—I think we’re going to be good friends.”
And now, here she was in the deli again before it opened, having a meeting with five of the most beautiful couples that she’d ever seen. Parker was a little overwhelmed by them. They were happy, in love, and they touched a great deal, something that Parker had missed while away—the hugs and the love of her father. If not for the prison computers, she wouldn’t have had any contact with anyone much.
“The building that you’re wishing to purchase isn’t for sale. But, anytime you wish to go inside it and look around, take tests or whatever you wish, just go ahead. None of us are using it at the moment. But I do have plans to turn it into an apartment building for dislocated families. Mostly abused adults and families.” Agon, the owner of the building, winked at her, and Parker could have sworn she saw a twinkle in his eye. “But, I was going to suggest that you not own it anyway. People, the wrong sort of people, will think you’ve only purchased it so that you could go in and make it look like you wanted it to look. Like you were innocent. And while I know that you are, the cards, as they say, must be played out legally.”
“I had actually thought of that. But it’s great to hear it confirmed. Neither my father nor I committed those crimes, and I’d very much like to pin it back on the person who set us up.” Valyn said that he’d want to do that as well. “I’m not positive that Angela did it, but I’m finding things that are pointing the finger at her.”
“She did it.” Parker looked at Judith. “I told you yesterday that I had some abilities. We all do. What I can tell you will only help you, not get her taken to prison. And I looked and can tell you just what she did and how she paid for it. Well, paid for most of it anyway. Blackmail.”
“The police commissioner.” Judith nodded. “Okay, that explains the arrest. But the rest—the judge that sentenced me; the speed in which it happened. That, I’m assuming, is the same thing, blackmail, but I can’t find any connection to them all.”
“As I said before, you’ll get it. But I have a question. You didn’t even bat an eye when I told you that I have abilities. Nor when I mentioned that we all have them. So, I’m guessing that you have some contact with people like us at some point in your life.” Parker just nodded, not sure where Judith was going with this. “But, I’d say that you don’t know what we are. Or, if you do, then you’re not sure about it.”
“I have no idea what you are, no. None of you. As for contact, a couple of people that were inmates with me, they were a tiger and a bear. But they wanted to be behind bars. Said that they thought themselves safer there. Their mates had been killed, and rather than join them, they put themselves into a situation that put them behind bars. And no, I didn’t ask.” Riss said that it happened all the time; they get tired of life alone and wished to just live out their days in solitude. “Yes. That’s what they said. That ending their own life was harder than they’d thought it would be, and they wanted someone to care for them that had no vested interest in their lives. Sort of sad, but I don’t judge people who like it quiet. I do as well.”
“This is a family that doesn’t do quiet well, as you’ve noticed.” Parker told Riss that she had noticed that. “We’re Mystic Protectors. And in order to explain what that is, you have to know that we were once protectors—beings that watched over all the creatures of the earth until their deaths. Most of us had been to the point of wanting to end our existence. But we were asked by Boss to come here and tr
ain other protectors so that they could do their jobs better.”
Parker wasn’t sure if she believed him or not. But when the men stood up and spread out wings behind them, Parker stood as well. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do when she was asked to have a seat again, but she was positive that she had hit her head somewhere along the line.
“No, you didn’t hit your head. We can all, should we want, read your mind. Everyone’s. Usually we don’t—we don’t want to intrude—but I was worried that you’d freak out and I didn’t want you to run.” That had been her intention, so she didn’t even try to deny it. “Are you all right with the rest of it?”
“No. Not just yet. Just let me have a minute.” She was freaking out. And she wanted to tell them that she’d seen someone before with wings, but his had been black. Arryn, in a very excited but fearful voice, asked her when she’d seen him. Getting up, she started pacing the room. It was that or run. “When I was arrested. It was—let me think. I was in the jail, yes, but they had put me in a room where I was all alone. Or so I thought. Then this person—something—came into the room. No. That’s not right either. He was there, in the two-way mirror, but not exactly in the room with me.”
When no one spoke, she turned and looked at them. They, in turn, were looking at one another. Parker was no longer freaked out—now she was terrified, because they looked terrified.
“Do you remember what he looked like? His face?” Parker nodded slowly but said nothing to Valyn. “It would go a long way in helping us figure out who he might have been, or if we’ve taken care of him yet.”
“Taken care of him? Why do I get the feeling that this thing, this person thing, is something that you’ve dealt with before? Or at least something like him. And not only that, but you have reason to believe that this wasn’t just a ‘one of’ thing.” This time they all shook their heads. “I see. Actually, no I don’t, but I think I should go home.”
Tholan: Mystic Protectors: An Angelic Paranormal Erotica Page 3