Taken in the Night

by Tara Fox Hall

  “Terian, kill him,” I yelled, huddled on the side of the bed. “Now.”

  “I’m out of ammo. C’mon, let’s go,” Terian said, extending his hand. Abruptly he yelled and dropped the gun, his hand bleeding. Three men stormed into the room, all holding guns. Terian backed away, staying between them and me.

  “You okay, Bobby?” one of the men called to the man Terian had shot.

  Bobby got up then, miraculously not bleeding. “Yeah.”

  He’d had on a bulletproof vest. “Why didn’t you bring the better gun?” I said to Terian in exasperation.

  “We were here to pick up your friend, not to fight a war.”

  Theo would’ve had the gun with explosive bullets, plus a few others. I hadn’t brought a gun, either. Neither of those facts would help us now.

  Bobby, the man Terian had shot, stripped off his vest and then his shirt. He was pissed.

  “I got shot, so I get her first. Then you guys can take turns. Then we do them both and get out of here.”

  He went to reach for me and Terian blocked him with his body. “No.”

  “Do him first.”

  One of the men loosed a clip into Terian’s head. Terian fell like a deadweight to sprawl on the floor. Bobby turned to me.

  “Sarelle, get on the bed and take off your clothes, or I’ll do worse to you than just fuck you on your way out.”

  “You could have a million easy, if you’d just let me make a call—”

  “You’re going to die,” he said with a shrug. “We’ve been paid already. We don’t break our contracts. It’s bad for business.”

  His easy tone scared the shit out of me. “Why me?” I said softly. “I’m no one important. Danial is the one—”

  “Got that right,” Bobby said loudly. “You aren’t important and shortly you’ll be no one. Now shut up. Whoever your boyfriend is isn’t important, either.”

  Bobby grabbed my arm and wrestled me onto the bed. He began pulling off my clothes, even as I fought him. Soon I was down to my underwear.

  Bobby stopped for a minute, considering. “I almost forgot, Sarelle. I’m supposed to tell you, before you die and now is as good a time as any.” He paused dramatically. “Alphonse sends his regards.”

  I looked back at him blankly. “Who the hell is Alphonse?” I said slowly and deliberately.

  “Someone you insulted,” he said. “He said you’d remember.”

  “I don’t know any Alphonse!” I shouted. “You have the wrong person! Stop this!”

  “Hold her,” Bobby said to his men, undoing his pants. “I’ve had enough of her thrashing.”

  I let out a scream and blackness seeped into me, curling up from the floor. Terian was standing again, his eyes glowing red.

  “Get off her now,” he rasped hatefully. “I won’t ask again.”

  “Bobby, look at the joker. He doesn’t even have a weapon.” One of the men laughed.

  “Kill him already,” Bobby commanded, pulling at my underwear. “I’m busy.”

  “I don’t need a gun,” Terian said coldly.

  He reached toward Bobby and pulled his arm back, grasping something, grinding his fingers together, shouting words that were more like sounds. Bobby screamed, and his body convulsed, blood running out of his mouth. He looked at me with wide shocked eyes and abruptly collapsed on me. The other three had already started firing at Terian, but he took the bullets, staggering at each one. He reached to each of them in turn, pulling and rending with his fingers, shouting the sounds. Each one screamed and convulsed, blood running from their mouths. They stood for a moment, swaying, and then collapsed to the floor, still twitching.

  Terian reached to help me up. “C’mon. We’ve got to go, Sar.”

  I pulled on my blood-spattered clothes and hurried to the SUV. I huddled there, smelling the blood on me and trying not to be sick.

  Terian went back to stand in front of the motel. He stood there, saying something and holding his hand up, with the palm open as if waiting for a gift from someone directly to his left.

  Slowly, a ball of fire took form in his hand. First it was white, then red, then orange, then yellow, and finally blue. It didn’t burn him, but hovered there in his hand. He looked at it for a moment, then heaved it at the hotel. The fireball hit the building and exploded, blue fire becoming white, red and yellow as it spread like it had been fanned by a huge wind. Within seconds the entire place was burning, even the metal and brick.

  Terian strode back to the SUV, started the engine, and peeled out of the parking lot. We rode in silence most of the way home. I was trying not to think of how close I’d come to being raped and killed and how bad he’d been about preventing it. Bitterly, I told myself Theo would never have let it get so far. Then a little voice inside reminded me Devlin could have raped or killed me last spring when he stormed my house. The expert Theo had failed me that night.

  I told the voice to shut up and sat sullenly, looking into the graying dawn.

  We finally got back to Danial’s as the sun was rising.

  I raced inside, Terian following. Danial met us in the mudroom. He came toward me with a smile. His expression changed to worry when my face crumpled. He hugged me quickly, as I began to cry.

  “What happened?” he said to Terian, his eyes red. “Where is Kat?”

  “Sar’s friend Kat wasn’t there. It was a trap set by a man named Alphonse, specifically for Sar. They were to kill her and were also planning to rape her,” Terian said. “This wasn’t about her connection to you. The men didn’t know who you were.”

  “Are they all dead?” Danial said angrily. “They had better be, unless you brought one home to torture.”

  “Yes, they’re all dead. I crushed their hearts,” Terian said. “I’m sorry, I should’ve brought one back to find out more about this Alphonse person. Sar says she doesn’t know anyone by that name.”

  “Was she in danger?” Danial said softly.

  “Yes,” Terian said.

  “You overreacted,” Danial said, relieved, “but that’s okay, Terian. Sar’s safety is your first priority. Information can wait. Are you hurt? I smell your blood.”

  “I took at least ten bullets, but they were regular ones, Danial. I’ll be fine.”

  “Rest today then and tomorrow,” Danial said. “Get one of the foxes to cover for you.”

  “Okay,” Terian said.

  “Did you cover your tracks?” Danial asked next.

  “The motel is ashes by now,” Terian said. “I hit it with a blue fireball. Everything, even the bodies and the metal, was burned utterly.”

  “Again overkill,” Danial said. “Next time, just burn the motel or building with regular fire. Wipe down anything with your prints on it if possible. Take the guns, all of them.”

  Terian said nothing.

  Danial stepped to him, still holding me. “Terian, you saved Sar. You did an excellent job, especially as none of us saw this as anything other than a friend in need. I don’t know an Alphonse, either. There was no reason to suspect anyone was after Sar. If you both weren’t sure of this, I’d think it had to be a mistake.”

  “It was no mistake,” I said, scared. “They were after me.”

  Terian looked at Danial, his eyes sad. “Theo would have known,” he said softly. “He would never have walked into a trap like this. I should’ve known.”

  “When Devlin came for Sar almost a year ago now, Theo had forgotten all about him. He wasn’t there to help Sar, and he would have been killed if he had been. I expect you to do your best, Terian, which was what you did. Second-guessing yourself now is a waste of time. ”

  I looked up at Terian guiltily. “Danial is right, Terian. You saved me. That’s what matters.”

  “I hesitated to kill,” he replied. “I shouldn’t have.”

  “You’re new at it,” I said, shrugging. “It gets easier when it’s them or you.”

  Terian looked at me uneasily, then looked away.

  “Go rest,” Danial s
aid, putting his hand on Terian’s shoulder. “You did fine for the first time out.”

  Terian left, shutting the door behind him. Danial turned to me. “Do you want to take a shower, or a bath?”

  “A shower, please,” I said, beginning to undress.

  “Do you want me to stay or do you want to be alone?” he said quietly.

  “Please just wait outside for me, Danial.”

  I took a long hot shower, washing away all of the night’s nastiness along with the blood. When I emerged, Danial was waiting.

  “Elle is up eating breakfast. Cia is taking care of her. Come to bed, darling.”

  Exhausted, I was asleep almost instantly.

  My dreams were nightmares, where Terian did not stop Bobby in time, where Bobby became a shadowy figure called Alphonse, where Theo was alive, but when he came to save me he got shot instead and died in front of me on the hotel room floor as I was raped. I woke up screaming each time. Each time, Danial held and soothed me.

  Sometime around noon, Elle woke me knocking on the door, asking why I hadn’t made her lunch.

  Danial let her in. “Speak softly, Elle. Mom’s still in bed.”

  “Mom, what’s wrong?” she cried and ran to hug me.

  I hugged her back. “I’m okay, Elle. I just had a bad scare last night.”

  “Are you going to be okay?” she said anxiously.

  “I’ll be okay,” I assured her. “I’ve got you and Danial.”

  Danial gave me a soft look and put his hand on my face. “Stay here,” he said softly. “I’ll be back.” He turned to Elle, taking her hand. “Come, Elle. I’ll make you lunch today.”

  After they left, I crept back under the covers and fell asleep. Some time later, Danial returned to gather me into his arms again. I slept again and dreamed no dreams.

  As soon as I woke up, last night came flooding back. I turned to Danial and grabbed him tightly.

  He hugged me back. “Are you feeling better?”

  “Much better,” I said, giving him a grateful smile.

  “Tell me what happened to you. All of it.”

  I relayed the story. When I finished, Danial was as puzzled as I was. “This man, Bobby, he said Alphonse was insulted by you?”

  “Yes,” I said, “but I don’t remember insulting anyone, not purposely.”

  “It’s odd this man could be so offended and yet you have no memory of the event. Think hard, Sar. Did someone ask you for a date and you told him you were already taken, already in love?”

  “I’ve thought it over, but can’t place anyone. If someone comes on to me, usually they gave me a name to go with the proposal.” I gave him a self-effacing smile. “It happens rarely enough anymore so I’d have remembered.”

  “That’s something I’m pleased about,” Danial assured me quickly, kissing my cheek. “No one should approach you with intent, not with a diamond on your ring finger and the choker about your throat. You say they didn’t know who I was?”

  “No.”

  “You were only single, so to speak, for those months last spring when you stayed alone at your farm. No one asked you for a date then?”

  Unbidden, the man who’d scared the hell out of me that night by my barn came to my mind. I pushed the thought away, repressing a shudder. “No one asked me out.” I colored suddenly, realizing I was lying.

  “Who?” Danial demanded.

  “Terian,” I said sheepishly. “It’s irrelevant, as he’s obviously not this Alphonse.”

  “You’re right. I’d forgotten that,. I’ll check into any known Alphonses locally,” Danial assured me. “As for Terian, he will get more comfortable in his new role. This kind of job isn’t a textbook one and experience is the best teaching tool.”

  “He wasn’t shooting to kill,” I said grumpily.

  “You can’t compare him to Theo,” Danial retorted evenly. “He has neither the experience nor the ruthlessness, not yet. That comes with time.”

  “You’re saying Theo used to be squeamish too?”

  “Theo didn’t even want to kill the man who made him were, Sar. He did it for his parents,” Danial said. “He first worked for me as the other foxes do now, mostly guarding, mostly non-fighting, non-killing work. He hated killing.”

  “What happened to make him change his mind?”

  “A few times when we were attacked, he hesitated. Once it cost him a bullet that would have put his eye out if it were an inch more to the left. Once it cost him a finger, which took him a year to regrow.” Danial paused. “Finally, one attempt on my life killed a woman I was with who was feeding me. She took a bullet in her head.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said, horrified.

  “I didn’t feel about her like I do about you,” he assured me quickly. “She was a good friend, someone I’d known for years. It was one of the last times she was donating to me. She had a fiancé and was graduating college. Her whole life ahead was a good one, and I was happy for her. Theo knew her well; they were friends. They joked and laughed together like you used to do. Her death made him ruthless. Remembering how he could’ve saved her, if he hadn’t hesitated, preyed o him.”

  My heart ached for Theo. When I’d first met him, he’d been a killing machine with one purpose: to protect Danial at all costs. After I’d gotten to know him, finding out how tender and loving he could be, I’d always wondered about his more ruthless side. It seemed so at odds with the woodcarver who only carved forest life. Now it all made sense.

  “If you’ve rested enough, you should eat something,” Danial handed me a robe.

  I went in and fixed myself a quick dinner. As I was finishing, Elle came in with Danial in tow.

  “We’ve come to say goodnight,” Danial said.

  I hugged her. “Did you have a good day?”

  “Yes,” she said with a wide smile. “It will be spring soon.”

  I gave her a kiss. “Sleep well.”

  Danial led her to bed. I stayed where I was for a moment and then picked up the phone to call Kat.

  She was surprised to hear from me after all this time, but we picked up where we’d left off after a few awkward moments. I told her about Theo’s death and then about Elle, making it seem she had been born a few years ago, and been in Europe with her mother until now.

  “I can’t wait to meet her. We should meet at the park sometime to take a walk together.”

  “Are you free this weekend coming?”

  “Sure. It’s a plan.”

  Might as well go all the way. “I’m also back with Danial,” I said hesitantly. “Don’t be surprised if I announce a bundle of joy soon. We’re trying.”

  “I’m very happy for you,” she said with relief. “I’ve got to go. See you this weekend.”

  As I hung up the phone, I wondered if she was relieved I was back with Danial, because he was a less dangerous person than Theo had been. Pushing the odd thought aside, I turned to find Danial standing there.

  “Do you want to go out tonight?” he offered. “I’d love to escort you.”

  “I could use a movie,” I said eagerly. “If you don’t mind some badly done horror flick.”

  “Of course not. Let’s get going,” he said, heading back into the bedroom.

  * * * *

  By the time we got there, the movie was sold out. Rather than settle for another, we walked around the mall for a while and eventually ended up in a bookstore. He bought some new bestselling paperbacks, and I bought a few Audubon guides for Elle on North American mammals and birds. She was trying hard to get down the names of various birds and to tell the difference between the similar animal tracks we would come across on our forest walks. I wanted to encourage that interest. I wanted her to know about the kind of life that shared her world, both as a cougar and as a human, but more important, I hoped to ease her sadness over Nineva.

  He’d healed up most of the scars he had had from the dogs he’d fought and would be leaving America soon. Horribly, at least twenty thin white lines of scar tissue
remained on his back in lion form. Though he didn’t say so, I assumed those were from a whip. It spoke to the severity of the beating he’d had that layers of skin were still damaged so far down inside him.

  Elle had mastered changing now, and she and he often went out together to walk the forest in lion form. He was teaching her to hunt with success. She had caught rabbits and a deer so far, though Nineva had helped her with the deer, and she admitted it had already been lame.

  Later that night, Nineva had spoken to me privately. “She’s smart. Don’t worry. When the time comes, she’ll remember what to do.”

  “Thank you for all you’ve done, Nineva.”

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t do more,” he’d said sadly…

  “Sar,” Danial said loudly, breaking into my thoughts. “They’re closing. Do you want to buy those books?”

  “Sorry, yes,” I said, heading toward him quickly. “My mind was elsewhere.”

  * * * *

  Saturday morning, I took Elle and the dogs to the park to meet Kat. Elle liked Kat at first sight and spent much of the walk talking to her while I held onto Ghost and Darkness. They were not too happy to be leashed after more than year of walking without constraints.

  “You be good,” I said sternly to them. “Stop pulling.”

  “They’re beautiful,” a passing man remarked as he walked by with a poodle.

  “Thanks,” I said pleasantly. “Your dog is cute, too—”

  “That’s my mother,” Elle broke in loudly, glaring at the man. She turned to me. “Come on, Mom, we’ve got to go look at that silver maple.”

  I nodded to her, casting a wave to the bemused man who was already striding away.

  “You don’t need to announce Sar’s your mom,” Kat said quizzically. “The man was just being friendly.”

  “Sorry,” Elle said, shooting me a look. “I just didn’t like the look of him.”

  Kat and I chuckled, and we resumed walking.

  Though I enjoyed the outing and Kat’s company, Elle’s odd behavior worried me, especially when it was repeated several times throughout the walk. Elle did not want any man she didn’t know within reach of me. If a solitary man walked toward us, she moved so she was between him and me. If a man looked at me, and I looked back at him, and he didn’t look away when I did, she would stare at him until he noticed her and dropped his gaze.