“We stay away from the little, fast cars. We have to be practical Fie.” That’s how she’d lived her life. It got her nowhere. Still, she didn’t want to be in a car that close to the ground. Not by herself anyway.
They took their time walking through the cars. When you were in a showroom with this many different cars, you should appreciate it.
“What about this one?” She opened the door to find the keys in the ignition. It was a two-door infinity, bronze with cream-colored interior. She could take an Uber, but this was her upgrade car.
They got in and wondered how they were supposed to get out of here. There were cars parked all around her. She wasn’t driving out. She turned on the ignition to hear it purr when the platform she was on started rising.
“Did I ever mention I was scared of heights?” The platform came to a stop, then turned around connecting to a different floor. She drove off hoping there were no sudden drops. It led her to the exit of the garage. All right that was the coolest thing she’d seen. Nope, take that back. She’d seen too many unexplained things lately.
“Looks like we’re going to buy an easel. You can’t let anyone know you’re in my pocket when we get to the mall.”
She turned on the radio, found her favorite station, then opened the window letting her hair blow in the breeze. This was the life. She would have spent all her time in college studying if not for Piper. All she ever thought of was proving to everyone she was more than the words they called her.
Piper, on the other hand, believed they should live. Piper’s life hadn’t been easy either, and she wouldn’t let her hide away from the world. So, there were parties and dances and just crazy fun with her BFF. They graduated seventh and eighth in their class that was good enough for her.
The mall was a busy place, and she was sad to have gotten there. The ride was fun, and she felt alive.
“What do you think Fie? Should we get the supplies and head home, or should we eat some of those fries first? Good idea let’s eat fries.”
They walked to the food court to find that half of it was blocked off. The under-construction sign upset her. The other half was full, but it was lunchtime. She got in line for her fries wondering where they would sit.
When she got to the counter, she ordered large fries with cheese and a drink. Because, why not? She took her order and started looking for a table to sit.
Off in the corner were three women who were waving at her. They didn’t know her. She looked around, but there was no one else by her.
“Yes, you.” One of the women shouted.
She knew better, but she couldn’t help herself. What did they want? Maybe they were the ones trying to kill her. Good going, Brandi. Walk into a death trap.
“Hi Brandi, have a seat.” She backed up a few steps.
“Don’t worry, Dante told us about you.” Her brow furrowed.
“I don’t think she knows who he is, yet.”
“Let’s try this again. I’m Rena. This is Dee, and that’s Lorali. We’re no threat to you. Have a seat.”
They were reading low to non-existent on her threat meter. After all she had gone through, her meter was calibrated to respond to any signs of a threat. She slid into the open chair, and Fie peeked his head out of her pocket.
“Oh, he’s adorable. He is a he, right?”
“Yes, he is.”
“Can I hold him?”
“Fie can she hold you?” He purred and nodded. She handed him over to Dee.
“Dee loves cats and alien cats are the best.”
“Rena!” She hit her in her arm.
Brandi smiled, that was something she and Piper would do.
“Who told you my name?”
“Dante,” Lorali told her. “You’re the reason we came to the mall. He said you needed some friends.”
She had friends, Piper and Quinn. True, she could use more, but she was dying, she shouldn’t make any more friends.
“That’s nice of him, I guess. But I don’t know a Dante.”
“Not trying to scare you, but I think he knows everyone,” Rena told her and then stole one of her fries.
“What is he a warlock?”
“My best guess is a genie,” Dee told her. “Do you want an onion ring? Can your cat eat table food? By the way, what planet did he come from?”
Lorali spoke before she could respond. “We have burgers.” They were cut into fours. “We also have chicken and grabbed a few things from that middle eastern restaurant. Dig in.”
She was sitting at a table with three women she didn’t know sharing food and laughing. The only way it could be better was if Piper was here. At least, the universe was taking time to show her the world was a much nicer place than she thought.
“How do you know each other?”
“Rena and I have been best friends for what feels like forever. Now we are also sisters by marriage.” Dee told her.
“I’m their sister by marriage also, but we are all friends.”
“You married three brothers, and like each other, that’s pretty cool.”
“It is, there are actually six brothers.”
“Six? That’s a coincidence. My guy…” So, she was claiming him as hers now. Well, he had been all up in her mouth. Heat bloomed on her cheeks, and she acted like it wasn’t there.
“My guy has five brothers.”
“I’m betting your guy is created. As far as we know all created have five brothers.”
Her voice dropped. “You know about them?”
“We married into a family of them.”
“Do they um suck your blood or try to eat you?” She flushed again. She wasn’t talking about in a sexy way. She was living with Jabari, but there was still a little doubt in the back of her mind. Like he was conning her, and she was so gullible she was playing right into his hand.
“I don’t know who your guy is, but I know he would hurt himself before he hurt you,” Rena told her.
“Sometimes we think we don’t deserve love, but they see us differently,” Dee reassured her with a smile.
“I was scared that I was not acting appropriately.”
“What do you mean?”
“I thought I should freak out more and run down the street screaming fire.”
“How did you find out?”
“There was this firebird. It looked like a dragon to me, trying to kill me. Jabari turned into this huge creature and started fighting it.”
“You’re lucky. Some of us hid in the bathroom closet when we found out.”
“Oh, I’ve got to hear this.”
They laughed and talked for hours. She was still dying, but if she focused on today, she could forget about it for a while. It was more than she thought she would get this late in her life.
“I want to say, thank you. You all made it a fun day. I need to go get my art supplies.”
“We’re going shopping. Take my number. If you feel like shopping call me. We’ll still be in the store.”
“Don’t do it.” Rena and Lorali told her laughing. She joined in and gave Dee her number. Fie went back into her pocket, and she turned one last time to wave at her new friends before she left the food court.
*~*~*~*
“Where have you been?” Rena asked.
“Shopping.”
“You shop?” Dee asked.
“What did you think of Brandi?”
“I like her.”
“Me too.” Dee and Lorali chimed in.
“Then let’s make sure she leaves the mall alive.”
Chapter Fourteen
She eyed some of the cute clothes in the windows of the stores as she walked past. Most of her clothes had been left behind, and she could go for a few outfits. Not too many though. Calling Dee after she bought her supplies was beginning to sound better. Piper was gone, and Quinn was at work, and she could use some more girl time. Jabari hadn’t called, which meant he hadn’t gotten back to the house yet.
She stepped onto the escalator. The st
ore she wanted was on the second floor. It was a recent addition to the mall. It catered to all the newcomers who thought being a designer was sheik until they went onto their next must-do hobby. Fortunately, it also carried tools for serious designers which kept her from going out of town to get what she needed. Their prices were slightly higher, but only if you didn’t factor in gas, and the time spent traveling.
Her first nervous jerk happened when she stepped off the escalator. Her, you are in danger meter stirred to life. She looked around trying to find something out of place. This was her mall, she knew it well, everything looked normal. Too bad she couldn’t believe that.
Deep breath in, let it out slowly.
“We’re going to be fine Fie. It’s the mall what can happen here?” Feeling better she turned and walked down the corridor leading to Kaycee’s. The woman who owned it named it after her daughter.
The employee behind the counter waved at her and called out her name when she walked in. Sue her, she came here a lot. She waved and moved back to the room behind the curtain. That’s where they kept the more expensive paper, pens, pencils as well as different inks and colored pencils. They also carried a line of furniture for the serious artist.
Her fingers lingered on the easel she had been eyeing for several months. It was now or never, so she took the tag off. She also grabbed the tag on a stool that would work wonderfully. She picked up whatever she could carry. It was too much, and she knew it. At this rate, Jabari would think she was planning a long-term stay, but she couldn’t resist. Giving in to death just seemed defeatist at this point. Give her a week or two to get to that point.
“Hey Brandi, did you find anything good?”
She gave Carol a wide smile. “I did.” She placed her tags on the counter along with the things she had been able to carry.
“If you pull up to the loading dock, we’ll bring out your items and put them in your car.”
“I love you, Carol.”
“We do it for all our customers, but I’m not turning down love.”
She paid and told her she was going to get the car. She almost fell when she walked out the store. The area between her shoulder blades was burning. Someone had her in their cross hairs. Just like earlier, she couldn’t find them. She sped up, her heart working a little too fast now.
Her phone rang as she was sliding into the car. “Hello.”
“Where are you!” His voice was hard and stern, but she wasn’t going to let him ruin her day.
“I’m at the mall.”
“Why didn’t you answer?”
“I did.”
“I’ve been calling you for three hours Brandi. You never answered.” She looked down at her messages. She had close to twenty missed calls from him.
“The phone never rang.”
“I’m coming.”
“You don’t have to. I, um, took a car, so I’m not in an Uber.”
“I know; I'm coming. Don’t leave without me.” He cut the call.
Damn, infuriating male, who cared for her. She sighed and turned on the car. Having someone for her to care about and to care about her, it was a new sensation and took some getting used to.
She pulled up to the loading dock. One of the store's stockers loaded her car up. With nothing else to do she parked and headed back inside. Who was she kidding? She always planned to go back in. A quick call to Dee let them know she was ready to shop, but she was stopping past Lane’s first.
A smile tugged at her face when she came across a couple of her dresses on the rack. They special ordered some things from her. She wasn’t a well-known name yet but eventually… Yeah, that wasn’t happening.
She picked up a few things and headed back to the dressing room. Fie jumped out of her pocket and ran across the store. She called after him making the rest of the store's occupants look at her like she was crazy. Couldn’t they see a cat running through the clothes?
Not happy, she went into the changing room. He purred, he would be back. No sense chasing him. Maybe Jabari could find him when he got here. She was in her lingerie when a frisson of fear went down her back. There were entrances to the dressing rooms, one on each side of the store. The dressing room had a curtain to cut off prying eyes. She stuck her head out to see what had made her nervous. There was a male. She thought it was a male. He was blue, the weapon he carried on his side said he wasn’t messing around. She slipped into the dress she was about to try on and tried to sneak out.
“You.” Her body froze before she turned around. His weapon was up and aimed at her.
She might be dying. She might not be a sprinter or a marathon runner. However, she moved fast enough to get out that dressing room and start running through the store. She ran out, and the sensors went off.
Employees were screaming behind her, and security officers were chasing her making her run harder. Her heart pounded, any minute she knew it would burst. But she refused to die because some blue man from a planet she never heard of was trying to kill her.
Fie was running towards her. He jumped into her arms and clung tight his sharp nails raking her skin. He licked up the tiny droplets of blood as she ran into a different store heading for their docking bay.
The creature was on her tail. She ducked behind a large row of boxes and hoped the security guards would find him before he found her.
“No one is coming in here. I stunned them.”
She controlled her breathing. That couldn’t be true.
“Even if you get out, I have acquaintances waiting around the mall. They have orders to kill you on sight.”
She bit her lip. He wanted a response, something to give her position away. Not happening. There was an empty can on the floor. She picked it up and threw it to the other side of the bay. He opened fire shooting at the noise as he ran over there. That answered her questions. He was shooting to kill.
“Clever female.”
Aliens didn’t seem to know the term girl or woman. She kind of liked that. It irritated her when a man called a woman a girl. One of her pet peeves.
“It’s nothing personal you know. I was hired to kill you. I’m not the only one looking to kill you. In fact, I’d let them do it, but I took money to get the job done. I got a rep to keep. Not one on earth but in the galaxy. If I don’t keep up my end of the bargain, no one will want to hire me.”
He was coming closer; she would have to move.
“I don’t know why those others want you dead. Better me killing you. I’ll do it quick and easy like. No pain I promise.”
She moved away from where she was hiding to another aisle filled with tall crates.
“I hear you. You’re human and not all that quiet.”
What did he expect? Her heart was tripping over itself, and she was desperate for another two weeks of life. He came around the corner, his weapon aimed at her.
There was no escaping now. She had to get Fie to run. He clutched her even harder refusing to get down. She was going crazy it felt like she could hear him louder in her head. Stay still the soft voice told her. He got his wish because her legs refused to move.
“Do you know why I was hired to kill you. No, you don’t.” He lifted the gun higher. “It’s all about a dress. Stupid humans. I like to kill for better reasons, but I’m making a name on this planet with those Hollywood types. They’re not as nice as the rest of the world thinks.”
He took another step towards her. “If you make me chase you; it will be harder for you.”
What was he talking about? He was staring right at her.
“What about me?” Jabari walked up behind him.
“Look I didn’t want to kill your girl, but the word on the street is that she’s dying, anyway. So, what do you care?”
He brought his gun up. Jabari moved throwing several disks in his direction. The first cut him across his stomach. The second tied his legs together, and the third pinned him to the floor.
“She’s my mate.”
“Brandi, where are you? It’s
safe to come out.”
“I’m right here.” Her voice came out, but she couldn’t be seen.
“Fie let me see her. You’re both safe.” He walked over to them taking her in his arms. “You did a great job Fie. I’m so proud of you.”
“They’re more of them waiting for me in the store.”
“We took care of them.” Rena walked over with Dee and Lorali following.
Jabari’s mouth dropped open. He met them in the future. Would they even remember him now?
“Hi Jabari,” Rena waved at him. “How’s Slade?”
“He’s making it.”
She nodded. “I’ll let Aran know.”
“You know them?” She tilted her head to look up at him.
“I met them all once.”
“I need to get them home before their mates come after me.” They laughed.
“Who are you?”
“Dante, nice to meet you.” His eyes twinkled before they became as clear as a diamond.
She stepped closer to Jabari. His power was easy to feel.
“What do you want?” Jabari sounded threatening when he spoke to him.
“There’s a human who put a price on your mate’s head.” He turned around to follow the women out. “No, Jabari. It doesn’t work like that.”
“What’s he talking about?”
“Nothing.” He picked up the male on the floor and dragged him over to the opening of the loading bay then threw him off.
She ran over to see Thrice who was holding the male in his arms.
“That’s it, bro,” Phoenix said his voice dry. When he looked at her, he winked. They put the male in the back of the SUV they were driving and left.
“What happened?”
“I’ll tell you in the car.”
“I have to pay for this.” He nodded, and they walked back to the store. It was a mess, but he straightened it out while she tried on more clothes. When she came up to the register, he took whatever she had and placed them with the dress.
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