She was gone.
“Rachel?” He looked back to Sharlia. “Rachel?” He spun back to Sasha and Brandon. “Rachel!” he screamed.
He heard nothing back. He saw nothing of her.
“Rochie, what happened?” Sharlia stood up, feeling his heart pounding hard behind his chest.
He blinked. “She left me. Something’s wrong?” He felt weak in the knees. He had to sit, so he did. The bench style couch along the side of the plane didn’t feel right—not even because it was on a plane. It felt like it was as hard as iron and it only added to the weight now pressing down on his heart.
“What is it?” Sasha moved to him, knelt down in front of him and took both of his hands into hers. She let the warmth of her hands to overwhelm him. She let her voice sooth him right along with their heat.
Her hands blazed his cool damp hands.
“She left me.” He could see her face. He could see her mind. It was already starting to fade.
“What happened dude?” Brandon now stepped to his wife’s left side.
“Concentrate on me Robert. Hear my voice.” Sasha brought his hands up to her chest. She squeezed them within her body’s heat.
He looked up and his eyes widened to nearly complete circles. He heard her voice. He did listen to her words. He did calm down because of both.
“What happened?” She smiled.
He took a deep breath. His mind focused, and when it did, he saw what was left of her thoughts. She feared for her husband, and felt nothing for herself. She didn’t fear her home. She didn’t fear their son. This told him that they were safe—at least for now. As for Jimmy, she was terrified for him.
“It’s Jimmy.” He looked up to Sharlia on his right, and watched as she sat down next to him.
She gave him her full attention. “What happened to Kalima?” She admired how quickly Sasha took control of their friend. It told her how much the young wolf had grown since the last time she knew her. It warmed her heart, as it obviously did with his.
Robert looked at all of them as he answered them. “Kenny, Kenar, has gone missing.” His eyes met Sharlia’s cold stare. “The gathering storm took him from his apartment in Washington.” He turned and looked back to Sasha. “Jimmy went looking for him.”
Sasha bowed her head.
Sharlia turned to Brandon. “Then Kalima is safe.” She felt more than just relieved with hearing this, she felt downright at peace. It meant that the world still had an answer to this problem after all. He was still alive.
Robert saw his sister’s thoughts almost as if they were nothing but a dream now. With each passing moment, they faded faster away. It wouldn’t be long before they vanished all together like any dream always did.
“She was reaching out to me because he was looking for him and wanted our help.” He saw some of what Jimmy told her, and he focused in on as much as he could. He then heard her name. “Sima? He knows that this has something to do with her.” He watched Sharlia again.
She nodded. “Then it seems that all of us are searching together after all.” She stood up. Hope was growing inside her again too. “Kalima went to Washington, so we must find him there too.” She looked at Brandon.
He agreed.
Sasha did too. “I can find him if we get close enough. Us black wolves are never blind to one another. I should be able to find him when we get there.”
Sharlia huffed out with a strong breath with hearing this. She couldn’t help herself.
Robert had more; as he felt his sister’s memories truly now fade out. “We should have someone head over to Rachel’s too.”
“Where is she?” Sharlia asked.
“They have a home in a small town just west of Philadelphia. I don’t want to leave her and Casey alone.”
Sasha looked at him first. “Rachel and who?” She stood up and looked at Sharlia, and then to Brandon.
They didn’t know him either. She saw that much in their eyes.
Robert sighed. “It doesn’t matter. We should have some people go there, to her home, and watch out for her.” He knew that none of them knew about their son. He didn’t want to be the one to violate his secrecy, so he dropped all other thoughts about them. With hearing his sister’s voice again, it wasn’t hard to do. She had always done that to him, and she always would.
Sasha heard him drop this. She was intrigued, but let him do it. As for what he asked her, she could do something about that. At least, Brandon could do it better.
“Brandon can have some of the Gorhans head over to them.” She turned to him. “We have a group of the family in Philadelphia. I spoke to them not that long ago. David, the leader of the group, called me about the gathering storm attacking them.”
He looked at her and winced. “I haven’t talked with any of them for a while now.” He suddenly felt exposed. He didn’t like the idea. He abandoned them. They would hate him for doing it. “I wouldn’t know what to do.”
Sharlia saw the look in his eyes. She could feel what must have rushed through his head. “They will listen to you Lord Brandon. You are their true father. You are their leader.”
Sasha couldn’t have agreed more. “She’s right Brandon. You can do this.” She turned to him and took both of his hands in to hers.
His cold hands felt like ice cubes fresh from the tray.
Hers were as warm as the sun baking the earth on a blazing summer’s day.
They warmed his soul. “I wouldn’t know what to say.”
She smiled. “You are Lord Brandon Gorhan, the master of the Gorhan family, and you have returned to lead them all again.”
He slouched. “That’s easier said than done, especially after what I’ve just done. Why would anyone follow me again?”
Sasha would take any of this. “You were ill Brandon.” It was time to tell him everything she needed to tell him. It was time to end both of their pain. It was time to heal. “I should have never left you that night. You were right. I was selfish. I was also lonely.”
He heard the pain in her voice. “Do you think I wanted to do all of that? I was scared shitless, running a vast empire that I knew nothing about. It took everything I had to figure out how to dial the fucking phone.”
She giggled some with this, but ended it quickly. She had to keep serious—for both of them. “I could have helped you. Since you left, I’ve been running all of it.”
He looked directly into her bright green eyes. They hypnotized him as they ever did. “You are? You understand all that crap?” He giggled now.
She let hers go. “I was there for you then, just like I’m here for you now.”
His giggling stopped. His voice turned to shame. “What about my cat problem?” He swallowed. He could use a hit now. It has been days. How he got this far, he didn’t know how he did it.
She already knew this. It was time that he knew it too. “You haven’t had a cat for days Brandy. Maybe you’re not so hooked on them after all.”
He straightened up with hearing this. He felt his heart burst too. God he loved her. “You think so?”
She smiled hard. “I know so.”
He moved closer to her face. “I am so sorry Sasha for doing that. I shouldn’t have let it consume me like I did. I should have asked you for help.”
She pushed in closer than he did. “I know that now too.” And she reached in. She brought her lips to his. She kissed him with her full and powerful strength.
He kissed her with his entire body. He pressed to her. He flung into her. He gave her everything.
Sharlia and Robert watched everything with a smile on their faces. They were happy for their friends. Even so, they still had a job to do and people to save.
“This is very well deserved guys, but we are in a kind of a rush.” Robert spoke for both of them.
They released their kiss.
“All right.” Brandon looked over to Sharlia. “I can do this. Give me your phone.” He slapped both hands together with a thunderous bang.
She
laughed with this, but kept it on the inside. She reached in to her breast pocket of her suit coat, and removed her cell phone. She then handed it to him.
He dialed the number that he knew by heart. It’s funny how the mind remembers the things that scare one the most.
33
He walked until dark again. He kept going. It took a lot to do it. He was feeling weak. He hadn’t eaten since coming here. But he couldn’t think about this now. He had to stay the course. He had to tough it out. He had to find the one that left the scent before it faded forever.
In thinking about this, Jimmy began to believe that the smell, that same smell from the park that night all of those many years ago, was the very same one. He didn’t know how, but it no longer mattered. What did matter was that it seemed to be left for him to follow it. This bothered him the most.
They are leaving me a trail to follow. They want me to do it. They want me to find them. This was the only explanation he had with how easy it was to follow it. As he made his way on foot, he would lose the scent for a time, only to find it again, stronger than ever the second time. It seemed like they were smearing it on some walls. Whoever it was, they left it like breadcrumbs all over town. This concerned him. Why would they want me to follow it? He thought he had an idea. They left me the message in Kenny’s apartment. They then left me a trail to follow them. They want me. They wanted me involved in this, but why. Why take Kenny? What does all of this mean? He knew he was about to find out.
He reached the Southside of Seattle. He found a small building that looked like a warehouse in a rundown part of town not far from SeaTac Airport. It looked deserted. It looked abandoned. The scent, that same sweet broad scent, led right to a small door at the back of the building. It even gripped the door. It wrapped around it like perfume caressed the mind. He knew by the smell of it; he had reached the end of the line.
This is it. He looked at the door. It looked like wood. It looked rather beat up with several dents in the center of the wood. This wasn’t everything. The door was painted red. It was the color of his New York City pack. Do they know that? He didn’t know. He had to find out.
He took a deep breath as he reached for the door handle—a simple normal new looking knob—and turned it. He held the same breath when he opened the door. It was even unlocked.
If this is a trap, then here I am. Here I am about to rejoin the world. He walked through the door.
He came in to a hallway. A single small light was just above the door. He could see a small set of stairs running off the hallway just to his right. The rest of the hallway looked closed off with all types of debris all over the floor. Only the stairs looked clean. It told him the way he was supposed to go.
He moved, letting the door shut behind him as he did.
He climbed the stairs.
They creaked and moaned with every step.
When he reached the top, he smelled the scent again. It came from his right, so he turned.
He was now standing in front of another hallway that went to his left. He followed it. He moved with a cautious stride. He walked deliberately and the scent led him right.
He turned and found that it headed to the first door of the three that were now on his left.
He walked to the door. He reached for the knob and opened it without thinking of anything else. He would let what he would see do everything else for him.
A small room was behind the door. It looked clean. It smelled of a sweet and overpowering aroma of blood and stench. It did smell the same.
This is where they wanted me to come.
He walked into the room.
The floor looked clean, just old. Two large windows were along the wall to his right. The little light in the room came from them and the streetlights outside. He walked to them and looked outside. It was the front of the building. He could just make out the red door beneath him to his right. Still no one was there, so he turned back to the room.
What he could see, he saw nothing. There was nothing in the room. There was no furniture. There was no one there. He looked left to the wall around the door.
What in the hell is that? He stepped to the center of the room. He turned in to the light.
The wall was covered with what looked like a thousand different newspaper clippings taped all over it. He also saw pictures. He saw objects of every type. Seeing them, he moved closer. He had to see it. He had to see everything.
He stepped to the wall, and to the first small strip of paper right in front of him. He then saw his name.
“Jimmy Walls.”
The small clipping, he knew all too well what it was. The headline at the top of the faded yellowish paper said it all.
Child survives single car crash…
He blinked several times to take it all inside him.
It’s about my parents dying in the crash. It’s from the day I lost them…they took them from me. He remembered the day, even though he was still so young. He could even still see their faces when the car crashed. He could feel it roll. He could see the red of her eyes as she came over him in the back seat and broke his neck. It was hard to forget. Whoever did this, whoever took Kenny, also knows about me. It has to be someone connected to Devish. This made sense. Devish’s people tried to kill him. They killed his parents, so it had to be them. Thinking this however caused him a lot of problems. This gathering storm, are they Walkers? He still didn’t know. He would have to see what else was there before he decided on anything else.
He turned to his right, and saw another clipping hanging right next to it.
Local resident takes over store for national retail chain…
He blinked again. He remembered the store. He saw Mister Maggery’s face.
They’ve been busy.
He looked above that clipping to a photo just above it. It was his picture. He was young. He recognized it as from his high school yearbook.
Seeing it, he gasped. They have been watching me for a while. He felt his stomach clench hard deep inside his guts. It made him feel ill. With his empty stomach, it made it feel a lot worse.
But why? He knew most of this but, what does this have to do with the smell? What does this have to do with the attack, or with Gary? What in the hell does this have to do with a choice I made? He didn’t know. He needed more. He looked up.
Above the picture, he saw something and it made him feel stunned. A round and small dark colored hat sat on the wall. It looked like a bowl. It had what looked like lace at the front of it. Seeing it, his mind flashed.
He saw the path. He saw the buildings on the other side of the park. He saw the darkened trees. He heard them to his right.
His mind flashed again.
He jumped the man, and pushed him hard to his face. He bit down on to the back of his neck.
The woman screamed. She shouted for her very life.
He turned. He pounced. The hat flew at him as he raced to her chest. He bit down onto her breasts.
The hat? He saw it.
He blinked. The memory faded, and he saw it there. It was right there, hanging right in front of his face.
It’s the same hat. How is that possible? How can it be here? He tried hard to think about that night.
After he realized what happened, he changed back into his Collins’ form. He then ran home. He ran home to Marie. He felt horrified. He felt sad. He looked back at the hat.
I don’t remember what happened to it. I just don’t know. It must have been taken with the people to wherever they took her. Why? Why is it here?
“Who are you?”
A man’s voice came behind him, and it made him jump. He shouldn’t have been surprised but he was. He didn’t hear him come into the room. He didn’t smell him either. It was just like he wasn’t even there. He realized that he should have known better. He had to gather his thoughts. He had to get himself back in control.
He turned around.
The man was standing in the center of the room. He wore black pants and had
on a black sleeveless t-shirt. His belt had what looked like two gun holsters on each side of it. They both looked full. The man’s blonde hair looked rather matted to his head. He looked like he had been wearing a hat and that he had just removed it. He also looked surprised.
He didn’t know I was coming. He saw this. He could see it on his face. He saw it in his eyes. This surprised him even more. Why would they lead me here and now not expect me? It just didn’t make sense.
The man was wiping his hands with a cloth. It was covered with what looked like blood. He must have washed it from his hands.
“Who are you?” Jimmy turned to him front on.
The man was now not alone.
Two other people, one woman and one man wearing the exact same outfits as he was came in through the door and joined the man with the blonde hair. They were also wiping their hands with cloths.
He watched them, he smelled the blood, he smelled them, and realized they were all humans. He relaxed some with realizing this. He didn’t fear them. He never would.
“Who are you?” The man with the blonde hair asked him again.
He looked uneasy. He looked scared even. Jimmy relaxed even more.
He took a step to them but kept it at only one.
“What is this place?” He smelled them again. The scent, that magnificent scent that led him there, was not on them. Whoever made it, whoever wanted him there, it wasn’t either of them. This just made him feel more confused than ever. “Who left the scent? Who took the blind old man?” He thought he would make this simple on them. He hoped to make it simple on himself. He wasn’t sure if he could.
The man with the blonde hair looked to both of his friends.
Jimmy felt his heart start racing inside his chest. He also felt a weird sense of wonder flowing through him. Yes, he felt him. He felt all of them now.
The Puppets and the Strings (A Werewolf's Saga Book 7) Page 21