Southern Secrets

by Shelley Stringer

  I nodded as he bent to kiss my cheek. “Be well, my dear. You’re doing fine, just get plenty of rest, and we will see you through this.”

  Doctor Lane patted Banton on the back and they left the room to return to the breakfast table. I sat for several minutes, contemplating all of the complications they’d brought up as possibilities. I heard Banton moving around behind me, taking the coffee mugs out of the cabinet and then filling them at the coffee bar. As I glanced up at him, he sat my cup down in front of me and slid into the chair beside me.

  “Don’t worry. I just know everything is going to be fine. Sweetheart?” He touched my chin with his fingers, and slowly turned my face up to look at him.

  “I won’t let anything happen to you, or the babies. You’re going to be fine.” He assured me, pulling me into his chest.

  “Is everything all right?’ Constance asked, bounding into the kitchen in her pajamas.

  I took a deep breath and dried my eyes. “Yes, just more complications from the amnio, but nothing major. Everything is good.”

  “I’m so glad, Chandler. So, I noticed Momma took over your kitchen this morning…” she trailed off as Banton rose to hug her.

  “Yes, and Mr. Lon seems to have taken charge of the house. Boy, does he take to the leadership role well,” Banton observed.

  Constance rolled her eyes. “Oh yeah. He’s good at taking over.”

  She moved to the coffee bar, and then placed a cup under the spout. When it started to pour into the cup, she exhaled, “Hellloooo, Luva,” lovingly placing her hands around the cup as it finished filling.

  “Wow, I think you love your caffeine even more than Chandler does.”

  “Vanilla cappuccino and tequila, that’s what makes my world go ‘round,” she commented, sipping too quickly and scalding her tongue.

  Banton chuckled. “Come on, Chandler. Let’s try to eat something and get some protein down. You know what the doctor said,” he urged as we walked down the hallway.

  After breakfast and a quick meeting with the SEALs, Banton urged me to rest upstairs in our room while he made some calls. He’d taken the doctor’s advice to heart, and was hovering, as usual.

  “Just rest awhile. Can I get you anything?” he asked. I shook my head. “Well, I think I’ll stay here with you for a bit. All anyone is doing downstairs is pacing, anyway.” He grinned at me and flashed his dimple. “I’d rather be in here with you than anywhere else I can think of.” He tucked the blanket around me, and then kissed my forehead.

  I slept for a couple of hours, and woke to the sounds of Banton’s worried voice on the telephone.

  “How many did you see? No, I don’t trust that assessment. We can expect at least twenty; I’m thinking at least thirty or so…All right, I’ll be down in a few minutes…Yea, thanks, buddy.” I heard him shut my cell phone off, and then I felt him sit down on the bed beside me. I rolled over and smiled at him.

  “Hey, how are you feeling? Your Aunt Sue fixed you some soup for lunch, are you ready to eat a little something?”

  “Sure. What was all of that on the phone?”

  “A report on the Orcos. One of the Aldon has someone scouting, and he’s counting numbers he’s seen scoping the area. John just visited with him outside, and he was just updating me.

  We rose to go downstairs and found the dining room empty. Everyone else had already eaten a bite of lunch, and had resumed their hidden positions around the perimeter of the house. The Aldon and the SEALs were stationed outside of the house, and Uncle Lon, Mr. Matt and Will were inside with Everett and Mr. Philippe.

  “Baby, why don’t you sit down in the living room, and I’ll bring our lunch in there.”

  As I took a seat on the sofa, Everett appeared, joining me there.

  “Bebe, how are you feeling? Banton said the doctors have some concerns, and John and I’ve been worried.” He touched his hand to my forehead.

  “Dr. Renault told us this morning the babies weren’t getting enough protein and iron, and they aren’t gaining like he wants them to. I probably need to force myself to eat more.”

  “Ma Petit, he will give you something. He doesn’t expect you to eat more than you can. He did say earlier he needs to give you some injections this afternoon, after you’ve eaten.” Everett patted my leg.

  Banton came in the room with a tray bearing bowls of soup and sandwiches. After setting them on the end table, he lifted my plate and handed it to me, placing it on my lap. I managed to eat the entire bowl, and Banton and Everett pretended not to hover. As we were finishing up our meal, Ty, John and Sam came in, duffel bags in tow. Bringing them into the living room, they laid them out on the floor, and then began pulling guns and ammunition out of them to organize in piles on the floor.

  “Wow, I never realized you had all of that in those bags,” I commented. “I just thought you had lots of clean underwear.”

  Banton smirked, picking our plates up and carrying them back into the kitchen.

  * * *

  As the day wore on, our patience grew thin. I’d never been so frightened. Even my capture and ordeal in the tunnels before Christmas didn’t compare. There was something about knowing the Orcos had been watching the house for days and planning the attack. We just didn’t know exactly when. Every passing hour, I knew we were closer to the test…whether the few Aldon and SEALs we had at the house could stand against the last remaining Orcos in the city. The clocks seemed to tick more loudly in the house, proclaiming every minute closer to the attack. Every noise set us on edge. We were torn between hoping to see nothing, and wanting to see some movement outside propelling us closer to ending this.

  “Hey, beautiful,” Banton murmured as he came back into the bedroom for the hundredth time today.

  “Hey.” I held my hands out, inviting him over to the bed to lie beside me. He relaxed a few minutes, kicking his boots off and climbing under the comforter with me.

  “You still feeling all right?” he murmured against my neck.

  “I am now,” I said. He chuckled, kissing my neck. “Everything seems so calm. The sun is shining outside; the air is warm, nothing moving in the neighborhood…” I trailed off.

  He sat up, running his fingers through his hair as he turned to look down at me. “Yeah, the calm before the storm, I’m afraid.”

  “So you still think they are coming in the next few hours?” I asked.

  “Yes, I’m afraid so.” He pulled me up onto his chest, and we lay snuggled for thirty minutes or more. My cell buzzing in his pocket broke the silence. He pulled it out, and touched the screen to answer the text. After thumbing out a return message, he turned it off, sliding it back in his pocket.

  “Bad news?” I asked.

  “No, just coordinating. Chandler, do you know how to shoot a gun?”

  His simple question stood the hair up on the back of my neck.

  “Umm… yes, my daddy used to take me out with him to shoot his rifles. At first, all I could handle was a .22 cal. Then when I was older, he let me shoot a couple of his pistols. I’m not a bad shot, I guess. But I could never seem to control a twelve or twenty-gauge. He said I was never going dove hunting with him. I didn’t tell him at the time, but I was relieved he never asked me to hunt, just to target shoot. I don’t think I could’ve shot a dove…they are so beautiful,” I said wistfully.

  “I think you can handle one of these, do you think you could shoot at an Orco if you had to?”

  “Sure, if it meant protecting you, or the babies,” I whispered. He held me tighter.

  “Well, then…I want you to get a feel for one of these, and let me show you how to load it.” He pulled me up from the bed and picked up one of the guns the SEALs had propped by the window seat.

  I stood beside him, watching intently as he placed it in my hand, showing me how to slap the clip in to load it, and where the safety latch was.

  After I’d loaded and unloaded it a couple of times, he placed the gun back beside the window seat, and then pulled me into h
is chest.

  “Just be careful with it, and promise me you will use it, if the need arises.”

  I nodded silently.

  “Will we be up here alone?” I whispered.

  “Only if something has gone terribly, terribly wrong. I just want to know you’re prepared to defend yourself,” he answered, kissing the top of my head.

  “I’d better be getting back now.” He pulled away to look at me, and I nodded as he turned to go back down the staircase.

  Banton paced back and forth between downstairs and our bedroom. Constance and Aunt Sue had been in their own rooms all afternoon, but the closer it got to dark they roamed in and out as well.

  “Knock, knock…are you still awake?” Constance’s voice carried through the doorway.

  “Come on in, Darlin’, there is no way I can sleep tonight. I’m too wired,” I replied. She slipped around the door.

  “I just can’t stay in there alone. Ty is in and out, but I know he feels the need to stay downstairs, so I told him to stay.” She sat down on the bed beside me, and rested her head beside mine on my pillow.

  “Just stay in here with me. I don’t want to be alone, either.”

  Constance sat up, noticing all the guns leaned against the window seat, a large box of ammunition beside it.

  “Are we supposed to know how to use those?” she asked as she turned back to me.

  “Actually, Banton showed me earlier how to shoot one, and how to load the ammo. But he said if anything started, some of them would fall back up here to protect us.”

  “Oh. Good. Because I don’t think I could shoot one of those, even if I had to.”

  Constance turned, the sound of rain distracting her. The last light had disappeared behind a bank of clouds, and darkness was upon us. The curtains began to blow, sending in large droplets of rain on the cushion of the window seat. As I rose to close the window, there was another knock on my bedroom door.

  “Sweetheart, is Constance…oh, there you are. I thought I might find you in here.” Aunt Sue walked in, and then pulled the door partially to behind her. Constance motioned her over to the bed. I turned back to close the window. When I pulled on the frame I noticed shadows creeping toward the house. Three or four forms moved down the alley, pausing just in front of the streetlight.

  I held my breath…the alley had been vacant all afternoon. As the intruders entered the circle of light under the streetlamp, I gasped. Lucien and Grant stood shoulder to shoulder with two other Orcos, glaring at the upper stories of our house.

  “Chandler, what’s wrong? Do you see them?” Constance whispered. She rose to stand behind me.

  “Oh, God…that’s him, isn’t it? And Grant!” she exclaimed. I turned and hurried to the door. Flinging it open, I called down the staircase, “Banton! Banton, in the alley…”

  “We see them, Andie. There are six more out front down the street. Stay put, someone will be up there soon.” John called back up the staircase. I ran back to the window.

  “Chandler, they’re gone. I can’t see them now. Do you think they left?” Aunt Sue asked, placing her hand on my shoulder.

  “No, I don’t. I think they are gathering and planning their attack,” I whispered. I reached down to pick up a gun Banton had loaded earlier. “Y’all go in the bathroom, and lock the door,” I directed them firmly.

  “No, I’m not leaving you alone this time. Tell us what to do,” Constance whispered as she sat down next to Aunt Sue on the bed.

  A large crash against the house broke the silence. I jumped, struggling to see in the darkness. I couldn’t detect any movement. A burst of gunfire erupted downstairs, seeming to come from every side of the house.

  “Banton, fall back upstairs to the girls…Banton!” Ty yelled, but there was no response. The silence almost nauseated me. Banton had said, “Only if something has gone terribly wrong.” There was more shattering of glass downstairs, and with each sound, Aunt Sue and Constance jumped.

  “Chandler, can you see anything?” Constance asked as Aunt Sue began to weep.

  “No, nothing…I don’t see anyone.” I whispered back. “Turn the lights off.”

  Constance rose and quickly switched the lamp off beside the bed.

  I zeroed in on movement at the edge of the yard. I could see Grant and three other Orcos rushing the side of the porch. I flipped the safety on the gun, and then let loose with a spray of gunfire across their path. One of the Orcos leapt sideways as I continued to hold the trigger down. The barrage of bullets was useless, it was like shooting a water gun at a grizzly. Then all at once, he crumpled to the ground. The second one grabbed his leg, hopping along beside Grant. I lost sight of them at the side of the porch, and could see no further movement in the yard. The gun vibrated with the shaking of my hands. I held my breath, trying to still them. I heard something slide on a shingle outside the window. When a flash of cloth came into view in front of me, I let loose again, the Orco screaming out in pain as he fought to get into the window. I continued to hold the trigger down, spraying him with bullets. Aunt Sue screamed as he finally crumpled and rolled off the gabled room and down to the ground below. An eerie silence ensued, followed by more rapid gunfire downstairs. Searching methodically in the darkness, I could see no other movement outside. When I leaned forward, a hand shot out, grabbing the gun by the barrel and slinging it out into the yard. I gasped as two Orcos burst through the window, sending me sprawling in the floor. Constance and Aunt Sue’s blood curdling screams alerted everyone downstairs to the presence of the Orcos in our room.

  Before I could recover, I was hoisted to my feet by rough hands. Four Orcos stood before me, and in an eighth of a second, had Constance and Aunt Sue by the throats. Gunfire continued downstairs as the sounds of fighting roared up the staircase. The Orco who held me jerked me to face the window. Lucien appeared.

  “There they are, Dante’s prizes. You know what to do, drain just enough to make them weak for the trip, but don’t kill them. Let’s go,” he commanded. I was thrust toward a grinning Lucien.

  “No, don’t! Stop, you son-of-a-bitch!” Constance kicked and screamed. The Orco, undaunted, sank his teeth into her neck. I watched in horror as she immediately went limp in his arms. Although struggling and kicking wildly, my strength was no match for the two Orcos holding me. Lucien smiled wickedly at me, and I felt his hot breath on my neck, his teeth slicing my skin like razorblades. As I felt my world swirling and sinking, the blood literally draining from my body, the door burst open and Banton, Ty and Everett burst through,

  “Chandler, NOOO!” Banton’s voice roared, the pain in his voice rushing in with the sound of the blood in my veins. Everything went black.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  I dreamed psychedelic dreams, constantly falling…the dreams a cocaine addict might have after reading the entire library of Dr. Seuss books. Banton’s face came in and out of view, a vision of his smile and his deep dimple, and then twisted in pain…painted first in red, then in green. Turquoise light flickered across the room as I rose out of my body, watching the scene unfold below. The turquoise wasn’t a color, but a flash of steel…a large knife thrust through Banton’s chest. Blood ran down his face, and his arms. NO! I screamed in my head, but no one could hear. Everett, my fairy godmother…Sweet, sweet Everett. Everett struggled to rise, pushing something away, chasing something out of my window. Everett chanted rhyming verses; the verses became curse words as my vision cleared. He was writhing in pain, fighting the venom in a bite…had he been bitten?…No, there were no Orcos in my dream, only chaos, and colors. One foot, two foot, red foot…Orco feet, arms, legs…Aunt Sue sobbed as the colors swirled.

  Was this a dream, or reality? I could hear voices…. I was still falling. “Chandler, can you hear me?”… “Doc, they’ve both been bitten,” … “The Aldon are cleaning up, only three escaped,” … “Someone help Banton!” … “Lost a lot of blood.”

  I drifted. Pain shot in and out of my brain in spasms. I would float, then writhe. My s
kin crawled. I had no pulse. Swiftly, the blood rushed through my veins again, sending sensations much as your limbs waking up after you’d been lying on them all night. Struggling to push my eyes open, I knew I was no longer in my house. Where was I? Where was Banton? Had I dreamed the Orcos had attacked the house?

  Alone, I could hear no sounds, just someone breathing. The intakes of breath mimicked a smoker on oxygen, sucking in shallow breaths as if they had walked a great distance and couldn’t pull hard enough on the mask. I needed to help them, if only I could open my eyes, they were so heavy. I remembered feeling this way, when Constance and I had been kidnapped.

  “It’s all right, Andie…sleep. I’ll be here when you wake up,” Banton had assured me. Where was he? I couldn’t smell him, couldn’t hear his heartbeat. CONSTANCE! She’d been bitten, Aunt Sue screamed as Lucien’s teeth sank into my throat! BANTON! I saw him with a blade in his chest, flashing turquoise on the walls…

  I struggled again to push my eyelids open. I was no longer dreaming, someone held something over my nose and mouth, trying to smother me…I fought to push them away, and to sit up.

  “Andie-girl, don’t…keep the oxygen on. The doctor says you need it.” John’s voice came to me from a long tunnel.

  I tried again to open my eyes. I could smell John’s cologne, and feel his hand against my cheek. I relaxed a moment, hearing the calm tone in his voice. Then it occurred to me, why was John here, and not Banton?

  I panicked. I could hear monitors racing in the room.

  John’s voice intruded again, “Andie-girl, can you hear me? Calm down! Are you in pain?”

  Then Uncle Lon’s voice, “John, I’m going to get the doctor.”

  “Andie, please…Andie-girl, can you hear me?” John’s voice again.