“You Deanna?” the man asked her as she approached. His voice sounded older than he looked.
“Yes.”
“Follow me, then.” He moved toward the side entrance.
Deanna was hesitant. She knew a man was supposed to meet her outside the address that she had, but it still seemed as if she were walking into some kind of trap.
The man turned to her.
“You coming?” he asked impatiently.
She knew it was all or nothing on her mission and, in any case, her magic would protect her, so Deanna followed him silently.
They passed through a metal door and into a room with a ton of junk lying around: pieces of wood with nails sticking out, all kinds of garbage and even a few dead rats here and there.
Deanna tried to hide her disgust at the smell. Once they had passed through the smelly room, they walked through a few empty rooms, dirty but empty. Then, the man turned up a narrow staircase which had several broken, caved in steps.
She navigated the staircase with extra carefully because of her high heels. When they reached the top of the stairway and were finally facing the top level of the warehouse, Deanna was surprised to see that it was the complete opposite of the bottom floor.
The top level consisted of mostly one large room. The floor was very shiny hard wood. A lot of exercise and weight machines occupied one section and a large mat covered the center of the floor. A variety of weapons, such as guns, swords, bows, and stakes, were shelved and hung near the mat.
People, mostly men, formed a ring around the mat and watched a man and woman fight. All of them chanted and cheered as the couple beat the snot out of each other. On the other end of the room, three men threw stakes into the hearts of plastic vampires.
Deanna realized it was the training area for the slayers. The others whom she had met had not let her see anyone but the guy in charge, so that was new to her.
“This way.”
The man who was leading her motioned her in the direction of the stake throwers. He led her to a door which had no window and rapped two times on it.
“Bring her in,” a gravelly voice hollered.
The man opened the door and held it open so Deanna could slip past him. It was a small office with a desk and two metal folding chairs, one in front and one behind. The chair behind the desk was occupied by a very large black man who wore no shirt. His head was shaved bald and scars covered his head as well as his chest.
“Come in,” he said and motioned Deanna to a chair. “Would you like some coffee?”
“Yes, that would be great,” Deanna answered as she sat down in the folding chair. He got up to pour the coffee and she saw that he had a pair of sweat pants on. She wasn’t sure if she was relieved about that or not. It wouldn’t have been bad to see him in a pair of nice fitting jeans that showed off a toned rear end.
“You can go.” He waved to the man at the door who immediately turned and shut the door behind him. “Sorry about him, he doesn’t talk much.”
“It’s ok, I wasn’t offended.”
He handed her the coffee.
“So Deanna, I am Michael.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Michael.” She appraised Michael’s muscular chest and arms with her eyes.
“Well now,” he sat back down in his chair, “so you tell us that you want to go after Malcolm.”
“Yes, that’s right. I already have been to see two other bands of slayers and they have agreed to take part.”
“What makes you think this time will be different from the other times we have gone after him?” Michael’s voice was not sarcastic, only honestly curious.
Deanna explained her plan, or at least that part of it which was supposed to be known. “The number of slayers taking part will hopefully be large. It will be like an army instead of small groups hunting him.”
“If I understood correctly, Malcolm can’t even be found right now. How do you propose that we find him?”
“We have people taking care of that right now.”
“What people?”
“My people,” she simply told him.
“And how, may I ask, are they doing that?”
“That’s confidential.”
“Oh, I see how it’s going to be.” He nodded his head. “Don’t’ worry, Deanna; we have our secrets as well.”
Deanna couldn’t tell if that was some kind of threat. It didn’t sound like a threat and he didn’t look threatening to her, yet the actual words sounded somewhat like it.
“You are entitled to your confidentiality, just as we are,” she responded.
He nodded again and smiled. “Well, aside from all that, we are going to have to take you up on your offer.”
Deanna smiled. “Great.”
Michael put his hand up. “But none of my people will do a thing until we know the whole plan and are informed. I will not send them into something like this blind.”
This time Deanna nodded. “Completely understandable, I wouldn’t either.”
Michael rummaged around on his desk until he found a pen.
“I’m going to give you my cell number and you can call me when you have a plan sketched out.” He wrote his number on what looked like the back of a bill envelope. “Until then, we will continue with our training like we usually do.” He passed her the envelope.
She accepted it, folded it in half, and slipped it into the pocket of her jacket. “All right, we will definitely be in touch soon.” She nodded and rose to go.
“Wait.” Michael stepped in front of her and she sat back down a little too quickly. “I just want to know why your people would send you out as a representative. It seems a little dangerous for a woman when there are men who could go in your place.”
Deanna’s eyes flashed with anger. There was nothing he could have said which could have riled her up more than a sexist remark.
“Well, Michael, not that it’s any of your business, but I can take care of myself.”
He raised an eyebrow. “That so? I wouldn’t send any of our women out alone to meet other bands of slayers.”
“Well, maybe your women can’t take care of themselves as well as I can.” Deanna stood and reached for the doorknob. “Next time you want to be a sexist, you can do it to someone else because you only get one chance with me.” She yanked the door open.
Michael looked satisfied with Deanna’s demeanor. “Now you’re acting like a slayer. Before, you seemed a little too feminine to be a slayer.”
“Like I said before, it’s none of your business how feminine I am, and it sounds to me like you need to concentrate on your own women.” A grunt of disgust escaped from her throat as she stepped away from him.
He stopped her again. “How ‘bout having a little fun before you leave?”
She turned slowly to face him. He appeared to hide a smile, by the way his lips were twitching.
“What do you mean?” she asked cautiously.
“How about we try some hand to hand combat, you and me?”
She breathed a sigh of relief. Her first thoughts had been that he tried a sexual advance. But then, nervousness kicked in. He wanted to fight her! And there was nothing she could do about it; she couldn’t decline.
“What, some kind of test?”
He grinned. “You could call it that…or you could just call it fun like we do.”
Deanna was thankful that part of her training as a witch included knowing a combination of martial arts and street fighting.
“Fine, I accept.”
“Let’s go.” Michael led her out to the mat. “Ok, everyone off the mat,” he ordered.
The slayers that were gathered there turned to look at them while the two slayers on the mat got up and joined the group. Their stares made Deanna nervous.
Michael addressed the group. “This is Deanna; she and I are going to have a little match here.”
One of the slayers hollered out to Michael, “Don’t you think you should start her off a little easier?”
Deanna could read it in his eyes that he knew she was not a slayer, but she also knew she needed to continue the ruse. She removed her coat and handed it to Michael before she walked out onto the mat.
“I’m waiting, Michael,” she said in a sugar saturated voice.
He gave the coat to someone else and met her in the middle of the mat.
She couldn’t believe she was in a vampire slayer training area about to fight a huge scar covered black man. When Michael came toward her, Deanna drew in a deep breath.
She was ready for him. He moved quickly and forcefully; an arm swung toward her. Deanna grabbed his arm and hung on. At the same time, she kicked him in the chest with her heel.
Then she let go of his arm and, at the same time, she threw a fierce punch at his cheekbone. Michael wasn’t fazed. He reacted and returned her punch with one that connected into her stomach.
Deanna, however, was fazed. But, the pain only made her angry. She moved in for another kick and threw her leg up high. The heel of her boot met with his chin and stunned him.
She saw him waver and snatched the opportunity; she went down toward the mat, threw her leg out again while keeping herself steady with her arms and forcefully swept her leg across the mat, pummeling both his legs.
Michael went down hard but was up again before Deanna could get into a full standing position. He lunged at her and took her down with him.
She lay under this large man panting heavily, and tried to catch her breath again. But still, she would not give up. She wrapped her legs around his waist and somehow managed to roll him over till she was on top of him. His huge hand moved up, covered her face and pushed it painfully backward.
The crowd around them chanted and cheered as they had for the other previous couple on the mat.
Deanna repeatedly threw punches at his face with her right hand. Quick, tight jabs. Michael rolled her the around like she had done to him and then threw a solid punch at her face.
The left side of her face felt like it was going to explode. She forced her eye open and saw a blurry Michael staring at her. She knew he thought she was done. Somehow, her long legs found their way up and around his neck. She pulled downward and flipped him onto his back, then grabbed his throat with her right hand and planted her knee into his groin.
Michael growled and grabbed himself.
“You cheat,” he said through clenched teeth. He rolled over onto his side while Deanna stood.
“I do what I have to do to survive.” She blew a mass of red hair out of her face.
Michael swung his leg out quickly and knocked her face first into the mat. He moved swiftly and sat on top of her back. Then, he grabbed a fist full of her hair and brought his lips to her ear.
“Who are you?”
“Does it matter?” she whispered back. “We are both after the same thing and we need your help.”
He released her and they sat next to each other on the mat, catching their breath. The crowd seemed to realize the bout was over and began parting to do other things.
Michael looked her into the eyes. She saw a good man behind those eyes.
“We would have helped you anyway. You didn’t have to pretend to be a slayer. That kind of lie just tells me not to trust you.”
“I didn’t know how else to approach you.”
Michael stood and helped her up. Her cheekbone felt like it had been crushed.
“Well, I admit it was dangerous for you to come here regardless of who you are. But, these people are on my watch and I know that you want Malcolm; I would have taken care of you.”
Deanna was surprised with Michael’s honesty.
“I’m sorry…Do I still have your word that you are with us?”
“Of course you do,” he told her as she went for her coat, which someone had laid on an exercise machine, “you have my number; please call.”
“I will. Don’t worry,” Deanna replied.
He examined her cheek and then brushed it with the back of his fingers.
“Sorry,” he told her softly.
Deanna looked away. “It’s fine; I’ll call you when we have the info.”
She swung her coat over her arm and headed for the door.
“I’m looking forward to meeting again,” he called after her.
She didn’t want to dignify him with an answer so she kept walking. Every head turned her way as she walked by them on her way to the door.
What a crazy couple of days, she thought to herself while she rubbed her cheekbone and headed down the stairs.
12
After Chris, Damion and Danielle had left, Alex searched the house for Isabella. It was time to take her to see her brothers and sisters. He couldn’t help being excited about the surprise he had lined up for her.
“Are you ready?” he asked her when he found her in the kitchen with Jaiden, who was sitting in her infant seat carrier.
“Yup, we’re ready,” she replied, lifted the carrier and followed him out to the garage. They put the car seat in the Chevelle and got inside.
“What a nice car,” Isabella told him.
“Thanks, it’s one of my favorites.”
He pulled out of the garage and drove into the night.
“Sorry it’s so late; I know they’ll probably be asleep.”
“They won’t care. I just need to check and see if they’re ok.”
Isabella’s siblings lived about forty-five minutes from Alex. It was quite a way to go for her if something was wrong.
“Thank you for taking me to see them.”
“No problem. Would you tell me some more about them…and you?”
“Why do you want to know?” she countered.
Alex decided just to let her know how much he knew. “For one, I am telepathic and I know you have had a hard life. Two, I have done some checking in on the rest.”
Isabella looked horrified. “You spied on me?”
“Yes, if you want to call it that,” Alex admitted. “I called Victoria and found out as much as I could.”
“Why would you do that?”
She hung her head. It was hard enough for her that he was going to see their house.
“I want to know more about you. We are going to be a family for a long time, so obviously I’m curious about you and yours.”
Isabella stared out the window into the clear spring night.
“All right,” she said angrily. “You want to know about my past, about how we lived, well, here you go. We were lucky when my parents left.”
She took a deep breath.
“My father never worked; his only money came from drugs or gambling. My mother spent most of her time cheating on my dad and whoring herself out; most of my brothers and sisters are products of those affairs.”
She looked at him out of the corner of her eye.
“All that we had when my parents were around was abuse and neglect. I don’t know how many times I wondered if I was the cause of why my parents finally left. I have made so many things happen in my life; sometimes, I wonder if I didn’t just wish them away.”
“Isabella,” Alex said softly. He felt bad for making her angry.
“No!” She spoke quickly, as if her thoughts were an erupting volcano. “You wanted to know about me and now I am telling you. There was no way I was going to go to the welfare place and let them separate all of us. So, I dropped out of school, stayed home, and started babysitting to make enough money to eat and pay rent.”
Jaiden sighed contentedly.
“I spent all my spare time at the library studying or with Victoria, training for my powers. I knew that I had to learn even if I couldn’t go to school. But, I made all of them go to school and every night I had to harp on them endlessly to do homework and make good enough grades to get a scholarship for college. God as my witness, I will not let those children have to struggle li
ke I have!”
A tear slid down her cheek.
“They all detested me for the longest time for making them do hours and hours of homework. They detested me for being strict about where they went and with whom. You don’t know how familiar the phrase ‘you are not my mother’ is to me.”
Alex slowed for a small deer as it crossed the road.
“This job is the best thing financially that I have ever been offered, aside from the nasty rich men who think I’m just a dumb blond who would make a good trophy wife. Those kids are mine! Mine! And I feel awful for having to leave them with no phone, or transportation.” She paused and took a breath. “Are you satisfied now?”
Alex was taken aback. It seemed so unlike her to go off like that. Usually, she was so calm and patient. He had struck a chord with her and felt terrible about it.
“I’m so sorry I pried; it won’t happen again,” he said softly.
“Well, now you know.” Isabella continued to stare out the window. “Turn here,” she told him.
From then on, they were silent aside from Isabella giving directions. Soon, she directed him into a trailer park which had no street lamps and was piled with litter. Stray animals ran about as if they owned the place searching the trash for scraps.
“That one.” Isabella was pointing to a trailer on their left. “Something’s wrong.”
She narrowed her eyes and looked at the trailer. When Alex cut the engine, they could both hear screaming from inside the trailer.
Immediately, Isabella was out of the car.
“No!” In a flash, Alex stood in front of her, blocking the way. “Let me go; you stay here with Jaiden.”
“But…”
“Just stay!”
“They don’t know you, Alex,” she called as he ran toward the trailer.
He had kicked in the door before she had finished the sentence.
Inside, Alex saw five children huddled around the oldest one who was a girl. She was naked and curled on her side. Bruises covered most of her body, especially her face. All of the children jumped when he blew in the door. He could smell blood.
They screamed louder when he started forward.
Birth of Jaiden Page 7