Lost Son

by Marcus Abshire

  Finally the one who moved first stood up and walked slowly towards the side door. He moved with distracted motions, like a robot being controlled by someone else, only moving the parts of his body that was absolutely necessary for locomotion. His partner sat still, unmoving. I decided that it was either now or never; hopefully whatever made him so sluggish would also make sure he didn’t see me climbing through the window.

  I pulled myself up further and swung inside the building hanging with my feet about four feet from the ground. I looked down; making sure the floor was clear and let go, landing in a silent crouch. I began sneaking over towards where Jessica was being held, quickly moving from shadow to shadow, making no sound.

  Neal’s barking kept ringing in the hollow warehouse.

  We are going to have to deal with the werewolves that you now have hunting you.

  I kept moving slowly closer to my target.

  No one can hear us, besides it is good experience to be able to handle two things at once. You are more than capable of discussing this while advancing.

 

  Faith has nothing to do with it.

  I was almost halfway there.

 

  You do realize that by not killing the pack leader you have just angered him and ensured his attention until one of you is dead?

 

  Yes, have you?

  Another one of Neal’s “learning experiences”.

 

  That does seem the most plausible scenario. This is why it is so important for you to be the best, to perform to your abilities and to listen to my council, my lord.

 

  I was only ten feet away from my target. The man sat still, unmoving, staring off into space. It was really weird. I crept up behind him, the cage housing Jessica to my right. She saw me and whipped her head towards me. I raised my hand up, putting one finger on my lips, hoping she would keep quiet. She didn’t make a sound, just sat there with the small kindle of hope growing in her eyes.

  I thought about unsheathing my blade, but knew that killing humans was only a last resort. I had to let the local authorities deal with them.

  Two feet away, he finally sensed something was wrong and started to turn towards me. I landed a hard punch to the side of his head, careful not to crush his skull, and he fell off his chair, unconscious.

  The other one is coming back. Neal said.

  I spun left and crouched behind Jessica’s cage, waiting. A few seconds later I heard the second guy approaching, his feet made scraping sounds as she shuffled his feet. He stopped, seeing his partner on the ground and looked around, slowly. It was like he was only going through the motions, like he wasn’t really seeing anything.

  I stood up and came at him, faster than he could react. He just stood there, watching me. At the last second I saw him begin to reach over towards a metal pipe that was leaning up against a railing, but he was far too late. I knocked him out with a right cross to the chin and he too fell to the floor. I waited a second to see if he was going to get up but he was out cold.

 

  I dropped next to the cage, eye level with Jessica.

  “Don’t be afraid, I’m here to help you, your mother sent me, I’m going to get you out of here.” I said soothingly while I reached out and broke the meager lock with my hand.

  “My mother?” She said, confused.

  “Yeah, kid, your mom hired me to get you. Just keep quiet and we’ll be out of here in a few seconds.”

  She tenderly climbed out of her prison and stood up with obvious tightness. I was again struck by her familiarity, I don’t know why but she struck a chord within me and I couldn’t stop looking at her. I wanted to make sure she was safe, like a big brother I was instantly protective of her, more so than normal.

  I reached out and gently guided her away from the warehouse and out into the open air. Neal kept watch over our kidnappers while the cops came, he had already called them. I kept Jessica warm with a blanket from my saddlebag and waited with her until the police arrived. I pulled out a cell phone from my pocket and called her mother as well. She seemed over joyed and said she was going to be here in a second.

  Twenty minutes later and the cops still hadn’t arrived, our kidnappers had regained consciousness but I had zip tied their hands together and Neal sat by them, making sure they didn’t try to get away. They just sat there, like earlier with an absent look on their faces.

  A vehicle is approaching, it matches the one Caroline used earlier.

 

  Of course, their average response time in this area is around ten minutes. They should have been here approximately eight minutes ago. I will wait two more minutes and call them again.

  Caroline pulled into the drive where we were waiting, I waved her over and she stopped twenty feet away and hurried out of the vehicle.

  “Where is she? Is my girl alright?”

  “Yes she’s fine, she’s right here.” I said, getting up, giving Caroline access to her daughter.

  She came over to hug Jessica, but stopped a few feet short.

  “What the hell’s going on here? Where’s my Jennifer?” She turned to me angrily.

 

  Jennifer?

  We both thought at the same time.

  “Jessica is right here.” I said again, adding emphasis on her name.

  “I don’t understand why you would do something like this. My Jennifer has blonde hair and blue eyes. I don’t know who this child is. I’m calling the cops.” She said, reaching into her purse.

 

  No, you know as well as I do that the girl we rescued matched the picture Caroline provided. Her scent was also synonymous with the one on the backpack that was given to us. Something else must be wrong, perhaps Caroline has let the stress of the situation get to her and she is now having a mental breakdown?

  Caroline was furiously punching numbers on her phone when I heard Jessica say, “Who is that woman? Where am I?”

  At the same time there was a flash of light from across the street. It originated from the roof of the building, a split second later Caroline’s chest exploded in a bloody mass of tissue and organs. She let out a muffled squeal and fell backwards from the force of the impact.

  Get down! We have a sniper on the roof across the street! He is using a weapon that I have never encountered.

  Neal took off, racing across the street towards the shooter. I dove away from Caroline’s smoking corpse and tackled Jessica, who was staring at the body in total disbelief. I gathered her up and she tried to struggle for a second before realizing she wasn’t going to get away. There were two more quick flashes from the same spot and both of the kidnappers’ heads disintegrated in a red haze of blood and brain matter. They both fell over limply.

  I sent to him furiously.

  I do not know who is firing, I cannot detect anyone. They have the ability to hide from my scanners. I’m going to try locating them on different frequencies. Stay down; I don’t know if your skin suit can protect you from their weapons.

  I managed to get Jessica and myself behind an empty trailer out of the direct line of fire, but I was afraid whatever they were using could shoot right through the flimsy metal. I looked down and saw Jessica looking up at me with fear and helplessness and was again struck with a strong sense of de javu.

  There was a loud concussion that came from the shooters roof and what sounded like a low drum beat, one that kept reverberating, it
reminded me of a jet engine but it was deeper in tone, far more bass than the high pitched whine of a jet.

  I peeked around the edge of my cover and saw a bright blue light coming from what appeared to be some sort of backpack a person was wearing. They rose from the roof and quickly gained altitude, I saw that whoever it was, carried a rifle, one that I had never seen the likes of before. Its lines were all curved and completely different than any modern weapon.

  The shooter had reached almost one hundred feet when I saw Neal launch from the roof, heading straight for him. At the last second there was another burst of light and the guy shot off in a different angle, Neal missed him by a foot.

  The light quickly dwindled as the sniper escaped, leaving me and Jessica with three bloody corpses, which was of course when I heard the wails of the cops sirens.

  Five police cruisers approaching from the south, I suggest you make a hasty retreat. We can meet up at the hotel. I want to see if I can get any information from the site. I will meet you there later.

 

  “Jessica, Jessica, I’m going to put you on the motorcycle behind me, I want you to hold on for dear life do you understand?” She looked badly shaken.

  “Jessica!” I said louder.

  She snapped her head around, looking me in the eyes. She blinked and gained more control, she nodded her head twice, letting me know she understood.

  “Good, here we go.” I rose up and hurried over to my bike.

  I set her on her feet and she hopped on the back, clutching me around the chest in a death grip. I brought the bike to life once more and once again raced away from a scene that the cops would find very interesting.

  My lord. Neal said as I drove off.

 

  There is one more thing. I ran another analysis of our victim after it became apparent that her mother did not recognize her. I will require more in depth testing, but my initial evaluation of her physiology would suggest Jessica is not human.

 

  I looked behind me seeing her with her eyes closed and her head pressed firmly against my back, still clutching me tightly. I had a flash of fear that I had some strange creature only inches away from my exposed neck.

  If I am correct and I almost always am, Jessica would appear to be Atlantean.

  Oh crap, things just went from bad to worse.

  Chapter five

  Ten minutes later I hurried Jessica inside the motel room right as the sky opened up and the rain started pouring down. Neal and I had decided on this particular hotel as a viable safe house, should we ever need one. It was on the outskirts of the city and right next to a major interstate. There were truck stops nearby and the constant travelers provided a decent amount of cover.

  I shut the door and made sure it was locked. I peeked outside, crestfallen to see my bike getting soaking wet. I parked it in a corner of the parking lot, where no one would drive. My cloaking pin kept it invisible to anyone looking for it and or me.

  Jessica stood in the middle of the room with her arms crossed, hugging herself. She looked so fragile, her dark black hair hung straight and ended slightly past her shoulders. Her eyes were of a light blue that bordered on grey, but she looked at me with reserved apprehension, unsure of what to do next.

  “Are you okay? Did they hurt you?” I asked.

  She took a second before answering, afraid.

  “No, no I’m fine.” She said, quietly. “Who are you?” She added.

  “I was just going to ask you the same thing.”

  “I’m just… my name is…” Her eyes went unfocused for a second, confused.

  “I don’t remember. All I remember is waking up in that cage. You called me Jessica, is that my name?” She looked desperate.

  “I don’t know kid, I don’t know.” I wanted to go to her and try and make her feel better. I shook off the feeling, what was wrong with me?

  “You don’t remember anything?” I tried.

  “No, I just remember that dirty place. I tried asking those two men…” She trailed off for a second.

  “Those two men, they’re dead, aren’t they?”

  “Yes.” I said, not wanting to lie to her.

  After a minute she looked away, but continued.

  “I tried to talk to them, but they wouldn’t say anything, they just sat there.” She went over to the bed and sat on the edge.

  “Yeah, there was something weird about them alright.” I went back to the window, pushing the curtain aside. I was hoping Neal would be back soon, I didn’t like the fact that he couldn’t detect the shooter. That meant we were dealing with something that at least knew about his abilities, and was able to counter it. Not good.

  “But don’t worry, my friend will be back soon and I’ll get you some food, you should get some rest, and then we’ll see if we can figure out what’s going on.” I let the curtains go and turned back to see her lying on the bed, already fast asleep.

  I went over and pulled the covers off the side she wasn’t laying on and flipped them over her. She moaned softly and turned to her side, curling up a bit. I was struck with a sudden memory of my mom, lying on the couch on a warm summer day, all the windows open and the fresh breeze flowing through the house. The resemblance between this girl and that memory of my mom was powerful and I had to force myself to pull away from her sleeping face and my memories.

  I sat in silence for almost an hour, listening to the girl’s soft breathing as she slept.

  My lord? Neal’s thoughts came to me.

  I sent back, getting up to open the door for him.

  A few seconds later I heard him trotting towards the door and I opened it. His dark form slipped through quietly.

  I asked as he padded over to sit next to the sleeping girl, watching her.

  I am sure that the shooter was wearing an Atlantean skin suit. That is why I was unable to detect him. That is good and bad.

  It also means they do not necessarily know about me, the skin suits have always been a barrier to me. It is important that I am kept a secret until the proper time. The knowledge of my activation has many ramifications, ones we are not ready to deal with, yet.

  I thought in frustration.

  My lord, you know I am unable to access that particular data, all that I know is the parameters of my programming and even I do not have the knowledge to pass down to you.

  It was an old argument, one we had been having for as long as Neal had been with me.

 

  That whoever it was did not want us talking to the kidnappers or the mother. Further investigation into Caroline Bennett shows that she lost a daughter named Jennifer six months ago. It was an apparent kidnapping that ended in a brutal rape and murder of her daughter.

  The police were able to identify the two men killed tonight. One was a janitor for a hospital and the other worked as a toll booth operator. They had no connections to each other, no criminal records. One lived in New Jersey, the other was from Florida. The cops are still unsure as to their motives.

 

  If Neal could sound smug this would have been the time for it.

  As the two men were being loaded onto an ambulance for transportation to the morgue I was able to get a visual on both of their hands. On the dorsal side of their left hands I found residue of methanol and fluorescent dye 282.

 

  Invisible skin stamps, the kind used by clubs to see who has been accepted.

  Oh crap, I didn’t like where this was headed.

  you happen to be able to discern which club they had both been to in the past few days?>

  The ink was in the shape of an upside down cross inside a pentagram.

  Crap, I knew it.

  “Club Red.” I said out loud in disgust.

  “It had to be damned vampires. I hate vampires.”

  Club Red was the only place in America that vampires visited that was anything close to normal. There were only a hundred or so vampires in America, but they were powerful sons of bitches and they had a very tight knit coven. Nothing happened in the vampire world without approval by the coven master. The current coven master was a nasty woman by the name of Agatha. She limited the vampires to taking only the blood of willing humans and rarely let them kill. It kept the humans from snooping; vampires were scared to death of humans finding out about them. Most of the “monsters” were. Club Red was a place where vampires could get their food without anyone the wiser. And it was located in New York City.

 

  That was my assessment as well.

 

  She definitely is Atlantean.

  Her neural pathways are fully developed, but lack some of the intricate web work usually found in children her age.

 

  When Atlanteans age their brains neural pathways expand in conjunction with learning, experiences and everyday thinking. Hers are at the complexity of a newborn, yet they are fully developed for her age.

 

  No, that would still mean she would have twelve years’ worth of experiences and memories. It would appear that she was born already twelve years old.

 

  That is possible, but I detect a fading effect in her D.N.A. Almost as if it is weak. The best thing I can compare it to is when you make a copy of a copy. Each successive copy is somewhat less solid than the last.