Sighing, Jack turned and walked down the aisle, glancing at the table as he passed to make sure everything was back. Satisfied, he walked over to the door and began to open it.
“Jack?”
He turned to the librarian, who sat at the counter, looking through the books. He wore a nice black overcoat, ready to leave. It was different than his usual black nylon jacket that crinkled when he moved. Jack paused at the sight but continued anyway. “Yeah?”
The man smiled and stood. “Hey, can you come help me with some of the books in the back?” he asked kindly.
Jack stared at him for a moment, confused. Had the librarian not wanted him to leave? “S-sure,” Jack replied. Watching the librarian, he walked around the counter and opened the door to the back, where new books came in and old books went out. But when he looked around, there were no piles to sort through—only a body, lying unconscious in a corner, wearing a crinkly, nylon jacket.
The door closed.
Surprised, Jack turned.
The librarian smiled at him and stepped in. What’s going on? Jack thought, flashing a glance to the body on the floor.
The impostor pulled an odd-looking gun out of his back pocket. It was smaller than Jack would expect. With great care, the stranger took aim.
Baffled, Jack lifted his hands in the air. “Hey, wait! I don’t understand what’s going on!”
The man laughed. “You don’t need to understand, Mr. Blevins.”
Beginning to sweat, Jack’s eyes trailed between the man to the end of the gun. Jack watched, terrified, as the gun grew closer and closer to him until it was in his face. Finally, he peeled his eyes away from the gun and up to the man. “You don’t have to do this,” Jack whispered. Try as he may to sound calm, it came out shaky.
The fake librarian laughed. “Oh, I know,” he agreed. “But I’m going to anyway.”
“But why?” Jack tried.
“You’re going to help with an experiment,” he explained. “That’s all you need to know. Now, stop talking.”
Whether Jack was an extreme overachiever or just a hard worker was something to be debated, but one thing that was for certain: Jack didn’t have a brave bone in his body. He was no fighter. He was a coward through and through. So, accepting his fate, he closed his eyes and waited, praying that the news of his death wouldn’t destroy his family. Then he took a deep inhale and held it.
But instead of the deafening blast and life-altering pain he expected, he felt an awful jab at the side of his neck. He grunted at the sharp pain and opened his eyes, confused. The pain made way for a dizzying sense of lethargy, spreading through his body in a horrid draining sensation. His legs began to grow weak and his eyes rolled around as he lost control. His body went limp and his eyes closed.
—
Dante hobbled away from the hospital, holding the crutches he should’ve been using in one hand. He mashed the lock button on his keys, listening for the horn, following the sound to the parking spot where his teammate had left his Charger. Once he found it, he shuffled into his car, tossing the crutches into the passenger seat. He heaved a sigh, exhausted. It had been a tiring and disappointing Saturday. He had almost died, Liza was missing, and now his knee was in a brace. That meant he would be useless on the crew.
But he didn’t care how late it was. He was going over to Suzette’s. He’d meant what he’d said to that Onyx Fox character about wanting to marry Suzette; he just hadn’t realized how serious he’d been until he had confessed it to the superhero wannabe. Now, he just needed to hug Suzette and savor the fact that they were both very much alive.
Dante started the car and drove off, groaning at the time. Soon, this’ll all just drag into Sunday. She was no doubt asleep, retired early to make sure she was good to work at church the next day. But he had to see her. So, he drove on, taking the back roads to get to her house. It was much quicker that way.
He dug around in his pocket for his phone and came back up with it, his eyes never leaving the road. Mashing the screen over the number two, the speed dial called Suzette. He flipped on the speaker and held it to his mouth.
“Hi, this is Suzette,” her bubbly recorded voice announced. “I can’t get to the phone right now, so leave your name, your number, and your message.”
Beeeep.
Sighing, Dante muttered to himself, “Please be awake, Suz.” Then he hung up and flung the phone into the passenger seat. The drive seemed to take forever. Impatient, his thumb began tapping on the steering wheel. He just wanted to see her.
As the seriousness of his commitment continued to sink in further, he let out a huff. Now he needed a ring. What does she like? he wondered to himself. He didn’t strain the thought for too long; she would like whatever he got her. After proposing, she would burst with excitement. The wedding would be the only thought in her mind. She would worry whether they were both getting what they want, what kind of dress he wanted to see her in, colors to suit them both—
It hurt his head to think of everything she would insist they’d have to do together, so he sighed and paid more attention to the dark road.
Suddenly, Dante felt something flat and smooth press against the back of his neck. “What the—”
“Say anything and I’ll shoot you,” an angry voice grumbled from the backseat.
Dante’s hand froze on the wheel and his heart sank. “Please don’t,” he breathed. “I’ve got so much to live for right now.”
“Pull over,” the voice ordered.
Dante obeyed, but his thoughts still trailed on Suzette. He had just made a huge plan for his future. He didn’t want to just give up on it now. The thought left him desperate.
When he put the car in park, he slowly raised his hands and closed his eyes. “Please,” he begged, “take all my money and take the car if you want, but don’t shoot me.”
—
“Don’t you dare shoot him,” Henry ordered from the rearview mirror.
Edward clenched his jaw as he glared up at Henry. Giving the doctor a cruel smile, Hyde pulled the trigger.
Dante grunted, his hands jerking toward his neck before he slumped forward.
Stuffing the syringe gun in the back of his pants, Edward scurried out of the rear seat of the car. Good thing the kid had been too busy in his thoughts to look back and see Hyde scrunched behind the driver’s seat. Hyde opened the front door and pulled the tall, limp boy out of the driver’s seat. Waiting behind Dante’s car was the van. It flicked its lights off at the sight of the two. When Edward walked around to the back with the body, Dorian had it already opened. Despite Edward’s inhuman strength, the height of the younger Stein made it awkward to haul him around. Dorian saw Edward struggling and grabbed Dante’s feet.
“Who is he?” the actor asked.
“Dante Stein,” Edward chortled, tossing the body in the back. “Franklin Stein’s younger brother.”
“What do you have in mind for the last one?” Dorian questioned, a bit impatient; this one had taken much longer than either had anticipated.
“Never mind that,” he snorted, slamming the doors closed. “By the way, Frank’s old house went up in flames and his dear wife is missing.”
The movie star’s face molded into amusement. “Oh really?” he laughed, following Edward to the seats up front.
“Dante left a message on his mom’s phone about it all during his short stay in the waiting room,” he explained. “Which means Henry’s monster shouldn’t be far.”
“So, we go there,” Dorian concluded.
“And snatch up the last unlucky soul on the way out,” Edward smiled.
—
Suzette was much too wired to go home and sleep. How on earth could she sleep with so many things going on—so many pieces of exciting news? She could feel the adrenaline still lingering on the surface. She’d sent her parents the late text that she finally finished the paper, so she was expected to be home soon. But how could she even dream of having a peaceful night after saving her boyf
riend with some crazy new ability? How could she sleep when she knew that soon she’d have a new last name? She smiled at that. No, she couldn’t go home just yet. Instead, she wandered—practically danced—close to the deserted play park by the library, sticking to the thick tree line, taking in the sweetness of life.
Every time the trees broke apart, Suzette stared up at the now crystal-clear sky and sighed, as if the moon were shining just for her. As she stepped into the pale moonlight, she stopped and closed her eyes, letting the bright celestial congratulate her. But as the silence continued, her stomach dropped, sensing that she wasn’t alone.
Worried, Suzette opened her eyes and glanced back into the dark of the woods. She saw nothing. Yet, she felt something. There was no sound other than crickets and a slight breeze. No smell other than sap and greenery.
“Who’s there?” she demanded.
The crickets chirped their response.
“Who’s there?” she repeated, louder this time.
Stillness.
She felt dumb after the fact, but there was no one there to criticize her—or at least, so it seemed. She could imagine Dante now, telling her she was being silly again. She tried to take a step away from the woods, but her foot reared itself up, forcing a step back. She paused a moment, recognizing her new instinct. But it had to have been wrong this time. She tried again, only to have the foot shuffle backward, further into the forest.
Okay, fine. She let her instincts take over.
Careful not to look conspicuous, she knelt down toward her shoes, acting as if she were tying the laces. Her hand inched to the side and picked up a small rock. She exhaled slowly, quietly, and closed her eyes. Listening to her inner voice, she turned, aimed the rock, and threw it up hard toward the trees.
“Ow!” A loud thud reverberated through the air and a deep voice let out a huff.
Suzette opened her eyes at the loud sound.
A tall, broad, burly man ambled out of the darkness toward her, his shoulders taut. His dark blond hair was frazzled and littered with leaves. His dark eyebrows furrowed over his furious, caramel colored eyes. A long, white scar protruded from his dark facial hair and crept up under his eye. He wore a long trench coat with a maroon-colored bandana tied around his neck. Sitting on top of his head was a pair of aviator sunglasses—tilted out of place thanks to his fall. When he was standing squarely in front of her, it was then that she realized how enormous he was.
Suzette felt her fear mounting at the sight of such a man. Her own small size didn’t help. Good Lord. What have I done? Her feet started to stagger backward, but her instinct firmly planted them back in place. She tried to hide her cowering as she stared up at the man, but the longer she looked at him, the calmer she grew. The calmer she grew, the more she felt she recognized him. She just couldn’t place her finger on it.
“What is wrong with you?” he hissed through his teeth. The words made her flinch. Something was off about his voice, she thought. An accent? Not an obvious one.
“You didn’t answer me,” she returned, folding her arms across her chest to hide her shaking hands.
“I’m who’s here! You just throw rocks when people don’t answer?!”
“When I’m alone near the woods and people don’t answer!”
“What are you doing out here, anyway?” he interrogated.
“I could ask you the same question,” she challenged through a trembling jaw. “Especially hiding up in a tree, refusing to answer people. Are you some kind of pervert?”
“If I was, I wouldn’t be having this conversation with you,” he snapped.
“That doesn’t mean you weren’t acting creepy.”
“I could say the same about you, lurking in the woods just outside a park in the middle of the night. If you’re not doing anything strange, why assume I am?”
She opened her quick-witted mouth to snap something back, but the wisdom in his words stilled her. Yet, his aggravatingly familiar face was driving her crazy. “Who are you?”
“None of your business.”
“What are you doing out here?”
“None of your business.”
“Then I assume it’s something illegal and I’m going to report you to the police.”
“You do know I could snap you in half before you even make the call, right?” He crossed his strong arms over his broad chest and gave her a condescending sneer.
Suzette gulped. God, what the heck am I doing? As she tried once again to assuage her logical side and turn around to flee, her feet locked to the ground. Help me! she cried heavenward. But when she remained locked in place, she paused and took in the man again. His words and his mannerisms were so intimidating, no doubt intentionally meaning to scare her. But there was something about him that was so…docile. It was unexplainable. She even sensed a hint of something else. A small pain that made her somber. “Maybe I’ll risk it,” she offered as a weak response.
“Right in two,” he emphasized. “Without breaking a sweat.”
She stopped again, and it occurred to her how true that statement probably was. Again, she felt stupid for even talking to the stranger. The raging fire just a few hours before now seemed like child’s play compared to the thought of taking on this huge forest-dweller. She had been able to fight the thieves in Lady Augustine’s house with ease but taking on this guy was another thing altogether. But she knew—she felt—that if she did attempt to fight him, she didn’t have to worry about being hurt by this apparently gentle giant. Her confidence grew.
“You smell like smoke,” he said, breaking into her thoughts.
She crinkled her brows. “Yeah, so?”
“And you sound a little hoarse.”
“I have allergies, thank you very much.”
“You start that fire?”
Suzette felt her cheeks flare at the gaffe and she gaped at him. “No. I watched, though. I know a fireman who’s on the force.”
“Really?” he challenged. “It sure looks mighty suspicious that a girl who smells like smoke—who admitted to being on the scene—is hiding out in the woods. What are you hiding from? Police? Maybe I should report you.”
His verbal counterattack drew heat to her face. “Oooo!” Her finger came up in his face. “How do I know you aren’t the one who set it and ran into the woods? How do I know you’re not trying to make yourself look less suspicious by making me look suspicious? Huh?”
He snorted. “What?”
“Well, you can forget about that!” she huffed. “I know I’m innocent; my conscience is clear and I have nothing to worry about. It’s you—the big, scary creep in woods who’s just lurking around in the dark—who’s guilty. What are you doing in that tree anyway? Spying on me?”
He laughed once and ran his fingers in his hair, finally taking a step back. The thought seemed to amuse him. “No, I wasn’t spying on you.” His voice was too steady to be lying. “You don’t seem interesting enough.”
She rolled her eyes at his remark. But she paused a moment, something in his eyes giving a hint to a secret. That doesn’t mean he’s not spying on someone else…
Suzette grew tired of this. If he really was out there doing something weird, she didn’t want to be part of it. He clearly wasn’t some horrible villain, if her powers were really telling her anything. Best to leave the guy be. “Look, I’m out here walking around because I needed to clear my head. The end,” she concluded. “And you, for some odd reason, are out here too, relaxing in a tree. The end. But if I see that someone that fits your description is wanted for questioning, I’ll remember you. And I’ll go straight to the cops. Got it?” She jammed her finger in his face and challenged him with her eyes.
Of course, he didn’t flinch, with the exception of a deep smirk underneath his short, light brown facial hair. With her dismissal of him, he must have realized she no longer saw him as a real threat.
“Good,” she snapped.
He turned abruptly and started back toward the trees. “Oelewapper,” h
e grunted.
As she took in his gait while he walked away, it finally hit her. “Hey, wait a second,” she called. “That guy I bumped into at the diner—that was you, wasn’t it?”
The man waved his hand, dismissing her, and disappeared into the darkness.
Yep, that’s him alright. Suzette glared at the shadows in disbelief. Once he was completely out of sight, she finally let out a calm lungful of air—the first real one since she had seen him. As her muscles relaxed, the last of her adrenaline finally dissolved, leaving her exhausted. She heaved a sigh and started away. It was finally time to go home.
—
The hunter watched the girl leave. It was a good thing she’d turned back the way she came, up through the park. His prey was in the opposite direction, deep in the thick of the forest. Once he was sure the silly girl was gone, he hurried back up the tree, grabbed his crossbow and night-vision goggles, and deftly climbed to the ground. Angry at himself, he stood there for a moment.
He had sat in that tree as quiet as he could possibly be when she’d stumbled upon him. No normal person could have found him. When he’d spotted her, he had prayed she would turn around and walk away, far from the potential harm, but no, she had to go and throw a rock at him. And then he tried to scare her off, to stop her from waltzing into danger.
Yeah, well that didn’t work. The man grimaced, recalling her boldness. Shaking it off, he took a few steps forward—until the unease ate at him again, nailing his feet to the forest floor.
Blind World (The Onyx Fox Saga Book 1) Page 15