Bloodbreeders: The Revenge (12 page)

“If he lives,” one of the other men added.

“If you see lights coming from the dock, bring the boat in.”

Nothing else was said. Two men stayed as the others took Sydney to be questioned by the most evil thing that I had ever come across. “We have to move now.”  Once I that said, we all checked our weapons and started up the dark passage that would lead us to the living quarters. I told Bo and Derek to go left as soon as we got up, then I remembered Ashley‘s gift.

“I need you to concentrate and tell us where they are?” I asked taking her by the upper arms.

“I can’t think.”

“Damn it, Ashley. They have Sydney and this is no time for you to be a child. Now think,” I demanded in a strong whisper.

“I’ll try,” she cried.

I dropped my hands as she raised hers to her temples. She began pointing her fingers, one to the left of the deck and the other in the center, and then she said, “At the table.” That’s when I continued telling the boys my plan. Brandon and I were to take the one sitting down; Bo and Derek the other. We knew they may have guns, but we also knew they were normals and had nothing on our speed. Our only downfall was, having to come up a set of stairs that only allowed one person up at a time. If we weren’t fast enough and God forbid if one of us should trip, some of us would die in the hail of bullets that would spray toward us, not to mention alerting those that would come to their aid.

“Ready? Because it’s now or never,” I asked looking from one set of eyes to the next.

“Ready,” Bo replied pulling his long sword. “No guns and we better be fast enough to make sure they don’t use theirs.”

“Let’s go get Sid,” Derek added.

“Yep,” Ashley agreed.

Brandon never said a word as he hit the steps so fast, that I never saw his feet touch them.  Bo was right behind him. I heard a man scream once; then silence. I stood beside Ashley with clean hands looking at the blood that covered the front of my boys. Brandon had apparently gone straight for the man’s throat. Bo decapitated his kill as the man took a breath to scream a second time. The head that lay at the dead man’s feet had the look of complete horror on it. Derek had run up beside Bo, just in time to be sprayed with a shower of fresh blood.

“What a waste,” Derek complained licking his lips. “It’s so much sweeter than critters.”

“How are we going to know which way to go? It so dark, Renee,” Ashley twisted her hands together, worried, looking out over the water.

“Come here…all of you,” I replied and walked to the opposite side that she was standing on.

I explained to them that they had to watch closely, because the lighthouse didn’t shine like most of them did. Right about that time it blinked twice, then went blank again. I didn’t have to explain what direction to swim after that, I just dove in. I was hoping that we could get to Sydney, before they made it to Yvette’s estate, if not we were going to have to move even faster. Every so often I looked up and counted heads, making sure that we were all still together. As soon as I could see the old dock I started slowing down. I grabbed the closest ones foot and they in turn grabbed the closest one to them.

“I need you all to trust me on this. We have to swim under water as far as you can to the beach. Once we’re there stay down on your stomach until you know, without a doubt, that we’ve all made it.” I told them that the one they were calling the ‘Mistress’ was the same woman that I told them about and called, Yvette. Then I explained that it would be the one called Annabel that would be doing the questioning. I was hoping it would put a more urgent message to the kids, but Ashley almost lost it. I kicked my legs to keep myself up and wrapped my arms around her.

“I didn’t mean to frighten you. I just wanted you all to know how serious this is.”

“I’m scared for him.”

“I know you are, baby. I’m scared for all of us, but right now we need to get to Sydney, okay?”

“Let’s hurry,” she replied, nodding faster than she should’ve been, causing me to rethink bringing her along.

“Ashley, do you want to wait on the boat,” I asked still holding her with one hand.

She looked back at the boat in the distance then shook her head.

“Are you sure? Everything will be okay if you decide to go back,” Brandon concurred.

“No, I’ll be fine.”

“Then let’s do this,” Derek interjected then dove under in the direction of the beach.

The water forced our bodies further up on the sand every time the waves rolled in. I could barely see the dock, and I saw no lights anywhere. I asked Ashley if she could make out any sign
of normals near us, but she only shook her head in reply. We were too late and now we had to find our way in. Derek had asked why it smelled so different here than it did on the land that we had just come from. All that I could think of was the number of our kind that passed on this beach.

“I can tell,” he replied wiping the sand off of his chin. “Do you think it will make it harder for them to know that we’re here?”

“I think you have a great point there, Derek. I sure think it’ll make us harder to find,” I winked through the strands of hair that had made their way out of my braid. “We have to swim down the shore and look for the drain that I came out of.”

“What about the water that shot you out?” Bo asked.

“It’s the only way that I know to get back in, unless you wanna go through the front door?” I replied as I slid my body backwards into the water that all but swallowed me up.

Chapter Twelve

We moved slowly so as not be noticed, just in the case someone was watching. Our clothing was solid black down to our shoes, but there was little that we could do to cover the glare of our flesh, and our faces were always a concern. Only one looked for the drain at a time. If a light did hit the water it would reflect off our wet skin like a mirror. Bo and I kept our eyes focused on the cliffs. When we would look away it was Brandon who searched for the drain, the only other one that had listened intently to the details as I explained my escape that glorious night. Ashley and Derek had been there and listened, but like most young people what had stuck with them was the more horrid details of that particular tale.

“Renee? Is that it?” Bo asked.

I turned around to look upon the very exit that set me free, only there was no water flowing from its opening. As soon as I opened my mouth to say that we couldn’t be any luckier, a gust of air, followed by a rumbling moan that sounded almost like a giants belch, came sweeping out of the round mouth of the drain. Seconds later a tidal-wave came soaring out in a massive waterfall. I could see myself falling from its height, arms swinging, legs kicking, and then in one desperate move pulling them in before I crashed into the depths below.

“Renee?” Ashley asked as if she had been talking to me.

“What?”

“Where did you go?”

“I was just remembering. I’m sorry. I’ll try not to do that again. Let’s start up.” Then before she could question me further I started swimming toward the beach.

Bo and Brandon were the first out of the water, with Derek on their heels. Ashley and I brought up the rear. I watched our backs like a hawk. I knew that Bo and Brandon were watching our every move from above. The climb was much easier than I could have imagined. From a distance you couldn’t see the smaller rocks jutting out every few feet. But being up close they were a dream to those of us now using them. I was halfway up when Bo reached the drain’s opening. He was waving his hand in a motion for us to stop. He started climbing back down, stopping at each one, then came down to me.

“They know that’s how you got out.”

“How do you know?”

“There’s a mesh cover over the opening, it won’t budge. There are huge bolts in it,” he explained using one hand to illustrate the size.

“What did you see from up there?”

“It’s really dark, but it’s flat land. I think it probably goes right to the place that this drain runs from.”

“Then up it is,” I said, doing the best I could to smile at him reassuringly.

He took off and we followed. The cliff was straight up with large pieces of stones hanging in areas, directly over our heads. My head was spinning by the time I reached the top. It was full of thoughts from what if one of us slipped, to what’s going to happen when we finally do find a way in. It was as if the little ones were taking me with them and not the other way around.

“Shit.” I heard Bo hiss as his shotgun came flying down past my head and into the water below. Derek and Ashley had turned around to help me up the rest of the way; Bo and Brandon were there to make sure that I was all right. “I thought I had it secure, Renee.”

“It’s alright Bo, we don’t know if they would even work after being in that salt water. You have your blades and that’s good enough.”

“I didn’t even bring my gun.” Derek’s eyes were huge.

“Mine’s full of water,” Brandon said shaking his out. “Damn, I can’t believe we didn’t think about the water. That’s when I pulled mine and drained the water with hopes that it would still work when we needed it.

“Bo’s taught us more than enough to kick some major ass with our blades, and that’s exactly what I plan on doing.” Then I laid over and closed my eyes wishing I had rethought our actions.

“You rest, and Brandon and I’ll go see what we can find out,” Bo firmly demanded, then turned to leave.

“We stay together, Bo. That’s just how it is for now,” I replied, then got up and started walking in the direction of the estate.

“What would it hurt if we scoped things out?” he asked trying to keep up.

“Tell me Bo, what are we supposed to do if you two don’t come back?”

He stopped walking and didn’t respond to my question. I never turned around, because I figured that I had hurt his feelings. All that he wanted to do was be useful, but I knew how these animals worked and I wasn’t ready to lose another loved one. We walked for about a quarter of a mile when the back of the estate came into view. There were stalls for small livestock and two barns for who knows what, spread out behind the large three story castle style home.

There were shrubs surrounding the property along with tall spear like pines. We took the outside of the greenery, crawling on our hands and knees until we reached the side of the barn. It was explained to everyone not to use the gun we did have, unless it was completely necessary. We needed to go unnoticed for as long as we could and we still didn’t know if they even worked after being soaked. That was when everyone grabbed their blades, placing the two guns we had in a place of easy access; mine back in the holster at my side and Brandon’s in Bo’s pocket. I gripped my blade so hard that I could feel the jewels imbedding themselves into my palm.

“So, how do we get in?” Derek asked looking around with wide eyes.

“The front door,” I mustered, breathing a little faster than I should have been. “But first we need to scope the front out, as Bo likes to call it.”

“What else would ya call it?” he asked smiling at me.

“Take a look,” I replied smiling back.

I finally agreed to let Bo and Brandon go it alone. I stayed with the others by the barn. It was so silent that all I could hear was the crashing waves below. Every so often, we would hear one of the animals stir about, but not even the wind offered us sound. Bo and Brandon came back about thirty minutes later telling us that there were four men that they thought were normals. Two were in a small one room house at the front entrance gate, and the other two were walking around the property, holding some sort sticks—maybe blades in their hands. When I asked if there were any signs of movement around the front of the house, both shook their heads.

“I think we should take out the ones walking the property first,” Bo advised pulling his long blade.

“And I think you should send Ashley up to the gate house acting like she’s lost, then we can go in when they least expect us,” Brandon added.

“Why me?” Ashley asked standing up.

“You’re young and you look more innocent than, Renee. I mean that in the best way,” Brandon replied looking over at me.

“I completely agree. They’d never find you threatening, and someone might recognize me,” I explained standing up and walking up to her. “We’ll be right behind you. Besides, you might be able to get information out of their minds if you’re able to talk to them for a few minutes. Maybe find out something about, Sydney.”

“You want me to ask them about him?”

“No, I want you to try and read their thoughts,” I said with a sigh.

“Oh…I’m just nervous. I don’t mean to sound so stupid,” she said almost in tears.

“No matter what anyone else says, Ash, we’re all scared to death,” Bo admitted. “But we have to get in there, and we have to do it now. The sun’s not going to give us the time that we need.”

“I know…I know, just give me a minute.”

Ashley started taking her hair out of the pony tail and shook her head. She straightened out her shirt, and then slid her hands down the dirt on the front of her pants. Once she said the word ‘Okay’ we all slid off into the dark. I waited with Ashley as the three boys took off into the shadows of the court yard. Statues of headless figures, with sculpted hedges gave them room to maneuver their way to their intended prey. I lost sight of them once they entered the center of the court yard past the long drive that curved like a huge circle through the front of the grounds, making it a one way in and one way out.