Bright Moon (29 page)

“My girl,” Parker chuckled. “We have come to
show you all is well with your mother
and
Beth. Mark put his
camera skills to good use for a change.”

Mark scowled and looked to Clara as if she
and he had some sort of understanding. “I barely come out with my
life and he finds it amusing.”

“You brought that on yourself when you
taunted your brother,” Parker growled.

“You’ve seen Tyson?” she asked eagerly. “Is
he here?”

Mark and Parker erupted into laughter.
“Here? Heavens no!”

Her heart fell and she averted her gaze.

“Don’t look so depressed, poor darling,”
Parker attempted to sooth her. “Come with us and we’ll show you.”
He took her arm and escorted her as he’d done before. There was yet
another room that had been set up as a small, impromptu movie
theater. There were a few rows of dusty plastic seats and a large
screen TV. Parker grabbed a remote off an armrest and offered her a
place to sit.

“Maybe she’d like some popcorn?” Mark asked
sarcastically.

“If you aren’t going to be useful then
leave,” Parker barked.

Mark muttered under his breath and rolled
his eyes.

“I hope you will take this as a sign of my
good intentions,” Parker said while ignoring Mark. He pointed the
remote at the DVD player in the front of the room and the plasma
flickered to life. The clip was obviously a home video. The image
swung wildly from side to side, showing the inside of a car. Mark’s
face appeared. His lips were pressed thin and he looked annoyed,
but he smiled weakly.

“We’re nearly there!” he said too brightly,
then shifted the lens to her mother, who sat in the backseat. She
was clean and well dressed. The bruises and signs of mistreatment
had faded almost completely. Beth sat next to her, sporting a
bloodied lip. “How do you ladies feel?”

“You haven’t said where we’re going,” Beth
grumbled.

“Would it help if I told you it’s someplace
fun?” Mark’s voice asked.

“No,” she replied. Luzy watched out the
window silently.

“Rita, you’ve been awful quiet,” Mark
observed.

“I would rather be with Clara right now,”
she whispered without looking at the phone.

“I promise this trip will be worth it.” The
phone swung again, coming to rest on the driver, whose uniform gave
him away as one of Parker’s wolves. “Do you have anything to add?”
he asked the man. The driver raised an eyebrow and shook his head.
The scene suddenly went dark then changed. They were out of the car
and under the light of day, surrounded by vegetation and a field
stretched before them. There was little a house at the opposite end
of the meadow and Clara sat straight in her chair.

“Just go to the house,” Mark instructed as
he filmed. “I’ll stay here.”

“Where are we?” Beth asked.

“You’ll see if you go there,” Mark said
quickly. He sounded nervous. A person appeared in the front door of
the house just before Jack seemed to vaporize from the air around
Beth, his face unrecognizable when covered with joy and
disbelief.

“Jack!” Beth squeaked and jumped into his
arms. Tears instantly ran down her cheeks. He took her in his arms
with his eyes squeezed shut as if to savor the moment. The rest of
the pack followed closely behind. Callan and Dawn came and Callan
didn’t stop until he had his mom in his arms, crushing her in a
fierce embrace.

“Callan?” Luzy asked and leaned back to put
a hand on his face. Soon there wasn’t a dry eye. Tyson appeared on
the scene, his eyes roaming over the small reunion. He turned to
Mark without batting an eye and Callan was not far behind.

“Where is she?”

“Now, now,” Mark said in an unusually high
voice. “No need to lose your temper, brother.”

“Tell me where she is!” Tyson roared and his
eyes were instantly yellow.

“You know you won’t get any information from
me if I’m dead,” Mark pointed out lamely, but Tyson was lost to his
wild temper. Another growl burst from him and his eyes flashed
yellow. He sprang on Mark and the footage rushed in blur of color
then went black. Clara glanced at Mark as he stood next to her
chair.

“We worked things out,” he said.

“So I assumed,” she breathed.

“You see?” Parker cut in. “I am not a
monster. I didn’t keep your mother for the express purpose of
torture. I knew I could release them when I had you.”

She saw Tyson’s burning eyes in her mind’s
eye. “It’s about time too. They suffered enough at your hand.”

“What sacrifices would you make to save
billions, Miss Rita? I did it all to find you and here you are.
Once we have a way to extract your blood, we will save lives.”

“You seem to have made up your mind.”

“I hoped we could work together to find a
way to penetrate your skin. I hoped you would come to trust me and
these extreme means of locking you away would not always be
necessary. Perhaps, one day, we’ll be able to forget the idea of
locks and keys.” Parker moved slowly and put the remote back. The
charming smile he wore almost seemed genuine. Mark fidgeted
restlessly and Parker gave him a scowl. “I suppose we should be on
our way, no doubt your mother and Beth will put their heads
together and remember something or another that will lead them back
here. Not to mention Mark is antsy. He fears Tyson’s wrath.”

“Where are we going?” she asked while
ignoring Mark’s noises of aggravation.

“My girl, it would be nice if I could trust
you with that kind of information, but you can see why I want to
keep it secret.” Parker left while Mark lingered.

“I will bring her down,” Mark said when
Parker turned to see what kept him.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“I’m not going to touch her. I haven’t got a
new phone yet.”

“She isn’t for sport, Mark, you won’t be
hurting her anymore.”

Mark nodded once to show he understood and
Parker went to the elevator. Clara would have preferred to be alone
and took a seat in a plastic chair near a window, turning her back
to Mark. He was as soundless as his brother when he moved and she
didn’t hear him until he stood next to her.

“Do you need something?” she asked coolly
without giving him a second glance. He shoved a fist in her face,
in its clutches was a pink rose. Its petals were bent and the stem
broken. She gasped and turned to him, not daring to believe her
eyes.

“From Tyson.”

“You mean Callan,” she corrected as she took
the broken flower in her fingers, straightening the petals as she
examined it.

“No, if your brother told me to do anything
I would have torn his pointed little ears off. I’m not ashamed to
admit my brother can easily domineer over me when we fight. Why do
you think I have to use other people to hurt him? Your brother on
the other hand…no, the rose is from Tyson.”

“How can it be?” she asked in a whisper and
her eyes burned with an onslaught of emotion.

“Are you really that surprised? Perhaps you
don’t know how terribly sentimental dear old Jothram can be. I wish
I had my phone, you are about to cry—that would break his
heart.”

She sighed and covered her face with a hand.
“You’ve done enough to hurt him.”

He burst out laughing so loudly that she
jumped. “
I’ve
done enough to hurt him? Have you forgotten
who infected me?”

“That was an accident. Besides, most others
I’ve met seem to do well enough with their situation.”

“Yes well, most of the others have someone
to support them. Tyson took that from me and I’m glad I could do
the same to him. I’ve waited so long for him to fall in love so I
can have my revenge.” He stretched casually as if discussing the
weather.

“You are harsh on him for an unwitting
mistake.”

“Unwitting?” Mark sat up straight and faced
her. “I don’t know what he told you, but you need to hear both
sides of the story before you arrive at any conclusions or
judgments. Yes, Tyson infected me, and yes it was an accident. If
that were the extent of his
mistakes
I would readily forgive
him. The one thing I can’t forgive is the murder of my Angela.”

The black spot Parker had planted in her
heart against Tyson swelled even as she gasped in outrage. “He
didn’t!”

“You have fallen in love with a very
dangerous man. I’m sure he let you know just how dangerous he is,
even if you were unaware. Because of him, I lost Angela, the love
of my life. Don’t you think it seems fair I take the love of
his?”

“I can’t believe you,” she whispered,
emotion weakening her voice. “I
won’t
believe you.”

“Believe what you like, the truth won’t be
denied, even by him. I spent many lives mourning her loss and my
anger has never cooled, nor do I think it will. Every time I see
her torn and mangled body in my mind, I want to find another way to
hurt him as much as possible…short of actually killing him that
is.”

She shook her head and looked away. “I wish
you would leave me,” her voice shook with emotion. “You took my mom
from me, will you take Tyson as well?”

“Would your rather live in blind ignorance?
I can’t change what he did, but at least you know the truth. You
will have to decide if you can continue loving someone who killed
an innocent girl in cold blood.”

“You’re lying!”

Mark got stiffly to his feet and left the
room. He returned a minute later, carrying a book which he threw in
her lap. She examined it without touching the delicate worn binding
that barely held the yellowed pages in place. She could see the
faded lettering by a revealing tear on the cover.

“What is this?”

“Tyson’s confession. I think you would find
the contents of page sixty-two very interesting.”

Fear paralyzed her body. “How do I know this
is really his?”

Mark’s eyes glared while his mouth smiled.
He retrieved the ancient looking book and flipped the cover open.
The pages were very thin. There, in a long, elegant hand was
written,
Jothram Tyson.
Mark flipped through the book again
and scanned the page until he found the desired sentence and held
it under her nose with his finger pointing out the spot he wanted
her to read. Her throat suddenly burned and her eyes stung. She
shook her head and turned away.

“You don’t want to see? Shall I read it out
loud? ‘
Mark blames me for Angela’s death and I cannot deny the
truth. How could I deny what haunts my waking moments even now? I
must be honest with myself, his accusations are correct, I killed
her.’
He goes on to say more, do you want me to continue?” Mark
asked tauntingly.

“No!” she screamed at him and covered her
ears in a childish manner, but she’d already heard the condemning
words. Hot silent tears started down her cheeks.

“I thought you’d like to know the truth,” he
said without mercy. “You should try to get to know a person before
you give them your heart.”

“He wouldn’t…”

“He would and he did. I think you’re
intelligent enough to realize the truth.” Mark wouldn’t cease his
taunting, but was merciful enough to give her some time to herself
before dragging her out of Parker’s lair. Parker could tell she’d
been crying when Mark brought her down.

“You said you wouldn’t hurt her,” Parker
accused and gently took her arm.

“I didn’t lay a finger on her,” Mark said.
“I just let her know some facts about the man she loves.”

Parker shook his head and sighed. “You
mustn’t let Mark get to you, he’s full of hate and revenge.”

There was a sleek black car waiting for them
in the driveway. The situation was made more ominous by the clouds
darkening the sky. Parker took the backseat with Clara while Mark
acted as their driver and guided the vehicle along the long road
out. They had not gone far when a boom blasted from behind and a
tremor could be felt despite the sway of the car. Clara twisted in
her seat to see smoke billowing from Parker’s lair, drifting
angrily from the windows.

“Sadly, it is a necessary precaution,” he
said, noting where her focus lay. She turned back around and kept
her eyes trained out the window, hoping for some revealing sign of
where they were. Unfortunately they never came upon a major road or
even another car, except the one following—a black bus filled with
Parker’s men. Mark pulled into a gated area that sheltered a couple
small jet planes, protected by yet another uniformed guard. He
waved them through.

“We’re going up in one of those?” she asked
and glanced to the sky. The wind picked up and a flare of lightning
exploded nearby.

“My girl, don’t worry,” Parker said when the
thunder died down and he flashed a handsome smile. “Nothing will
happen to you as long as you stay near me.”

Mark suddenly started coughing from his
position as driver. Parker frowned and helped her out of the
car.

“Are you sure it’s safe?” she called over a
gust of wind.

“Everything is well taken care of, don’t
fret.” Parker took her arm and laced it through his own as he
directed her toward the smallest of the planes. They climbed the
little staircase into the tight compartment. There were only four
seats. Parker told her to take one next to the window and he took
occupancy of the seat next to her. She was already anxiously
gripping the armrest when the engine whined to life.

“You poor dear,” Parker said with a shake of
his head. He took her hand and interlaced her fingers with his.
“Don’t be afraid.”

“Aren’t small planes more likely to go down
in a storm?”

“I assure you, this plane is as safe as any
vehicle you’ll ever step in. Not to mention, have you forgotten
you’re immortal now?”

Mark’s head popped over the seats in front
of them. “I doubt she would survive a violent plane crash, we may
be durable, but we aren’t invincible.”

“Thanks for the clarification,” she muttered
and pulled her hand from Parker’s grip, which was like trying to
pull from super glue. The plane jerked forward and she turned her
head from the window, which was accumulating raindrops.