Eve Langlais (14 page)

“Come on, Hunter, and you too, Bob. Bring them upstairs so I may examine them.”

“I’ll just leave then,” said Norbert before popping out of sight.

Coward
, sneered the little voice in Hunter’s mind. Hunter carried Suzie carefully up the stairs, walking lightly so as to not jostle her. He looked back to ensure Bob was taking the same care with Jessica and gave a grunt of approval when he saw him carrying his sweet little girl just as gently. Owen, the doll still tucked under his arm, followed them, as well.

His mother cast a few curious looks back at them, but held her tongue, leading them to the pink room on the second floor that had an enormous bed. Once Hunter and Bob had settled the girls carefully side by side on the pink comforter of the bed, though, she took charge.

His mother eyed them both, calculating, then put her hands on Jessica first.

Hunter could feel a hum in the air, almost an electrical tingle, as his mother called up her healing magic.

Benson came bustling in, arms full of linen, followed by a housemaid holding a basin of steaming water and another with his mother’s healing basket.

“I need the purple bottle, Benson,” said his mother, holding out her hand without looking.

Benson reached into the basket and withdrew a small, purple vial. He unstoppered it and placed it in Hunter’s mother’s open palm. She opened Jessica’s mouth and let three drops fall in, then placed her hands on Jessica again. The hum came back, and slowly, the pallor leached away from Jessica’s face. Her breathing came deeper, and her cheeks began to turn pink.

With a gasp, Jessica opened her eyes.

Hunter was immediately by her side, cradling her in his arms.

“Mommy. Jar-Jar,” Jessica cried softly in his shirt.

“Shhh, baby girl,” Hunter whispered into her hair. “Mommy’s going to be just fine. I’m here. I’ll find Jared and bring him back. I promise.”

Hunter’s mother stood staring at Hunter, a bemused look on her face. “I’ll be damned,” she said, her voice full of wonder.

Owen approached the bed and held out the dolly to Jessica.

“My baby,” she whispered, hugging her doll tight.

Jessica, clinging to Hunter, turned to look around and saw her mother beside her on the bed, her face a grotesque, bloody, swollen mask. She let out a wail.

“It’s okay, baby girl,” said Hunter, rocking her in his arms. “Watch. My mommy is going to make your mommy feel better.”

His mother approached Suzie, and using a clean, damp cloth, first wiped the blood from her face.

Even clean of blood, Suzie’s face looked horrible, swollen and discolored, while her breath rasped through her damaged throat. His mother placed her hands on Suzie, and Jessica’s eyes went wide as she felt the hum of magic.

“What dat? It tick-les,” she said, looking up at Hunter.

“That, my little angel, is magic. Look,” he whispered, pointing.

Intrigued now, Jessica watched as Hunter’s mother poured some more of the purple vial into Suzie’s mouth. Then, his mother laid her hands on Suzie again. The hum of magic vibrated stronger this time, the injury obviously more severe. The tingle of magic grew in intensity till it made his teeth vibrate while Jessica’s hair floated lightly around her head.

Hunter’s mother’s face scrunched up as she fed the healing magic into Suzie’s body. Slowly, the bruising faded from Suzie’s face and neck. Going from purple to green to yellow, then gone. The horrible whistling when Suzie breathed eased until it became whisper quiet again, her chest rising and 53

falling smoothly. By the time Hunter’s mother was done, all Suzie’s physical injuries were gone. But Suzie didn’t wake.

“Why isn’t she waking up?” Hunter demanded, placing Jessica on the bed so she could snuggle up to her mother.

“Her injuries were not just external, but mental, as well. She should awaken shortly on her own. It’s a good thing you brought them when you did. Both of them had bleeding in their brains and would have probably died. Who are they, Hunter?” asked his mother, her piercing blue eyes, the mirror image of his own, full of questions.

“I’ll tell you in a bit.”

“You’ll tell us now!” barked the voice of the commander, also known as his father, from the doorway.

“Not now,” said his mother, going over to her husband and placing a delicate hand on his arm.

“But,” blustered the commander. Hunter’s mother gave him a stern look and took him by the hand as she led him out of the room.

“I’ll be back to check on them in a bit,” he heard his mother say from the hall.

Owen shuffled to his feet. “So, um, I guess, if you don’t need me anymore, I should get going. I’ll keep any eye on your house, hers too, while you’re here. Let me know if I can do anything,” he said before leaving.

Bob cleared his throat. “I guess I’ll be going now too. I take it you’ll take care of the Dragon from here.”

“Oh, I’ll take care of him all right,” said Hunter in a menacing tone. “Don’t you worry. He’ll be made to pay for this.” Bob left Hunter alone with the girls.

My girls
. No use denying it. He felt a bond with Suzie and Jessica that defied all logic. Was it love? He didn’t know, but he did know that he would do anything to keep them safe. But there was one thing missing. Jared.

Jared needed to be found, but Hunter didn’t want to leave till he knew Suzie would be all right.

He went and kneeled beside the bed, taking Suzie’s limp hand in his own.

“Why she no wake up, Hunta?” asked Jessica, her little face mirroring his own anxiety.

“I think she’s real scared.”

“Da bad man has Jar-Jar. You find him for me?” she asked, her sweet, trusting eyes sending a pang of guilt right through him. Jared should never have been taken. Hunter should have been there to protect them. The fact that he hadn’t known the Dragon was their father was no excuse. He still felt responsible and he needed to fix this.

He leaned forward and lightly kissed Suzie on the lips, murmuring, “I’ll find Jared and bring him back. I promise. Please wake up.”

And, like a princess in a fairy tale, Suzie’s eyes opened. She smiled at Hunter when she saw him leaning over her, but he knew when the memory of what happened washed over her because her eyes widened with horror and a high keening came out of her.

“Noooooooooo!” Suzie wailed. “Jared! Jessica!”

“Mommy, I here,” said Jessica, her eyes wide with fright at her mother’s cries.

Suzie wrapped her arms around Jessica, her eyes scanning the room, looking for Jared. Her eyes found Hunter’s, the hopefulness in them almost breaking his heart and control in half. Hunter, with great regret, shook his head.

Suzie screamed. And screamed. The pain over losing one of her children too much to bear. Her anguished cries cut through him like a knife. His fault. All his fault. He should have been there to protect them. Hunter wrapped his arms around her, trying to rock her like he had Jessica, who now also wailed in concert with her mother.

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But nothing could calm Suzie. And he couldn’t really blame her. The worst part was, she still didn’t even know the full truth of what the Dragon was.

Suzie continued to scream heartrending sounds that made him want to howl, and Jessica, her cheeks tearstained, cried along with her.

Hunter’s mother hurried into the room. “What happened? What’s wrong with her? Didn’t the healing work?” she asked worriedly.

“The Dragon has her son,” Hunter stated flatly.

“Oh dear,” his mother replied. Hunter could see the shock on his usually unflappable mother’s face.

She approached Suzie and laid her hands on her. “Sleep,” she commanded with a push of magic, and Suzie, thankfully, stopped screaming and went back to sleep.

Jessica hiccupped, her teary little face all blotchy and red.

Hunter scooped her up. “It’s all right, baby girl. Mommy just went to sleep again for a little bit.

She’ll feel better when she wakes up. Why don’t you come with me and see if we can’t find a cookie for you to eat? I know cook likes to keep some hidden in her special cookie jar.”

“Baby wants one, too,” Jessica said softly against his chest.

“Baby can have one, too.” Hunter carried Jessica out of the room, his mother following him.

Hunter left Jessica with the rotund cook who took one look at little Jessica’s face and immediately took her under her ample wing. He followed his mother into the den where his father paced, his florid face even more red than usual.

“What is the meaning of this?” his father barked. “You brought not one, but two, mundanes into the Realm. What the hell were you thinking?”

Hunter was not in the mood for his father’s bluster. “I was thinking of saving their lives,” he shouted back. “Seeing as how it was your crew of incompetents at the prison who let the Dragon loose in the first place!”

For the first time ever, Hunter had rendered his father speechless.

“I—Ah. Well, that was an accident. And what the hell do you mean the Dragon injured them? What the hell does the Dragon want with a bunch of mundanes?” Figured, his father was looking to shift the blame.

“Remember when you all lost him a couple of years back? Well, turns out he was busy seducing and then impregnating an innocent. That innocent is upstairs right now.”

His father sat down heavily in the chair behind his desk. “Tell me the whole story,” he said with a sigh, rubbing his florid face.

Hunter did—he told them about the Dragon impersonating a professor and seducing Suzie. How she had twins and left right around the time the Dragon had been re-apprehended. Then, how the Dragon had come back into her life and taken Jared.

“I don’t know all the details yet. Suzie was unconscious when I found her. He beat the living daylights out of her, hurt Jessica, his daughter, and then took off with Jared, his son.”

“But why go through all that trouble?” said his father. “Why use a mundane?”

“I think I can answer that,” said his mother. “The Dragon is one of a kind among shape-shifters. I’d heard stories through the grapevine of other women in the Realm who had the misfortune of becoming pregnant by him. None of them survived. Leaving the Realm for the magicless side of the world nullified his powers, so even if the child inherited his powers, they were inactive in the womb. So the pregnancy could progress to term.”

Hunter, appalled, finished her thought. “He finally created an heir.”

“So the Dragon kidnapped his son,” said his father. “But that still doesn’t explain why you brought the mundanes here.”

Hunter’s mother rounded on her husband in a fury. “How dare you speak of them like that, Adrian!

After all that poor woman and child have been through and are still going through. They would have 55

died if Hunter hadn’t brought them. This is our fault, and he was right. We should bear some responsibility for what happened. The better question now, though, is what next? We can’t allow that monster to keep that child.”

“I’m going after them,” said Hunter, and when he caught up to the Dragon, he’d make sure that he never, ever hurt Suzie or the twins again!

“Now, wait just a second,” said the commander. “You can’t just go haring off, chasing the Dragon.

You have respons—”

“Like hell! I’m the best tracker you have, and you know it. If anyone can find that bastard and save Jared, it’s me.” And if his father, oh excuse him, the commander didn’t like it, too bloody bad!

“Listen here, boy!” roared his father. “I’ve had quite enough lip from you. I’m your commander and your father, and you will do as I say.”

Hunter leaned forward on his father’s desk, his nose only inches from the commander’s face. “No, you listen to me,” Hunter said in a quiet, deadly tone. “I’m going, and I really don’t give a damn whether you like it or not. Suzie needs her son back, and I am going to bring him back for her. And...” He continued before his father could interject. “You are going to make Suzie and Jessica welcome here while I’m gone. You will not ship her back home to sit terrified and worried. I want her here where she can be kept abreast of how the rescue is going. This is nonnegotiable.”

“Or else what?” said his father sarcastically.

“Or you’ll answer to me,” said his mother coming to Hunter’s rescue. “Hunter is that boy’s best chance, and you know it, Adrian. Stop acting like an ass, and open your eyes. Can’t you see our son cares for this woman and her children? I shouldn’t have to tell you it’s the right thing to do. Don’t you feel any responsibility or compassion over what has happened to them? I may put up with a lot, Adrian, but I will not stand by and watch you turn into as great a monster as the Dragon. You know it’s the right thing to do.”

To Hunter’s amazement, his father hung his head, unable to meet her eyes. What, the great commander humbled? Mark it on the calendar. This was not something that happened too often.

His mother lay her hand on Hunter’s arm and said to him, “Don’t you worry, dear. I’ll make sure they’re taken care of. You do what you have to do. They’ll be safe here. I’ll put a call in to your sister.

She can take some leave and come back home for a while and fill the role of bodyguard for your Suzie and Jessica.”

His sister, yes. If he couldn’t be here to protect Suzie and Jessica, then she was the next best thing.

He nodded his head. Thank the higher powers his mother was here. He could trust her to make sure his father didn’t screw things up while he tracked down Jared.

“Now why don’t you get ready? Adrian, you need to get to work, too. Call in your scouts and other sources. Find out where the Dragon’s been. We need to find his trail so that little boy can be saved.

We’ll also need supplies and a wizard for transport to the last known location.”

Hunter hugged his mother and strode out of his father’s office without looking at him. He needed to get ready.

Hunter could feel his blood starting to pump. His senses were coming alive. Coming back to the Realm meant his magical senses were awake again. The world once again a multi-dimensional place of sound, smell, and sight. It felt good to be home. Too bad the reason had to be such a horrible one. He couldn’t help the shiver of excitement that ran through him, though.