Jude Stephens (5 page)

Somehow I was able to direct him to a small dirt
road that led directly to the lakeside. Mark stopped the jeep and
we got out. I looked around and had a feeling of familiarity. I
couldn’t exactly remember being here before, yet everything seemed
recognizable.

“
I need to stay the night here.” I
said with certainty.

“
Right here?”

“
Yeah.”

“
I’d rather see you stay in a
hotel, but if this is where you want to stay then you got it
boss.”

“
Boss?”

“
Yeah…well as I figure, I’m
working for you now.”

“
But I can’t pay you at this time.
I have nothing. Not even the clothes on my back are my
own.”

“
That’s okay. I have enough money.
I don’t need much, so I won’t take payment until your
set.”

I shook my head at him in wonderment. “I don’t
understand you Mark.”

He actually laughed and it was a nice sound. “No one
does.”

Mark began to take supplies out of the jeep. I gave
him a quizzical look.

“
I learned a long time ago to
always be prepared. The tent is small, but it should do for you and
Bullet”

“
What about you?’

“
I can sleep anywhere. I’ll be
fine.”

Bullet took off in the woods and I went to find a
place where I could relieve myself in privacy. When I finished and
was on my way back, I stopped for a few minutes and looked out over
the lake. It was beautiful. The moon shone on it turning the water
into molten silver hues.

A vision appeared before me, a couple in the water,
laughing and splashing each other. All of a sudden they stopped
laughing, embraced and started kissing. It was a passionate kiss
that even from here I could see was filled with love.

Someone was shaking me. I came back into myself with
no small amount of disorientation and finally was able to focus on
Mark who was saying my name.

“
What’s wrong?” I asked
him.

“
You tell me. You were gone almost
an hour, and then I find you catatonic standing here staring at the
lake.”

I came more into myself and said, “There’s no way
I’ve been gone an hour.”

“
Yeah, it was an hour, boss,” he
said.

I still felt disoriented. “Can I hold on to your arm
Mark? I still feel a bit wobbly.”

Mark cursed and promptly swept me up in his arms and
began walking. I wanted to protest but didn’t have enough energy.
He sat me down in front of the tent and got me a bottle of water.
After a few minutes I felt more myself.

“
Sorry about that. I think I had a
vision of the last time I was here. I probably was around six years
old. I was with my parents and woke up to the sound of laughter. I
followed the sound until I was beside the lake. My parents were
swimming in the moonlight. When they saw me, my father yelled,
“Olive Oil what are you doing up?” He and Mom got out of the water
and Mom said, “You need to get some rest. We are going to see
akso:d in the morning.”

That’s all the vision told me, but I have a feeling
that in the morning I will know exactly where we need to go.”

Mark was kneeling in front of me, and now he stood,
went over and got something out of the car.

“
Here eat something before you go
to sleep. You’re getting too thin.”

I took the bag of jerky that he handed me and said,
“Gee, thanks Mom.”

He gave me a dirty look but sat down beside me.

Probably to make sure I ate. The jerky tasted pretty
good, or maybe I was just really hungry, but I ate the whole bag
and finished the water. I felt tired. I was physically and
emotionally drained.

“
I think I’m going to call it a
night. Are you sure you’ll be okay out here?” Mark nodded. After I
crawled into the tent, Bullet followed me in and stretched out
beside me.

Mark zipped up the tent. I heard him rustling around
for a few minutes and then saw him lay down in front of the tent.
It was with a secure feeling that I lay down with my wolf beside me
and my…my what? Partner. That’s the word that popped into my
mind.

I woke up with the sun shining outside the tent. I
was surprised I had a dreamless night. I was half expecting to have
a dream or vision of where we were supposed to go. I unzipped the
tent and slipped outside. I didn’t see Mark at first, but then
spotted him walking back from the direction of the lake. His dark
hair was wet and he had no shirt on. It was obvious that he was
swimming. As he got closer I could see his tanned muscular chest.
He was a good looking guy and for a minute I felt bad that I wasn’t
attracted to him. It would probably make my life a hell of a lot
simpler to love a regular man instead of god damn vampires.

“
Good morning. Did you sleep
well?” I asked as he walked up. Mark nodded yes and handed me a cup
of coffee. I finally noticed a remnant of a fire in front of the
tent.

“
How long have you been up?” I
asked him.

“
Since seven” he
replied.

“
Seven? What time is
it?”

“
Almost eleven,” he
answered.

“
I slept until eleven? Why didn’t
you wake me?”

“
You were tired.” He stated matter
of factly.

“
Yeah…but I also want to get on
the road.”

“
So you know where we’re
going?”

“
Ummm…no. Not yet. I thought maybe
I would dream something, but I don’t think I had any dreams last
night. At least none I can remember.”

Mark shrugged as if to say, whatever, and began
taking the tent down. I drank my coffee and decided to walk over to
the lake to wash up.

“
I’m going to wash up at the
lake.” Mark rose from his work like he was going to come with me,
and I halted him with, “No. Finish up here. I’ll take Bullet with
me.”

He nodded as I called my wolf. Bullet came running
out of some thick brush looking happy and well fed. I bent down to
scratch him. “And what did you have for breakfast? Never mind,” I
said as I thought that it was probably not a big bowl of kibble. I
started for the lake. I found a spot where I could scoot myself
close without falling in and scooped up some water and splashed in
onto my face. The water was cold so I didn’t linger.

I turned with the intention of finding a bush where
I could relieve myself when I got a strange sense of déjà vu. I
looked up at the blue sky and then at Bullet who was staring at me.
I had dreamed this before; a few months ago after my parents were
killed. Only that time I felt a menacing presence coming towards
me. Bullet growled, and I could see the hair on his back stand on
end. The sense of déjà vu became stronger when Bullet nudged me
forward. Goosebumps spread across my body and without thinking I
began to run. I followed Bullet through the thick brush. We were
heading towards the tree line when I heard a whistling sound.
Instinctively, I ducked down low to the ground and laid there as an
arrow came sailing by, missing my head by a half inch. As I lay
there Bullet turned and ran past me, obviously giving chase to
whoever had tried to shoot me with an arrow.

“
An arrow? Who uses an arrow to
try and kill someone?” I wondered out loud.

“
Olivia! Olivia, are you okay?”
Mark was shouting.

“
Yeah, I’m okay.” I
yelled.

Mark saw me and came running over. “What
happened?”

“
I’m not sure. I was standing here
with Bullet, and I got a sense of danger lurking near. We turned to
run and I heard the arrow heading for me. I ducked just in
time.”

“
Where’s Bullet?”

“
He went after whoever was trying
to kill me. I better go look for him.”

“
No. Let me go first. We don’t
know what the situation is. There may be more of them
waiting.”

“
That’s why I should go with you.
I’m not going to sit here like a scared rabbit. I’m tired of being
a victim Mark,” I said while looking him in the eye.

He looked reluctant, but said, “Okay, but here, take
this. And let me take the lead at least”

He handed me a gun. I nodded my thanks and tucked it
into the waistband of my jeans.

We followed the direction that Bullet had taken. We
had gone a small distance when Mark stopped and squatted down.
“This is where he was waiting for you. Look at the brush here.” And
indeed I could see the broken stalks of grass.

Mark looked closely and when satisfied that he found
no other clues moved forward again. We almost made it back to our
camp when Mark barked, “Stay there!”

But it was too late. I ran ahead of him when I heard
Bullet whining.

Chapter 6

Bullet lay on his side. I could see the blood oozing
from a wound that was just above his right hind leg. I ran over to
him and knelt by his side. That was when I noticed the man. He was
a few feet from where Bullet lay. His eyes were staring sightlessly
at the clear blue sky. His throat had been ripped out. There was a
bloodied knife lying by his side. I should feel bad, but I couldn’t
seem to find that particular emotion inside me.

Instead all I could feel was panic
that Bullet was hurt. “Bullet…oh, Bullet. Mark help me!” I
cried.

“
Let me see.” Mark knelt beside
Bullet and probed near his hind leg. “It’s okay Olivia. It’s not
too deep. I can patch this up. Let’s get him back to the camp. I
have a first aid kit in the Jeep.”

“
What about him?” I asked nodding
my head to the dead body.

“
He’s not going anywhere. I’ll
take care of him after I take care of Bullet.”

I whispered softly in Bullet’s ear while rubbing his
head, “It will be okay Bullet. We’ll help you. Can you make it back
to camp, Boy?’

Bullet slowly got to his feet and I felt like crying
as I watched him limp back towards camp. I turned to look at the
body glad it wasn’t Bullet lying there dead. We headed back to
camp, and Mark trotted ahead to make sure no one was waiting there
to ambush us. When Bullet limped into camp, Mark was waiting with
the first aid kit. Bullet collapsed by the tent and Mark quickly
went to work. He shaved off a section of Bullet’s fur so he could
make sure the wound got cleaned off properly.

“
I’m going to have to stitch it.
Can you try and hold him still?”

I nodded yes and went around to the other side of
Bullet’s body, lay beside him and began to stroke his head gently.
A peaceful feeling seemed to engulf me. I could feel it spreading
through my body. The feeling moved like a slithering snake from me
into Bullet’s body and I felt him relax beside me. As I lay there
an image came to mind. I was in the back seat of our old station
wagon with Mom. My dad was driving. My mom was stroking my hair and
singing, “Ani couni chaouanin, awana bikana caina, e aouni
bissini.”

Somehow I knew this translated to, “When evening
descended upon the Indian village the medicine man disappeared into
the forest touching the ground with his hands.” Though just a small
child I knew this was a sad song about having to leave your lands
and your people. The image changed slightly, and I was growing
restless in my seat. My Dad turned and from the front seat said,
“We are almost there Olive Oil. We will be riding the big boat in a
little bit.”

I rolled the window down and stuck my head out
hoping to get a view of the water. A sign saying Welcome to
Alexandria Bay was all that I saw.

I came out of my fugue when Mark began shaking me. I
looked at him a bit puzzled. “You were doing it again. That creeps
me out,” he said.

I rubbed my eyes. “How is Bullet? And how long did
it last this time?”

“
Bullet is fine. He’s up and
about. I gave him some food and water and except for a little
stiffness and the bandage you would never know he was hurt. And you
were out about an hour again.”

“
Well…the bad news is that I
always feel like a truck has run me over when this happens. Can you
help me up?”

Mark helped me up. I wobbled a little and he kept an
arm around me. “The good news is that I know where we are going.
How long till we can leave?” I asked him.

“
Now” he replied. I looked around
and noticed that the small camp we made was packed and ready to
go.

“
Umm…what about the dead
guy?”

Mark shrugged. “What dead guy?”

I stared hard at him for a minute and then just
nodded my head at him in understanding. I’m sure if I went to look
there would be no sign that there ever was a body anywhere near
here.

I probably should be upset by the whole incident,
but other than Bullet being hurt, I wasn’t. I couldn’t care less
that one of those Guardian bastards died, but what did bother me
was how they found me. All of these months they had no clue where I
was. Now as soon as I left Roberto and Oswego, they found me. Was
it a coincidence, or could Roberto have been so pissed at my
leaving that he betrayed me in yet one more way? No, whatever the
circumstances of our breakup there was no way he would want me
dead. That I couldn’t believe.

I said to Mark, “I’m going to take care of some
business.” He started to say something and I held up my hand. “I’m
just going around to the other side of the Jeep. Don’t peek.” Mark
gave me one of his scowls and turned around. After taking care of
my personal needs, I washed up as best I could with a bucket of
cold water Mark had gotten earlier.