The Shattered Genesis (Eternity) (117 page)

             
“I do. Stay away from the campsite and the city. There is a
cave about ten miles back in that direction.” I pointed, “Unless you wish to be confronted by Adam’s enemies and made a human sacrifice, do not go inside of it. On the subject of Adam, do not trust him. If he offers you shelter, take it, but do not close y
our eyes for a second. Just lay low for a couple of days until we get back and then we will find another place. Did you two get all of that?”

             
“Yeah,” Bennie nodded, “Damn, girl, you’re going to be taking over from Don before you know it.”

             
I chuckled soft
ly, tickled by the compliment. I was surprised by how happy that acknowledgment of my rebellion and leadership skills thrilled me. I turned to walk away, a scowl replacing the smile on my face at the sight of Don glaring at me. His thoughts screamed his de
sire to rip my throat out with his fangs. No one would take his power from him. He had built our lives from the ground up. He had welcomed my family and me into the house he ran. My nerve astounded and infuriated him simultaneously. I could not help but gr
in and raise my eyebrows at him in a silent taunt.
See, Don? They do like me more.

             
“Are you all ready?” I asked James, Alice, Quinn and Elijah.

             
“Ready.” Alice answered. The rest nodded.

             
“What were you two talking about?” I demanded of Elijah and James.
Elijah looked at me, his wide eyes betraying that a secret was being kept. James had a magnificent poker face but his lack of expression was enough of a hint.
             

             
“Well, we might as well tell her now!” Elijah told James as I walked ahead of them.

             
“Tell me w
hat, Eli?” I looked over my shoulder at them as we walked.

             
“Leave it alone, Eli. Just let it go.” James ordered.

             
“But she’s just going to read my…”

             
I turned around to walk backwards and squinted my eyes at him. The whole conversation between him and Jam
es repeated clearly and without pause. Elijah’s mind was ripe for reading; the photographic content of his memories did not just apply to images but also to entire experiences.

             
“Adam says that the other natives have had people in our camp.”

             
“Adam said th
at? And you believe him?”

             
“Why would he lie about that, James?”

             
“Why
wouldn’t
he lie about that, Eli? He’s stirring the pot. He’s trying to turn us against each other. He’s the puppeteer in this, isn’t he?”

             
“I believe him. I mean, there are so many of us and it’s not like we had a ship manifest. We’ll never know who they are. But
here’s where it gets worse; he says that the other natives believe that we somehow stole their powers. They don’t have them anymore. They’re pissed off that we do.”

             
“How in the world could we have stolen their powers?”

             
“I know, right? I mean, we were on
Earth, for God’s sake! But that’s why they tried to sacrifice Penny. They were trying to steal back their powers while also appeasing their God. Adam says that’s
why they’re exiled in the woods. His people don’t believe in all of that over-the-top religiou
s stuff. That’s kind of what he said. I missed that part of it.”

             
“Adam is just freely sharing this information now? I definitely don’t believe it. What does he have to gain from suddenly letting us into the loop? Besides messing with our heads and making
us distrust each other, which both of those consequences, I’ll have you know, are very effective in war. Don’t buy into his bullshit, Elijah. You’re smarter than that.”

             
“I do buy into it! It’s not bullshit, James. It all makes sense. They’re aligned with
the Bachums because the Bachums are over-the-top and crazy!”

             
“The Bachums also hate anyone with powers. Why would they help these other people gain back the powers they claim are from Satan? Come on, man. Use your head! You’re starting to make me believe
that Brynna got all the brains in the family.”

             
“James, don’t try to tell me that it doesn’t make sense. Listen… Whether it’s true or isn’t true is irrelevant right now. For the time being, we need to keep this from Brynn. If she has a reason to put to wha
t they’ve done, she’s going to freak out.”

             
“I sincerely doubt that. She trusts Adam to the death, right?”

             
“Very funny. James, this isn’t good.”
             

             
“I know.”

             
“We just need to keep it from her. For her sake, we need to lie.”

             
“You were the one that said we
shouldn’t tell her, Eli. Now you’re going to…” James stopped talking when he saw me bend over. I had suddenly been afflicted with a harsh inability to breathe. I wanted to prove Elijah wrong by having no discernible reaction to what I had just learned but
he had been right; knowing now why the other natives hated us so much was enough to bring me to my knees. Knowing the reasoning behind their attempt to sacrifice Penny was a terrifying revelation; it revealed to me their intentions.

             
“It’s alright.” James
was holding me and kissing the top of my head. “Let’s go, baby. Come on. We’ll go after them right now.” He looked back at Elijah, “So, you were right. I’m a big enough man to admit it.”

             
“It’s cool.” Elijah had his hands on my back.

             
I broke away from bo
th of them and continued trekking towards the forest, knowing that Elijah, James, Alice and Quinn would follow in my wake. I was running through all the terrible things I wanted to do to those responsible for the abduction of my sisters when one of those g
uilty individuals strode right in front of me to block my path.

             
“Where do you think you’re going? Also, what do you think you’re doing?” Don demanded savagely. I shook my head slightly and moved sideways so I could walk around him, but he was adamant on s
topping me. He reached out and grabbed the tops of my arms with both hands hard. I would have winced had the fury that exploded in my heart not shielded me from pain.

             
“Get off of me!” I barked at him furiously and my long fangs emerged suddenly. I lunged
forward and opened my mouth, ready to rip his throat out when a sudden pain in my chest brought me to the ground.

             
“Yeah. That hurts, doesn’t it?” He asked with his face close to mine. I was kneeling in front of him, still trying to shake off his hard gras
p even as the pain intensified. “I just amplified everything you're feeling. You think you’re going to take what’s mine? You think you’re going to rule these people? You’ve done nothing for them since you’ve been here. You’ve done nothing for anyone your e
ntire life! I’ll kill you, Brynna. I will kill you before I ever see you taking over from me. I built this place from the ground up! I have given them everything!”

             
“Yes, just so you could take everything back!” I screamed at him.

             
I had not realized how m
uch space I had put between myself and James, Elijah, Alice and Quinn. The gap was closed in seconds by my enraged boyfriend, whose eyes were darker than blood upon finding me being accosted so aggressively. His hand grabbed Don’s wrist in an excruciatingl
y tight
hold; Don was now the one falling to his knees.

             
“If you ever…” James tightened his grip even more, “lay your hands…” Don’s wrist snapped in two. He cried out in pain, “on her again…” James tightened his hand around Don’s other wrist.

             
“Stop! Stop!
”

             
James took a handful of his hair and pulled him back so that he was looking at me.

             
“Apologize.”

             
“What?”

             
“Apologize. Generally that action involves speaking and the word 'sorry.’ I know that you think you make the laws around here but you don’t. Right
now, you’re going to follow mine. Apologize to her.”

             
“I will not apologize to her when she is the one…”

             
James squeezed his wrist harder. I watched as Don’s face contorted into an expression of both agony and terror at being forced to withstand even more
pain.

             
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” He cried out.

             
“Look at her. You look at her when you say it, you son of a…”

             
“James…” I stood up, walked forward and placed both of my hands on his face. “Thank you. That will do.”

             
James released him instantly but
continued to glare down at him as he curled up on the ground and grasped his wrist. James pointed at him over my shoulder, gritting his teeth in an urge to suppress his violent inclination to rip that little man apart.

             
“Look at the big man. Look at the bi
g leader now. You’re such a big man that you need to rough up a woman to make your point.” James spat at him, trembling with the fury so clearly evident in his eyes. “I am astounded that you would be so stupid, doing that right in front of me.”

             
“Come on.”
I whispered to him before standing on my toes to kiss his cheek twice. “Come on, baby.”

             
My voice was the beast’s sedation. When James’s eyes met mine, they were that deep brown that glowed in the dying sun. I kissed his lips for one long, glorious moment
that calmed him further. But when his eyes saw Don trying to maneuver his way onto his feet, the rage erupted once again. He stormed forward, almost unrecognizable in his anger, but I grasped his face and kissed him again.

             
“I love you,” I whispered to hi
m, and his hands pulled me closer to him gently. He kissed me again with even more frenzied heat than I had used to kiss him.

             
As we walked away, I heard Don give another shout of pain. I turned back to see that both Quinn and Elijah had kicked him, one r
ight after the other, in the ribs.

             
“We are going to pay dearly for that.” I told James dismally.

             
The feeling of foreboding that had failed to warn me of the danger Penny and Violet were in dragged its claw-like fingernails through my chest. I could feel
Don trying to channel his rage and bring us to our knees. His grasp on the powers with which he had been bestowed would only make his eradication of us that much easier. I shuddered to think what would happen when we returned. My sweating hands held one of
James’s.

             
“Hey,” His finger trailed lightly along my jawline. I turned my head to look at him. “No worries. Not one, you got it?”

             
I nodded, the trace of a smile on my lips upon being filled with that glorious warmth that accompanied the sight of him. His
kiss expanded that warmth inside of me; I could feel it strongly from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. I wished I could stay forever submerged in that warmth; I would swim in it until the world no longer existed.

             
But Violet and Penny were in ne
ed of rescue and I would not lose them to anyone, least of all the Bachums and the natives that had aligned with them. Or had the Bachums aligned with the natives? It was an impossibility, at least at the current time, to decipher which pack ruled the trib
e.

             
It was unclear because at the time, it was irrelevant. What mattered was the fight ahead of us.
The population of our house had been quite large, hovering in the middle hundreds. But in the northern part of Pangea, the Bachums possessed an army that wo
uld make Genghis Khan positively green with envy. Their number doubled or perhaps even tripled ours. Yet there we were, five people facing over one thousand.

             
I was undaunted. I was unafraid to die if it meant the safety and prolonged life of my sisters. I
had wronged both of them in so many ways; I had deprived Violet of my love after she had reached a certain age and Penny had been born only to rectify my deadly mistake. No act would ever truly make up for what I had put them through. Nothing I did could
ever erase the pain I had inflicted upon them.