Bloodbreeders: The Revenge (25 page)

“Boy, you just about took off like a little bird.”

“I can jump real high now, huh, Renee?”

“Well, you sure can. You’re just getting to be such a big boy.”

“Tammy and Jessie said we were family now and we was gonna live in the same house and play all the time,” he said, rocking his top half back and forth.

“Your brother is much like my own, My Lady. I do hope you do not mind,” Jessie said getting to her feet.

“No, Jessie, I don’t mind at all. And please call me, Renee.”

“Yes, My Lady.”

I let out a deep sigh and let it pass. How could I expect them to change after what I heard Jacob say in the torture room—four hundred years, was that even possible? I thought. I handed Johnny over to the waiting arms of Jessie. “We have to move as soon as the sun sets tomorrow night. The rest of this night we need to make sure we have our backside’s ready,” I told the three, then lowered my eyes in more thought of how I was going to get everyone out—and in what.

“Are you okay, Renee, you look like you may pass out?” Ashley asked.

“Here, sit down,” Sydney said.

I walked over, sat down, and put my head down into my hands.

“Baby girl,” Tammy said coming to sit beside me. “You’ve come this far, and you have more than a few of us ready to stand with you. Whatever tomorrow night brings, no matter if its name is death or life, you have done a great thing, one that will be heard among our kind for all time.”

“It’s not that simple. I can’t lose these kids because of my wanting this world to change. It’s not fair Tammy, it’s just not fair and I put them in this situation,” I said, and out of nowhere I began to cry.

“Please don’t, Renee. You know we wanted to come with you,” Ashley said and she too begin tearing up.

“What happened?” Bo said from the door. “Who hurt her?” he demanded.

“No one has, Bo. She’s just upset,” Ashley explained.

“What’s going on?” Derek asked as the rest came into the room.

“She is a woman, and women can cry at the flight of a beautiful butterfly,” Tammy kindly said, putting her arm over my shoulder.

“You saw a butterfly?” Derek asked, and brought me from crying to cracking up instantly.

“No you dimwit, it was a metaphor,” Brandon tried to explain.

“A what?” Derek replied.

“Never mind.”

“Derek, haven’t you ever seen anything so precious that it brought you to tears?” Tanda asked walking up to him.

“Naw, I don’t think so.”

“Then we shall say it is because you are so young, and will understand when you are older,” she added.

“Not you too,” he said, putting his hand on the top of his head. “There is no way that you’re any older than me, so don’t even go there girly.”

“And what age do you place on me?” Tanda asked, showing that Derek had just rubbed her the wrong way.

“What thirteen, fourteen tops.”

I was wiping the tears of laughter out of my eyes now, waiting for her response.

“I’m sixty five years old to this world little boy, and you would be better off if you did not forget that.”

“Yeah right.” Derek said licking his lips. “No way you’re really sixty five and he’s what four hundred and seventeen?” He pointed at Jacob shaking his head in a disbelieving manner.

“Fifteen, to be exact,” Jacob replied.

“This is something y’all planned up to make fun of me with, isn’t it?”

“No, Derek,” Garvin added.

“So like in a hundred years I’ll still look like this…really?” he asked.

“Really, with a few changes,” Tanda replied smiling at his innocence.

“That is the neatest thing I have ever heard.” Derek looked like he had just won the blue ribbon at the county fare.

“To answer your question Bo, I was upset, because of what Kelee had said. We have to attack them before they hit us and some of us might not make it,” I broke into the conversation.

“Then let us make sure we are ready,” Jacob added.

“Now that’s one thing I can agree with Jacob,” Bo said while clapping Jacob on the shoulder.

“I say we get all the weapons in this room. Make sure we know where everyone has to be and with who and get some chow,” Derek said, and every single one of us started laughing again. That was exactly what the doctor order. I prayed that God would be with my little ones, because we were sure going to need all the help we could get.

Chapter Twenty Four

It wasn’t long until we had what we thought to be the best plan. Garvin would take Sydney, Tammy, Jessie, and Derek to the entrance of Yvette’s room on the third floor. Bo,
Jacob, Brandon, Ashley, and I, would take the passage that we had blocked by the lockers. Tanda would hide herself and Johnny somewhere on the grounds, until she heard one of us whistle. If nothing was to be heard, she was to find safety in the caves around the cliffs until the next sunset, then do her best to get herself and Johnny out. Once again everyone had the weapon of their choice and Jacob and Bo helped in any way they could to make sure everyone knew how to use them. Thanks to Garvin and Sydney, bypassing the goats for a change, that night we fed on a large pig. Brandon, Ashley, and Sydney, took the cell closest to the passage for the day, in case one of Yvette’s men tried to sneak down before we fell asleep, or as we woke, so that they could warn the rest of us. Garvin and Bo took the floor in front of Kelee’s cell.

“It is not like I will be walking out, why do you find this necessary?” Kelee asked.

“That would be some more of your business, so shut the…” Bo said, but couldn’t finish because Garvin put a hand on his shoulder.

“Have you ever thought that some may wish you dead for your loyalty to Yvette, and that we are simply here to protect you, slave?” Garvin proclaimed.

Kelee pursed his lips, bringing his eyes into small squints. He sat there with his arms crossed looking out at them for a few more minutes, and then turned and crawled to the far back corner of the cage like cell. The rest of us slept in the cell in the torture room, better known as our temporary home. Johnny snuggled as close to me as he could get, just like he did back home when a storm would come and the older boys would send him back to his own bed. Except he would never make it back to his own bed. He found mine.

***

I woke early the next night as I had been for some time. Everything was quiet, and I didn’t have a thought about what was fixing to happen. I was almost blank with no thought at all, when I heard a soft moan. I sat up moving Johnny to the side then I stood and walked to the cell door to see if I could hear anything else. “Renee.” I heard in a weak voice. I ran out of the door and into the hall. Garvin was covered in blood in front of Kelee’s cell. I fell to my knees at his side.

“Oh Garvin, what happened? How?” I spoke in a panic.

“When I woke they had Kelee, dragging him out of the cell,” he said coughing on his own blood.

“Who had Kelee?”

“Normals, they saw that I had woke and began beating me, before I could react,” he explained as I helped him sit up.

“I have to check the others, will you be okay?” I asked, now with my heart beating with more anticipation than I had ever felt

“Yes. Go, I will be fine. Do it with caution, Renee. I did not see which way they went,” he said spitting the blood out of his mouth. “I will explain to Bo, when he wakes.”

I ran full out glancing momentarily as I passed the room that I had slept in, making sure everyone was in there. Then I was off to check on my other little ones. I came around the corner of the room entrance and my heart fell like a brick. They were nowhere to be seen. Ashley, Brandon, and Sydney, had been taken by that evil women’s normals, while we slept and that damn Kelee had lied the whole time. I threw my head back and screamed at the top of my lungs, letting a rage escape my body like no other. I dropped to my knees, my hands became fists, my lips pulled back from my fangs and all that I saw was blood—her blood. I could not explain it, but I knew something had changed inside my body after taking the Master of Jacob and Jessie. I now know that I had become stronger, older. The understanding of what Garvin had explained about owning all when you take the life of an old Master, was starting to set true. Not just their personal possessions, but I now felt a part of Chin’s power building. I stood and started ripping the items out that blocked passageway.

“I told them it would be safe to rest here. I told them I would protect them.” I spoke out loud, as I more viciously tore the things from the opening. “I told them this wasn’t a good idea,” I then said, as my body began to shake and my lips began to quiver, realizing that my own words were coming back to haunt me. My knees became weak as I let thoughts of what might be happening to them at that very minute enter my mind and all I wanted to do was get to them. I fell into the debris, tangling myself on my way down.

“Renee, take my hand,” Jacob called out, but I was distraught and continued to kick and thrash about.

“If you wish to get free, woman, take my hand,” he demanded.

I froze in my movement at the tone of his voice, “Jacob... Oh God Jacob, they took them,” I cried reaching for him.

“Garvin told me what he knew.”

“You have to help me,” I added as soon as I was up. Then I started pulling the items out and throwing them to the side. I felt his hand land lightly on my shoulder, before he spoke.

“You must get a hold of yourself or they are lost without doubt.”  I lowered my head and it was then that I let it all out.

“It’s all my fault. I should have never brought them here. I just wish I could take it all back.” Then I collapsed to my knees. I rocked back and forth, while Jacob stood aside letting me release the pain that was ripping its way through my heart. Once I had drained myself of self-pity, I looked up at the young man before me.

“What do we do?”

“I was created for this type of thing as I have said,” he smiled. “Battle is all that I know. So, I tell you now, you must keep your mind clear, because she will use your weaknesses against you at every turn. If we are to have any hope at all, we must move now.”

I nodded, wiped my face and got to my feet. I did something that I had wanted to do from the night I met this young man, I wrapped my arms around him. “Thank you, I mean it. For everything and you know what I mean.” He didn’t reply he just stood there like a frozen statue, and still I knew he was touched by my show of friendship. “Now let’s get the rest, make a plan and go get our family back.”

“You are forgetting one very important thing,” Jacob replied with a serious look.

“What?”

“Kill the wicked queen.”

The hell with that, let’s send that stupid bitch back to hell where she belongs with a force that no one will ever forget.”

“Said, like a true warrior,” he responded as the two of us began running back down the long corridor.

We reached the others as they woke, Garvin had made his way back to the torture room just as Jacob and I had.

“Where’s, Brandon?” Derek asked stretching his arms into the air. About that time Garvin stepped into the small room. “What the hell? Where’s Brandon, Renee? Something’s wrong, I can see it on your face,” Derek demanded with a bit more force.

“They took them while we slept,” I replied.

He started to take off for the door, but Jacob grabbed him around the waist. “Let me go, he needs me, they’ll kill him.”

“Derek, we’ll get him back. We’ll get them all back,” I called out over his cries.

“Who else do they have?” Bo asked stepping in from around the corner.

Ashley and Sydney,” I replied.

Bo became so enraged that he lifted the cot that was beside the bars and threw it across the room.

“We have to keep our heads if we want to get them back. Like Jacob said, we can’t go up there halfcocked or we will all lose. Well, he didn’t put it to those words, but that’s what he meant,” I explained.

“Look, we do this in the next five minutes or I don’t give a damn what anyone says, I’m going, with or without you,” Bo replied, pulling his blade from his back.

“Jacob, this is your area, make this work, and may whatever God’s be with us,” Tammy added.

It was Jacob, Derek, and I that were going to take the passage once we had it clear. Tammy, Bo, Garvin, and Jessie would go up to the top floor and make their way into the front door, if they had to chop it down. Tanda was to stay with Johnny just like we had planned before, and leave the grounds as soon as we hit our marks, to wait it out under the cliffs, which was the only thing that we had changed. If she didn’t hear from one of us at least two hours before dawn, she was to find shelter in one of the caves, until the next night and do her very best to get her and Johnny to some place safe, which was something that I had to repeat to her several time. She held me and cried after I reminded her of what it was that she had to do.

“I don’t mean to sound like such a baby, but how can I care for such a little thing like him when I don’t even know how to take care of myself?”

“Tanda,” I said raising her soft chin in my hand. “You are one of the bravest girls I’ve ever known, and I wouldn’t trust anyone else with my baby brother.”