Bloodbreeders: The Revenge (4 page)

“Mommy!” the youngest screamed and ran straight at me. I bent and took the child in my arms.

“Their pa died a few months back, but that’s about all that Brandon could get them to say,” Ashley explained as she stepped out of the room.

I took the youngest child as the others followed and we all gathered around the fire. Once I sat down, I placed the smallest girl onto my knee. She held me tightly, shaking so much that I could see the material of my shirt vibrating.

“You look like my, ma. We’re gonna have a baby brother or sister. Is my ma gonna be okay?” the oldest asked.

I looked at both girls and my heart sank. How does one tell two children that just lost
their father that they have now lost their mother too? I brushed the hair back from the youngest one’s face.

“Your mommy’s not going to be okay; she’s gone to be with your pa, in heaven.”

“No,” the youngest started screaming, burying her face into my chest.

“I’m sorry honey, but it’s true.”

“She was crying really hard when those bad men were hitting her,” the oldest said, as two lines of crystal tears started trickling down her cheeks.

“What’s your name, sweetie?” I asked.

“Deanna. My sister’s name is Angela, but everyone calls her Angel.”

“We call her Dee,” the youngest called Angel said in a voice almost too low to hear.

“My brothers use to call me ‘Sister’, but they’re in heaven with my pa and ma,” I replied past the lump that was threatening to burst in my throat.

“Like our ma and pa?” Deanna asked.

“Yes baby, but we’re here to take care of you until we can find some of your kin. Do you girls have family around, or maybe close by that we can take you to?” I asked.

“Aunt Jeanette lives in Gordon,” Deanna replied looking up at me, showing the first sign of a smile.

“Would y’all like to go visit your auntie?” I asked, smiling at the two.

Little Angela smiled from ear to ear, and it was breath taking, knowing what they had been through.

“Her, and pawpaw Jim have five dogs and I know all of their names.” Angela’s smile grew just a bit.

“Well, why don’t you tell us, so when we meet ’em we can say hello, proper like,” I replied in a very excited manner.

“Okay! Well Nanny...”

“That’s what we call my Aunt,” Deanna interrupted.

“Trey is my Nanny’s old dog, and he bites if you touch him when he’s asleep,” she explained with joy. After what they had been through, it was a welcome site.

“He does? That would scare me pea green,” I responded, acting a bit silly.

“Yep, then she has a real good girl dog named, Molly. She’s so good my Nanny calls her Prissy, but her bestest one ever, is Chochie. We can’t hold him, cause he’s too little and we might drop him on his head, and Nanny said, she would cry real tears if he got hurt.”

“You know Angel, you sure know how to tell good stories about them dogs,” Derek said, scooting a little closer to the girls. “Glad to know that one bites, I get a little scared of them biting dogs.”

“Yeah, but he won’t get ya, if you don’t touch him while he’s sleeping,” Angela explained, causing a smile to spread across all of our faces.

Ashley excused herself to go in and fix the girls something to eat, while Bo also stepped out to inspect the basement. The rest of us sat by the fire and listened to the little four or five year old, that just ten minutes ago wouldn’t say a word. Now she seemed to want to talk as if she had known us forever. It was good to see the young girls come back somewhat, to what might have been their normal personalities.

“My pawpaw has a really small dog, but she is so fat. Her name is Connie,” Angela said and both girls started laughing.

“Hey, what’s so funny, I wanna laugh too?” Derek asked, getting even closer to the three of us.

“My pawpaw calls her, Pooter,” Angela replied and covered her little mouth as if she had said a very bad word, and laughed even harder.

“I was named after my Aunt Dee, that’s my Nanny’s girl, she lives at home with them, because she gots stuff wrong with her. Her dogs name is...” Deanna had begun to tell her own little story, but couldn’t finish.

“I was telling them first, Dee,” Angela said giving her sister a puckered look.

“I was just going to tell them about Aunt Dee’s dog.”

“Can I, please?” Angela asked with a much softer look.

“Yeah, you go ahead, you ’member more better anyway,” Deanna replied, and then smiled up at me, me giving her a little wink in return.

“Aunt Dee’s dog is named Barbie; she’s a good dog until she’s eating. Know what?”

“No, what?” I asked.

“She bit me, ’cause I tried to love on her while she was eating, you don’t ever want to do that.”

“Thanks, I won’t ever try that for sure, because that must have hurt,” I replied widening my eyes.

She raised her tiny arm to show me where the dog had bitten her. My eyes filled with tears, not from what she had just showed me, but from what covered her arms closer to her hands. Her wrists were bloody and raw from the ropes that had held her and her sister. My eyes moved to her other tiny wrist, then down at her sisters. Both girls had suffered at the hands of those bastards. The young child must have seen the sorrow on my face.

“It’s okay, it didn’t hurt very long and my Nanny spanked, Barbie,” Angela said, putting her tiny hand on the side of my face.

I wanted to bring those bastards back and kill them all over again. Who could hurt anything so innocent, and vulnerable? “It’s not that honey, it just made me remember my old dog back home. By the way, my name is Renee. You know Ashley and Brandon, and this is Derek, and the tall one is, Bo.” I was trying to change the subject.

“It’s okay, Renee. We lost our puppy a long time ago,” Deanna added.

“What ya say we get you girls cleaned up and get some food in them bellies? Then you both can sleep in the basement with us,” I wiggled my brows, while making a goofy face.

“It’s dark down there at night. Will it be night for a long time?” Deanna asked.

“No, the sun will be coming up real soon, but some of us can’t be in the sun, so we sleep down in the basement when it’s bright outside,” I explained.

“Are you sure you won’t leave me down there by myself?” Angela asked. “I’m scared of the dark.”

“I promise. Now let’s go see what Ashley’s up to in the kitchen.” I stood, then both girls took a hand.

It was easy to see that Ashley was way ahead of me. She had water boiling on the stove for their baths and oatmeal almost ready to serve. The girls moved closer to my legs as we stepped toward the kitchen, both had one arm wrapped around one of my legs and the other hand in mine.

“Renee, would you grab that wash tub for me?” Ashley asked from the stove.

“Well, sure I will.” I replied looking down. “But one of you is going to have to let go so I can get it.” They both looked at each other from around my sides, neither letting go.

“I’ll get it, Renee,” Brandon said as he entered the room.

“I guess that means we have to go get some clean clothes,” I added, looking back down at the girls.

“Come on, we’ll show you,” Deanna said, releasing my leg, pulling me back toward the front room.

“I’ll show her where mine is, Dee,” Angela demanded.

After we had everything back in the kitchen and the girls had started eating, Bo came back in. “Excuse me, but we have a little problem down in the basement and the sun will be up in less than an hour, maybe sooner.”

“What is it?” Ashley asked.

“Windows—six of them. I think we’re going to need to get on that like, right now,” he explained.

“If you don’t have what you need down there to do it, you boys start taking whatever you need from up here. As soon as Ashley and I are done, we’ll be down to help.”

We hurried as fast as we could, but I had two small hindrances, and both seemed to have the need to touch me at all times. Even when I bathed one, the other held my leg or leaned down onto my back. I knew we had to get them to their aunt in Gordon, and first thing tomorrow night we would do just that. However, right now they seemed to think that I was their link to safety, and I wasn’t going to change that in any way.

Once we had the girls cleaned and fed, we went on down to help the boys, but they already had every window covered. The only thing we needed now was to make a soft bed for the girls. The rest of us could lay just about anywhere. I had Ashley and Derek run back upstairs to get the pillows and blankets just before the first break of dawn hit the side of the house. It was then that we all heard Ashley scream, followed by the two of them crashing down the stairs, making both of the little girls scream with fear. Both were crying.

“Is it the bad men?” Deanna closed her eyes and buried her face in my leg.

“I want my mommy.” Angela grabbed me from behind.

I stood up moving the girls aside and was just about to yell at both Ashley and Derek, thinking they were joking around. That’s when I saw the reason for their action. They both had a fine haze of smoke coming off their backs. I immediately rushed to their aid.

“It came through the kitchen window,” Derek explained.

“Are you two okay?” I asked.

“If Derek hadn’t pushed me, I think it would’ve been a lot worse,” Ashley concurred.

“Yeah, I saw the smoke on her back before I felt the burn on mine,” Derek continued, “So I grabbed her and knocked us both down the stairs.” Then he yawned.

“That was quick thinking, Derek.” I couldn’t help but grin.

“And you didn’t even drop your blanket,” Bo laughed. “I don’t know about y’all, but I can’t keep me eyes open.”

After I checked the backs of the two that had crashed down the stairs, I instructed everyone to find a spot to rest. I put the blankets and pillows in the corner and called the girls to my side. I cradled them both in my arms, doing my best to make them comfortable.

“If you wake up before we do, I want you both to stay right here. Do not go upstairs…do you understand?”

“Yes Ma’am,” Deanna replied.

“They scared me. I really want my, mommy,” Angela cried.

I pulled her to my chest and hummed a tune I used to sing to Johnny and Edna. I couldn’t
tell you who fell asleep first. It wasn’t long before they were out, leaving me a short time to move about. I got up and went over to where the others were getting their beds ready.

“Y’all did a great job. I personally think we make one hell of a team.” I said as I sat down on the floor beside them.

“We’re better than a team, we’re a downright bad ass family and Cuba better watch out for the storm that’s coming their way,” Derek said.

“Damn straight, little brother,” Brandon added reaching over and rubbing Derek’s head.

“I wish I had as much faith in all this as y’all do, but these were normals. Everything we come up against in Cuba will be just like us, or maybe worse,” I replied.

“If we’re together, Renee, we’ll be just fine,” Ashley said sitting up to give me a hug.

I left them as they too fell into their day slumber and returned to the girls. I laid there for some time thinking about the past and the now uncertain future, before the day took me as well.

Chapter Three

That next night I woke to the girls doing just as they were told. They were sitting close together at my side, waiting for me to wake. They held each other very much the way they had been tied together, and both were staring down at me. I stretched my arms above my head and smiled up at them, but neither responded. I could tell by the look on their faces that something had frightened them since I had fallen under.

“What’s the matter? Are you girls okay?”

“We thought you weren’t gonna wake up,” Deanna whispered.

“I said your name and pushed your arm, but you didn’t even move,” Angela sniffed.

“Oh girls, I’m so sorry,” I said sitting up. “I must have been so tired that I just slept like a log.”

“I told her you weren’t in heaven with ma and pa,” Deanna replied pushing her sister away.

“But you said you couldn’t see her breathing Dee, it scared me,” Angela responded with fresh tears forming in her little eyes.

“Dee didn’t mean to scare you, Angel. It’s really dark down here, so maybe she couldn’t see me breathing. I’m fine. Now, you girls must be starving. What do you say we go up and get you something to eat?” I said, rubbing my hands together. Both of the girls nodded. I found the lantern, lit it, and up we went. It wasn’t ten minutes later when the others woke and joined us.

“I want grilled cheese and scrambled eggs,” Deanna proclaimed.

“Me too, me too,” Angela added.

“Yuck, that sounds awful.” Derek scrunched up his face and stuck out his tongue.

“Not with my ma’s ketchup on the eggs, it’s the best,” Deanna said, licking her lips and patting her tummy.

“I’ll just have to trust you on that one. I’m allergic to eggs,” Derek added, lifting his brows up at me.

We all chuckled under our breaths and continued with the task at hand. Ashley cooked their meal, while I gathered some of their things. I looked for a tablet to write a small letter to explain to their kinfolks, why the girls were being dropped off on their door step. Once they were finished, we were off and heading in the direction of Gordon. We were cramped in the vehicle, but no one seemed to complain. The girls played with their dolls, leaving us in silence as we drove the hour that it took to get to the town that the girl’s family lived in.