Leticia (29 page)

Jackson ran over to her and gathered her in his arms. He carried
her
upstairs and
laid
her on her bed
;
I followed close behind them.

“What’s happened to you, where is Tristan?” he asked, moving st
r
ands of bloody hair off her face.

As soon as he mention
ed
Tristan’s name, she burst into tears again.

“Nancy, where is he?” I asked
.

“He’s gone, they killed him
!
” she cried
.

“What!”
W
e both gasped
.

“They weren’t human, not all of them, they were so strong, they took us by surprise
.
”

“I don’t understand
,
” Jackson frowned
.

Nancy was struggling to keep her eyes open now, she looked exhausted.

“I can’t.... I don’t know...” she tried to say, slipping in and out of consciousness
.

“Jackson let her rest
,
” I advised
.
“She been th
r
ough a lot, let her sleep, when she comes
a
round she can tell us
.
”

“Tristan...” she breathed, as her eyes closed.

I covered Nancy with a blanket, then took Jackson’s hand and led him out of the room.

“She needs to
rest;
G
od only knows what she’s been through. She’ll come to us when she’s ready”

He nodded and we made our way downstairs. He told me he needed some time alone and walked into the study. I needed to do something,
anything;
I couldn’t just sit on my own in silence. I went into the kitchen and started tidying up. I put the broken furniture in a pile in the back garden, along with black bags full of broken plates, cups and ornaments. It took me just over an hour. The kitchen looked bare now, no table for us to all sit at and chat, no little decorations that make a house more homey. Only the extreme basics were left.

I studied the room, one question now buzzed around in my head. How the hell had the attackers got
ten
inside the house? Both the front and back door were locked when we got back, none of the windows were broken. Had one of them let the killers in?

I looked around the back of the house, checking the windows again in case we had missed something. All of them were in perfect condition. Then I noticed the outside entrance to
what
I assumed was the
Basement
. Normally it was fastened shut by two large thick chains
with
a padlock securing them. However, now they were split in two. I went closer to inspect them, they hadn’t been cut, they had been pulled apart
; i
t would take some strength to do that. Then something else caught my attention, next to the door handles were what appeared to be claw marks. Big ones. My stomach
sank;
there was only one thing I could think of that could create these marks... another wolf.

I disturbed Jackson and dragged him
outside;
he was shocked, but in agreement.

“How the hell ha
s he got another of your kind
working with him. That
wouldn’t
happen
.
The wolf would turn on the human to protect
its
kind. How the hell
has he done this?” he wondered.

“Good question
.
”
             

“Maybe
it’s
just a trick, you know, maybe they’re trying to panic us
.
”

“That wouldn’t surprise me with Luke
,
” I sighed
.
“He would do anything to try and get one over on people
.
”

“I’m not being funny but if this is the sort of person he is, I don’t see how you could have loved him
.
”

“He wasn’t always like th
is
.
”

“Well... if you say so
.
”

“How long should we leave Nancy for?” I asked
.

“Let her wake up
on
her own
,
” he said heading towards one of the garages. A few minutes later he walked back with two more thick chains
.
“Don’t touch these
,
” he warned
.
“They are solid silver. Let’s see them get in here again
.
”

“Where does this lead to?”

“You can get access to one of the storage rooms through here
.
”

I watched as he re-chained the doors, then walked back inside.

“I feel useless, I need to find them, I need to find Tristan
,
” I seethed
.

“We don’t know where to start. We need to wait for Nancy to wake, then we can make a move. I know how you feel though. Maybe we should try and get some rest
.
I think we’re going to need every bit of energy we can get
.
”

“
OK
.
”

We checked on Nancy again before heading to our own rooms. She was still fast asleep. Jackson didn't even say ‘good night’ he just walked away. I got changed and under the duvet, I didn't know how I was supposed to sleep when all I could think about was Tristan. Where was he? Could he really be dead? What had they done to him and Nancy? Why did I allow them to help me? All they were facing now was heartache and pain. It was all
my
fault. I had to leave, I had to find
these
scumbags
and
I needed to find Tristan.

I got up and pulled the gun Jackson had given me out of my draw
er
. There were plenty of bullets left in it. I placed it on the bed and was about to get dressed again when there was a knock at my door. Jackson came
in;
the first thing he noticed was the fresh clothes on the bed, and his gun.

“What are you doing?” he asked
.

“Nothing
,
” I lied
.

“Let me change the question. Where are you going?”

“I
...
I’m not going anywhere
.
”

“You’re lying to me
.
”

“No...”

“You’re going after them, you’re doing the same thing I got a roasting for
,
” he shot, h
is
voice becoming louder with anger
.
“I will not let you leave
.
”

“Jackson, firstly, don’t shout at me, secondly, we both know I’m stronger than you. You couldn’t stop me no matter how much you may want to
.
”

“You’
re
not
going!” he
quickly
walked over to me and grabbed my arms
.
“I nearly lost my
sister;
I’ve lost my best friend...”

“You’re not...”

“I
cannot
lose you
,
” his eyes seemed to be tearing up
.
“I just can’t
.
"

“I just...” I sighed
.

“I only just get you and you
’
r
e
ready to leave me
?
Jesus, you can’t do this to me, you have no idea how much you mean to me, how I feel about you
;
you can’t just walk out on me now
.
”

I sat on the bed, elbows on knees and
my
head in my hands. He sat beside me and wrapped his arms around my shoulders, pulling me close to him.

“Promise me you won’t go, please Leticia,
I’ve waited my whole life to find you, I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you.
”

I looked him in the eyes for a
moment. He
looked so sad, so worried. I hated seeing him like this. I didn’t want to leave
him;
it had taken me all this time to get him to open up, but I didn't want to risk him being hurt or worse. He put his hand to the side of my face, lightly stroking my cheek with his thumb.

“Promise me
,
” he
pleaded
.

“I promise
.
”

He exhaled in a way that made me think he’d been holding his breath for the last five m
inutes, he looked so relieved.
I put my clothes and gun away
while
he checked on Nancy again. She was still sleeping. When he came back in my room, I was under the duvet. He stayed by the door.

“Leticia, can... can I stay with you?”

I raised an eyebrow at him.

“No funny business Tish, it’s hardly the time
.
I just... I just don’t want to be alone”

“
OK
,
” I half smiled
.
“Come on
.
”

He closed the door and climbed in the bed next to me. He had his black combat trousers on still, but removed his shirt. He had two large tattoos on his back, one of
an eagle
and the other
a panther
. He also had a tribal design at the top of his right arm. His body was well defined and rather tanned. I found myself staring at him, inspecting every inch of visible skin.

“Are you
alright
?” he asked, snapping me out of it
.

“Yeah, sorry, I was just looking at your tattoos
.
” I knew I was going slightly pink, but he didn't say anything, he just smiled. “They’re cool
.
”

He moved closer to me and eventually
laid
his head on my chest. He wrapped his arm around me, snuggling into me.
We
lay there for a while in silence. I held him and ran my fingers through his hair, just listening to him breath
e
.

The next thing I knew it was almost dawn. Neither of us had moved a single inch all night. Jackson was still
asleep. I closed my eyes again
hoping to drift back off, when the sound of screams filled my ears. Jackson shot up straight. We looked a
t each other for a brief second
before jumping out of the bed and running to Nancy’s room. She was hysterical. Screaming, shouting and crying out for Tristan. Jackson tried to restrain her, but she hit and kicked at him over and over. In the end I pulled him away, grabbed Nancy
,
and slapped her hard across her face.

“STOP IT
!
” I shouted
.
“CALM THE HELL DOWN
!
”

The slap seemed to work, she looked at me in shock, holding the side of her face, then just started crying again. Jackson went to make her a coffee
while
I sat there
hugging her.

“I don’t know what I’m gonna do, I can’t live without him
,
” she choked
.
“I love him so much
.
”

“I know
honey
, I know, shhh,
its
OK
.
” It was getting hard for
me
to hold the tears back now.

Once Jackson had returned with her coffee she started to tell us what had happened.

“We were in the
kitchen
making a few snacks and talking about you two
;
saying how happy we were for you. Then Tristan said he heard something, he didn’t say what, but shot out of the room. I got as far as the kitchen door... erm... he came back in and stood in front of me... he was protecting me. At first I didn’t know what from, but then these guys came in.
They
were strong, like
stupidly
strong. One of them threw Tristan across the room like... like it was effortless. I tried to attack them, but there was too many of ‘em. Tristan got back on his feet but the others, they were strong too. It didn’t matter what we did, we couldn’t get free of them...”