Living in Darkness (Bloodbreeders) (36 page)

           
“Can I see ’
em
? The girls?” she
timidly asked.

           
“Of course, there in that room with Brandon. I’m sure he
could use your help.”

           
“Want me to help you with...” she trailed off.

           
“No Hun, I have this. You just go on in and help
Brandon.”

           
She smiled and turned for the door. “I saw them die in my
head. I’m glad, they were evil and deserved what they got,” Ashley claimed then
opened the door.

           
I could hear the children crying for their mommy and
saying not to let the bad men hurt them. Brandon was doing his best to reassure
them that the bad men were gone, but he said nothing about their mother. Ashley
went in and closed the door leaving me to care for the very person they cried
for.

 
          
I
wrapped the woman’s body tightly within the blanket and then lifted her as
gently as I dared. I carried her through the kitchen, and into the back
bedroom. I laid her on the bed and placed another blanket on the top of her. I
said a small prayer for her and the baby, then returned to the living room to
start cleaning the bloody mess which was spread from room to room. I was mopping
when Bo and Derek returned and started helping. Before long we had it as good
as we were going to get it.

           
“We better get ourselves cleaned up now, so we can bring
everybody back in here. It’ll be dawn real soon, and we need to figure out what
we’re going to do,” I explained as we headed for the kitchen.

 
          
Bo
got the fire blazing, while Derek and I cleaned up. When we returned he went
into the kitchen to do the same.

           
“Renee,” Derek said.

           
“Yeah,” I replied drying my hands in front of the fire.

           
“I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel. I
ain’t
ever killed a person before.”

           
“Don’t think of them as people. You saw what they did,
think of them as animals.”

           
“Yeah, I know, but shouldn’t some part of me feel bad?”
he asked looking down at his hands.

           
“Look, Derek, if that makes you think like this, how are
you going to handle what I told you about, Cuba?”

           
“I can handle it Renee, it’s just not what I thought it
would be like.”

           
“It seems like we all grew up a little tonight.” I looked
over at him.

           
“Hell, I feel great, like superman. I hate bastards like
that. The only thing I wish could have done different is,” Bo said then paused.
“I would have killed that pig a lot slower, if I had a chance to do it again,
that is.”

           
“I agree with Bo, they’ll never hurt anyone else, and
just think what would have happened if Ashley hadn’t seen what she did,” I
added glancing at Derek.

           
“I don’t want to even think about that. So, we’re really
like heroes, for real?” Derek asked.

           
“Just like, and you should be proud of that,” I replied
with a wink.

           
We gave each other a once over, but saw our clothes were
stained with evidence of what had occurred. I found one of the woman’s shirts
and put it on, and the boys just did their best to cover what they could with
their arms. I went to the door and opened it. “Y’all
wanna
come out and sit by the fire?”

           
“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 sat the smallest girl onto my
knee. She held me tightly, shaking so bad that I could see the material of my
shirt vibrating.

           
“You look like my, Ma. We’re
gonna
to 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 oat meal 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.”