Malevolence - Legacy Series Book Two (The Legacy Series) (16 page)

           
I fumbled through the herbs trying to remember everything on the list.
 
What I was forgetting, Oakley was remembering and we got the tray and boiling water to my mom within a minute or two.
 
My hands were trembling, knowing a fellow werewolf was being poisoned. I was still unclear on my alchemist recipes.
 
I put the tray on the floor next to my mom and she started measuring, pinching, and twisting herbs together and set them in the hot water. The elixir’s scent was nauseating between the jalapeño and the Kava
Kava
, it was pretty gross smelling.

           
Mom grabbed Kenneth by the shoulders and pulled him to a sitting position.
 
His head stayed slack and spittle dripped from his mouth onto his shirt.
 
She poured the ipecac into his mouth, holding his mouth closed with one hand and massaging his throat with the other hand to force him to swallow.

           
His eyes flew open, his gaze focused as he looked around the room.
 
It would last a few seconds and then his eyes would roll back in his head one by one. If you’ve never seen just one eye roll back, trust me, you didn’t want to. His breathing sounded labored.
 
His body lurched forward as he vomited up his guts.
 
The stench of the foamy black contents made my own stomach churn.
 

           
“You didn’t get any on you did you Pru?”
 
Mom asked.

           
I scanned myself and reassured everyone I was vomit free.
 

           
The front door slammed shut, causing all of us to jump a little.
 
Chad ran into the room to announce he couldn’t find any evidence of Kenneth’s arrival.
 
As a matter of fact he didn’t find the car that he was in.
 
His scent went as far as the driveway and that was it.
 

           
“He didn’t have much cash in his wallet; I bet he paid with a credit card.
 
Pru, toss me his wallet; I’m going to run his credit card and find out what company gave him a ride.
 
The way he is dressed, I bet it was a limo.”
 
Oakley said as he booted up his laptop.

           
Kenneth let out a guttural moan and started blathering about who-knows-what.
 
Nothing he said made any sense.
 
His Irish accent made the words sound even more gibberish-like.
 
In a moment he lurched backwards back onto the floor, his body was rigid, but he was still breathing.
 
We all exchanged looks, having never experienced such peculiar reactions from another werewolf.

           
“Here goes nothing,” mom said as she poured the elixir down Kenneth’s throat.
 
Abel held him upright and mom held his mouth shut.
 
She said a healing incantation and I closed my eyes to concentrate on the healing.

           
I could hear Oakley on the computer, frantically typing in Kenneth’s information.
 
“This limo service isn’t answering the phone, so I’m sending them a quick email.
 
How’s he doing?”
 
Oakley asked.

           
I held my finger to my lips, trying not to break my mom’s concentration.
 
If you could measure tension, the room was full of it.
 
We weren’t sure why this man showed up at our place in Paris, after a year of no contact, but here he was passed out and half dead.
 
It wasn’t clear if he was someone to trust or not.
 
I was mentally crossing my fingers that we were able to help him in time before we were stuck with an O’Connell death.
 
Couldn’t we have a normal night of werewolves and sleep?
 
Was it too much to ask?
 

           
We sat in the same position for the next few hours, our bodies stiff from sitting on the floor with our still alive mystery guest.
 
He hadn’t come to yet, but his breathing and heart rate were steady.

           
“Mom, why don’t you go take a nap, Abel and I have this under control,” I said.
 
“I’ll get you if he wakes up.
 
Don’t even give me that look, I promise I will.”

           
She shook her head yes as she peeled herself up off the floor, bending from side to side.
 
“I’ll be in the bedroom.
 
I’ll get up to fix us some breakfast by seven.”
 
She bent over kissing Abel and I on the forehead.

           
Oakley had his head propped up with his hand on the arm of the couch.
 
His head bobbed back and forth a few times, giving Abel and I a good giggle.
 

           
“What do you think this guy’s story is?”
 
Abel asked.

           
“I’m not sure.
 
I am guessing he knew he was poisoned and my mom would be able to cure him.
 
The scary part about it, he knew exactly where we were.
 
That means we have eyes and ears around here feeding someone information about us.
 
It will be interesting to find out his story and how he knew we were here.”
 
I looked down at our sleeping friend; I noticed a small flicker of his eyes as they moved back and forth behind his eyelids.
 
Abel noticed it too.
 
We sat in silence for a few minutes, to test if our friend was really awake.
 
I took a deep breath and listened to his heart rate for any obvious signs of awake activity.
 
It would totally suck if we wrongly accused a half dead man of eavesdropping.

           
Mom gave me a tap on my shoulder and whispered in my ear “honey, get up.
 
Meet us in the kitchen for breakfast.”
 
Looking around the room I noticed everyone was gone, including Kenneth.
 
Someone had covered me up with a lime green afghan; it looked homemade and was as soft as cotton balls.

           
The scent of sausage and syrup interrupted my afghan admiration.
 
After a quick trip to the bathroom to freshen up, I met everyone in the kitchen.
 
“How did all of you manage to sneak past me?” Abel shrugged his shoulders and everyone else looked at me with deer in headlights eyes.
 
“I can’t believe I fell asleep that hard.”
 
I lean over and snag a biscuit off the pyramid of them in the middle of the table.

           
Oakley pulled the barstool next to him out for me to sit in.
 
“I told everyone to be quiet so you could sleep” Oakley said.
 
“Sit.
 
Our friend Kenneth was about to tell us his story.”

           
“
How long has he been up?”
 
I thought to Oakley.
 
My brain told me to sit back and listen to what he had to say.
 
What else could possibly go wrong?

           
“Not long, maybe thirty minutes.
 
So far, he has been pretty quiet.
 
He said something about not being here to cause any trouble.
 
I think he is on the up-and-up, but you never know when it comes to the O’Connell’s.”
 
Oakley thought back to me.

           
“Eh everyone, I appreciate the help last night.
 
I’d been trying to figure out where you were staying, luckily my friend knew where you were,” Kenneth said.
 
He poured syrup all over his eggs, sausage, biscuit and croissants, making my stomach turn at the thought of it. He filled his fork with a little of each and shoved it in his mouth.
 
Not missing a beat he continued on with his story.
 
He only paused as he sipped his black coffee.
 
“I stayed in Oklahoma when my pack visited you.
 
It wasn’t for any other reason than to find out if Abel was the Great Wolf or not.
 
Patrick agreed to let me stay but I wasn’t to get in the way of your training, Abel.
 
I flew here to Paris after receiving a text that Oakley and Abel were on their way here.
 
I had to make sure everything was okay.
 
After I arrived, I met with a friend of mine that happens to be an insider with the Pascale clan.”
 

           
Oakley set his fork filled with sausage down on his plate.
 
He took a sip of his Dr. Pepper and cleared his throat before asking Kenneth who his informant was.

           
“It isn’t that I don’t want to tell you, but something big is about to go down.
 
I heard a rumor that Dolly is about to be assassinated to force Abel to take over your pack.
 
Apparently, the vampires want to announce to the world that they really exist.
 
They plan on kidnapping Abel and holding him hostage while they announce their existence.
 
I know for a fact that they will torture him if anyone tries to free him.
 
They are saying they will return him to the packs after they come forward.
 
None of you are safe here; they will infiltrate your pack, find its weaknesses and expose them.
 
Abel’s parents are in danger too.
 
Patrick actually thought it would be in their best interest to be bitten.”
 
Kenneth said to a table full of werewolves with shocked faces.

           
Abel jumped up from his seat, throwing his napkin down on the table and basically freaked out.
 
“THAT will NOT happen.
 
No one will bite my parents.
 
So this is the battle?
 
This is what they are talking about?
 
THAT is insane.
 
If the vampires announce their existence it will cause a ripple effect in the supernatural world.
 
It will only be a matter of time before weres are exposed.
 
What about the fairies and witches?
 
I am one hundred percent against this.”
 
Abel started pacing back and forth, grumbling to himself.

           
“Abel that is what the prophecy says too.
 
You’re the only one that can protect us all.
 
I’m not sure how, but we have to figure that part out.
 
I don’t want everyone to focus on me, I am fine and I sure as hell can protect myself.
 
I don’t know if you all realize this or not, but I was married to the General a long time.
 
He trained me well, and in turn I have trained you all well, too.
 
Chad is amazingly smart and agile; he is up to the task.
 
Now, the rest of you have to protect Abel and his family at all cost.
 
We’ll talk about your parents alone Abe.
 
I think the less people involved the better,” mom said.
 
In my heart of hearts, I knew she was right.
 
Dammit
.

PART TWO - THE BATTLE

Chapter 19. Gathering

“Then the little boy came in at the door, and the devil made her say to him kindly, my son, will you have an apple.”
 
The Almond Tree ~ Grimm’s Household Tales

ABEL

           
“Look at
you
mom, being all cool and twenty first century with a webcam.
 
How long did it take you to figure out?”
 
I positioned the webcam on the dining room table so everyone could talk to my parents.

           
Mom leaned all the way into the camera, to the point I could only see one eye. She fidgeted with the camera until I was nauseous with all the movement.