Birth of Jaiden (11 page)

He released her and they
sat next to each other on the mat, catching their breath. The crowd
seemed to realize the bout was over and began parting to do other
things.

Michael looked her into
the eyes. She saw a good man behind those eyes.

“
We would have helped you
anyway. You didn’t have to pretend to be a slayer. That kind of lie
just tells me not to trust you.”

“
I didn’t know how else to
approach you.”

Michael stood and helped
her up. Her cheekbone felt like it had been crushed.

“
Well, I admit it was dangerous
for you to come here regardless of who you are. But, these people
are on
my
watch and I know that you want Malcolm; I would have taken
care of you.”

Deanna was surprised with
Michael’s honesty.

“
I’m sorry…Do I still have
your word that you are with us?”

“
Of course you do,” he
told her as she went for her coat, which someone had laid on an
exercise machine, “you have my number; please call.”

“
I will. Don’t worry,”
Deanna replied.

He examined her cheek and
then brushed it with the back of his fingers.

“
Sorry,” he told her
softly.

Deanna looked away. “It’s
fine; I’ll call you when we have the info.”

She swung her coat over
her arm and headed for the door.

“
I’m looking forward to
meeting again,” he called after her.

She didn’t want to dignify
him with an answer so she kept walking. Every head turned her way
as she walked by them on her way to the door.

What a crazy couple of
days,
she
thought to herself while she rubbed her cheekbone and headed down
the stairs.

12

After Chris, Damion and
Danielle had left, Alex searched the house for Isabella. It was
time to take her to see her brothers and sisters. He couldn’t help
being excited about the surprise he had lined up for
her.

“
Are you ready?” he asked
her when he found her in the kitchen with Jaiden, who was sitting
in her infant seat carrier.

“
Yup, we’re ready,” she
replied, lifted the carrier and followed him out to the garage.
They put the car seat in the Chevelle and got inside.

“
What a nice car,”
Isabella told him.

“
Thanks, it’s one of my
favorites.”

He pulled out of the
garage and drove into the night.

“
Sorry it’s so late; I
know they’ll probably be asleep.”

“
They won’t care. I just
need to check and see if they’re ok.”

Isabella’s siblings lived
about forty-five minutes from Alex. It was quite a way to go for
her if something was wrong.

“
Thank you for taking me
to see them.”

“
No problem. Would you
tell me some more about them…and you?”

“
Why do you want to know?”
she countered.

Alex decided just to let
her know how much he knew. “For one, I am telepathic and I know you
have had a hard life. Two, I have done some checking in on the
rest.”

Isabella looked horrified.
“You spied on me?”

“
Yes, if you want to call
it that,” Alex admitted. “I called Victoria and found out as much
as I could.”

“
Why would you do
that?”

She hung her head. It was
hard enough for her that he was going to see their
house.

“
I want to know more about
you. We are going to be a family for a long time, so obviously I’m
curious about you and yours.”

Isabella stared out the
window into the clear spring night.

“
All right,” she said
angrily. “You want to know about my past, about how we lived, well,
here you go. We were lucky when my parents left.”

She took a deep
breath.

“
My father never worked;
his only money came from drugs or gambling. My mother spent most of
her time cheating on my dad and whoring herself out; most of my
brothers and sisters are products of those affairs.”

She looked at him out of
the corner of her eye.

“
All that we had when my
parents were around was abuse and neglect. I don’t know how many
times I wondered if I was the cause of why my parents finally left.
I have made so many things happen in my life; sometimes, I wonder
if I didn’t just wish them away.”

“
Isabella,” Alex said
softly. He felt bad for making her angry.

“
No!” She spoke quickly,
as if her thoughts were an erupting volcano. “You wanted to know
about me and now I am telling you. There was no way I was going to
go to the welfare place and let them separate all of us. So, I
dropped out of school, stayed home, and started babysitting to make
enough money to eat and pay rent.”

Jaiden sighed
contentedly.

“
I spent all my spare time
at the library studying or with Victoria, training for my powers. I
knew that I had to learn even if I couldn’t go to school. But, I
made all of them go to school and every night I had to harp on them
endlessly to do homework and make good enough grades to get a
scholarship for college. God as my witness, I will not let those
children have to struggle like I have!”

A tear slid down her
cheek.

“
They all detested me for
the longest time for making them do hours and hours of homework.
They detested me for being strict about where they went and with
whom. You don’t know how familiar the phrase ‘you are not my
mother’ is to me.”

Alex slowed for a small
deer as it crossed the road.

“
This job is the best
thing financially that I have ever been offered, aside from the
nasty rich men who think I’m just a dumb blond who would make a
good trophy wife. Those kids are mine! Mine! And I feel awful for
having to leave them with no phone, or transportation.” She paused
and took a breath. “Are you satisfied now?”

Alex was taken aback. It
seemed so unlike her to go off like that. Usually, she was so calm
and patient. He had struck a chord with her and felt terrible about
it.

“
I’m so sorry I pried; it
won’t happen again,” he said softly.

“
Well, now you know.”
Isabella continued to stare out the window. “Turn here,” she told
him.

From then on, they were
silent aside from Isabella giving directions. Soon, she directed
him into a trailer park which had no street lamps and was piled
with litter. Stray animals ran about as if they owned the place
searching the trash for scraps.

“
That one.” Isabella was
pointing to a trailer on their left. “Something’s
wrong.”

She narrowed her eyes and
looked at the trailer. When Alex cut the engine, they could both
hear screaming from inside the trailer.

Immediately, Isabella was
out of the car.

“
No!” In a flash, Alex
stood in front of her, blocking the way. “Let me go; you stay here
with Jaiden.”

“
But…”

“
Just stay!”

“
They don’t know you,
Alex,” she called as he ran toward the trailer.

He had kicked in the door
before she had finished the sentence.

Inside, Alex saw five
children huddled around the oldest one who was a girl. She was
naked and curled on her side. Bruises covered most of her body,
especially her face. All of the children jumped when he blew in the
door. He could smell blood.

They screamed louder when
he started forward.

“
It’s ok,” he told them,
but it did not still their screaming.

“
Get away from her!” the
oldest boy yelled at him and bravely stood to confront
Alex.

“
Don’t worry,” Alex told
him calmly. “Your sister is in the car. I am a friend.”

The boy looked
skeptical.

“
Yes, he is a friend.”
Isabella appeared in the doorway with Jaiden. Then, she saw her
sister on the floor and all of her siblings gathered around her
like Snow White and the dwarfs.

Charlotte, the one on the
floor, was whimpering and holding her private area. Alex realized
where he smelled blood from; her hands were covered with
it.

“
Oh no!” Isabella rushed
to her sister and, with Jaiden still in her arms, fell to her knees
beside her.

“
Where is he?” Alex
demanded.

“
We don’t know,” the boy
answered. “A car drove up and pushed her out in the driveway. We
had to carry her inside.”

The smallest one, with
tears covering his face, shouted, “She just went to the store…the
store,” and he threw himself on top of Charlotte.

“
How long ago?” Alex
asked.

“
Only minutes,” the boy
answered.

“
Who saw the car?” Alex
asked urgently.

“
I did.” The older boy
spoke up again.

“
Come here,” Alex ordered
him.

The boy looked at Isabella
uncertainly and she nodded to him.

The boy moved toward Alex
and Alex took his hands in his. “I want you to think about that car
and especially if you saw anyone.”

The boy nodded and closed
his eyes. Alex closed his also. Within seconds, he saw a faded
brown Celica. He saw Charlotte’s body come tumbling out of the
passenger side door. Inside the car, he could make out three
men.

He saw the car take off
and what direction it went. Then, they were back in the trailer
living room and he let go of the boy’s hands.

“
Pack everything you need.
I will be back for all of you!” Alex took off out the door and got
into his car. Hopefully, he would have enough time.

He drove recklessly, ran
red lights and scanned the road with his eyes. Moments later, he
saw a 7-Eleven on the corner, and sitting in the parking lot, was a
faded, brown Celica.

Alex had almost passed it.
He slammed on the brakes hard and turned the car. His baby squealed
as it made the turn, roared into the parking lot and came to stop
mere inches from the Celica.

Alex stepped out of his
car while the men were getting out of their car to see what his
problem was. Each of them held a forty ounce beer in their hand.
One of them let his fall to the ground when he saw how fiercely
Alex approached them.

From their standpoint,
they saw a tall dark haired man in a black leather trench coat who
fearlessly charged at them. They knew they were in trouble when
Alex’s blue eyes lit up with the evil glow of a demon. What they
didn’t know was that they were not going to live through the
night.

Alex walked straight up to
the closest one and, without a word, grabbed his neck with his
large hand and gave it a quick twist. The man fell to the ground
with a loud thump and the sound of his beer shattering cut through
the night.

The other two men began to
retreat.

“
Man, you’re crazy!” one
of them screamed at Alex as he broke into a run.

Alex did not need to run. He
merely caught up with him and grabbed the back of his head while
the man ran. Again he twisted and let the body fall to the ground.
Alex needed no explanation from those men. He knew what had
happened, and they had the nerve to be out here
celebrating
.

The last one was already
in the street and ran for his life. With supernatural speed, Alex
appeared in front of him and stopped him in his tracks. He took the
man by his collar.

“
What…what do…do you
want?”

“
It doesn’t matter,” Alex
told him as he wound his fingers into the man’s hair. Then, without
thinking, he reared back and bared his fangs.

“
Nooooo!” the man screamed
while he violently wrestled against Alex’s strong grip.

Alex knew all too well the
feel and smell of a human who fought with all his strength to free
himself.

While Alex drank, he saw
flashes of his victim’s life. Flashes of all the horrible things he
had done. As he finished, he saw the three men, all of them taking
their turn with Isabella’s sister.

He saw Charlotte
screaming, trying to escape them. He saw them all laughing while
they took her innocence. He saw one of them hit her with his fist
while another man took his turn. He saw the two he had already
killed holding her down, biting her breasts and shoving themselves
into her mouth while the one he drank from rammed himself brutally
between her legs.

She fought them. He saw
that too. She had tried to get away from her rapists, but they had
overpowered her with simply being man.

Disgusted, Alex quickly
released the dead body and threw it to the ground. He ran, unable
to tolerate being close to such filth. He got into his car and sped
away as fast as his car would take him.

Before he pulled into the
trailer park, he stopped outside the entrance. He went to the trunk
and pulled out some rags. Almost brutally, he used the rags to
clean the blood from his face, then tossed them back into the
trunk.