Bloodbreeders: Seeking Others (10 page)

Four men entered, dragging two others by their arms. I couldn’t see their faces, because they were hanging as if unconscious. Another man walked in behind them, coming around and going down on one knee in front of Jacob.

“The tall one got away as we took these two, but he will not get far. We have the rest of the party after him,” he said then stood back up.

“Very good, Cates. Meet your new master, Renee.”

“Just, Renee,” I added, putting my hand out.

He lowered his head and went back down, putting both hands behind his back. I was starting to get really tired of telling people to “get up”, so I didn’t this time. They dropped the other two at Jacob’s feet, and then rolled them over. “Is this who you are looking
for?” Jacob smiled over at me almost knowing the answer before he asked. I nodded leaning down and pushed the hair away from the face of the one that was closest to me.

“Ronny.” The other one was Marcos, which only meant that the one I wanted the most wasn’t here.

“What do you wish us to do with them, Mistress?”

“Never call me that again!” I snapped swinging my head around.

Cates frowned looking over at Jacob.

“No, you look at me. My name is, Renee, got it? I’m no one’s master or mistress, or lady for that matter. I want all of you to treat me the same as you would everyone else.”

“But, miss…” he paused when I glared at him. “Ma’am, you are not like the rest of us.”

“Why the hell not?”

“What Master Jacob has told us, makes you far different,” he smiled, from his huge stature. He was a beast of a man, and one you could tell had been a bloodbreeder for a very long time.

I looked over at Jacob, who never even blinked. I told them to lock Marcos and Ronny in the place where they kept their prisoners. Ronny started coming around as they lifted him off the floor. “It can’t be!” Then Cates slammed the handle of his sword into the back of his head.

“Never address her again.” I had to smile at his attitude; he wasn’t in here when I practically did the same thing to the now ashy Rebecca. He was a tall man, older than the rest of us, in his late thirties—maybe early forties. He wore a uniform of sorts that had brass plates on the shoulders, wrist, and chest. The material was a deep burgundy that was just like the long pair of fighting pants that my boys were wearing, and a short sleeved shirt. His hair was down to his shoulders, with a few gray streaks mixed in with the dark brown. His eyes were a pale brown, and like the rest of us, his skin was quite pale. The one thing that stood out on him was the size of his arms. They were like small tree trunks, like those on Isa’s body guard, the man that I thought, until now, had the biggest muscles that I had seen. Cates was a walking giant, and one I would not want to meet on the wrong side of things.

Cates joined Jacob and me at the table, while several young girls cleaned up
Rebecca’s remains. One girl came to me and handed me a gold chain with a square locket on it. I handed it to Jacob and he shook his head. She was supposed to go to the elders when she heard about Cuba, but came to the aid of Chin instead. The joke was on her, in a big way I might add. Garvin and Sydney followed the guards that took the men to what I now know was a true dungeon. I had heard Jacob comment regarding the side cells, as a good choice for the two, then Cates said that it had been a great deal of time since they had had prisoners “down there”. I also knew that Garvin would fill me in on the condition, and for sure the smell. It’s a true sign of one’s true self, or that’s been my experience to date. If it smells like death, equals—bad master.

Cates’ men returned a short time later, telling us that they had lost his trail. Omar was out there and he knew we had his companions. If he ever got his hands on me it would be my death that he would want. He hated me from day one, but why? I cannot answer, but there is no way that he had more hatred for me, than I had for him. I wanted his head on a stick, or better yet, I wanted him hung upside down with his throat cut open, then let him drain dry, just like he did to my father. I knew if we didn’t find him, that he would find me. If not now, one night in the future. I didn’t care how we met as long as I got to see him die, even if it meant me joining him.

“I want to talk to you about leaving the girls here when we head up the coast,” I blurted out looking at Jacob.              

“I’m not staying anywhere,” Tammy said coming up behind me.

“I was thinking more on the lines of Tanda and Jessie. Leave them to care for Johnny and Shyanna. I keep seeing the elders coming after us and I don’t want them around if we can help it.”

“And yet you think you are not a leader,” Cates chuckled, looking right at me.

“Wanting my little ones to be safe has nothing to do with it,” I replied, staring back at him.

“A good leader is as soft as they are hard. You love them enough to give them up.”

“I’m not giving anyone up, Cates. I just want them hidden somewhere safe until we return.”

“Yes, but you leave them just in case death follows you. Is it not the same?”

“No! I’m coming back. Death has been following me for a while now, Cates, if he catches up then will deal with him too…but, I will be back.”

“See, she is a stubborn one,” Jacob interrupted.

“If that is your decision, then you should speak with them soon. The one we look for will reach the others and make war ready upon our arrival,” Cates explained, reclining in his chair.

“Our? What’s this,
our
thing?” I asked turning around in my chair.

“Cates is my second in command and the best fighter under me,” Jacob said rubbing his brow, readying himself for an argument.

“It’s obvious that Tammy’s not staying,” I smiled back at her. “We
will
need another good fighter if Jessie stays.”

“You agree then?” Jacob asked in a surprising tone.

“Look at him, the man’s a beast. Yeah, I agree.”

“How very strange.” Jacob sat back putting his elbow on the arm of the chair and ran his hand over his chin, very much like my father use to do…where my mouth was concerned.

“You were waiting for an argument weren’t you?” I laughed.

“I believe I was.” Then he let out a heavy breath and shook his head.

We talked the rest of the night about what we were going to do next. We were close to a place called, Savanna. The place we were heading to was, Charleston, North Carolina. Cates and Jacob both spoke of the long river that would take us deep inland to a place where others were known to be held.  It was indeed a holding area of sorts. They spoke of a man called
the doctor
, saying he used slaves for experiments trying to find a way to step back into the sun. A man who was thought of as “mad” by those who were unlucky enough to cross his path, or those under his lower guard who at more times than not, ended up in one of his experiments. I was told that we would take the river right into a lake, and then make our way to the other side where we would find his home.

Tammy spoke up and said that she had been there a few times with Cortez. She added that there was a laboratory at a place called, Mt. Holly, which both Jacob and Cates acknowledged as true. It was there that this doctor tried to do a test on her, by using a light rod that burned her flesh. She also told us about the crosses that stood tall in the back of his home at the lake, where he would hang his “study subjects” for the coming dawn. Chills ran up my spin, because I now had a greater fear of the sun, the same one that I use to love. I had felt its burn and never wanted to feel its full effect. I couldn’t fathom the thoughts that ran through the minds of those who watched the dawn coming to burn the flesh off of their bodies. It made me wonder if the pull would take them first, or if the victims felt the death of the burning rays through the whole ordeal?

I knew time was running short and decided to have my talk with Tanda and Jessie, before we all felt that ever present pull that comes whether we like it or not. Shyanna was hopping up and down, giggling at the piglet as it turned in circles while Johnny was playing with it. She sniffed the air and turned around, seeing me and flew to my side.

“Hurt?”

“I’m fine, silly girl,” I smiled laying my hand on the top of her head.

“Me`om huuuurrrt,” she slurred trying to raise my kimono.

I had almost forgotten about Rebecca sticking me, until Shyanna started digging for my wound. I saw the blood on my foot when she raised the material up, and so did everyone else in the room. Tammy bent down and immediately stood back up and took me by the arm. She had me in the changing room standing with nothing but a towel covering my front in mere minutes.  The wound was small, but the blade went deep. I could now feel the pain on the inside as she pushed around on my stomach. I watched my body fluids run down my leg, every time she moved my abdomen close to the wound.

“I don’t think she hit anything.”

“It would heal either way,” I replied dryly.

“Or you could fill up with your own blood, until you drained out.”

I looked down at her as she pushed the needle through my skin. “Ouch!”

“Be glad it wasn’t like Sydney’s.”

“I thought we were supposed to be tougher now?” I laughed nervously as she put the needle through again.

“You are. But you also feel things far more than you use too,” Jacob said from behind me.

“I’m not dressed!” I screamed turning around to remove my nude backside from his and Cates view, tearing the needle right through my flesh.

“Damn it, Renee,” Tammy snapped, getting up and reaching for a robe.

“It was my backside that was hanging out,” I replied clenching my teeth, as my eyes wet my cheeks. “That was really bad.”

“I would not think you to be one to be modest at stand in the open.” Cates turned, looking down.

“Is that how you say you’re sorry? Just walk in without so much as a knock?” I asked, putting one arm in the robe at a time, holding the towel up with the other.

“I do not understand, my…
ma’am
.”

“She is very young and has not been around our ways. She sees nudity as a thing of shame.”

“No smart ass, not shame. I think one’s body should be something personal and shared with the one you love, not the whole damn world,” I proclaimed turning my back, letting Tammy finish her work on my stomach.

“We are hardly the world. When things get bad, we will live in tight quarters. You may want to resign your old ways.
One
could get a bit embarrassed on long journeys, sleeping in cramped areas.” Cates leaned on the door jam, making sure to emphasize the word,
one
.

“Are you kidding me? Am I really going to have to put up with another one?” I asked looking down at Tammy, who snickered at my question.

“Come, we will talk with her when she is in a better mood,” Jacob said then turned to leave.

“Talk to me about what?”

“Don’t you dare turn around again!” Tammy grabbed my robe, glaring up at me.

“Okay! Tell me, Jacob. Y’all already saw everything anyway.”

“We have decided it is better to take young Sydney’s father’s boat up to the doctor’s estate. We believe that your enemy has fled there,” Cates explained.

“What makes you think so?”

“Because it is well known that it is a place that is not well frequented. No one is willing to make that sacrifice.”

“We think with your wound…”

“No way, Jacob, I go or no one does, period. Is that understood?” I asked turning back around as Tammy pulled the thread through.

“Stubborn, is an understatement,” she whispered.

“I’m not stubborn,” I replied looking back at her. “Everyone’s always saying I’m in control, well this is an order. I go!”

“She will do just fine,” Cates said then walked out of the room.

“Where the hell did you dig him up from?”

“He was the guard for a master that we took a few hundred years back. He has been a trusted friend and second to my command, ever since. You can trust your life in his hands, he will not fail you in any way,” he claimed walking up to me.

“Was he this cocky with Chin?”

“Cocky?”

“She means ‘forward spoken’,” Tammy bluntly explained, turning me back around and wrapping a white cloth around my waist.

“He has always spoken his mind, if that’s what you mean.”

“I have a feeling that I’m going to have my hands full with you two. Gather everyone up. We need to let the girls know they can’t go.”

“Correction, you need to let them know.” Then he too, turned and walked out, leaving me with unsaid words.

“You will never leave my side. No way I am going anywhere with them by myself,” I laughed as I got dressed back into my comfortable black clothes, where my blade road nicely tied to my leg.

Tanda wasn’t very happy at the thought of staying behind and started crying. Jessie was holding her while explaining the dangers of her staying on the small boat with Johnny and Shyanna. It took a while, and quite a bit of talking to get her to understand, but she finally took to the idea. Johnny cried because Tanda did and stopped the same way. Once the emotions were over he was back to running, playing with the wagon that Jessie gave him and his little piglet.

It was decided that Garvin would be paired with Sydney, while Tammy, me, Derek and Brandon would be together. Jacob would remain with Cates. Once we came onto the lake we were to split up at three different spots of the south end of the large area of water, then meet back up and make our way west to the doctor’s house. It was one definite way to make sure we weren’t followed. All this would happen after a good days rest. As for the men in the prison, we would deal with them when we got back. My boys had said it was as clean as the rest of the place and definitely no smell.