Deadly Expectations (31 page)

I thought about the dreamlike trip to see my daughter and tried to guess her age.

“I recently travelled twenty-five years.”
 
I told him.

He nodded.
 
“Well done.
 
And how long did you stay before you had to come back?”

“Just a few hours sir.”

“Well.
 
You have travelled twice that to see me here.
 
I would guess you have only half that amount of time and you spent the first half hour driving past my mailbox.”
 
He gestured to a chair on the porch so I went to it.
 
He waited for me to sit and he sat next to me.

“I am Pilot,” he told me.
 
“I know you.
 
What name do you use now?”

“It’s Anna, sir,” I told him.

“Anna,” he said.
 
“You are my son’s sister.”

It took a moment.
 
“You’re Ray’s … father?”
 
I asked.

Again condescending.
 
“You will run out of time if you continue to be so slow.
 
Perhaps you should ponder what I tell you later?”

“Yes sir,” I agreed.

“I see you have brought my nephew’s child to see me,” he stated.

“Yes … our daughter.”
 
I would have to try and keep the strange family tree somewhat straight.
 
No doubt it was very important that I understand it … at some point.

“Daughter …” he laughed.
 
He threw his head back nearly tipping his chair.
 
“Yes, a daughter … who has the gifts of a son.”

“My, my Anna … you have broken a lot of rules …” he sobered.

“Yes sir,” I paused.
 
“That must be for a reason … I think that is the help I have come for.”

“Indeed,” Pilot said.
 
“Don’t ask any more idiotic questions.
 
You must understand the family first.
 
What is the daughter’s father’s name?”

“Paul,” I told him.

“Paul’s father is my brother … Paul is one of your mates,” he told me.
 
I opened my mouth and closed it before the question came out.
 
He nodded approvingly.
 
I hoped the answer was coming.
 
“My other brother … he is your other mate.
 
Do you know who that might be?”

I shook my head.

“He hunts you … he competes with Paul for you …” Pilot prompted.

“Damian,” I said.
 
“Damian is his name.”

“Good job miss,” he said.
 
“There were originally three brothers; Damian, me, and Paul’s father.
 
He exists in your time.”

“Damian believes that he is a god among those who aren’t like us.
 
He seeks to control them … to create an army of gods such as himself.
 
Do you have any idea how our family grows?”

I shook my head.
 
He sighed.

“We have sons … with women who have a very weak tie through their long lives.
 
Imagine there is a chain connecting your Paul from one life through the next … for most people it is not a chain.
 
It’s like a row of feathers; too easily blown away by the passage of time.
 
The women in the family; theirs is like a thread.
 
It exists, but it is weak and cannot pull along the memories of a chain.”

I nodded.
 
What he said paralleled what Paul had told me about remembering Catherine.

“I won’t bore you with the whole family tree.
 
Suffice it to say that your brother was my first son.
 
Paul was my brother’s first son.”
 

“Paul’s sister is also mated to Damian … and to your brother.”

“Alina …” I sighed.
 
To Ray, I finished in my head.

“Yes.
 
Men like us and women like you don’t just come from the family … they just happen sometimes too.
 
Don’t make the wrong assumption that we are all related.
 
You have had a confrontation with one of us … yes?” he asked.

“Damian,” I said.

“No that is later … another one,” he told me.

I just nodded; he was talking about the man on the hill.

“You took his life.”
 
Pilot paused.
 
“Who is the man with the knife who helped you?

“Andre.”
 
I told him.

“Another broken rule,” he waved his hands like he was dismissing the thought.
 
“Do you understand that death by a knife in your hand breaks the chain for someone like me?
 
Permanently?”

What I had suspected and told Paul while I was ranting at him in our room was true.

“Just feathers,” I whispered.

“Good.
 
Perhaps you can bring us peace.”
 
He thought a moment.
 
“My brother you know as Damian must be stopped.
 
He has taught our men that it is better to kill their women than to let them have a child with another mate.
 
That is how Damian hopes to build his army; only sons loyal to him.
 
That is not how things must be.
 
Your Paul … has been fighting back with Damian’s rules.
 
He barely remembers when things were different.

“He has killed you to stop you from having Damian’s child before …”

I looked at the ground.
 
Nagging seeds of the memory of past betrayals from Paul started to form in my mind.
 
The wind picked up a bit.
 
A nice breeze made it through my hair to my scalp and cooled my head.
 
More graced my hot skin through the slats of the chair.
 
As I watched Pilot my hair blew into my face.
 
His didn’t move.

“I believe my visit with you is ending soon,” I told him.

“Yes miss.
 
It is,” he said.
 
“You will have until the birth of your daughter to bring peace to the family.
 
Do you understand that?”

“Yes,” I told him.
 
I had until then to cut Damian’s line free from him.
 
I stood to get ready to leave.
 
The seat of my pants was damp with sweat and the breeze felt good.

“He will come to you … for your child.
 
You can count on that.
 
You need not seek him out.”

I shivered in the heat.

“Damian’s child must also survive,” he paused to make sure I understood.
 
“He is already mated to your daughter.
 
The peace will not last without him.
 
Their child is … important.”

The thought of Damian’s son and my daughter wasn’t a surprise.
 
I stepped over the bike and kicked the engine to life.

“Perhaps she could send someone away,” he muttered to himself.

I stepped off the bike and kept a hand on the handle bars.
 
I braced my feet a bit as the gusts got stronger.

He looked off to the side, speaking quietly.
 
“I stay here … out of what the family has fallen in to.
 
Perhaps I’m a coward … sending you to try and fix what I can’t.”

He took my hand in both of his and kissed my cheek.
 
It was smooth … not the hand of a farmer.

“Thank you Pilot,” I told him.

He nodded.
 
“You will return to Paul where he needs you the most … you travelled so far.
 
You must have a strong place to focus on or you’ll be way off.”

Chapter 29

Snow stung my neck and hands.
 
As I became aware of my sweaty clothes freezing to me the bike sputtered and died in the shock of the cold.
 
I quickly yanked off my pack and pulled out my coat.
 
The cold sweat in it let the winter wind pass right through.
 
I zipped it up anyway and pulled on the gloves then I tried to start the bike again but I couldn’t coax the engine to turn over no matter what I tried.
 
That was bad.
 
I had no idea where I was, it was night and I was leaking body heat faster than I could make it.

I went to the other side of the bike and crouched down out of the wind as best I could then I pulled off my helmet and pulled on my hood.
 
At least the hood wasn’t damp.
 
I pulled off a glove and got out the cell phone and turned it on.
 
The display flashed as it started up.
 
I shivered as it played its little jingle.

January.

It had synced up with the phone company and updated itself.
 
Now it told me it was January.
 
What was a couple of hours for me was two months for Paul.
 
I felt sick.
 
I had no idea what would be going through his mind now with me being gone so long.

I dialled his number and put it to my ear.
 
It rang a few times and the voice mail picked up.
 
I tried again.
 
Straight to voice mail this time.
 
No Paul.

“Paul, its Anna … I need you.
 
Call me, please?”
 
I begged into the little microphone.

I was shivering now.
 
So I tried Ray.
 
He answered after a few rings.

“Ray … its Anna,” I shouted over the wind.

“Anna?
 
My God,” he said.
 
“Where are you?”

“I don’t know Ray.
 
I can’t reach Paul.
 
I was only gone a couple of hours but the phone says it’s January.”

“It is January, Anna,” he said.
 
“Paul is gone.
 
He took a truck a week ago and left.”

“Damn … Ray, I’m at the side of a two lane highway somewhere in a snow storm.
 
The bike died.
 
I can’t jump home.
 
I’m going to freeze here.
 
My clothes are wet.”

My teeth were chattering.
 
I wedged the phone into my hood between my ear and shoulder and stuck my frozen hand in my pocket.

“I can try and trace you … get you picked up.
 
Stay on the phone, okay?”
 
I nodded even though he couldn’t see me.

“Okay?” he repeated.

“Yes,” my voice shook.

I stayed down behind the bike and waited.
 
Hopefully it wouldn’t take long to find me.

Ray came back to the phone.
 
“They couldn’t find which tower you’re connecting to … some technical problem, they’re trying again.
 
Hang in there.”

“
‘kay
.”