Eclipse of the Heart (6 page)

“B’Lana, I have a lot going on right now. While I was back
home I learned some things that are just weighing on me. Don’t worry though, I’ll
be back to myself soon.”

“Lancer, if you need someone to talk to, I’m here for you.”

“NO! I… I mean I learned things I can’t talk to anyone
about. Sorry, I just have to deal with this. I’ll try harder to make time for
you and Ash. I want to see how you are developing with your abilities and with
your fighting skills. Maybe tomorrow I can join you for your training?” Lancer
looked almost frightened when I suggested he talk to me. Something was up and I
needed to find out what happened.

“Of course, you will be most welcome in my afternoon
training session. Fillie is still not letting anyone watch our morning training
sessions. She is afraid that I will be too distracted if anyone else is in the
room.”

“I bet she only means Ash. I see the way he flirts with you
and Fillie is not happy with that.” He leaned in closer to me and whispered,
“How do you feel about all of his flirting? Do you still think he is just
playing around? Or has he started to develop real feelings for you?” Lancer’s
eyes were downcast and he couldn’t look at me when he asked the last question.

“Honestly, I don’t know. Yes, he flirts a lot and sometimes
I know he does it in front of Fillie just to make her mad. But when it is just
the two of us, he can be really sweet and attentive. He has a serious side that
he doesn’t seem to show to anyone but me, when we’re alone. I honestly don’t
know what to believe.”

“Do you want him to truly care for you? Or to even be in
love with you?” Lancer looked around while he asked that question. Almost like
he was looking for Ash.

Right at that point, I noticed two of the humans who had
been working with the rippers. They were the ones who ran the shop across the
street. Ash and Toren were a few tables away so I couldn’t get their attention.
I leaned in to Lancer like I was going to hug him and whispered in his ear that
I saw the two shopkeepers. They were directly behind him.

He put his lips to my ears like he was going to kiss me and
said, “Keep an eye on them, I’m going to text Ash.”

Ash was looking right at us when we were doing this and his
expression was one of shock and then pain. I caught his eye right before he
turned away from me. For some reason I felt guilty, but I had nothing to be
guilty about.

Then everything just fell apart…

DeeDee walked into the place and saw me.

“Oh stink!” I said.

“What, do they see you?” Lancer asked as he wrapped his arm
around my shoulder and whispered into my ear.

“No, but DeeDee just walked in and sees me. She is coming
over here right now.”

Ash looked back up at us right as DeeDee was approaching me.
He recognized her and started walking to our table. Half way to us he received
Lancer’s text about the shop owners. He stopped and looked at us and then
looked over to the two humans in question and then called for Toren. They
headed over to the shopkeepers instead of to me.

“B’Lana? Is that you? What happened to you? And who is this
guy?” DeeDee approached us looking even worse than the last time I saw her. Her
hair was stringy and looked like it hadn’t been washed in over a week. She was
wearing dirty jeans and the same blouse I saw her in at the mall several weeks
ago.

I stood up and hugged her. “DeeDee it’s so good to see you
again!” Then I whispered in her ear. “You’re in danger being here with me. You
need to leave right now. I will call you later today, I promise and I’m sorry.”
Then I looked at her and tried to convey through my eyes how serious this situation
was.

“It’s good to see you too, I have to get going. Maybe we can
catch up sometime.” She looked scared, like she already knew there was trouble
brewing.

She started to walk away and I turned back to Lancer who
kept an eye on her as she left the taco joint. Sadly, she didn’t make it far…

Someone had been watching us from a distance and followed
her to her car. She never made it home.

“B’Lana, it looks like your friend is in trouble, I see a
Sennafae following her. We need to go now.” Lancer started to get up and walk
towards where he last saw DeeDee. I followed him.

We walked down the street and watched in horror as DeeDee
was picked up in a white van. The guy we were following jumped in right behind
her and they took off quickly. Luckily, Lancer got the license plate and called
it in to HQ and asked them to track it.

I just stood there, open mouthed and wide eyed, not saying a
word. Lancer snapped his fingers in front of my face a few times before I could
focus on him again.

As tears made their way down my face I just said, “B-b-but,
she’s my best friend, we can’t let them take her.” Then I looked where the
white van had turned and my mind cleared up quickly.

“Lancer we have to go back and get the guys and head out
now. We can’t just let DeeDee go, who knows what they will do to her! She may
end up a ripper hybrid, and I can’t handle that. She is an innocent, we have to
protect her. I never should have let her walk away alone, this is all my
fault!” I turned around and ran back to where Ash was.

Ash was talking to the two humans from the shop across the
street.

“Oh good, you have them.” I walked right up them and
demanded they tell me where my friend was.

They tried to play innocent, until I smacked one of them
across the face. “I don’t care that you are human, I know who you work for.
Your friends just kidnapped an innocent human who had no clue about this life.
You will tell me where they are or I will kill you both myself, and it won’t be
quick either.” Just to make sure they understood me, I kicked the man between
the legs.

He bent over gasping for breath as his face turned red.

The woman with him looked at me and said, “I don’t know
where they took her. They have moved their location since the last time I saw
them. They ignore us now.”

“I doubt that very much. A Sennafae was here watching you,
you were to meet up with him weren’t you? You had better tell me the truth
because I will know if you lie to me again, and you won’t like what I do to you
and your boyfriend.” I walked up close to her face and drew my fist up close
and then whispered, “She is my best friend in the whole world, do you have any
idea what I am capable of? I will do whatever it takes to get her back safely,
today.”

I put my hand on her shoulder and started to squeeze it
hard. She made a whimpering sound and said, “Honest, I don’t know.”

I knew she was lying so I “listened” to her mind.
“Oh I
hope she believes me. The Master will turn us into hybrids, or worse, if we
spill the beans.”

“I understand you are worried about what the master will do
to you if you tell us. But I you should fear me more, I don’t care that you are
humans. You have chosen the wrong side in this war, and it is a war. All bets
are off and there is no such thing as a Geneva Convention when it comes to
rippers and terrorists from another dimension.

“So think about how you want to play this out. Tell me the
truth and I will let you leave. You can run and hide somewhere and live out
your pathetic lives. Or, you die a slow painful death. Your choice.” I was not
going to let them get away from telling me the truth. So I listened again.

“I don’t know what to do. If I tell her that they moved
up to Santa Barbara, she will most likely kill me anyway. And I don’t have
anywhere to go.”
I heard her saying in her mind.

“Santa Barbara, that’s where they are. Give me an address
and I promise you I will let you go. If you don’t give me an address I will
take you to my headquarters and you know you will not be allowed to leave ever
again, except in a body bag.” I was confident she would give me what she knew
now so I walked back one step and crossed my arms in front of my chest waiting
for her to realize what I just did.

“Toren, can you call for a pick up? If she doesn’t talk in
the next two minutes I want her and her friend brought back for “questioning”.”
I actually used air quotes when I said questioning. And then I smiled a
sinister smile when I realized she knew what I could do.

“You… you’re her aren’t you? The girl they are worried
about. The one that can bring an end to them.” She now was looking right at me
with what I could only believe was awe.

“Yes, you can give me the information the easy way, or I
will take it from you or your friend. I know you have what I want. Now speak up
before our van gets here to take you away.” I looked over to her friend and he
was still bent over in pain.

“Dude, you want to tell me the address or shall I take it
from you?” I started walking over to her boyfriend. Ash tried to stop me by
putting his hand on my shoulder but I shrugged it off.

I looked back at him over my shoulder and said, “Don’t, this
is DeeDee, I don’t care what I have to do to save her.”

The couple in front of us looked at each other and then the
girl spoke up, “They are staying in a group of warehouses just outside of the Santa
Barbara airport. I think there is a lumber yard just a few blocks away. We
haven’t been there, but we were told about it. They have set up their new operations
there and are taking college kids and turning them into ripper hybrids. That’s
all I know, honestly. Can we go now?”

I listened to her mind while she said all of that and I knew
she was telling the truth.

“Yes, you can go, but if I ever see you working with the
rippers or any of the terrorists from their planet, I won’t hesitate to kill
you. You had better go far away and never get near any of them again.” I looked
right into the eyes of each of them and made sure they understood. I even put a
few images into their minds in order to freak them out enough that they would
listen to what I said.

They got up and ran across the street to their store. I
didn’t know if they listened to me or not, but I hoped they did.

Ash took my hand and walked me to the Hummer, “B, you can’t
torture anyone. It will change you and you won’t like who you become. I have
seen it before. Please never do that again. I couldn’t stand it if you changed
into a monster.” He hugged me right in front of Lancer and Toren. Then he
kissed the top of my head.

“Ash, I wasn’t going to torture them, I would have ruffed
them up a bit, but not actual torture. I wouldn’t do that. You should know
that. You know me better than anyone else around here, you actually thought I
would do that?” I couldn’t believe he thought that about me.

“You know what, never mind. Let’s just get going. The sooner
we get back to headquarters the sooner we can gear up and head out to get
DeeDee.” I started to get into the Hummer, I took the driver seat and put my
hand out to get the keys from Toren.

“Lancer, why don’t you sit up front with me?” I was mad at
Ash and didn’t even want to look at him right now.

“B, don’t be like that.” Ash came over to driver side and
tried to give me a hug, but I wouldn’t let him.

“Let’s get back and get everyone geared up, it takes about two
to four hours to get to Santa Barbara, depending on the traffic. And we need to
find a hotel we can stay in that isn’t too close to them.” I totally ignored
Ash. I would have closed the door on his hand but he moved it fast enough to
barely miss being caught.

When we got back to headquarters I called out to Fillie and
she came right over to me. “Fillie the rippers took DeeDee and they have moved
their operations to Santa Barbara. We are heading out there as soon as we can
get geared up. You need to come with me so we can find her before it’s too
late. I won’t be able to handle it if they turn her.” I spoke so fast, no one
but Fillie understood me.

I walked to my room to start pulling together my bag and
figured Lancer would smooth it all over with the Commander. But I was wrong.

While I was packing my back the Commander came to my room
and just walked in, the door was open. “B’Lana, you can’t just go up to Santa
Barbara without preparing. You could be walking into a trap.”

“I don’t care, if I don’t get her today she will most likely
be dead, or worse, by tomorrow. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong
time while searching for me. This is exactly why I should have spoken to her
and let her know that I was safe. If I had, she never would have been there to
begin with. It’s actually all your fault for making me stay away from her! Now
get out of my way. I am going with or without your support.” I went back to
packing my bag. I took my entire underwear drawer and just dumped it into my
bag and then grabbed jeans and anything else I saw to stuff into my bag.

I walked out into the hallway and yelled out, “Whoever is
going with me better be loaded up and ready to go within the hour. We are
leaving tonight.” Then I walked over to a computer so I could look up hotels
across town from where the rippers where located.

Lancer and Ash walked up to me, “B’Lana we need more than an
hour to get situated and come up with a plan. We can’t leave here until we have
a plan.” Lancer sat down in the chair next to me.

“Lancer, we can come up with a plan on the drive there. I will
have a hotel for us to stay and then we can spend the evening searching for
them. If we go now we might catch them off guard. They would expect us to make
plans before looking for them. They don’t even know that we know where they are
yet. Come on, you have to support me on this.”

“B, I am not leaving you alone. I know you are mad at me but
I won’t let you go alone. Even if it is just the two of us, I am going with you
tonight.” Ash tried to put his hand on my shoulder, but I squirmed away from
him.

“Ash I’m not mad anymore, but I thought you knew me better.
I wouldn’t have killed them unless I had no choice. You should know that about
me.”

I continued to look for a hotel and then made reservations
for four rooms. I figured some would go with me.

An hour later I was loading the Hummer with all of the
equipment I knew I would need when all of the squads came over to me with their
bags and gear. I stopped what I was doing and just stared at everyone. A single
tear fell down my face as I started to smile.

They were all joining me in my search for DeeDee.