Leticia (16 page)

“Do not kill the one with the blonde pony-tail
,
” he whispered to me
.

“Why
?
”

“
Watch
and see
.
”

“
Why
can
’
t you just
...
.
?
”

I was interrupted by the sound of a man screaming, the others panicked shouting out for the
ir
comrade.

“Well done mate
,
” Jackson smirked
.
“
That
was fast
.
”

“What?” I asked confused
.

“Tristan just got one of them
.
”

“
Oh
...
”

“My turn
.
”

As soon as he’d spoke he moved out of my sight
.
N
ot ten seconds later I heard more screaming, shrieking, and then it was as though whoever or whatever had sent us the cloud bank to hide in, suddenly had a change of heart. The cloud dispersed and everything was visible onc
e again. The fighting stopped.

I moved closer so everyone could see me
and
looked at the men
.
Most
of them were
about twenty – twenty-five years old at the most. All of them looked frightened to death, especially when they saw Tristan with his fangs out. There were three of them
standing
in a line, side by side. The middle one, the one with
the
blonde pony-tail, seemed to be the only one that didn't look frightened
;
instead he looked rather amused.

“Do you really want to continue with this
?
” I asked, allowing my eyes to change and teeth to sharpen.

“What the hell
,
” one of them shouted
.
“
Kill
it
.
”

“That’s a yes then
,
” Jackson smirked
.

The blonde guy in the middle reached into his trousers and pulled out two guns
.
I braced myself, waiting for him to shoot at me, but instead he reached his arms out to his sides pointing the guns a
t
the other two
men’s
temples
and
pulled the trigger. The men fell to the
ground
instantly.

“Traitor
,
” one of them shouted and went to point their gun at him.

Jackson shot him in his
chest;
he staggered for a moment
and then
fell to his knees.

“I’m not a traitor
,
” the blonde smirked
.
“I’m one of
them
.
”

I watched as the tall blonde man morphed into Nancy.

“See
,
” she smiled, before shooting him again, this time through his heart.

The guys who remained took shelter behind their cars
while
firing their guns at us all. Whenever a bullet hit Tristan he would burst out laughing.

“
OK
I’m bored now
,
” Jackson sighed
.

“I’m so sorry about that
,
” I shot at him
.

Jackson jumped on the roof of one of the cars, guns in hand and shot four of them dead. Two other guys hiding behind the car closest to me jumped out and tried to wrestle me to the ground, but they were no match for me. My nails had extended
,
they were now more like c
l
aws
.
I swiped at the first
guy’s
throat, almost ripping it out, he fell to his knee
s
clutching it with both hands and making awful gurgling noises. I threw the other one to the
ground
face down and, more quickly than any human
possibly
could, moved so I stood over him
.
I
reached down and snapped his neck, as easily as snapping a twig. I turned to see Jackson, Nancy and Tristan staring at me,
they had the only surviving man
kneeling
on the floor in front of them, Jackson had a gun to his temple.

“Would you like to send a message back with this one?” Nancy asked me
.

“Actually I would
.
”

I walked over to the terrified, middle-aged man and dragged him to his feet.

“Give your
boss
”
,
I almost snarled
,
“
A
message from me, tell him if he thinks a few human beings can take me he is more stupid than I originally thought. Tell him to send as many as he wants, none of them will return. Tell him I’m waiting
.
”

The man didn't reply he just nodded his head. I pushed him towards one of the cars and he jumped inside, quickly driving away from us.

“Well that was a load of crap
,
” Jackson said putting his guns away
.
“I didn't even break a sweat
.
”

“Yeah
,
” Tristan smirked
.
“I thought they would have at least put up a better fight, especially after the chase, so very
,
very disappointing
.
”

“Don’t you guys care that a lot of people have just lost their lives
?
” I snapped
.

“No actually I don’t, they shouldn’t have attacked you
,
” Jackson replied, then quickly corrected himself
.
“
U
s
I mean
.
”

“Tish, you know he’s right
,
” Nancy said, walking over to me
.

“I need to get back to my house
.
”

“I don’t think there’ll be much left of it
.
”

“I have things in there I need to get
.
”

“Like what, a few keep sakes?” Jackson asked nastily
.
“What’s so important about them
?
”

“
Look
, you cold hearted prick, there are things in there of my mother’s
,
” I raged
.

“Tish
,
” Nancy interrupted
.
“
W
here are you going to stay?”

“I’ll sort something out
.
T
hank you for your help I appreciate it, I really do, but I need to go
.
”

She nodded and watched as I got into one of the now abandoned cars and drove off.

I raced all the way home
.
I pulled up
in
the drive and jumped out of the car. The house was still ablaze but I had to go inside, I had to pull my little safe out of there. I ran through the open burning gap where the front door used to be
;
I instantly started coughing and sweating, the heat and smoke were so intense. I battled my way through the hall and to the cupboard under the stairs, still choking and now, feeling rather light headed. I ripped the door open and grabbed the safe, it was quite heavy and lodged in
.
I pulled and pulled at it until it finally came out. I turned around, it was getting harder to move, to breath
e
, to even see, then, I felt someone grab my arm tightly
.
T
hey dragged me out of the house and back
into
the driveway. I dropped the safe and used the car for support
while
I choked and struggled to breathe.

Once I’d calmed down slightly and was actually able to see
more clearly
, I turned to see who had dragged me out. The first thing I saw was the black Audi parked a few feet away from where I stood
,
the
driver’s
door still open. Then I saw Jackson.

“Are you
OK
?
” he asked,
actually
looking concerned
.

“Yeah,
yeah
I’ll be fine
,
” I croaked
.

“That was stupid Leticia, real stupid
.
”

“I had to get the safe
.
”

“Some things aren’t worth your life
.
”

“It wouldn’t have killed me
.
”

“You could have been seriously hurt, was it really worth it
?
”

“What do you care?”

“I
…
” he stuttered, sounding a little nervous
.
“I...I don’t, I’m just saying that...”

“Jackson, please, don’t start with me, in case you hadn’t noticed I’ve had a rough night
.
”

“So have we
.
”

“Oh, sorry, it’s just that I thought you said it was
boring
. I assumed you meant easy and no problem
.
I’ve been waiting for something to happen all day.”

“I know, Nancy told me
.
”

“But I didn't expect this
,
” I almost cried, pointing in the direction of my house, my eyes welling up with tears
.
“
T
hey’ve taken everything, my home, my clothes, my things, my car, everything
.
”

“I know
,
”
he whispered, coming closer to me
.
“I know
.
”

He went to put his arms around me, but I pushed him away
.

“Oh don’t pretend you actually care, we both know you don’t,
and I
don’t want your sympathy
!
” I cried
.

He didn't listen to me, nor did he respond
.
He
just grabbed me and pulled me close to him, wrapping his arms tightly around me. At first I tried to pull away from him, but no matter how hard I tried he
wouldn’t let me go
. E
ventually, I gave in and almost melted into him.

We stood there for about ten minutes, just watching the house as it burned and eventually collapsed. Jackson called the fire brigade, and in no time at all they were there tackling the flames. The police had accompanied them and were now asking me all sorts of questions. I was finding it rather hard to talk about the situation without crying, so Jackson helped me out quite a lot. He told them we had been out all night and came home to this
.
He
acted completely clueless as to what could have caused it, and when the police asked me if it could have been something left on in the house, I acted as though it was a possibility. The last thing I wanted was a deep investigation, I needed this done and over with as soon as possible. Thankfully
,
I was fine for
money;
I’d saved up a fortune over the
year
s
.
If
my insurance decided not to pay out, I would still be able to buy myself a new house.

Once the fire brigade and police had finished with me and the house, they left. Nancy and Tristan were now with us.

“I need to try and check into a hotel
,
” I sighed, opening my little safe and removing its contents
.
“
Thankfully
my bank cards and cash are in here
.
”

“You can stay with
us
,
” Nancy told me
.