Redemption (The Extinct Race Series Book 4) (9 page)

Chapter 16

Arrivals

Three Sikorsky H-3 helicopters landed in the field behind the burnt down home of his old Sect. One was painted in a black and grey camouflage pattern. The second was a cloudy white that enabled it to blend with the clouds. The third and final one was painted to blend in with a forest. It was all darks greens and lines of brown that resemble bark. Men from each helicopter filed out and a lead man from each went to Aldrich. The men all grumbled at each other as they walk to the man that paid them all to be here.

Aldrich had ordered two of the same helicopters that were just a flat grey color. The helicopters were fully loaded with weapons of all kinds and Aldrich already had the route planned out to Ireland. He was just unsure of the actual location. Aldrich had been in a terrible mood the last two days. His camp back in Alaska had been trespassed on and they had tripped the explosives. He no longer had a home to go back to and he had taken it out on his sons. Now that the men arrived they would help him take over his new home and he couldn’t be more pleased.

Three more large tents were erected and all were a good distance from one another. Aldrich planned to feed these men and have them rest from their journeys.

“Welcome Gentlemen. Have you everything you need for your job tomorrow?” Aldrich asked

“We are ready for whatever you have planned.” answered the lead man from the cloudy helicopter.

“We do as well. Even brought extra since you haven’t told us what we are doing for you.” replied the man from the black helicopter.

“Same here, so what is it we are doing?” The man from the forest helicopter asked.

“You gentlemen are going to help me take over a home that was once mine. My enemy took it over while I was away and I have not been able to get access to it since. They also fucked with my head and gave me some kind of drug that I actually don’t even remember where it is. Once my enemies are gone I will be a King!” Aldrich laughed

“Alright then when do we leave?” The man from the cloudy helicopter rolled his eyes in disbelief.

“Today we dine and celebrate. Tomorrow we rest as much as we can and then the hunt will begin.” Aldrich answered. “Come, I had the boys get a ton of food and it is set up over here. I also had them acquire quite a few females and they are in the tents for whatever you want them for.”

The men followed Aldrich to the tables of food that they had set up. The men were unsure of most of the food but tried it anyway. Once the lead men had made plates their group of men came forward and made theirs. They sat around a huge fire that had been started. Out of nowhere some scantily clad woman came forward and started to dance around the fire.

Music was blaring and the drinks were being passed around as the men became more and more carefree. They laughed and joked to the point it seemed that the rivalries were gone. Some men went to their tents early and enjoyed the women that were there for them. Others refused the women and were happy with just drinking alcohol.

Some of the sons segregated themselves from the revelries and sat in their own tent. These were the three men that had captured the other Dragons for their safety and now they were worried about them.

“Do you think they got out?” The first one whispered

“I don’t know.” The second replied in a hushed tone.

“I think it was them that blew the camp.” The third one shrugged

“Jimmy said it was probably a dear. Why do you think it was them?” The second man leaned towards the third and whispered in wonder.

“I just have a feeling it was. Those cages were strong and with us being gone the threats weren’t there to keep them in line. Plus I sort of gave them enough food for a week and told them to try and get out after five days.” The third one shrugged again.

“You did what?” The first one sneered. “Those were going to be our meal tickets after this! That is how he got all the money to fund this shit he is doing. The ones he killed he always made sure to get their names and their money, well the ones he could get. Damnit man, after this was all over we were going to get their money and disappear. Now what the hell do we have?”

“We will figure something out but how the hell are we going to get away? Especially with those men out there who are like trained killers? We need to come up with a plan. We only have tonight and tomorrow then we are loading up and heading to find them.” The second one mumbled.

“Well there is no way to sneak off until he is distracted and the others will kill us if they see us leaving. This is like a no win plan. Our only option may be to jump out of the helicopter and run. That is if we survive after jumping.” The third one whispered

“We will think of something but it is going to have to be a spur of the moment thing.” The first one was saying as another brother walked in the tent.

“What is going to be a spur of the moment thing?” Jimmy sneered at them.

“You didn’t hear everything?” The third one asked. He was the one that was a quick thinker of the three and was now worried they had been caught.

“Nah man just heard spur of the moment kind of thing. So what is it?” Jimmy inquired full of suspicion.

“Oh we were talking about how there are twenty of us missing and Dad was pissed that Mark and his group were some of them. We were just thinking that they are either dead or decided to run, kind of a spur of the moment thing.” The third one gave him and answer he hoped Jimmy would take.

“Nah I heard from the little rat that took over Deirdra’s spot that there was actually a group of them hunting us down. They had to be pretty bad ass to take down Mark and his crew. I mean come on those guys were ruthless. I just hope they got some of them before they went down.” Jimmy remarked

While his sons conversed in their tent Aldrich had gone to his. The celebration had died down and most everyone had scattered to their tents. Aldrich now sat in his tent alone reading over the journal once again. It spoke the same words as it always did to him and told him that he would and should be king. It told him the powers he possessed were the best and strongest ones. The one thing the journal said and stuck the most was that he would win this war. That he would be King in just a short time.

Aldrich fell asleep listening to the words in his mind from the journal. In the morning when the men started to wake the youngest cleaned the mess that was made the night before while all the others cleaned and organized their weapons. Aldrich had asked for them to all be laid out so he could see what they all had.

When Aldrich woke he walked out to the clearing and next to all the helicopters was the weapons laid out before him. He was happy to see loads of different guns along with rocket launchers and grenades. Loads of knives both big and small were among the guns. The forestry colored helicopter also had electronic equipment along with their weapons. He also spotted a couple small remote controlled planes and helicopters among everything else.

He wanted to ask what they were for but he held his tongue for fear that they would think he was stupid or ignorant. Either of those outcomes would make his Dragon surge forth and he couldn’t let them know his secret. Also he would end up killing them and he needed these men. And the fact that he did sent a ripple of anger through his skin, because he hated the fact he needed humans to do what he couldn’t.

Once Aldrich approved the weapons they were loaded back into the helicopters and the men took the rest of the day to exercise and rest. They would be leaving the next morning to find the others. They needed to be well rested and alert.

Chapter 17

Water Ways

Finley and Oliver woke that morning to a beautiful sunny day ahead of them. She of course had taken the chill out of the air and had the sun shine a little brighter. They would be working with her parents and Oliver’s parents at the water this morning and learning everything they could. Finley also felt that time would not be on her side and the fight would be sooner than she liked. After they killed her Maman and Papa she was more determined than ever to stop this man.

Oliver also woke with the same determination. He had lost his parents for seven years and it was that man’s fault. Even though it was his sons who captured them and locked them up, although they were unharmed in that time, they were still taken from him. All the stories that everyone shared shook him to his core. He realized one night that he had actually been very lucky compared to most. He also felt guilty for feeling like he was cursed.

They both got out of bed and showered together. They both put on loose clothing. Finley wore a loose summer dress and Oliver put on some basketball shorts. They headed out of their room and met up with both their parents. They all hugged good morning and headed down to breakfast.

At breakfast there were always scrambled eggs, bacon and sausage along with fresh fruit. Sometimes Mary would make something special to go with it all however this morning there was only cereals placed with carafes of milk. Oliver thought that odd but Mary was also pregnant and he didn’t know how that went. Finley also found it odd but that was what her Papa specialized in and she knew that pregnant women were hormonal. Finley wanted to make sure that Mary was ok.

Finley went to the kitchen to find Mary to ask how she was doing and couldn’t find her anywhere. Finley gave up and thought that Mary must have just slept in that morning. She walked back out and grabbed a small plate of fruit and a bowl of cheerios. She sat next to Oliver at a different table than the night before and had small conversation with the others at the table.

When everyone was done they either headed to the training room or to an area they could train in Dragon form. Finley wanted to check on her animals before training but her father insisted that Niall had it all under control and she could go to them after. She agreed and they walked to the beach. Finley was still shy, so she turned her back to the group and she pulled her dress off. In a few moments she shifted and turned back around. Oliver was not shy at all so he just dropped his shorts and after a few moments he had also shifted.

Since Conner and Delany along with Bristol and Harley had already become proficient in their weapons and also had a lot longer time training in their Dragon form they ran this training session. Conner and Harley also wanted Finley to manipulate the weather wanted her to try to make it just over the beach and to create squalls. That was her duty for an hour while the others did laps fighting the huge and crashing waves. Finley was having fun watching them dive in and out of the waves. She decided to make a huge wall of water right in front of Oliver and then make it crash on him. She did not realize that he had paid really close attention the day before and soon that wall of water was coming towards her.

“Shit!” she screamed and tried to back up as the wave crashed into her. When the hour was up they went over manipulating the water once more. Bristol had instructed, mainly Finley and Oliver, to pull the water to them and create a wall. Then she wanted them to take that wall and throw it was far as they could up the cliff wall.

“Up the cliff?” Finley asked to confirm.

“Yes little fish. If they come on the beach we all know you guys could drown them out and pull them far into the ocean. This scenario is if they are up there. We want you to throw it up and pull them down.” Kendal explained

“Got it.” Finley smiled and started to gather the water.

“This should be fun.” Oliver laughed as he started to gather water. “Hey babe you want to make this together?”

“I do this first time though I want to make sure I can do it all on my own.” Finley replied as she concentrated.

“That makes sense.” He responded a little upset but completely understood her reasoning.

They made their walls and then turned toward the cliff with their back to the wall. Bristol nodded to Finley first and she was able to get hers half way up the cliff. Bristol then nodded to Oliver and his went a litter higher not by much however.

“Guys you can do this, Emery and Marie will you please show them? I know it has been a long time for you guys but I think you can do it.” Bristol asked.

Finley watched her mother as Oliver watched his and as soon as they were ready they all turned to the cliff to watch. Emery was able to get hers to the top unable to get it over the edge though. Marie was only able to get hers a little higher up than Oliver.

“Ok well, Kendal and Julio your turn to try.” Bristol instructed.

The men did the same as their wives and all turned as they went to toss the wave. Julio was able to get his to the edge and Kendal got his over the edge except not enough to take anyone down.

“Ok well looks like we all need to work on this. How about we try to gather more water? Finley let’s have you start and we will go down the line. I think ladies first and afterward you men.” Conner explained.

Finley gathered her water once more although this time the water wall was twice as big and she was determined to get this done. She turned and threw the water as hard as she could in her mind. The water surged out of the ocean and crashed at the edge of the cliff with a small amount going over onto the landing. She screamed in frustration and demanded another try right then and there. Everyone agreed and let her go again.

The weather had changed all of a sudden with her angry mood. So everyone agreed to let her go. On her third try the waves had started to crash and angry lighting was hitting the water. On her fourth try she managed to get the wall over and when it came back there was a tree falling with the water. The storm immediately stopped and the sun broke through the waves calmed and Finley squealed out her excitement jumping up and down. Then insisted they let her go just one more time to see if she could do it again. She succeeded and they all congratulated her when she did it again.

Emery required three tries and Marie required six before she finally got it. Kendal required just two where Oliver and Julio both required five tries before they were successful. They then paired into couples rotating the coupling and worked together to throw over the edge. Once Conner deemed they were good on that front they moved on to creating whirlpools and pushing each other out into the depths of the ocean.

They all trained well beyond lunch until they all felt comfortable with their abilities. Before they split up for the day and once they got to dry land about three miles before the farm Harley asked each one to shift once more into their Dragon. Once they had shifted he grabbed their clothing and handed it to Bristol. She knew exactly what he was going to have them do as it was one of his favorite things. She grabbed the clothing and moved far away from them. Once she was far enough away Harley turned to the Dragons and instructed them to pull as much water as they could to themselves and then to try and pull their mates with the water back to the ocean. When they were done to fly back and change.

Oliver and Finley both roared at each other in laughter and immediately both thought this was going to be more fun than the waves were. Finley flapped her wings and stomped her clawed feet as happiness took over. She stopped her prancing as soon as she noticed Oliver and his stone still body and the water that was quickly coming up the slopped path that they just took up to this landing. In fact everyone was stone still in concentration except for her. Finley froze and started to call the water to her.

The water meshed together in one huge wave as it climbed the slopped path. Everyone dug their claws in the ground getting ready for the huge wave. They all knew they were about to be pulled out to the ocean by the force of the water and were excited about it. They were all determined to make their mates go down first. Julio and Marie were the first to lose their footing with Kendal and Emery following right after. Both sets of parents turned the tide and pulled their children along with them down the path. Once they were all in the ocean they let out a roar then began to flap their wings and splash one another. Harley and Bristol laughed as they watched the three couples play in the water. Conner and Delaney joined in the laughter then shifted and flew down to enjoy in the fun.

The Earth Dragons had also been busy that morning swinging large trees and throwing boulders with a touch and picturing what they wanted to happen in their minds. They had also rolled the valley into ripples that would make any man lose his balance. Once they had all gotten those things where they wanted they moved on to creating large holes and then sealing them up. Everyone had quickly learned that Morgan was best at creating the holes. She was quicker than all of the others. After they had determined each ones strengths they quickly assigned rolls. Quinn and his father Hunter would be the ones that threw the boulders as they both had the stronger mental connection to the rocks. Clover, Paulo and Cassie would swing the trees. Aubry and Brielle would make the ground ripple. Adam, Josiah and Morgan would create the holes to swallow up whichever large objects Aldrich decided to bring.

The Water Dragons met up with the Earth Dragons as they all finished their training and they went into the house using the back door that lead straight into the kitchen. They all made themselves a quick sandwich and talked about their game plans. They quickly learned how they could all work together and came up with a plan, it just all depended on where Aldrich and his men landed. If he appeared in the farming area the Water Dragons all knew they weren’t going to be needed.