Rylan's Heart (3 page)

She walked into the bed and breakfast looking for signs of life. Victor and Selma were absent and so were Cal and Paige as well as everyone else. There were times it felt like a mad house, all of them together laughing, and other times it felt like a ghost zone with not even the squeak of an animal around.

She walked into the living room, took off her coat, and sat on the couch. There was a large widow behind it. She could look out and see Vick’s snow woman. The Christmas tree that used to sit in the corner was gone. Selma had replaced it with a comfortable chair and a tall lamp for reading. There was a love seat on a different wall and several other chairs facing each other. More than enough seating for everyone in the bed and breakfast to be in this room together.

With a long look at Rylan, she fidgeted on the couch fighting her instinct to isolate herself by sitting in the chair. He sat beside her.

“Rylan, tell me what’s happening.”

“That was a Sudir. It was the same type of being that took Vick and that Vick was protecting Mckayla against. It is the reason I wanted you both to stay here where you would be protected.”

She held up a finger then she put her head between her legs and tried to breath. Finally, she sat up, shook her head, and leaned back over. Coming up more slowly this time she locked eyes with Rylan.

“Tell me I’m dreaming or that this is a sick joke.”

“What you saw was real.”

“How could a being, even if it was an alien, live with four legs and a head full of eyes?”

“Because it was caught in its own weapon blast and mutated like my people did.”

“Not hearing this.”

“You better hear this because your life and Mckayla’s life depends on what I am telling you.”

“Why now?”

“Because you’re strong enough to want to leave. That means you’re strong enough to fight.”

“Not sure I agree with your line of reasoning but it’s done now. What do I do? Say an incantation, carry Sudir repellant? How do I keep myself safe?”

“You develop the talents inside of you.”

“Talents? Like the talent to play guitar or write music?”

“Like the talent to kill to protect what you love.”

“Isn’t that called murder?”

“It’s called self-defense.”

“What about Mckayla? How does she protect herself?”

“The necklace Vick gave her to wear will protect her. Her own natural talent will also help to protect her. Where is Mckayla’s father?” Rylan walked to the wall to look at a picture Victor painted for the room.

Aviana shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know where he is.”

“It’s not like his kind to let a child, especially a girl child grow up alone.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Mckayla isn’t alone, she has me. As far as her father, men walk out on their children every day.” Not that she had a choice with Mckayla’s father since it happened against her will.

“You think her father is human?”

Aviana gave him a ‘Duh what else would he be’ with her eyes.

“I don’t think Mckayla’s father is really your responsibility.”

“We’ll deal with Mckayla’s father later; she is safe for now.”

“So then the only one in danger is me. I will just take her and go to a different part of the country. One where it can’t find me.” The thought of calling that thing she saw today a man or even a male made her nauseous.

“What about when another Sudir finds you or something else finds you and you have no knowledge of how to fight against it? Do you think it will just stop at killing you or maybe it would prefer a two for one special and kill Mckayla as well? Who will be there to help you then?”

“This can’t be happening. We were living a safe normal life, it was a little hard, but that’s to be expected. Then you came along. Now were in danger and the world is filled with monsters”

“The world has always been filled with monsters, and you were never safe. You’re simply more aware of the danger now. It’s still your choice and you can run or you can fight.”

He got up and left the room, allowing her time to decide on a course of action.

Run is what her parents thought she would do. Faced with losing her cushy home, her bedroom, and a table full of food, they thought she would run to the adoption agency and give Mckayla away. She was never mistaken for a fighter, spending way too much time in her books and pursuit of the best education possible. She graduated second in her school. She missed straight A’s all four years of high school by getting one C when her father was sick and they thought he might die.

He never let her live it down either. He pointed out that’s why she graduated second and not first. He held her back and made her go to community college for two years as punishment. That’s why she wasn’t on the campus of Princeton when the incident happened. It’s also why she never got to step a foot on the campus, not even for a road trip.

But instead of going to the adoption agency, she straightened her spine and asked how much time she had before she needed to leave. Her father gave her a week. She was packed and prepared in that time. It wasn’t easy. They moved with the help of a cab and the cab driver wasn’t happy when she walked out with a baby in her arms and a suitcase. She had three more of them in the house. He at least did what her parents didn’t do. He helped her. Their first place was an efficiency and not a nice one. She did a good job even if she said so herself, she took care of herself and Mckayla. Her daughter didn’t want for anything.

Moving wouldn’t be fair to Mckayla, always picking up and running scared because some alien had found them. She would have to learn to fight. Standing, she moved towards the kitchen following Rylan.

“Did you come to a decision?” he asked when she came in and plopped down into a chair.

“Yeah. Turns out I’m not the running type. I won’t let some alien or anything else push me out of my home if I don’t want to go. Also, I won’t subject Mckayla to a life of running.

He nodded his head. “I never thought you were the running type.”

She leaned her head back with closed eyes. His body was burning a hole through her brain. His was tall, the kind of height that made her think of climbing him. His body was muscular; she could still see that jacket she gave him clinging to his chest and arms.

He looked like he could protect her and Mckayla from whatever alien was coming their way. She used to dream about finding a male like him before her life went down the drain. Thick arms to hold her, muscular legs for her to explore. Mentally quick with a wicked sense of humor. She dreamed of a man like Rylan when her head wasn’t stuck in a book.

Books were a luxury now. Sometimes when they were flush, she would stash money so she could buy a textbook and continue to study when Mckayla was asleep. Those times were rare and from the looks of things would soon become nonexistent. Thoughts of Princeton were a dream that haunted her. Becoming the CEO of her own company was no longer a viable option for her.

A tear slid down her cheek, she wiped it away roughly. She wouldn’t cry. All that mattered now was keeping Mckayla safe.

“Tell me what I need to do?”

“You learn to embrace who you are, but that won’t happen overnight. It takes time and practice. Until then, I protect you.”

“Wish I could say lucky you.”

*~*~*~*

He stood and leaned over her, whispering in her ear. “Then maybe I’ll say you’re the lucky one.”

Her eyes hardened, the look of sadness dissipating.

That’s better. Her sad eyes tore at his heart threatening to break through the ice surrounding him. She was the first woman he met who had this effect on him and he wasn’t happy.

He liked living in his own world with a chasm of no emotions between him and those around him. With a single tear, she made him want to throw down a draw bridge and bring her over to his side.

If he brought her over, he’d have to bring Mckayla. His lips twitched trying to stretch into a smile that he fought. She was witty and beautiful in her little girl way. Talking to her made him want to protect her, beat off the suitors that would come to her door one day.

Watching a Disney movie with her made him want to see her work her own talents and gifts. He shook himself.

Aviana came with a ready-made family. What scared him was that he didn’t want to run away from it. They deserved more than him.

“Tomorrow we will start. Stay close to Selma when you go pick up Mckayla today.”

He turned and walked out. Gabe met him at the door.

It was like looking into a mirror. Gabe looked just like him minus the attitude. But then Gabe hadn’t gone through the hell he went through.

“Where are you going?” his brother asked him.

“Out.”

“Out is my favorite place to go.”

Rylan ignored him and exited the house. Gabe wouldn’t stay inside just because he told him to. No, his brother always seemed to know where he was now a days. A talent he developed as a child.

“Was that Aviana in the kitchen?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“I’m not trespassing on your mate, Rylan. I just wanted to know if she was ok.”

“She’s not my mate and no she’s not all right. She went job hunting and ran into a Sudir at the new hotel in town.”

Gabe popped a claw on his finger.

“You’re not invited to the fight.”

“Since when has the lack of an invitation ever stopped me?”

They walked in silence until the new building came into view.

“He has a receptionist in there and maybe other employees. All we can do right now is issue a warning.”

Gabe nodded and followed Rylan into the hotel.

Rylan took a deep breath letting all the different scents come to him. He wanted to fight. Sudir’s were the hardest enemy to kill. Having killed one, he knew. Getting into a fight with one when you weren’t ready was a death sentence. He didn’t plan to kill this one, not yet, he had too many levels of protection around him. But he did want to test him out to see who was stronger—this new Sudir or Zuhun, because those two would fight for territory and only one would win.

“Welcome back, I’ve been waiting for you,” the Sudir said.

“How remiss of me to keep you waiting.”

“Don’t worry about it. You are here now and you brought me extra dessert. How can I be mad at you? In case you are wondering, I sent the staff home for the day. I wanted to entertain alone, you understand.”

Rylan felt Peter’s power crawl up his skin like a million ants. The creepy feeling wrapped around him holding him in place. He cut his eyes to Gabe to see the same happening to him.

“Two for the price of one; how delightful.”

“Don’t get too greedy, we may give you indigestion.” Gabe’s voice came out thick.

Rylan let Peter’s power sink into him feeling the sting and the bite. He wasn’t as strong as Zuhun. He sighed; his true enemy would take care of this pretender, but not without a parting gift from him and Gabe.

“Now!” Rylan commanded.

He built a white light within his body. At first it was just a flicker. It sat in his heart like a small flame. With concentration, he blew on it encouraging the light to grow. It separated and became two flames, then three, multiplying until the flames were touching, they converged into one large flame.

His body was consumed in fire; it danced through him and over him in a deadly rythm. He nodded his head to Gabe who was doing the same, then pushed. The flame shot away from his body like a huge boulder rolling down a hill picking up momentum as it went. His flame merged with Gabe’s before it hit the Sudir.

There was a high pitched screeching from the Sudir as his body burned from the inside out. He was consumed in something he should have been able to stop. Rylan watched in satisfaction as a threat to Aviana died at his feet.

The cleanup of the body had taken a while. Rylan and Gabe made a controlled fire with their hands using it to burn the body to a crisp on the outside like their flame, which had destroyed Peter on the inside. When done there was nothing left but ashes, a quick sweep of the floor disposed of any remaining bits.

“What happens when Peter doesn’t show up tomorrow?” Gabe asked Rylan.

“Zuhun sweeps in and takes over his operation.”

“Out of the frying pan?”

“It wouldn’t have mattered. Zuhun is the one in control here. Unfortunately, we just made Zuhun’s life easier by taking care of Peter. But we also saved Aviana the trouble of being scared to death by Peter.”

“We also saved you from tapping into the dark side you carry,” Gabe said, following Rylan out the door. “What happens to the employees?”

“They live. Zuhun will not mess with anyone working here. He’s a true hunter; he won’t hunt where he works or sleeps.”

Gabe nodded and kept walking. “What will you do about Aviana?”

This was the reason he liked to spend time apart from Gabe. He was like a dog digging up a bone; nothing stopped him until he was done.

“Gabe.” The warning tone in his voice should have been enough.

“I was just wondering if you were planning on leaving her.”

Leave Aviana? His heart hurt at the thought. Her brown eyes swam before him and her mouth so soft with her slightly thicker bottom lip he wanted to nibble on. The soft red lipstick she wore enticed him to taste.

He wasn’t leaving. His Matra would shred him from the inside out if he tried, but there was more. She calmed his dark side, the side of him that suffered torment from the years at Xolon’s hands and it made him think it was ok to interact, to feel.
You’ll never be good enough for her.
He knew it, but around her it didn’t matter what he knew, just what he felt.

“Go away, Gabe,” he said as the bed and breakfast finally came into view. His long legs ate up the rest of the distance.

Gabe followed, and once inside, Rylan watched as Gabe took the steps upstairs two at a time. Rylan went back to the living room where he sat with Aviana earlier. Zuhun needed to die, it was the only way he could leave her and he needed to leave her before his heart was compromised.