The Haret (The Haret Series) (11 page)

             
Felicitas gently closed the cover. The room fell silent except for the snapping and crackling of the small fire. The story brought peace but on the other hand frightened her terribly. The legend may have confirmed her pregnancy experience but gave no instruction past that. According to the story Raine should be here; so why wasn’t he? And still it did not answer the stirring question of her whereabouts for an entire week. There were so many unanswered questions. Rosie was the first to offer a bit of hope.

             
“Grant believes he is the prophesied guardian. I tend to agree with him.”

             
David let out a soft chuckle that did not go unheard by Felicitas; however, she chose to ignore it.

“So what’s next?”

“You’re seriously not buying into all this are you Taz?” David was still laughing. “This is insane. It’s an old fairy tale, folklore, some stupid legend and you guys are discussing it like its real!”

             
“Look boy,” Grant eyed David. “Mock all you want but you’ve been led here too and you’re marked whether you like it or not.”

             
David leaned his head back against the sofa and laughed. “Marked, marked for what?

             
“Death.”

             
David continued to laugh.

             
“I do applaud you for your efforts but come on…you seriously think you can pull this off? People aren’t stupid Taz, they’re not gonna buy this. Just admit that you‘ve been having a secret rendezvous. We all know about your nocturnal escapades, come on you’re human, it‘s normal.”

             
“What do you mean everybody knows? Only the police and my family know about my journal.”

             
“No way, not anymore. Ian made a copy for himself. Said he was out to find the perv who seduced and drugged his girl. He said if the cops weren’t going to do anything about it he would take matters in his own hands. He was interviewed last night at the candlelight vigil and showed the reporter the whole thing. Sorry Taz but it’s kind of been on the news all day.”

             
Felicitas jumped from the sofa and headed for the door. She needed air; the room had suddenly become small and claustrophobic. David’s words more than humiliated her. They angered her. Why would Ian do such a thing before talking with her first? He had yet to hear her side of the story. Did he do it just to save his own ego and to disgrace her because he thought she had cheated on him? For a fleeting moment her thoughts tormented her. Everyone would know her private thoughts and intimate moments? Her stomach churned, she felt as if she would vomit. 

             
The cold October air hit her face and brought some sense of calm. She didn’t know why she took to running down the small path or where she was going. She simply felt the need to run. She sprinted around the corner arriving behind the diner. It was dark and empty now. David’s’ truck was the only vehicle left in the parking lot. She stopped for a moment to catch her breath, her lungs burning from inhaling the frigid air.

             
“Damn girl you run track or something? Where you headed off to?”

             
Felicitas leaned against the railing of the steps and panted. Tears burned at her eyes.

             
“I can’t believe he did that? Why?”

             
Grant sat on the porch steps and pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket but before lighting up he remembered Felicitas pregnant state and placed the pack back in his shirt.

             
“Damn it.” he muttered. “He’s hurt and getting’ some revenge. You never gave yourself to him and then he finds out you’ve been with someone else. Some guys will do anything to protect their egos. Love quickly turns to hate. Besides, why do you care; I thought you were in love with someone from your dreams?”

             
Felicitas set down on the steps next to Grant. Her mind spinning, grasping for any possible piece of sanity she could pull from this new revelation. She didn’t want to give credibility to what Grant was saying. Ian was a nice guy and had told her more than once how much he loved her. He wrote her cheesy love songs, quoted poetry, cried at sad movies and tries wearing guy liner ever now and then. She couldn’t see him intentionally humiliating her. She guessed it was his way to deal with it, protecting his ego, making it look like she had been drugged and taken advantage of so no one would think she preferred someone else over him.

             
“Well?” Grant pressed the matter. Are you or not?”

             
“Am I what?”

             
“Are you in love with your dream man or not?”

             
“When I am asleep yes. That’s when he is real and everything makes sense, but then after I wake up it begins to fade and it’s sketchy and I can barely remember it. Then it becomes a dream, a great dream but a dream none the less.”

             
“But you’re pregnant and the baby inside of you is real and you’re not dreaming about that.”

             
She shuddered.

             
“I don’t know what to think. I am a victim in this whole ordeal. The dreams came to me and now I am pregnant and homeless and this amazing dream guy named Raine is nowhere around to help and the one guy on earth who said he loved me just allowed me to be publicly humiliated and right now I feel sick inside and I don’t want to think or talk about this any longer. I am exhausted, freezing and now publicly degraded.”

             
Grant’s lips curled into a sympathetic smile then he suggested they

head back to the house, saying he wasn’t too keen on being out so late after dark anyway. Then he mumbled something about not wanting an altercation with the shadows. The statement caused a chill to pass through her and she was curious as to what he meant but decided to ask him about it tomorrow. She had no desire to hear anything else tonight. She feared her mind wouldn’t be able to handle it.

              When they got back to the house David looked a bit sheepish and apologized to Felicitas for his insensitivity in blurting out the whole story like he did. She accepted his apology then suggested they both get a good night’s rest because things always looked better in the morning light. David agreed but thought he’d sleep much better in his own bed and if she was sure she’d be okay he’d head on home.

             
Felicitas agreed knowing the night had been a bit awkward for him. Before he left she made him promise not to tell anyone where she was, especially her dad. 

             
Grant volunteered to escort David to his truck. Felicitas figured he was re- enforcing the command for him not to reveal her whereabouts.

             
Rosie showed Felicitas upstairs to her room. It was quaint, country and comfortable but nothing like her familiar room at home. She sighed, a thousand thoughts raced through her head as she lay staring out the open window in to the midnight sky. But, she chose not to dwell on any of them. It took less than six seconds after sinking into the soft feather mattress for her to fall into a deep sleep.

             
Grant stood on the back porch and lit the cigarette he intended to smoke earlier. He took in a long draw as his eyes searched the woods behind the house.  He knew they were coming. Tonight would be a long night.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

              It wasn’t hard for David to stay awake on the long drive home. He cranked up his music and sped down the interstate thrilled to be fleeing the bizarre place where he had spent the past several hours. He hesitated to leave Felicitas but she seemed convinced it was where she should be. He always knew her to be a stubborn girl, adamant about what she believed; never wavering. She was a dreamer with a huge imagination and after tonight he couldn’t fault her for it, she came by it naturally. He had never met a woman like Rosie or a man like Grant for that matter. David found himself laughing out loud at two grown adults who would put such faith in an old fairy tale and actually believe they were part of the story.

             
It was nearly two in the morning when he pulled his old beater into his gravel driveway parking it where he always did, in the grass lot beside the old shed. Even though he told his mother he would be sleeping at Danny’s he decided to come on home. He’d sneak in the back through the kitchen so not to wake her as he did all the times he stayed out after curfew.

             
“Where ya been?”

             
David whirled around surprised to see a familiar figure standing in the doorway of the old shed.

             
“Shit! What are you doing here?”

             
The familiar figure stepped out of the shadows and into the glow of the moonlight; the chilling look in their eyes didn’t set right with David.

             
“Where were you?” Even the sound of their voice was foreign. David took a step backward.

             
“Just out… ya know, hanging out with Danny.”

             
They grinned and stepped in a bit closer.

             
“Saw Danny a while ago… said he hadn’t seen you all night. Said you were someplace you didn’t want your mom or anyone else knowing. Where were you?”

             
David dismissed the inquiry and headed for the back door.

             
“Where I spend my time is none of your business.”

             
“Maybe not but my friends think it’s their business and they‘d like to know.”

             
On the heel of their words three more figures darted out of the shed; moving quickly, surrounding David.

             
He drew back at their presence. He had never seen them before. They weren’t any friends he regularly hung out with.  These guys; for what David could see of them standing in the shadows, were much older, muscular, toned, and well groomed. 

             
David knew he was close enough to his truck to dive for the door and retrieve the bat he kept behind the seat. He backed away from the threat inching his way closer to the ole rattletrap.

             
“Where did you take Taz?” The voice was accusing.

             
David didn’t answer. He lunged for his truck and grabbed the bat but before he could take a swing he crumbled over from a blow to his lower back causing him to lose his grip on his weapon. Strong hands grabbed the collar of his jacket and forced him against the side of the truck. One of the men reached into David’s jacket, pulled out the cell phone and tossed it to the figure who took a quick glance at the call history and grinned.

             
“Looks like you did talk to Taz today and looking at the time of her call it was right after she ran away. Could it be she called you so you could drive her somewhere?”

             
“She asked but I couldn’t. Besides I didn’t want to get involved.”

             
The deceiver laughed. “You, refusing to get involved with Felicitas? Now that‘s entirely abstruse. Everyone knows you’ve been in love with her your entire life. Why I believe you’d do anything for her; even lie as to her whereabouts.”

             
David had never heard his friend speak so properly, the choice of words, the voice, the actions were all foreign. Fear began to manifest as well as realization.

             
“Where is she?” The sadistic voice caused David’s blood to run cold.

             
He gave a swift kick into the legs of the brute that had him pinned against the truck but recoiled at the exploding pain, his attackers feet seemed to be made of iron. The man with the bat stepped forward and swung it hard against David’s knees sending him sprawling to the ground in agony. Another man grabbed him by his hair and pulled him back to his feet before hammering his fist in his jaw. Blood filled his mouth and oozed between his busted lips. His heart accelerated as panic set in.  He had only been in a few scuffles as a kid and only one serious fight in junior high. The experience was nothing like this. These men were serious. A seed of dread began to take root.

             
The bitter taste of copper permeated in his mouth. He spit, intentionally spraying blood in the brutes face. The man retaliated forcing another powerful blow in David’s gut, doubling him over and sending him to the ground again. David lay in the dew soaked grass gasping for air. Tears of anger stung in his eyes as he felt a swift kick to the side of his face, cracking his jaw and dislocating his nose.  A loud ringing vibrated in his head and in spite of his blurred vision he could see the deceiver’s feet walking toward him.

             
“Pick him up.”

             
One of the men obeyed and grabbed David by his collar pulling him to his feet holding him in place.

             
“Let’s try this again.” The voice was cold, emotionless.

             
“Tell me where Felicitas is and I won’t send my friends in after your mother.”               David spit again, this time the blood sprayed across the deceiver’s face.

             
“Go to Hell.”

             
The deceiver wiped the blood from their face and smirked. A click of their mouth and a nod toward the house signaled the man with the bat to the back door.

             
David grew sick. Anger raged inside of him. The person standing in front of him was cold-blooded, heartless. They had no conscience; neither did the men who stood with them. They were going to kill him and his mother if he didn’t co- operate.

             
“Okay,” he gasped.

             
The deceiver smiled and motioned the thug back. 

             
“Good choice.”

             
The man holding David threw him inside the truck then slid in to the driver’s seat pushing David to the middle. Deceiver rode in the passenger seat pinning David between them. The other two men climbed in the back.

             
They drove about a mile before pulling over so the two men could jump from the bed and mount motorcycles hidden within the trees. They pulled onto the road following the jalopy. Once they were back in route the deceiver resumed the manic plan.

             
“So David I need you to fill me in so there will be no surprises when we arrive. I am guessing Taz is with her grandmother Rosie am I right?”

             
David nodded weakly. His head throbbed with the slightest move.

             
“Is there a man with them? A country fellow in his early forties? Unshaven?

             
He nodded again.

             
The figure opened David’s phone.

             
“Let’s send a text shall we? And to whom shall we send it? I’d guess Taz’s annoying and overly opinionated friend Esther would be a good first choice.”

             
They pressed the keys while verbally speaking the message they were preparing to send.

             
“Essie your friend has flown the coup again. She asked me to drive her to her grandmothers. The lady is wacked! There’s a man there too. I don’t trust him. I think he’s the one she’s been seeing. He’s bad news if you ask me he has Taz under his control. If Taz is your friend better get some help out there ASAP. I had to leave her but don’t feel good about it. Call me tomorrow when you get this.”

             
An alarm signaled the message was sent.

             
“Let’s send one more. Her heart broken boyfriend Ian, whom she betrayed will be the recipient of this one.”

             
Again the deceiver spoke the text as they typed.

             
“Ian your girlfriend needs some serious help. She ran off again tonight. I took her to her grandmothers. If you can, try and get her out of there. They’re crazy. They have convinced her she is part of some crazy fairy tale. There is a weird man staying there. I don’t trust him. I think he is the one she’s been seeing. I think he’s using some kind of drugs on her. He acts suspicious of me ‘cause I don’t believe his crazy legend. He already threatened me once saying I was marked for death whatever that means. I think he is following me. I’m a bit freaked out right now. Call me.”

             
The deceiver sent the text and placed the phone back in David’s pocket.

             
The small seed of dread turned to full grown terror. There was only one reason this deceiver would be covering their bases with a text; they planned on killing him and pinning the blame on Grant. David’s mind searched for a way to escape. He mulled over every possibility but considering his weakened state and the three monsters with the deceiver, any chance of surviving seemed hopeless. For the first time he felt like crying.

             
The driver pulled the truck into the lot of the diner.

             
David pointed out the windshield; his hand trembling as he slurred his words.

             
“You can take the gravel road on the left side or there’s a path in the back that leads to the house.”

             
“Check it out.” Deceiver commanded.

             
The driver disappeared behind the café and into the darkness.

             
David laughed inwardly choking on the blood pooling in his mouth.

             
“Their story’s real…Felicitas is telling the truth, she did get pregnant in a dream.”

             
Deceiver said nothing while staring defiantly out into the darkness.

             
David hugged his throbbing stomach and continued.

             
“I should have believed her. She’s the epitome of everything pure and good. You‘re nothing like her.”

             
The deceiver mocked. “You don’t have a clue as to who I really am. Do you?  I could care less about Felicitas. I only want one thing from her and your death will help me get it. Once every one hears that her insane scheme got you killed then she will lose all credibility. Her damn guardian will be arrested for murder and sex with a minor and then will be taken far away from her. Of course I will be there to console and support her through her pregnancy and as soon as her baby is born I will kill her and the little bastard.”

             
David leaned his head against the seat and wanted to sob but dared not do it in front of the deceiver. Grant was right; he had been marked and he was going to die, it would take nothing short of a miracle to get him out of this. If only he had stayed at Rosie’s and believed their harebrained story. Felicitas had never lied to him before. He should have trusted in who she was. Now he had led the enemy right to her. He thought of his mother and how for years it had been just him and her living alone out in the country, struggling without the support of a father but managing and always looking forward to a better day. Tears stung at his eyes when he thought of his mother and how she came to every one of his games and how proud she was of him. He hoped the pain of his death wouldn’t destroy her. He closed his eyes and offered up a small plea to God to either help him out of this terrible ordeal or at least take his soul to heaven.   

             
The driver returned with a nod of affirmation. He turned the truck around and headed back about a mile before pulling off the road and driving another half mile across the rugged terrain. Deceiver patted David on the back as the truck came to a stop.

             
“You’ve been a tremendous help. I’m sure Taz would be proud.”

They jumped from the truck and climbed on one of the motorcycles and waited. The driver pulled a gun from his jacket. A deafening blast. The smell of burning powder. David felt cold. He fell back on the seat and stared at the stars through the open window. They were beautiful. The throbbing in his body seemed to lessen along with the terror that had been present. He felt his swollen lip curl into a crooked smile as a strange peace began to flood his mind. An animalistic hiss roared from the man followed by extreme heat and the shattering of glass. Then the sound of motorcycles driving off into the distance. Thick smoke billowed into the cab as flames licked at the windows.