CHAPTER EIGHT
Bo
"It wasn't her." I said, shoving the picture back at Dyson. It was obvious what the others were thinking. "Lauren isn't capable of doing something like this." Trick looked up at me, a certain sadness in his eyes.
"Maybe she isn't, but the thing inside of her…" I walked away, pushing my hair from my face and flat against my head, pacing back and forth. "An eye witness account from a guard said that Laughlin ordered them to throw Lauren in a cell when she snapped, she tore three of them clean apart before placing the Ash on display. The witness had been in the basement for days, not having the nerve to go back to the surface."
"She didn't just kill the Ash, Bo," Dyson said, rifling through the papers on the desk. "She also took this boy from the Ash's compound." I looked at the picture and narrowed my eyes.
It was a six year old boy, skin a warm almond colour, hair as black as night and eyes as blue as the sky. He looked sad, scared even.
I took the picture, looking into the boy's blue eyes in confusion.
"Why would she take a child with her?"
"In his file, it says his name is Tanner Lewis." I blinked
"That's Lauren's last name."
"Allegedly, Lauren's parents adopted him six years ago through a foster care program, one year later, they both died in a car accident, leaving Tanner in Lauren's care."
"So, why did the Ash take him?" That's when the answers stopped coming. Dyson looked at Trick who looked at Hale who looked back at Dyson. "Hey, I asked a question." I growled, feeling an uneasiness seep into the room. Dyson sighed and looked at me.
"He's fae. A Shadow Person."
"Shadow Person?" Trick scooted forward on the couch, hands folded in his lap.
"Shadow People are rare fae, they're thought to be the purest of evil, normally seen as a dark silhouette of a person or just a swirl of black smoke. Most relish tormenting humans, and are usually killed on sight.."
"But the Ash didn't." Dyson shook his head.
"The old Ash had intended to when he found her and the child in her apartment, but Lauren made a deal." I closed my eyes tightly. That must've been what Lauren wanted to tell me. Why she couldn't just leave the Ash's control. Her baby brother was on the line.
"She traded her freedom and medical skills for the life of her sibling." Dyson nodded, taking back the photo. I sat down on the arm of the chair beside Kenzi, who leaned her head against my thigh. I sighed, putting my face in my hands. Every Fae in the world would be after Lauren. Everyone would search for her and they would be thirsting for her blood. How could we protect her from everyone? Especially when we had no idea where she was?
"After what I've done…" Lauren's voice echoed in my mind softly, suddenly making sense. She'd known about it, about what happened to the Ash, about stealing her brother back from him, killing the pompous ass in the process. But even if she had had to kill the Ash, she wouldn't have done to him what was shown in the picture. That was probably the manticore having a little too much fun with revenge. Laughlin had slaughtered her entire pack without a hint of remorse, I couldn't imagine the reaction the monster inside the blonde would've had when it found out.
He'd been staked and torn apart, put on display for the rest of the world.
I shivered.
I couldn't let Dyson or Hale or anyone else know what I knew, that Lauren had been in contact with me. Right now, I was her only friend in the whole world. She protected me by leaving, now I'd have to protect her by keeping my mouth shut.
"So, now we have to find her before the other Fae do?" Dyson looked sombre and I couldn't believe what he said next.
"Bo, Lauren is not someone we can help anymore." I looked at him in shock. What the hell?
He wanted to let her fend for herself?
"Dyson, she didn't do this! It was that thing inside of her!"
"The Fae council won't see it that way. She did it, physical evidence points to it."
"But it wasn't her!" I yelled, standing up, fists clenched by my side. He stood the same time, equally agitated. "You're just going to let Lauren be hunted like an animal because some ancient hard asses won't 'see it that way'?"
"I'm doing things according to our laws, Bo!" He snarled, eyes turning dark "this isn't up to me!"
"You know what Dyson? You're a coward!"
"You're too emotionally involved!"
"I'm sorry I can't be a brick wall all the time!"
"You're not thinking this through!" He said, stepping up so he was towering over me. I didn't back down. "Lauren, the Lauren that we all knew, is long gone now. This kill just proves it!"
"It proves nothing!"
"The sooner you accept that she's gone, the better it will be for everyone!" He grabbed me by the shoulders and looked into my eyes, his gaze begging me to understand "Lauren is gone, Bo!"
I shoved him.
I shoved him hard.
I didn't mean to, it was just a knee jerk reaction. Still, he flew backwards, falling over the table and on his back. Everyone remained quiet for a long time. I felt terrible about it. I just couldn't stand hearing him talk about her like she was dead. She wasn't dead. No way. She had left a message on my phone. She had talked to me.
Still, my eyes burned a bright blue as I stood there, panting as anger swept through me. Dyson picked himself up off the ground, eyes the wolf-like yellow. "That's enough!" Trick yelled, standing up and stepping between us. I looked at him, his wise heir and then to the shifter standing opposite of me. His eyes faded out slowly, a concerned expression remaining in its place.
"Dyson," I said, gathering my self-restraint as Kenzi put her hand on my forearm gently. "If you ever loved me," his eyes softened as he looked at his shoes then back to me, a look of loss in his eyes. "you'll find a way to help Lauren, because right now, she's one of two things I have left in my life." I glanced at Kenzi who gave me a knowing nod "And I won't lose her like I lost you."
Lauren
"Lauren?" Tanner's voice echoed from the shadows of the cave we were in. I was on the ground, my body curled in on itself. I was in agony. I couldn't breathe without rockets of pain shooting through my nerves. My face rubbed against the rough wool blanket we brought with us. I took in a shaky breath as a soft hand touched my cheek gently, Tanner's worried face looking down into my eyes. I swallowed as another tremble shook my frame. "Are you hungry?" He asked, the smell of chicken soup tickling my nose. I gave him a weak smile and nodded slightly.
The six year old lifted my head carefully, touching the rim of the can to my lips, allowing the barely warm broth to trickle into my mouth. I swallowed and he pushed the hair from my face tenderly.
I'd visited Tanner regularly in his holding cell at the Ash's compound, every chance I got. I hadn't been living with my parents when they adopted him, but I loved him like a brother the first time I held him when he was a baby.
I killed the Ash. I'll admit it.
I went to ask him for my brother back, saying that I was going to cut my loses and run for it. I knew he wouldn't take too kindly to me running from him and then coming back to get something.
"Ash," I said, swallowing hard as the guards around me began closing in slowly. Each of their footsteps echoed loud enough for me to hear each shift of weight, each slow breath. He glared down at me, the placid expression on his face just barely masking his outrage. "I know that what I'd done at the Dall had been inappropriate, but I felt that it was the only way to keep everyone safe."
"Then why have you returned?" He asked, already knowing the answer, just liking the way I was squirming like a worm under his gaze. "If staying away was…safer for everyone."
"I…I came back for my brother, Tanner Lewis, the Shadow Person you have in your hold." I said in a wavering voice. He pretended to think about it for a moment, the sick bastard, before he looked at me again.
"And why would I give you back part of my rare collection?"
"Because the old Ash took him to protect him in exchange for my servitude. And now I think it's better for the both of us if I take him now and protect him myself."
"What makes you think I care?" He asked, leaning forwards, a perverse smirk on his lips.
"Please, Ash," I begged him "what happened to me is starting to wear me down. I just need to know that Tanner will be somewhere where I can know he's okay."
"What makes you think he's not safe here?"
"Ash—"
"I have a compromise for you," he said, leaning back in his chair "why don't you join him in his holding cell?" Three extremely strong sets of hands grasped my arms and my neck from behind. "That way, I get a new pet, and you get to keep an eye on the Shadow Child. Win-win."
"Ash! Ash please! I don't want to hurt anyone else!" Provoking me like this was a sick game for him. He wanted me captured, sure, but he wanted me to shift, he wanted to make himself feel like he was in control of both me and the monster inside. He smiled disgustingly as I fought both the guards and the beast from gaining control.
"Then don't, Dear Doctor. Just submit, or we'll promptly put you down like the rest of those beasts." I stopped fighting, my heart giving one agonizing pound after another.
The rest of them?
I looked up at him, half way turned around towards the dungeon, my body hunched forwards as I pushed back against the hands carrying me. The guards froze as well.
"That's right, Pet," He said, standing up, looming down over me. "You're 'family' was burned down with that horrible warehouse early this morning.
"You…you killed them?"
"Very good doctor, it seems that creature in you hasn't affected your mind set, which is rea—" I broke my arm free of the hand that held it and snapped it out, grabbing the ankle of the Fae to my left, ripping his foot out from under him. He fell to the ground hard, head snapping against the ground. I kicked my leg out back at the guard directly behind me, catching him in the stomach and sending him flying into the wall on the far side of the room. I grabbed the remaining man's shirt and flipped him over my body, tossing him across the room.
I remember looking into the Ash's eyes and taking a step forwards.
That's when I blacked out.
Next thing I knew I was running out of the compound, a half-awake Tanner clutched in my arms.
"Maybe we should get you to a doctor." He said quietly and I shook my head.
"I told you, Tanner. We can't. We can't trust anyone right now."
"But you're sick. Real, real sick."
"I'm not sick, Tanner." I said softly, feeling his fingers pull through my hair and his tiny forehead rest against my temple. "I'm just…" I shook my head and pushed myself up, barely strong enough to get my torso off the ground. "Help me up, will you?" His small hands grasped my forearm and pulled, helping me to my feet. He held my hand as I slowly made my way over to the other side of the cave, where I'd packed and placed a backpack for him. He watched my feet as I limped over to it, helping me to my knees as I pulled the pack to me. "see this?" I asked him, holding the bag up. He nodded. "This is your very own survival pack." He cocked his head at me
"Survival pack?"
"Yes. See, if the guards come from your castle," I'd told him that the well equip cell he was in was his castle room. It was easier for him to grow up thinking he was a well protected and loved prince than a prisoner. It was easier for me to see him smile than to see him scared. "Or I tell you to, you take this and you run." He blinked at me
"Where?"
"Anywhere as fast as you can. No matter what, you keep moving, okay?"
"Why?" I pushed the messy strands of long hair from his face.
"You know, sometimes it's better to just do what you're told, like right now." I said it ask kindly as I could. I couldn't explain this to him. Not in a way that he'd understand. Mind you, I doubt if you said to someone 'Oh, I've had my DNA fused with a mythological creature's and now I might kill you if I get provoked in some way, so it's probably best if you run when you see me lose my mind' they would believe you in the first place. Besides, I couldn't tell him that I killed the leader of the light fae. I couldn't tell him that I'd killed more before then.
I was all he had.
I couldn't watch him be terrified of me.
"But what about you?" He asked, tiny fingers clutching the bag. "What if they come after you?" I shook my head, forcing a smile.
"You might not believe this, Tanny," I said, rubbing some dirt from his face "but I'm a pretty good fighter. I can handle myself."
"I could fight with you!" He said, suddenly excited "I could shadow 'em!" his hand dissolved into wisps of black smoke. "We could be super heroes! Like Batman and Robin!" I shook my head again, grasping his forearm gently, careful to keep away from the shadow.
"Tanner, no. I don't want you getting mixed up in this. Just listen to me when I tell you to do something, and we'll be okay." They would hurt him if they knew what he was. They'd take him back to the compound and chain him up, or worse. I couldn't let them do that to him.
I'd die first.
"What about that lady you called after you came to get me?" I sighed, he wiped the sweat from my head with him hand. "She can help us, can't she?"
"I can't call her again. It would be putting her in trouble too." He sighed, mimicking me and plopping down on the ground next to me.
"Are you gonna marry her?" I nearly spat out the soup in my mouth. Instead, I proceeded to choke on it.
"What?"
"That Bo girl, are you gonna marry her?" I stared at him for a moment and couldn't help but laugh, pulling him into me and kissing the top of his head, though my body screamed for me to curl back up on the blanket and sleep for eternity.
"I love you, you know that?"
"I love you too, Lo-Lo."
Wow, I'm getting fast with these updates, managed to write this before school, GO me!
I was kind of hoping that, during last night's episode, Lauren would've snapped and gone all manticore, even if that doesn't make any sense with the storyline whatsoever.
But, ya know, that's just me.
Reviews are like your heart, you should only give them to people you really care about…which means you've gotta give them all to me. Like, all of them.