"Hi, Miranda. First, I'd like to say it's good to see you up and around. We were worried you wouldn't make it," Nate said. "I'm guessing the heart has finished growing back."
Miranda looked pale, but after seeing the other foxes, I didn't think that was a result of her recent injury. I hadn't gotten close enough to study the hole in her chest, or to even see if there was a hole, but I didn't see any blood seeping through her white sweater.
"It's almost there. Maybe a couple more hours and I think I'll be whole. I have you to thank for that, I'm told," she said to me. I was happy to see she wasn't afraid to look at me. "I want you to know that if you ever need me, I'm there for you. My life is now at your disposal."
I held my hands up like I was trying push her words back to her. "Don't go all crazy on me. With all the males who follow me around vowing to protect me with their lives, I have enough to deal with. I don't need to start having females do the same. Anyway, I couldn't just sit back and watch you die."
"You'll find Avery doesn't always care what the rules of etiquette in the unique world say to do in a given situation," Joseph interceded, evidently on my behalf. "When normally her saving your life would mean you must be with her until your debt is repaid, she calls the debt paid in full by just a thank you."
"I understand she doesn't require it to be paid, but nevertheless I look forward to trying to find a way to even our score," Miranda replied.
I could tell by the conviction in her words that if she didn't do it by the time we were done there, the pups were getting a new play fox. Thankfully, we lived in a mansion.
"Now with the formalities out of the way, I need to ask if Elizabeth was with you wherever you were being held." Nate squeezed my hand as he spoke. We were both anxious to hear the answer.
"Elizabeth? No. she wasn't there. The three others who I've been told are missing were and a couple others I've never met."
I wasn't sure whether to be relieved or worried that she hadn't seen Elizabeth. Did the same person take Elizabeth and somehow dispose of her before getting to the place where the others were held? Did someone else take her? Was she just off doing whatever it was she did when she wasn't home? I had so many questions and I had a feeling none of them were going to be answered.
"Can you take us through what happened to you?" Rick asked.
"Sure. A few weeks ago I was out running in fox form. We've never had problems with traps in the area, so I wasn't even looking when I was surrounded by a net. I tried to get out, but the net was coated in something that made me change back to my human form, leaving me without pointed teeth and claws. After a few hours, a man came by to check the trap and was thrilled to find me in it. He pinned me down and injected me with something. Before I knew it, my body was frozen, so I still had my senses, but I wasn't able to move."
"You were conscious when he took you to his lair?" Rick asked.
"Yes, I was a little loopy, but I know where it is. It isn't that far away, maybe twenty miles out of town. When he took me there, he just threw me in a kennel and left me for days. He'd once a week bring me something to eat. I saw when the others were brought in. They were in the same situation as I was, not being able to move.
"After two days, that ended up wearing off, but we still couldn't shift. Eventually, he shot me with a tranquillizer dart to make me go stiff again. At that point, I was so weak I probably couldn't have even fought him. He hauled me out on a table and carved out my heart in front of the others.
"He never spoke, but once he had the heart in his hand, he threw it on the ground to stomp on it. Nothing has ever been as painful as that moment. When he was done with me, and sure I wouldn't be lasting long, he ended up dragging me back to the place where I was found. I think I was a message of things to come," she finished her speech and started crying.
We all kind of looked at each other, trying to decide who should comfort her, and we came back empty. One of her fox friends should've probably stayed around in case of emergencies. They seemed to know what to do in emotional situations. I thought about offering her some water, since I figured her throat might be a little dry after her story, but I had no idea where the kitchen was.
"I think you should rest up today and finish regaining your strength, but tomorrow we really need to go after this guy. We can't let him kill the others," Nate said. "Avery claims she didn't have any problem helping you, but I don't know how many more times she can do it. We also don't know if he'd leave the others where we could find them."
"I know, and I'll do anything you tell me to, it's just still traumatic for me thinking about it," she replied, trying to wipe the tears from her face.
"I'm very sorry for what you've had to go through. I've been kidnapped a couple times. My worst injuries were only bullet wounds, but I know a big part of the recovery process is getting to the point where you don't feel like a victim," I said, letting my compassionate side kick in a little. "We'll get this guy and I promise there'll be nothing left of him when I'm done. Do you know if he was a unique by any chance?"
"I don't think so, but I don't think he was human either. There was some magic about him. Maybe a warlock, he had a very strong presence of evil," she replied.
To do what he did to her, there was no doubt he was evil, but a warlock was another being that I only knew about from books and television. I couldn't tell if she was using the word figuratively or if warlocks were real things.
I quickly sent Nate the message, "You're going to have to explain it to me later."
He gave me a pat on my thigh to let me know the message was received. Maybe I'd actually get full disclosure on what he told me. Then again, it was Nate, so I'd probably end up with only what he wanted me to know. I was going to have to see if Vinnie could help. He loved it when he could one-up Nate.
"Is there any other information you can give us?" Vinnie asked. "Maybe describe the man's features."
"Sure, he wasn't trying to hide who he was. I assume that's because he didn't expect me to survive. He had chalky white skin, was bald and maybe six foot tall. His eyes were dark brown or black. He wasn't as muscular as any of the men in this room, but he wasn't lacking, because he carried me for quite a ways.
"The only real unique characteristics that I saw were his left ear was full of earrings and he had a scar that went from the corner of his eye to his chin on the right side of his face. It wasn't a thick scar, just like a faint pink line," she informed Vinnie. I could see him already starting to catalog the information, looking for a match. "You know you're pretty cute, what exactly are you?"
I knew with the movie star skin Vinnie would be hit on, and judging by the look on his face he didn't like it. That would teach him to pick someone from the sexist men list.
"Sorry, I don't have a pulse, so any advances are best left for those who do," he said.
Vinnie evidently missed the course on letting the girl down easy. I'd give him props for including the word sorry though. Before Nate came into my life and helped remove the shell I lived in, I wouldn't have bothered doing more than running away if someone tried to hit on me.
Rick started snickering. "I'm pretty sure there's one person in the room who you'd set the pulse issue aside for. I'm not certain how particular things would work out between you, but there are times I want to just sit back and watch."
"Leave him alone, Rick. Just because she didn't hit on you doesn't mean you have to pick on Vinnie," I said.
Vinnie didn't really think of me as a girlfriend, like the guys constantly claimed. He just liked looking after me since I offered him refuge and had a mind that he was able to talk out theories with.
"There's nothing wrong with Rick, I just know he's already a phoenix and you guys tend to stay within your species. I wasn't sure if Vinnie was something that was okay with intermingling," Miranda said, winking at Vinnie.
I was happy to see that the tears had dried up in Miranda's eyes. I was a little confused why we'd taken the turn in the conversation, but if a cute guy could help ta
ke her mind off her regenerating heart, I wasn't going to rain on the parade.
"So you draw robots to you as well?" Joseph asked with a laugh. "I'm starting to wonder how they allow you out of the house each day."
"It isn't what you think. Vinnie was being misused by his creators and when he saw a way out by following me home, he took it. He values my mind, even though no one else seems to understand that."
"Yeah, because all robots call you darling and make you breakfast every morning. One of these days you're going to wake up and see what is right in front of your nose," Rick responded.
"I'm pretty sure all robots get jealous when you spend too much time with your fianc?, too," Nate added.
"He wasn't jealous, just bored. That was before we got his lab all put together so he could work on his improvements. You guys are just jealous because he's smarter than you." I didn't understand why we had to have the same conversation over and over.
"I have to agree with everything Avery has said," Vinnie backed me up, which he always did, unless we were discussing my safety. During those arguments, he was usually all for shackling me to the bed so I couldn't get in trouble.
"Of course you agree with her. Like the rest of us, you don't want her mad at you. We've all seen what happens to people who piss you off," Rick said.
Mr. Chuckles was really getting on my nerves. He was exaggerating about what happened to people who crossed me, but his words deserved my attention. I'd already given my fire demonstration, so I thought it was time for a levitation show. I lifted Rick off the couch until his head came close to the ceiling, and then spun him around, so his head was towards the ground.
"You just lifted me a foot or so above the ground," Kyle said, entering the room with Liam. I had no idea where they came from, or why they were just then joining us. "I hate to know what he did to deserve that."
"He told one too many jokes, so let this be a lesson to you all," I said as I reluctantly put Rick back on the couch. "How are you guys doing today?"
"So far, so good. We haven't found any more of the missing, though," Liam answered.
"Miranda is going to help lead a rescue party tomorrow. We should be able to get back your three missing, but we're still looking for where Elizabeth could be," Nate informed them. I didn't miss the fact that he somehow tightened his already firm grip on me as soon as the berserkers showed up.
"We're going to want to be involved with any rescue attempts, which I'm sure you already realized. We thought we'd come over and check in to see if you guys needed some supplies. With five of you in the house, there can't be a lot of food," Kyle said.
"With three growing boys at home, the food is going to be gone before we know it, so yeah, we probably need to figure something out. I wasn't sure if there was somewhere in town we could go." I replied.
"We don't have anything in town, but Bethel is only about forty miles away, and they have Sammy's Market. We were going to get some supplies ourselves, so we thought we'd be nice and ask if you wanted to tag along. I know you guys are busy working to find your daughter, but it's important up here to keep fueled. At least most of the uniques around here find that important." Liam said.
"Thanks for thinking of us," I said, genuinely happy they were giving us something to do. We hadn't found any clues and aside from going door-to-door asking if anyone knew where Elizabeth was, I wasn't sure what we were going to do. "I haven't seen a lot of vehicles around here; I should probably preface that by saying I haven't had a chance to look around yet. Anyway, how are you planning to get there?"
They both looked at each other and smiled before Kyle said, "Snowmobiles, of course."
I'd gotten a good chunk of memories back, Miranda appeared to be fine, we had a lead on an evil doer, I got to hang Rick by his toes, and I was going to ride on a snowmobile. If we could figure out where Elizabeth was, I would've said the day was turning out to be perfect. It was my life and still early, though, so things were bound to go downhill at some point.
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CHAPTER 10
Dogs come when called; cats take a message and then get back to you