Catalyst

  She was going to kiss him, I could see it in her eyes. But as she raised up to meet him, she peeked over his shoulder and saw us coming. She ducked back and smothered her face in his chest again.

  Dang. I felt bad for ruining his moment, but go Ryan!

  Daniel made a noise to get my attention. I realized we'd almost slowed to a crawl while I was being nosy. He followed me, but then stopped. His eyes went black again. He rubbed them as if he knew they had but didn't understand it. Then he stopped dead and looked at me with an odd expression.

  "They are here."

  "Who? What-"

  "My brothers. Go. Hide everyone in a back room."

  "Daniel," I said in sudden hysterics at his implication. "What are you going to do?"

  "I will hold them off. My eyes…" he drifted off and Lillian made her way swiftly to us. "The others won't be able to tell something is different with me. I'll send them off, they won't know you're here."

  "You're putting yourself up for bait?" she asked.

  "No. I am one of them as far as they are concerned. I'll tell them I already assessed the place. That it is clean and there is no need to stay further. I'll get them to go away."

  "You're putting yourself in danger," she argued.

  "I am a Lighter, Lillian," he said harshly. It was the first time I'd heard him get upset and speak anything but softly. "I am what they are. I have been for thousands of years." He grit his teeth and gripped her arm gently, in complete contrast to each other. "Please go in the back room. If you are safe then it doesn't matter what happens to me."

  "What if they kill you? What if they find out about you?"

  "It'll be worth it."

  "No, it won't."

  He pulled her close, his nose almost touching hers. He closed his eyes and put an arm around her waist to pull her to him. He inhaled deeply and intimately from her neck, his nose skimming the skin. He whispered anguished words to her.

  "You are the thing that brought me out of the darkness. Please don’t take that away from me. I have no idea why your spell is so strong on me, but I wouldn't change it. Please, go to the safe place with the rest of them and let me do what I was made to do." He pulled back a little and I sucked in a breath - so did she - when he kissed her cheek. "I kill things and deceive. I always have and I'll do it now, for you. Go."

  "Be, careful. Please." She gripped his shirt. "Brave and stupid are sometimes the same thing. Do you understand?"

  "Yes. Go."

  She stumbled to me and let me tow her. I yelled for Max and Ryan and gave them a quick run through. They met him at the stairs. I pushed Lillian to the back hallway, towards the stock room, and ran to get Lily out of bed. When I came back through the commons rooms with her still sleeping in my arms, Ryan, Kathy and Max were guarding the stairs with stakes in hand. Ellie was there too. Daniel was already gone.

  "It's ok, Sherry. We've got this," Ryan told me and nodded towards the stairs for me to go. "Ellie, go with them."

  "Wait," she pleaded and kissed his cheek. His mouth opened in surprise. "I'll go if you promise to be careful, as cliché as that sounds."

  "I promise. Go with Sherry and wait for me to come get you." He looked at me pleadingly.

  I nodded as I took her arm and made my way to the back room with the others. When I got there, everyone else was already there.

  "What's happening?" Kate asked. "What's going on?"

  "Lighters are here," I told her and she squeaked in response.

  I shhed and rocked Lily even though she slept soundly in my arms. It was amazing. I realized that I ran in there and lifted her from her pallet as if she were a bag of feathers instead of flesh and bone. Normally, I struggled and groaned against her weight, but my body knew she was in danger and it gave me the boost of adrenaline or something to make it happen.

  Like that tale about the mother being able to lift a car off her kid if she had to because her motherly instincts kicked in and gave her what she needed to literally move mountains. Motherly instincts…

  I bit my lip and took a deep breath squeezing me eyes. Pull yourself together, Sherry, you have things to do. I looked around and saw that everyone was scared. No one spoke at all, we just listened.

  I asked Lillian if she'd hold Lily and she took her numbly and blankly, but held her as if she were a doll as she stared at the wall. The Keepers, Ann and Patrick, stood by the door to the back room and guarded us. They looked at the ceiling as if they could see and understand everything that might be going on. I realized, they were probably just waiting for a signal or sign from Ryan and Max.

  I went over to the bed where Racine was laying. She looked awful still, but I noticed her fever had broken when I touched her cheek. She was freezing as a matter of fact. I pulled the blanket up to her chin and turned to go back to Lillian, but stopped. We all did.

  There was a loud boom and a slam above us. It rumbled our ceiling, dust and bits of particle board sprinkled us. Then it happened again and Ann and Patrick tensed, slamming the door and locking it. They stood with their stakes and waited.

  Oh, God, no.

  They were waiting for them to come to us. They knew something we didn't and we're getting ready for trouble.

  The Lighters were inside.

  Irony

  Chapter 22 - Daniel

  As I swung my fist to connect with my brother's jaw I was struck by the irony and inconsistency of this situation. I could sense my brothers, but could no longer hear them in my head. There would be no more pretending to be one of them, those days were gone. And I didn't see into the human's minds either. I could no longer see and hear their thoughts and I was more than alright with that.

  It felt like a complete release and rearranging of my mind and whole being when that little human touched me and healed me. She did something to me, changed me, in a way that was all encompassing. And I would be forever grateful to her for that.

  She had reached something in me that only Lillian had touched before, once, in the very beginning. It was a part of the humanity that this body once carried. That was the only reason I could have to explain the change in me. With Lillian, when I smelled her that day and she was so willing to sacrifice herself to save her comrades…it was a slow pulling and turning to something else. It took me a few moments to understand what I was feeling for the first time.

  Regret.

  Utter regret for putting that look on her face. Lillian had been scared and borderline terrified and to know that I and I alone made her that way was a slap of the cruelest kind.

  But when little Lily healed me it was like lightning, and not the end-of-me kind. This was the good kind. The kind that doesn't destroy and dissipate, but alters and changes completely. I was a different person now. I was a human, but with super human strength. Lillian made me see just how human I wanted to be and I was determined that I could make her proud. That she wouldn't want to be with me or let this body be intimate the way it craved was devastating and heartbreaking, but that was inconsequential now. Her safety was more than living, thinking or breathing. She was the center of my universe and I didn't understand it at all. It just was.

  All of the humans under this ground were a volatile and strangely knit together group. They were not blood kin to each other, but they all acted as though they were truly invested in each other. Not just their safety, but their happiness.

  I drove the human object, an umbrella I believe it was called, through my brother's stomach and let the blinding lightning consume him, it was strange to me how I felt no remorse. In fact, it felt like a mission of a different kind had been seared to my soul. Protect Lily, my little healer, protect the humans under my feet at this moment, protect Lillian at all cost and do what was necessary to make her acceptably satisfied - or happy, whatever they called it.

  First, I would end my brothers who dared put her in harm, then I would find her Cain. And I would tell him that she was somehow my everything and though she had chosen him instead of me, if he wanted to continue to
exist on this earth he better make certain that she never came to harm, ever. Or I'd find him and he would know a very intimate knowledge of hell.

  But all those thoughts flew away as one of my brothers went to the door behind me. The two Keepers were ready, I knew, but still I panicked. And that moment of human panic cost me a jab to my newly healed side. I caught my breath and finished the last brother remaining. When I turned back around, the one that got away was already inside the bunker door.

  Well ain't that something

  Chapter 23 - Merrick

  "Will you bloody go already! I'm tired of looking at your arse," Miguel yelled and pushed whoever was in front of him. I heard Josh 'oomph' so that answered that question.

  "Watch it, Aussie," he growled back. "I can't go if the person in front of me won't go."

  We'd been slowly squeezing and crawling through that vent for almost twenty minutes now. Kay was right, I fit, but it was really tight. And I wasn't the only one. Every two minutes Miguel was banging his head or shoulders and muttering all kinds of interesting words. Some I understood, so I did not. Some I would have punched him for saying had Sherry been here.

  "Here's the end!" Kay yelled and the echo carried it to me.

  "Finally," Miguel grumbled. "If I had to spend one more minute down here, I was going to have to shoot someone."

  We inched our way until Kay got up. I heard her in my mind. Trouble.

  Guys with guns, Merrick. They're making us come out.

  Got it.

  I stiffened myself for a fight. I let Miguel go and then blurred to the surface only to find Miguel in the clutches of a redhead. Her hair was in big curls down to her backside and her green shorts were Celeste short. She was what the humans called a firecracker, I could tell that right off, as she held a knife to Miguel's neck so easily while she gripped a fistful of his hair. She even smiled as she did it.

  But it wasn't her, nor the other guy standing around waiting for us, that I really saw. No, there was only one who had my full attention.

  "Pastor?"

  He glanced at me sharply, pointed and shook his finger like he was trying to figure me out.

  "I remember you. I can't place your name, but you're that Keeper. I married you and that little gal a while back."

  "Yes, sir."

  "Well, I'll be," he replied and smiled. "Let him go, Rylee," he said to the redhead holding Miguel without looking at her. "Let him go," he said a little louder like he knew that she hadn't already just from knowing her.

  She growled - actually growled - and threw her knife back into its sheath on her hip, her precision and speed that of someone who'd done it way too many times already.

  "Pastor Berns, right?" I hedged.

  "Just call me Pastor Bob, everybody does."

  "Ok, Pastor Bob, what are you doing?"

  "Correction. What are you doing? You're on my turf now, son."

  "I beg your pardon?"

  "This is my house, so to speak. You came crawling out of that vent, which means you were inside, which means it was you who destroyed the joint. Am I right in my assumptions?"

  Leave it to Josh to be completely inappropriate.

  "Well you know what they say about assumptions-"

  "Josh," I barked, "not now. Pastor Bob, we had a run in with Lighters here, that's what happened to the place. It was… unfortunate, but unavoidable."

  "Funny, we haven't had any problems with Lighters until you came," the redhead said sarcastically. "I smell a rat."

  "Leave it to the redhead to be irrational," Miguel said and she glared at him. He grinned and winked at her which made her eyes round and her breaths through her nostrils were loud and aggravated. I decided to diffuse the bomb.

  I stepped in front of Miguel and hoped he got the message to shut up.

  "Listen. We're sorry about the place. We didn't mean to cause trouble. We came here looking for others. We were trying to warn anyone we could find the Malachi is starting a reward program. You'll be hunted. This isn't just about hiding anymore."

  "We are well aware of the rewards. We have a man on the inside."

  "So do we. Several, in fact." Or at least I still hoped Daniel was on our side. And that Cain and Billings were alright.

  "So," he mused, "you're just out here to warn us. That's it? You didn't come looking for supplies or food or shelter. Or women?"

  "Women?" Miguel asked.

  "This is my daughter, Rylee," he said and pulled her to his side. "I've had several people try to buy her from me. Don't act like you're all so innocent that you don't know what I'm talking about."

  "That's disgusting," Celeste muttered. "We don't have people like that in our group."

  "And just how many are in your group?" he asked me.

  "A lot," I told him. "More than anyone else I'm sure. We've kind of got a little collection going. We take strays, Specials and Keepers, and recently, enforcers too."

  "Enforcers!" Rylee barked.

  "What do you mean?" Pastor Bob asked. "You're harboring an enforcer?"

  "Nope, we converted one. No pun intended, pastor."

  To my surprise, he laughed. Rylee looked up at him disgruntled and then glared at Miguel some more who glared right back at her.

  "Well ain't that something?"

  I wasn't sure what to say as we all just stood there. So I asked my most itching question.

  "You said you wouldn't get involved. I remember you telling me that. What are you doing now?"

  "Well, those devils took my Patty from me," he said and him and Rylee shared a look.

  "I'm sorry," I said and he nodded in acknowledgment.

  "It was over something that made no sense to me; politics and nonsense. It was then I knew I could no longer sit on the sidelines, I had to pick a side. I just wish I'd done it when Patty was still alive. Once that happened, I knew the only thing to do was get Rylee here and go into hiding. So that's what we did. We met Jethro here on the road."

  "Not that I needed to be protected," she said indignantly and crossed her arms. I realized then how young she was. She couldn’t be more than early twenties.

  "Of course not, darling," he said dryly. She gave him a look that said she knew it too. He chuckled at her and then turned back to me. "So…the questions is …what do we do with you now?"

  "You have to do something with us?" I asked.

  "Well, you destroyed our place, intentional or not, and though you said you didn't take anything, I can't imagine that to be true. Not with what we're packing."

  "We saw your crates," I told him. His eyes focused a little at that. "We left it all right where we found it."

  "How did you find your way to the basement?"

  "Laundry chute," Josh said blandly. "That was fun."

  "And the stairs were more fun," Celeste said and cringed into Danny's side.

  "You used the stairs?" the other man said from behind him. "I'm surprised you even made it out at all. Why didn’t you use the elevator?"

  I heard Celeste gasp and moved on. What was done was done and there was no point in dwelling so I said, "Ok, let's get back to the part where you think you have to handle us. We can make it out of here just fine on our own."

  "And what about us!" the man roared. "Where are we supposed to live now?"

  "With us if you like. We have plenty of room."

  "Where?" Pastor Bob asked cautiously.

  "Outskirts."

  "Where?" he asked again.

  "Outskirts," I repeated. "Deep outskirts. I'll show you if you want to come with us, but I won't just tell you."

  "No offense," Josh broke in, "preacher man, but we ain't had the best of luck lately."

  "That applies to us all I think," he replied softly. "Do you understand how hard it is these days to just trust people and know that their intentions are good without any proof?

  "Yes, sir," I said, "I do. You can trust me. If there was a way to prove it I would, but for now, you haven't been hurt by our hands and your stuff is intact downs
tairs. I think that's as much proof as you can have right now."

  "True," he answered. "Very true. Well…" He looked back at Rylee and Jethro. They all shrugged, albeit unhappily. "I guess we can join you. But we're not going to be grunts in your army, you hear? We can take care of ourselves and carry our own. We give as much as we take."

  "We are all in this together as far as any of us are concerned. There won't be any ranks."

  "Good," Rylee said and bumped Miguel's shoulder as she passed him. "Because I ain't taking orders."

  He made the profound mistake of grabbing her arm. It was all downhill from there. She twisted his arm under and then flipped him over her back. I looked at Pastor Bob, but he just watched. It even looked like he was smiling a little. Miguel got up like a shot and went to grab her arm again. She jabbed his shin with a swift side kick and then swung a kick to his knee back to put him flat on his back, once more.

  He stopped and just looked at her with awe filled and embarrassed eyes with a side of chagrin and anger. He didn't move as she leaned over him, her hair falling in a fiery cascade over her shoulders.

  "Don't touch me, ever."

  "I'm a black belt," he growled. "No one has put me on my back in years."

  "If there was something more than a black belt, that'd be me. Try to keep up, why don't you." She offered her hand to help him up. He debated, almost too long, on whether to take it or not. Then with a begrudged sigh he took it. When she had him half off the ground, she let go. He fell back to his butt with a thud and glared a new rage at her. She laughed a genuine and happy burst of joy as she walked off.

  Danny and Celeste were laughing too, but he turned his gaze to them without getting up. They followed Rylee, trying to keep the chuckles down.

  "Looks like you got some competition, Aussie," Josh jested. "Hot competition."

  "Young man-" Pastor Bob started but I cut in.

  "Josh, get going. Sorry, Pastor. He's just…that's just Josh. He didn't mean anything by it."