“Don’t, don’t feel guilty, as much as it hurts I can understand why you felt that way. I won’t ever hold anything against you.”
He looked up, he was so close to me; it brought back so many memories. His eyes were filled with sadness and I wished I could take it all away from him. He slowly came closer and closer, and when his face was only a couple of inches away from mine, the door opened. I turned to see Jackson there. He glared at us both for a moment, saying nothing, then walked away slamming the door behind him.
Chapter 35
“What’s his problem?” Luke asked.
“Can you excuse me a few minutes,” I said moving away from him.
“Leticia...”
“I’m sorry. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
I ran out of the room after him. Nancy was stood in the hallway, a look of grave concern on her face.
“Where’s Jackson?” I asked.
“He’s just grabbed his car keys and stormed out. What’s going on?”
“He just got the wrong end of the stick,” I heard Jackson’s engine start. “Please keep your eye on Luke.” I grabbed my keys and ran outside. He was now at the end of the driveway about to join the little private road. I shouted at him, but he mustn’t have heard me. I jumped in the car and shot after him. As soon as he saw me in his rear view mirror he sped up. I flashed my lights at him, sounded the horn, but he wouldn’t stop. The distance between us increased, until eventually he was out of sight. What he didn't realize was; I knew where he was heading. Straight to Winscar Reservoir.
I pulled into the little parking area close to the dock. He was leaning against the fence, looking out at the water. When I got out of the car, he looked at me, seeming rather shocked.
“Did you really think I wouldn’t find you?” I asked.
“Just go away,” he turned from me. “I don’t want to talk.”
“You don’t have to, you just need to listen,” I stood beside him and tried to hold his hand, but he pulled away from me, walking onto the grass a few feet away. “Jackson, I don’t know what you think you saw, but whatever it was, you’re wrong.”
“He was in your arms, an inch away from you, don’t try and tell me you hadn’t kissed him.”
“What? Jackson, he was upset, I’d just told him how long he’d been missing. It was hitting him that he’d lost nearly a decade of his life, and on top of that, his friends, business...”
“And you.”
“Yes, and me. I’m the only thing he knows here, he just needed a bit of comfort; I don’t see what harm giving a person a hug when they need it...”
“And kissing them, and...”
“No! You’re not listening to me, I didn't kiss him. Yes he was close to me, but Jesus Jackson, how many times did you get that close to me without actually kissing me. On top of that, if he had tried I would have moved away.”
“If you say so.”
“I’m with you. I’m not a cheat.”
He turned to look at me and then sat down on the grass before speaking. “If you want him, then leave me. Don’t do it behind my back Leticia, be straight with me.”
“You want straight talking,” I said, sitting beside him. “Here you go... I want you. I’m with you; why would I want anyone or anything else, when everything I could possible want is right in front of me? Luke is no threat, our time together ended a long, long time ago, and I have no intentions of renewing anything like that with him. I know he’s hurting, but my god, I hurt years ago and it lasted for years... I know now that it wasn’t his fault, but... I lost all romantic, loving feelings for him. I hated him for years, and although I don’t hate him now... I don’t love him either... I care for him and I want to help him and be a friend to him, but nothing more. I know it must be hard for you and I understand that you must feel threatened, but you don’t have to. You’re the one I want... no one else. Do you understand me?” I told him, getting rather emotional.
He pushed me back in the grass and half lay over me. “I just thought you would want him back and when I saw him so close to you... I guess I assumed things.”
“Please stop doing that. I want you, not him.”
He leaned forward and kissed me. This time it felt different, more intense, passionate. His grip tightened on me and I wrapped my arms around him. His kisses moved from my lips. “I don’t ever want to lose you, I want you forever,” he murmured into the curve of my neck.
“Jackson...” He silenced me with another kiss. They became more intense and demanding. He freed one of his hands, allowing it to explore me. “Jackson,” I giggled. “Stop it, we can’t do this here.”
“Do what?” he smirked.
“Never mind what...”
“Do you mean this?...Or this?”
I couldn’t respond, when he wasn’t kissing me I was too busy enjoying him. It started raining, at first just a fine drizzle, and with my elevated temperature, the coolness of it felt beautiful against my skin. It began to fall heavier and heavier but neither of us cared. I was about to unbutton his shirt, when his mobile started ringing.
“Ignore it,” he breathed, before kissing me again.
I was going to until mine also started ringing.
“Jackson,” I gasped, ending the current kiss. “It must be important.”
He sighed and groaned, then moved away from me.
“What do you want! Now is not a good time!” he snapped, answering his phone. As soon as he had, mine stopped ringing. “How?” he continued, a look of concern on his face. “We’ll be right there.”
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“Those two scumbags locked in the basement know Luke!”
“What?”
“Tristan didn’t trust him so he took him down to meet the jerks... they glared at him, they know him, he knows them. The two shits won’t talk and Luke refuses to speak to anyone but you. Leticia, he’s lying to you!”
“Bastard! I’ll kill him!” I jumped up off the grass and ran to my car. Jackson followed behind me.
When we reached the house I flew out of the car, straight inside. I was so annoyed, shaking from head to toe; I was losing control. Nancy came running out of the kitchen.
“Leticia wait...”
“Where is he?” I interrupted.
“In the living room...”
I heard Jackson walk in the house and Nancy tell him to stop me, but he didn’t even try. My eyes were turning, my nails growing. He’d fed me nothing but lies and like a fool I believed them. I barged into the living room. As soon as Luke saw me he stood up, he looked frightened, but I honestly didn’t care. I kicked the coffee table that was between us across the room and charged at him; gripping him by his throat and slamming him against the wall. His feet weren’t touching the floor.
“You liar!” I snarled.
“Let..ic..ia..” he choked, “I’m..not...”
I kept a grip on his throat, but pulled him away from the wall and onto the floor.
“I should snap you like a twig!” I shot, looking down at him. “You make me sick!” my grip was getting tighter and tighter on him.
“Leticia, stop!” Tristan shouted. A second later he had gripped me and pulled me away from Luke. “You need to stop...”
“Get off me!”
He restrained me while Nancy got Luke to his feet. He was choking, clutching his throat and gasping for air.
“Get him out of here!” Tristan ordered her.
As soon as they’d left Tristan released me. I was going to go after them, but Jackson was blocking the doorway.
“Leticia, calm down and listen to me.” Tristan said, turning me to face him. “If you kill him, we won’t learn anything and we won’t be able to stop it. We need to know where our blood is being kept. Once we know that we can find it, destroy it, and then you can kill him.”
“Fine,” I said between gritted teeth. “But he’s on lockdown, he doesn’t go anywhere, he doesn’t see anyone.”
“Leticia,” Nancy
said, walking in the room. “He’s begging to talk to you. He swears he hasn’t lied to you.”
“She can’t be left alone with him,” Jackson told her. “She’ll kill him.”
“Then I’ll stay with her.”
Chapter 36
They waited until I had calmed down and looked human again. Then I went into the larger living room with Nancy. He still looked scared, in fact, I’d go as far as to say terrified.
“Relax,” Nancy told him, shutting the door and sitting facing him. “She isn’t going to touch you. But, if you don’t tell us how you know the men we have downstairs, she might.”
“I want to talk to her alone.”
“I don’t think that’s wise, it’s safer for you if I’m here.”
“I don’t...”
“Luke if you don’t start talking I’ll rip your throat out... how does that sound?” I threatened. “How do you know those men?”
“They came to the lab, but it wasn’t just the two of them, there were about six of them... they stood at the side of that bed... laughing at me,” he struggled to say. “They thought I was hilarious.”
The anger that had filled me only moments ago had now turned to sadness.
“I begged them to help me... Jesus, I even cried, and neither of them, neither, would help me. They taunted me, ate all sorts of food next to me, drank tea, hot chocolate... waved the food under my nose. It went on for hours.”
“I’m so sorry,” Nancy sympathised.
“I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw them. I think I was silenced by shock.”
“Why didn’t you just tell us? Leticia wouldn’t have been like this if you had.”
“I was embarrassed...I was helpless in that lab. I was their personal, human lab-rat... and there was nothing I could do to stop it...”
“Luke, nobody thinks badly of you because of what you went through. You shouldn’t be ashamed of it; nobody could have escaped from that. Nobody human anyway. You can talk to us, all we want to do is help and put an end to all this.”
He looked over at me, sadness filling his eyes again.
“Nancy, could you give us some time alone please?” I asked. “I’m not going to hurt him.”
“Yeah OK, I better go and make some sandwiches for the scum downstairs.”
“Shout me before you take it to them.”
When she had left, I sat facing Luke. “I’m sorry, but I thought...”
“I know what you thought, but I wouldn’t betray you like that. You knew me once, I might have been through hell but I’m still me.”
“OK,” I nodded.
“So what happens now?”
“I don’t know, I think we need to try and find out what happened to Roger. It seems to me that he is the prick that’s doing all this.”
“But Roger disappeared, what if he’s dead, like Charles?”
“Then I honestly haven’t got any idea who it is,” I sighed. “It’s got to be him, who else could it be, seriously? Who else knew?”
“Just me and you, I swear.”
“Well, I don’t think you could have done this while being strapped to a bed and I sure as hell know it’s not me. Charles is dead and gone, so it’s Roger. Simple as that. All we need to do now is find the bastard!”
“How?”
“By using the guys downstairs.”
“Will they tell you?”
“Hmm, in the end, if they’ve been keeping secrets they will have no choice but to spill them.” I grinned.
“What are you going to do to them?”
Nancy popped her head around the door to let me know she was about to take the food down. I grabbed Luke’s hand and followed her down with him. When they saw Luke, they grinned.
“Something funny?” I asked them both.
“Yeah, but, I’m not in the mood to share,” the blonde replied.
“Oh right,” I said letting go of Luke and walking close to them. “Are you hungry?”
“Starving!” the brunette shouted. “You said we would be fed, watered, if we told you everything...”
“Ahh, but you didn’t, did you? You missed out the part where you saw this guy strapped to a bed, starving and begging for help.”
“You didn’t ask about things like that.”
“It would have been polite to tell us.”
“For god’s sake just give us the food,” The blonde demanded.
“Oh you mean this food?” I asked, taking the plates from Nancy.
“Yeah goddamn it.”
“Oh, erm... no... no definitely not,” I turned to face Luke. “Are you hungry?”
“A little.”
“Here, Nancy made some lovely sandwiches, enjoy.”
The two men watched as Luke ate their food. Both of them with pained expressions. Once he had finished, I took the plate off him.
“Come on then, we have a lot to do, I don’t have time to spend with these two.”
“Wait, wait you can’t do that, you can’t leave us to starve,” The blonde panicked.
“Why not? You left Luke to starve. I think it’s only fair.”
Nancy walked back upstairs and Luke started to follow. But I didn’t move. When Luke noticed, he stopped.
“I’ll be up in a minute,” I told him.
He turned and walked out of sight.
“Please don’t do this to us,” The brunette begged.
“Allow me to make myself perfectly understood,” I began, allowing my eyes to change and my teeth become jagged. Both of them were silent and perfectly still. “I am not the gentle, nice, patient person I make myself out to be. So with that in mind... piss me off one more time and you’ll die... slowly. I don’t care what the others have promised you. I don’t care if you feel safe with them even. You are not safe with me. I’m the one you need to fear. I will torture you and cause you more pain than you could possibly imagine. I will starve you and let you dehydrate until you hallucinate from it. I will deprive you of any sleep, and when I eventually get bored of all that and more... I will rip your insides out with my own hands and feed them to the wildlife of the hills. Nobody would find a trace of you. Do you understand me?”
Neither of them responded.
“I SAID DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!” I thundered.
“Yes, yes,” they both replied, nodding frantically.
“Good,” I smiled, returning to normal.
When I turned to walk out of the room, I saw Jackson glaring at me. I walked passed him and up into the hallway.
“Well, I must say,” Jackson smirked. “You even un-nerved me a little then.”
“Good. Let’s just hope it has more of an effect on them.”
“Hmm, the dangerous you is kind of appealing, in a... shall we say, erotic, sort of way,” He laughed.
“You have a warped mind.”
“Yeah I know.”
“As much as I would like to continue this conversation with you, I need to talk with Luke.”
“Wonderful.” He said, the smile fading quickly from his face.
“Don’t start that again, besides, you can all come and listen to him. He can’t just keep talking with me.”
“I suddenly feel better.”
“Good.”
“I’d feel even better if you told him we were together.”
“I will, just not now.”
He went to get Nancy and Tristan while I sat Luke down in the living room again. He looked a bit nervous when they all walked in, but he also understood that he needed to speak with all of us. I explained to the others what I knew so far, before I began questioning him.
“Think back Luke, you said Charles seemed to disappear, do you remember Roger saying anything about it or did you overhear anything?” I asked.
“Err... he was in a vile mood for a while, I heard him swearing, calling Charles every name under the sun. Erm, oh, one night I heard him talking, I don’t know who to, but someone was definitely talking back. He was saying how Charles could have ruined everything
he worked for. That he was glad he’d gone or something like that.”
“What did the responder say?”
“I don’t know it was hard to hear...” he went quiet for a moment. “I could be wrong, but I remember hearing something along the lines of “Where is he?” and “Why did he do that?” I didn’t hear Rogers’s answers though. Not that I remember anyway.”
“It’s OK,” Tristan assured him. “You see, I think this is what happened. Charles maybe saw the error of his ways and wanted to leave. Roger, who was obviously the domineering one, wouldn’t have it, and so shot him. Stuffed him in that locker and left him to rot. He bribes people who he knows are desperate to belong to something, who need food, shelter and money, to do his dirty work. In this case, killing us, or taking us to him, whatever. If we find him, this stops and those two bastards in the basement are the key.”
“Can I just ask something, I know it’s going off topic a little, but why do they want you three? I know what Leticia is, obviously, but... what are you guys?” Luke asked, clueless.
“Jackson and I are brother and sister, and we’re what’s known as shape shifters. Tristan is a vampire.” Nancy explained.
“Right, yeah, of course, why not?” he said, shocked and in partial disbelief.
“Do you know what Shape shifters are?”
“Yeah, I’ve watched the films and I’ve read several fiction books about them.”
“There are more of us than you think,” Jackson told him. “Humans and animals aren’t the only thing to walk this earth.”
“That’s becoming more and more apparent.”
“The movies have made us out to be horrible, vial nasty things, but we’re not,” Nancy defended. “We have just as much right to live as you do, so we’re a little different; our bodies are more advanced than yours, that’s all, we still bleed red blood, feel emotions... just like you.”
“OK.”
“Anyway, can we get back to the matter at hand?” Jackson asked.
“Yeah, I don’t know who it is; if I did I would tell you. I didn’t even know Charles was dead until earlier today. So do what you want to find them, if I can help I will, and then maybe I can get my life back together again,” Luke said in an off tone.